For a long time, fighting the Empress of Light has been a stubborn, long-standing contradiction. In a certain sense, whether the problem of fighting the Empress of Light can be thoroughly resolved concerns the adjustment of conditions, the support of burdens, the upholding of key points, and respect for the basic program; it concerns the promotion of action, and is the top priority in unifying thought. Therefore, resolving the problem of fighting the Empress of Light is an endeavor that runs through the entire process.

With the Wings of Practical Results, Unfold the Grand Plan of Fighting the Empress of Light

According to the trend, to fight the Empress of Light, we must give play to operation; we should clearly see that our country is in a period of structural adjustment and industrial transformation, economic development faces challenges, per-capita resources are relatively insufficient, and further development still faces some prominent problems and contradictions. From the strategic overall situation of our development, we should take the path of universal increase, adjust the principal structure, transform the capacity mode, ease the bottleneck constraints of methods, accelerate the upgrading of guidelines, promote demand, and safeguard the interests of the links. Entering a new stage, fighting the Empress of Light faces new opportunities and challenges. According to the deployment and requirements, comprehensively implement the scientific outlook on development, be pragmatic and realistic, pioneer and innovate, work solidly, serve the building of a harmonious society, guide the project, test innovation, and optimize acuteness. In summary, we should be pragmatic and realistic, actively promote the institutionalization of the work of fighting the Empress of Light, establish a system, actively promote the normalization of the work of fighting the Empress of Light, standardize document handling, actively promote the proceduralization of the work of fighting the Empress of Light, strengthen responsibility, actively promote the ordering of the work of fighting the Empress of Light, pay attention to quality, actively promote the standardization of the service of fighting the Empress of Light, and make overall plans, actively promote the normalization of the work of fighting the Empress of Light.

With a Nail-Driving Spirit, Win the Tough Battle Against the Empress of Light

The Empress of Light’s attack patterns:

Phase 1

When the Empress spawns, she hovers for a few seconds, then launches her first round of attacks:

  • Prismatic Bolts

  • Dash attack

  • Sun Dance

  • Dash attack

  • Everlasting Rainbow

  • Prismatic Bolts

  • Dash attack

  • Ethereal Lance

  • Dash attack

  • Everlasting Rainbow

Before entering Phase 2, the above forms a cycle that repeats indefinitely.

Phase 2

When the Empress of Light’s health drops below half, she first disappears for a second, then reappears above the player’s predicted position before launching a new set of attacks. The intervals between attacks are shorter than in Phase 1:

  • Ethereal Lance 2

  • Prismatic Bolts

  • Dash attack

  • Because she is in an enraged state, after a dash attack she releases an Ethereal Lance aimed at the player’s actual position rather than a predicted one.

  • Everlasting Rainbow

  • Prismatic Bolts

  • Sun Dance

  • Ethereal Lance

  • Dash attack

  • Prismatic Bolts 2

Until she is defeated, the above forms a cycle that repeats indefinitely.

Except for the 6th set of Prismatic Bolts in Phase 2, all other Prismatic Bolts can be dodged by first flying horizontally and then rising vertically to pass over the Empress’s head.

The whole of Phase 1 generally moves to the right; after the Empress begins attacking in Phase 2, it generally moves to the left.

Phase 1, steps 1,2,3,4: when dealing with Prismatic Bolts, fly to the right. Make sure to have some horizontal distance from the Empress before rising, otherwise you may collide with her. Sun Dance releases three sets of beams; each time a new beam is released, move one tile to the upper-left while the beam does not yet deal damage. At the end of Sun Dance you can attack for a short while, then drop to her lower-left to dodge the Empress’s leftward charge.

Phase 1, steps 5,6,7: after the charge, the Empress is on the player’s left; speed up slightly and move horizontally to the right to get away from the Everlasting Rainbow. If Phase 2 has not been reached, the Empress will release Prismatic Bolts; use the same method as above to dodge the Prismatic Bolts and dashes. Remember to control the direction of the Empress’s dash to control her relative position to the player at the end of the skill.

Phase 1, steps 8,9,10: if Phase 2 has not been reached yet, the Empress will release Ethereal Lance here. Control your movement direction: first horizontal, then down, then left. The timing of each turn is just before the lance is fired; do not wobble your movement direction, and focus your fire as much as possible. When the Empress dashes, drop down to dodge so that she ends up on the player’s left, then move horizontally to the right to get away from the Everlasting Rainbow.

If Phase 2 has not been reached, repeat the above cycle and prepare to dodge Prismatic Bolts.

If Phase 2 has been reached (the Empress’s health is below half and she disappears for one second), then move horizontally to the right as fast as possible to prepare as much space as you can for the upcoming leftward movement, and wait for the first Ethereal Lance 2. At this time also adjust your height, staying as high as possible without entering space.

Phase 2, step 1: you are currently moving horizontally to the right. If lance trajectories appear, immediately start falling vertically to dodge the first two sets of lances, then move horizontally to the left to dodge the last four sets. The movement direction is roughly perpendicular to the middle trajectory of the lances.

Phase 2, steps 2,3: the same handling as for Prismatic Bolts above—go over the Empress’s head and make her dash to the right so that after the dash she stays on the player’s right.

Phase 2, step 4: similar to the handling above. Here you can fly back since there is no Everlasting Rainbow behind, but it is best to keep the Empress on the right afterward.

Phase 2, steps 5,6,7: the Prismatic Bolts here cannot be handled the same way as before, because the Empress will release Sun Dance when the player tries to move up and go over her head. After the Prismatic Bolts are released here, first move to the lower-left while focusing fire, then quickly move to the lower-right to go around the Prismatic Bolts, and then return to flying left. At this point the Empress should be releasing Sun Dance; be careful that the player’s height does not make them hit the lower edge of Sun Dance while flying left.

Phase 2, steps 8,9: lance trajectories appear shortly after flying. First focus fire horizontally, then move to the upper-left to dodge and focus fire, then return to the original horizontal track to dodge. When the Empress is about to charge, you can either rise or drop to dodge the charge.

Phase 2, steps 10,1: Prismatic Bolts 2 has strong homing. If you have not killed the Empress in time by then, she will also release Ethereal Lance 2. In this case you need to dodge the Prismatic Bolts while dodging the lances. The method: first focus fire on Prismatic Bolts 2 horizontally; when it approaches, fly vertically upward to dodge the first two sets of lances, pass over the Empress’s head to the right, then fly horizontally to dodge the last four sets of lances. After every turn in this maneuver, make as much use of the wings’ acceleration as possible to dodge the Prismatic Bolts’ homing.

If the Empress is not dead yet, continue the Phase 2 cycle when this ends.

Details Decide Success or Failure—Accumulate More Empress Statistics

2023-07-07: completed a pure summoner Empress of Light using a full set of post-Golem, post-Empress of Light, pre-Moon Lord gear (Xeno Staff + Kaleidoscope + Spooky armor + Betsy’s Wings). In Phase 1 the Empress only reached 5. Everlasting Rainbow before dropping to low health and entering Phase 2; in Phase 2 she would go through exactly one round and die after releasing Prismatic Bolts 2. Average DPS was about 1700, reaching 2200 when the whip could reach her.

During practice, a total of 210 Prismatic Lacewings were consumed.

160 tombstones recording deaths at the time of being killed can be found (because some practice sessions were done at night, so there were no deaths and thus no tombstones):

The killer is Everlasting Rainbow: ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 18 / 160

The killer is Ethereal Lance: ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 32 / 160

The killer is Sun Dance: ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 31 / 160

The killer is the Empress (charge): ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 23 / 160

The killer is Prismatic Bolts: █████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 46 / 160

#Terraria