Welcome back to part 2 of my stupidest challenge run yet:
Aestheticus-only Defiled Feather

Last time we defeated everything in Pre-Hardmode and gained access to Hardmode and some extra accessory slots. This page, therefore, covers Hardmode and thus the largest potion of the game.


As usual rules are in the Pre-Hardmode page if you want a more in-depth recap.


Anyways, on we go!

Summary:
So, with the changes to Hardmode ore generation I have started fighting the mechanicals first instead of Cryogen so I can actually unlock some of the items I normally use for runs like these.

At the meantime I mainly just got myself a Charm of Myths and an Ankh Shield, as well as a set of melee Palladium Armour for the defence and health regeneration.

Like with the Lunic Eye run damage was low at this point so Aestheticus struggled with even some basic enemies, which is never a good sign honestly.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ N/A



Aftermath:
-Now, with that aside, it's time to head for the mechanical bosses

Summary:
The Twins were admittedly not my initial pick for the first mech boss I wanted to tackle, but the original plan didn't work out so I decided to go with the ones with the least combined health across all their segments so I could at the very least upgrade to better gear.

The Twins were the smoothest of the mech boss fights and by far the shortest, though still took time to defeat and caused some problems since Aestheticus' homing would cause me to target both and thus bring them both to Phase 2 simultaneously.

A concerning first fight damage-wise, I will admit.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 4:20



Aftermath:
-The player can now access Orichalcum and Mythril thanks to the Calamity ore changes, which can in turn be used to craft the anvil and more armour.
--I'd recommend melee Orichalcum since the petals help deal additional damage, which is critical since your damage output with this weapon sucks.

Summary:
My initial first pick for a mech boss since I wanted to fight it when its health was at its lowest, however it took almost a full minute to deal roughly 4% to Destroyer itself so that definitely wasn't happening originally.

Orichalcum's petals from the armour set bonus were the main help here, as they offset my pitiful DPS and were launched frequently due to Aestheticus' fast firing speed.

Worse yet, even that wouldn't have been enough, so I had to incorporate Shield of Cthulhu shield bashes and the Slimy Saddle's bounces to further supplement by poor damage and, even then, it was barely enough to scrape together a victory.

Defiled Feather's effects also scared me a little, but it turns out Sandstorm in a Balloon jumps more than compensate for Destroyer's speed.

Overall, Destroyer seemed like a run-ender at first glance unless I actively skipped it, but I didn't want to do that, so easily by far the worst boss up to this point.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ 8:02



Aftermath:
-You can now get Titanium or Adamantite and thus can upgrade your forge.
--However, Adamantite and 1.3 Titanium sacrifice too much DPS to justify upgrading to them, so I had to stick with Orichalcum

Summary:
Prime was the final mech boss to defeat, and was almost as bad as the Destroyer for one reason; Aestheticus' homing. This feature that seemed super useful once again came back to bite me since it kept targeting the arms, forcing me to ultimately destroy all 4 of them before the fight ended.

Unlike Destroyer, however, at the very least I didn't have to rely on things like my mount and shield to deal additional damage, as Aestheticus and the petals dealt just enough damage to make the fight possible without.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 7:20



Aftermath:
-At this point, all 3 mechs have been defeated, so I can get the Blood Orange for +25 max health and the Avenger Emblem which I reforged to Menacing for a grand total of +80% damage
-Unlike other runs, I didn't get Angel Treads here since I needed the accessory space for the balloons and because I was already spending most of my fights jumping which already granted good horizontal mobility
--I also made a total of 3 Avenger Emblems; each for different purposes
-Additionally, I actually crafted Chlorophyte Armour here for once so I could utilise the crystal from the set bonus

Summary:
In comparison to the mechanicals, Cryogen was a fairly sane fight and ended up being comparable to a more normal fight.

Warmth Potions are, as ever, useful for once so I brought a few to the fight but otherwise my setup was comparable to the mechs.

The only thing to note is that Aestheticus' slowdown could block some of Cryogen's charges sometimes, which became very helpful in the last phase of the fight.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 2:44



Aftermath:
-I now crafted the Ornate Shield, but didn't craft Daedulus Armour since I assumed the Chlorophyte crystal would have more DPS.
--One thing I failed to notice is that the Ornate Shield now has the old Cryogen Lore dash ability, which would've replaced the Shield of Cthulhu if I actually bothered to read the item description...

Summary:
Aquatic Scourge remains, in this run, the 'easier worm boss' Pre-Plantera. Unlike Destroyer it has no Crush Depth immunity and no time limit to speak of, so the fight was a nice breath of fresh, albeit Sulfurous air.

I also noticed during this fight that my Sandstorm double jump specifically accelerated me up to 70-80 mph when used, which may explain how I was outrunning Destroyer earlier.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 3:20



Aftermath:
-Unfortunately, there isn't a useful drop from Scourge after the Lore item lost its Well Fed buff, so this fight is entirely optional aside from unlocking a later boss.

Summary:
Brimmy was, similarly, another fairly normal fight with nothing overly-spectacular compared to other challenge runs.

The only real note here is that, like with the Lunic Eye, Brimmy's teleports do not confuse the projectiles which are willing to do a 180 and turn back to hit her after she teleports.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 3:06



Aftermath:
-The only useful drop exclusive to this boss is Abaddon for a later crafting material

Summary:
Plantera's first phase is very simple and can mainly just be circled, as to be expected. Phase 2, however, summoned back most of the same issues the Lunic Eye had during that challenge run regarding the Clingers.

Clingers spawned from Plantera, since many will be placed between you and Plantera, will become the targets of Aestheticus projectiles and thus really draw out the 2nd phase. While it is entirely possible, and the Abyssal Amulet really helps, it just feels quite lengthy.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 3:47



Aftermath:
-The main addition for beating Plantera is unlocking Perennial Ore, which can in-turn be used for a Necklace of Vexation and Reaver Armour.
--I crafted both the mobility and defence-oriented Reaver helmets so I could alternate as needed: mobility to make up for my lack of wings and for its lack of a damage penalty, and the defensive set so I could recover health should I take damage
-I also now fought the Great Sand Shark and turned my 2nd Avenger Emblem into a Sand Shark Tooth Necklace

Summary:
Calamitas now takes the spot for the longest fight in the run, and once again like Destroyer almost forced me to skip it.

The problem with Calamitas is that her fight is drawn-out over several phases including her summoning her brothers, Soul Seekers, and two bullet-hell phases. Now in a normal run with normal weapons and normal DPS this would be alright, but here my lack of DPS took the fight down to the wire, leaving only 10 seconds before Calamitas despawned even with a little facetanking.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ 8:20



Aftermath:
-Ashes of Calamity are now needed both for Cores of Calamity and a later boss' summon. In the case of the former I can now also craft the Asgard's Valor and free up an accessory slot, which is very useful for...
-The Void of Calamity was also obtained here, being a general +15% damage buff that when reforged to Menacing provides a grand total of +95% damage which is really needed for our weapon's pitiful damage output

Summary:
Well, more accurately, 70% Leviathan with a little bit of Anahita.

Anahita herself was not an issue by any means, since Aestheticus' projectiles could keep up with her and deal consistent damage. The main issue with the fight is Leviathan; who once again is too bulky to really but a dent into since my weapon deals pitiful damage against it and it has a monstrous health pool to chip through.

I wasn't very hopeful with this going well until, all of a sudden, Leviathan just... stopped?

Leviathan, for seemingly no reason, just bugged-out in the middle of the fight and stopped attacking, slowly waddling in one direction very, very slowly. I assume Aestheticus might have hit it when it was preparing some attack and just froze it, but honestly I'm not complaining about being able to remove about half of Leviathan's health without worrying.

Unfortunately, at 30% health Leviathan started moving again, possible due to it enraging and having an AI change after Anahita was defeated, but that wouldn't fully explain why it didn't move when brought to charging range before, so I don't know.

Either way, long fight and a buggy fight, but it's either that or almost 20 minutes for basically the same outcome.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
(Maybe 5 if it didn't bug out, but I don't want to waste another hour fighting a boss that drops nothing else I can use)
⏲ 17:46



Aftermath:
-Unfortunately, aside from the Parasea Banner I got from fighting, nothing it drops has any real value to me for this run for any reason.

Summary:
Aureus is another boss that took a long time, but wasn't directly 'tough' since it has a simple pattern and an exploitable weakness with how it interacts with platforms.

As with Lunic, I had an issue where the splitting projectiles just hit the floor immediately and didn't loop back to hit Aureus, as well as some projectiles trying to home initially but also just hitting the ground.

Worse yet, Aureus has a lot of both health and defence, which stalled things further admittedly. Ultimately I had to deal roughly 40% of Aureus' damage while it was enraged during the daytime, which just made things just a touch more awkward.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 15:45



Aftermath:
-Aureus once again has no useful drops for us this run, but it's labelled Pre-Golem so I fought it Pre-Golem
--My usual Gravistar Boots argument once again applies

Summary:
Golem, while not a hard boss, has actually managed to join the trend of lengthy and awkward boss fights not for its difficulty, but for my low damage output.

That being said, Golem is still Golem, so aside from the fight being lengthy I had no other issues with it.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 4:20



Aftermath:
-Scoria Bars can now be obtained, thus also granting access to Bars of Life.
--Scoria can be used to upgrade the Void of Calamity to the Void of Extinction; primarily removing the damage penalty
--Bars of Life can be used for making Miracle Fruit, with which the player can get +25 max life

Summary:
Plaguebringer Goliath with Defiled Feather is already I imagine quite an awkward fight, so now imagine taking that and making the fight longer, and unnecessarily harder due to poor decision-making.

PBG already stacks a lot against me. It has massive health, high defence, and spawns minions constantly to distract my Aestheticus projectiles while also both dealing high base damage and having the Plague debuff to shred my health even if I tried to tank.

So, now, take that fight and try to fight it inside an enclosed arena.

I, like an idiot, decided to use my Plantera arena for PBG without expanding it since Crimson had overrun most of my jungle, so I couldn't expand much outwards, but I also decided to not bother making it taller under the assumption it wouldn't matter due to my comparatively-poor vertical mobility. What I didn't realise is that this small arena also wasted most of my Aestheticus shots since some hit walls while trying to home and PBG could charge out of bounds often.

Overall, a tough boss with a touch of my own mobility created a monster of a fight that lasted for over 30 minutes, stalled further by me having to use defensive Reaver Armour occasionally for healing... oh boy.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ 32:25



Aftermath:
-Plaguebringer Armour can now be obtained, which is basically the saving grace of the rest of Hardmode and some early Post-ML as well.

Summary:
Ravager was probably the best case for being a tutorial for Plaguebringer Armour's main buffs: plague and bees.

Ravager's multiple segments were not only more vulnerable to Aestheticus' splitting shots, but also each was separately susceptible to the plague and the bees further stacked up probably more DPS than Aestheticus alone could dream of.

Overall, it's nice to see Ravager not end up anywhere near as nightmarish as some of the previous bosses.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 5:17



Aftermath:
-At this point, Ravager doesn't really drop anything directly unique that's helpful, but the resources are always appreciated

Summary:
Duke Fishron ultimately makes the effects of those bees far more apparent; turning a boss with 60,000 health into a fairly normal-seeming endeavour.

Honestly, the only real awkward thing is that the detonating bubbles block a fair amount of my projectiles, but in turn Aestheticus' slowdown absolutely decimates charges when it procs.



Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 1:43



Aftermath:
-Aside from maybe Fishron Wings there isn't really anything worth getting from this boss

Summary:
Much to my surprise Lunatic Cultist actually managed to put up a decent fight for once, which is quite a stark contrast to me almost AFKing the fight in the Flower Girl Challenge.

This is because, I believe, LC nerfs homing projectile damage which I assume may count both Aestheticus and the bees considering how comparatively little damage we were doing compared to things like Fishron which actually have more health and are more mobile.

Either way, the fight was still quite normal overall, and in fact felt more interesting than normal runs.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 2:54



Aftermath:
-The Lunar Events have now begun, granting access to the final boss for this portion of the game
-The Ancient Manipulator can now be obtained, though I don't think it's all that useful for the moment

Summary:
Yes. The full stop in the heading is intentional.

Astrum Deus, in short, was hell in this run. Bear in mind my damage is already bad, so also add onto that the fact I have to fight a mobile, highly-defensive boss with at least 540,000 health not counting my homing attacks flying off and hitting the worm I'm not focusing, you can imagine it was a long fight.

Also, remember that the times are only for the winning attempt and don't count the likely hours of failures behind them.

Fight itself doesn't change, though I'm considering fighting Deus Post-Moon Lord in any of the more 'challenging' runs now.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★★
⏲ 41:25



Aftermath:
-You get lunar fragments. That's it.

Summary:
Moon Lord was the final part of this portion of progression and gatekeeps most of the Post-Moon Lord content, and after Astrum Deus I only imagined the fight would be kinder on me, which it thankfully was.

The issue in Phase 1 was issues hitting the 'main' eye, since it closed a lot and my damage came from homing hitting it consistently or trying to prioritise it over the other eyes was exceptionally hard this time, so both other eyes were freed long in advance.

The core, while tanky, was simple enough to deal with I guess. A while later and the fight was mine.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 10:56



Aftermath:
-With Moon Lord's defeat, the player can now access most of Calamity's Post-Moon Lord content
-The player can also now get 2 more accessory slots, 1 from the challenge rules (potentially) and 1 from the Celestial Onion

And that was the 2nd part of the Calamity Aestheticus Challenge run.



As you might have seen looking at the stars and the boss timers, Hardmode comes in swinging and gives almost no downtime among boss difficulty. Early-on their fight timers force you to play aggressively or time-out, and later-on their beefed-up stats really do make the Aestheticus feel like a pathetic peashooter.

Hence why I said you shouldn't try this run, since now it truly starts becoming that nightmare I promised... and oh boy does it continue Post-Moon Lord.



Anyways, that aside, I hope you enjoyed and I hope to have the next part up soon

See you then :)