Pumpkin Moon

A Pumpkin Moon Medallion turns any night into 20 waves of Halloween enemies that end at 4:30 AM. It is the gentler of the two moon events and the one to learn on: wave structure, scoring and arena needs are identical to the Frost Moon, but the enemies hit softer and the early waves are survivable in gear that an Ice Queen would flatten.

Kills award points, a wave advances when its score is met, and your score resets to zero on every advance. Wave 15 costs 3410 points in total and clearing all twenty costs 10160. Expert doubles every point value, master multiplies by two and a half, and dawn ends the night regardless of where you got to.

Reaching wave 15 buys something the score does not mention: the following full day and night run with the Halloween seasonal effects switched on, which is how people farm Goodie Bags in the middle of July.

Pumpking flies through blocks and cannot be contained by anything you build. It moves like Skeletron and takes up about as much room, and it is the enemy that decides whether your arena works. Mourning Wood also phases through terrain and will come up through the floor if that is the shortest line to you.

Since neither can be walled off, the sensible arena is a wide flat run with platform layers for vertical movement rather than a box. Traps still help, but for the Scarecrows, Splinterlings, Hellhounds and Poltergeists filling the gaps, not for the bosses.

Drop chances for Mourning Wood, Pumpking, the Headless Horseman and the Scarecrows begin low in wave 1 and rise on a curve that reaches certainty at wave 20 on classic. Expert calculates as though you were five waves further along, so guaranteed drops and trophies begin at wave 10 instead of 15. That gap is wide enough that running this event on expert is the usual advice even for people who otherwise play classic.

Behind the curve sit The Horseman's Blade, the Stake Launcher, Raven Staff, Necromantic Scroll, Candy Corn Rifle and the Jack 'O Lantern Launcher. Spooky Wood also drops in bulk from Mourning Wood, and the Spooky Helmet set built from it is the strongest summoner armor available before the pillars. That is the main reason a summoner runs this event instead of the Frost Moon.

• Kill things the moment they land. Waves are throttled by a spawn cap, so leaving wounded enemies alive strangles your own point rate.
• Open with ichor. A Flask of Ichor, ichor ammunition or the Golden Shower pays for itself in the first few waves.
• Skip the spawn consumables. Water Candles and Battle Potions have no effect during the event.
• Stay in the world. Exiting and reloading cancels the event in single player.
• Stay in the fight. Most of the roster can drop hearts whether or not you are hurt, so retreating usually costs you more health than it saves.

Spawn rates rise everywhere during the event, including places its own enemies are not allowed to appear. That makes a Pumpkin Moon night a good time to sit in the ocean killing things for a Pirate Map, or to grind a biome-specific drop, with none of the Halloween roster able to reach you. It is a strange use of a medallion, but medallions are cheap once you can make one at all.