scientistB
Dungeon Spirit
One thing, among many, has been on my mind lately. As I play Terraria more and more, I start to notice the small details of how people play; how they prefer to fight, how they build, what accessories they prefer, etc. This all helps shape the way they play most comfortably. Sometimes I deviate from a normal playthrough and put certain limitations on myself so I can change my playstyle and increase my experience with that particular style.
My focus right now is on my main class, the Summoner.
The way I play the Summoner is as follows: I am very flexible with what weapons I use to assist my minions. Mid-to-lategame, I use Ichor to debuff the enemies so that my minions, my main source of DPS, are more effectively able to dispose of the monsters. I use every summoning accessory possible, so that my minions make up some incredible firepower while I support them with a subweapon. I tend to use non-piercing attacks since most minions like my Stardust Dragon are piercing and therefore are not compatible with my piercing weapons. Something simple like an SDMG with an Endless Musket Pouch is enough, even. I have a set of Warding accessories because I like to be tanky, but I also have a Menacing set for when I'm actually summoning my minions. In the endgame, I alternate between Dragon and Cells, depending on the situation, since Cells are very peculiar in their behavior which makes them interesting to have out. When not doing anything major, such as tough battles and invasions, I like to have one of every minion out, up to the Sharknado since the max cap doesn't have enough slots to summon every minion. Being the sentimental freak that I am, I see my minions as family and I care for them so much.
I've seen an increasing amount of people who do the complete opposite though. They feel that the Summoner is a strict class who is not allowed to use weapons (except for the Nimbus Rod for whatever reason), and must rely on their minions to do everything for them while they simply dodge their way to victory. I've had people tell me that I'm not a real Summoner simply because I use weapons to increase my damage output even further. I feel like this playstyle was made popular by Yrimir because of his Summoner-only playthrough, and that many people just adopted this as the norm for how a Summoner should be played.
As someone who has always played it my way, I'm somewhat baffled. I feel that Summoners are supposed to be well-rounded characters who can use any weapon without being held back, at the cost of not particularly excelling in that weapon's usage (kinda like how other armors increase damage of a certain type and therefore encourage the usage of only that type). The upside is that Summoners have a healthy amount of minions doing high damage, and what makes them special from the other classes is that this damage is hands-free; leading me to believe that they are free to use any weapon they desire. You are intentionally hurting your damage output and even your survivability when you abstain from using weapons alongside your minions; it's not the same as a Ranger refusing to use magic weapons, because a magic Ranger would not be efficient whatsoever and he clearly doesn't need magic weapons if he can easily deal a thousand damage with a Sniper Rifle. Summoners were supposed to use other resources, otherwise they would have active weapons like every other class. If Summoners were not designed this way, they would have their own set of weapons that would be far different from the traditional summon staff. Take the Bat Scepter for example; this would be a good active Summoner weapon that would make the Summoner seem more like the branch of the Mage that he was intended to be (though I greatly prefer the way Summoner is now). Makes me wonder how the Summoner would be if he had his own minions as well as active summon-damage weapons... probably too strong, which is why I like the power level that he's at now.
Maybe I'm looking into this too much, since there are different ways to play each class (like those who prefer to do epic trickshots on a Ranger, versus those who like blowing themselves up with explosive bullets and rockets). This still piques my interest though.
That aside though, I would like to ask you; how do you play the Summoner? I am looking for opinions on what people think of it and how they prefer to play the Summoner, just so that I can understand what this no-weapons style is all about. I am planning to try this kind of playthrough soon, as a means to investigate further and sharpen my dodging skills. Because after seeing someone beat Duke Fishron on a hardcore-expert character with ONLY Spider and Imps, without getting hit, it makes me wonder if I've spent too many of my 2,000 hours just being too much of a casual and not leaving my comfort zone. I've hit a plateau in my skill level and wish to improve as much as I can.
I'm not a tryhard, I just like my Summoner too much~
My focus right now is on my main class, the Summoner.
The way I play the Summoner is as follows: I am very flexible with what weapons I use to assist my minions. Mid-to-lategame, I use Ichor to debuff the enemies so that my minions, my main source of DPS, are more effectively able to dispose of the monsters. I use every summoning accessory possible, so that my minions make up some incredible firepower while I support them with a subweapon. I tend to use non-piercing attacks since most minions like my Stardust Dragon are piercing and therefore are not compatible with my piercing weapons. Something simple like an SDMG with an Endless Musket Pouch is enough, even. I have a set of Warding accessories because I like to be tanky, but I also have a Menacing set for when I'm actually summoning my minions. In the endgame, I alternate between Dragon and Cells, depending on the situation, since Cells are very peculiar in their behavior which makes them interesting to have out. When not doing anything major, such as tough battles and invasions, I like to have one of every minion out, up to the Sharknado since the max cap doesn't have enough slots to summon every minion. Being the sentimental freak that I am, I see my minions as family and I care for them so much.
I've seen an increasing amount of people who do the complete opposite though. They feel that the Summoner is a strict class who is not allowed to use weapons (except for the Nimbus Rod for whatever reason), and must rely on their minions to do everything for them while they simply dodge their way to victory. I've had people tell me that I'm not a real Summoner simply because I use weapons to increase my damage output even further. I feel like this playstyle was made popular by Yrimir because of his Summoner-only playthrough, and that many people just adopted this as the norm for how a Summoner should be played.
As someone who has always played it my way, I'm somewhat baffled. I feel that Summoners are supposed to be well-rounded characters who can use any weapon without being held back, at the cost of not particularly excelling in that weapon's usage (kinda like how other armors increase damage of a certain type and therefore encourage the usage of only that type). The upside is that Summoners have a healthy amount of minions doing high damage, and what makes them special from the other classes is that this damage is hands-free; leading me to believe that they are free to use any weapon they desire. You are intentionally hurting your damage output and even your survivability when you abstain from using weapons alongside your minions; it's not the same as a Ranger refusing to use magic weapons, because a magic Ranger would not be efficient whatsoever and he clearly doesn't need magic weapons if he can easily deal a thousand damage with a Sniper Rifle. Summoners were supposed to use other resources, otherwise they would have active weapons like every other class. If Summoners were not designed this way, they would have their own set of weapons that would be far different from the traditional summon staff. Take the Bat Scepter for example; this would be a good active Summoner weapon that would make the Summoner seem more like the branch of the Mage that he was intended to be (though I greatly prefer the way Summoner is now). Makes me wonder how the Summoner would be if he had his own minions as well as active summon-damage weapons... probably too strong, which is why I like the power level that he's at now.
Maybe I'm looking into this too much, since there are different ways to play each class (like those who prefer to do epic trickshots on a Ranger, versus those who like blowing themselves up with explosive bullets and rockets). This still piques my interest though.
That aside though, I would like to ask you; how do you play the Summoner? I am looking for opinions on what people think of it and how they prefer to play the Summoner, just so that I can understand what this no-weapons style is all about. I am planning to try this kind of playthrough soon, as a means to investigate further and sharpen my dodging skills. Because after seeing someone beat Duke Fishron on a hardcore-expert character with ONLY Spider and Imps, without getting hit, it makes me wonder if I've spent too many of my 2,000 hours just being too much of a casual and not leaving my comfort zone. I've hit a plateau in my skill level and wish to improve as much as I can.
I'm not a tryhard, I just like my Summoner too much~
Last edited: