NPCs & Enemies Lunatic Cultist Rework

Which of the Cultist's New phases is your favorite?


  • Total voters
    144
I don't like the idea of the Terrarian phase. I think it's a bad idea to make the final 25% of the fight free, on the hardest difficulty especially. Maybe make it so that when he's charging, he uses a mix of weakened attacks from the other phases? Just a suggestion, I like it otherwise
 
Wow! This is so cool! If this was in the game the lunatic cultist would be like 10x more interesting!
(My favourite boss is the lunatic cultist so I would be especially hyped if this was added to terraria!) Also the sprites are AMAZING
 
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Yeah this sounds awesome! Lunatic Cultist for me is pretty easy, even in expert mode (the pillars in expert mode, O BOY) so yeah! I think this would be awesome because, well I just said it... I would also really like to see Moon Lord do something like this, even though he's pretty hard without rod of discord and asphalt...

Also... I hope they give more reason to fight Duke Fishron because a lot of players skip till they have Lunar gear and then he's just a joke... :joy:
 
Yeah this sounds awesome! Lunatic Cultist for me is pretty easy, even in expert mode (the pillars in expert mode, O BOY) so yeah! I think this would be awesome because, well I just said it... I would also really like to see Moon Lord do something like this, even though he's pretty hard without rod of discord and asphalt...

Also... I hope they give more reason to fight Duke Fishron because a lot of players skip till they have Lunar gear and then he's just a joke... :joy:
There are three types of people who go after duke fishron, #1 and #3 already are common enough that I don’t think it’s necessary to give more of an incentive.:

  1. They go after him after golem, but before cultists (Intended).
  2. They go after him post moon lord and shred him.
  3. They go after him the MOMENT hardmode starts, somehow defeat him, and blaze through the rest of the game.
 
What about pre-Golem but post plantera :dryadsmile:
yea shred with nail gun or spectre staff dats wut i do but i used to go post moon lord because i was bad at duke fishron

also i kind of like the tsunami bow more then the phantasm (once i get luminite arrows) idk i just see more damage probably because i play on switch which is really laggy so maybe the phantasm isn't doing the damage it's supposed to

well i go duke fishron on every profile before lunar events (and i really like the razorblade)

and another thing i've noticed is that the martians have a lot of good resources that you can get before duke fishron, but then you already have your laser machine gun and your zeno staff that duke fishron's weapons lack the damage so if you want to get good use out of them you should probably fight him earlier
and his weapons can also be a great start in mods like calamity
 
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This idea is a little more ambitious than what I've suggested before, but I'm sure it won't be too bad. The Lunatic Cultist's attacks are much easier to dodge than other bosses once you've learned them, and as a result, I feel like if a major rework isn't done for this boss, he'll just be killed and immediately forgotten. Plus, bosses with crazy elaborate attacks are usually fun, right?

The Lunatic Cultist now has six distinct phases, denoted by the appearance of his robes (credit to @Bry-ccentric for the awesome sprites, by the way. :happy:). Phases 2-5 are meant to be interchangable and as a result aren't particularly important as to what order they appear in the final version (in fact, it's probably best if the order is randomized every time.)

View attachment 231508
Lunatic Cultist (1st phase, dark blue robes):
Similar to the expert mode fight. The only real difference is that he no longer resists homing attacks. Once he has lost 50% of his HP, he becomes intangible and recovers all of his health before switching to the next phase (if the Phantasm Dragon or Ancient Vision are alive, he remains intangible and doesn't change into the next phase until they are defeated, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231506
Solar Cultist (2nd phase):
He no longer teleports, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones:

  • Summons a javelin similar to the Daybreak, before dashing towards the player thrice. The javelin dashes along the same path that the Cultist dashed a few seconds after the Cultist's first dash.
  • The Cultist dashes to a position about 10 blocks above the player before immediately unleashing a rapid storm of projectiles similar to the ones created by the Solar Pillar, the difference being that they can no longer be destroyed.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Crawltipede and creates three hallucinations similar to the Brain of Cthulhu's expert mode ability, the difference being that the hallucinations now periodically fire the destructible homing projectile used by Drakomire Riders (cannot fire this projectile while they are within 15 blocks of the player.)
  • The Cultist stops moving and gathers energy for one second, before releasing a midrange non-damaging pulse that reflects all of the player's projectiles.
  • The Cultist dashes towards the player, stopping about 5 blocks away, before gathering orange dust into a large blade (takes about 0.6 seconds to do so, design could resemble the Tizona as a little nod) and slashing with it.
  • Stabs with a spear that fires a projectile that leaves other projectiles behind it, which fall afterward (similar to the North Pole, but the initial spear projectile isn't affected by gravity and the small projectiles aren't affected by wind.)
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while a crawltipede is alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231502
Vortex Cultist (3rd phase):
He regains the ability to teleport, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones, attempting to predict where the player is about to be (when applicable):

  • Summons a Phantasm and uses it to fire several arrows into the sky (they resemble a new arrow type with the Vortex Pillar color scheme) which fall down in random patterns for the next 5 seconds.
  • The Cultist warps offscreen and then dashes above the player while firing bullets downwards at a 45 degree angle using an alien version of the SDMG.
  • The Cultist laughs and summons 3 lightning portals above the player identical to the ones summoned by the Vortex Pillar.
  • The Cultist aims with a gun similar to a sniper rifle with a red targeting beam, before firing a very fast and strong bolt of energy which inflicts massive damage.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon an Alien Larva (which falls to the ground, of course) and creates two clones (cap is four) that teleport towards the player before firing a shotgun blast with a vortex beater, repeating this attack until they die (stats are equal to a storm diver.)
  • The Cultist aims with a bow that looks similar to the Tsunami (but with the vortex aesthetic) and fires five Luminite Arrows which create afterimage lasers 3 times instead of 1.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while an Alien Larva, Alien Hornet, Alien Queen, or any of his clones are alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231503
Nebula Cultist (4th phase):
He keeps his normal teleport, and he uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones.

  • He fires several harmless pink stars (in a similar way to his first forms' Ancient Light attack), which he attacks with hitscan lasers after a while, causing them to send out small shockwaves for 10 blocks.
  • The Cultist charges energy for a few seconds before creating a large pink laser similar to the Phantasmal deathray, sweeping it slowly over 90 degrees.
  • The Cultist creates several pink pillars of energy in random locations 40 blocks below the player which fire upwards after 4 seconds.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Nebula Floater and creates two clones (cap is four) which mimic his movements a few seconds behind, casting Ancient Shadowflames towards the player.
  • The Cultist fires pink shards in 8 directions, which travel for 20 blocks before changing direction towards the player.
  • The Cultist stops in place, and gives himself a nebula Damage Booster (boosts his attack damage by 15% per stack) Health Regen booster (enemies can't regen health, so it just boosts his defense by 10 per stack.) or Mana Regen Booster (boosts his attack speed by 15% per stack). All boosters are capped at three.
  • The Cultist only uses this attack if he has three of each booster. He rapidly fires his boosters towards the player, these boosters have low velocity, homing, and do not disappear until the Cultist next gives himself a booster.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, clearing his boosters, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while a Nebula Floater is alive, and cannot summon any more or give himself any boosters, he still makes the homing boosters despawn at the right time, though.)

View attachment 231507
Stardust Cultist (5th phase):
Homing attacks do not target the Cultist in this phase.
His teleport is now instantaneous, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones:

  • He fires three rings of 12 Ancient Light projectiles around himself.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Star Cell (or Phantasm Dragon if a Star Cell is alive, or Ancient Vision if both a Star Cell and Phantasm Dragon are alive.) and creates four clones which densely orbit around the cultist, do not attack, and can be killed with about the same durability as an Ancient Vision. (cap is eight clones, if the inner ring has four, then the rest of them create an outer ring that rotates the opposite direction.) (the clones do not inflict contact damage.) The Clones fire a dense cone of 3 ancient light projectiles towards the player on defeat.
  • The Cultist creates several invulnerable Ancient Dooms, and fires hitscan lasers at them to detonate them after a few seconds.
  • The Cultist creates an Ancient Frost, which rapidly fires singular projectiles in random directions at the same rate as the Vortex Beater.
  • The Cultist fires 8 Ancient Flames, which are identical to the first phase.
  • The Cultist creates an Ancient Spark, then teleports to the player's right and creates a second one, then teleports to the player's left and creates a third one, before teleporting below the player and creating a final one.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible (does not heal) and despawns all clones, before going into his final phase (he cannot change phases while a Star Cell, Phantasm Dragon, or Ancient Vision is alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231504
Terrarian Cultist (Final phase):
This phase also starts if you heal from the nurse, which be seen as either an anti-cheese measure or a super-secret way to skip most of the boss fight.

The Cultist stops and begins to draw in green energy which grows in intensity and brightness over the course of 30 seconds. If the player does not kill him over the course of this time limit, he teleports above the player and unleashes a repetition of giant shockwaves which does not stop until the Cultist or the player has been defeated. Defeating this phase results in the end of the boss fight, and the beginning of the Lunar Events!

Possibly could gain some new master mode exclusive drops:


Lunar Fulcrum:
Drops with a 100% chance.
The Lunatic Cultist has only one phase while this is in your inventory.
When equipped as an accessory, it grants one of the following effects depending on which damage type your gear increases most, picks one at random if there is a tie until you either reequip it or break the tie (with one exception):
  • Melee Damage: Striking enemies creates three homing fireballs where the hallucinations would be for them (if the player created hallucinations like the Brain of Cthulhu.) (75 melee damage each, no piercing.) Cooldown of 0.5 seconds.
  • Ranged Damage: Taking damage creates Mini-Vortex Cultist Clones (which resemble Vortex Cultist Clones, but scaled down to the player's size) which dash towards/through the enemy that inflicted the damage before firing a shotgun blast at them. (Dash does 100 ranged damage and pierces, shotgun bullets do 50 ranged damage each with no piercing.)
  • Magic Damage: A trail of four Mini-Nebula Cultist Clones follow you, which mimic your exact movements and fire projectiles identical to the nebula blaze in damage, and accuracy, as well as have a 5% chance of being blue instead of 20%, upon striking an enemy. (cooldown 2 seconds.)
  • Summon Damage: You generate one rotating Mini-Stardust Cultist Clone every second (capped at four) which can block one projectile each. Blocking a projectile destroys the Clone, and fires a homing blue star projectile towards the nearest enemy. (150 summon damage each, do not pierce). (cannot block all projectiles, and hitscan attacks like phantasmal/martian deathrays completely ignore them.)
  • Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Summon damage increased by the same amount: Taking damage causes you to send out a massive shockwave which ignores walls. Has a cooldown of three seconds. (500 damage of a random type.)
Dyeing your Light Pet slot dyes all clones.

Solar Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Solar Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Vortex Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Vortex Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Nebula Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Nebula Form, drop together with an 10% chance independant of other drops.

Stardust Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Solar Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Terrarian Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Terrarian Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Credit to @Sir. Fluff for making these.





Adding a second phase is enough personaly for me no vanilla boss fight reaches higher then 2 phases seemingly also they need to buff the Moon Lord too because if you compare this with the Moon Lord this is way too powerful but making it more powerful is okay but not too over the line like this. This is only my personal opinion not anyone else's But it isn't that bad what i'm saying is nerf it a bit
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Possibly add a summon item for him, that doesn't spawn the pillars when killed? Right now, the Tablet Fragment, and any possible future drops, are a pain to get.

Adding a second phase is enough personaly for me no vanilla boss fight reaches higher then 2 phases seemingly also they need to buff the Moon Lord too because if you compare this with the Moon Lord this is way too powerful but making it more powerful is okay but not too over the line like this. This is only my personal opinion not anyone else's But it isn't that bad what i'm saying is nerf it a bit
I think the suggestion is just fine on that account, and the Moon Lord does not need a buff. This suggestion is for Master Mode, and it took me a few attempts to kill the Moon Lord with the Zenith and full melee gear (on Master Difficulty in my Journey playthrough, to clarify).
 
This idea is a little more ambitious than what I've suggested before, but I'm sure it won't be too bad. The Lunatic Cultist's attacks are much easier to dodge than other bosses once you've learned them, and as a result, I feel like if a major rework isn't done for this boss, he'll just be killed and immediately forgotten. Plus, bosses with crazy elaborate attacks are usually fun, right?

The Lunatic Cultist now has six distinct phases, denoted by the appearance of his robes (credit to @Bry-ccentric for the awesome sprites, by the way. :happy:). Phases 2-5 are meant to be interchangable and as a result aren't particularly important as to what order they appear in the final version (in fact, it's probably best if the order is randomized every time.)

View attachment 231508
Lunatic Cultist (1st phase, dark blue robes):
Similar to the expert mode fight. The only real difference is that he no longer resists homing attacks. Once he has lost 50% of his HP, he becomes intangible and recovers all of his health before switching to the next phase (if the Phantasm Dragon or Ancient Vision are alive, he remains intangible and doesn't change into the next phase until they are defeated, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231506
Solar Cultist (2nd phase):
He no longer teleports, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones:

  • Summons a javelin similar to the Daybreak, before dashing towards the player thrice. The javelin dashes along the same path that the Cultist dashed a few seconds after the Cultist's first dash.
  • The Cultist dashes to a position about 10 blocks above the player before immediately unleashing a rapid storm of projectiles similar to the ones created by the Solar Pillar, the difference being that they can no longer be destroyed.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Crawltipede and creates three hallucinations similar to the Brain of Cthulhu's expert mode ability, the difference being that the hallucinations now periodically fire the destructible homing projectile used by Drakomire Riders (cannot fire this projectile while they are within 15 blocks of the player.)
  • The Cultist stops moving and gathers energy for one second, before releasing a midrange non-damaging pulse that reflects all of the player's projectiles.
  • The Cultist dashes towards the player, stopping about 5 blocks away, before gathering orange dust into a large blade (takes about 0.6 seconds to do so, design could resemble the Tizona as a little nod) and slashing with it.
  • Stabs with a spear that fires a projectile that leaves other projectiles behind it, which fall afterward (similar to the North Pole, but the initial spear projectile isn't affected by gravity and the small projectiles aren't affected by wind.)
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while a crawltipede is alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231502
Vortex Cultist (3rd phase):
He regains the ability to teleport, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones, attempting to predict where the player is about to be (when applicable):

  • Summons a Phantasm and uses it to fire several arrows into the sky (they resemble a new arrow type with the Vortex Pillar color scheme) which fall down in random patterns for the next 5 seconds.
  • The Cultist warps offscreen and then dashes above the player while firing bullets downwards at a 45 degree angle using an alien version of the SDMG.
  • The Cultist laughs and summons 3 lightning portals above the player identical to the ones summoned by the Vortex Pillar.
  • The Cultist aims with a gun similar to a sniper rifle with a red targeting beam, before firing a very fast and strong bolt of energy which inflicts massive damage.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon an Alien Larva (which falls to the ground, of course) and creates two clones (cap is four) that teleport towards the player before firing a shotgun blast with a vortex beater, repeating this attack until they die (stats are equal to a storm diver.)
  • The Cultist aims with a bow that looks similar to the Tsunami (but with the vortex aesthetic) and fires five Luminite Arrows which create afterimage lasers 3 times instead of 1.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while an Alien Larva, Alien Hornet, Alien Queen, or any of his clones are alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231503
Nebula Cultist (4th phase):
He keeps his normal teleport, and he uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones.

  • He fires several harmless pink stars (in a similar way to his first forms' Ancient Light attack), which he attacks with hitscan lasers after a while, causing them to send out small shockwaves for 10 blocks.
  • The Cultist charges energy for a few seconds before creating a large pink laser similar to the Phantasmal deathray, sweeping it slowly over 90 degrees.
  • The Cultist creates several pink pillars of energy in random locations 40 blocks below the player which fire upwards after 4 seconds.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Nebula Floater and creates two clones (cap is four) which mimic his movements a few seconds behind, casting Ancient Shadowflames towards the player.
  • The Cultist fires pink shards in 8 directions, which travel for 20 blocks before changing direction towards the player.
  • The Cultist stops in place, and gives himself a nebula Damage Booster (boosts his attack damage by 15% per stack) Health Regen booster (enemies can't regen health, so it just boosts his defense by 10 per stack.) or Mana Regen Booster (boosts his attack speed by 15% per stack). All boosters are capped at three.
  • The Cultist only uses this attack if he has three of each booster. He rapidly fires his boosters towards the player, these boosters have low velocity, homing, and do not disappear until the Cultist next gives himself a booster.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible and heals again, clearing his boosters, before going into his next phase (he cannot change phases while a Nebula Floater is alive, and cannot summon any more or give himself any boosters, he still makes the homing boosters despawn at the right time, though.)

View attachment 231507
Stardust Cultist (5th phase):
Homing attacks do not target the Cultist in this phase.
His teleport is now instantaneous, and uses the following attacks instead of his normal ones:

  • He fires three rings of 12 Ancient Light projectiles around himself.
  • The Cultist creates a summoning circle similar to the one in the first phase. Hitting a fake cultist (or waiting too long) causes him to summon a Star Cell (or Phantasm Dragon if a Star Cell is alive, or Ancient Vision if both a Star Cell and Phantasm Dragon are alive.) and creates four clones which densely orbit around the cultist, do not attack, and can be killed with about the same durability as an Ancient Vision. (cap is eight clones, if the inner ring has four, then the rest of them create an outer ring that rotates the opposite direction.) (the clones do not inflict contact damage.) The Clones fire a dense cone of 3 ancient light projectiles towards the player on defeat.
  • The Cultist creates several invulnerable Ancient Dooms, and fires hitscan lasers at them to detonate them after a few seconds.
  • The Cultist creates an Ancient Frost, which rapidly fires singular projectiles in random directions at the same rate as the Vortex Beater.
  • The Cultist fires 8 Ancient Flames, which are identical to the first phase.
  • The Cultist creates an Ancient Spark, then teleports to the player's right and creates a second one, then teleports to the player's left and creates a third one, before teleporting below the player and creating a final one.
Upon losing 75% of his max health, he becomes intangible (does not heal) and despawns all clones, before going into his final phase (he cannot change phases while a Star Cell, Phantasm Dragon, or Ancient Vision is alive, and cannot summon any more.)

View attachment 231504
Terrarian Cultist (Final phase):
This phase also starts if you heal from the nurse, which be seen as either an anti-cheese measure or a super-secret way to skip most of the boss fight.

The Cultist stops and begins to draw in green energy which grows in intensity and brightness over the course of 30 seconds. If the player does not kill him over the course of this time limit, he teleports above the player and unleashes a repetition of giant shockwaves which does not stop until the Cultist or the player has been defeated. Defeating this phase results in the end of the boss fight, and the beginning of the Lunar Events!

Possibly could gain some new master mode exclusive drops:


Lunar Fulcrum:
Drops with a 100% chance.
The Lunatic Cultist has only one phase while this is in your inventory.
When equipped as an accessory, it grants one of the following effects depending on which damage type your gear increases most, picks one at random if there is a tie until you either reequip it or break the tie (with one exception):
  • Melee Damage: Striking enemies creates three homing fireballs where the hallucinations would be for them (if the player created hallucinations like the Brain of Cthulhu.) (75 melee damage each, no piercing.) Cooldown of 0.5 seconds.
  • Ranged Damage: Taking damage creates Mini-Vortex Cultist Clones (which resemble Vortex Cultist Clones, but scaled down to the player's size) which dash towards/through the enemy that inflicted the damage before firing a shotgun blast at them. (Dash does 100 ranged damage and pierces, shotgun bullets do 50 ranged damage each with no piercing.)
  • Magic Damage: A trail of four Mini-Nebula Cultist Clones follow you, which mimic your exact movements and fire projectiles identical to the nebula blaze in damage, and accuracy, as well as have a 5% chance of being blue instead of 20%, upon striking an enemy. (cooldown 2 seconds.)
  • Summon Damage: You generate one rotating Mini-Stardust Cultist Clone every second (capped at four) which can block one projectile each. Blocking a projectile destroys the Clone, and fires a homing blue star projectile towards the nearest enemy. (150 summon damage each, do not pierce). (cannot block all projectiles, and hitscan attacks like phantasmal/martian deathrays completely ignore them.)
  • Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Summon damage increased by the same amount: Taking damage causes you to send out a massive shockwave which ignores walls. Has a cooldown of three seconds. (500 damage of a random type.)
Dyeing your Light Pet slot dyes all clones.

Solar Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Solar Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Vortex Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Vortex Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Nebula Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Nebula Form, drop together with an 10% chance independant of other drops.

Stardust Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Solar Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Terrarian Lunatic's Robes/Mask:
Vanity items resembling the robes worn in the Terrarian Form, drop together with a 10% chance independant of other drops.

Credit to @Sir. Fluff for making these.





I appreciate all the work you put into this but I feel like fighting him that many times is a little too much work
 
I appreciate all the work you put into this but I feel like fighting him that many times is a little too much work
thats true, but i still think that cultist needs more of a challenge, especially if there's no limit to regen, like spectre. hood :/ so it'll probably be hard to grind the pillars, but it'll get easier every time due to weapon upgrades. :)
 
I appreciate all the work you put into this but I feel like fighting him that many times is a little too much work
Well I mean, you know what you're signing up for by picking master mode. It's supposed to be an ultimate test of your skill, at least that's the intent anyway. Master Mode in it's current state completely fails to deliver on this in EVERY way. It uses the same attack patterns as Expert, only increasing numbers, and in the end this doesn't require any more skill, only patience. I tried my best to go against that... however, I think I have a way to rework it if enough people think it might be too lengthy. If I make it too lengthy, after all, it kind of falls victim to the same trap.
 
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