I would say that, in this challenge, Hardmode is probably the easiest of the major progression areas for two reasons.

Primarily, the Lunic Eye was intended to be used now. There aren't many damage buffs Pre-Hardmode so aside from accessory modifiers ways of boosting the Lunic Eye's damage are minimal. Post-Moon Lord also has issues due to how steeply the Lunic Eye's damage falls off.

Secondly, the Abyssal Amulet gets buffed in Hardmode and, as discussed in the prior page, it should be used for basically any of my stupid challenge runs to offset lost damage. Literally just poking it too hard deals like 500 damage.



Additionally, as of this page and the Post-Moon Lord one, I will be giving times for bosses. On this page I'll note down only any particularly exceptional times but for Post-Moon Lord it should be (almost) every time.


Anyways, on we go!

[Unfortunately, with the Draedon update coming soon, I'm not sure what changes that update will bring to this challenge yet.]

Once again there's some things I'd generally recommend getting before the player decides to try and take on some of the hardmode bosses not previously covered.

Fabsol's Vodka is generally a very useful buff for this challenge. +8% Damage grants a +40% in total due to it being applied for all 5 classes when buffing the Lunic Eye, and the increased immunity frames are useful, especially when paired with a certain armour set.

Titanium Armour is definitely the go-to set for this challenge. The dodge effect (currently) granted (before the 1.4 port) means that even the vodka's -20 defence isn't too problematic, especially since the Vodka's increased immunity frames work for the shadow dodge still.


Also don't forget the rules give the player 8 accessory slots by this point as discussed in the Pre-Hardmode page, so don't forget to grab some more accessories you may want.

Summary:
The Twins are actually a fairly normal fight with the Lunic Eye. The homing allows it to keep up with the duo even when charging and they're weak to both Marked and Crush Depth so a lot of extra damage can be dealt very quickly

The only issue is the homing effect can make it hard to only focus one of the pair, often leading to both transforming into their 2nd phases before either can be defeated.



Difficulty Increase:
★★



Aftermath:
-Aside from Hallowed Armour there is little else the player can obtain from just defeating the Twins that can be useful in this challenge. However Hallowed has stiff competition from Titanium Armour in worlds that have it, so even this isn't too useful

Summary:
Skeletron Prime is basically identical to the twins in terms of notes for this challenge. Being vulnerable to both the Amulet and Lunic debuffs cause it to take lots of damage very quickly and the Crush Depth still allows Lunic blasts to damage Prime's skull while spinning

But, as before, focusing down specific limbs becomes difficult since it typically wants to focus the one closest, which is usually the melee hands.



Difficulty Increase:
★★



Aftermath:
-Like with the Twins, the only thing of note is Hallowed Armour if you wanted it. When it comes to all soul types I will discuss those with the Destroyer...

Summary:
May I formally introduce you to perhaps the most unnecessarily hectic boss of the playthrough up to this point. This is the thing I was worried the Eater would become in Pre-Hardmode, but now without the Abyssal Amulet to cheese it.

The Destroyer has tons of health and defence, as well as an immunity to debuffs, so the player's ability to deal damage is minimal. Worse yet, with its Probe spawns, it can distract Lunic projectiles and make them go after the Probes which, ultimately, is more of just a waste of time.

The main difficulty comes from the Destroyer's time limit; the first boss so far to actually pose a genuine risk of causing a time-out and fleeing depending on how the player approaches the fight. Hyper-offence recommended when possible.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 7:00



Aftermath:
-The Destroyer's defeat, along with the other previous mech bosses, allow the player to get the Blood Orange, Angel Treads, the Pickaxe Axe and a few other bits and pieces together to help for the future.
-The player can now also craft the Avenger Emblem; normally a 12% damage buff that becomes a massive +60% for the Lunic Eye; the best damage buff from a single accessory thus far.
--Making a Menacing Avenger Emblem provides a grand total of +80% for a single accessory

Summary:
Cryogen, despite being one of the Calamity bosses with Crush Depth immunity, was actually an alright fight overall. The fight is generally quite normal with nothing too stand-out.

The only real note is that Cryogen's 'derping out' phase is faster than the Lunic projectiles so luring it into a large cluster of them as it turns around is recommended to minimise damage loss



Difficulty Increase:
★



Aftermath:
-Cryonic Ore is unlocked, mainly just for Bars of Life and the Ornate Shield
-The Soul of Cryogen make great wings and provide a 7% damage buff, becoming a +35% for the Lunic Eye

Summary:
Many of Aquatic Scourge's problems are similar to the Destroyer's; debuff immunity and high health being the standout two.

The only upside is that, due to Scourge's lack of a time limit and Probes, the fight is still generally easier than the Destroyer's despite still taking a while



Difficulty Increase:
★★★



Aftermath:
-Nothing majorly of note is unlocked by defeating the Aquatic Scourge here, but I wanted to do it Pre-Plantera just for completion's sake

Summary:
The Brimstone Elemental has a trio of defence-based issues that make her fight somewhat obnoxious. First off, she is another boss immune to Crush Depth, so the player by default loses a lot of DPS from the Abyssal Amulet.

The second issue is the Brimstone Crags' low ceilings. While these can be mined away it takes time and is generally recommended to do since fighting her in a low ceiling or boxed-off arena leads to lots of homing shots trying to adjust and hitting walls; leading to a lot of missed damage.

Finally, the Lunic is generally useless when she is guarding herself, due to low base damage and the Elemental's debuff immunity.

The only real upside is that the Lunic projectiles are generally decent at keeping up with her when she's turning during her fireball phase or teleporting.



Difficulty Increase:
★★



Aftermath:
-You can now mine Charred Ore... which isn't especially all too helpful for the player honestly so it's just another Aquatic Scourge situation until Post-Plantera
-The Abaddon drop is nice, but it's moreso for being a material later

Summary:
Plantera is a slow and easy-to-hit target and is weak to Crush Depth, meaning this fight isn't really an issue at all.

Even Phase 2, where Plantera's tendrils come into effect, isn't too bad. While the Lunic will prioritise the tendrils Crush Depth will mean they all die very quickly; removing one of the main active threats of Phase 2 very easily.



Difficulty Increase:
★



Aftermath:
-The Dungeon becomes tougher, so the player can craft the Asgard's Valor for its defence, debuff resistances, and its dash.
-Should the player need Life Fruit they can craft some using some of Plantera's drops and Planty Mush

Summary:
Calamitas is a long fight, but not an overly-difficult one. Her many minions are the main reason the fight takes ages, since she's invulnerable when they are active.

Once again the homing generally helps since it doesn't target the invulnerable Calamitas and they can generally do a decent job of keeping up with the brothers' charges.

Just be careful since the fight is long so dying near the end stings a little.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 6:00



Aftermath:
-The Void of Calamity now takes the new record spot for highest damage buffs from a single item, providing a +15% damage buff. With the Lunic this effectively becomes +75% and with Menacing this caps out at a +95% damage buff

Summary:
This fight's difficulty is entirely dependent on which of the duo is active.
Anahita is entirely manageable and, aside from the detonating bubble spawns blocking Lunic Eye shots, is generally the same as normal. The problem arises from Leviathan

Leviathan is a big target with lots of health which takes the Lunic Eye a long time to get through. This is worsened by both the duos' Crush Depth immunity and also because the Leviathan is constantly spawning minions that the Lunic Eye will prioritise often due to them pursuing the player constantly.

The fight takes ages, long enough that I actually managed to kill more than 50 Parasea spawns from Leviathan alone, granting me the banner on my first fight.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 10:30



Aftermath:
-Not much is directly useful from Anahita and Leviathan honestly, but due to it being a Post-Plantera fight I fought it Post-Plantera for progression's sake
-In Revengeance the Community is quite a nice item due to it providing a wide array of buffs, including a universal damage buff, but it requires a lot of farming most likely

Summary:
Astrum Aureus has no particularly special notes, aside from it being another grounded boss requiring some additional accuracy due to the unreliability of the Lunic Eye's homing attacks vs grounded enemies.

The only other note is that, like other high-health, high-defence bosses the fight is a long one.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 6:30



Aftermath:
-Nothing particularly useful drops from Aureus, nor are the Astral enemy drops very useful either since most are weapons which are banned from the run.
-Unlike Anahita, however, Aureus also lacks a special item drop that's useful so it's entirely fine to skip the fight if you wanted

Summary:
Golem is a very tough and intense boss that requires the player's full concentration. It provides a challenge likewise unseen until now and-

Ok, really, Golem remains an absolutely pathetic boss in this challenge. Crush Depth and homing shred the hands even with some difficulty caused by the homing shots' targeting, and Phase 2 isn't much harder.

Even the Revengeance changes don't save it much since the Lunic's homing does a fairly good job at dealing with Golem's head in that difficulty.



Difficulty Increase:
★



Aftermath:
-Chaotic Ore can be mined, allowing the player to craft many things including Bars of Life
-The player can upgrade the Eye of Calamity into the Eye of Extinction; mainly just removing the 10% damage vulnerability the item initially came with. Unfortunately the Amalgam cannot be obtained later due to its minion, but the +15% damage buff is always welcome

Summary:
The first boss thus far to almost receive the 5-star difficulty band due to a few reasons. The Plaguebringer has a lot of health and a lot of defence, so the Lunic projectiles don't deal too much damage. Goliath is fast and thus can almost outrun the Lunic projectiles, especially when charging or if fought in an arena that's simply too small.

Generally I'd advise bringing the Ambrosial Ampuole for the 25% reduced damage taken from the Plaguebringer, as well as the Alchemical Flask to reduce the Plague's effects. The fight is do-able, but very lengthy for such a hectic fight.

Also, yes, I did forget the Ampuole and Flask when I fought her but, yes, I still somehow managed to pull a victory from the aether. Weird flex, but let's continue.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 10:20



Aftermath:
-Not much is directly unlocked by defeating the Plaguebringer. The Bloom Stone perhaps to craft the Heart of the Elements in order to use its much-sadder accessory-hidden mode?

Summary:
Duke Fishron's fight is basically the same as ever, with the Lunic projectiles being generally able to keep up with Fishron's mobility fairly well.

Don't forget that Crush Depth actually still works on Duke, so don't forget to abuse it in the 2nd last major fight that it has any impact.



Difficulty Increase:
★



Aftermath:
-Fishron wings are generally quite good should the player be willing to farm Fishron for better wings
-Fishron's other drops are mostly weapons, however, and thus aren't too useful

Summary:
As you may have guessed from the Plaguebringer fight, this is the point where the Lunic Eye's damage begins to severely fall off in terms of viability. Case-in-point is Ravager; Golem's superior counterpart.

The Lunic's homing isn't too useful due to the Ravager's slow movements in Phase 1, though they're alright for Phase 2. Also, it's a grounded boss, so many shots that miss the initial attempt may just hit the ground while turning.

The Lunic explosions also don't have any effect since Ravager's limbs are too spaced-out for an explosion to hit more than one, so even the AoE doesn't help.

Just prepare for another lengthy battle.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 8:10



Aftermath:
-The Ravager's Geodes contain lots of useful items, though it's probably faster to just farm them directly since this fight takes ages.

Summary:
This fight is nothing special, honestly. I haven't any particular notes for this one, aside from the fact that it doesn't appear the Cultist resists the Lunic's homing projectiles unlike other homing effects.

I do not know if Crush Depth affects the Cultist or not. I'm so used to its vanilla debuff immunity I instinctively took off the Amulet for the fight. It still wasn't too bad.



Difficulty Increase:
★★



Aftermath:
-Grants access to the Lunar events and the Ancient Manipulator, the latter being a necessary crafting station.
-One fun fact about the Lunar events is that the Lunic projectile lasts long enough to hit pillars while out of their range. This only works once their shields are down, however.

Summary:
Introducing by far the worst boss in the challenge outside of Post-Moon Lord; Astrum Deus.

Deus has all the tools to mess with the Lunic Eye; high defence, high health exaggerated further due to it being a worm boss, a soft time limit due to it enraging during the day, and healing during the Phase 2 transition.

This fight takes so long that, by the time you begin Phase 2, it is likely to be approaching daytime even if Deus was summoned at 7:30 PM.

Just... skip Astrum Deus honestly. I don't blame you.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ 21:00



Aftermath:
-You get some celestial fragments if fought Post-Cultist, though most of its other drops make minimal difference in the long run

Summary:
Terraria's vanilla final boss and the final hurdle before the final third of the game. Moon Lord has a lot of health and a healing factor, meaning that the Abyssal Amulet is basically compulsory for this fight.

With the Amulet the player can stop the Moon Lord healing, which may be impossible otherwise and make the fight almost unwinnable without more cheesy measures to assure a win.

The fight is long, but doable, and once the Moon Lord is defeated the 2nd chapter of the Lunic Eye run is over.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 7:15



Aftermath:
-The player will enter the Post-Moon Lord section of the game... good luck...

Thanks to y'all for sticking around while I made the 2nd part. I know it wasn't as fast as the weaponless run, but I've had a lot of irl events that have seriously slowed down any progress I've been trying to make.

Anyways, as you can guess, Post-Moon Lord is coming next. That is by far the most gruelling part of the challenge and some of the fights there genuinely put Astrum Deus to shame in terms of difficulty spikes during the challenge, so stay tuned for that.

I do know that, once the Draedon update comes out, that much of this will likely become redundant due to item and boss changes, but hopefully this remains as a usable guideline regardless of changes and perhaps as some weird-as-heck memento of some items before they're changed (I'm going to miss you, Pre-Nerf Abyssal Amulet)



Once again big thanks for taking a look here. Seeing actual feedback for my work, even if it's just a few views appearing every now and then, is nice to see and keeps me motivated to dish out these weird challenges as it shows at least some people care :P


Anyways, see you next time :)