How to beat Skeletron on Expert/Master Mode

This guide showcases how to beat Skeletron on Expert/Master Mode to newer players that don't know or are having trouble beating it.

Introduction

Hello everyone! This is my first guide on here so offer some advice if you want to. As the title states, this guide is to showcase how to beat Skeletron on Expert Mode. Skeletron is one of the hardest bosses on Expert Mode and as everyone else, I had trouble beating him. But I watched other videos (which will be at the end of the guide) and as such, had an easier time beating him. And I wanted to pass the info onto you guys. So without further ado, lets go!

Accessories and Gear

In order to defeat Skeletron, you will need to get a few accessories. Some I would recommend are the Cloud in a Balloon (or a Cloud in a Bottle and a Balloon if you don't have the Goblin Tinkerer), Hermes Boots OR if your able to get it, Lightning Boots, Hive Pack if you defeated Queen Bee, and the Shield of Cthulhu. If you can, get most of these to warding or menacing (or anything below those)


Now for gear, it is HIGHLY recommended that you have Molten Armor, but you can use Shadow/Crimson Armor or Jungle Armor. Nothing below because then you will be too weak. For context, Molten Armor is the best armor for pre-hardmode in terms of defense, Crimson gives you greater health regeneration, and Shadow gives you more speed (which is actually really great for this fight), and Jungle gives you more mana if your into that sort of thing.

Weapons and Potions

Now comes the hard part: weapons. For weapons that you should use, I would use bees knees because it gets rid of the hands easier and does A LOT of damage if you are able to get the hive pack. Now, if you are unable to kill the queen bee (I will make a guide for that) you can use other weapons. Ones I would use are the molten bow with some hellfire arrows, a boomstick from the jungle, the waterbolt (which is really useful if you have the right arena) (EDIT: As of 1.4, the waterbolt is no longer obtainable pre skeletron) and finally, the most effective, the wand of sparking... just kidding that's useless at this point. What you should use instead of that is the Amazon Yoyo.


Now, unless your Yrimir or Ningishu, you NEED potions for this fight. Some quick ones to get are Ironskin (Daybloom and Iron/Lead ore), Regeneration (Daybloom and Mushrooms), Swiftness (Blinkroot + Cactus) (swiftness is optional) and Archery (Daybloom and Lens).

The Arena

Now, for the arena, I would use at least 2 long platforms and some campfires, or if you use the waterbolt, a box arena with a lot of platforms. Now, you think you'd be done with it. Haha nah, in phase 2, Skeletron fires skulls that deal a lot of damage, so for them, you would want to create a roof at least 11 blocks long and some blocks on the side so they don't go around it. (The roof part was inspired by Yrimir which his video is at the end of the guide). If you can, get some honey and heart lanterns and place them down for EVEN MORE regeneration

The Fight

The fight itself is a challenge, so what I would do is use the shield of cthulhu to gain instant speed and dash right to left, avoiding the hands as best as you can. When he starts spinning, instantly dash to the other side, once you get to the end of the platform, you have to go around him in the air. His hands are most vulnerable at this time, so use the bees knees to attack him. You want to destroy both hands at he same time so focus on both of them equally. Once you destroy them, go to the roof platforms I talked about earlier and if you have it, use the amazon yo-yo to attack him, when he starts spinning, do the same thing you did earlier while he was spinning and use the bees knees to attack him. Repeat until death.

The End

Congratulations! You have defeated Skeletron. A shame that Skeletron Prime was easier but nonetheless, congrats!
Your reward is... being able to throw some bones. And if your lucky, you can get the dope book of skulls. And you get an entire dungeon! Was it worth it? Yeah I guess. The expert item could be different though. Really underwhelming.

Anyways here are the videos that did help me with this. And the sources of the images (will be more images later, steam just stopped working for me

(This video on the right was made in normal mode, but it gave me the idea to use the bees knees against him)

https://terraria.gamepedia.com/ (where I got the gif for the waterbolt and i think Hermes boots)

Don't have the source for the first one, sorry.

[Fire Blades]

"how well do beenades work"
They do work well against skeletron but personally, using the bees knees is better since you'll most likely want to save the beenades for the wall of flesh.

[Fire Blades]

"Also the main reward for killing skeletron isn't its prize but unlocking the dungeon without being nailed by the Guardian"
Yeah I get that, but even now in 1.4 his expert item is underwhelming compared to say, the Eater of Worlds, Queen Bee, etc. I get that the dungeon is the reward but I expected more from the treasure bag drop.

[Sir Charles]

how well do beenades work

[dani050]

i can dodge all of his attacks but i cannot beat him before 4.30

[dani050]

i think i will skip the buff potions

[Winter Wolf]

Also the main reward for killing skeletron isn't its prize but unlocking the dungeon without being nailed by the Guardian. Which is necessary for progression.

[Winter Wolf]

Just tried with a long platform arena and lost because I ran out of health before I could even get close to killing the head. Died to a stray skull because dodging is hard especially when objects like flying skulls are nearly invisible until they are about to hit. (And also ubiquitous.) Mostly I got hit trying to dodge the head while at one end of the platform lengths. All potioned up to no available. Using Bees Knees was not very effective imho. Master mode has changed too many factors in this fight to make it easily doable.

[Aqua]

go to hell and get a demon scythe ... then just keep baiting the hands in a line ... and stay kinda close ... even in master u shred through it like butter *just takes a little longer* ... u can do the same with jester arrows but chances are ur gonna need like 2 stacks and ur raceing the clock

[Fire Blades]

EDIT: Since 1.4 and Master Mode came out, some of the stuff I used have been nerfed and apparently you can't get waterbolt pre skeletron anymore, but most of the stuff in the guide should remain unchanged.

[gojimy535]

ghfyf