CellarDoor96
Terrarian
So after having a bit of time to play with the current game balance as of 1.4.1.2, I think that the game for the most part is more balanced than ever before, but I do have a few suggestions. Since content development is ended and the devs are moving on to other projects now, these suggestions are all ones that I think would be pretty easy to implement, i.e. no new items or mechanics, although I'm not a coder so I could be wrong about some of them. Anyway, I don't know how likely the devs are to implement any more balance tweaks at this time, but I think that these changes would definitely help polish off the game and leave it as reasonably balanced as it could be.
I'll probably add more things as they occur to me, but feel free to discuss in the meantime.
All caps because out of everything on this list, this is the thing I personally want the most, lol. Put simply: MORE SPEED PLS. Sure, there are wings that can give you plenty of speed, but it would still be a great QoL improvement if the speed bonuses on the endgame armors were bumped up just a little. At endgame most of your time is spent building or doing other menial things instead of fighting (and when you do fight most things will melt in seconds anyway), so speed bonuses are honestly more appreciated than combat ones. I don't think it would be too much to ask for the Luminite armors to have their speed bumped up to be at least on par with the Tavernkeep armors, so around 20-30% each. I'd suggest 30% for Solar Flare, 20% for the other three.
Its DPS is just not high enough to compensate for its short range, especially considering the Fetid Baghnakhs are available before it and do like twice as much DPS. Honestly, I would suggest tripling, yes tripling, the Arkhalis's base damage, or else increasing its slash size dramatically. By a factor of like 10.
The Bee Cloak just can't compete as a hardmode item right now. I'd suggest that instead of bees, it release wasps similar to the ones fired by the Wasp Gun, which deal roughly twice as much damage and penetrate around 20 enemy defense. That way, they can actually dent hardmode enemies. If this is too strong, then the number of wasps per activation can be capped at 2 in Classic and 3 in Expert/Master instead of the current cap of 3 and 4 respectively, since enemy defense is the problem rather than the item's base DPS.
One of the worst magic weapons, partly because its DPS is just terrible and partly because it needs the target to be near either blocks or the player to hit them. Increasing its damage to around 40, along with roughly doubling the length of the thorns, would help alleviate this.
Even the recent buff just wasn't enough to make it good. Instead of doubling damage on the first hit - or maybe in addition to it - my idea would be to have the Breaker Blade inflict Broken Armor on enemies, halving their defense. This wouldn't necessarily make it better in all situations, but it would give it a niche that would make it worth using alongside other weapons.
It's not trash anymore, but it still needs something to compete with the Firecracker. I suggest having the snowflake tag enemies for 8 or 9 tag damage, instead of dealing it directly, or maybe on top of it.
Still the worst Frost Moon drop, even after its buff in 1.4. Its DPS is so low that I would honestly suggest bumping its damage all the way up to like 100, and even then it still might not be any good. A range increase would help as well, and I'd also suggest letting it inflict Frostburn or Frostbite instead of On Fire for thematic purposes (along with changing its flame color to blue), even though that wouldn't make much difference.
Unlike most other things on this list, I think it's way too strong compared to when you can get it in the game. Making it craftable for the cost of only 1 Fallen Star is just ridiculous for a weapon this potent. I think that, at the very least, it should require a Mana Crystal instead of a Fallen Star, as well as an Anvil for its crafting station. That way, the Wooden Boomerang might actually see some use instead of getting immediately upgraded.
It's not as thoroughly outclassed as the Elf Melter, but it also needs a pretty big boost. I'd actually suggest bumping its damage up to 60, making it the same as the current Elf Melter. Yes, this does mean the Elf Melter is like 3 tiers behind its peers right now in terms of DPS.
There isn't much that could make it good, but I do have a couple of suggestions that could increase the chances of players actually using it: first, giving it immunity to fall damage so it can serve as a replacement for wings (even if it'll still be very janky), and second, making it drop from the Lunatic Cultist instead of the Moon Lord. The Moon Lord already has two other Expert drops anyway while the Cultist has none, so it seems only fair.
Gem hooks are so easy to craft that they make the regular Grappling Hook more or less obsolete, since the Hook used in its recipe is just too rare. To fix this, the Hook should be bumped up to around an 8-10% drop from each enemy that drops it, which should be increased in Expert Mode as well. This would improve the odds that a player will actually find one and use the Grappling Hook before getting 15 of a gem and making something better.
After the introduction of the Celestial Starboard, the Luminite Wings basically have no purpose in Expert and Master modes anymore. They are still useful in Classic, but even in Classic I think the game would benefit from the following simple change: removing the Luminite from the Luminite Wings' recipes. This would make them craftable before the Moon Lord fight, which would give players better mobility in that fight than before, but tbh I think it would benefit the fight as a whole. Sure, it would be easier, but I don't think it would make it that much easier, and imo it would also make it more fun.
Compared to the Last Prism, its only advantage is that it can go through blocks, but by the end of the game there's really no benefit to hiding behind blocks anymore since all major enemies can go through them. Its main weakness is its accuracy, so I suggest giving its projectiles a velocity buff. It needs a pretty big one, so around a 75-100% increase would be a good starting point.
After 1.4 and 1.4.1 buffed the Rainbow Crystal Staff, the Lunar Portal Staff now finds itself basically outclassed. Since there's no longer any incentive to use multiple types of sentries, and the RCS now performs better than the LPS in pretty much every situation, there's no reason ever to use the LPS unless it happens to drop first. I suggest increasing the LPS's base damage to around 90-100, as well as letting it fire 2 or 3 beams at once.
Most items that inflict Confusion are relatively underpowered because so many things are immune to the debuff. Even after their buff in 1.4.1, Nano Bullets are still basically a poor man's Chlorophyte Bullet, despite Chlorophyte being obtainable earlier. I understand that making more things susceptible to Confusion is not feasible since it requires writing a new AI for each enemy, so instead I suggest the following: rather than Confusion, or maybe in addition to it, Nano items inflict Weak, which would reduce the damage, defense, and movement speed of enemies like it does to the player (except it would reduce all enemy damage, not just melee). This might be worse against enemies that aren't immune to Confusion, but since over half of all enemies are immune to it, I think it would be a buff overall. Additionally, Nano Bullets should not have the 34% damage penalty that they get after a bounce.
They both have roughly the same set of problems, namely that they are too inaccurate and stop shooting when trying to catch up to the player, which leaves them both outclassed by the Xeno Staff. Letting them shoot while moving would make for a huge improvement, as would another buff to their projectile velocity.
It's just not good enough to be locked to hardmode tbh, and there's no real way of fixing it without reworking it completely. I would instead suggest making it purchasable post-Skeletron, along with reducing its base damage to around 25.
It's not bad by any means, but it's not all that good, either. The problem is how slow the spores are, along with the fact they can only spawn near blocks and walls. If they could spawn anywhere on the screen, and they chased enemies a bit faster, then the Spore Sac would be more worthy of its status as an expert mode item.
The recent buff to the Stake Launcher made it extremely powerful compared to other weapons of its tier. It makes the Candy Corn Gun basically obsolete, along with other ranged weapons obtained at the same time or later. I suggest reducing its speed and thus its DPS by about 20%, which would mean increasing its use time to 15 instead of 12.
They're definitely not bad, but they're just not as good as the Stardust Dragon. Their main problem is just plain DPS: yes, they fire extra shots at targets you're actively attacking, but not only is this still not enough to keep up, but those extra shots frequently do nothing because the target is still invulnerable from the attack you just hit it with. I'd suggest increasing their fire rate by something like 40-50%. That sounds like a lot, but even then, the Stardust Dragon will still do more DPS; the goal isn't to make the Cells as strong as the Dragon, but rather to close the gap just enough that their crowd control advantages outweigh their lower damage.
A similar case to the Arkhalis, though slightly less dire. But like the Arkhalis, Starlight's DPS, while high, just isn't enough to compensate for its short range, so I'd suggest either increasing its range by about 50% or buffing its base damage to around 100.
Please for the love of god give this autofire. It would be too powerful with autofire and its current stats, so it should be nerfed to around 40 base damage, but it would still be more viable than it currently is due to just how agonizing it is to use. At 40 damage and with autofire, it would also fill the niche of a post-Plantera Megashark which is oddly empty right now.
It's pretty bad. I think either the damage or fire rate of the projectiles should be increased, but also their velocity and/or range needs some help.
I'll probably add more things as they occur to me, but feel free to discuss in the meantime.
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