Well, I've fought and beat the Moon Lord a few times on Normal using melee (with a few Stardust Cells as backup). I didn't make it to the Lunar Event until 1.3.0.3, and my first time through I went in with Vampire Knives-- I did fine against the Pillars (Nebula killed me once) because I was used to dodging, but got my rear handed to me by the Moon Lord while I tried to figure out why my Vampire Knives were mysteriously nonfunctional (there REALLY needs to be more of an indication that the Moon Lord is arbitrarily blocking lifesteal, so people with Vampire Knives and Spectre Hood don't die horribly because they thought their equipment would actually work).
After Googling to find out what was going on, I went for the "run away, teleport to Nurse, rinse and repeat" strategy, and managed to win barely. I didn't have enough Luminite for Solar Armor, and had gotten the Lunar Flare, so no real reward to help with the next fight. Also, it was boring and tedious, and I wasn't sitting through that again.
Third time through, I built a box, filled it with Honey, Campfires, Heart Lanterns, and six Heart statues (brought from my 1.2 worlds) on timers. I proceeded to tank him while spamming the Solar Eruption. I needed a few Super Healing potions, but I was also wearing offensive Beetle Armor and full Lucky accessories (Celestial Stone, Destroyer Emblem, Mechanical Glove, Cross Necklace, Charm of Myths). If I had focused on defensive gear, I could probably have done without the potions or without the statues.
After that, I got a Rainbow Prism Staff, and enough Luminite for Solar Armor. It's been smooth sailing from there on out, but still boring fighting through the Lunatic Cultist and the four Pillars, just to reach the Moon Lord.
Basically, no matter how I approach the Moon Lord, it just isn't fun. Running away forever while keeping it off screen just feels cheap, and the box o' healing removes the need for skill. Also, the slog just to get random loot is annoying-- I've made all four sets of armor by now, but have only gotten the Lunar Flare and the two sentry summons.
Speaking of which, the loot is pretty disappointing. The Lunar Flare eats mana to quickly for me to want to use it as a mage (and from what I know, is almost completely outclassed by the Star Wrath). The sentry summons are nice, but don't really feel all that powerful in practice (though having both makes the Pillars go by quicker). And from what I know about his other drops, the weapons seem very uncreative, especially compared to the Pillar equipment. Most of the Pillar equipment is something that hasn't really been seen before, or only rarely, but the Moon Lord drops include Terra Blade v2, Flairon v2 (now in yoyo flavor!), Starfury v2, Megashark v2, double-barreled Rocket Launcher, and Blizzard Staff v2.
After Googling to find out what was going on, I went for the "run away, teleport to Nurse, rinse and repeat" strategy, and managed to win barely. I didn't have enough Luminite for Solar Armor, and had gotten the Lunar Flare, so no real reward to help with the next fight. Also, it was boring and tedious, and I wasn't sitting through that again.
Third time through, I built a box, filled it with Honey, Campfires, Heart Lanterns, and six Heart statues (brought from my 1.2 worlds) on timers. I proceeded to tank him while spamming the Solar Eruption. I needed a few Super Healing potions, but I was also wearing offensive Beetle Armor and full Lucky accessories (Celestial Stone, Destroyer Emblem, Mechanical Glove, Cross Necklace, Charm of Myths). If I had focused on defensive gear, I could probably have done without the potions or without the statues.
After that, I got a Rainbow Prism Staff, and enough Luminite for Solar Armor. It's been smooth sailing from there on out, but still boring fighting through the Lunatic Cultist and the four Pillars, just to reach the Moon Lord.
Basically, no matter how I approach the Moon Lord, it just isn't fun. Running away forever while keeping it off screen just feels cheap, and the box o' healing removes the need for skill. Also, the slog just to get random loot is annoying-- I've made all four sets of armor by now, but have only gotten the Lunar Flare and the two sentry summons.
Speaking of which, the loot is pretty disappointing. The Lunar Flare eats mana to quickly for me to want to use it as a mage (and from what I know, is almost completely outclassed by the Star Wrath). The sentry summons are nice, but don't really feel all that powerful in practice (though having both makes the Pillars go by quicker). And from what I know about his other drops, the weapons seem very uncreative, especially compared to the Pillar equipment. Most of the Pillar equipment is something that hasn't really been seen before, or only rarely, but the Moon Lord drops include Terra Blade v2, Flairon v2 (now in yoyo flavor!), Starfury v2, Megashark v2, double-barreled Rocket Launcher, and Blizzard Staff v2.