Ancients Awakened/The Grips of Chaos Strategies

The Grips of Chaos are a Pre-Hardmode boss intended to be fought around the same time as the Eye of Cthulhu. They may pose a threat for new players as there are two bosses instead of one.

Terrain Preparation
An arena with 2 or 3 levels of platforms is a very good way of fighting the Grips of Chaos as this type of arena leaves a good amount of space for the player to both evade minions and the grips themselves. They can also be fought on flat terrain without a proper arena however it is a good idea to flatten a large area as it will be easier to put distance between you and the boss that way.

The Grips of Chaos can be fought anywhere so long as it is nighttime, so players don't have to worry about keeping it in a particular biome.

Armor

 * / is a great overall armor set for any class at the early stages of the game.
 * may be a more preferable choice for melee users, due to its damage resistance and high defense.
 * is a very powerful choice for mages in the early stages of the game, if players are dedicated to obtain the necessary materials.
 * could be used as an alternative, for greater damage output at the cost of lower defense.
 * is a decent choice for summoners, providing more summon slots and greater damage although potentially being difficult to obtain.

Accessories

 * and its upgrades are great for maintaining distance from the Grips of Chaos and outrunning its minions.
 * or any of its alternates are a significant help with dodging Grips of Chaos' ram attacks.
 * is a very useful upgrade to the Cloud in a Balloon and can give invaluable air control to the player.
 * can aid in damaging the grips by piercing their defense.
 * is an amazing accessory that grants the ability to perform dashes which are incredibly useful for dodging most attacks.

Melee

 * can help with attacking the grips from a safe distance, although may be hard to obtain.
 * is also helpful for maintaining distance if players can get it.
 * is great for taking out the Claws as well as inflicting the "On fire!" debuff.
 * is a useful yet rare option that can dish out good amounts of damage in short range being especially useful during charge attacks of the grips and their minions.

Ranged

 * paired with Jester's Arrows excel at killing multiple Claws at once as well as damaging the grips.
 * / are better than the Madness bow if Eye of Cthulhu is defeated.
 * with its high damage can quickly take out Claws and deal good damage to the grips.
 * is a phenomenal option as it can deal consistent damage to the grips.
 * can be useful for when the grips are trying to ram the player as it deals greater damage up close.

Mage

 * / with their piercing properties and high damage can make short work of the Claws.
 * is a decent overall option.

Summoner

 * / are very powerful summons if the player can get the necessary materials.
 * is a good option if the player is lucky enough to get it.
 * is a reliable option for summoners if there are no other alternatives.

Miscellaneous
The can be used to leap over the grips and to fall at an increased speed to avoid attacks.

The Fight
The grips will follow to player in an attempt to ram the player. Having an arena that has horizontal space is the key to avoid these ram attacks as it is easy to maintain distance until the edges and then going around the grips by either going to a lower or higher level of platforms.

The Grips of Chaos will also position themselves above the player, align themselves diagonally with the player, and charge at the same time in the form of an "X". This can easily be avoided by moving vertically.

If in any moment one of the grips make contact with the player, they will grab the player and throw them in a random direction after a while. During this period they will deal constant damage to the player. Of course the best thing to do is avoiding contact damage however if in any case the player is grabbed, the best thing to do is quickly putting distance between the grips and the player. One of the best ways of immediately doing this is using the dash of the Shield of Cthulhu.

During the fight, both grips will summon claws. There can only be 8 claws at the same time 4 of them being Dragon Claws which are summoned by the Inferno Grip and 4 of them being Hydra Claws which are summoned by the Mire Grip. The grips will keep spawning them until the limit is reached.

Keep in mind that The Mire Grip and the Hydra Claws inflict Poisoned, and The Inferno Grip and the Dragon Claws inflict [https://terraria.fandom.com/wiki/On_Fire! On Fire!] on contact.

General Tips

 * Don't let the number of claws increase as they can easily overwhelm you.