Evil's Protector

Evil's Protector is the first boss the Elder asks you to defeat. It is summoned at night on the surface using a Mysterious Portal, which can drop from normal mobs or appear as loot from chests in Forest Caves. The fight must be completed before morning, and if dawn arrives at 6:30 AM in-game, the boss will despawn and the encounter will fail.

When the Mysterious Portal is used, the boss flies in and immediately lands on the ground, damaging anything nearby. Its fight is divided into several health-based phases. In the initial ground phase, it attacks with three fireballs at a time and creates two portals at random positions. These portals continuously spawn Portal Minions that rush the player. Destroying the portals helps control the fight, but they will respawn after a while.

At 75% health, Evil's Protector takes to the air and begins a bombing phase. During this phase it becomes invisible and drops bombs on players. The bomb drops are telegraphed and have a small area of effect. After a period of bombing, its shadow appears to show where it will land and restart the ground phase. At this point it also gains a small homing missile attack that disappears if it fails to hit anything.

At 50% health, after another bombing phase, its three-fireball attack changes into a roughly 180-degree spray of fireballs. It no longer summons portals in this phase, but it keeps the homing missile. At 25% health, after yet another bombing phase that occurs more frequently, it repeats the previous attack pattern and starts summoning portals again.

A few practical notes make the fight easier:

• Summoning it inside a village defend zone lets villagers help, which makes it possible to fight the boss earlier than usual.
• Because the boss despawns at dawn, it is best to summon it early in the night so there is enough time to finish the fight.
• The landing impact and bomb drops both punish staying too close, so keep moving and be ready to dodge after every phase transition.
• Portals are a major source of pressure during the ground phases, so removing them when possible reduces the number of enemies on screen.

Defeating Evil's Protector rewards the player through the Elder, who gives a Lunchbox. The boss's damage values were also adjusted in version 0.21.12, including its bombs, homing bolt, volley fireballs, and wave fireballs.