Weapons & Equip Compilation of miscellaneous changes to weapons

Baconfry

Terrarian
I.3 brought many makeovers and modifications to weapons that I was very glad to see. However, we're not going to stop suggesting improvements.

The majority of the changes that I will be listing here are quite minor in execution, and I wouldn't publish them in their own threads, but I still think they're needed. Since this thread was initially published, I've decided to cut out most of the prose and expand the list while describing each change as briefly as possible. The format is now a lot like a changelog.


Leaf Blower: Use this sprite, or something similar.
newleafblower.png
Some other weapons, like the Bat Scepter and Flamelash, could use similar treatment.

Heat Ray: now creates miniature, cosmetic explosions on every enemy it hits.

Psycho Knife: now works similarly to the Arkhalis. Stealth fades over a few seconds while attacking, instead of being good for only one hit.

The Eye of Cthulhu: releases homing Servant of Cthulhu projectiles. It's already really powerful and doesn't need this, but it would make it more interesting.

Kraken: yoyo now passes through walls, but moves more slowly while doing so.

Charged Blaster Cannon: use this sprite
index.php
made by @MegaMage314, or something similar. The direction of the fully-charged beam can now be adjusted. Charge time for all three attack modes reduced; to counterbalance this, the fully-charged beam can no longer be held indefinitely.

Life Drain: fixed a bug that prevented it from dealing critical hits. Reduced mana cost.

Coin Gun: now automatically uses the coin type at the uppermost coin slot, and when possible, converts from a higher denomination when depleted.

Anchor: now available from Wooden Crates after the Brain of Cthulhu or Eater of Worlds has been defeated. Left-clicking while the Anchor is already out will cause it to retract immediately; this way, you no longer have to wait for the Anchor to fall all the way to the floor if you miss.

Rainbow Rod, Flamelash, Magic Missile: instead of directly controlling one projectile at a time, their projectiles now passively home in towards the cursor's location, even when the left mouse button isn't held down.

Clinger Staff: increased maximum number of active flame barriers to 2. Now lasts for a minimum of 10 seconds.

Frost Staff, Meteor Staff, Nebula Blaze, Flower of Frost: reduced mana cost.

Chlorophyte Saber: spores now have knockback.

The Horseman's Blade: you can now right-click to automatically summon flaming pumpkin projectiles at a reduced rate.

Spectre Staff: projectile can now pass through walls. Increased speed, reduced projectile velocity.

Golem Fist: Now penetrates a short distance after hitting an enemy, piercing targets that are directly behind it.

Poison Staff and Venom Staff: can now strike the same enemy with multiple projectiles in one cast.

Crystal Vile Shard and Nettle Burst: now ignore a certain percentage of enemies' defenses.

Lightning Aura sentries: now displays the sentry's true damage value. Its ability to ignore all defenses has been added to the tooltip.

Flameburst sentries: projectiles gain full homing abilities. Sentry can now aim upwards.

Explosive Trap sentries: can now deal knockback, and damage per hit has been buffed.

Bananarang: now drops at a 100% rate from Clowns, in stacks of 1-2.

Optic Staff: Retinazer's lasers no longer pierce. Spazmatism still does piercing damage.

All weapons that drop from the Ogre: a weaker version of the Ogre has been added to the final wave of the tier 1 (pre-mech) Old One’s Army in hardmode, and drops these weapons as usual.

Brand of the Inferno: now grants Striking Moment even if you parry somewhat too early to negate damage.

Tome of Infinite Wisdom: damage of primary attack increased. Mana cost reduced.

Flower Pow: now releases 2-3 petals per shot, and will attempt to target multiple enemies at once (like the Seedler).

Wasp Gun: damage increased.

Piranha Gun: now begins chasing enemies upon colliding with a block or reaching maximum range. Alternative: keeps damaging its target after switching weapons.

Shadowbeam Staff: like the Crystal Dart, the beam now automatically tries to bounce and strike enemies that it has not yet hit.

Keybrand: when killing enemies with the Keybrand, Dungeon Spirits are more likely to spawn.

All rocket weapons: you will no longer take damage from your own rockets.

Staff of Earth: increased minimum damage dealt by the stationary boulder to around half the weapon's base value.

Staff of the Frost Hydra: now deals damage and knockback to enemies on contact. Sell price reduced.

Tempest Staff: now shoots with higher velocity.

Christmas Tree Sword: ornaments now explode on impact, creating smaller, damaging fragments that linger on the ground for a few seconds. Now has autoswing, along with the Ice Sickle, True Excalibur, True Night's Edge, and Chlorophyte Claymore.

Stardust Cell Staff: Projectiles now penetrate walls after they have been released. Increased damage and projectile size for projectiles spawned due to the player's own attacks (many players were not aware of this mechanic).

Daybreak: Greatly increased lifetime of spears, allowing debuff to persist for longer.

Rainbow Crystal Staff: explosion reticle now tracks enemies as they move, improving accuracy against slow opponents.

Since this thread is a list of minor buffs, it will be updated if I have any additional epiphanies, but for now, let me know what you think of what I've listed so far. Thank you for reading!
 
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I also feel like a fully charged Charge Buster could push you back a little bit. Not enough to be any efficient propulsion mechanism, nor enough to disrupt dodging tactics, but enough to make the weapon really feel, if you catch my drift. Also, a sound effect would be quite nice. That silence is really jarring, at least to me.
 
(Saying "leave a reply if you actually want other people to see it" seemed to work last time, so I'll say it again.) Thank you for reading!
Um ok, I'll leave a reply, if you insist. The leaf blower did look a bit like a hair dryer. Your sprite is a huge improvement.
...
Lets see, what else? Oh yeah, Daybreak needs something a little better about it. All it does is throw a spear. Basically a redo of the North Pole weapon. Maybe you can think of something for it?
 

Um ok, I'll leave a reply, if you insist. The leaf blower did look a bit like a hair dryer. Your sprite is a huge improvement.
...
Lets see, what else? Oh yeah, Daybreak needs something a little better about it. All it does is throw a spear. Basically a redo of the North Pole weapon. Maybe you can think of something for it?
needs a better attack sound. Same with the influx waver.
Influx waver could probably use the same attack sound as the shadowbeam staff
 
needs a better attack sound. Same with the influx waver.
Influx waver could probably use the same attack sound as the shadowbeam staff
Influx waver needs a buff too. Not just the sound. For some reason i always had this idea that its projectile should have some sort of homing capability. Maybe not as accurate as Chloro Bullets, but like steering-toward-enemies type of thing?
 
Also, a sound effect would be quite nice. That silence is really jarring, at least to me.
Oh man, you know that zapping noise in the Super Smash Bros series when someone got hit by something like PK Thunder II or Deoxys Hyper Beam? That would be so perfect for this.

The leaf blower did look a bit like a hair dryer.
I called it a spinach megaphone. :dryadtongue:

Daybreak needs something a little better about it.
Let's face it, everything pales in comparison to the Solar Eruption. Though it wouldn't hurt to make it shoot a bit faster, seeing that I'm not even sure it's got a better single-target DPS than the Solar Eruption, and if it weren't for the Daybreak debuff, it absolutely wouldn't.

Influx Waver seems fine to me, seeing that it totally stomps out the Terra Blade. It's the Xenopopper I'm worried about. I'd allow it to fire more bubbles per shot at a higher rate, and make the bubbles fly farther in a wider spread so that it really is shooting the enemies from every direction, and making it more obvious that the player has precision control over the targeting.
 
This poor fellow, however, definitely needs a buff, a real buff. Imagine the 1.2 Sniper Rifle, but with piss range. That's the Psycho Knife.

I have a feeling that this weapon was meant to be the "close quarters weapon with devastating DPS but is a bit risky to use due to having really short range". Clearly, it falls a bit short when it comes to dealing devastating DPS. Now, what's the recipe for a close quarters weapon with devastating DPS but is a bit risky to use due to having really short range?

for a moment I thought it would be a great combo for summoner gameplay as it takes away aggro, but it didn't work as well as I tought...
 
Oh, Oh, I wanna try to revamp the Charged Blaster Cannon sprite!

Except... I should probably actually get one first... anyway, I heard that the rainbow rod could use a touch up as well.
 
Wow, that new leaf blower looks great. And I would probably go back to using the Heat Ray if it produced those little explosions, even if they were just for show :eek: Pretty much like all of it, and I guess I'll just say that rather than repost your post :D
 
I think the Pre-Hardmode Boomerangs could look a bit better, the Flamarang could ignite whilst it's thrown (so it would look like a Meteor Head, but faster and with a different sprite obviously) and it could look like a flame but in the shape of a boomerang. The Ice Boomerang could look like a jagged shard of ice and the Enchanted Boomerang could leave a trail of little glyphs behind. The Enchanted Sword could also use some love because the sprite is pretty shocking for how rare it is, i think it could look a bit beefier even with the same stats. Here are a few others which might need changing: Laser Rifle, Magic Dagger, Unholy Trident, Angel & Demon Wings, Flower of Frost, Vilethorn and the Beam Sword.
 
I suppose I could go to my favorite spriter after a secret project is finished. He could probably make something badass with something from that list.
 
Oh man, you know that zapping noise in the Super Smash Bros series when someone got hit by something like PK Thunder II or Deoxys Hyper Beam? That would be so perfect for this.


I called it a spinach megaphone. :dryadtongue:


Let's face it, everything pales in comparison to the Solar Eruption. Though it wouldn't hurt to make it shoot a bit faster, seeing that I'm not even sure it's got a better single-target DPS than the Solar Eruption, and if it weren't for the Daybreak debuff, it absolutely wouldn't.

Influx Waver seems fine to me, seeing that it totally stomps out the Terra Blade. It's the Xenopopper I'm worried about. I'd allow it to fire more bubbles per shot at a higher rate, and make the bubbles fly farther in a wider spread so that it really is shooting the enemies from every direction, and making it more obvious that the player has precision control over the targeting.
Agree on daybreak, after the monoeye kid icarus reference with demon eyes I thought daybreak would be a gigantic super laser that used mana like the last prism lol. Also is t sad I have 0 hits with PK Fire? Prefer lucina (Hold attack and up special OP)
 
I.3 brought many makeovers and modifications to weapons that I was very glad to see. However, we're not going to stop suggesting improvements, especially not me.

The majority of the changes that I will be listing here are quite minor in execution, and I wouldn't publish them in their own threads, but I still think they're needed.


Leaf_Blower.png

Leaf Blower

Actually, the weapon itself is pretty good. No changes to suggest there. My issue is with the sprite, which looks like it was made on a Monday morning.

So I decided to take a few minutes to make this, which served the dual purpose of confirming that I still knew how to make sprites.

View attachment 64454

It could probably be made better still, but I'm going to leave it at that. There are loads of people who are better at this sort of thing, so maybe I could provide a short hitlist of items that could be made better just by tweaking/overhauling the weapon sprites. Feel free to work on those if you have any spriting experience:

Flamelash
Charged Blaster Cannon
Electrosphere Launcher
Heat Ray
Bat Scepter
Nimbus Rod
Spectre Staff

Heat_Ray.png

Heat Ray

I'm not suggesting buffs or nerfs to this one, either. What I'm talking about is making it more satisfying to use.

Let's start by comparing it to, in my humble opinion, the most satisfying weapon in the game, ever.

Solar_Eruption.png


This thing is a monster. It pierces infinitely within its range, explodes whenever it hits an enemy, and explodes them multiple times. Boomboomboomboomboom! In a way, it's satisfying because it acknowledges every enemy it hits. Same with the Luminite Bullets.

So all I ask is for the Heat Ray to generate a similar fireball every time it pierces an enemy. And maybe, just maybe, extend that to the Shadowbeam Staff, which, in my humble opinion, is the least satisfying weapon in the game, ever.

Psycho_Knife.png

Psycho Knife

This poor fellow, however, definitely needs a buff, a real buff. Imagine the 1.2 Sniper Rifle, but with piss range. That's the Psycho Knife.

I have a feeling that this weapon was meant to be the "close quarters weapon with devastating DPS but is a bit risky to use due to having really short range". Clearly, it falls a bit short when it comes to dealing devastating DPS. Now, what's the recipe for a close quarters weapon with devastating DPS but is a bit risky to use due to having really short range?

Fetid_Baghnakhs.png


Butcher%27s_Chainsaw.png


Bubble_Gun.png


Insanely fast attack speed. Of course.

We can almost just buff the Psycho Knife's attack speed to insanely fast and call it a day. The problem, of course, is that stealth mode disappears as soon as the weapon lands a single hit... what a let-down! So we can either let stealth mode deactivate over the course of a few seconds after successfully hitting something... or deactivate when the user is hit, and not when an enemy is hit. My gut tells me that people would prefer the first option.

Of course, the result is that the Psycho Knife's fully-stealthed DPS soars to the level of holy :red:. The range, however, will still be terrible.

The_Eye_of_Cthulhu.png

The Eye of Cthulhu

Anyone else think it unfair that there's only one yoyo in the game with a special effect other than inflicting a weak debuff?

It's only logical. Let's have this yoyo periodically release homing Servants of Cthulhu. Many of the other yoyos could use similar improvements...

Kraken.png

Kraken

In the same vein, the Kraken could gain up to three orbiting Dungeon Spirits after being held out for a long enough time. Like a sort of mini-Beetle Might. I already know the Nebula Arcanum does this.

Charged_Blaster_Cannon.png

Charged Blaster Cannon

This weapon's sprite doesn't impress me much, but I sort of left it as it was because it looks a bit like Megaman's blaster. I still think it could be made more compelling, though.

What I'm sure no one will argue with me about, however, is that it's a bit silly that the fully-charged laser beam can't have its firing angle changed. This is probably a bug or oversight. I hope it is, because if it's meant to be a balancing mechanism, it's not a great one.

Life_Drain.png

Life Drain is unable to deal critical hits. This, too, is probably an oversight.

Summoning weapons can't deal critical hits, either. This has been the case for such a long time that it's unlikely to be an oversight, but it would still be good to allow summon weapons to deal critical hits, too, if only to make it so the most expensive prefix a summon weapon can get is also the best (though essentially tying with Godly and Demonic). Summoner prefixes didn't get in, and I'm sad, but nothing has been done to change the fact that... well... something must be done, and that's the least we can do, adding critical hits.



Since this thread is a list of minor buffs, it will be updated if I have any additional epiphanies, but for now, let me know what you think of what I've listed so far.

(Saying "leave a reply if you actually want other people to see it" seemed to work last time, so I'll say it again.) Thank you for reading!
Agree with everything. Love the leaf blower sprite, the old one looks like a empty toilet paper roll on a stick.
 
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