This is another entry in 'weapons tested out against bosses'. My play style isn't that great, so I'd love to have people do their own analysis on this boss. Others have done it before, but with some very different results.
I'm not marking danger for weapons in this guide because Queen Bee is dangerous for all weapons fairly equally; she's easy to hit in the 'stand still' part, even with a sword, and hard to hit when shooting the stingers.
Safety mostly came down to 'how well can this weapon stop her in the crazy dash phase at the end'.
I believe Queen Bee is most useful to fight before Skeletron, as her weapons work well against Skeletron and the Dungeon enemies. Thus, I only tested pre-hardmode weapons obtainable before skeletron. This includes Hellstone items, which, while very powerful, are not as high a tier as Shadow Chest items IMO.
Each weapon was tested three times. One weapon is above another if it beat it in 2 or more of the trials.
Arena was a roughly Plantera-size open box with 5 rows of platforms. For Starfury, Blood Rain Bow and Sandgun I dug out a tall, skinny arena with no platforms.
Melee Weapons
* indicates fights where Queen Bee stood still, releasing larva, more often than usual
Time measured in seconds
Comments:
I did melee first, starting with Blade of Grass, so I was less experienced at first.
Flails do great damage but I was risky by lining myself up for shots while she was shooting stingers.
Boomerangs were all used 'aggressively', standing very close during the larva stage and shooting over and over.
Broadswords were actually pretty great in this fight, dealing with bees, hitting multiple times when using Shield Dash during charges.
Ranged
*Indicates a fight where I zoned out.
Tried but died: Sticky grenades, frost daggerfish, Molotov cocktails
Comments:
Unholy arrows have high damage but I couldn't aim them as well as Jester's.
Conventional wisdom says that Minigun can't handle the final stage. With the damage buff potions and sharktooth necklace, it had the best time among 'non-sequence breaking/non-crazy to use' weapons, although I did die once.
I tried using Minishark for half the fight then musket for the second half, but it ended up doing worse than either one by itself.
Magic
It was really hard to tell which armor was best here. The Wizard hat was heavily nerfed in 1.4.1 (I think?) while Jungle Armor and Meteor Armor were heavily buffed. Jungle armor has the most defense. I had always used Wizard Hat+Robe before, and never Jungle Armor, but maybe I'll switch now.
Comments:
This is the second boss fight I've seen where Crimson Rod can easily take out the boss by itself. Given my nimbus rod results for destroyer, I wonder if a 'fire and forget' magic weapon run would be possible (Magnet Sphere, Rainbow Gun, Nimbus Rod, Clinger Staff, etc.)
Summoning
Comments:
I really don't know what happened with Imps and the Flinx Fur Coat.
The Slime Staff minions just bounced around several platforms below the queen. Terrible AI.
I tried doing 3 Flinx + Aggressive sentry summoning+whips, but it didn't do well. It seems possible to kill her with just Ballista or just Explosive Trap summoning, but it's not easy or super fast! My best time with explosive trap+snapthorn+3 flinx+obsidian was 61 seconds, worse than just whipping.
I'm not marking danger for weapons in this guide because Queen Bee is dangerous for all weapons fairly equally; she's easy to hit in the 'stand still' part, even with a sword, and hard to hit when shooting the stingers.
Safety mostly came down to 'how well can this weapon stop her in the crazy dash phase at the end'.
I believe Queen Bee is most useful to fight before Skeletron, as her weapons work well against Skeletron and the Dungeon enemies. Thus, I only tested pre-hardmode weapons obtainable before skeletron. This includes Hellstone items, which, while very powerful, are not as high a tier as Shadow Chest items IMO.
All weapons have the best possible modifier. All accessories are menacing.
Accessories: Shield of Cthulhu, Amphibian Boots, Pink Horseshoe Balloon, Sharktooth Necklace, Feral Claws or Magnet Flower
I used the shield's dash when Queen Bee was charging, and the shield contributed significant damage, often killing Queen Bee.
Buffs: Ammo Reservation, Endurance, Regeneration, Stoneskin, Mana Regeneration, Magic Power, Summoning, Plenty Satisfied, Archer, Hunter, Wrath
I didn't use Thorns, but it's great in this fight, a good way for Queen Bee to kill herself in the end. I didn't use Bast Statues, Heart Lanterns, or Campfires, but I normally would have, so those could replace some of these buffs.
Minion: Flinx staff (2 flinx's total)
To get a variety of times, I used multiple different sets of equipment with each weapon.
Melee: Shadow Armor, Crimson Armor, Molten Armor
Ranger: Fossil armor with multiple types of ammo
Mage: Jungle Armor, Meteor Armor, Wizard Hat+Diamond Robe+Meteor Leggings
Summoner: Flinx Fur Coat+Shadow Helmet+Molten Greaves, Obsidian Armor
Accessories: Shield of Cthulhu, Amphibian Boots, Pink Horseshoe Balloon, Sharktooth Necklace, Feral Claws or Magnet Flower
I used the shield's dash when Queen Bee was charging, and the shield contributed significant damage, often killing Queen Bee.
Buffs: Ammo Reservation, Endurance, Regeneration, Stoneskin, Mana Regeneration, Magic Power, Summoning, Plenty Satisfied, Archer, Hunter, Wrath
I didn't use Thorns, but it's great in this fight, a good way for Queen Bee to kill herself in the end. I didn't use Bast Statues, Heart Lanterns, or Campfires, but I normally would have, so those could replace some of these buffs.
Minion: Flinx staff (2 flinx's total)
To get a variety of times, I used multiple different sets of equipment with each weapon.
Melee: Shadow Armor, Crimson Armor, Molten Armor
Ranger: Fossil armor with multiple types of ammo
Mage: Jungle Armor, Meteor Armor, Wizard Hat+Diamond Robe+Meteor Leggings
Summoner: Flinx Fur Coat+Shadow Helmet+Molten Greaves, Obsidian Armor
Each weapon was tested three times. One weapon is above another if it beat it in 2 or more of the trials.
Arena was a roughly Plantera-size open box with 5 rows of platforms. For Starfury, Blood Rain Bow and Sandgun I dug out a tall, skinny arena with no platforms.
Melee Weapons
* indicates fights where Queen Bee stood still, releasing larva, more often than usual
Time measured in seconds
Shadow armor | Crimson Armor | Molten Armor | |
Terragrim | 93 | 35* | 34* |
Fiery Greatsword | 47 | 53 | 39 |
Flamarang | 45 | 55 | 52 |
Blade of Grass | 86 | 63 | 54 |
Starfury | 54 | 92 | 57 |
Cascade | 62 | 78 | 59 |
Thorn Chakram | 67 | 81 | 72 |
Swordfish | 66* | 106 | 72 |
Phaseblade | dead | 94 | 65 |
Purple Clubberfish | dead | 83 | 79 |
Amazon | 118 | 101 | 80 |
Meatball | 90 | dead | 80 |
Enchanted Sword (beam) | 130 | 120 | 127 |
Storm Spear | 150 | 125 | 118 |
Platinum Shortsword | dead | dead | 169 |
Comments:
I did melee first, starting with Blade of Grass, so I was less experienced at first.
Flails do great damage but I was risky by lining myself up for shots while she was shooting stingers.
Boomerangs were all used 'aggressively', standing very close during the larva stage and shooting over and over.
Broadswords were actually pretty great in this fight, dealing with bees, hitting multiple times when using Shield Dash during charges.
Ranged
*Indicates a fight where I zoned out.
Musket balls/Frostburn arrows | Tungsten bullets/Unholy arrows | Meteor Shot/Jester's arrows/Custom | |
Star Cannon | 21 | ||
Molten Fury | 50 | 43 | 31 |
Sand Gun | 42 | ||
Minishark | dead | 71 | 58 |
Musket | 61 | 57 | 63 |
Revolver | 77 | 71 | 63 |
Boomstick | 103 | 80 | 69 |
Tendon Bow | 87 | 93 | 71 |
Blood Rain Bow | 74 (using unholy) | ||
Demon Bow | 88 | 83 | 79 |
The Undertaker | 90 | 100* | 80 |
Paintball Gun | 87 | ||
Snowball Cannon | 105 | ||
Red Ryder | 105 | 122 | 107 |
Bone javelins | 120 | ||
Harpoon | 122 | ||
Blowpipe | 122 (poison) |
Tried but died: Sticky grenades, frost daggerfish, Molotov cocktails
Comments:
Unholy arrows have high damage but I couldn't aim them as well as Jester's.
Conventional wisdom says that Minigun can't handle the final stage. With the damage buff potions and sharktooth necklace, it had the best time among 'non-sequence breaking/non-crazy to use' weapons, although I did die once.
I tried using Minishark for half the fight then musket for the second half, but it ended up doing worse than either one by itself.
Magic
It was really hard to tell which armor was best here. The Wizard hat was heavily nerfed in 1.4.1 (I think?) while Jungle Armor and Meteor Armor were heavily buffed. Jungle armor has the most defense. I had always used Wizard Hat+Robe before, and never Jungle Armor, but maybe I'll switch now.
Wizard hat+diamond robe+meteor leg | Meteor armor | Jungle Armor | |
Demon Scythe | 45 | 50 | 35 |
Grey Zapinator | 57 | 38 | 48 |
Diamond Staff | 72 | 68 | 78 |
Space Gun | 68 | 78 | 79 |
Crimson Rod | 100 | 85 | 78 |
Thunder Zapper | 90 | 102 | 129 |
Vilethorn | 135 | dead | 102 |
Wand of sparking | 208 | 156 | dead |
Comments:
This is the second boss fight I've seen where Crimson Rod can easily take out the boss by itself. Given my nimbus rod results for destroyer, I wonder if a 'fire and forget' magic weapon run would be possible (Magnet Sphere, Rainbow Gun, Nimbus Rod, Clinger Staff, etc.)
Summoning
Flinx Coat+Shadow+Molten | Finch | Slime | Flinx | Vampire Frog | Imp |
Leather Whip | dead | terrible | 136 | 105 | 110 |
Snapthorn | dead | terrible | 86 | 65 | 69 |
Obsidian Armor | Finch | Slime | Flinx | Vampire Frog | Imp |
Leather Whip | dead | terrible | 68 | 71 | 52 |
Snapthorn | 92 | terrible | 55 | 45 | 38 |
I really don't know what happened with Imps and the Flinx Fur Coat.
The Slime Staff minions just bounced around several platforms below the queen. Terrible AI.
I tried doing 3 Flinx + Aggressive sentry summoning+whips, but it didn't do well. It seems possible to kill her with just Ballista or just Explosive Trap summoning, but it's not easy or super fast! My best time with explosive trap+snapthorn+3 flinx+obsidian was 61 seconds, worse than just whipping.
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