Daytime Empress of Light Guide

A guide detailing movement strategies to avoid the multitude of attacks the Empress has, as well as a small list of recommended equipment to further aid with the fight.

Introduction

This fight is quite difficult for players who aren't experienced with bullet-hell type bosses, and even more difficult when she is fought during the daytime, when the Empress deals damage in the tens of thousands.

Doing 100% of damage during the day also results in arguably the best summon in the game, the Terraprisma, which can rip even Duke Fishron into shred within the span of only 10 seconds!

If you're looking to get the Terraprisma, or simply looking to take on a great challenge, this guide may be quite helpful, as it shows movement patterns to counter each of the attacks/combinations of attacks the Empress uses.

A video of the mastermode 'For the Worthy' version of the fight as a pure summoner can be seen below. Screen captures from it will be used to explain in some detail how to properly avoid the attacks.

Equipment

Armour

Melee

• Hallowed Armour with Hallowed Mask (Most Recommended due to the Holy Protection set bonus) HOLY PROTECTION NO LONGER WORKS AGAINST DAYTIME EOL
  
• Chlorophyte Armour with Chlorophyte Mask (Pre-Golem)
  
• Beetle Armour with Beetle Scalemail (Pre-ML)
  
• Solar Flare Armour (Endgame)

Ranger

• Hallowed Armour with Hallowed Helmet (Most Recommended due to the Holy Protection set bonus) HOLY PROTECTION NO LONGER WORKS AGAINST DAYTIME EOL
  
• Shroomite Armour with helmet matching weapon type used (Pre-Golem and Pre-ML)
  
• Vortex Armour (Endgame)

Mage

• Hallowed Armour with Hallowed Headgear (Most Recommended due to the Holy Protection set bonus) HOLY PROTECTION NO LONGER WORKS AGAINST DAYTIME EOL
  
• Spectre Armour with Spectre Mask (Pre-Golem and Pre-ML)
  
• Nebula Armour (Endgame)

Summoner

• Hallowed Armour with Hallowed Hood(Most Recommended due to the Holy Protection set bonus) HOLY PROTECTION NO LONGER WORKS AGAINST DAYTIME EOL
  
• Spooky Armour (Pre-Golem and Pre-ML) (useful for more minion slots and minion damage)
  
• Tiki Armour (Pre-Golem and Pre-ML) (useful for whip range)
  
• Stardust Armour (Endgame)

Accessories

• Wings (such as Spectre Wings or better)
  
• Amphibian Boots (Can swap out with Soaring Insignia if EoL has been defeated previously at nighttime, but remember to hover slightly off the ground as there is no sprint)
  
• A dashing accessory (preferably Master Ninja Gear due to its additional 10% chance to dodge any attack) (Master Ninja Gear's dodge does not work against daytime EOL)
  
• (Optional) A fast mount (at least 61 mph) such as the Black Spot or Goat Skull helps greatly with one of the parts in Phase 2

Fill up the rest of the accessory slots with accessories that benefit the class you are playing as, such as more minion slots if playing as summoner.

All accessories should be reforged to either Menacing, Lucky, (Only Menacing if playing as summoner) or Violent (if using melee weapons).

Weapons

Melee weapons should be reforged to either Legendary or Godly
Ranged weapons should be reforged to Unreal
Magic weapons should be reforged to either Mythical or Mystic
Summoner whips should be reforged to either Bulky or Sluggish
Summoner minion staves should be reforged to Ruthless

Melee
Pre-Golem

• Terra Blade
  
• Scourge of the Corruptor
  
• Paladin's Hammer
  
• North Pole
  
• Christmas Tree Sword

Pre-ML

• Flying Dragon
  
• Influx Waver
  
• Possessed Hatchet
  
• Flairon
  
• Sky Dragon's Fury
  
• Daybreak
  
• Solar Eruption

Endgame

• Star Wrath
  
• Meowmere
  
• Zenith

Ranger
Ammo

• Holy Arrows
  
• Ichor Arrows
  
• Luminite Arrows (Endgame)
  
• Chlorophyte Bullets
  
• Ichor Bullets
  
• Crystal Bullets
  
• Luminite Bullets (Endgame)

Pre-Golem

• Eventide (if EoL has been defeated previously at nighttime)
  
• Hallowed Repeater
  
• Chlorophyte Shotbow
  
• Chain Gun
  
• Snowman Cannon

Pre-ML

• Aerial Bane
  
• Tsunami
  
• Phantasm
  
• Xenopopper
  
• Vortex Beater

Endgame

• S.D.M.G
  
• Celebration Mk2

Mage
Pre-Golem

• Bat Scepter
  
• Blizzard Staff
  
• Spectre Staff
  
• Cursed Flames (Support)
  
• Golden Shower (Support)
  
• Razorpine
  
• Nightglow (if EoL has been defeated previously at nighttime)
  
• Stellar Tune (if EoL has been defeated previously at nighttime)

Pre-ML

• Betsy's Wrath
  
• Laser Machinegun
  
• Charged Blaster Cannon
  
• Bubble Gun
  
• Razorblade Typhoon
  
• Nebula Arcanum
  
• Nebula Blaze

Endgame

• Lunar Flare
  
• Last Prism

Summoner
Pre-Golem

• Dark Harvest
  
• Kaleidoscope (if EoL has been defeated previously at nighttime)
  
• Sanguine Staff (Highly Recommended)
  
• Raven Staff
  
• Terraprisma (if for whatever reason you have already defeated EoL at daytime and are still trying to fight her during the day)
  
• Staff of the Frost Hydra

Pre-ML

• Xeno Staff (Highly Recommended)
  
• Tempest Staff
  
• Stardust Dragon Staff
  
• Stardust Cell Staff
  
• Ballista Staff
  
• Flameburst Staff

Endgame

• Lunar Portal Staff
  
• Rainbow Crystal Staff

Spawning, Arena, and Potions

First, if you want to fight the Empress of Light, you're going to have to be able to spawn her! She is spawned by killing a Prismatic Lacewing, a rare shimmering butterfly that is found in the Hallow between 7:30 PM - 12:00 AM (start of night to midnight). Anything that increases enemy spawn rate also increases the spawn rate of the Lacewing, so it may be a good idea to use some battle potions and water candles when it is a blood moon to collect a bunch of them for you to retry the fight. You're going to have to use any type of Bug Net to capture the Lacewing so that you can fight her at day. Releasing the Lacewing outside of the Hallow causes it to despawn extremely quickly (the Empress can be fought anywhere after spawning her, though!), so if you are planning to spawn her outside of the Hallow, you'll need to kill it as soon as you release it. Make sure to remove the Guide to Critter Companionship from your inventory before starting the fight though!

A good arena for this fight would be at least four platforms with a width of 600 or more blocks, and separated by 20-25 blocks heightwise. Preferably, there should also be plenty of space above the top platform. Don't bother with heart lanterns, heart statues, campfires or honey 'pods' as any damage you do take will be fatal, so life regeneration is completely useless.

Any potions that aid with DPS or movement are beneficial, and any defensive potions are completely useless.

Phase 1

The attack pattern of the Empress in Phase 1 goes like this in order:

• Prismatic Bolts
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Sun Dance
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Everlasting Rainbow
  
• Prismatic Bolts
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Ethereal Lance V1
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Everlasting Rainbow

After the final Everlasting Rainbow, the pattern repeats until the Empress reaches her second phase at 50% health.

Movement Strategies

First Prismatic Bolts and Dash Attack
When spawning the Empress, she stays still for a moment, and then starts to move above you, creating many prismatic bolts. To dodge this, dash to the left and start running when she spawns to ensure she stays to the top left of the character.

As soon as she finishes creating the bolts, drop down a platform and dash to the right. Move up about two platforms and slightly to the left when the bolts reach close to you in order to avoid both the bolts and the dash attack.

Sun Dance
Start running to the left and soon the Empress should start emitting 8 rays of light that rotate clockwise. The hitboxes on this attack are quite forgiving, as when they are phasing in/out or when you are at the tip, they do not damage you. Keep on heading left during this attack as 2 more groups of light rays appear slightly more clockwise. If you are slightly behind a ray that is phasing in, it is good to either hover slightly above the ground until you are in front of it or dash to the left to ensure that you can continue running to the left without worry of being hit.

Alternatively, to avoid the entire Sun Dance, the player can drop down a platform or two to be out of its range entirely. Take care though, as the Empress will slowly move closer towards you.

Dash Attack, Everlasting Rainbow and Prismatic Bolts
Once the Sun Dance is done, the Empress will hover to the top-right of your character for a moment, then dash. When she begins her dash, move upwards quickly, as she predicts where you will be according to your movement speed, but moving fast enough gets you out of her way.

After this, she uses the Everlasting Rainbow, an attack that creates multiple 'stars' that spiral clockwise first outwards, then back in to the origin. They also leave trails of light that can damage you, so it is best to stay away from this attack entirely. Dodge it by dropping down onto the top platform and dash to the right while sprinting continuously.

Straight after, she then uses the Prismatic Bolts attack. Once she begins creating them, drop down about two platforms and keep on dash-running to the right.

Dash Attack and Ethereal Lance V1
Once again, the Empress will dash towards you, and flying quickly up to the top platform will both avoid the dash and begin the next sequence of movement.

A new attack called Ethereal Lance is used, which has 3 versions throughout the fight (only the first is used in phase 1). V1 predicts where the player will be according to movement speed and direction and telegraphs the attacks for a short moment before the lances start to fly towards you. The best way to dodge this is to continuously head in one direction until the lances begin travelling, then arc around slowly until the lances have been depleted. I like to head to the right, then arc up and back to the left while attacking the Empress, then fall down once there are no more lances below me.

Dash Attack, Everlasting Rainbow and Prismatic Bolts
Same as before, although I usually drop down to avoid the dash instead of going up due to arcing up in the previous attack. I like to also head to the left during this part of the sequence so I know what the attack after will be (going right will have Ethereal Lance, and going left will have Sun Dance), as well as being able to conserve arena space.

Sun Dance and Loop
Here, when I head up from the Prismatic Bolts, I like to hover very slightly to the right, to ensure that I am in a good position (at the bottom of the Sun Dance), and then immediately turn and run to the left to avoid the rotating light.

From here on out, the movement repeats from the beginning "Dash Attack, Everlasting Rainbow and Prismatic Bolts" until the Empress reaches her second phase.

Phase 2

Well, you made it this far! The first phase was difficult, huh? If you found it difficult, you haven't met the Second Phase! For some reason, the Empress likes to grow some tendrils and begin combining her attacks in a very deadly way, but only after reaching half health. It's as if she was toying with you in the first phase and thinking "Hmm, that player is trying to kill me, how cute!".

By the way, the little 'v' in her face isn't a mouth. It's a nose! So... she's not smiling at us, just looking down at us... I can't get rid of the thought that it's her mouth, sadly...

Anyway, her Phase 2 attack pattern goes like this in order:

• Ethereal Lance V2
  
• Prismatic Bolts
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Ethereal Lance V3
  
• Everlasting Rainbow
  
• Prismatic Bolts
  
• Sun Dance
  
• Ethereal Lance V1
  
• Dash Attack
  
• Prismatic Bolts (circle edition)

This repeats until the Empress is killed, all players die, or she despawns.

Beginning the Second Phase
At the end of the First Phase, the Empress phases out of existence, grows some tendrils, and rains hell upon you! Be careful when she phases out, as when she's ready to phase back in, she'll choose a spot that she thinks will be above where you will be. Don't move upwards too quickly, if you want to move upwards, go at an angle less than 45 degrees to either the right or left, or she may catch you off guard. On the other hand, this is a great time to switch into Hallowed Armour if you were wearing a different set before! You'll do less damage but you'll be able to dodge attacks multiple times, and it can save you a lot of time dying and refighting her.

Ethereal Lance V2 targets from one side of the player to the other, going diagonally through the player. It's hard to explain, so look at the image if you don't know what I mean. The best way to dodge this is to drop below the thin part of the telegraph repeatedly, until the angle of the attack changes to be more vertical. When it does become more vertical, start heading either left or right, again dashing through the thinnest part until the Lance Attack stops.

Prismatic Bolts will start to appear when the last lance wave has been created. Just head upwards at the last second to dodge this and also the incoming Dash Attack.

Death (for you)
Notice the Lances, Everlasting Rainbow AND Prismatic Bolts in the image above. That all happens within about a second! Here's where the fight gets REALLY difficult, unless you use a RoD or a quick mount.

A final version of Ethereal Lance is used, where the player is targeted with each individual spear, based on where they are rather than where they will be. After flying up from the previous attack, just slowly circle around (in a very small circle in the air) until the next attack starts.

Everlasting Rainbow makes a return right after the new lance attack, accompanied with Prismatic Bolts immediately after! And, after THAT, Sun Dance is used to make the fight even MORE painful!

(If you have the optional 'fast mount') For this entire section, right after Everlasting Rainbow starts, dash in a direction where there aren't lances, and use your mount to get yourself out of that mess. Keep on moving until she starts her Sun Dance, where if you're using a mount as fast as the Black Spot, you can unmount at the edge of her light rays and run to the left and go down to a low platform. If using a mount as fast as the Goat Skull, it might be best to travel away from the mess, drop down a platform when you see the bolts on screen, and run back in the direction of the mess slightly to avoid the Bolts. Make sure to be wary of the Sun Dance! This 'mount method' makes the player unable to attack the Empress for the duration of the Sun Dance if they are using a short-medium range weapon, like most summon weapons, among others.

(If you don't have the optional 'fast mount') After Everlasting Rainbow starts, you will want to be somewhere either to the bottom-right or the bottom-left of the Empress (and of course where there aren't any leftover lances from the previous attack). She'll start using prismatic bolts so once she is almost finished creating them, go down a platform and dash back in the direction of the Everlasting Rainbow. Jump up a platform immediately and get prepared for Sun Dance, since it is about to start. This is quite difficult to perfect so I recommend using the mount method, even if it may make the fight a bit longer.


Calmer (only slightly)
Once you're on a low platform during Sun Dance, do the movement pattern of Ethereal Lance V1. Easy enough. She'll dash towards you then perform a new type of Prismatic Bolts attack.

This attack creates the Bolts in a huge circle around her, which makes it significantly harder to dodge than the regular attack due to it being a lot more spread out.


To avoid, drop down to a low platform once more, and when the first wave of Lances comes in from the next attack, move up until the position becomes more vertical. Around this time, the Bolts also start to reach you so dodge horizontally towards the thin part of the telegraph and drop down on the top platform safely. Continue to move through the thin part until everything repeats once more from the end of "Beginning the Second Phase", only you'll probably be higher up than at the beginning of the Second Phase.

Death (for her)
She's finally dead! If you've managed to kill her, well done! You have obtained the powerful Terraprisma, capable of ripping bosses into shreds! You've also managed to defeat a great challenge, good on you!

The End...

I hope this guide has in some way helped you defeat the new challenge of 1.4, the Empress of Light during daytime! Thank you for reading!

EDITS

Any edits below are in the format of DD/MM/YY

EDIT 11/07/20: Clarified on the second phase's attacks looping
EDIT 21/07/20: Added a section informing on how to spawn the Empress in the first place.
EDIT 29/07/20: Added an image of the Prismatic Lacewing used to spawn the Empress of Light to potentially aid with finding it. Also changed the naming of P2's new prismatic bolt attack to be clearer. Also added a section on how to do part of P2 without a mount.
EDIT 21/06/23: I know that dodging accessories don't work on daytime Empress anymore guys 😭

[SpeedracerX137]

If you're reading this now, the hallowed armour dodge no longer works against daytime EOL. It is recommended you use an armour set with the best damage bonuses at your current point in the game, sometimes mixing parts of the old one's army set with a typical progression set will get you good damage.

[warriorcurio]

yeah i just haven't updated the guide

[Warwin]

ma dude, sad to tell you, but dodge has been desactivated for EOL

[Blazemico]

are there any bosses you have to fight to get the lacewing to spawn?

[Spookypizza]

Thanks for giving me tips on how to find a prismatic lacewig!

[897SuperChargeThing]

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! i just killed the moonlord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[helenhawkey]

ok

[AlvarGD]

use the shrimpy truffle and RoD
You dont need hp anyway :)

[skinspiders]

XD

[skinspiders]

unless i fly straight up after spawning her like a pleb