The usual Terraria boss order runs King Slime, Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu, Queen Bee, Skeletron, Deerclops and the Wall of Flesh before Hardmode. After that it’s Queen Slime, the three mechanical bosses, Plantera, Golem, Duke Fishron, the Empress of Light, the Lunatic Cultist, the four Celestial Pillars and the Moon Lord. Only a few bosses actually lock the next stage (Wall of Flesh, the mechs, Plantera, Golem and the Cultist), so the order below is a recommendation, not a rule. Every summon item, recipe and health number here was checked on Oct 29, 2026 against the official Terraria Wiki for version 1.4.5 (Bigger & Boulder).
Table of Contents
Quick answer: Terraria boss order (1.4.5)
- Pre-Hardmode: King Slime (optional) > Eye of Cthulhu > Eater of Worlds / Brain of Cthulhu > Queen Bee (optional) > Skeletron > Deerclops (optional) > Wall of Flesh.
- Hardmode: Queen Slime (optional) > The Twins, The Destroyer and Skeletron Prime (any order) > Plantera > Golem > Empress of Light and Duke Fishron (optional) > Lunatic Cultist > Celestial Pillars > Moon Lord.
- The hard gates: the Wall of Flesh starts Hardmode. All three mechs make Plantera’s Bulbs appear. Plantera drops the Temple Key for Golem. Golem plus Skeletron make the Cultists appear, and beating the Cultist starts the Lunar Events.
- Count: 33 bosses in all. That’s 8 pre-Hardmode, 10 Hardmode, 14 event bosses and 1 special-seed boss (Mechdusa). Version 1.4.5 added no new bosses. The last new one was Mechdusa in 1.4.4.
- New in 1.4.5: every boss now has its own music track, and the
/bossdamagechat command shows how much damage each player dealt.
The Wall of Flesh, the last pre-Hardmode boss. 11,200 is its Expert Mode health. Image: Re-Logic
Pre-Hardmode boss order
You’ll see seven of these bosses in any one world, not eight. The Eater of Worlds only spawns in Corruption worlds and the Brain of Cthulhu only in Crimson worlds. Health is shown as Classic / Expert / Master. Single-player numbers come from the wiki’s boss data.
| # | Boss | How to summon | Health (Classic / Expert / Master) | Why fight it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | King Slime (optional) | Slime Crown, or kill 150 slimes during a Slime Rain (75 once he’s been beaten). He can also spawn rarely on his own near the world’s edges | 2,000 / 2,800 / 3,570 | Easy first kill. Drops Ninja armor and slime items outside Expert |
| 2 | Eye of Cthulhu | Suspicious Looking Eye at night. It also has a 1/3 chance to spawn at nightfall once a player has 200+ health, more than 10 defense and 3+ NPCs live in houses | 2,800 / 3,640 / 4,641 | Usually the first required boss |
| 3 | Eater of Worlds (Corruption) | Worm Food, or break 3 Shadow Orbs | 10,050 / 15,120 / 19,296 (all segments) | Only source of Shadow Scales, plus lots of Demonite Ore |
| 3 | Brain of Cthulhu (Crimson) | Bloody Spine, or break 3 Crimson Hearts | 1,250 / 2,125 / 2,709 | Only source of Tissue Samples, plus Crimtane Ore. The lowest health of any boss |
| 4 | Queen Bee (optional) | Break the Larva in an Underground Jungle hive, or use an Abeemination in the Jungle | 3,400 / 4,760 / 6,069 | Unlocks the Witch Doctor. The Beenade drop is strong against the Wall of Flesh |
| 5 | Skeletron | Talk to the Old Man at the Dungeon entrance at night. Rematches use the Clothier Voodoo Doll | 4,400 / 8,800 / 11,220 (head) | Opens the Dungeon, because Dungeon Guardians stop spawning |
| 6 | Deerclops (optional) | Deer Thing in the Snow biome, or a natural spawn at midnight in a Blizzard | 7,000 / 11,900 / 15,172 | Optional. It turns immune to damage if you get too far away |
| 7 | Wall of Flesh | Drop a Guide Voodoo Doll into lava in the Underworld while the Guide is alive | 8,000 / 11,200 / 14,280 | Final pre-Hardmode boss. Beating it turns the world to Hardmode |
Beating the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu also unlocks Tier 1 of the Old One’s Army event and lets the Tavernkeep show up. More on that in the event section below.
Pre-Hardmode summon items and recipes
| Summon item | Boss | Recipe | Crafted at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slime Crown | King Slime | 20 Gel + 1 Gold Crown (or Platinum Crown) | Demon Altar or Crimson Altar |
| Suspicious Looking Eye | Eye of Cthulhu | 6 Lens (also a 1/5 chance in Ivy and Gold Chests in the Cavern layer) | Demon Altar or Crimson Altar |
| Worm Food | Eater of Worlds | 30 Vile Powder + 15 Rotten Chunk | Demon Altar or Crimson Altar |
| Bloody Spine | Brain of Cthulhu | 30 Vicious Powder + 15 Vertebra | Demon Altar or Crimson Altar |
| Abeemination | Queen Bee | 5 Honey Block + 1 Stinger + 5 Hive + 1 Bottled Honey | By hand (the only boss summon you can craft without a station) |
| Deer Thing | Deerclops | 3 Flinx Fur + 5 Demonite Ore (or Crimtane Ore) + 1 Lens (also a 1/5 chance in Frozen Chests) | Demon Altar or Crimson Altar |
| Guide Voodoo Doll | Wall of Flesh | Not craftable. Voodoo Demons in the Underworld always drop one | – |
One 1.4.5 change worth knowing: you can now throw a Slime Crown into Shimmer to start a Slime Rain right away.
Hardmode boss order
Once the Wall of Flesh is down, Hardmode bosses also get a chance to spawn on their own. TheGamer’s boss progression guide suggests gearing up first: Hardmode ores from smashing altars, Mimic loot in the Hallow, and better wings. Then start on the mechs.
| # | Boss | How to summon | Health (Classic / Expert / Master) | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Queen Slime (optional) | Gelatin Crystal, found in the Underground Hallow (about 1 in 50 Crystal Shards generate as one) | 18,000 / 28,800 / 36,720 | Optional warm-up you can fight right at the start of Hardmode |
| 9 | The Twins | Mechanical Eye, at night | Retinazer 20,000 / 30,000 / 38,250; Spazmatism 23,000 / 34,500 / 43,988 | Hallowed Bars + Souls of Sight |
| 10 | The Destroyer | Mechanical Worm, at night | 80,000 / 120,000 / 153,000 | Hallowed Bars + Souls of Might |
| 11 | Skeletron Prime | Mechanical Skull, at night | 59,000 / 88,500 / 112,836 (head + four limbs) | Hallowed Bars + Souls of Fright |
| 12 | Plantera | Break a Plantera’s Bulb in the Underground Jungle. Bulbs only appear after all three mechs are dead | 30,000 / 42,000 / 53,550 | Temple Key, the Hardmode Dungeon, and slower Corruption, Crimson and Hallow spread |
| 13 | Golem | Lihzahrd Power Cell at the Lihzahrd Altar in the Jungle Temple | 60,000 / 90,000 / 114,749 (combined) | Makes the Cultists appear. Unlocks Martian Madness and Old One’s Army Tier 3 |
| 14 | Empress of Light (optional) | Kill a Prismatic Lacewing in the Hallow. They only spawn after Plantera | 70,000 / 98,000 / 124,950 | Strong loot. She’s enraged in daytime, so fight at night |
| 15 | Duke Fishron (optional) | Fish in the Ocean with a Truffle Worm as bait | 60,000 / 78,000 / 99,450 | Strong loot. Possible from early Hardmode, but TheGamer suggests waiting until after Golem |
| 16 | Lunatic Cultist | Kill the four Cultists at the Dungeon entrance. They appear after Golem and Skeletron are beaten | 32,000 / 48,000 / 61,200 | Starts the Lunar Events (Celestial Pillars) |
| 17 | Celestial Pillars | Appear after the Cultist dies. Kill at least 100 of each pillar’s enemies to drop its shield | Event bosses | Fragments. The Moon Lord spawns once all four pillars fall |
| 18 | Moon Lord | Beat all four Celestial Pillars. Rematches use the Celestial Sigil | 145,000 / 217,500 / 277,311 (combined, the most of any boss) | Endgame gear and Luminite. Your world icon gets a special border |
Which mechanical boss should you fight first?
Any order works. Plantera only needs all three dead. TheGamer lists The Twins, then The Destroyer, then Skeletron Prime. The Terraria Wiki points out that piercing or splash weapons, such as the Drippler Crippler, the Meteor Staff or Dynamite, shred The Destroyer’s segments. So if that’s your loadout, the worm is often the easier start. All three fights happen at night. The Twins flee at dawn, and Skeletron Prime turns deadly if the night runs out, so start right after dusk.
Hardmode summon items and where to get them
| Summon item | Boss | Recipe or source |
|---|---|---|
| Gelatin Crystal | Queen Slime | Found, not crafted. It replaces about 1 in 50 Crystal Shards in the Underground Hallow |
| Mechanical Eye | The Twins | 3 Lens + 5 Iron Bar (or Lead) + 6 Soul of Light, at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil |
| Mechanical Worm | The Destroyer | 6 Rotten Chunk (or 6 Vertebra) + 5 Iron Bar (or Lead) + 6 Soul of Night, at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil |
| Mechanical Skull | Skeletron Prime | 30 Bone + 5 Iron Bar (or Lead) + 3 Soul of Light + 3 Soul of Night, at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil |
| Lihzahrd Power Cell | Golem | One in every Lihzahrd Chest in the Jungle Temple, plus a 1/50 drop from Lihzahrds and Flying Snakes |
| Truffle Worm | Duke Fishron | A rare Hardmode critter on Glowing Mushroom grass. Catch it with a Bug Net, and come in fast because it burrows away |
| Celestial Sigil | Moon Lord (rematch) | 12 each of Solar, Vortex, Nebula and Stardust Fragments, at the Ancient Manipulator |
Before you’ve beaten them, each mech boss’s summon item also has a 1/2500 chance to drop from any Hardmode enemy that drops coins.
Truffle Worms, the bait that summons Duke Fishron, spawn on Glowing Mushroom grass in Hardmode. Image: Re-Logic
Event bosses: when each one unlocks
The other 14 bosses are mini-bosses inside events, plus the four Celestial Pillars. Most can spawn more than once in a single event.
| Event (how to start it) | Event bosses | When it unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Old One’s Army (Eternia Crystal) | Dark Mage (Tier 1), Ogre (Tier 2), Betsy (Tier 3) | Tier 1 after Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu; Tier 2 after any mech boss; Tier 3 after Golem |
| Pirate Invasion (Pirate Map) | Flying Dutchman | Hardmode. The Dutchman appears after 50% event progress |
| Pumpkin Moon (Pumpkin Moon Medallion) | Mourning Wood, Pumpking | After Plantera |
| Frost Moon (Naughty Present) | Everscream, Santa-NK1, Ice Queen | After Plantera |
| Martian Madness (let a Martian Probe escape after it spots you) | Martian Saucer | After Golem. The Saucer appears after 30% event progress |
| Lunar Events (beat the Lunatic Cultist) | Solar, Nebula, Vortex and Stardust Pillars | After the Lunatic Cultist |
Then there’s Mechdusa, a fusion of all three mechanical bosses. It only appears in worlds that combine the For the Worthy and Remix secret seeds, and you summon it with Ocram’s Razor. In those worlds the three mech summon items aren’t used up. They become ingredients for the Razor instead.
Old One's Army: the Ogre leads Tier 2 after any mechanical boss, and Betsy leads Tier 3 after Golem. Image: Re-Logic
What changed for bosses in 1.4.5 and 1.4.5.7
Terraria 1.4.5: Bigger & Boulder launched on January 27, 2026 on PC, console and mobile. China Mobile updated later. Re-Logic’s patch notes say the update brings 8 new boss tracks, “meaning that each Terraria boss now has their own tunes.” The wiki’s changelog adds the /bossdamage command and the Slime Crown Shimmer trick.
The 1.4.5.7 balance hotfix came out on PC on August 19, 2026. Re-Logic said console and mobile would follow once platform submissions cleared. It made several fights fairer:
- Moon Lord: warnings on several attacks. Phantasmal Eyes stop homing after 1.5 seconds and have a smaller blast. Moon Lord and the True Eyes no longer deal contact damage. Deathrays deal no damage for their first second, and the True Eyes now sync their attacks with Moon Lord’s.
- Deerclops: Shadow Hands hit detection now lines up with the hands, and they no longer hurt you when they’re barely visible.
- Empress of Light: Everlasting Rainbow no longer hits on most of its faded-out sections, so its damage area is much smaller.
Next up is Terraria 1.4.6 (Crossplay Phase One). Re-Logic hasn’t announced any new bosses for it.
Two fights that catch players out
- Wall of Flesh: players usually build a long, flat bridge across the Underworld before summoning it, because the fight sweeps across the map. The Horrified debuff kills you if you try to run or teleport away. In Expert it speeds up as it loses health.
- Plantera: stay in the Underground Jungle. Leaving it enrages her.
Coming from other sandbox games? Our Minecraft commands list for Java and Bedrock and our best Minecraft seeds for 26.3 cover the block-building side. Palworld fans who met the Moon Lord in Pocketpair’s Tides of Terraria crossover can pair this with our Palworld breeding combos guide. For calmer 2D worlds, see our games like Stardew Valley list.
FAQ
How many bosses are in Terraria?
The Terraria Wiki counts 33 as of 1.4.5. That’s 8 pre-Hardmode, 10 Hardmode, 14 event bosses and Mechdusa. Since Eater of Worlds and Brain of Cthulhu never share a world, you’ll only meet 7 pre-Hardmode bosses in a normal world.
What boss should I fight after the Wall of Flesh?
Get some Hardmode ore and better gear first. Then fight Queen Slime if you want a warm-up, followed by the three mechanical bosses in any order. Plantera’s Bulbs only start growing once all three are dead.
Can you fight Terraria bosses again?
Yes. Each boss has a summon item or method that works again after the first kill, for example the Abeemination for Queen Bee, the Clothier Voodoo Doll for Skeletron and the Celestial Sigil for the Moon Lord.
Which boss has the most health in Terraria?
The Moon Lord. It has 145,000 combined health in Classic, 217,500 in Expert and 277,311 in Master. The Brain of Cthulhu has the least, at 1,250 in Classic.
Sources: Terraria Wiki: Bosses and the individual summon item and event pages (checked Oct 29, 2026); Re-Logic’s 1.4.5 launch notes and 1.4.5.7 changelog on Steam; TheGamer: Terraria boss progression guide; Terraria on Steam.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
