The Eye of Cthulhu is one of the first bosses players are likely to go up against in Terraria. As a result, it’s become one of the most iconic foes in the game. It’s also a litmus test for how well players are progressing through the game and where some weaknesses may be.
For players tackling this boss for the first time it can be a serious step up in difficulty from the more typical enemies they’ll face. Once the player understands the thing’s behavior, knows how to prepare, and what triggers its appearance they should be ready to take it on and come out victorious.
Updated June 20th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: Terraria is one of the most expansive Indie games ever created. Even a decade after its release, players still flock to the sandbox-style 2D procedurally generated adventure alone and with friends, conquering bosses and building impressive bases. Terraria still continues to stand the test of time, even with Starbound available and filled to the brim with content and mods. Players that have yet to dive into the game will find themselves inundated with powerful bosses to defeat, like the Eye of Cthulhu. To better prepare players for this battle and showcase what types of items they may receive, the following list for how to beat the Eye of Cthulhu has been updated with more information.
How To Summon
The Eye of Cthulhu will most likely appear the first time automatically. Meeting the requirements for a summoning are fairly easy and most players will do it by accident. For it to appear the following conditions need to be met:
- Player must have a max health of at least 200.
- Player must have at least 10 Defense.
- Three Town NPCs have been acquired.
- The Eye of Cthulhu hasn’t already been killed in that world.
- The player must be near the surface and not too far underground.
- It must be night.
When these conditions are met there is a one in three chance that the Eye of Cthulhu will appear on any given night. Players can put it off by going deep underground when night is about to fall.
Players will know the summoning has been successful when the message “You feel an evil presence watching you…” has appeared.
The only other way to summon the Eye of Cthulhu is to manually summon one by using a Suspicious Looking Eye at night. The Suspicious Looking Eye can be obtained the following ways:
- Crafting one at a Demon or Crimson Alter with six Lens.
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Found in a Gold or Frozen Chest in:
- Cavern
- Dungeon
- Found In Ivy Chests underground in the Jungle.
Players should note that the Eye of Cthulhu will despawn if the player gets too far away from it or night ends.
1st Phase Of The Fight
In the first phase the Eye of Cthulhu will float above the player and summon three to four Servants of Cthulhu. Once the last Servant has been summoned the Eye of Cthulhu will immediately charge the player three times in rapid succession.
After the third charge it will float above the player again and summon more Servants. It will repeat this cycle until the player has eliminated more than 50% of its health. The Eye of Cthulhu will have an armor rating of 12 in this fight meaning weapons must have at least six damage to be able to have any effect.
In Expert Mode the Eye of Cthulhu has more health and will summon four to five Servants at a time. It will also spawn a handful when it transforms into the 2nd phase. When the player does more than 35% damage it will enter the 2nd Phase.
In Master Mode the same as Expert applies except it has more health. Damaging the creature more than 35% enters the 2nd Phase.
2nd Phase Of The Fight
Once the player has done more than 50% damage on Normal, 35% on Expert and Master Mode, the Eye of Cthulhu will enter its second form. The pupil will separate into a fanged mouth gaining greater attack damage and shedding all of its armor.
In Normal Mode it no longer summons Servants. Instead the Eye of Cthulhu will charge aggressively three times before hesitating in the air for a few seconds.
In Expert Mode the Eye of Cthulhu gains a rapid dashing attack it will perform in addition to its usual charge. This dash attack will grow faster as the Eye of Cthulhu’s health drops. When it is near death the creature will dash almost continuously. Its health is also much higher.
In Master Mode the Eye of Cthulhu behaves the same as it does in Expert with even more health.
General Strategies
The Eye of Cthulhu is in a vulnerable state when it’s summoning Servants in the 1st phase or hesitating in the 2nd. Players should use this window to do as much damage as possible.
Dodging and evasion is key to survival. The player should be waiting only be attacking if the Eye of Cthulhu is stationary or after successfully dodging an attack.
It’s recommended to use ranged weapons and aim at the pupil while the Eye of Cthulhu is summoning in the 1st phase. This will damage the Servants as they spawn and damage the Eye of Cthulhu itself.
Damage over time is very helpful in either phase as they creature will often propel itself underground and out of range. It also serves to shorten the fight overall and allows the player to focus on evading and dodging.
Choosing A Battlefield
There are two philosophies when it comes to preparing the battlefield for fighting the Eye of Cthulhu:
- Dodge Horizontally
- Dodge Vertically
Dodging horizontally has the player prepare a battlefield that’s a long and flat environment. This allows the player to dash side to side in order to avoid the Eye of Cthulhu’s attacks. This only really works if the player has access to speed boost items like Hermes Boots or Swiftness Potions.
Dodging vertically is the go-to choice if player’s don’t have access to speed boost items. It involves building tiers of wooden platforms for the player to jump to and climb down to avoid the Eye of Cthulhu’s attacks.
Preparing The Battlefield
Once the player has either created a long flat arena or tiered platforms the next step is to thoroughly light the area with some of the following items:
- Torches
- Campfires
- Heart Lanterns (Which also provide health regeneration)
- Stars In Bottles (Which also provide mana regeneration)
Afterward the player can place a number of helpful boosting items:
- Bast Statues (Defense)
- Garden Gnomes (Damage Reduction & Increased Damage related to Luck)
- Honey Pools (Health Regeneration)
- Sunflowers (Movement Speed)
- Heart Statues (Heart Pickups)
- Star Statues (Star Pickups)
The player can also use the help of the Mechanic to place a number of traps to damage the Eye of Cthulhu.
Helpful Boosts
It helps to use some items to snag a number of boosts before entering this fight:
- Sharpening Station (Sharpened)
- Ammo Box (Ammo Box)
- Crystal Ball (Clairvoyance)
- Bewitching Table (Bewitched)
- Slice of Cake (Sugar Rush)
Potions/Food
It’s worth taking some time to farm a few potions before entering the fight:
- A stack of the best quality Healing Potions the player can get.
- A stack of the best quality Mana Potions.
- Regeneration Poiton
- Ironskin Potion
- Endurance Potion
- Wrath Potion
- Swiftness Potion
- Any food that offers a Well Fed buff (especially on harder difficulties)
- Archery Potion (if using Bows)
- Magic Power (if using magic)
- Mana Regeneration Potion (if using magic)
Armor
The best armor for this fight is the Ninja Armor. It provides a helpful boost to Speed which helps with evasion. It also nudges up critical hit chances to do more damage over the course of the fight.
If the player doesn’t have a set of Ninja Armor there are alternatives:
- Full Set of Silver or Tungsten
- Wizard Set (if using magic)
- Fossil’s Armor (if using ranged/throwing weapons)
- Flinx Fur Coat (if using summons)
Weapons
There are a number of options at this point in the game and depending on the player’s build and playstyle
Bows are probably the best as they can pierce Servants and damage the Eye of Cthulhu while it flies around or floats above the player. Gold Bows or Platinum Bows should be easy to obtain this early and do well. The following Arrows are highly recommended:
- Frostburn (do the best damage and inflict Frostburn)
- Jester’s Arrow (allows the player to pierce the Servants and hit the Eye of Cthulhu in one shot)
- Flaming Arrows (causes damage over time through Burning)
Throwing Weapons are also fantastic weapons as they let the player fight at a range. The following are strongly encouraged:
- Shurikens (can kill a Servant and hit the Eye of Cthulhu once or twice)
- Throwing Knives/Poisoned Knives
- Grenades
- Javelins (1st Phase)
- Molotovs & Spiky Balls (2nd Phase)
Magic works great against the Eye of Cthulhu but struggles a bit against the Servants. Players are also unlikely to have a good staff when compared to other weapons. For those going this route there are some things to consider:
- Gem Staves (best at this point)
- Diamond/Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire (do enough damage to overcome the 1st Phase armor)
- Amethyst/Topaz (will not penetrate the 1st Phase armor)
Melee Builds will do well against the Servants but struggle against the Eye of Cthulhu. Weapons that deal damage over time or launch projectiles are strongly recommended. Here are probably the best choices:
- Flaming Mace
- Enchanted Sword
- Ice Blade
- Starfury
Summoners are in for a really tough fight. It’s hard to obtain good summons at this point that can penetrate the Eye of Cthulhu’s armor and most of the good weapons are hard to come by. For players running a Summoners build it’s strongly encouraged to use others weapons as only the Whip is a viable choice at this point. The Flinx Staff can be used in a platformed battlefield.
General weapons that can be used in this fight are anything that hit at range and can deal with Servants. Here are some options for players who are running a niche build or find their weapons don’t hit hard enough:
- Minishark
- Snowball Cannon
- Boomerangs
- Yo-yos
- Spears
How To Delay The Fight
Sometimes it happens that players meet the boss summoning requirements and aren’t prepared to fight it. It might be a bit tedious but there are ways to delay or put it off until the player is sufficiently prepared:
- Be deep underground when night falls.
- Remove any items that bring Defense above 10 before dusk.
What Does The Eye Of Cthulhu Drop?
Preparing to fight the Eye of Cthulhu can be pretty taxing for most players. Those that have yet to fight and defeat a major boss in Terraria can consider it one of the first real "challenges." The prospect of building an entire arena just to challenge the foe is something that players will utilize many times throughout their adventure, as bosses can be incredibly punishing and arenas make it possible to survive while still dishing out decent damage.
But why exactly should players take down the Eye of Cthulhu? Thankfully, those that manage to defeat the boss will be rewarded for their trouble. Here's a look at all of the possible things that the flying beast will drop when slain. Those that defeat the creature in a Corrupt World will gain access to:
- Corrupt Seeds - 1 - 3 Quantity / 100% Drop Rate
- Demonite Ore - 30 - 90 Quantity / 100% Drop Rate
- Unholy Arrow - 20 - 50 Quantity / 100% Drop Rate
If Eye of Cthulhu falls in a Crimson World, it will drop:
- Crimson Seeds - 1 - 3 Quantity / 100% Drop Rate
- Crimtane Ore - 30 - 90 Quantity / 100% Drop Rate
In both worlds, the Eye of Cthulhu has a chance to drop:
- 0x33's Aviators (100% Drop Rate - Available only in Master Mode) - A vanity item, aviator sunglasses.
- Badger's Hat (100% Drop Rate if players defeat Eye of Cthulhu and Wall of Flesh during the same day) - A colorful cosmetic item.
- Binoculars (2.5% Drop Rate) - This item can increase a player's view distance when held.
- Eye Of Cthulhu Mask (14.29% Drop Rate) - A mask cosmetic.
- Eye Of Cthulhu Relic (100% Drop Rate) - A Furniture Item / Statue.
- Eye Of Cthulhu Trophy (10% Drop Rate) - A Furniture Item / Wall Trophy.
- Gold Coin - 3 x Quantity (100% Drop Rate - Only in Expert in Master Modes)
- Lesser Healing Potion - 1 - 5 Quantity (100% Drop Rate)
- Shield Of Cthulhu (100% Drop Rate - Only available in Expert and Master Modes) - A shield that will damage enemies if players dash into them
- Suspicious Grinning Eye (25% Drop Rate - Only available in Master Mode) - Summons an Eye of Cthulhu pet.
Final Thoughts
Being the first boss can make the Eye of Cthulhu a bit of a challenge for players that are underprepared. If the player is struggling too much than making better preparations, finding better weapons, and gaining more boosts while delaying the fight is the best course.
Once players can reliably beat the Eye of Cthulhu it can be a great way to make money as it drops three Gold Coins on normal and seven Gold and 50 Silver on Expert. The Demonite and Crimtane ores also fetch for a high price and can be used to craft powerful items.
Because of this it really is recommended to set up a dedicated arena for fighting the Eye of Cthulhu. It’ll help in the first fight and can be used for farming later on.