Guide:Borean Strider strategies

The Borean Strider is Hardmode boss available in the Thorium Mod that can spawn at any time during a Hardmode Blizzard, or by using a Strider's Tear. It is designed to be the first boss players will encounter in Hardmode, so it is not a major step in difficultly from The Star Scouter and the Wall of Flesh; however, it should still not be underestimated, and it is advised to obtain some basic Hardmode equipment before the fight. The following are some hints, tips, and strategies to help defeat it.

Terrain Preparation
The Borean Strider is most dangerous from its sides, as its shockwave attacks deals massive damage. However, it is much less threatening when above it; its only options are to jump at the player, and to fire icicles at the player. Because of this, designing your arena to take advantage of this weakness is recommended.

One simple way of accomplishing this is to build a line of Minecart Tracks around 30 blocks above flat ground. While you can ride a Minecart to dodge the Borean Strider's icicles, you can maintain a higher degree of control with a pair of Wings and a Grappling Hook.

As with most bosses, it is also advised to place some buff furniture to give you a further edge. This includes Campfires, Heart Lanterns, and Star in a Bottles.

Gearing Up
As the Borean Strider is designed to be fought very early into Hardmode, the list of recommended equipment assumes you will be combating it prior to obtaining a Hardmode Anvil and any armor, accessories, weapons, or any other item crafted at one.

Armor
While the fight entirely doable with Pre-Hardmode armor sets, a few new options will become available once you enter Hardmode, so you may wish to obtain them to increase your chances of survival in the frigid blizzard.

Durasteel armor will replace Steel armor in the Blacksmith's inventory, and is a direct upgrade from the previous armor set, boasting additional defense, damage resistance, and offensive might. If you are not using a specific damage type, this is a decent set to use for the fight.

Cobalt or Palladium armor are good armor for the fight if you are using melee weapons, ranged weapons, or magic weapons. As the vanilla Hardmode ore armors provide a different helmet for each class, you should use the corresponding helmet to match your weapon selection.

Sorcerers can additionally consider Naga-Skin armor, crafted from Abyssal Chitin in the Aquatic Depths. Between it, Cobalt, and Palladium armor, Naga-Skin provides the highest stats, but requires going into the dangerous depths to obtain; Palladium provides the Rapid Healing buff to significantly increase your health regeneration for a short period; and Cobalt is fairly balanced between the two.

Summoners should use Spider armor for its solid stat benefits. However, you may want to keep your previous set of Spirit Trapper armor in your inventory in the case things begin to go sour, as Spirit Trapper armor provides the option of extra health recovery.

Throwers should obtain the Plague Doctor armor prior to the encounter. Its set bonus benefiting Plague Doctor Vials is fairly useful as well, as the splash damage is effective with dealing with both the many enemies within the blizzard as well as the Borean Strider itself.

Before crafting a Hardmode Anvil, the only available Hardmode Healer armor is the Warlock armor. Its bonuses make it much more suited for Healers that take a more offensive approach to support, making this set great for those with that playstyle. Healers that wish for more defense and healing capabilities should delay this fight until after they craft a Hardmode Anvil and the Sacred armor set.

The Marching Band armor is a fantastic Bard set for this encounter; it is easy to obtain, provides a healthy array of bonuses, and its set bonus pairs well against the fairly high enemy rate within the snowstorm. You will have plenty of opportunity to collect the extra-potent Inspiration Notes and gain the extra symphonic damage from Audio Overload.

Accessories
Having a pair of Wings is not required, but extremely helpful, especially when combined with another flight-enabling accessory such as Frostspark Boots, as they allow you to remain in midair for longer periods of time, easing dodging the Borean Strider's attacks. If you are playing in Expert Mode, the Champion's Wings from The Buried Champion's Treasure Bag are perhaps the easiest to obtain and provide adequate enough flight time for the encounter. If you are not in Expert Mode, the majority of Wings require a Hardmode Anvil to craft, but there are some other options. Leaf Wings are purchasable from the Witch Doctor at night in the Jungle, and Fin Wings are a potential reward from the Angler's fishing quests.

Hand Warmers, obtained from Presents, are an excellent defensive accessory, as they provide immunity to both of the debuffs the Borean Strider can inflict – Chilled and Frozen. If you wish to use these, be sure to use a Holiday's Greeting fairly early into your adventure to allow you to obtain Presents at any time. Accessories that can prevent knockback, namely the Obsidian Shield, are also useful if enemies spawning from the Blizzard are inhibiting your dodging capabilities.

If you plan on using a specific damage type for the fight, having the corresponding Emblem will provide a very helpful damage boost. The Ring is another item that can provide damage boosts, but this should only be used over an Emblem if you did not obtain your matching Emblem from the Wall of Flesh, are not using a specific weapon type, or are using a weapon where the flat increased damage would be more beneficial than a percentage increase, such as the S. S. Devastator or Crystal Storm.

The Shield of Cthulhu is a solid option for its dashing capabilities, though not as useful for this fight as with others, and can even be unequipped in favor for Kinetic Potions. The Worm Scarf is useful for reducing the high damage from the enemies within the blizzard. An alternative option for players not in Expert Mode or are in a world with Crimson is the Astro-Beetle Husk. While it only has 5% damage reduction, it can grant you a life shield in combat.

Melee
As Hardmode begins, melee weapons begin to increase their capabilities at range, making them more safe to use. That said, obtaining many of the especially strong weapons against the Borean Strider involves getting a Hardmode Anvil or defeating enemies that may be too much of a challenge for the player at this point of the adventure. You should, however, still have enough options to slay the boss with little equipment upgrading.

While Swords with projectiles are beginning to show with more frequency, many of them are still lacking in DPS to be considered as a main weapon. Of the ones that are usable, the best is the Ice Sickle; its projectile halting is perfect for nailing multiple hits against the cumbersome Strider, which combined with its high damage easily shreds the boss apart. Aside from that, the only other decent options are exclusive to worlds with the Crimson. The Bladetongue can be used against other enemies in the blizzard to safety hit the Strider with the ichor-inflicting stream, giving you the opportunity to use another type of flask for more damage over time. The Fetid Baghnakhs, on the other hand, are an extremely risky option. While it has an insane DPS, it also has extremely limited range, making using it a damage race if you are not careful with it. If you want to use it, accessories such as the Cross Necklace and Worm Scarf are highly recommended.

For this fight, Spears are, surprisingly, one of the best options available. By hovering next to the Strider as it jumps, it is particularly easy to cleanly land multiple stabs with it to strip solid chunks off its health, and the available options are both strong and fairly simple to obtain. Additionally, the Crystal Spear Tip is a fantastic accessory that heavily increases your spear's range and damage. The Dark Lance, Cobalt Naginata, and Palladium Pike are all great options against the boss. An even better weapon involves fighting a Submerged Mimic, but the Poseidon's Charge is an incredible spear, making it worth consideration. It deals more damage than nearly all other spears at this point, but its real draw is its right-click attack. Though weaker, the bubble stream has range, piercing, autofire, and the ability to still benefit from Flasks and the Crystal Spear Tip.

Boomerangs, on the other hand, are rather lacking. Their inability to pierce makes it difficult to deal good direct damage against the Strider at a constant rate. This means that boomerangs should generally be only used as a side weapon. If you are adamant about using a boomerang, the only ones that deal high enough damage to be used as a main weapon are Bananarangs and the Flying Knife. Bananarangs are extremely rare, but can stack up to 10 times, compensating for the lack of piecing. The Flying Knife behaves more akin to a Yoyo with a high higher range and piercing, and should be used as such. If you drive it into the ground, it can deal more consistence damage against the boss.

Flails are decent here due to the shorter range this fight requires. That said, all the recommended options are drops from enemies, meaning it may be difficult to obtain this early on into Hardmode. Among the thrown flails, the Bone Flayer Tail has above average range and can inflict Singed debuff, but has low damage; the Ebony Tail is much stronger and can inflict Venom; and The Juggernaut is good if you have equipment boosting your critical hit chance, as by breaking the chain above the Strider, the bouncing head can inflict large amounts of extra damage.

Launched flails to consider include the Chain Guillotines and the Mycelium Whip. The latter summons a spread of spore projectiles that home in on enemies, making it an incredibly powerful weapon to use against bosses.

Once again, Yoyos are fantastic. Either the Sanguine or the Nocturnal should be enough, but you can also obtain the Gradient, Hel-Fire, and Amarok before the fight should you want more damage.

The Shadowflame Knife is phenomenal for this fight, with rapid throw speed, high damage and range. In addition to this, its Shadowflame debuff is strong, and the ricochet helps deals with other enemies. The Schmelze, likewise, is also good; it possesses high range, damage, and the Schmelze Fury debuff quickly adds large amounts of stacking damage over time against the Borean Strider. Finally, if you are playing in multiplayer, the Cursed Hammer is worth considering, as players can be launched to either deal damage to the boss or dodging attacks.

Ranged
Ranged weapons are also powerful choices. From afar, the Borean Strider's attacks are easy to evade, and the numerous flying enemies are easy to dispatch with ranged weaponry.

For Bows and Repeaters, you should have at minimum either the Eternal Night or the Hemorrhage, or even The Bee's Knees, which is capable of outdamaging some Hardmode bows, especially with accessories like the Hive Pack. That said, if you do not have any decent options at this point, you can easily obtain a Durasteel Repeater from the Blacksmith, or the Cobalt Repeater or the Palladium Repeater, which is still enough to defeat the boss. Other fantastic bows include the Naga's Recurve, as it is fairly to obtain and its multiple shots lead to very high DPS, and the Daedalus Stormbow, which has a extremely high DPS, and the arrow rain will additionally deal with airborne enemies during the blizzard, easing the need for tight dodges.

As for arrows, the most readily available arrows that are best for the fight include Durasteel Arrows for its low cost and piercing, Hellfire Arrows for its splash damage, and possibly Ocean Arrows for its debuff. The Endless Quiver provides an unlimited set of Wooden Arrows; while weak, it can be used with any bow that alters the properties of its arrows, such as The Bee's Knees, the Molten Fury, or Shadowflame Bow, making it worth consideration.

If you are using a gun, you should have, at minimum, the Phoenix Blaster, but a wide variety of other options exist. The Hit Scanner is weak, but its shots travel instantaneously, making it easy to attack flying enemies that may distract you. The Cobalt Popper is a slight upgrade to the Phoenix Blaster, while the Palladium Sub-machine Gun possesses autofire. The Clockwork Assault Rifle is burst-fire weapon with high speed. The Shotgun is easy to obtain from the Arms Dealer, and the slow movement from the Strider makes it fairly simple to land all the bullets against it. Similarly, the Vega Phaser and Scorn behave somewhat like Shotgun, possessing a spread, but inflicts significantly more damage at the cost of being much harder to obtain. Finally, fast-firing guns including the Gatligator, S. S. Devastator, and the Funggat are all strong options due to their high DPS. Do note the Borean Strider is immune to the Fungal Growth debuff, making the Funggat's spores not as strong against the boss, but it is very helpful at slowing other enemies in the blizzard.

For bullets, Party Bullets are more cost effective than standard Musket Balls while simultaneously possessing higher stats than Silver Bullets, making them a solid choice. Exploding Bullets, on the other hand, provide splash damage. Similarly to the Endless Quiver, the Endless Musket Pouch is useful with guns that alter bullets, including the Hitscanner, the Funggat, or the Spine Buster.

Other ranged weapons to consider are the Toxikarp and either the Dart Pistol or the Dart Rifle. The Toxikarp is fairly easy to acquire and does not require any ammunition, but its damage output is, at best, slightly above average, and its subpar range and inability to pierce makes it only average. The Dart Pistol and Rifle, on the other hand, deals a ludicrous amount of damage, easily ripping the Strider apart. Any of the Hardmode darts can be used to great effect.

Magic
For many of the same reasons as ranged weapons, magic weapons are also potent choices to use against the Borean Strider. If you forgo accessories like the Mana Flower, do take care to have enough mana to knock away any enemies that get too close to you.

A good number of Pre-Hardmode weapons are effective against the Borean Strider. The Flower of Fire's surprisingly high damage and damage over time makes it great against the boss itself, but it's lack of vertical range makes it unable to reliably hit flying enemies, particularly the Borean Mytes. For this purpose, the Flamelash's heightened maneuverability makes it easier to snipe flying enemies, but its low damage makes it unsuited for the Strider itself. The Champion's Bomber Staff is a fantastic general weapon, boasting high damage and a splash effect that helps against both the enemies in the blizzard as well as the Strider's minions. The Light's Lament is a great side weapon to fire once in a while, providing excellent damage throughout a vertical strip; it is particularly good at dealing with the Borean Strider's minions and other flying enemies. Its counterpart, the Bloodboil, is also fantastic, but is more suited for direct combat. It inflicts high DPS and its area of effect is also effective against the boss's summons. The number of available Hardmode weapons are not as high this early on, but the Night Staff is a phenomenal choice, as it is extremely easy to acquire while dealing excellent damage. Its homing projectile is also useful for ensuring extra hits on the boss or nearby enemies. The Sea Foam Scepter has piercing and decent DPS. The Vile Spitter and Frost Plague Staff are similar weapons, but as the Borean Strider is immune to Freezing, the higher damage of the Vile Spitter is preferred. The Clinger Staff is a great choice, as it possesses extremely high damage and inflicts the Cursed Inferno while being extremely to land against the slow-moving Strider. Finally, the Nimbus Rod is a fantastic weapon to throw out if you happen to obtain it, as its ability to deal damage over an area is extremely helpful against flying enemies and the boss itself.

The Crystal Storm is a solid choice that can be obtained early on into Hardmode. As it rapidly fires low-damage shards, it is recommended to use equipment that provides a flat damage boost instead of a percentage increase like The Ring. The Cursed Flames is similar to the Flower of Fire, but trades damage for a better debuff and the ability to hit multiple times per shot. The Golden Shower is a phenomenal option, simply for its ability to inflict Ichor. If you want to use this weapon for its projectile type, you may be better off using the Sea Foam Scepter due to its higher natural damage.

The Laser Rifle, should you happen to obtain it from the Wall of Flesh, is a adequate weapon to use against the Borean Strider. It deals decent damage and can pierce, but is rather mana-intensive. If you are using this weapon, try to not decrease your casting speed with equipment like the Naga-Skin armor, as shots may not damage opponents due to the natural invincibility time caused by piercing weapons.

The Dynasty War Fan is usable, but faces stiff competition against the also easily-obtained Night Staff, having worse damage and range. The Crystal Serpent is an excellent weapon that can be easily fished up in the Underground Hallow, dealing high damage and can inflict extra hits with its shattering sparks, similar to the Champion's Bomber Staff. Lastly, the Magic Dagger or Devil Dagger are good options given the slow speed of the Strider, making it easy to nail with multiple daggers. Between the two, the Magic Dagger is easier to obtain and has a higher firing speed, while the Devil Dagger has autouse and provides the Demonic Dance buff upon defeating an enemy.

Throwing
Throwing Knives are decent picks for this encounter, given their ability to pierce enemies. At the minimum, Molten Knives should be used, but stronger options exist. The Gauss Flinger a fantastic choice, in part to its high DPS, ability to inflict Light Curse, piercing, and being non-consumable. Fungal Poppers are another strong choice, despite the Borean Strider being immune to Fungal Growth. They have an above average DPS, and the splitting projectiles help deal additional damage against the Strider's spawn or other enemies within the blizzard. Eviscerating Claws are weaker and more difficult to obtain than Fungal Poppers, but provide the player with lifesteal.

Your selection of throwing spears are poor at this point. Of the ones available, you should only consider Durasteel Throwing Spears. They are easy to purchase from the Blacksmith, and are adequate choice for the boss, but their lack of piercing makes them not as well-suited for the later stages of the fight.

Despite their effectiveness against the Wall of Flesh, Beenades are subpar for this encounter due to the Strider's higher natural defense. That said, with methods of bypassing this, including Ichor or the Shark Tooth Necklace, can lead to the bees being able to more effectively rip away the Strider's health. Morel Grenades are better suited for this encounter due to their better damage. The splash effect combined with the slowdown effect of Fungal Growth makes it effective against the boss's minions. The Plague Doctor Vials are very powerful choices, especially when combined with the Plague Doctor armor. The boss's slow speed and reliance on minions makes it very easy to surround with gas clouds, leading to powerful chain reactions. Of the available options, Corrosive Vials and Combustion Vials are the most recommended, due to the Borean Strider being immune to the debuffs inflicted by Nitrogen Vials and Aphrodisiac Vials.

The Strider is immune to Paralyzed, making the Champion's God Hand not as useful against it. Combined with its subpar damage and lack of piercing at this point of the game, this weapon should be reserved for stunning nearby enemies, allowing more focus on the boss itself. Chum are easily purchasable like Durasteel Throwing Spear, but are generally more effective. They have shorter range and velocity, but make up for it with its shark attack. Its vertical nature makes it especially effective against the grouped up minions around the Strider. The Volt Hatchet should only be used if you happened to get it, as it is not particularly useful. While dealing decent damage, only two can be thrown at once, and the automatic homing of the tomahawks will lead them to often diverging from the path of the boss. As such, it should only be used as a side weapon, throwing them out once in a while for some additional damage. Finally, should you be lucky enough to obtain the Hot Pot this early on into Hardmode, it is a phenomenal choice for the blizzard, being able to effectively deal with both standard enemies as well as the boss and its minions with its high damage and lava rain. When using it, you should throw it upwards so that more of the lava projectiles will fall down onto the opponents.

Healer
In terms of radiant weapons, there are actually a few strong options available once Hardmode begins. The first priority should be the Blood Transfusion, easily acquired using Books, Blood, and Souls of Night. In addition to its surprisingly high damage, it provides the incredibly desirably life steal, helping restore your health from either enemies or radiant weapons with a life cost. To complement this, your main weapon in terms of damage should be the Wild Umbra, as it provides high DPS, automatically homing projectiles, and the Light Curse debuff.

Aside from these, the Holy Fire is another powerful choice, inflicting large amounts of damage to the relatively slow Borean Strider. In addition, its vertical nature and explosion make it especially helpful against both Borean Mytes and Borean Hoppers. Its counterpart, the Dark Contagion, is not nearly as useful, but its spreading debuff works well in the populated blizzard, easily lasting the duration of the encounter for some free extra damage, as marginal as it is. For maximum benefit, it should be used as soon as the Borean Strider spawns, then only again if in the off chance the debuff wears off. The Tranquil Lyre is much weaker than the other options, but it heals allies on hit, making it a more supportive option to consider, and the Heavenly Cloud Scepter is easy to fire and forget, acting similar to the Nimbus Rod.

Scythes are limited in Hardmode before acquiring a Hardmode Anvil; your best choices are either the Falling Twilight or Blood Harvest, depending on your world's evil. As a result of their somewhat lacking range, low armor defense, and high contact damage from the Borean Strider, scythes' use are limited to more minor enemies. One benefit of these specific scythes are their ability to provide a buff benefiting allies – Twilight Boost for the Falling Twilight, and Blood Boost for the Blood Harvest respectively.

Bard
Before venturing into the blizzard, Bards should craft a few Inspiration Shards to increase their maximum inspiration. Around 5 will suffice for this encounter.

The Song of Ice & Fire is a great weapon against the Borean Strider. It deals high damage, even in early Hardmode, and additionally inflicts On Fire! and Frostburn. However, it drains inspiration fairly quickly.

If you manage to defeat a Flying Dutchman and obtain the 24-Carat Tuba, it is a phenomenal weapon to use, due to its highly vertical-based projectile. As you will be mainly above the Borean Strider, it is very easy to nail the boss with its attack, which deals immense amounts of damage and can quickly shave chunks of its health.

Unless you wish to forgo fighting the boss until after obtaining a Hardmode Anvil, the best String instrument available is the Acoustic Guitar. Thankfully, the Acoustic Guitar is a solid weapon for the fight, dealing good damage and empowering nearby players with the Attack Speed II empowerment, which may be good to increase the speed of you and your allies' weapons.

In a vein similar to Ichor, the Tuned debuff is an incredibly helpful debuff at most stages of the game, increasing the damage inflicted enemies will take from all sources. At this point, only the Bronze Tuning Fork is capable of dispensing Tuned. This, plus the ease of landing the hits against the fairly slow Borean Strider makes this weapon a fantastic choice. The Vinyl Record is another great choice, as by remaining on the ground after being thrown, the Borean Strider will often jump onto them to take additional damage. Lastly, the Aquamarine Wineglass is potentially a devastating weapon against the Borean Strider, often dealing more than 300 damage with each wineglass, but is difficult to often use to its fullest power. As multiple wineglasses will not stack their damage against the boss, throwing one into the center of the Strider, then shattering it is the most effective way of inflicting damage with each throw.

The only other weapon to consider is the Granite Boom Box. Though its damage is low and range often too short to reliably attack the Borean Strider, it offers excellent crowd control by knocking away any enemies of minions summoned by the boss, allowing you to place more focus on the Strider.

Other Items
Warmth Potions are highly valuable when venturing into the snowstorm; every enemy encountered inflicts Chilled and thus will have their damage reduced by 30%. This is a significant amount, especially early into Hardmode, where nearly all enemies have their damage spiked.

The Featherfall Potion is a recommended potion to use during the fight, as it allows the player to stay in the air for a longer period of time without having to worry about dodging the ground projectiles.