Ice Elemental

A Hardmode spawn on two schedules. Up on the snow it only comes out after dark. Underground in the ice caves it is there whenever you are. Nothing summons it, so your only control is when you dig.

It drifts toward you rather than charging and often opens fire before you have spotted it, though it and its shots glow brightly enough to warn you. The orbs are slow enough to walk away from in the open, and unlike most orb attacks you cannot shoot them down, so footwork is the answer.

• It cannot climb more than about eight tiles off the ground, so a raised platform takes it out of the fight.
• Its shots stop dead at solid tiles, so a doorway is cover you can fight from.
• Shroomite and Vortex stealth do nothing here. Building stealth just gets you shot by the one enemy that ignores it.

Most cold enemies slow you or freeze you. This one burns instead, cutting off regeneration while it ticks, and it is the only enemy in the game that applies it. Over a long trip that steady drain costs more than any single hit.