PC What is the weakest class in your opinion, as of the release of 1.4?

Definitely summoner. I know the devs don't intend for you to actually play a single class only, but in hardmode you're basically forced to if you want maximum efficiency. Other classes are amazing on their own, and acceptable when combined with others, but summoner has too many flaws to be good before Terraprisma and Stardust Dragon. Take this into context:

Melee immediately has weapon choices in hardmode to start you off, and it only gets better from there. You can choose to tank, go full assault, or be agile (via accessories, armor, and mounts), and you can combine them to your advantage. This also applies to mage and ranger, but they would focus on regeneration, ammo usage reduction, and mana usage reduction more than defense in the tanking sense. You can combine any of those three classes in different ways to have a unique playstyle and still be usable, at the cost of max effectiveness. Summoner has close to none of these advantages. As of 1.4 the class relies heavily on whips, which can cause inaccuracy when fighting bosses such as Duke Fishron or Skeletron Prime, and that's not to mention the overall lower DPS output (specifically against single targets). The armor has the lowest defense value of any class, to the point where you're playing with the defense of early hardmode ore armors for most of the game, and in pre-hardmode you're basically wearing iron armor, and this isn't even considering the limited gear choices and one-sided buffs on the armor. You have 7, just seven armor choices throughout the game as summoner (not counting the pretend summoner OOA armor sets), and some of those aren't even worth getting. The weapons you have to deal with until you either grind for Terraprisma or get Stardust Dragon are mostly bad. The only other summon I've found to have really good (dependable) DPS is the Xeno Staff minions. There's a lot more flaws that make summoner not only worse than other classes but actually bad, but I won't elaborate as of now, but I do want to share my most important issue with summoner, which is the AI. With other classes you're either relying on skill (which is mostly pointy clicky in terms of attacking) or reliable homing. What are you relying on as Summoner? AI. Not just one chiseled flawless AI, but many flawed and annoying AI. A summon may fly in the wrong spot and decide not to attack an enemy because it's behind a block. A summon may take too long to reach a target. A summon may have a delay in shooting, or (in the case of the Tempest Staff) attempt to hit an enemy as if the Sharknado had ray-tracing, and all the while it's missing 75% of the shots. Nearly every single summon has a flaw that makes them annoying to use, and their AI makes up for most of the lack of DPS that summoner has.
 
They are overpowered in comparison with the other post moon lord weapons.

Yes, but why does that make the class weak? Your analysis lacks scope; it only does a comparison of their post-Moon Lord weapons. It could be that the ranger is stronger at every other tier, thus offering the easiest playthrough of the game.

Which class gets the most OP of the OP weapons is just not a good metric of strength or weakness.
 
honestly it has to be magic
ranged got a buff with the expert mode drop making you able to melt moonlord in seconds while having high damage and mobility
it's kinda funny how the best class previously is now the worst
also summoner isn't a class
 
Ranged.

Melee has op zenih, summoner has op terraprisma, and mage in general outclasses ranged. (Last prism > sdmg by a long shot.)
CLEARLY you haven't used post plantera multishot bows yet, those things DOMINATE, besides, is terraprisma really worth it when the whole run for summoner is just grinding and grinding, you don't get your first armor or weapon until queen bee for summoner, and the def is just hideous,ranger can at least tank a hit or 2 before dieing, (enraged eol is hard ah ngl) celebration mk2 is also kinda a game breaker

im going with summoner (cuz its obvious)
 
honestly it has to be magic
ranged got a buff with the expert mode drop making you able to melt moonlord in seconds while having high damage and mobility
it's kinda funny how the best class previously is now the worst
also summoner isn't a class

Okay, I usually respect other's opinions, but

W H A T

Summoner IS a class. It has it's unique weapons, it has unique (in a way) armor and accessories, it has it's own damage type, it has a pillar themed around it. IT IS A CLASS.

and it's also the worst class lol

On a calmer note, I fail to see how a class with lots of viable and versatile spells can be the worst. Sure, mana managment and stuff like that, but it's still a really strong class, and not anywhere near being the worst of the 4.
 
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The answer from most people will always be summoner, and it’s very difficult to convince people otherwise, but I disagree.

For a pretty large fraction of the game, the DPS of a summoner outpreforms any other class. A Spinal Tap, Obsidian Armor and Vampire Frogs for the Wall - or Hallowed Armor, a Sanguine Staff and a Durendal for Plantera are some of the strongest builds you can get at their stage of the game.

Early game, Flinxes are very powerful, and the combined DPS of them and a whip is pretty high for beginner game. Then Obsidian Armor - even after its nerf, allows Summoner to work on par with other classes for Bee and Skeletron and actually do better for the Wall of Flesh than any other class thanks to the Spinal Tap. This trend continues the entire game, with Summoners having options that compete well with or outpreform other class options: Blade, Sanguine, Desert Tiger (after its buff, it can kill expert Empress in under a minute with the right build!!), Raven, Xeno, Stardust Dragon, Terraprisma.

This is balanced by being squishy. You are with low defense (which doesn’t matter that much actually, defense is usually not that much of a difference unless you stack up a ton of it) and are forced to be next to the enemy. But for putting yourself in such high risk, you are rewarded with phenominal DPS that other classes can’t even begin to compete with.

If anyone doesn’t believe me, try it. I used to be part of the summoner bad circlejerk until I actually did a run with the class and found my preformance to be impressive for the majority of the game.

As for which class is the worst, that’s melee in my opinion. Melee struggles for much of the game, lacking good options for core bosses such as the Eye or Brain of Cthulhu, (especially) the Wall of Flesh, or Plantera. Until post-Plantera, most of the weapons can’t even compete with those of other classes, and only a few weapons (ex. Shadowflame Knives) are even worth using for bosses. Melee makes a 180 turn immediately after plantera, but it’s so weak for so much of the game that I can’t call it strong.

and don’t you dare say anything about zenith - zenith is a final, endgame weapon and its existance changes nothing about melee’s preformance for the majority of the game.
 
I agree that there are people who think "summoner bad" because of the damage or unreliability of summon AI, however, I personally think it's the worst class for several other reasons:
1) Lack of variety. It doesn't help that summoner has the lowest amount of unique weapons, a total of 35, mages have twice the amount, whilst ranger and melee have four times as much weapons (a bit less if you remember a lot of them are useless ore swords/shortswords). When you also consider the fact that only a third of all those weapons are actually viable, you end up with a class that will play every single run pretty much the same, which can get stale extremely fast. I have to say, I personally adore sentries, but there are very few of them, and they are often considered to be really bad by everyone. Oh and also, accessories and armor: summoner accessories only give you minion slots and simple stats, and all unique summoner armors (except obsidian) are boring as hecc. I mean, spooky wood armor is supposed to be on the same tier as shroomite, beetle and spectre, but those three provide cool, unique bonuses, whilst spooky armor is just stats. Even stardust armor - you beat the game, you expect something awesome considering all the other armors were so mundane - and all you get is another minion.
2) No real good start. Now, I know you don't have to play pure classes, but a lot of people find such runs more fun than using whatever you can get, myself included. Melee and ranger pretty much can get their first weapon at the start, mage is a bit more difficult but they have quite a few options, whilst summoner? Pray for a finch staff, or dive deep underground for a bucket of lava and give some flinxes a warm bath. But what if the snow biome spawns behind a corruption/crimson biome? You can either waste a ton of time trying to pass, and creating the largest graveyard ever seen, or create new worlds until rng blesses you.
3) most weapons require extreme grind/rng. Finch staff, vampire frog, Sanguine, Desert tiger, Xeno, deadly spheres, Ravens, OOA sentries, Pirates, and so on - either require extreme rng to obtain, or need you to take down hard bosses/events, perhaps multiple times before you actually get the weapon. This can seriously kill the pacing and fun of the game.

So, to conclude, I think summoner is the worst not because it's actually bad - but because pretty much only people who are willing to invest into it will find it fun. Almost anyone can pick up ranger or melee, or even mage, have decent success and fun with it, but summoner has very little to offer and might throw most players off.
 
As for which class is the worst, that’s melee in my opinion. Melee struggles for much of the game, lacking good options for core bosses such as the Eye or Brain of Cthulhu, (especially) the Wall of Flesh, or Plantera. Until post-Plantera, most of the weapons can’t even compete with those of other classes, and only a few weapons (ex. Shadowflame Knives) are even worth using for bosses. Melee makes a 180 turn immediately after plantera, but it’s so weak for so much of the game that I can’t call it strong.
I agree that most of the weapons can't compete with the ones from other classes, however 1.4 flails are the best melee weapons in pre-Hardmode and can take down all of the bosses easily except for the WoF. Give it a try.
 
I agree that most of the weapons can't compete with the ones from other classes, however 1.4 flails are the best melee weapons in pre-Hardmode and can take down all of the bosses easily except for the WoF. Give it a try.

I did run melee recently. Flails are very powerful for common enemies and preform well in general, but there are a few issues with them. They do still have pretty mediocre range so they don’t preform as well verus bosses as they do for enemies. They aren’t bad for bosses per se, but it’s easier to use a ranged or mage equivalent.

They are also kind of scarce. Corruption worlds offer Ball of Hurt immediately but in crimson worlds you’re stuck with Flaming Mace until after Brain (which flaming mace or most melee options at this stage don’t do well against). And these are great weapons, but you’re also stuck with them until post-Skeletron (a fast boss that flails do poorly against, better to use Bee Keeper and thorn boomerang)
 
summoner and melee are equally bad, they both have something the other doesn't, summoner has a good dps (only for the really op ones like sanguines and terraprisma) and melee has a good survivability (hm melee helms have like 20 def avg)
 
summoner and melee are equally bad, they both have something the other doesn't, summoner has a good dps (only for the really op ones like sanguines and terraprisma) and melee has a good survivability (hm melee helms have like 20 def avg)
Defense isn’t a good stat. Also summoner has access to the Valhalla Knight set which has both good defense and regeneration, and it didn’t even used to boost melee stats before. In fact before it boosted melee stats it was so powerful defensively that it’s chestplate was considered the tankiest single armor piece in the entire game.
 
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