Where to find and fight Skeletron in Terraria

The first boss is ready for a showdown.

Image via Re-logic

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Terraria features an array of different bosses you can face off against to progress through the game. For those who are playing in the game’s hardcore mode, most of the content in the game starts to unlock after taking down the first boss, Skeletron.

Where to find Skeletron

To summon Skeletron, you need to speak to the Old Man standing at the dungeon’s entrance while it is nighttime. You can find the dungeon’s entrance on the far right or the left portion of your map. It will vary depending on the seed of your Terraria world. We recommend checking both sides, as exploring your world is never bad. A good tactic is to travel during the day and return home at night. If you arrive during the day and speak with the Old Man, he will tell you to return at night, and he becomes Skeletron.

The Old Man will inform you they are “too weak” to lift his curse if your character has less than 300 health or less than 10 defense. You will need to increase your health and armor before attempting to lift the curse. You can do this by crafting armor to improve your character’s overall power or finding life crystals underground to increase their maximum health bar. However, you still have the option to activate him, even if you are below these stats, it’s simply not recommended.

When you summon Skeletron, it will be a floating head with two giant arms. These arms and hands can move through blocks and deal damage. While defeating the hands helps, the primary objective of beating Skeletron is to take out its head.

How to fight Skeletron

There are two attacks you need to watch out for during the fight. The first one involves Skeletron’s hands slashing. The second is after Skeletron roars and its head starts to spin. If players hit the head while it’s turning, they receive damage. However, while the head is spinning, it is more vulnerable, making it an excellent opportunity to deal the most damage against it.

You don’t want to wait for dawn to arrive to fight Skeletron or to fight him too late at night. When the day comes, Skeletron becomes invincible, and its head starts to turn rapidly, doing increased damage against you and can usually take you out after a quick hit.

Once you eliminate Skeletron, the Old Man will no longer spawn in the world, and you can enter the dungeon whenever you wish. It can drop multiple items, such as lesser healing potions, a Skeletron Mask, a Skeletron Hand, a book of skulls, Skeletron Trophy, Chippy Couch, or the Possessed Skill and Skeletron Relic, for those playing on Master Mode.

After you defeat Skeletron, you can gain access to the dungeon and many more pieces of content in Terraria.