Terraria Santa-NK1 Mini Boss Guide

Santa Claus is coming to Terraria… except he’s a giant mech of mass destruction. 

Here’s how to take down the Santa-NK1.

Santa-NK1 Approaches with Elves in Tow!

Santa-NK1 pre-fight preparations

  • Wings to get you out of the way of his missiles.
  • The Golden Shower, along with the Razorpine, to deal with his high defense.
  • The Xenopopper, along with crystal bullets and some sentry magic.

What the mini-boss, Santa-NK1 can do

Santa has a wide variety of dangerous tools at his disposal. The first involves a Gatling gun, which will crank up in speed the lower his health gets. These bullets are fast, so look out! Santa can also use his version of spiky balls (how the tables have turned since the early game), which do a hefty amount of damage. 

These bounce around the field and increase in number as the fight goes on. Santa is also capable of summoning MISSILES from above, which will rain down on the player. Be careful as these can effectively make air mobility more dangerous.

Lastly, Santa can launch presents that hurt on contact and can also move through blocks. These slowly descend compared to his other moves, so be wary. There are several more enemies you’ll need to take down during these new waves. 

You’ll have to deal with an elf copter, which will rapidly fire bullets at the player. There are also the nutcracker, yeti, and Krampus, which will steadily march toward the player and behave similarly.

Your options

Magic can be surprisingly helpful against this mechanized monstrosity as the golden showers ichor debuff can make Santa go down even faster. The Razorpine’s rapid rate of fire can get in substantial damage with enough magic to spare. 

Other useful tools are the Xenopopper with crystal bullets as it provides good damage per second. You’ll want a fair amount of space between you and Santa, giving your summoning tools time to do their thing.

The Santa-NK1 strategy

Ensure your arena has a few rows to help with verticality against Santas’ moves and prepare summoning tools. You’ll want to golden shower him as soon as the fight begins, along with sticking to him with the Razorpine. 

Santa-NK1 is on the Attack!

Suppose you see the Gatling gun active, back away, and try to pelt him with the Xenopopper from afar. Afterward, try to close the gap and shoot him to rack up some fast DPS. If you see presents coming after you, you’ll want to fly overhead while still shooting. 

The spiky balls can make things difficult if left unnoticed. Fly over them accordingly while also making sure not to touch them. The missiles will keep your movement in check while you move through the air, so be careful not to run into one while dodging the other attacks. 

Be wary of his attacks speeding up the lower he gets, as it’ll make things more challenging to evade. Keep doing this, and you’ll have to put an end to the tank.

Holly and jolly

There’s still one more boss to go for the winter event, and you’ll be able to claim even greater rewards! Be sure to check out our other boss guides to take down even more eldritch horrors!

If you really get stuck trying to take down Santa-NK1, there’s plenty of video guides out there to assist you.

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About Digital Ghost

Dg is the founder and co-owner of Corrosion Hour, a niche gaming community established in 2016 focusing on the survival game RUST. He is an active and contributing member of numerous other RUST communities. As a community leader and server owner for over 15 years, he spends much of his time researching and writing guides about survival games, covering topics such as server administration, game mechanics, and community growth.

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