Hey there.
I'm personally a big fan of darts in the game and it's rather upsetting that there are so few of them available. They're further limited by the lack of an endgame Dart weapon, and as such I'm suggesting an expansion of the Dart-type of weaponry. Please remember to criticize concepts rather than numbers; you can always make an argument on why an item listed here seems imbalanced in either direction, but you shouldn't dismiss said item entirely because of that. With that out of the way, here are the suggestions:
Gem Dart
Damage: 15
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
Do you have surplus gems and a Blowgun in need of ammunition? Load up with the basic Gem Darts. Being the simplest darts, Gem Darts differ only in color from eachother and have a fairly high base damage, but don't expect too much from them.
Recipe:
1 Gem for 100 Gem Darts
Bone Dart
Damage: 15
Knockback: 6
Critical Chance: 24%
Velocity: 7
Available as soon as you get yourself something that can mine Desert Fossils, Bone Darts are simple darts that disappear upon impact. Their strong traits are their high speed compared to other darts, high critical chance as well as the massive knockback they have for a dart. Useful throughout the entire game. Keep in mind that the velocity stat is misleading; they aren't twice as fast as other darts because this velocity is added on top of the velocity value from the dart weapon, which is substantially higher. Bone Darts are the snipers of the Dart family, meant to be accurate and deal high damage to
Recipe:
1 Sturdy Fossil for 100 Bone Darts
Sold by the Witch Doctor for 50 Copper after Wall of Flesh is defeated.
Hellfire Dart
Damage: 13
Knockback: 8
Velocity: 3
With impressive knockback and base damage for a dart, the Hellfire Darts are strong contenders. They share their explosion effect with the Hellfire Arrows, but they also cause the On Fire! debuff on affected enemies. Powerful, but not as effective against large groups as Crystal/Cursed Flame darts due to their effectiveness against lines of enemies.
Recipe:
1 Hellstone Bar for 100 Hellfire Darts
Sold by the Demolitionist for 1 Silver after Wall of Flesh is defeated.
Golden Dart
Damage: 10
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
The Golden Dart is an easily accessible early Hardmode dart with identical stats to the Poison Dart. However, instead of the Poisoned debuff, it always inficts the Midas debuff, which makes affected enemies drop more coins upon their death. On top of that, the Golden Dart also has the ability to pierce one enemy before disappearing upon impact with another, so it can be used to debuff two enemies at once.
Recipe:
5 Gold Dust for 100 Golden Darts
Spectre Dart
Damage: 21
Knockback: 0
Velocity: -1
Despite most of the damage of a dart weapon being determined by the weapon that shoots it, Spectre Darts are still the strongest darts in terms of base damage. What makes up for their relatively slow speed among darts, lack of knockback and the high crafting cost is that they move through solid blocks and enemies alike, disappearing after a lengthy 20 second lifetime. Along with that, they return 10% of the damage (as opposed to the 20% from Spectre Armor) they deal to enemies as health to the user, in the form of ghost bolts that fly back. As such, this effect is deactivated by Moon Bite. Spectre Darts aren't without competition however, as Ichor Darts far outdps them and Cursed Darts are still better against groups. They would prove excellent for underground exploration and self healing as the Ranger class.
Recipe:
1 Spectre Bar for 200 Spectre Darts
Shroomite Dart
Damage: ???
Knockback: ???
Velocity: ???
Yup. I have absolutely no idea what a Shroomite Dart should do. It exists because I wanted to make a Shroomite Dart sprite, and also because Shroomite is such a lonely crafting material. If you have any ideas, let me know below, it's a blank slate at this point. Plus, it would go well with the Shroomite Dart Blaster.
Recipe:
1 Shroomite Bar for 200 Shroomite Darts
Luminite Dart
Damage: 17
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
"Melting them away with a fraction of Lunar power!"
The best darts in the game. While the stats aren't particularly impressive, the special effect more than makes up for it. Upon impact with a surface or enemy, Luminite Darts will summon a couple of Lunar Flare bolts on the target location, which will travel through blocks before detonating on the target unless they collide with an enemy on the way. The bolts deal the same damage as those from Lunar Flare, except they deal Ranged damage.
Recipe:
1 Luminite Bar for 333 Luminite Darts
Shroomite Dart Blaster
Damage: 52
Knockback: 5.5
Use Time: 14
Velocity: 14.5
Critical Strike Chance: 4 %
Here it is. The strongest Dart weapon of the game! It's a deceptively simple combination of the Dart Rifle and the Dart Pistol's positives, except with a blistering use time of 14 instead of the 21 of the Dart Pistol. The Shroomite Dart Blaster is a worthy competitor to the Vortex Beater and it is available earlier. Due to its lack of a secondary attack like the Vortex Blaster or sheer fire rate like the Chain Gun, its not particularly amazing at a glance, but its ammo selection is certainly full of everything it needs to cause mayhem!
As I mentioned before, I thought Shroomite needed more love, so...
Recipe:
1 Dart Pistol/Dart Rifle
20 Shroomite Bar
Darts Potion
+20% damage for darts
Lasts 5 minutes
It's similar to Archery Potion, but it doesn't increase Dart speed. Instead, it lasts longer.
So that's all for my dart-related sprites. I have a few more ideas that I haven't really thought much about or sprited for, but if you can think of good reasons to have them in, or have your own set of good ideas, let me know. In any case, here they are:
- A Vortex-tier Dart weapon, which would be a gauntlet where the attack animation is the character clenching their fist. Doing so would summon multiple darts from the sky, like Daedalus Stormbow, except with Darts.
- A glove that throws darts with low velocity and at a middle of the road fire rate and damage, but two at a time.
Now for the elephant in the room questions:
Why is there no Venom Dart?
Because it would be yet another useless Venom item. The debuff isn't particularly effective and someone would need to get really creative to set it apart from the existing Venom Arrow and Venom Bullet.
Why is there no Chlorophyte Dart?
Well, what kind of effect would it have? I wouldn't want to see a guided Chlorophyte Dart because that overlaps with guns and Darts are close enough as is. I believe Crystal Darts are great in their own little way when it comes to guidance; they are "guided" enough and this sets them apart.
And that's all for now guys. Let me know about your criticism (could be to effects, concepts and sprites) and ideas below. Shroomite Dart in particularly definitely needs your help!
I'm personally a big fan of darts in the game and it's rather upsetting that there are so few of them available. They're further limited by the lack of an endgame Dart weapon, and as such I'm suggesting an expansion of the Dart-type of weaponry. Please remember to criticize concepts rather than numbers; you can always make an argument on why an item listed here seems imbalanced in either direction, but you shouldn't dismiss said item entirely because of that. With that out of the way, here are the suggestions:
Gem Dart
Damage: 15
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
Do you have surplus gems and a Blowgun in need of ammunition? Load up with the basic Gem Darts. Being the simplest darts, Gem Darts differ only in color from eachother and have a fairly high base damage, but don't expect too much from them.
Recipe:
1 Gem for 100 Gem Darts
Bone Dart
Damage: 15
Knockback: 6
Critical Chance: 24%
Velocity: 7
Available as soon as you get yourself something that can mine Desert Fossils, Bone Darts are simple darts that disappear upon impact. Their strong traits are their high speed compared to other darts, high critical chance as well as the massive knockback they have for a dart. Useful throughout the entire game. Keep in mind that the velocity stat is misleading; they aren't twice as fast as other darts because this velocity is added on top of the velocity value from the dart weapon, which is substantially higher. Bone Darts are the snipers of the Dart family, meant to be accurate and deal high damage to
Recipe:
1 Sturdy Fossil for 100 Bone Darts
Sold by the Witch Doctor for 50 Copper after Wall of Flesh is defeated.
Hellfire Dart
Damage: 13
Knockback: 8
Velocity: 3
With impressive knockback and base damage for a dart, the Hellfire Darts are strong contenders. They share their explosion effect with the Hellfire Arrows, but they also cause the On Fire! debuff on affected enemies. Powerful, but not as effective against large groups as Crystal/Cursed Flame darts due to their effectiveness against lines of enemies.
Recipe:
1 Hellstone Bar for 100 Hellfire Darts
Sold by the Demolitionist for 1 Silver after Wall of Flesh is defeated.
Golden Dart
Damage: 10
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
The Golden Dart is an easily accessible early Hardmode dart with identical stats to the Poison Dart. However, instead of the Poisoned debuff, it always inficts the Midas debuff, which makes affected enemies drop more coins upon their death. On top of that, the Golden Dart also has the ability to pierce one enemy before disappearing upon impact with another, so it can be used to debuff two enemies at once.
Recipe:
5 Gold Dust for 100 Golden Darts
Spectre Dart
Damage: 21
Knockback: 0
Velocity: -1
Despite most of the damage of a dart weapon being determined by the weapon that shoots it, Spectre Darts are still the strongest darts in terms of base damage. What makes up for their relatively slow speed among darts, lack of knockback and the high crafting cost is that they move through solid blocks and enemies alike, disappearing after a lengthy 20 second lifetime. Along with that, they return 10% of the damage (as opposed to the 20% from Spectre Armor) they deal to enemies as health to the user, in the form of ghost bolts that fly back. As such, this effect is deactivated by Moon Bite. Spectre Darts aren't without competition however, as Ichor Darts far outdps them and Cursed Darts are still better against groups. They would prove excellent for underground exploration and self healing as the Ranger class.
Recipe:
1 Spectre Bar for 200 Spectre Darts
Shroomite Dart
Damage: ???
Knockback: ???
Velocity: ???
Yup. I have absolutely no idea what a Shroomite Dart should do. It exists because I wanted to make a Shroomite Dart sprite, and also because Shroomite is such a lonely crafting material. If you have any ideas, let me know below, it's a blank slate at this point. Plus, it would go well with the Shroomite Dart Blaster.
Recipe:
1 Shroomite Bar for 200 Shroomite Darts
Luminite Dart
Damage: 17
Knockback: 2
Velocity: 2
"Melting them away with a fraction of Lunar power!"
The best darts in the game. While the stats aren't particularly impressive, the special effect more than makes up for it. Upon impact with a surface or enemy, Luminite Darts will summon a couple of Lunar Flare bolts on the target location, which will travel through blocks before detonating on the target unless they collide with an enemy on the way. The bolts deal the same damage as those from Lunar Flare, except they deal Ranged damage.
Recipe:
1 Luminite Bar for 333 Luminite Darts
Shroomite Dart Blaster
Damage: 52
Knockback: 5.5
Use Time: 14
Velocity: 14.5
Critical Strike Chance: 4 %
Here it is. The strongest Dart weapon of the game! It's a deceptively simple combination of the Dart Rifle and the Dart Pistol's positives, except with a blistering use time of 14 instead of the 21 of the Dart Pistol. The Shroomite Dart Blaster is a worthy competitor to the Vortex Beater and it is available earlier. Due to its lack of a secondary attack like the Vortex Blaster or sheer fire rate like the Chain Gun, its not particularly amazing at a glance, but its ammo selection is certainly full of everything it needs to cause mayhem!
As I mentioned before, I thought Shroomite needed more love, so...
Recipe:
1 Dart Pistol/Dart Rifle
20 Shroomite Bar
Darts Potion
+20% damage for darts
Lasts 5 minutes
It's similar to Archery Potion, but it doesn't increase Dart speed. Instead, it lasts longer.
So that's all for my dart-related sprites. I have a few more ideas that I haven't really thought much about or sprited for, but if you can think of good reasons to have them in, or have your own set of good ideas, let me know. In any case, here they are:
- A Vortex-tier Dart weapon, which would be a gauntlet where the attack animation is the character clenching their fist. Doing so would summon multiple darts from the sky, like Daedalus Stormbow, except with Darts.
- A glove that throws darts with low velocity and at a middle of the road fire rate and damage, but two at a time.
Now for the elephant in the room questions:
Why is there no Venom Dart?
Because it would be yet another useless Venom item. The debuff isn't particularly effective and someone would need to get really creative to set it apart from the existing Venom Arrow and Venom Bullet.
Why is there no Chlorophyte Dart?
Well, what kind of effect would it have? I wouldn't want to see a guided Chlorophyte Dart because that overlaps with guns and Darts are close enough as is. I believe Crystal Darts are great in their own little way when it comes to guidance; they are "guided" enough and this sets them apart.
And that's all for now guys. Let me know about your criticism (could be to effects, concepts and sprites) and ideas below. Shroomite Dart in particularly definitely needs your help!
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