The Cultist King — How to Summon and Defeat

The Cultist King is the only boss in 99 Nights in the Forest you have to summon on purpose. He does not wander the map and he does not turn up at random — you pay four Cultist Gems for the fight, and the fight is worth having because his Cultist King Antler drops nowhere else.

Last verified: 2026-09-30.

Quick Answer

How to Summon Him

1. Collect 4 Cultist Gems. (Where to get them is below — this is the slow part.)
2. Find the Cultist King Base in the Volcanic Biome. It is a large castle-like structure, described variously as church-like and as having a red-and-black colour scheme. It is guarded by ordinary cultists, so clear them first.
3. Go inside and find the four altars. Sources describe the room slightly differently — four altars in front of a tinted glass panel, or four pedestals beside stairs leading up to a painting of the Cultist King. Either way there are four of them and they are obvious once you are in the room.
4. Place one Cultist Gem on each altar. He spawns the moment the fourth gem goes down (one guide describes the altars igniting just before he appears).
5. Be ready before you place the last one. He starts attacking immediately. Top up health, load healing items, and decide where you are going to stand.

A minority report. One guide (Gamezebo) says that after placing the gems you return to your camp and he shows up later, fighting alongside the cultists during a raid. Five other sources describe the fight as happening right there in the base, immediately. We go with the majority, but if he does not appear for you, waiting for the next raid is the thing to try before you assume it failed.

Where to Get Cultist Gems

This is the real grind. Two routes are consistently named:

• Kill cultists. They drop gems, and the last cultist of a raid is the reliable dropper. Clearing a Cultist Stronghold is the densest source of cultists in one place, and defending your camp during raids gives you more chances.
• Sacrifice items to the Volcano. Several guides call this the most reliable method, and it is the one the wiki names for farming summon gems specifically.

Two more are reported by a single source each and are worth trying if the above runs dry: Gold Chests, and fishing. Treat those as unconfirmed.

The Fight

What he does

• He is much larger than a normal cultist and armed with a big golden mace.
• His damage is close-range — most guides say melee only, though one describes heavy area-of-effect fire attacks as well. Either way, distance is the answer.
• He has the highest health of any regularly spawned boss. One estimate puts him at roughly 1,000 HP, about double a Hellephant — treat that number as an estimate, not a stat sheet.

What actually works

The tactics below are named by multiple independent guides, which is why they are the ones to trust:

• Shoot him, do not swing at him. Rifle, Tactical Shotgun or a crossbow. Melee against him is how you die. See How to Get the Rifle and How to Get the Tactical Shotgun.
• Fight from the doorway. After he spawns, run back outside and shoot through the entrance. He cannot reach you and he keeps walking into your line of fire.
• Use a ladder. His pathfinding is simple and he cannot climb. Get on a ladder or elevated structure and shoot down at him.
• Lava. Lure him into lava and let it do the work, then finish him. This is risky but it is the cheapest kill.
• Get him stuck. He walks straight at you and ignores obstacles, so trees and structures will trap him.
• Bring friends. Every guide says the same thing: this is a group fight pretending to be optional. A tamed pet helps too.
• Do it in daylight. The Ram spawns at night in the same biome, and fighting both at once is a bad idea.

One genuine disagreement: is he fast? The wiki says he can catch a sprinting player; Sportskeeda says sprinting outruns him. Sources contradict each other directly, so do not plan a strategy that depends on outrunning him. Use terrain or height instead — those work either way.

What He Drops

The Infernal Helmet is not a direct drop — you craft it, and the Antler is the ingredient you cannot get anywhere else. The recipe is 6 Scorpion Shells + 1 Cultist King Antler, made at the Anvil inside the Tool Workshop. Guides that name "the Anvil" and guides that name "the Tool Workshop" are describing the same place — the Workshop is also called the Anvil Building, and the anvil has to be assembled from parts before it works. Full recipe, scorpion farming and the caveats on How to Craft the Infernal Helmet.

The Mace: the big rumour

Do not count on getting his mace. This is the single most-mangled fact about this boss, so here is exactly where sources stand:

• Says it drops: most "all weapons" listicles list the Cultist King Mace as a boss drop, and a couple call it guaranteed or the sole way to get it.
• Says it does not: the fandom wiki has a dedicated page stating it is an admin-only item that cannot be obtained in normal play, and says a tester confirmed this. Sportskeeda addresses the rumour head-on and states the mace only appears during Admin Abuse. The Infernal Helmet guide at Rosenberry Rooms says the same in explicit terms.

Note that several of the sites claiming it drops are the same generic weapon-list pages that copy each other, and one of them (Rosenberry Rooms) contradicts itself on its own two pages. Our read: assume it is not obtainable. If it does drop for you, that is upside — but do not farm this boss for the mace.

FAQ

Where exactly is the Cultist King Base? Inside the Volcanic Biome. Its position within the biome varies per run, so upgrade your campfire for full map visibility before hunting for it. Note that the Volcanic Biome is not guaranteed — one source gives it roughly a 50% chance per run, with the Snow Biome taking the slot instead.

How many Cultist Gems do I need? Exactly four, one per altar.

Can he spawn without summoning? No. Every source agrees he never appears randomly.

How often can I summon him? Sources differ: one says once per in-game day, another says there is no cooldown and you can re-summon as fast as you can supply gems. Either way, gems are the limit, not a timer.

Is he worth it solo? Possible with strong ranged weapons and good kiting, but this is designed as a group fight. Going in alone with melee gear is a waste of four gems.

Sources

Checked 2026-09-30. Summoning mechanics (4 gems, four altars, immediate spawn in the Volcanic Biome base) are consistent across Deltia's Gaming, Sports Rant, Sportskeeda, Rosenberry Rooms and Finding Dulcinea. Gem sources (cultist kills and Volcano sacrifices) are corroborated by the same set plus the fandom wiki. Combat tactics — ranged only, doorway, ladders, lava, terrain-trapping, daytime — appear across at least three independent guides each. The Mace conflict and the boss's movement speed are recorded above as contested rather than resolved, and the ~1,000 HP figure is flagged as a single-source estimate.

Related Pages

• Cultist Stronghold — the densest source of Cultist Gems
• How to Get the Rifle — the ranged weapon every guide names for this fight
• How to Get the Tactical Shotgun — the other one
• Best Pet — pets that will fight him for you
• Best Weapons — where the Infernal gear ranks
• Update Log & Patch Notes — the Volcanic Biome update that added him