How to Spawn the Empress of Light in the Day in Terraria
The Empress of Light is a challenging, optional boss in Terraria, known for her beautiful yet deadly attacks and the highly coveted Terraprisma summon weapon. While she can be fought at night, a daytime battle significantly increases the difficulty but is necessary to obtain the Terraprisma. So, how exactly do you spawn this formidable foe during the day? The answer is simple: by using a captured Prismatic Lacewing.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Catching a Prismatic Lacewing: Prismatic Lacewings are rare, butterfly-like critters that spawn only in the surface-level Hallow biome at night, between 7:30 PM and 12:00 AM (midnight) in-game time. They’re quite rare, so using a Lifeform Analyzer or its upgrades will help in locating them. Using a Bug Net, capture a Prismatic Lacewing instead of killing it. Only one Lacewing can naturally spawn at a time, making farming for them a slow process.
- Storing the Lacewing (Optional): If you want to save the lacewing for later, you can craft a Prismatic Lacewing Jar to safely store it. This keeps you from accidentally summoning the boss if you’re not ready.
- Summoning During the Day: Once you have a captured Prismatic Lacewing, use it as an item at any time of day to summon the Empress of Light. Importantly, the time of day when you use the item is what determines the fight’s difficulty. Doing so during the day triggers an “enraged” version of the boss, significantly amplifying her attack power. Her attacks during this time will be bright yellow and are usually fatal to the player regardless of their defense or equipment (with some minor exceptions).
The crucial point is that, to fight the enraged daytime version and to have a chance at the Terraprisma, you must use the captured Lacewing during daylight hours. Simply killing a naturally spawning Prismatic Lacewing at night will result in a normal, non-enraged fight.
Preparing for the Daytime Empress of Light
Fighting the daytime Empress of Light is one of the most difficult challenges in Terraria. Preparation is key to surviving, let alone winning this fight:
- High-End Gear: Prioritize your best armor, accessories, and weapons. Having the strongest available gear will increase your survivability and damage output, crucial for ending the fight quickly.
- Mobility: Focus on accessories and gear that increase movement speed and dodge chance. The Master Ninja Gear is invaluable because of the increased dodge chance and longer dash, which can help avoid otherwise fatal attacks. The Soaring Insignia can be used to get infinite flight time, paired with rocket boots and wings.
- Damage Output: Because the enraged version of the Empress does such massive damage, the best strategy is to bring her down as fast as possible. Maximize your damage, and aim to use weapons that can hit multiple times and provide high damage.
- Arena: While not always necessary, a well-built arena with platforms can help with movement and give you more space to avoid attacks. However, this fight is also commonly fought with an open sky.
- Summoning Class: While other classes are capable of fighting the Empress of Light, many players prefer to use a summoning build. The Terraprisma itself is a strong incentive for this, but other top tier summoner weapons such as the Stardust Dragon and the Firecracker whip are great for dealing constant and high damage.
The Importance of the Daytime Fight
The main reason to fight the Empress of Light during the day is for the Terraprisma, which is only dropped if all the damage dealt to the Empress is done while the fight is taking place during the day. If you initiate the fight during the night, even if you continue to attack her into the day, she won’t drop the weapon.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the requirements to summon the Empress of Light?
You must defeat the Golem, which is the sixth boss in Hardmode. You then need to catch a Prismatic Lacewing at night in the Hallow using a bug net.
2. Can I fight the Empress of Light before defeating the Golem?
No, you need to defeat the Golem to summon her.
3. Can I summon the Empress of Light at night?
Yes. You can summon her using the captured Prismatic Lacewing at night. This will lead to a non-enraged fight.
4. Does the Empress of Light enrage at night?
No, she only enrages if summoned or if still alive during the day. Enraged attacks are bright yellow and will almost always kill the player.
5. What does the Empress of Light drop during the day?
If you inflict 100% of the damage to her during the day (after 4:30 AM), she will drop the Terraprisma. She also drops other items such as weapons and dyes regardless of the time of day she is defeated.
6. Can I get the Terraprisma at night?
No. You need to fight her during the day in order for the Terraprisma to drop.
7. What is the best modifier for the Terraprisma?
The best modifier for the Terraprisma is Ruthless, which provides a significant damage increase and only a small knockback penalty. Mythical is a reasonable option for the initial summon, but the damage output is not as high, due to not being able to deal critical hits.
8. Is the Terraprisma good for Moon Lord?
Yes, the Terraprisma is an excellent weapon to use against the Moon Lord and also for completing the Celestial Pillars. However, the Stardust Dragon can sometimes deal comparable or even more damage in certain circumstances.
9. Is Ruthless or Godly a better modifier?
Ruthless provides +18% damage and -10% knockback, while Godly provides +16% damage, +5% critical strike, and +15% knockback. Ruthless is generally considered superior due to the higher damage.
10. Does dodge chance work on the Empress of Light?
Yes, dodge chance is very effective against the Empress of Light, especially her enraged form. Master Ninja Gear or equivalent are highly recommended.
11. How do I farm Prismatic Lacewings?
Use a Lifeform Analyzer or its upgrades to detect their presence and a Bug Net to capture them. Focus on the surface Hallow biome at night between 7:30 PM and 12:00 AM in-game time.
12. What is the best summon weapon besides the Terraprisma?
Some of the best summoning weapons are the Staff of the Frost Hydra, the Stardust Dragon, Morning Star and Firecracker.
13. Can I make an artificial Hallow biome?
Yes, after the 1.4.4 update it is possible to make an artificial Hallow biome in pre-hardmode using hardened pearlsand and torches with shimmer liquid.
14. Does the Empress of Light drop a pet?
Yes, the Jewel of Light is a Master Mode-exclusive drop from the Empress of Light, which summons a pet Fairy Princess.
15. What is the fastest shooting gun in Terraria?
The Chain Gun is the fastest shooting gun in Terraria. It is post-Plantera and has a random spread pattern.
By understanding these mechanics and preparing thoroughly, you can take on the challenge of the daytime Empress of Light and claim your reward. Good luck!