Terraria: Debuffs
Immunity and Vulnerabilities of Bosses
Some debuffs can be very helpful when fighting bosses as they may deal damage over time or weaken them. Finding which debuffs will or won't work on them can be time consuming, just by browsing the wiki, as info is all spread out. I'm going to help with that with this list - each boss is listed, along with which debuffs they are immune to, and those they are vulnerable to. There are many more debuffs in Terraria, but some are inflicted only by monsters. The ones I've chosen to list are those that you can get from a potion, arrow, weapon, flask, or spell.
Here are the six debuffs I'm listing for the bosses, and the most common examples of where they come from. Some of these are only useful Pre-Hardmode because of the amount of life bosses have later in a game.
- Poisoned - lose 2 life per second. Comes from Blade of Grass, Thorn Chakram, Poison Staff, and Flask of Poison
- On Fire! - lose 4 life per second. Comes from Inferno Potion (Aura), Fiery/Molten Weapons, Flower of Fire, Flamarang, Sunfury, Flamethrowers, Fire Gauntlet, Magma Stone, Flask of Fire
- Frostburn - Most bosses are vulnerable. Lose 6 life per second. Comes from Frostburn Arrows, Flower of Frost, Frost Armor, and Amarok (Yoyo)
- Venom - lose 6 life per second. Comes from Venom Bullets/Arrows, Venom Staff, Spider Staffs, Flask of Venom
- Cursed Inferno (Corruption) - stops health regen and lose 4 life per second. Comes from Flask of Cursed Flames, Cursed Arrow/Bullet/Dart, Cursed Flames spell, Spectral Arrow (Con/Mobile), Clinger Staff
- Ichor (Crimson) - lowers defense by 20. Comes from Flask of Ichor, Bladetongue, Ichor Bullet/Arrow/Dart, and Golden Shower Spell
Bosses that are explicitly immune to all debuffs below should not be affected by Shadowflame, Daybroken, nor the Stardust Cell Staff's Debuff.
Note that for bosses that spawn minions, many of them are vulnerable to these debuffs and they can help you to clear them faster.
Use Control+F to find the boss you seek. I've listed Hardmode Event Bosses toward the bottom.
| Pre-Hardmode Bosses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Boss | Immune to: | Vulnerable to: |
| King Slime | Venom | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Eye of Cthulhu | None | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Eater of Worlds | Poisoned, On Fire!, Venom, Cursed Inferno | Frostburn, Ichor |
| Brain of Cthulhu | None | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Queen Bee | None | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Skeletron | Poisoned, On Fire!, Venom, Cursed Inferno, | Frostburn, Ichor |
| Wall of Flesh | Poisoned, On Fire!, Venom, Cursed Inferno, | Frostburn, Ichor |
| Hard Mode Bosses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Boss | Immune to: | Vulnerable to: |
| The Destroyer | Boss and Minions Immune to All Debuffs | None |
| The Twins | None | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Skeletron Prime | Poisoned, On Fire!, Venom, Cursed Inferno (Head only. Other parts vulnerable) | Frostburn, Ichor |
| Plantera | Poisoned, Venom | On Fire!, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Golem | Poisoned, On Fire!, Venom | Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Duke Fishron | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom | Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Lunatic Cultist | Immune to All Debuffs | None |
| Moon Lord | Ichor | Poisoned, On Fire!, Frostburn, Venom, Cursed Inferno |
| Hard Mode Event Bosses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Boss | Immune to: | Vulnerable to: |
| Flying Dutchman (Pirate Invasion) | Immune to All Debuffs | None |
| Mourning Wood (Pumpkin Moon) | Immune to All Debuffs | None |
| Pumpking (Pumpkin Moon) | Immune to All Debuffs | None |
| Everscream (Frost Moon) | Poisoned, Venom | On Fire!, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Santa-NK1 (Frost Moon) | Poisoned, Venom | On Fire!, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Ice Queen (Frost Moon) | Poisoned, Venom | On Fire!, Frostburn, Cursed Inferno, Ichor |
| Martian Saucer (Martian Madness) | Immune to All Debuffs | None |
Special thanks to those who work on the excellent wiki at gamepedia, without whom I could not have made this list. Testing every debuff on every boss would be incredibly tedious!
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Future Plans for the Guide
My Guide was started on Sept 23, 2015 and now includes dozens of pages about the game. I hope I can help newcomers to get a bit more enjoyment ouf of Terraria by demystifying some of how it works. You can provide feedback to me at [email protected]. I am tied up with multiple projects - this, The Sims 4, and Fallout 4 but do plan to return to Terraria and finish the boss guides and some other pages.
