How to Start the Pumpkin Moon Event in Terraria

Before you can fight the enemies of the Pumpkin Moon you need to start it. The event is triggered by using the item the Pumpkin Moon Medallion. This is an item which can be crafted after the Hardmode Jungle boss Plantera is defeated.

The Pumpkin Moon Medallion requires three items; 30 Pumpkins, 5 Ectoplasm, and 10 Hallowed Bars combined at a Mythril or Oricalcum Anvil.

Pumpkins can be obtained by breaking Pumpkin background objects. These will spawn naturally in worlds during the month of October and can be created manually with Pumpkin Seeds bought from the Dryad NPC.

Ectoplasm is an item which drops from Dungeon Spirits. Enemies which spawn when enemies in the Dungeon are killed only after Plantera has been defeated. The Dungeon Spirits themselves are easy to kill but the Dungeon enemies they spawn from are far more difficult to take down.

Hallowed Bars are a material dropped by the Mechanical Bosses. Defeating the Destroyer, the Twins, or Skeletron Prime will reward you with 15-30 bars.

Once you have the Medallion, wait until nighttime and use it to begin the event.

The Pumpkin Moon event contains a large number of unique enemies and a unique progression system. Similar to the Old One’s Army’s wave system, the Pumpkin Moon has 15 Waves to complete. You complete waves by killing a certain number of enemies which increase your score. Reaching a high enough score progresses you to the next wave. You’ll have to be quick though because once the sun rises the event ends and all enemies leave your world. You’ll want to do this quickly as reaching wave 15 before morning will cause the next day and night to behave as if the game were being played during October, with Halloween enemies spawning and Goodie Bags dropping from all enemies.

The first five enemies are effectively fodder and are

1. Scarecrows - A melee enemy which inflicts the Weak debuff on hit. When killed they add 1 point to your score.

1. Splinterlings - A melee enemy which drops Spooky Wood. When killed they add 2 points to your score.

1. Hellhounds - A melee enemy which runs and leaps towards the player. When killed they add 4 points to your score.

1. Poltergeist - A melee enemy which can float and pass through blocks. When killed they add 8 points to your score.

1. Headless Horseman - A melee enemy which behaves the same as the Hellhounds but is immune to knockback. When killed they add 25 points to your score.

1. The final two enemies are the miniboss and boss of the Pumpkin Moon.

1. Mourning Wood - An enemy which shoots volleys of flaming spikes which pass through blocks and arcing flames which remain on the ground after landing and deal a large amount of damage. When killed they add 75 points to your score.

1. The Pumpking - An enemy which behaves similarly to Skeletron, having separate arms and hooked hands which swipe at the player. The Pumpking has three attack states which can be differentiated by looking at which face he has on.

1. State 1 - This state has a face with a jack-o-lantern type grin. In this state the Pumpking with move quickly toward the player and swipe aggressively with their arms.

1. State 2 - This state has a face where the mouth is partially opened. In this state the Pumpking will spawn scythes from their hands which hang in the air for a moment before accelerating toward the player.

1. State 3 - This state has a face where the mouth is completely opened, with the Pumpking looking surprised. In this state the Pumpking will stay at a distance to the player and shoot the same arcing fire that the Mourning Wood does.

When killed they add 150 points to your score.

With all its unique enemies, the Pumpkin Moon also contains unique and powerful drops.

1. The Scarecrow set - this is a vanity set dropped by Scarecrows which consists of the Scarecrow Hat, Scarecrow Shirt, and Scarecrow Pants.

1. Spooky Wood - a block and material dropped from the Splinterlings and Mourning Wood. It can be used to craft Spooky Armor, a powerful Summoner armorset.

1. Jack ‘O Lantern Mask - a vanity hat dropped by the Headless Horseman.

These items will only drop from the Mourning Wood mini-boss.

1. Stake Launcher - a ranged weapon which behaves much like a repeater however it uses Stakes as ammo.

1. Necromantic Scroll - a Summoner accessory which, when equipped, increases your max number of minions by 1 and increases minion damage by 10%.

1. Spooky Hook - a bat-themed hook.

1. Spooky Twig - a crafting material used to craft Spooky Wings.

1. Cursed Sapling - a pet item which, when equipped, will summon a Cursed Sapling pet to follow you.

1. Witch's Broom - a mount which, when used, summons a broom which allows the player to fly infinitely. Only drops on Expert or Master mode.

1. Hexxed Branch - a mount which, when used, summons a Tree Mount which behaves similarly to the Unicorn mount. Running into enemies at speed will deal damage and knock them back. Only drops on Master mode.

These items will only drop from the Pumpking boss.

1. The Horseman's Blade - A Melee class weapon which, upon hitting an enemy, will summon a homing pumpin to fly towards them and deal damage. Can be used along with other swords to craft Zenith.

1. Raven Staff - a Summoner class staff which summons a Raven minion when used. These Ravens will fly toward enemies and attack quickly.

1. Bat Scepter - a Magic class weapon which fires small homing bats similar to the Bee Gun’s bee projectiles.

1. Candy Corn Rifle - a Ranged class gun which uses Candy Corn as ammo. Its shots will pierce up to 4 enemies and ricochet off walls.

1. Jack 'O Lantern Launcher - a Ranged class rocket launcher which uses Explosive Jack ‘O Lanterns as ammo. Its shots will bounce along the ground and explode when hitting an enemy.

1. Black Fairy Dust - a crafting material used to craft Tattered Fairy Wings.

1. Spider Egg - a pet item which, when equipped, will summon a Spider pet to follow you.

1. Dark Harvest - a Summoner class whip which inflicts enemies with a dark energy which makes minion attacks on the enemy more powerful. It also increases attack speed on hit much like the Snapthorn or Durendal.

1. Pumpkin Scented Candle - a pet item which, when equipped, will summon a Jack ‘O Lantern pet to follow you. Only drops on Master mode.

Due to the high spawn rate, the Pumpkin Moon is useful for farming money and can even be used to increase spawns in places where Pumpkin Moon enemies can’t spawn, like the Ocean, since it increases the spawn rate of everything. It's also recommended to create an arena with a pit filled with traps. These traps can be collected from the Temple in the Jungle biome and will deal with the smaller fodder enemies while you can focus on the Mourning Wood and Pumpking.

The Pumpkin Moon is a post-Plantera event summoned by using a Pumpkin Moon Medallion at night. During the event a number of unique enemies will spawn which will drop valuable items for all classes. Though you have to be quick as once the sun rises the event is over and enemies stop spawning.

Q. Can I use my Frost Moon arena for this event?

Yes! These two events are so incredibly similar that using the same, trap filled arenas is recommended. It cuts down on time and makes fighting both of them in quick succession simple.

Q. What weapons are best to use for the Pumpkin Moon?

Good weapons to use are ones that are effective at crowd control. Since lots of high health enemies will be spawning and in the later stages you’ll be dealing with multiple mini-bosses and bosses at once, it's important to be able to hit them all. Flaron and The Scourge of the Corruptor are effective melee crowd control items that do decently on the bosses. Tsunami or Daedalus Stormbow with Holy Arrows are also effective, though the Stormbow less so. The Razorblade Typhoon is definitely one of the best items to use due to its piercing and homing abilities.

Q. What is the best item to get from the Pumpkin Moon?

It somewhat depends on your class but by far the best item to get is the Witch’s Broom mount. It grants immense mobility and can help in fighting Moon Lord. It's also useful for travelling the world. Unfortunately it only drops on Expert or Master mode so it will take more effort to get than the other items.