Empress of Light

Empress of Light

Map icon

Statistics

Type	Boss
Environment	The Hallow
Damage	80 / 110 / 143 / 154 / 198 (Contact) 120 / 165 / 214 / 231 / 297 (Charge) 90 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Prismatic Bolt) 100 / 140 / 184 / 200 / 270 (Sun Dance) 90 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Everlasting Rainbow) 100 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Ethereal Lance) All damage ×2 (At Day)
Max Life	100,000 / 140,000 / 168,000 / 178,500 / 214,200
Defense	50
DR	15%
KB Resist	100%
Inflicts debuff	Holy Flames 100% chance
Debuff duration	5.33 seconds (Contact) 3.33 seconds (Day Sun Dance) 2.67 seconds (Day Everlasting Rainbow) 2 seconds (Day Ethereal Lance, Day Prismatic Bolt)
Debuff tooltip	Dissolving from holy light
Inflicts debuff	Nightwither 100% chance
Debuff duration	3.33 seconds (Night Sun Dance) 2.67 seconds (Night Everlasting Rainbow) 2 seconds (Night Ethereal Lance, Night Prismatic Bolt)
Debuff tooltip	Incinerated by lunar rays
Immune to

Resistances

Cold	Vulnerable
Water	-
Sickness	Vulnerable
Electricity	-
Heat	Vulnerable

Drops

Coins	25

Sounds

Hurt

Killed

Summoned

Prismatic Bolts

Prismatic Bolts 2

Sun Dance

Everlasting Rainbow

Ethereal Lance

Dash

Empress of LightPhase 2

Map icon

Statistics

Type	Boss
Environment	The Hallow
Damage	80 / 110 / 143 / 154 / 198 (Contact) 120 / 165 / 214 / 231 / 297 (Charge) 90 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Prismatic Bolt) 100 / 140 / 184 / 200 / 270 (Sun Dance) 90 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Everlasting Rainbow) 100 / 120 / 160 / 176 / 234 (Ethereal Lance) All damage ×2 (At Day)
Max Life	100,000 / 140,000 / 168,000 / 178,500 / 214,200
Defense	50
DR	15%
KB Resist	100%
Inflicts debuff	Holy Flames 100% chance
Debuff duration	8 seconds (Contact) 5 seconds (Day Sun Dance) 4 seconds (Day Everlasting Rainbow) 3 seconds (Day Ethereal Lance, Day Prismatic Bolt)
Debuff tooltip	Dissolving from holy light
Inflicts debuff	Nightwither 100% chance
Debuff duration	5 seconds (Night Sun Dance) 4 seconds (Night Everlasting Rainbow) 3 seconds (Night Ethereal Lance, Night Prismatic Bolt)
Debuff tooltip	Incinerated by lunar rays
Immune to

Resistances

Cold	Vulnerable
Water	-
Sickness	Vulnerable
Electricity	-
Heat	Vulnerable

Drops

Coins	25

• Item (Quantity)Rate
• At least one of the following 7 items will always drop:
• Nightglow
  25% / 33.33%
• Starlight
  25% / 33.33%
• Kaleidoscope
  25% / 33.33%
• Eventide
  25% / 33.33%
• Stellar Tune
  25% / 33.33%
• Empress Wings
  25% / 33.33%
• Terraprisma(100% while enraged)
  25% / 33.33%
• Soaring Insignia
  100%
• Rainbow Cursor
  5%
• Prismatic Dye
  25%
• Greater Healing Potion (5–15)
  100%
• Empress of Light Mask
  14.29%
• Empress of Light Trophy
  10%
• Thank You
  1%
• Treasure Bag(Empress of Light)
  100%
• Jewel of Light(In Master or Revengeance Mode only)
  25% / 25%
• Empress of Light Relic(In Master or Revengeance Mode only)
  100% / 100%
• Empress of Light (Lore)(Always on first kill)
  100%

Sounds

Hurt

Killed

Summoned

Prismatic Bolts

Prismatic Bolts 2

Sun Dance

Everlasting Rainbow

Ethereal Lance

Dash

If you were looking for Empress of Light on the vanilla wiki, click here.

"Though her title is lofty, she is more an emissary for the powers beyond and forces of nature."

The Empress of Light is a Hardmode boss fought in The Hallow. She is intended to be fought after The Plaguebringer Goliath. The Empress of Light fight is optional and is not required for progression, but can reward the player with valuable gear, including the powerful Kaleidoscope, a whip viable until the end of the game.

While in Revengeance and Death Mode, Empress of Light has various changes to her attack patterns.

During the day, Empress will enrage; however, the Terraprisma is no longer locked behind this fight.

Spawn

The Empress of Light is summoned by killing a Prismatic Lacewing, a rare critter that spawns in the surface Hallow at night between 7:30 PM - 12:00 AM once Hardmode has started.

The Prismatic Lacewing can be killed at any time in any biome to summon the boss, however outside of the Hallow biome, the Prismatic Lacewing will disappear almost immediately, requiring the player to use persistent or quick weapons to kill it.

Behavior

In Revengeance Mode

• Empress's movement is far more erratic, which can make her harder to hit while moving.
• Empress has a 50% chance to skip ahead one attack in her pattern.
• Empress now releases a stream of Prismatic Bolts behind herself when dashing, and dashes alongside the player instead of at them.
• All of Empress's Ethereal Lance attacks are more spread out.
• Empress gains a significant boost to defense while using Sun Dance.
• During Phase 2, Empress gains a rare unique set of Ethereal Lance attacks, hereby referred to as Ethereal Lance V3, based on the Classic Mode exclusive version of Ethereal Lance V2.
  • She fires 3, occasionally 4, walls of lances, which can come in one of four directions; left, right, angled left, or angled right. They are similar to the laser walls made by The Devourer of Gods due to covering most of the screen, but unlike The Devourer's, only come from a single direction at a time.
• Phase 2's Eternal Rainbow spreads out in a more ovular shape rather than the typical circular one, which may catch players off guard.
• Etheral Lance V2 can last anywhere from 2 waves to 6.
• Phase 2's Sun Dance spawns 2 spreads of projectiles instead of 3.
• All attacks have more projectiles and last longer.
• Empress becomes more erratic in both movement and attacks as HP decreases; typically reducing attack duration (Ethereal Lance V3 goes from 4 walls to 2), but increasing the overlap time.
• Empress no longer deals contact damage during the fight, except while dashing.
• Empress deals less damage while enraged.

In Death Mode

• Switches between attacks faster, sometimes allowing them to overlap.
• Increased movement speed.
• Ethereal Lance V3 is far more common, and more commonly has 4 walls.
• Prismatic Shards V2 spreads out much quicker and further.
• Empress's "charging" animation, which has no attack associated with it, is far less common.
• All attacks have more projectiles and last longer than in Revengeance.

During the day

• Empress releases two waves of stars during Everlasting Rainbow, but it no longer retains the unique spreading in Phase 2 from previous difficulties.
• All attacks have more projectiles and last longer than in Death.
• Attack switch speed is lowered even further.
• Ethereal Lance V3 is incredibly common, and almost always has 4 walls.
• Projectile speed is increased.
• Empress's "charging" animation is even less common.
• Empress gains Reactive Damage Reduction.

Resistances

• Empress of Light takes 80% damage from Plague Tainted SMG's drones.

Terrain Preparation

The player should make sure to have a very large arena with the center or spawn point in or around the Hallow to allow rematches to be started more easily. If the player does not already have a massive general arena from fighting bosses like Calamitas Clone, one with 5 or 6 layers of platforms around 15-20 blocks apart should cover most of the available sky before reaching Space. Spiteful Candles and Weightless Candles can be a boon to the player if spaced intermittently around the arena, as the overlapping attacks on higher difficulties can force the player to keep moving.

Gearing Up

If you are looking for a guide on normal or Expert Mode Empress of Light, click here.

Accessories

• Mobility should be prioritized for this fight, especially on harder difficulties, so the Angel Treads are a must.
• Betsy's Wings or Fishron Wings provide the best mobility available at this point in the game, but require grinding the Old One's Army or the equally challenging boss, Duke Fishron.
  • The Hadal Mantle is a decent option alongside Hydrothermic armor for its damage boost.
  • The Steampunk Wings are another viable option.
• Asgard's Valor can be useful for some of its defensive capabilities on lower difficulties, but mostly for its dash.
  • On the other hand, Master Ninja Gear is invaluable against Empress due to the dodge chance and longer dash, especially when fighting her enraged.
  • Furthermore, melee players should consider the Evasion Scarf due to its ability to dodge projectiles, as well as being more controlled than Master Ninja Gear's cool-down.
• The Blood Pact may allow the player to be able to tank some of the enraged Empress's hits, but a single critical hit can be devastating, if not lethal.
• The Community provides minor buffs to all stats at this point.
• Melee players can use the Celestial Shell and Fire Gauntlet for their great melee stat boosts.
  • If the player is using any yoyo, the Yoyo Bag is a must.
• Rangers should use a Sniper Scope as the ability to see Empress off-screen can allow massive damage to be racked up, especially during her Sun Dance when she moves the least. However the player has to maintain a distance due to the size of the attack.
  • The Deadshot Brooch is useful for bonus damage and increased velocity allowing players to hit shots more easily during Empress's more erratic attacks.
  • The Alchemical Flask can be useful when paired with Plague Reaper armor due to Empress's lack of debuff immunities, which can allow damage to be stacked up while she is off-screen.
• The Chaos Stone paired with a Mana Flower upgrade could be a genuine consideration against higher difficulties, as getting hit likely already spells death for the player, so the Mana Burn can be overlooked.
  • The Mana Cloak's stars can be decent against lower difficulties.
  • The Arcane Flower may be the strongest choice due to its 20% mana reduction, and the lack of any stars dropping during this fight from minions negating Magnet Flower's usefulness, as well as how much Empress punishes getting hit negating Mana Cloak's usefulness.
• The Star-Tainted Generator and Statis' Blessing should be used by summoners due to the minion slots and damage bonuses they provide.
• The Abyssal Mirror's built in dodge can be fantastic against Empress's hard-hitting attacks.
  • The Ethereal Extorter's homing souls can help with landing hits regardless of Empress's erratic movement.

Armor

• Hydrothermic armor is a viable option for all classes.
• Melee users can use Beetle armor with either chest piece for great offensive or defensive boosts respectively.
• Ranged users can use Plague Reaper armor for its great offensive and movement boosts.
• If The Plaguebringer Goliath has been defeated, Plaguebringer armor is arguably the best available option for summoners at this point.
  • Spooky armor is a strong option for players on higher difficulties, as it benefits a glass cannon playstyle, which Empress forces while enraged.
  • Valhalla Knight armor is a consideration for its incredible survivability and bonus sentry slots.

Weapons

• The Golden Gun can be good to apply Ichor if the player has no other ways to do so.
• Yanmei's Knife's movement bonuses can be great if the player can get a hit off while Empress is close to the player, like during the start of the fight or when she dashes by.

Melee

• The Soul Harvester's lingering projectiles can deal massive damage to Empress over time, especially if the player stacks a few overhead when Empress dashes off screen, as she will teleport there afterwards.
• The Blighted Cleaver can be strong for similar reasons, alongside its numerous debuffs.
• The Pandemic is also a solid weapon that can inflict Empress with Plague.
• The Fault Line's explosions can deal good DPS when Empress is close to the player, and has the weaker but effective On Fire! debuff.
• The Fallen Paladin's Hammer deals really good damage and has a large projectile, which benefits from Empress lingering close to the player, regardless of her erratic movement.
• The Briny Baron's secondary attack can deal decent damage, but landing true melee hits for its primary attack can be difficult due to the distance Empress keeps between herself and the player, and her constant swarm of projectiles.

Ranged

• The Aerial Bane's extra projectiles can deal a lot more damage to Empress.
• The Continental Greatbow provides support by inflicting Ichor.
• The Hive can be used for taking out Empress fairly easily with its strong debuffs and homing bees.
• The Snowman Cannon is fantastic due to its homing and Mini Nuke Is.
• The Xenopopper used with Chlorophyte Bullets can absoultely shred Empress.
• The Gauss Rifle does excellent damage, but may need recharging or swapping out with a fully-charged rifle mid-fight.

Mage

• Betsy's Wrath is an incredibly strong support option, but requires grinding the Old One's Army.
  • The Everglade Spray can be used to inflict Ichor and Cursed Inferno as an alternative to Betsy's Curse.
• The Tears of Heaven is a great choice due to its homing projectiles.
• The Laser Machinegun can deal lots of damage, but consumes mana extremely quickly.
• If The Plaguebringer Goliath has been defeated, the Gatling Laser is one of the highest DPS options available.
  • The Plague Staff is another powerful post-Plaguebringer weapon.
• The Razorblade Typhoon and its homing is fantastic for Empress.
• If Duke Fishron and Plaguebringer Goliath have not yet been defeated, the Terra Ray is another viable option.

Summoner

• The Hive Pod can deal great damage while Empress is using Sun Dance.
  • The Spikecrag Staff is a more powerful, but slightly less accurate, alternative.
• The Resurrection Butterfly is mobile enough to be a very solid weapon in this fight.
• The Wither Blossoms Staff is strong for its homing and debuffs as most of the Plague weapons are for this fight, as Empress is highly active, and isn't always on screen.
• The Xeno Staff is surprisingly competent due to its DPS and Empress's tendency to return to the player, which helps mitigate the typical issues with the summons' AI.
• The Dark Harvest is a must for those using whips as the strongest available until the boss is beaten, especially with Flasks.
  • The Morning Star is decent, but slow, which can be punishing if the player misses.

Rogue

• The Cranium Smasher is a strong choice for a rogue weapon which deals slow but massive damage.
• The Malachite is an amazing weapon for Empress with its latching kunai, which can build up damage even offscreen.
  • The Fantasy Talisman is strong for similar reasons, along with its homing souls on stealth strike.
• The Syringe is a very nice way to inflict Plague.
• The Epidemic Shredder's homing seekers upon hitting an enemy and Plague debuff make it a strong choice as well.
• The Subduction Slicer is a decent choice and hitting its stealth strike during Sun Dance can allow the pillar to build up decent damage.

Notes

• Empress always starts Phase 1 with a Prismatic Bolt, and will always start Phase 2 with either Ethereal Lance V2 or V3.

Tips

• Using a flying mount with unlimited flying duration like the Witch's Broom, the Shrimpy Truffle or the Cosmic Car Key can entirely remove the need to build an arena. The fact that flying mounts can stand still while flying also greatly helps dodging the Ethereal Lance V3.

History

edit

These history sections are still a work-in-progress, and may not yet contain changes relevant to the current version of the Calamity Mod.

• 2.0.3.007:
  • Reduced acceleration and maximum velocity by 20%.
  • Increased downtime between all attacks.
  • Now takes 80% damage from Plague Tainted SMG's drones instead of 70%.

• 2.0.3.005:
  • Decreased Holy Flames duration on contact from 8 seconds to 5.33.
  • Decreased Nightwither duration from sun dance from 5 seconds to 3.33, from everlasting rainbow from 4 seconds to 2.67, and from lances and bolts from 3 seconds to 2.
  • Now takes 70% damage from Plague Tainted SMG's drones.

• 2.0.3.001: Nerfed health from 105,000 / 147,000 / 176,400 / 187,425 / 224,910 to 100,000 / 140,000 / 168,000 / 178,500 / 214,200 .

• 2.0.2.001: Buffed Boss Rush health from 180,000 / 252,000 / 302,400 / 321,300 / 385,560 to 200,000 / 280,000 / 336,000 / 357,000 / 428,400 .

• 2.0.1.003: Now appears in Boss Rush.

• 2.0.0.003: Fixed a bug where her "Sun Dance" would end prematurely in Revengeance Mode or higher.

• 2.0.0.001:
  • Buffed health from 70,000 / 98,000 to 105,000 / 147,000 / 176,400 .
  • Contact damage now varies based on boss velocity.
  • Now has 15% damage reduction.
  • Now drops 60 instead of 25 .
  • Now has a new AI for Revengeance Mode, Death Mode and Malice Mode or Daytime.
  • Empress Wings, Eventide, Nightglow, Kaleidoscope, Starlight, and Terraprisma now drop in a standard 25% / 33.33% chance method.
  • Now drops Soaring Insignia in Classic and Journey Modes.