First off, I would like to state that this wasn't originally my idea, but was instead mainly inspired by The Eternal Potato's video on the subject, seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTc1feKqEQ

In his run the main goal was Yharon, which at the time required only 6 bosses to be faced. In this run, however, I will consider the run 'complete' only when I have defeated both Draedon and Supreme Calamitas (plus one small bonus at the end).



With a lengthy conversation mainly between me and Charlie in the Mod of Redemption Discord we managed to narrow down the current pool of bosses to... 10.

Admittedly less impressive-sounding than the original 7 (including SCal), but certain... individuals and some progression changes forced me to add to the boss roster, though thankfully we were still able to keep the number fairly low through some clever use of certain features.

Mini-bosses, such as those spawned by events, do not count towards the boss tally; otherwise you'd have a very fun time grinding out the Post-DoG materials very, very slowly. I can also rematch bosses as much as I need since some of them drop materials necessary for progression.




I will also say now that I haven't been feeling to good recently as of writing this, but didn't want to put it off any longer. While I did plan to make more art for the page (and a cooler icon) I'm not currently able to, so sorry for not being able to bring more silly art to another challenge page.



That aside, though, without further ado lets see how the run goes:

Preparation:
Yes, there is only a single required boss fight in all of Pre-Hardmode in this run. Originally I was under the impression I'd need the Mechanic and so I'd have to fight Skeletron as well, but thanks to some brainstorming we were able to find a workaround.

My first plan was to go mage. Summoner and Rogue would struggle heavily since they have a lot of reliance on accessories I won't be able to upgrade for the remainder of the run, such as having no access to most of the Nucleogenesis ingredients for summoner and no access to things like the Bandit or some Nanotech ingredients for rogue.

The first place I went was the jungle in order to make Jungle Armour and an Ivy Whip. I also made the Thorn Chakram for a little extra protection in case I was low on mana and found a Boomstick which I decided to hang onto.

Next, I headed to the Sulphurous Sea and got my hands on the Abyssal Amulet decently quickly. Even so, I couldn't help but feel this run was dragging on a little without the normal bosses to break up the grind, since I'd normally have at least attempted Scourge and King Slime after this. Even so, I continued on.

I headed to the underworld in order to begin making an arena, and at this time realised I could actually get my hands on Obsidian and Hellstone with explosives. For some reason I thought they were both bomb-proof, though the discovery that they weren't gave me an idea. I farmed out the Bladecrest Oathsword and a set of Molten Armour and instead decided to tackle the Wall with a relatively on-tier melee build.

My final goal was to get the Tinkerer. Events and any mini-bosses spawned from them are allowed within the rules of the run, so I made a Goblin Battle Standard and fought the goblins to unlock the Tinkerer. After that there was one final accessory run, ending with a Yellow Horseshoe Balloon, Frostspark Boots, a Band of Regen, the Abyssal Amulet... and a Shackle.

One final note for Pre-Hardmode (and a lot of the rest of the run) was that I was gathering any trap-related items like Active Stone Bricks and Explosives I could. I did this since I could throw them into the Shimmer pool in order to get access to Wire pre-Skeletron. While this was slow it was quite literally my only option, since I need over 100 wire for the Codebreaker... I am not happy with Draedon for this.

With that, I felt ready to face the Wall.



The Fight:
Time: 2:19
Difficulty: oo

Surprisingly, I was able to make gear comparable to the normal sort of gear you'd bring to the Wall of Flesh fight. I was admittedly missing the Obsidian Shield I'd normally bring, but it wasn't a necessity.

The Oathsword shined during the fight; dealing good damage to the Wall while also keeping the Hungries at bay throughout the fight.

One problem I had was the lasers, as my arena wasn't built in a way that'd allow me to cheese the lasers. The eyes' constant laser spam could juggle me if it hit and, without the Shield of Cthulhu's dash or Obsidian Shield's knockback immunity, I mainly had to make-do with dodges and my grapple.

For the last 1,000 health I ran out of track as my platforms apparently didn't span for long enough. I had to fight over rough terrain as the Wall slowly closed the gap between us. I ran into an obsidian house as the Wall pursued with only a sliver, and moments later I managed to pull through with only a tiny bit of health remaining.



Post-Boss:
The Wall's defeat means I now enter Hardmode, meaning I have to go from one lengthy grind for items directly into another...

At least I managed to get the Heart for a bonus accessory slot... also a Crimson Key that I... cannot use.

Preparation:
I have to begin this segment by immediately saying that the Mechanical Boss you fight is your choice and that you don't have to fight Skeletron Prime like I initially believed. As it turns out they changed the Naughty Present's crafting recipe at some point to no longer require Souls of Fright. This means you can fight the mech boss you prefer or the one whose Souls are most useful for the upgrade tree you want.


Now that I was in Hardmode I had to make the usual preparation for a mechanical boss; the first of few times I could face a boss with relatively on-tier gear. Cobalt and Palladium spawning in the world meant I could get a full set of Palladium Armour and, thanks to some recipe changes, a Cobalt Shield I could upgrade into an Ankh Shield with a little farming. Thankfully the Nazar doesn't require Dungeon-specific ingredients or I'd be stuck with the Obsidian Shield instead.

The Goblin Invasion also spawned relatively quickly, so I fought the Warlocks in order to get most of their drops, with the Shadowflame Knife being the most useful right now due to its good damage and fast use speed.

Next I had to partake in the usual Mimic farming session, grabbing the Dual Hook and Charm of Myths from normal Mimics and the Celestial Claymore and Berserker Glove from biome mimics.

Lastly, I found some Life Fruit to buff my health to 420 and crafted a set of Angel Wings for a sizeable mobility boost.



The Fight:
Time: 3:10
Difficulty: oo

As with the Wall of Flesh, I was able to fight Skeletron Prime with the sort of gear you'd normally use for this fight, only minus one or two accessories.

The main cycle was based around dodging the limbs whilst throwing Shadowflame Knives at it. I tried to prioritise the laser arm as normal, though the bouncing knives allowed me to deal damage to multiple limbs per attack which was very helpful.

While Prime used its headspin attack I used the Celestial Claymore to rack up a large amount of damage, both to Prime and its remaining limbs.

This cycle allowed me to destroy its 4 limbs relatively quickly, leaving just its head which, in Expert Mode, isn't really much of a threat thankfully.



Post-Boss:
Defeating any of the mechs grants access to Mythril and Orichalcum, which in-turn grants access to the upgraded anvil and all the things that provides. It also unlocks new drops for a few enemies which will be useful for some other small upgrades I can make, which will be required since we get the first big jump in boss difficulty and progression already...

Preparation:
I wanted to be as prepared as possible for Calamitas Clone, as it's definitely the fight I was most worried about before Moon Lord. She does a lot of damage and takes ages to defeat with on-tier gear, let alone Pre-Plantera items cobbled together after only a single mech.

My first objective was to mine lots of Orichalcum and Mythril; the latter mainly for the pickaxe and anvil upgrades, while the former was for a set of Orichalcum Armour. I also crafted the Tundra Flame Blossoms Staff; mainly for the additional debuffs and free damage.

I then went to the jungle, looked for more Life Fruit, then farmed for the Tattered Bee Wing for the Bee Wings, both for the mobility boost and for the honey buff that might help slightly offset the Brimstone Flames damage upon getting hit.

I also crafted the Forbidden Oathblade and... barely used it.

Lastly, I gathered some Unholy Cores. I didn't use them right now (even though I probably should have crafted the Brimstone Sword on reflection) though did have plans to use them for something important later.



The Fight:
Difficulty: ooo
Time: 4:49

Calamitas Clone is a fight I have become familiar with, which makes me less nervous than I'd otherwise have been, but unfortunately I am still more than aware that my items are far weaker than they should have been; making every hit against me far more devastating.

Throughout most of the fight I was using the Shadowflame Knives, as their speed made it relatively easy to hit Cal Clone consistently with them. The Tundra Flame Blossoms Staff also helped out a lot with the debuffs, allowing me to slightly compensate for my weaker weapons.

By 0:55 the first bullet-hell phase arrived, though thankfully I didn't get screwed over by any awkward patterns and so dodged it reasonably well, only taking 1 hit due to flying a little too low between two fireballs.

By 2:02 the brothers spawned, which led to me swapping my weapon to the Celestial Claymore for a little while. The brothers like dashing a lot so I was able to rack up a significant amount of damage on both of them during each dash cycle, allowing me to deal with them both by 3:05.

By 3:45 I reached the Seekers phase. As with Prime the bouncing knives were fairly useful as they allowed me to damage multiple Seekers and Cal Clone herself at the same time. I was able to deal with them by 4:37, with the other bullet-hell spawning in at 4:43.

The second bullet-hell was a lot less smooth than the first, since I am seemingly very good at finding the exact wrong positioning to dodge the fireblasts and the dart projectiles they spawn. Thankfully, I had more than enough health to spare, managed to tank the hits I needed, and was able to defeat Calamitas without too much hassle.



Post-Boss:
I now have access to Lumenyl and Depth Cells in the abyss, giving me a reason to finally travel down there. I also gain access to Ashes of Calamity, which will be useful immediately for obtaining one of my favourite Hardmode weapons.

Preparation:
One of the bosses responsible for the clause that allows me to refight bosses, Ravager is a crucial boss as it drops various crafting ingredients otherwise only obtainable after 3 other bosses. Before that, however, I need to scrape together whatever upgrades I can.

The first thing I did was craft the Brimlash; a sword that spawns a ton of seeking projectiles while also inflicting a fairly powerful debuff. While the projectiles are slow, so are the next 2 bosses, so it's not that bad.

I did get a Broken Hero Sword from Cal Clone but I cannot use it for anything right now. I have access to only one item until Post-Yharon... the Terra Toilet... which I crafted as a joke anyways.

Next I hunted down some more Draedon labs to get what I needed from them, with the most important one right now being the Arctic Diving Gear. Additionally, if I'd actually checked the wiki, I'd have seen that I could get the Abyssal Diving Gear to make abyss exploration easier but just assumed it was Post-Skeletron specifically... which it apparently isn't.

In the abyss I was looking for Voidstone, Lumenyl and Depth Cells to craft a few items. I crafted the Lumenous Amulet first, followed by the Typhon's Greed because I figured it'd possibly do well against Ravager. I could have also crafted the Abyss Blade but... didn't for some reason...? I also farmed Lumenyl in the least efficient way possible because I, again, didn't do my required abyssal marine biology reading.

But, embarrassing farming attempts aside, it was onto Ravager.



The Fight:
Difficulty: ooo
Time: 7:36

Ravager, like Cal Clone, is a fight against a tanky opponent who does tons of damage. To make it worse, my armour is incredibly outclassed by this point since I'm still rocking Orichalcum, so Ravager's damage is rather insane against me while I do a staggering [sod all] damage back. However, I have no more upgrades to make, so I have to simply get good.

I initially spent the early part of the fight trying to use the Typhon's Greed, figuring its large amount of projectiles would be useful. The damage was lacking, but I expected that, but after a few minutes I decided to try the Brimlash which was not only doing significantly more damage but was also far, far easier to control... so I just stuck with that for the rest of the first phase.

When all the limbs were dealt with and phase 2 began I used the Shadowflame Knives to attack Ravager's floating head, as the Brimlash's projectiles were too slow and fairly unreliable to aim while I was moving to dodge Ravager itself.

Dodging Ravager's body without a dash was also awkward, since I was relying on the default built-in Calamity dash that is far weaker than any of the dash accessories, but was still my only option. Again, Ravager hits like a truck, so messing up dashes would cost me over a quarter of my health instantly.

Eventually, though, the head was defeated and I switched back to the Brimlash to deal with the body, getting in a lot of damage quickly whenever Ravager ascended. Before too much longer Ravager had been dealt with, if a fairly clunky way.



Post-Boss:
Ravager's drops are some of the most important in the game, as it grants me a lot of upgrades I'd otherwise not have access to without fighting at least 3 other bosses; Cryogen, Plantera and Golem.

Cryonic, Perennial and Scoria Bars and Cores of Eleum, Sunlight and Chaos were now obtainable and usable, even if the process of gathering them was incredibly slow and required rematching Ravager many, many times. I could also get Ectoplasm from awkwardly shimmering the cores.

I also got the Ultimus Cleaver from Ravager itself, as well as both its accessories which I figured could again be useful later.

Preparation:
A lot of things were unlocked as I slowly defeated Ravager over and over again. The process was sluggish, sure, but it was definitely worth it if I wanted to stand any chance against the Moon Lord.

After defeating Ravager 3 times I had enough Cryonic Bars to craft the Ornate Shield; the only dash accessory I'm going to have access to throughout the rest of the run. If I could access Pearl Shards without Desert Scourge somehow I'd have been able to upgrade it to the Asgard's Valor at least, but sadly you can't do that since Cnidrions aren't allowed to drop them anymore, not even in Hardmode.

My next goal was the Seismic Hampick, which I crafted after the 4th Ravager. This allowed me to mine Scoria Ore directly from the abyss, which allowed me to finally stop farming Ravager for all my upgrades.

Using Shimmer, I proceeded to first shimmer 30 Scoria Ore into Titanium Ore, allowing me to access the Titanium Forge. I then crafted the full Hydrothermic Armour melee set (after farming Ravager 3 more times for the cores...), the Hadal Mantle, and the Hellfire Flamberge.

I wasn't worried for the Lunatic Cultist, since most of my gear was reasonably good, if a progression tier or 2 lower than I'd like for some of my accessories. Then again, this is just regular old Expert Cultist, so I should be fine. I ventured into the abyss, fought an Eidolist, got the Eidolon Tablet, returned home, and used it.



The Fight:
Time: 3:11
Difficulty: o

Lunatic Cultist is not a threat in the slightest, as my armour and accessories are still more than enough to allow me to talk a lot of hits. Outside of Cultist's 120,000 health taking a few minutes to chew through, there's little for me to mention.

I used the Brimlance most of the time while dodging and used the Ultimus Cleaver when close to the Cultist and, before long, he'd already been defeated.



Post-Boss:
Celestial creatures are invading, granting me access to a few more items before Moon Lord that I will most certainly need.

Preparation:
I was able to craft the Absorber using the Ancient Manipulator I got from the Cultist; one of the only 'super/combined accessories' I was able to actually craft. I also made the Entropic Claymore using the Meld Blobs from the pillars.

From the solar fragments I crafted the Daybreak for a high damage melee weapon with powerful debuffs, plus good speed and range. From the stardust fragments I crafted the Stardust Cell Staff since I again figured the debuffs would be more useful than a minimum-size Stardust Dragon for the extra chip damage.

Finally, I crafted the Lunar Hook as my final grappling hook upgrade for the run, as well as the Celestial Sigil in case things went poorly or I had to farm Moon Lord for drops.



The Fight:
Difficulty: ooo
Time: 3:47

A reasonably on-tier Moon Lord is still a relatively scary concept as Moon Lord is, without question, a large jump in difficulty at this point in the game. My first attempt didn't go too well so I tried to use the Sigil and it... wouldn't work. At all. That in-turn meant that every single Moon Lord fight would require me to re-fight the pillars and the Lunatic Cultist again... oh no.

On the second fight I played far more carefully, playing much more defensively given the increased stakes. I focused the central eye whenever it was open while doing decent damage to the eyes on the hands, hoping to defeat them all around the same time since the small eyes have access to the mini deathray attacks in Expert which I, again, suck at dodging.

Thankfully, my plans worked out and I managed to defeat the eyes around the same time, leaving only the Moon Lord's core to deal with.

My damage was good but my mobility was lacking without my usual Angel Treads, so dodging was a lot harder, though not impossible. Thankfully, with a final push I was able to defeat the Moon Lord on the second attempt.



Post-Boss:
The main thing I was looking for was the Meowmere which I thankfully got my hands on from the first treasure bag, meaning I don't have to farm Moon Lord and Cultist like I expected. The Celestial Starboard is also a nice mobility upgrade, which I'm definitely going to need for the next boss.

I also got the Celestial Onion for the accessory slot boost and Luminite for more upgrades.

Preparation:
This is around the time where the run's true difficulty begins to rear its ugly head in three major ways; first being this gargantuan boss progression jump that skips the Guardians, Providence, Dragonfolly, Polterghast, Old Duke and the Sentinels. The second is that many, many weapons I'd normally use are unavailable to me, and the third is from the sheer amount of farming I'm going to need to do for certain items.

I crafted the Solar Flare Armour after Moon Lord, which will in-turn be my armour set for the Devourer fight. Thankfully, it also grants a dash, though it does come with the downside of needing to recharge and being affected by taking damage.

Next, I snagged a Bewitching Table from the dungeon before the Dungeon Guardians could catch me and decided to craft the Stardust Dragon Staff, hoping that it could add a little extra damage by flying through the Devourer's segments. (It did not end up doing this; all the table hunting was worthless.)

Trying to find useful accessories was actually a challenge, since I had so few accessories available to me compared to normal. For the first time possibly ever I actually had roughly the correct amount of good accessories or perhaps even too few.

The final thing I needed to do was farm for the materials for the Cosmic Worm, with the main culprit for my struggles being Polterplasm. Normally you'd get this from the dungeon in large quantities, but I instead had to rely on Overloaded Soldiers... an uncommon enemy... for all of it... for the rest of the run. As you could guess I was not happy.



The Fight:
Time: 11:16
Difficulty: oooo

The Devourer was one of the biggest potential roadblocks in the run. Carrying my mostly-vanilla gear with armour 2 tiers behind where it should be and weapons dropped by Moon Lord or crafted from the pillars, I had to push onwards.

First of all, the Stardust Dragon basically did no damage and did not make a noticeable impact during the fight, so I didn't bother resummoning it after the first attempt failed. The Meowmere, at least, was putting up a decent fight and could deal reasonable damage to the Devourer which was appreciated.

The Solar Flare and Ornate Shields were thankfully enough to suffice for dashing through the Devourer's head during its aggressive phases, though my invulnerability window was significantly smaller which I had to get used to.

By 5:27 on the second attempt phase 2 started. The Devourer's bigger hitbox made hitting it a little easier, but also let the Devourer hit me easier in response. The fireballs it spawned were also definitely not helping matters as my mobility was already struggling to evade the Devourer.

By 6:28 I was already on the laser wall phase, which was thankfully not that bad to dodge. If anything, my slower mobility made decelerating to fit into the gaps a little easier than normal.

Finally, by 9:33 the Cosmic Guardians spawned in. I decided to ignore them to the best of my abilities in favour of trying to end the fight quickly, as this sped-up Devourer had mobility that far eclipsed my own.

With a lot of rapid dashing and rainbow cat sword swinging the Devourer finally fell, granting me a win against one of the scariest potential bosses in the run on my 2nd attempt.



Post-Boss:
Defeating the Devourer grants access to Cosmilite Bars, as well as Nightmare Fuel, Endothermic Energy and Darksun Fragments; needed to craft the melee Slayer Armour.

I also got the Excelsus, Staff of the Mechworm and Nebulous Core directly from defeating the Devourer, all of which are very useful for the run (at least in theory in the Mechworm's case).

Preparation:
The first thing I have to craft is the Cosmic Anvil, which meant more farming. In fact, this point of the game required the most farming of the entire run. More than the Devourer prep, more than the Pre-Hardmode prep, purely due to how much time had to be dedicated to tracking down rare enemies like Overloaded Soldiers.

Eventually I was able to make the melee Slayer Armour, the Sponge, and the Core made with Ravager's accessories.

Next, I had to slowly farm Draconic Swarmers for Effulgent Feathers. Originally I believed they only spawned after Dragonfolly, or could at the very least only drop Feathers after Dragonfolly, but apparently not. While this did cut a boss off the necessary roster it also added a lot more time to farming since they didn't want to spawn very often.

EVENTUALLY I got to continue with the run after crafting Silva Wings and the Blessed Phoenix Egg.



The Fight:
Difficulty: oooo
Time: 6:00

Yharon has probably had the biggest change in difficulty of any boss for the Low% run. Originally, the player had to face Yharon using mostly Pre-Moon Lord gear and a few supplementary Dragonfolly drops, but now with all the changes throughout the years the Low% progression path actually lets you fight Yharon with roughly on-tier gear, minus perhaps a couple of accessories.

By 2:26 I already saw the 'air getting warmer' message, meaning I'd made progress rather swiftly, even on only my first attempt.

I spent most of the fight alternating between playing offensively and defensively. While my health was high I'd play as aggressive as I could without being too reckless in order to get as much damage against Yharon as possible, though if my health ever dropped below ~50-60% I'd start playing defensively and would focus more on dodging and generally trying to steer clear of Yharon.

My dashes, being as weak as they were, meant I also needed to time my ramming dashes a lot more carefully to not be caught inside Yharon's hitbox when my invulnerability wore off. While it did take a little getting used to since I'd often have to dash while Yharon was already mid-dash itself, it didn't take too long to acclimatise to.

At Yharon's last 25% health I decided to just play as defensively as I could, rather than risking anything going wrong during aggressive plays. A lot of careful dashing was necessary, but it was very much doable.

Yharon was eventually defeated, and surprisingly on my first attempt. I sure hope the last 2 bosses of the run go this smoothly.



Post-Boss:
Yharon's defeat means we immediately get direct access to Drew's Wings for the best mobility accessory available to us, as well as the Yharim's Gift. The weapons I got weren't melee-focused, however, though there is fortunately one thing I might be able to craft to prepare myself.

Preparation:
First things first, you might be wondering why I decided to fight SCal first, and in-short it was because there was a certain item I wanted from her before I faced the... alternative. I figured that my gear would be decent enough to at least withstand a few hits from SCal, so didn't initially think too much of it. This was probably a horrible idea.

In order to get my hands on Auric Ore I would need to fish, as my current pickaxe was just a lunar-tier pickaxe crafted after Moon Lord; one tier too low to mine Auric. Because of this, I got to spend 30 minutes fishing for Titanium Crates without the ability to simply farm Scourge to get basically infinite potions to make it easier, which sucked.

Once I had enough Auric Ore I went and shimmered a small amount of it in order to get Uelibloom Ore, which I could eventually turn into the Blossom Pickaxe to mine more Auric Ore directly.

Using the rest of the Auric Ore I crafted the two boss summons I needed, as well as the Ataraxia; one of the two strongest weapons available to me right now (and the only other use of the Broken Hero Sword available in the run). Afterwards, I got the Murasama out of my chest, since it was now usable since Yharon was defeated.

The final upgrade I could make was the Dragonfruit; the only +25 health item I could actually craft. Without access to Divine Geodes or Ruinous Souls, Auric Tesla Armour was completely unavailable to me; meaning the melee Slayer Armour would have to do.



The Fight:
Time: 8:34
Difficulty: ooooo

Introducing one of the hardest fights in the run; Supreme Calamitas.

Now I said earlier that Ravager hit like a truck, but I was certainly not prepared for the absolute freight train that was SCal's damage output. Within 3 hits I was as good as dead and without good regeneration accessories even the revive was just one more hit I could take most of the time.

The Ataraxia is not a great weapon for the Sepulcher phase, since it mainly uses small projectiles and is focused around single-target damage, so I was immediately made aware that the Murasama would be the best option for both of these, as well as what'd likely be the Seeker phase as well.

Aiming at SCal with the Ataraxia was mostly alright, since the projectiles are fast, though hitting her during the dashes was awkward while also trying to dodge rogue brimstone darts and fireballs scattered around the arena. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact times of the phase changes, because I had to attempt this so many times that I was blindly throwing myself into attempts by the end of it.

The brothers were also relatively alright to deal with. I'd focus Catastrophe and stall against Cataclysm in an attempt to regenerate as much health as I could, though would inevitably fly into a dart or two in most attempts.

The Seeker phase, as usual, sucked. Even with the Murasama the phase took longer than I wanted and the extra darts fired by the Seekers weren't helping matters. I did make it past the phase a few times, however.

The second Sepulcher phase managed to kill me twice because the Sepulcher spawned in the way of half the Brimstone Hearts and stalled the phase long enough for me to inevitably screw up.

On the final attempt I made it past the phase, down to only a sliver of health and with my revive cooldown triggered. But, after over two hours of attempts, I was able to defeat SCal.



Post-Boss:
Now I won't lie, some of the difficulty was pretty much just a skill issue, but the lack of certain accessories and Auric Tesla Armour is definitely very noticeable.

The main drop I wanted from SCal was the Violence; a powerful melee weapon that rapidly deals damage near the cursor. I also considered making use of the Calamity accessory for the extra damage.

Aside from that, however, there were few upgrades I could actually make, and so it was swiftly onwards towards the final boss of the run; Draedon.

Preparation:
There was, in fact, a second reason why I decided to leave Draedon for last.

The boss that forced me to hunt the world for active stone blocks and explosive traps just to get 150 wire, the boss that forced me to farm Ravager again for more cores, the boss that figure-headed the updates that changed so much about the Low% run and in-turn nearly doubling its length; Draedon.

It seemed somewhat fitting, thus, to leave Draedon until last. To close out the run against the machine that lead to me even making this page. Just one 'Summon' button away.



The Fight:
Time: 7:49
Difficulty: ooooo

Now Draedon didn't take as many attempts as SCal, and overall deals less damage per individual attack, but Draedon is definitely the more intense of the two fights thanks to the three Exo Mechs each being a fully-realised boss in and of itself. My weaker mobility, frailer defence and more limited weapon choice are all weaknesses the Exo Mechs were more than ready to exploit over and over again.

The first few attempts of trying to find my footing weren't going great. Thanatos especially seemed to be a problem I rarely got a safe moment to approach for a few Murasama swings and even the ones I did land were never at opportune moments, thus he would eventually wear me down. I decided to reconsider my options for a while in case there were any better options to use.

Eventually, I decided to refight Yharon in order to get my hands on the Dragon Rage and was now beginning attempts by picking Thanatos.

I started my final attempt by picking Thanatos; using the Violence when I was further away and rushing in to get damage using the Dragon Rage while multiple nearby segments were vulnerable. This was risky and meant I'd risk heavy damage, but as it was the start of the fight it was most often worth trying.

By 1:19 Ares, Artemis and Apollo were active. I decided to focus on Artemis and Apollo since I wanted to leave Ares for last given one of its drops was quite useful should I do any post-game content. Ares did not like this, however, and was another boss that hit especially hard.

At 2:01 all 3 of them were active, with me focusing on Thanatos whenever possible and attacking Artemis and Apollo when I didn't have a safe opportunity.

3:03 left me with just Thanatos, which was arguably the easiest part of the fight. When Thanatos decided to charge the Gamma Disintegration Ray I got a free opportunity to use the Dragon Rage to deal monstrous damage, and could now play far more evasively while waiting for Thanatos to perform it.

3:44 saw Ares make a return, followed 20 seconds later by Artemis and Apollo rejoining the battle.

By 4:44 I was fighting Artemis and Apollo on their own. Unlike Thanatos their berserk phase wasn't a vulnerability and their mobility was a problem, though thankfully the Violence could keep up with them decently well. Most of my attention was on Artemis due to the spinning deathray and the laser arcs, though Apollo's missiles are as ever a cause for concern.

Finally, by 5:47 Ares was the last mech left to defeat. Ares' buffed attack speed combined with his high damage very harshly and actually lost me a few attempts here at the final hurdle. Within this final attempt, again with little health remaining, I managed to finally take down the Exo Mechs.



Post-Boss:
So, with that, the run is already over; given that all the required bosses are defeated. This page has ended up even shorter than a page of my normal challenge runs due to the sheer amount of bosses cut out of the run.

However, I would like to do one more thing before the end... it's admittedly not quite in the 'spirit' of the run, sure, but it wouldn't be right to just not attempt it at the very least...

Preparation:
I wanted to add some Post-Game content to the run but I don't like fighting the Primordial Wyrm so I decided to instead fight Terminus and see exactly how well I can do.

Of course, I got the Photon Ripper, Exo Box and Draedon's Heart from defeating Draedon. All of these things are pretty cool and will all be useful, as will Ares' Exoskeleton.

After I made Draedon's Forge I farmed for Shadowspec Bars in order to get the Shade Armour I looked at what melee weapons I could make at this point:

Azathoth was the first weapon I crafted and probably the best 'generalist' weapon I could obtain; with high speed, good damage and good range.

Unfortunately, I couldn't craft the Earth since both Souls of Might and Divine Geodes are unavailable.

The Draconic Destruction was super easy to craft since it didn't require weapons; just more materials I can bully out of Ravager. A great pick for larger or slower enemies.

I could've (and definitely should've) crafted the Iridescent Excalibur, but just forgot that Hallowed Ore exists in Calamity... despite having to shimmer past it back when I fought Ravager...

The Illustrious Knives, however, were definitely unobtainable as I'd need to defeat Plantera to use the biome keys.

The Red Sun was the last weapon I could craft, acting as a generally-decent spam tool for evasive bosses... mainly looking at Queen Bee.

With that, I was pretty much ready for the final challenge of the run.



The Gauntlet:

Brimmy, Calamitas, Anahita & Leviathan, Moon Lord, Providence, Yharon and Supreme Calamitas ended up being the biggest problems during the winning attempt, SCal especially since the combination of Terminus' white glow and SCal's red made seeing the projectiles really awkward so I had to change my lighting settings... also SCal still hits like a freight train but is now faster as well.

However, with Terminus completed, the run is finally over

And with that, the low% run has finally been completed and written out.

I have actually had the page documenting my experience sitting around for a few weeks but have either been too busy or lacked the motivation to write it, but now that I finally found both I've managed to get it out in a legible format.


Again, it might be a little disappointing that we don't have a run mascot this time, but I didn't really make one while playing and I had some issues during the write-up of the page (in-game my character was just Coco's Feather with silver dye but the last mascot was also a birb...). Hopefully the next run will be back to normal.


Anyways, with all that aside, I'd like to thank you for reading through my ramblings of a challenge run that hasn't been attempted publicly in ages but has changed so much, and also hope to see you next time

Thanks for reading 'v'