Classes and Bosses

[BigTerraCheese]

Hello Forums

So I've been thinking about the 4 main classes in Terrraria (namely melee, ranged, mage and summoner), which class do you prefer and choose?

Personally, I'm melee in pre-hardmode and when hardmode comes along I change to mage/ranged, but I always keep a sword in my inventory, and when I fight bosses I usually use ranged weapons. I feel like the magic and ranged weapons in pre-hardmode (apart from the sharanga) are pretty crap, and the magic weapons are not very powerful. I love yoyos lol

I find it very hard to defeat most bosses with melee and I don't even have a clue how one would play as a summoner, but hey, that may be just me...

Seriously though, anyone who is a summoner-class player, how does it work? I mean using the tiki armour and neckalce, plus the bewitchment table, how do you defeat bosses, invations, etc with just minions?

- BigTerraCheese

 

[byebye]

I don't have a specific class, I've played through the entire game as each and I can't pick a favorite.

 

[BigTerraCheese]

I don't have a specific class, I've played through the entire game as each and I can't pick a favorite.

Yeah they all have their individual pros/cons, but I just can't seem to kill any boss with melee (unless of course I attempt the EoC with a Terra Blade lol).

Magic and ranged are just my personal favourites and the Phantasm bow is the way to go for the Moon Lord.

 

[byebye]

When it comes to melee, early game just get the best gear you can. Bosses get easier in mid game and hard mode because weps like whips and flails can be used.

 

[Turjan]

Yeah they all have their individual pros/cons, but I just can't seem to kill any boss with melee (unless of course I attempt the EoC with a Terra Blade lol).

Plantera. Takes about 15-20 seconds with melee. You don't need to be any good at the game for this, and you don't need equipment that is not accessible before Plantera.

Golem also works, but you need to chug a health potion in between.

 

[byebye]

whips and flails can be used.

Except without the whips.

 

[Sun]

Mage class for me!
Summoner class is a very hard class to play, though the basic idea is let the minions do the work. Usually, using raven staff, most hardmode bosses are really easy, you just have to dodge a lot. Also invasions can be defeated just by having a good automatic farms. This a probably how most people get raven staffs in a pure summoner playthrough.

 

[Ezel]

I prefer meele, but sometimes I use ranged or magic weapons in specific situations (like bosses). It's not easy to defeat some bosses with meele weapons (considering the game progress you have).

When 1.3 was released, yoyo's became very useful. I tried a yoyo play and I defeated nearly every boss with it. They get really powerful with a yo-yo bag.

 

[BigTerraCheese]

I prefer meele, but sometimes I use ranged or magic weapons in specific situations (like bosses). It's not easy to defeat some bosses with meele weapons (considering the game progress you have).

When 1.3 was released, yoyo's became very useful. I tried a yoyo play and I defeated nearly every boss with it. They get really powerful with a yo-yo bag.

I'm the same, I do use melee when I'm just adventuring, but when I fight a boss or invasion, or go into the dungeon, I use magic primarily. Yo-yo's are great due to their range and flight time, and the Terra Blade is good for the easier invasions because of its projectile that can pierce 3 enemies. I'm a bit of a mix of ranged and magic, for example, in my opinion the best weapon to kill the Moon Lord is the Phantasm Bow. After the Hallowed Repeater/Chlorophyte Shotbow that is the only bow worth getting, apart from the Daedalus Stormbow.

 

[thecoolkni]

I'm melee all the time. I like getting up close and personal.

 

[Tecuser]

Melee all the way and summoner is ok only for afk farms

 

[ChaoticGamer]

Range, Range OP at lest long they have S.S.SFG gatling gun or dolphan gatling gun, then yes I made it to be unreal on that gun and overpowered my crits to kill the boss to be like a boss here by my holy gun slap his eyes the Moon Lord.

 

[njj3400]

I think they have very different play styles, for example, Mage and Ranger is about keeping your distance, but Mage has better area control (and damage) in exchange for a mana limitation while Ranger is the opposite, with fairly good defence but only managing to hit a couple of enemies at a time (even with rockets) Also, with the chlorophyte bullets and snowman cannon, it's very much a fire and forget class. Melee is mostly just for getting in the quick and dirty, as well as being a "tank" class (also being my personal way to get through expert mode due to bad dodges), although late game, they're pretty much mini Mages, what with all the stuff they can throw around, aka Influx Waver, Vampire knives, Solar Eruption, Star Wrath etc. Summoner... is interesting. It's mostly a evasive class, and it doesn't take hits very well- the idea for summoner is for it to run around and dodge everything while the summons do all the work. Hence, plenty of people like to pair up Summoner with the aforementioned fire and forget weapons of the ranger class. (it also progresses through the game really fast since it doesn't have as much armours or weapons to farm for)

 

[Nariofan101]

I prefer ranged, initially for the distance but later for the sheer silly power called 'crystal darts'.

And on summoning: Don't do it with just your minions. Your minions do work, leaving your hands free; use them. I usually put vampire knives in that slot as soon as I can.

 

[ManDaMisdemeanor]

Aside from the obvious change in defense in summoner armor progression, summoner armor sets in hardmode has different attributes for the minions from damage to knockback to minion count. Summoning minions with tiki set increases damage, then switching to spooky armor directly after increases minion count though the minions that were summoned with tiki will have the stronger stats even after you change armor sets. Accesories play an important part as well. Pure summoner would have accessories that contribute to minions only due to it being a class that the player is avoiding attacks and letting summons fight for them. Myself I prefer ranged and throwing with summons as more of a support.

 

[njj3400]

Aside from the obvious change in defense in summoner armor progression, summoner armor sets in hardmode has different attributes for the minions from damage to knockback to minion count. Summoning minions with tiki set increases damage, then switching to spooky armor directly after increases minion count though the minions that were summoned with tiki will have the stronger stats even after you change armor sets. Accesories play an important part as well. Pure summoner would have accessories that contribute to minions only due to it being a class that the player is avoiding attacks and letting summons fight for them. Myself I prefer ranged and throwing with summons as more of a support.

Doesn't Spooky Armor raise damage more, not Tiki?

 

[ManDaMisdemeanor]

Got them backwards should've been wearing spooky increases damage (58%) tiki increases minion count. Minions summoned with spooky (including those stacked with bewitching table and summon potion) would have the increased stats even if you changed into tiki for the additional minion. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[RushOfCold]

At the end of the day, melee has been in my core and my heart ever since 1.2.2.
I usually go tank.

The thing about melee is that the start of hardmode isn't really easy because you have to go up close with low damage weapons and low defense. Including bosses at that. For example, Sunfury and Flamarang are your best bets for the mechs.

After that, it's pretty easy going as the rest of the weapons gain considerable range.

 

[DemonScytheBoltStaff]

I like melee, but only with yo-yos, flails, projectile shooting swords and things like the vampire knives and scourge of the corrupter. I sometimes use magic, but only for boss fights

 

[CellarDoor96]

Oh boy, another class thread? Time to spread the good news about summoners!

Seriously though, anyone who is a summoner-class player, how does it work? I mean using the tiki armour and neckalce, plus the bewitchment table, how do you defeat bosses, invations, etc with just minions?

Well, first of all, what are you doing using "just minions"?

If you aren't using other weapons alongside your minions, then you've missed the point of the summoner class. Minions leave your hands free, so you can and should use other items. If you don't, then you're just crippling yourself arbitrarily. It's like if a mage decided they were only going to use accessories that affected magic damage and mana usage, meaning they couldn't use items like Celestial Shell, Destroyer Emblem, or even wings because they aren't strictly "magic". It's an arbitrary, unnecessary limitation and not the way the class was intended to be played. You're supposed to use everything available to you, so short of a self-imposed challenge run, you should.

(Incidentally, this also can go the other way, meaning that if you aren't using summons with your melee, ranger, and mage characters, then you're doing them wrong, too. Always use every legitimate advantage you can get.)

Now once you've gotten over your silly misconceptions about the summoner class, you'll find that they can actually be extremely powerful if you play them right, especially at endgame. In fact, as someone who has played every class including summoner extensively and enjoys tinkering with them to try to bring out their full potential, while most people will tell you mages have the highest single-target DPS in Terraria, I'm here to tell you that's not true. It's summoners. With a 10-segment Stardust Dragon and an SDMG loaded with Chlorophyte Bullets, my summoner can reach a combined total of around 10k max DPS (2-3k from SDMG, 6-7k from Stardust Dragon). Meanwhile, my mage's Last Prism struggles to reach 7-8k, and when inflicted with mana sickness it drops even lower.

Of course, that's only at endgame, and it's true that Stardust Dragon has a huge DPS leap over the rest of the summons. Not to mention mages still beat summoners in multi-target DPS, since Last Prism's beam can be way longer than a Stardust Dragon and summoners can't use piercing weapons alongside the Dragon. But summoners are by no means weak, even before you get the Stardust Dragon. Not only that, but even if their effectiveness at boss fights is debatable, they're undeniably far and away the best class for exploring, building, mining, farming, etc., basically every other part of the game.

That isn't to say they're perfect, obviously, since they have that low defense, but the low defense is there for a reason. If they didn't have it, then they would completely overshadow the other classes. Summoner has been my favorite class ever since it was added, and it's only continued to find ways to make me fall in love with it.