In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list

Baconfry · May 30, 2018

This guide covers the overall viability and usage details of every weapon that becomes available after the Wall of Flesh is killed for the first time.

IT IS CURRENTLY A WORK IN PROGRESS. (currently complete for pre-Plantera. updated analyses marked with a hash # )

Each weapon has different aspects that contribute to viability. I will be using the following criteria:

DPS - damage per second dealt to a single target.
Crowd control - ability to continue to perform well against multiple targets.
Accuracy - how easy it is to aim the weapon. Some weapons (like broadswords and stationary AoE weapons) cannot be aimed.
Disruption - ability to protect the player through means other than raw damage (such as knockback or stunlock), assuming that it hits its target.
Safety - ability to damage enemies without putting yourself at risk. ** means it has limited range, but can damage enemies from behind blocks.
Availability - ability to obtain the weapon without excessive grinding or luck. This isn't factored into rank.

As for rankings:

S rank: Immediately powerful and remains useful for a long time. Can be used to great effect in nearly any situation, and/or has a useful role in which it vastly outperforms everything else.
A rank: Useful in the majority of situations. Efficient and likely a popular choice on people's hotbars, but generally not considered "overpowered".
B rank: Perhaps not the first thing most people would think of using, but can be quite useful if you apply it to the right situations and remain aware of its weaknesses.
C rank: This weapon likely has at least one role it can perform well, but its bad matchups outnumber its good ones. In order to use it effectively, you really have to know what you're doing.
D rank: Slightly better than nothing, but its inefficiency should be immediately obvious to anyone who tries it. There's almost certainly something else that you should be using instead.
F rank: Fails to do anything well. No one could possibly mistake it for a remotely good weapon. Does close to nothing most of the time, and using it is basically like crippling yourself.

I've also included the best prefixes*, along with a rough indicator of reforge cost. (I've used parentheses to mark weapons that are used as crafting ingredients and as such are not worth reforging, but I'm not counting Zenith since that isn't part of normal progression.)
*Godly and Demonic are also listed as best prefixes for weapons whose performance is unaffected by their speed, even if they support Mythical/Unreal.

Of course, these will be rated relative to other options you have in your current stage of progression, and their matchup against upcoming events were also considered. Naturally these are based on my personal opinion and experiences, but if you feel like any of these placements are unfair, please reply and I will likely revise them.

Musket Ball/Endless Musket Pouch
+costs nothing to use
-no distinguishing traits

You might find yourself using the Endless Musket Pouch for practical reasons; it's an infinite ammo source, so it's the best ammunition to use for exploration. Switch to something else when you're fighting for your life.

Silver Bullet
-no distinguishing traits

If you're using Silver Bullets at this point, it's probably because you've obtained a handful from smashing pots and you didn't want them to go to waste. They're really no different from the Musket Pouch.

Meteor Shot
+pierces or ricochets once
-lowers DPS when used with most guns
-mostly nonrenewable

Thanks to piercing mechanics, it has worse DPS than the Musket Pouch when used with shotguns and rapid-fire guns. In other words, practically all hardmode guns. Meteorite Bars are also nonrenewable for all intents and purposes, so you'll really struggle to find a reason to use this stuff.

Exploding Bullet
+high knockback
+damages multiple enemies
+no farming required
+good velocity
-inflicts some recoil damage if not careful

The best crowd control bullet, and pretty much the only one you'll use for the entire game. Doesn't require an upgraded Anvil to craft, can be made in bulk, and drastically increases the viability of several early hardmode guns.

Party Bullet
+decent knockback
+no farming required
+good velocity
-no distinguishing traits
-messy

The best generic bullet you can make in early Hardmode without farming materials, though that isn’t much of a selling point considering how easy it is to farm for better ammo such as Crystal Bullets.

Golden Bullet
+increased profit when used on bosses/minibosses
+no farming required
+good velocity
-no distinguishing traits

The best way to use them is for repeated Eye of Cthulhu and Queen Bee kills. They're not for use against things that actually threaten you, except maybe for dealing the final blow to Pirate Captains.

(mythril or orichalcum anvil)

Crystal Bullet
+highest potential DPS
+large number of hits

The best bossing bullet if you don't think accuracy is going to be an issue. They are more likely to deal extra damage when fired against targets that are moving towards you. Crystal Bullets have a great synergy with Ichor and easily shred enemies with low defenses.

Cursed Bullet
+high damage
-no distinguishing traits

The generic "raw damage" bullet. Crystal Bullets still outclass them since they have a much better secondary effect.

Ichor Bullet
+high damage
+inflicts a powerful debuff
+good velocity

A straight upgrade to the Cursed Bullet. The Ichor debuff greatly enhances DPS, but you'll deal more damage by using Crystal Bullets and inflicting Ichor some other way.

(one mechanical boss)

High Velocity Bullet
+incredibly high velocity
+no farming required
-no other distinguishing traits

The high velocity of these bullets solves a problem that never really existed in the first place, since all bullets have naturally high velocity.

(all mechanical bosses)

Chlorophyte Bullet
+perfectly accurate
+uses a highly contested resource

Arguably the best bullet in the game. There are so many guns that depend on Chlorophyte Bullets in order to be viable, and every gun is greatly improved when using them. Highly recommended for boss fights, or any situation really.

(plantera)

Venom Bullet
+high damage
+no farming required
-no distinguishing traits

The best bullet you can get without farming, and a straight upgrade to Cursed Bullets, but you'd only use them if you were on a Corruption world. Ichor Bullets are still better.

Nano Bullet
+decent knockback
+messes with common enemies
+no farming required
-no distinguishing traits when used on immune enemies

Confusion doesn't work on most truly threatening enemies. You're better off trying to dispose of them directly.

(final boss)

Luminite Bullet
+near infinite piercing
+highest base damage by far
-uses a highly contested resource
-comes too late to be of any use

At this point, you're just running victory laps. While Luminite Bullets are as powerful as you’d expect, you might still prefer Chlorophyte Bullets for aerial boss fights.

Wooden Arrow/Endless Quiver
+costs nothing to use
-no distinguishing traits

An infinite ammo source that you'll likely use while exploring. Their low velocity compared with other ammo types is more noticeable with arrows than with bullets, but a Magic Quiver will fix that. Because of the increased defenses of hardmode enemies, this should not be used with The Bee’s Knees in most situations.

Bone Arrow
+pierces once
-difficult to resupply

Decent in pre-Hardmode, but in Hardmode you have access to as many Unholy Arrows as you could possibly want, so I see no good reason to use them at this point.

Flaming Arrow
+easy to craft
-no distinguishing traits

They're alright. Feel free to use the freebies you get from chests, but if you're going to craft some cheap ammunition, craft Frostburn Arrows instead.

Frostburn Arrow
+easy to craft
-no distinguishing traits

The best ammunition you can get for basically zero effort, and can be crafted on the go. As with most DoT debuffs, Frostburn is mostly inconsequential.

Jester's Arrow
+pierces infinitely
-uses a somewhat contested resource
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows

The best linear piercing arrow, and works well against the Destroyer if you're using a standard repeater.

Unholy Arrow
+pierces four times
+no farming required
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows

You can get a nice supply of them for free if you farm the Eye of Cthulhu, and they perform as well as Jester's Arrows for most purposes.

Hellfire Arrow
+damages multiple enemies
+high knockback
+no farming required
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows

Really good for repelling groups of enemies thanks to their high knockback. Weapons like the Marrow and Pulse Bow also inherit their knockback value.

(mythril or orichalcum anvil)

Holy Arrow
+high single-target DPS
+synergy with multi-shot bows

Has the highest single-target damage potential for early Hardmode, especially against large enemies that don't move too much horizontally. With multi-shot bows like the Daedalus Stormbow, Phantom Phoenix, and Chlorophyte Shotbow, it forms a potent synergy, though it is not as infamously busted as it used to be.

Cursed Arrow
+tied for highest base damage
-no distinguishing traits

Great for feeding weapons like the Shadowflame Bow, which are affected only by the arrow's base damage. Otherwise, pretty generic.

Ichor Arrow
+high velocity
+inflicts a powerful debuff

Considerably above average for bossing because they travel quickly and inflict Ichor. Also useful as a secondary if your primary is a gun with Crystal Bullets.

(all mechanical bosses)

Chlorophyte Arrow
+ricochets once, semi-homing
-uses a highly contested resource

Less DPS potential than Holy Arrows, though they have the highest effective accuracy of any arrow thanks to their smart bounces. I would still struggle to find a reason to use them over Holy Arrows, but they aren't bad, especially with multi-shot bows.

(plantera)

Venom Arrow
+tied for highest base damage
+high velocity
+no farming required
-no other distinguishing traits

Might be the best arrow to use with the Phantasm against the final boss. Great velocity, high base damage, decent knockback. Also, the best fodder for the Pulse Bow.

(final boss)

Luminite Arrow
+pierces four times
+highest potential DPS
-uses a highly contested resource
-comes too late to be of any use

The only piercing arrow that doesn't have an anti synergy with the likes of Tsunami and Phantasm. Secondary effect is a bit more situational than Holy Arrows, but it'll still put out more damage on average.

"Technically hardmode"

# Classy Cane and Pearlwood Sword: F

These two weapons weren't meant to be good in the first place, so no one should be surprised to see them ranked at the very bottom. It's kind of unfortunate that they ended up being restricted to Hardmode to begin with, but even if they were available in pre-hardmode, they would probably suck considering that wooden swords are good only for the first few minutes of the game and get instantly outclassed by the Spear or Wooden Boomerang. I mean, with the Flask of Ichor and Titan Glove, you might be able to beat a lone Hardmode enemy with one of these, but I see no good reason to attempt something like that. Unless you were conducting research for a tier list or something. Anyways, let's move on, shall we?

.............DPS: #
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from 7 Pearlwood at a Work Bench / 12.5% chance to drop from Tax Collector
Best prefix: Legendary ¢

# Pearlwood Bow: F+

Uses standard arrows.
While it's true that no one in their right mind would craft this weapon with the intention to use it, the Pearlwood Bow can potentially be better than some of the weapons on this list, a testament to how bad those weapons really are. Loaded with Ichor Arrows, it is at least able to deal some damage to Hardmode enemies and eventually kill them, and can even kill the Twins in normal mode, with Orichalcum Armor and a lot of buff potions. Can the Breaker Blade do that? No, I don't think so.

So if you see something with an F ranking later down the list, that means that I consider it worse than the Pearlwood Bow.

ICHOR ARROW
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from 10 Pearlwood at a Work Bench
Best prefix: Deadly/Demonic ¢

Dropped by Wall of Flesh

# Breaker Blade: D-

It deals double damage to enemies with more than 90% of their health remaining. Sounds alright on paper, but in practice, what this means is that the average number of hits it takes to kill an enemy will be reduced by exactly 1. Since the average Hardmode enemy takes five hits or more with the Breaker Blade, reducing that number by 1 ultimately doesn't make much of a difference. The Breaker Blade has poor speed, poor range (despite its size), and poor disruptive abilities, which translates to very little mobbing potential and zero bossing potential. You should be able to find something better than this within the first ten minutes of Hardmode.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ###

12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Legendary $

# Clockwork Assault Rifle: A+

Uses standard bullets.
While its damage output with the Endless Musket Pouch is unimpressive, it becomes quite fearsome when loaded with higher-grade ammunition. And because it is ammo-efficient, the opportunity cost of using such ammunition is very low. Since it has autofire, it performs quite similarly to the Megashark, and like the Megashark, it is great in any single-target situation, serving you well until you can craft an Onyx Blaster. It can even be used against the Twins and Skeletron Prime, but that's pushing it a bit.

Though it has zero listed knockback, every bullet has a knockback value, so the Clockwork Assault Rifle can always at least slow enemies down as they approach. Exploding Bullets can be used for crowd control, and Crystal Bullets can be used for bossing (especially paired with a secondary weapon that can inflict the Ichor debuff).

CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###

EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###

12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly $

# Laser Rifle: B

A decent enough starting weapon for a magic user. Its linear piercing abilities are handy against the Pirate Invasion, and it can easily stunlock a single enemy as long as you aren't moving around too much. Compared to the Demon Scythe, it offers more immediate disruption, though its projectile is considerably more narrow. It'll hold the fort for a while until you can get something stronger, like a Spell Tome weapon.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###

12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $

# Firecracker: B+

The Firecracker doesn't add tag damage, but the blazing energy effect easily compensates for that. The explosion triples a minion's damage for a single hit, so this whip's damage per hit is effectively much, much higher than its stats would indicate. This whip is part of the reason why early Hardmode is one of the best times to be a summoner. Since it scales with your minion weapon's damage, it is a much better bossing weapon than the Cool Whip, and while it deals reduced damage to crowds of enemies, it will interrupt all of them, and sometimes that's more important. Like all whips, it is notable for its ability to safely eliminate enemies that can pass through walls, such as Clingers, Giant Fungi Bulbs, and Enchanted Swords. It also provides a decent amount of light, making it an excellent exploration tool even for non-summoners.

Since its secondary effect becomes more potent when it has higher attack speed, this is the only whip in the game for which a Legendary modifier should be seriously considered. It's true that it loses a lot of range, but the DPS increase might be worth it in some cases. It is NOT worth it against the Twins, as the bosses tend to stay a fixed distance away from you, and that distance happens to be longer than the attack range of a Legendary Firecracker.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###

12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky/Legendary $

Crafted through mining

# Ore Swords: D

To be fair, most melee weapons aren't much better than these, but most people would still tell you that crafting Hardmode bars into swords is a mistake. Their attack range is just too limited, and they don't offer that much DPS, either. They work well only against the most basic enemy AI types. And though you can consider using them against the Destroyer, the problem is that a) they don't even offer the highest potential DPS against the Destroyer and b) attacking the Destroyer with a sword allows it to circle you and pin you to the ground while lasering you from all directions.

COBALT SWORD
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

TITANIUM SWORD
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from 10-13 bars at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary $

# Phasesabers: D

These perform exactly the same as ore swords, and I mean literally the same. They are at least slightly cheaper to reforge and use a different crafting recipe, but it is arguably more effective to just turn the Crystal Shards into darts and fire them from a Blowgun than to craft them into a Phasesaber.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Phaseblade and 50 Crystal Shards at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary ¢

# Ore Spears: D+

For the most part, they're better than their broadsword counterparts thanks to their infinite piercing ability, but the main issues are still the same: their short reach makes them useless against shooters and knockback-immune enemies. The Obsidian Swordfish offers a roughly similar performance, but at least it doesn't eat up any of your valuable resources.

COBALT NAGINATA
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

TITANIUM TRIDENT
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from 10-13 bars at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

# Ore Repeaters: A-

Uses standard arrows.
Very versatile, and can handle most situations as long as you have the right ammunition. For pirates (and the Destroyer), use Unholy/Jester's Arrows. For bosses, use Holy/Ichor Arrows. Their accuracy is improved slightly with Archery Potions, and improved significantly with a Magic Quiver.

HOLY ARROW
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

UNHOLY ARROW / JESTER'S ARROW
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from between 10-13 bars at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $

Dropped by monsters

# Amarok and Hel-Fire: A+

When engaging enemies directly, yoyos are decent enough, since they hit enemies rapidly and deal respectable damage. However, in order to bring out their maximum potential, the key is to play dirty. Yoyos can hit enemies around corners and through one-block wide spaces, and are perfect for taking out enemies that can't reach you. They excel at underground combat, and unlike most weapons, their accuracy doesn't suffer when attacking enemies from above. If you have a Yoyo Glove/Yoyo Bag, by all means use it, but yoyos are strong enough to perform excellently even without one.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###**
....Availability: ###

0.33% chance to drop from enemies killed in Snow Biome / 0.25% chance to drop from enemies killed in Underworld and lower Cavern layer
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# KO Cannon: C-

This is... definitely still a melee weapon, and like most mediocre melee weapons, it can deal with fighter enemies just fine, but doesn't have enough range to work well against anything else. On the bright side, it has more range than broadswords, and deals quite a bit more DPS at point blank range. And it looks extremely funny, too.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ##

0.1% chance to drop from any enemy killed during a Blood Moon
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

# Bananarang: B+

Depending on how lucky you are, this is potentially an excellent boomerang that can damage and stunlock enemies from a decent range, and could even be used for bossing. On the other hand, it could also drop in a stack of 1, making it completely useless. Realistically, this weapon is usable if it drops in a stack of 3 or 4, but any lower than that and you're better off using Chain Guillotines or something.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #

3.33% chance to drop from Clowns, in a stack of 1-4
Best prefix: none

# Nimbus Rod: A

If you don’t have the patience to search for a Daedalus Stormbow, the Nimbus Rod will carry you through the battle with the Destroyer with almost equal ease. Using it comes with no opportunity cost; whether you’re exploring underground or dealing with an event aboveground, you can almost certainly find a way to make the Nimbus Rod useful. You don't even have to be a mage to want this on your hotbar at all times. It deals damage for free, and if you're smart with placing the clouds, the damage it deals is actually very significant. Usually, this involves luring enemies directly beneath you. This weapon is also highly recommended against the Old One's Army, since it can take a decent chunk out of every enemy that emerges from a portal, and usually lasts for the entire wave.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ##

6.67% chance to drop from Angry Nimbuses, which spawn on the surface during rain
Best prefix: Demonic $$

# Blade Staff: S-

One of the two pre-mech summoning weapons that can actually be used against flying bosses like the Twins, Queen Slime, and Dreadnautilus. Not only is it perfectly accurate, it is the fastest-attacking minion weapon by far, putting most enemies in total lockdown. Any source of additional fixed damage will increase its damage output dramatically: the most notable sources of fixed damage are additional defense piercing (Shark Tooth Necklace, Ichor) and tag damage from whips (Snapthorn, Durendal). It has slightly lower DPS than the Spider Staff, but with a Shark Tooth Necklace equipped, it becomes about the same. In order to use this weapon properly, you need to understand how it works; because it has very low base damage, effects that add a fixed amount of damage per hit provide a monstrous boost to its damage output. So depending on how well you understand and build around it, it could be either very mediocre or very powerful.

Due to its high attack speed and low base damage, this weapon doesn't synergize very well with the Firecracker. Until you get Durendal, you're better off either using Snapthorn or attacking with weapons from a different class. And due to Snapthorn's relatively poor range, I would usually recommend the latter.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability:

2.86% chance to drop from Enchanted Swords
Best prefix: Demonic/Mystic/Deadly/Hurtful ¢

# Poison Staff: C-

Deals reasonable single-target damage, but has no other good qualities to speak of. Its terrible range is the main problem, but it is also far too slow to disrupt enemies, and its crowd control abilities are nothing to write home about. If you want to deal high damage at point-blank range, you might as well use a melee weapon. For mid-ranged combat, it kinda sucks, and it is literally incapable of long-ranged combat, so you will probably struggle to find a reason to use this.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ###

2.5% chance to drop from Black Recluses
(Best prefix: Mythical $$)

# Marrow: B-

A much less user-friendly version of the Ice Bow, with around the same average DPS. Usually you would prefer a repeater or dart weapon in order to take advantage of their special ammo effects. Marrow is accurate and safe to use, but doesn't have much potential beyond that. Since it requires so much precision to aim properly, you'll find its relatively high knockback to be somewhat annoying.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #

0.5% chance to drop from Skeleton Archers
Best prefix: Unreal ¢

# Ice Bow: B

Kind of plays like a ranged version of Shadowflame Knife. It is much more spammable than Marrow thanks to autofire, and slightly more accurate (but much less versatile) than repeaters. I wouldn't challenge bosses with this, and I wouldn't pull this out against invasions, but for stunlocking and killing random encounters underground, the Ice Bow is pretty great.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##

28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Beam Sword: C

A decent sword combined with a bad projectile to get a sword that's a bit better than other swords, though not by much. If you were searching for a proper long-ranged DPS weapon, then keep searching. The beam alone deals pitiful damage to one enemy and is too slow to aim properly.

BLADE
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #

BEAM
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #

0.67% chance to drop from Armored Skeletons
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

# Magic Dagger: B+

With extraordinarily high speed and good damage, the pain that this weapon will inflict on your enemies is matched only by the pain it will inflict on your index finger. Its DPS is high enough that it can handle crowds easily, despite only piercing once. However, it is only effective within mid-range before gravity kicks in, so it doesn't do very well against bosses.

A speed-increasing modifier makes a huge difference, since it essentially allows it to fire as fast as you can click.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ##

14.29% chance to drop from naturally-spawned Wood, Gold, and Shadow Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Medusa Head: C+

It deals respectable damage to worm enemies and small crowds, but lacks any sort of knockback. It's probably best used for midair strafing runs. Theoretically it should do well against projectile-based enemies that are interrupted upon being hit, but its range is too low for that. Its lack of range also prevents it from being a safe option against the Destroyer, despite its excellent DPS for that fight.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #

1% chance to drop from Medusas; 0.05% chance to drop from statue-spawned Medusas
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Uzi: S-

Uses standard bullets.
A rare weapon that retains viability for a long time, and is often worth using even if you get it a bit late. It is expensive to use ammo other than the Endless Musket Pouch, but you probably won't mind because the Uzi and Endless Musket Pouch have such great synergy. You can consider it a pre-mech Megashark, mostly. It has slightly more spread than the Megashark, but it's not significant enough to be a problem.

ENDLESS MUSKET POUCH
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #

CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #

EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #

1% chance to drop from Angry Trappers
Best prefix: Unreal ¢

# Frost Staff: B+

With decently high DPS and velocity, this is definitely an upgrade to the Laser Rifle, and its ability to pierce once makes it somewhat usable against the pirates. It has much higher velocity than many magic weapons, and can even juggle certain targets. The Crystal Serpent is the weapon you'd be most likely to compare it to; in comparison, the Frost Staff has better crowd control and a faster fire rate, but lower single-target DPS. Many other weapons offer better crowd control, so the Frost Staff is a sort of middle-ground option with no prominent strengths nor weaknesses.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###

2% chance to drop from Ice Elementals, Icy Mermen, and Ice Golems
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Ice Sickle: A-

The quintessential melee weapon. While it has limited use against fast-moving bosses, it shreds crowds of enemies at close range and vastly outperforms swords when it comes to beating them back, easily setting up an impenetrable barrier of lingering ice blades. It can hold off practically any number of fighter enemies, juggling them backwards while dealing incredible DPS. However, it's pretty bad against enemies that don't give chase and instead fire on you from a distance.

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0.56% chance to drop from Armored Vikings, Icy Mermen, Ice Elementals, and Ice Tortoises
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Flower of Frost: C+

It fires quickly and is quite economical to use despite its high attacking speed. However, due to its poor horizontal velocity, its effective range is rather low, and it can't handle more than two enemies at a time. Usually you'll want to fire it while flying low to the ground on relatively flat terrain; this makes it reasonable for attacking rows of grounded enemies, but in those situations you'll usually prefer something with line-of-sight, like a Laser Rifle. Aboveground, it is outclassed by Cursed Flames, and underground, it is outclassed by Crystal Storm.

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28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical ¢

# Frostbrand: C+

Unlike the Beam Sword, the Frostbrand fires a projectile that pierces one enemy. It also has marginally more reach. It's no substitute for a proper ranged weapon, but it can handle crowds fairly well without leaving you completely vulnerable to shooters.

BLADE
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BEAM
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28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Legendary $$

Bought from NPCs

# Gradient and Format C: A

Slightly outclassed by the Amarok and other yoyos while being no easier to obtain. Otherwise, they're basically the same. For more usage details, see Amarok.

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Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold in Hardmode. One or the other will always be available, depending on moon phase
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Ice Rod: B-

A niche weapon that can perform some neat tricks, but generally isn't as effective as most magic weapons in its tier. While it fires stupidly fast, its range is a bit too low to contribute properly to most boss fights (though it can somewhat cheese Retinazer's second phase if you didn't already have a bunker to cheese it with). You can try blocking enemies off with a wall of ice and pelting them from relative safety, but that will probably only work underground, and you're usually better off using an equally disruptive weapon with better DPS. Also, please don’t be that person who uses the Ice Rod during a crowded boss battle in multiplayer.

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Sold by Wizard for 50 gold
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Shotgun: C-

Uses standard bullets.
Compared to the Clockwork Assault Rifle, this isn't great. However, it is a perfectly functional crowd control weapon when paired with Exploding Bullets, and works best when spraying enemies from above. In my opinion, the Quad Barrel Shotgun does not outclass this weapon at all; the Shotgun has much better effective range, and its spread isn't so wide that you'd ever have to worry about accidentally blowing yourself up with an Exploding Bullet.

There's no denying that the Shotgun is outclassed by most Hardmode ranged weapons, but if you've ever played on a public SSC server that threw you straight into Hardmode armed with only a Copper Shortsword, there's a good chance that you've used this.

EXPLODING BULLET
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CRYSTAL BULLET
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Sold by the Arms Dealer for 25 gold in Hardmode
(Best prefix: Unreal $$)

# Gatligator: B

Uses standard bullets.
This is the best pre-mech gun for crowd control when paired with Exploding Bullets, and it can clear out large groups of enemies by strafing them from above. Unfortunately, its awful accuracy makes it difficult to use as an actual ranged weapon, so you'll probably be shooting things point-blank instead to take full advantage of its high fire rate. Against large targets like the Twins, its accuracy actually isn't too terrible; it performs much better than the Clockwork Assault Rifle at close distances (and about the same at long distances). It sort of works like a demo version of the Megashark, except it's not really a demo version because you paid 35 gold for it.

CRYSTAL BULLET
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EXPLODING BULLET
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Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Sergeant United Shield: A

Having a homing melee weapon this early on is incredible, and while the Sergeant United Shield is not without faults (mainly its lackluster crowd damage and lack of knockback), it is a valuable, spammable scouting tool that deals decent single-target damage. While it has no knockback, it still attacks fast enough to somewhat interfere with projectile shooters, and can safely chip away at enemies by abusing natural cover granted by terrain. It also has a gimmicky thing you can perform by right-clicking, but trying to use it is a stupid idea that will probably get you killed.

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Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Demonic $$$

# Orange Zapinator: B

This is the wackiest weapon in the game by far, and it basically wins the fight against the Destroyer by itself. If it were any faster, it would probably be broken in the other sense, but it is surprisingly viable for what is essentially a joke weapon. Though it has painfully slow speed that makes it hard to aim with, it also has relatively high base damage, and performs better on average against bosses due to the occasional omega-hit dealing upwards of 1500 damage in a single shot. Use it like you would use a Sniper Rifle; its projectile behavior might weird you out a bit, but whatever happens, it can only help you.

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Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Slap Hand: D-

It is very good at what it does, but what it does is not something you want to be doing most of the time. Its ridiculous knockback makes it extremely inefficient at killing things, unless your target is immune to knockback, in which case you'll have defeated the entire purpose of using this weapon. And hitting projectile-based enemies with the Slap Hand is pretty much the opposite of what you should be trying to do as a melee user. What makes this weapon even weirder is the unintuitive method by which it is obtained; typically, you'd be fighting or fishing on the surface during a Blood Moon, not trawling underground for a Skeleton Merchant. So most players won't even get an opportunity to purchase this. They aren't missing much, though. The Jousting Lance 100% outclasses this.

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Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 25 gold during a Blood Moon in Hardmode
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Jousting Lance: C-

An extremely difficult weapon to master, and its performance in most situations is average at best. It matches up well against contact-based enemies with moderate to high knockback resistance (such as Unicorns and Mimics), but it's a terrible choice against projectile-based enemies. Its absurdly high knockback is often a double-edged sword; for example, you might use it to smack an Illuminant Bat away from you, only for it to bounce off a wall and right back into your face. Surprisingly, its movement speed gimmick doesn't hurt its viability too much since you'll be moving all the time anyways, and the direction you're moving in doesn't matter. Its low range is what really prevents it from being useful most of the time. Still, I think this is a much better starting weapon than the Breaker Blade, and 6 gold is such an amazingly cheap price for a weapon that is arguably better than all the ore spears.

The best way to use this weapon is NOT to hold it out and start charging in a single direction. Rather, it should be used to stab enemies directly, kind of like a shortsword. A Shield of Cthulhu is helpful, but not required since you can boost its damage by jumping up and down.

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Sold by Zoologist for 6 Gold during Hardmode
Best prefix: Legendary/Godly/Demonic ¢

Crafted from monster drops

# Onyx Blaster: S

Uses standard bullets.
The enormous damage that the Onyx Blaster deals in a single shot easily compensates for its lack of speed. Against large targets, you can easily deal more than 800 damage in a single shot, and upwards of 1000 per shot against the Destroyer. Most smaller enemies die in one or two shots, and it actually isn't that hard to aim, either. It has a relatively narrow spread for a shotgun, and it deals a huge amount of splash damage within a large radius. Because its explosive charge deals double the listed damage, it can even muscle through heavily armored opponents later on. It's perfectly reasonable to use this against Plantera, Golem, or even Duke Fishron.

Due to how piercing damage works, you actually don't want to use Exploding Bullets with this. They give enemies piercing invincibility frames, which can get in the way of the Onyx Blaster's explosive charge. Crystal Bullets are almost always the best option for this gun, even against the Destroyer.

CRYSTAL BULLET
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Crafted from Shotgun, Soul of Night x10, Dark Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Sky Fracture: B+

It is somewhat hard to justify using this weapon when the Crystal Storm exists, and deals nearly as much damage per second while also being much more accurate and mana-efficient. The Sky Fracture can handle some slower enemies, but using it against fast-moving bosses like the Twins will become annoying really fast due to its relatively low velocity which forces you to lead your shots by a large margin. It also has no crowd control abilities to speak of, and its efficiency against normal enemies is questionable; its high knockback (boosted further by its elevated critical rate) tends to juggle enemies around, making it even harder to properly land your shots, and it is nigh-unusable at point-blank range. If your aim is good, you might be able to take advantage of its high DPS potential against bosses, which are usually large enough for the Sky Fracture to hit somewhat consistently. But it will rarely be your most efficient option for anything else.

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Crafted from Magic Missile, Soul of Light x16, Light Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Dao of Pow: A+

While it is still slightly tricky to use, the Dao of Pow smashes the living daylights out of almost everything you'll encounter up until mid-Hardmode. Its base damage is high enough that most enemies die after getting hit twice from the flail head, and it can be rapidly spammed to deliver higher DPS to enemies in close- to mid-range. It also reliably inflicts the Confused debuff to everything that isn't immune to it; often this won't be of much help since the debuff tends to only affect enemies that couldn't really threaten you anyways, but it does work on things like Pirate Crossbowers, rendering them useless for a while if it doesn't kill them in one shot.

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Crafted from Dark Shard, Light Shard, Soul of Light x7, Soul of Night x7 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

# Chik: A

Many people were upset when they saw that Chik was nerfed and Amarok was buffed, but in the end, it doesn't make much of a difference. Chik gets the job done in every situation that Amarok performs well in, 0.8 times as fast. Amarok isn't that rare, either, so Chik doesn't even have an advantage in availability. Maybe more people would use Chik if it didn't require an upgraded Anvil. For usage details, see Amarok.

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Crafted from Wooden Yoyo, Crystal Shard x15, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Crystal Storm: A+

A magical machine gun that is most useful in cramped corridors, but is also decent against bosses, especially the ones that chase you around. It easily stunlocks regular enemies while dealing around the same DPS as a Megashark, and has just enough range to damage Spazmatism during its flamethrower attack. Its projectiles spread out a bit, but that's not too much of a hindrance for a weapon that attacks so quickly; it is much more likely to hit flying enemies than many weapons with narrow projectiles, like the Laser Rifle.

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Crafted from Spell Tome, Crystal Shard x20, Soul of Light x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Golden Shower: A

While it can be used as a primary weapon when first crafted, it retains its usefulness as a quick defense debuffer throughout the entire game, remaining viable even after its own DPS starts to fall off. Sure, you can use a Flask of Ichor or Ichor Arrows/Bullets, but the Golden Shower applies Ichor without consuming any resources. Its ability to inflict Ichor isn't the Golden Shower's only good quality; it pierces completely through and stunlocks any crowd you might realistically face, and despite not being able to inflict Ichor against the boss, it is an above-average weapon against the Destroyer (moreso if you have a Shark Tooth Necklace). After crafting this, you can probably retire your Laser Rifle.

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Crafted from Spell Tome, Ichor x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Cursed Flames: A+

A superbly spammable weapon that completely dominates invasion events. You ideally want the fireballs to bounce as low as possible, so its damage will be concentrated on grounded crowds. However, it's sometimes a good idea to let the projectiles bounce a bit higher so they can catch flying enemies in the crossfire. This weapon deals more single-target DPS than the Golden Shower, even taking the latter's Ichor debuff into account. It also has more reach than the Flower of Frost. So bossing is a possibility for Cursed Flames, though it probably isn't your most efficient option.

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Crafted from Spell Tome, Cursed Flame x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Meteor Staff: C+

The Meteor Staff is somewhat usable for both bossing and fighting invasions, but it has some obvious flaws that will likely prevent it from being your first pick. First of all, it is completely useless underground. Second, it burns mana at an incredible rate; even when buffed with Mana Regeneration, you will often have to drink mana potions when using this thing. And most importantly, its accuracy is extremely poor. Summoning projectiles to rain down from the sky sounds cool in concept, but then you realize that most enemies tend to move around horizontally rather than vertically, and are also taller than they are wide. In short, the Meteor Staff is incredibly difficult to use, and doesn't offer overwhelming power to compensate. At least it can be used for bunker cheesing, though.

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Crafted from Meteorite Bar x20, Pixie Dust x10, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $

# Spirit Flame: S

Though it is somewhat difficult to obtain, the Spirit Flame is possibly the best magic weapon to use against the flying bosses like the Twins, Skeletron Prime, and Queen Slime thanks to its homing abilities and high damage value relative to its modest mana consumption. It even has a little bit of splash damage against tightly-bunched enemies, though it's not large enough to hit more than two Destroyer segments. While it is extremely efficient at eliminating flying enemies, it doesn't do too well underground, so use it on the surface instead for invasions and boss fights.

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Crafted from Desert Spirit Lamp, Forbidden Fragment x2, Soul of Night x12 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical ¢

# Spider Staff: S

Summoners jump significantly in viability at the start of Hardmode thanks to this weapon alone. The spiders latch onto enemies and deal consistent damage while completely shutting down their movement, and are even usable against some flying targets like Pixies, Ichor Stickers, and Flying Dutchman cannons. However, some speedy, knockback-immune targets like Spazmatism can shake the spiders off. This weapon performs much better in areas covered with background walls, so if you want to fill your arena with walls in order to grant your spider minions maximum mobility, then sure, I guess you could do that. But even if you're not willing to go the extra mile and build a spider-friendly arena, this is the ultimate anti-ground minion weapon for this stage of the game, and it is insanely good relative to how easy it is to get.

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Crafted from Spider Fang x16 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless ¢

# Queen Spider Staff: S-

While it is nothing special when first obtained, the Queen Spider Staff has monstrous potential and scales extraordinarily well into the lategame. In the beginning of hardmode, it is held back by its low base damage and your lack of sentry capacity bonuses; there's no opportunity cost for using it, but don't expect a solitary Queen Spider to accomplish much outside of cheesing the occasional enemy underground. After you beat your first mechanical boss and clear the Old One's Army a few times, you'll unlock new armors and new sentries. However, none of the new sentries are nearly as flexible as the Queen Spider, whose accumulated "missed" shots amass together into a highly-damaging sea of spiders that cover any terrain, both on the surface and underground. In the absence of set bonuses, the Queen Spider arguably remains the best sentry available, losing only to the Ballista + Panic combination. And in the lategame, after you have access to the best gear from the Tavernkeep, this early Hardmode weapon is still relevant, and potentially ties in DPS with an unpanicked Ballista Staff, dealing up to nine hits over a scattered area in the time it takes for the Ballista to fire once.

Of course, your mileage may vary. The Queen Spider's potential is only realized if you use hybrid sentry-based sets. Non-summoner characters will find it mediocre, and Monk/Squire sets will prefer their corresponding sentries to take advantage of their set bonuses. Nevertheless, you might find such hybrid sets surprisingly viable, as some of the best individual armor pieces in the game (Squire's Great Helm, Valhalla Knight's Breastplate, and Spooky Breastplate) provide benefits that can easily outweigh set bonuses.

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Crafted from Spider Fang x24 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

# Cool Whip: C

The Cool Whip does not add tag damage, and its secondary effect does not interact with your minions at all. This makes it unique among whips, and not in a good way. Against large crowds of enemies, its total DPS is probably comparable to that of the Firecracker, but it's not as concentrated on a single target, so the Firecracker still outclasses it as a bossing whip, especially because the snowflake is too slow to track bosses properly. The Firecracker also has more lategame utility. So you could probably afford to skip the Cool Whip. It's a very strange whip that doesn't improve your minions' performance whatsoever.

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Crafted from Frost Core, Soul of Light x8, Soul of Night x8 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$

Obtained through Fishing

# Crystal Serpent: B+

The Crystal Serpent's performance is average against most enemies, but it performs much, much better against bosses. Due to their large size and tendency to charge at you, bosses like Queen Slime and Spazmatism will take massive amounts of damage from each shot as they ram into all the secondary projectiles. This weapon usually has better bossing DPS than the Sky Fracture, and performs well in all situations that guns with Crystal Bullets perform well in. As a bonus, its mana cost is very low, so it can be freely spammed while exploring underground, and it's rather decent underground since its secondary projectiles bounce off of walls.

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0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Hallowed Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Toxikarp: A

Thanks to the existence of the Endless Quiver and Endless Musket Pouch, its ability to conserve ammo is hardly unique, but the Toxikarp has a number of other things going for it. Its large projectile is very effective against flying enemies, and thanks to its fast fire rate, it deals damage quite rapidly while covering a large area over your entire screen. This can be used against the Twins and Skeletron Prime, and should easily perform better than the Shadowflame Knife and Ice Bow. Note that fishing in the Corruption can be rather dangerous since you could be attacked by a World Feeder at any time.

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0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Corruption Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Bladetongue: B-

Like all broadswords, this is a difficult weapon to use, but unlike most broadswords, the Bladetongue is powerful enough to possibly justify the increased danger it puts you in. It is the strongest melee weapon against the Destroyer by far, and it's reasonably good for crowd control despite the unreliability of its bouncing ichor streams. But if you're at low health and you're about to die, the Bladetongue is probably not going to save you.

BLADE
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BEAM
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0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Crimson Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Obsidian Swordfish: C+

It's much better than the Breaker Blade, at least. It is very competent at dealing damage, but generally unsafe to use; even compared to other spears, its range is extremely short, which makes it difficult to attack enemies without getting hit in return. Against anything immune to knockback, this is not a viable option. At least it can get you through the exploration phase of early Hardmode if you catch it right after defeating the Wall of Flesh, but it won't contribute much to any important battles after that. I would avoid using this in Expert mode.

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14.29% chance to be caught when fishing in lava in Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢

# Anchor: D+

The Anchor's DPS is just good enough to chip away at and kill most hardmode enemies, one at a time. At the very least, it is more effective than most pre-HM weapons against a single target, but fails against multiple scattered targets. It is also very inefficient for attacking faraway enemies, though at least you can switch to a different weapon while the Anchor is out, so you could try throwing the Anchor over a crowd of enemies and then hitting them with something else while the Anchor retracts and pierces them. In practice, this is far more effort than it's worth. If I had a Sunfury or Hellwing Bow, I would not bother trying to use this.

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4% chance to drop from Pearlwood Crates
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢

Blood Moon Fishing

# Blood Thorn: C-

Life Drain outclasses this weapon in literally every possible way. In comparison, this weapon consumes twice as much mana, deals slightly less single-target DPS, can't be used safely against airborne targets, doesn't increase your health regeneration, and most importantly, suffers from some weird damage cap mechanic that severely limits its effectiveness against multiple enemies. It can stunlock and slightly penetrate into walls, but Life Drain can do that, too. It's not even easier to obtain than Life Drain, which is just adding salt to the wound. I would expect this to be buffed relatively soon.

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12.5% chance to drop from Hemogoblin Shark
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Drippler Crippler: S

This flail crushes grounded enemies like nothing else. There are two viable ways to use this weapon: either throw it the full distance to pierce through linear crowds, or click rapidly to fire off as many projectiles as possible, damaging and stunlocking enemies at mid-range. The latter is also your best option for close-ranged DPS. With its massive base damage, it can even be used for bossing, and apart from shredding the Destroyer (obviously), it also deals reasonable damage to Skeletron Prime; I was able to destroy most of the boss's arms without even meaning to. Seriously, this weapon is nuts.

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12.5% chance to drop from Blood Eel
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Sanguine Staff: S+

Incredibly reliable minion against any type of enemy, including bosses. It also handles clustered enemies really well. Even if you're not a dedicated summoner, you'll definitely want to use this; just using a Summoning Potion and Bewitching Table will allow this weapon to consistently contribute to your total DPS. More often than not, I observed that the minions were more effective at fighting off enemies than I was, and I wasn't even using summoner equipment! While it can fight competently at long range, its DPS will increase when attacking an enemy that's close by, and reaches its absolute maximum when facetanking. This information might be relevant when you reach wave 15 of the Pumpkin Moon, where you can just fly upwards into the stacked Pumpkings and deal an obscene amount of damage with the bats alone.

This is the strongest minion you can obtain until you have access to the Raven Staff. And even compared to the Raven Staff, the Sanguine Staff will still perform more consistently in many boss fights, including against Duke Fishron. So to anyone who wants to know if a certain summoning weapon is better than the Sanguine Staff: unless that weapon is the Xeno Staff, Stardust Cell, Stardust Dragon, or Terraprisma, the answer is no.

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20% chance to drop from Dreadnautilus
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

Goblin Invasion

# Shadowflame Bow: A

This offers roughly the same performance as a repeater with Jester's Arrows, but it does have a couple of small advantages: while it doesn't pierce an infinite number of enemies, it is slightly stronger, and it's completely free to use thanks to the Endless Quiver. Like Jester's Arrows, Shadowflame Arrows travel in a much straighter line than Unholy Arrows, giving them much better linear crowd control. Overall, a useful weapon, though it doesn't really offer anything new to your arsenal.

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16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Summoners (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Unreal $

# Shadowflame Knife: A-

A highly spammable single-target weapon that deals enough DPS to challenge bosses with, and will probably be among your safest options as a melee user. During invasions, it can create some chaos as knives bounce from one enemy to the next, but the bouncing effect is not reliable enough to be worth paying attention to. Except against the Destroyer, who is too large to avoid the knives and will consistently get hit by all three bounces. Against the Destroyer, it might not deal as much DPS as something like the Bladetongue, but it is much safer to use.

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16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Summoners (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

# Shadowflame Hex Doll: B+

This strange magic weapon is often impractical due to its poor range, but it's among the best crowd-control weapons for early Hardmode thanks to its ability to cover a wide, cone-shaped area rather than a narrow line. Like all weapons specialized for crowd control, it rips through the Destroyer, and it's also good at striking down scattered Probes. It becomes somewhat unreliable past the distance where the tentacles start to curve, so it's best to use it at close range; for this reason, the Shadowflame Hex Doll isn't well suited for Expert mode.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ##

16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Summoners (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $

Pirate Invasion

# Cutlass: D+

It has better stats than ore swords, and can be obtained rather easily without requiring you to waste any crafting materials. Sadly, that's the best that can be said about the Cutlass; it kills weak enemies just fine, but isn't really usable beyond that. Anyone who has gotten past the Eye of Cthulhu should already know that broadswords aren't good for dealing with actual threats. Think of this as a sort of participation award from the Pirate Invasion.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####

0.5% chance to be dropped by Pirates / 2% from Pirate Captains / 10% from Flying Dutchman
Best prefix: Legendary $

# Pirate Staff: B+

In contrast to the Spider Staff, this minion is specialized entirely towards grounded crowd control. The Firecracker is highly recommended for use alongside the Pirate Staff; because Pirates have the highest base damage of any pre-Plantera minion, they will deal maximum explosion damage, and the Firecracker helps the Pirates concentrate on the grounded enemies that they do well against. This doesn't outclass the Spider Staff since spiders are much better for stunlocking single enemies, but it does have better DPS potential and crowd control, making it a superior option against the Destroyer (who is the only boss that this works well against).

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #

0.05% chance to drop from Pirates / 0.2% from Pirate Captains / 1% from Flying Dutchman
Best prefix: Ruthless ¢

# Coin Gun: S

No one ever expects to obtain a Coin Gun, and many people don't have any firsthand experience with it. So the question is often asked: how good is the Coin Gun ACTUALLY? As it turns out, the Coin Gun is very, very good. I'm not just talking about with Platinum Coins, either. With Silver Coins, this weapon is about as strong as a Megashark, and a boss will usually drop coins at least equal in value to the ammo you spent killing it. With Gold Coins, it's stronger than many post-Plantera weapons; for the relatively affordable price of around 2-3 platinum, you can easily blast through a boss that would otherwise give you trouble. Anyone who regularly uses the Goblin Tinkerer should have no excuse not to be using Gold Coins as ammo for a boss fight. As for Platinum Coins... you can't realistically use Platinum Coins with the Coin Gun outside of Journey Mode, so there's no point in discussing it, really. Getting a Coin Gun in the first place is already unrealistic enough. I swear I used at least four stacks of Pirate Maps trying to get this stupid thing to drop.

When using the Coin Gun, you'll want to prepare your coin stacks in advance; it will consume coins from your inventory before it consumes them from your money slots. The more space you can set aside for coins, the better. This weapon is especially appealing on higher difficulty levels due to the increased amount of money you'll earn from killing monsters.

COPPER COIN
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.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability:

SILVER COIN
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
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.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability:

GOLD COIN
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability:

0.0125% chance to drop from Pirates / 0.05% from Pirate Captains / 0.25% from Flying Dutchman
Best prefix: Agile $$$

Dropped by special Mimics

# Daedalus Stormbow: A+

Uses standard arrows.
While raining arrows from the sky doesn't seem like a reliable way to deal with enemies, the Daedalus Stormbow still has a very good matchup against large, predictable bosses like the Destroyer, Queen Slime, Mourning Wood, and Pumpking. For single targets, use Holy Arrows. For multiple targets, use Holy Arrows. If you don't want to use Holy Arrows, you might want to try a different bow. This weapon provides a specific answer to several important battles during the transition from early to mid-Hardmode, but is inefficient in most other situations (namely those that involve small targets), so it most likely won't be taking up a hotbar slot. But if you need a good bossing weapon, you'll be hard-pressed to find something better than this.

The Stormbow still works excellently against the Destroyer, but Unholy/Jester's Arrows actually outperform Holy Arrows for that fight. Later in the game you'll gain access to Chlorophyte Arrows, which can somewhat fix the Stormbow's accuracy problems.

HOLY ARROW
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###

25% chance to drop from Hallowed Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Light in an empty chest
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Flying Knife: B-

As far as melee weapons go, the Flying Knife is unique in that it is almost completely worthless for close-ranged combat. It can deal large amounts of damage to crowds of enemies, but does nothing to prevent them from swarming you. Trying to aim this weapon is such a mental struggle that it can easily distract you from dodging attacks, and its tendency to smack enemies towards you rather than away from you doesn't help, either. So for direct combat, this weapon is usually not recommended. But for picking off groups of enemies that are trapped and can't reach you, the Flying Knife is a great weapon with several advantages over yoyos, namely its fullscreen range and lack of a time limit. It also rips the Destroyer apart, though the ensuing swarm of Probes is a problem that it was not designed to handle.

There are a couple of other tricks you can pull off with this weapon. At worst, it can be used like a poor man's Dao of Pow by simply throwing it in a straight line and letting it return to you, piercing all enemies along the way. You can also drag the cursor down where the Flying Knife can't reach, causing it to press itself against the ground and deal far more consistent damage to grounded enemies on top of it. This weapon isn't for everyone, but it can be quite good in the hands of someone who has enough patience to figure out how to use it (and is using a mouse rather than a trackpad).

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###

25% chance to drop from Hallowed Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Light in an empty chest
Best prefix: Demonic/Godly $$$

# Crystal Vile Shard: C+

It will never be your best option for DPS, and obviously does extremely poorly against bosses (other than the Destroyer, against which it is only slightly below average). However, it is pretty good against random enemies underground, safely picking them off from behind barriers. It is a lot like a poor man's magical version of the Flamethrower. No one would ever call it a great weapon, but it's far from unusable; even on the surface, it can reliably stunlock groups of enemies, though there are many other magic weapons with better range that can do the same thing. If you're strong enough to defeat a Hallowed Mimic, you probably don't need this.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###**
....Availability: ###

25% chance to drop from Hallowed Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Light in an empty chest
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Dart Pistol: S+

There isn't a single situation that the Dart Pistol doesn't perform well in. With Crystal Darts, it is a potent weapon for scattered crowd control that can heavily damage multiple enemies without much effort, even when used underground. Each dart doesn't deal exceptional damage per hit, but this is easily made up for by their ability to hit the same enemy multiple times. With Ichor Darts, it is an overwhelmingly powerful bossing weapon that pierces infinitely within close range and splits into a fan of projectiles at mid-range, dealing massive amounts of damage to large targets like the Twins, Mourning Wood, and Plantera. Also, you can use Ichor Darts to tag enemies with the Ichor debuff and switch to another weapon with better DPS... is what I would say, were it not for the fact that a ranged weapon with better DPS than the Dart Pistol does not exist. Nearly every other weapon in this section looks like a child's toy compared to this thing. Honestly, you could use this all the way up until the Lunar Events if you wanted to.

CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
1 Crystal Shard yields 100 Crystal Darts (crafted by hand)

ICHOR DART
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
1 Ichor yields 100 Ichor Darts (crafted by hand)

20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Fetid Baghnakhs: B

This is the most powerful broadsword for this stage of the game, but not necessarily the most viable. Its range is so short that it's difficult to avoid taking contact damage when using it, so I would recommend using it as a "get off me" option in situations where you're already taking contact damage anyways. It should clear out these situations quickly with its incredibly high DPS, limiting the amount of damage you'll take. While approaching enemies with this weapon is not a good idea, it works great against enemies that approach you. It has a good matchup against enemies that are highly knockback-resistant but not immune (such as Black Recluses, Mimics, and Herplings).

.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ###

20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Legendary $$$

# Life Drain: A+

Due to its ability to instantly disrupt large groups of enemies with perfect accuracy, this is one of the best magic weapons for getting nasty situations under control, especially those that involve projectile-based enemies. Unlike many weapons whose performance tends to fall apart as swarms of enemies start to accumulate, the Life Drain thrives under the same conditions, completely shutting down both grounded and airborne enemies within a massive radius. Of course, the opposite is also true: against a single target, its performance is unimpressive, and it may not be able to sustain itself off the Celestial Magnet alone. So it usually doesn't do well against bosses—except the Destroyer, against which it is arguably the best magic weapon you could possibly use. The Life Drain is also excellent underground since it can penetrate into walls a bit, and instantly deletes most worm enemies from existence. As a small bonus, it increases your passive health regeneration while in use, though it won't save you from the brink of death like Vampire Knives can.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###

20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Dart Rifle: S+

Apart from being slower and less reliable for stunlocking enemies, this weapon is just as nutty as the Dart Pistol and actually outperforms it in a handful of situations, namely against the Destroyer and the Old One's Army. With Crystal Darts, it shreds groups of scattered enemies just as effectively as the Dart Pistol does. With Cursed Darts, it melts the Destroyer (even offscreen), incinerates the Old One's Army, and still deals more damage to bosses than any other ranged weapon you'd likely have at that point. You could use Cursed Darts like you would use the North Pole and shoot them straight upwards to create a literal rain of fire, but it's usually better to just aim at enemies directly, which guarantees that they'll be hit at least twice. No matter how you choose to use them, Cursed Darts will end up carpeting the entire area in flames and burning grounded enemies to bits.

If you ask me whether I think the Dart Rifle or the Dart Pistol is better, my answer is that I don't care. Both of them are way too powerful.

CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
1 Crystal Shard yields 100 Crystal Darts (crafted by hand)

CURSED DART
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
1 Cursed Flame yields 100 Cursed Darts (crafted by hand)

20% chance to drop from Corrupt Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Corruption world
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Chain Guillotines: B-

A very straightforward weapon that doesn't really excel in any particular area, but is more viable than most swords thanks to its decent range. Realistically, it will only deal damage to a single target at once, though it can hit multiple enemies if they're overlapping each other. At least it's above average compared to most early Hardmode melee weapons. But outside of a melee-only challenge run, I wouldn't bother using this.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###

20% chance to drop from Corrupt Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Corruption world
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$

# Clinger Staff: A+

Like the Nimbus Rod, the Clinger Staff is a fire-and-forget weapon that passively damages enemies (and wrecks the Destroyer) without requiring any attention on your part. Unlike the Nimbus Rod, it creates an absolute barrier against any enemy susceptible to knockback, allowing you to completely ignore the majority of enemies from one side and focus on those that are more troublesome, like Pirate Captains and Dr. Man Flies. It also single-handedly filters out all the goblins in the Old One's Army while heavily damaging everything that is resistant to knockback. It usually won't deal high DPS to any single enemy, but that's not what this weapon was meant for. It spreads moderate chip damage across multiple enemies while bunching them together, making them easy prey for minions and area-of-effect weapons. And even if its ability to knock things away isn't valuable to you, free damage is still free damage.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###

20% chance to drop from Corrupt Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Corruption world
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Baconfry · May 30, 2018

Crafted or obtained from Mechanical Boss drops

# Excalibur: D-

The best that can be said about Excalibur is that it's crafted from a relatively plentiful resource, and that it's a necessary crafting material for better weapons later down the line. There is little reason to use it in combat; compared to most things you've obtained up until this point, its DPS is not impressive at all, and it suffers from every problem that all non-projectile swords suffer from.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x12
(Best prefix: Legendary $$)

# Gungnir: D

Crafting this doesn't add much value to your run. It's not the strongest close-ranged weapon, and you probably don't even need a close-ranged weapon in the first place. It's much better for crowd control than Excalibur... which no one ever uses in battle anyways, so that isn't much of a compliment. In my opinion, you're better off using an Obsidian Swordfish or even a Hallowed Jousting Lance.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x12
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Hallowed Jousting Lance: D+

This is an incredibly clumsy weapon, but it has a small handful of legitimate uses. It cuts down the Destroyer more effectively than most other melee weapons, and heavily damages Skeletron Prime during its spinning attack (only on Expert and Master mode⁠—on Classic mode, the spinning attack is far too slow). It is not optimal for those boss battles, since you'll be extremely vulnerable to lasers when attacking at such a short range, but the Hallowed Jousting Lance can certainly deal significant damage, sometimes. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that it is too gimmicky to use in most situations. While it's better than Excalibur and Gungnir in the hands of an experienced player, new players should probably skip this, and experienced players should probably use something else.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x12
Best prefix: Legendary/Godly/Demonic $$

# Durendal: B+

Adds tag damage along with a boost to its own speed. You won't find a better source of tag damage until after the Empress of Light, and Durendal's ability to nullify the speed penalty of its range-increasing modifier is very neat. It's fast enough to deal some damage to enemies on its own, though you should wear a Power Glove upgrade in order to receive the full benefit. I generally wouldn't recommend this for non-summoners, as its range and damage output are a bit lacking compared to weapons of other classes. And even if you are a summoner, the Firecracker will still offer a better DPS boost to most minions while actively attacking. (One major exception is the Blade Staff, which receives a massive boost from Durendal's tag damage, but gains very little from the Firecracker.)

However, here's where it gets a bit more interesting. Durendal's Blessing will improve the attack speed of other whips, so it can be swapped back and forth with another whip if you're willing to minmax for optimal DPS. This allows the Firecracker to activate its effect much more frequently, and also turns Dark Harvest into a lawnmower. It can even be used alongside melee weapons like the Chlorophyte Partisan to improve their attack speed, though not all melee weapons actually benefit from this. Overall, Durendal is a useful whip, but some of its uses are not obvious. Rather than replacing your other whips, it should be used alongside them to reap the benefits of both.

If you want to use a Legendary reforge on this whip, you can; it will deal significantly more damage per second. However, you'll sacrifice a lot of range, hindering its ability to function as a support weapon during boss fights.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #####

Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$

# Hallowed Repeater: A+

Uses standard arrows.
Significantly more powerful than pre-mech repeaters and the Shadowflame Bow. This can be used as an alternative to the Megashark, especially if you have a Magic Quiver, which will boost its velocity to the point where it can be used comfortably against bosses. Usually, Jester's Arrows are your best bet for crowd control, and Holy Arrows are best for taking down a single target. The former will remain your most consistent crowd control option even after you gain access to the Chlorophyte Shotbow.

HOLY ARROW
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

JESTER'S ARROW
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x12
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Red's Throw and Valkyrie Yoyo: A+

It's actually quite fitting that the best Expert mode-exclusive weapons are yoyos. In Expert mode, it's never wise to engage enemies directly; you should always attack from a safe position if you have the chance. This is something that yoyos excel at. Of course, these two yoyos are extremely rare, and I wouldn't recommend farming for them considering that you can obtain Yelets from the Jungle fairly easily. But if you're lucky enough to receive Red's Throw or the Valkyrie Yoyo in your Expert playthrough, you should absolutely use it. They have infinite throw time and a bit more range and damage than Yelets, and Yelets is already considered a very good yoyo.

.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###**
....Availability: #

0.56% chance to obtain either yoyo from any hardmode Treasure Bag, alongside Red's or Lazure's set
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Arkhalis: ?

Formerly a pre-Hardmode weapon, Arkhalis was recently moved to Hardmode, but they forgot to buff its stats to compensate. In spite of this, Arkhalis is surprisingly usable even in Hardmode and can hold off fighter enemies indefinitely while dealing respectable damage. It's absolutely better than stuff like the Ghastly Glaive and Jousting Lance.

You can expect this to be buffed soon.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #

0.28% chance to obtain from any hardmode Treasure Bag, alongside Arkhalis's set
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Megashark: S

Uses standard bullets.
The O.G. from version 1.1, and still as powerful as ever. The Megashark is speedy enough to hold enemies in place and accurate enough to do so consistently from a distance, but its real potential comes from the various types of ammo that you can feed into it. Exploding Bullets turn it into an excellent crowd control machine that shoves hordes of enemies backwards while blasting them to bits. Crystal Bullets turn it into one of the best single-target DPS weapons, which most experienced players would recommend using against the Twins and Skeletron Prime. It is only a very slight upgrade to the Uzi, so it you're lucky enough to own one, you can probably afford to skip the Megashark (though it's super easy to craft, so I don't know why you would).

CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

CHLOROPHYTE BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Minishark, Illegal Gun Parts, Soul of Might x20, Shark Fin x5
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Light Disc: B-

The Megashark deals more DPS than this even if you're wearing melee armor. Light Discs do have more knockback, but this actually makes it harder for them to deal consistent damage, as they often knock enemies out of their own attack range. This is essentially a bouncier version of Chain Guillotines that otherwise performs exactly the same, and as mediocre as the Chain Guillotines were, at least they were available pre-mech.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x20, Soul of Light x15, Soul of Might x25 for a full stack of 5
Best prefix: none

# Magical Harp: C-

This weapon isn't good even compared to most pre-mech magic weapons. It has low damage output, low velocity, and no knockback whatsoever. You can try using it against invasions, but its lack of knockback means that you'll just get swarmed, and to make matters worse, its total DPS against crowds rarely exceeds the Megashark's DPS against a single target. I tested the Demon Scythe under the same conditions and it was far more impressive than this.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Harp, Crystal Shard x20, Soul of Sight x15, Soul of Night x8
Best prefix: Demonic $$

# Rainbow Rod: S

The Rainbow Rod does practically everything well. It offers reasonable DPS against bosses, wipes out crowds of enemies with splash damage, and can cheese things underground with its controllable projectile. It's a bit click-intensive, but its performance makes it well worth it. Note that it will only loop back to strike the same enemy if no other enemies are nearby, meaning that its single-target DPS is significantly higher against bosses than against individual enemies in a crowd.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Pixie Dust x10, Crystal Shard x10, Unicorn Horn x2, Soul of Light x8, Soul of Sight x15
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Optic Staff: C

You could say that the Optic Staff is a victim of power creep, but it was actually never very good in the first place. As a bossing weapon, it's heavily outclassed by both the Sanguine Staff and Blade Staff. As a crowd control weapon, the Spider Staff usually performs considerably better, since most crowds tend to be grounded. All three of those weapons deal higher average DPS than the Optic Staff. It could be used as a bossing weapon if you haven't gotten lucky with the former two drops, but as a bossing weapon, it's objectively bad. These minions are far too weak and inaccurate to offer competitive DPS to most fights, and thanks to piercing mechanics, this is the only minion that has an anti-synergy with itself, even with a capacity of 1. I do not think this outclasses the Spider Staff in the slightest. It performs better against the Destroyer (obviously) but somehow ends up being less consistent against Skeletron Prime than the Spider Staff, and doesn't perform appreciably better against Plantera, either. A dedicated summoner who already owns a Blade Staff or Sanguine Staff should have no reason to ever use this.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###

Crafted from Black Lens, Lens x2, Hallowed Bar x12, Soul of Sight x20
Best prefix: Ruthless $

# Flamethrower: B-

The Flamethrower doesn't really have much to offer to a ranged user. It provides mediocre single-target damage, and thanks to piercing damage reduction, its crowd control abilities are also mediocre. The gel it uses for ammunition is reasonably common, but can't be purchased in bulk and must be farmed from a Slime Statue if you want to use it for an extended amount of time. Like its real-life counterpart, it is far more visually impressive than it is practical.

.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Illegal Gun Parts, Iron/Lead Bar x20, Soul of Fright x20
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Dropped by monsters (req: 1 mechanical boss defeated)

# Yelets: A

Now is around the time the Amarok/Hel-Fire starts falling off, so Yelets is a welcome upgrade that is just as easy to obtain. This is among the better melee weapons against Plantera, and matches up well against most of the Underground Jungle in general.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###**
....Availability: ####

0.5% chance to drop from any enemy in the Jungle, after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Unholy Trident: B+

This isn't quite as brainlessly spammable as Cursed Flames thanks to its relatively high mana cost and narrow, hard-to-aim projectile. However, it is incredibly powerful against invasions like the Solar Eclipse, dealing around the same single-target DPS as the Sky Fracture to up to three enemies at once. If you have a relatively flat arena to fight in, this is absolutely worth using; it easily kills enemies fast enough to sustain itself with a Celestial Magnet. For long-ranged combat, it performs a lot like a magical version of the Terra Blade, and like the Terra Blade, it works best when attacking enemies from the side.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##

3.33% chance to drop from Red Devils, which spawn after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Bought from NPCs (req: 1 mechanical boss defeated)

# Mushroom Spear: B-

This is a very strong close-range weapon that you should consider using on Crimson worlds. The spear itself deals high damage while the secondary mushroom projectiles deal many small hits. On their own, the mushrooms won't contribute much. But when paired with the Flask of Ichor's defense-decreasing weapon imbue, the Mushroom Spear deals higher DPS than the Death Sickle, and rips apart predictable chaser-type enemies like Mothron and Plantera. It is also usable for short-range wall cheesing, though the spear itself does not pierce through walls. Aside from the Flask of Ichor, this weapon also benefits greatly from Durendal's Blessing, as its base speed is quite slow.

.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ##**
....Availability: #####

Sold by Truffle for 70 gold after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$$$

# Code 2: A-

Statistically inferior to Yelets, but works the same. Probably not worth buying considering how common Yelets is, and how you're going to have to spend time in the Jungle anyways. Code 2's infinite throwing time is a slight advantage it has over Yelets, though Yelets can automatically refresh itself anyways if you have a Power Glove, and there's no way you aren't using one of those if you're a melee user.

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?% chance to be sold by Traveling Merchant for 25 gold, after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Super Star Shooter: S

To no one's surprise, the Super Star Shooter performs excellently in the few situations where you can actually afford to use it. If your enemies are all lined up, it mows them down like nothing else. However, its single-target DPS isn't actually that high, so I would avoid using it outside of important battles, and save it for something like the Old One's Army or wave 15 of the Pumpkin Moon. It's a fact that a star that shines more brightly also has a much shorter lifetime, and while the Super Star Shooter definitely shines very brightly, it won't be usable for nearly as long as a Hallowed Repeater firing those same stars in the form of Jester's Arrows.

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?% chance to be sold by Traveling Merchant for 50 gold, after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$

# Ballista Cane: A

When used in tandem with its respective armor set, the Ballista Cane is the strongest sentry available at this point, both during and outside of the Old One's Army event. By tanking hits, you can raise the Ballista's fire rate, allowing it to tear through lines of enemies with ease (as long as you manually remove flying enemies so the Ballistas don't shoot at them instead). And even if you aren't using Squire armor, the Ballista Cane is still excellent for crowd control if you resummon it over and over to refresh its cooldown, giving it much higher DPS. This can come in handy later on in the Hardmode Dungeon if you need to pick off a stray Necromancer or Diabolist that you can't reach with your other weapons. Note that even with Ballista Panic, the Ballista Cane's single-target DPS roughly ties with that of the Queen Spider, so the latter is usually preferred when bossing due to its semi-homing properties.

DEFAULT
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BALLISTA PANIC
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Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

# Flameburst Cane: C

Fires faster than the Ballista, but is less likely to damage multiple enemies, can't shoot upwards, and deals less damage per hit, which more than nullifies any advantage it could possibly have. Outside of the densely packed conditions of the Old One's Army, its explosions are just too small to realistically hit more than two enemies at once. Ultimately, you need a sentry-focused loadout for this weapon to be even close to decent, and there isn't even an incentive to use Apprentice armor with it because its set bonus doesn't improve this sentry's DPS. It just allows you to place the towers further back, which isn't much of an advantage considering that placing all your sentries towards the front is a perfectly viable strategy. If I wanted to tackle the Old One's Army as a mage, I would probably run a Hallowed/Apprentice/Apprentice hybrid set while using either Lightning Auras or Ballistas.

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Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

# Explosive Trap Cane: D-

With a tiny area of effect, long cooldown, and zero knockback, Explosive Traps are easily the worst type of sentry in the game. The only situation in which their performance is even remotely passable is the Old One's Army, and they aren't even the best choice for that event, losing to both Lightning Auras and Ballistas. Outside of the Old One's Army, the only somewhat viable way to use them is to summon them over and over under an enemy's feet, and the Ballista Cane does that better thanks to its higher base damage. There is no excuse to use this, at all.

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Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Demonic $$

# Lightning Aura Cane: B-

Since it damages all enemies within its area of effect, the Lightning Aura is the best sentry against the Old One's Army in the absence of set bonuses, beaten only by the Squire/Ballista combination. Its area of effect is also large enough to be useful during other invasion events like the Pumpkin Moon. However, in any situation where the screen isn't densely packed with enemies, it will usually lose to the Queen Spider Staff. It can be considered a somewhat larger version of the Nimbus Rod, and works well if you're familiar with the area and know where enemies usually gather and get stuck. Or you could just set up a barrier with a Clinger Staff, and use the Lightning Aura to pick them off on the opposite side.

It's a shame that summon tag damage doesn't work with this sentry. However, Ichor does work, and boosts the Lightning Aura's damage output by quite a bit. Another interesting trick you can use for the Old One's Army is to set up a small floating block platform with actuators attached to a timer. During the event, you can summon Lightning Auras on the platform, and when the platform is actuated, they will fall down and stack on top of each other, essentially allowing you to deploy all your Lightning Auras near the start of the track where they can nail the incoming enemies all at once.

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Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals after a mechanical boss has been defeated
Best prefix: Demonic $$

Dropped by Ogre

# Sleepy Octopod: D-

Unlike the Fetid Baghnakhs, this at least covers the area behind you, but its range is so awful that you might as well be attacking your enemies with a pickaxe. It is extremely difficult to kill something with this weapon without taking contact damage. And I know the same can be said of the Fetid Baghnakhs, but at least the Fetid Baghnakhs deals twice as much DPS. Forget about bossing; the Sleepy Octopod can barely even handle a Moss Hornet. The final insult is that its smash attack doesn't even work properly when you're flying, though it's not like that makes this weapon any worse than it already is.

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10% chance to drop from Ogre
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢

# Brand of the Inferno: D

This sword's "special ability" exists just to tempt you into doing something extremely stupid. This isn't a matter of having a high skill cap; activating Striking Moment is about as easy as hitting Duke Fishron with a Copper Shortsword without getting hurt. At the time of writing, over 12 million copies of Terraria have been sold, and I'm willing to bet that none of those people have the computer-like reflexes you'd need to consistently activate Striking Moment. But disregarding that silly ability, this sword still has decent stats. It's a shame that most other melee weapons in this tier have projectiles, giving them far more utility than the Brand of the Inferno. Yes, I would rather use the Beam Sword or Bladetongue than this.

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10% chance to drop from Ogre
Best prefix: Legendary ¢

# Phantom Phoenix: S

Uses standard arrows.
This is a devastating crowd control weapon that still retains excellent single-target damage with Holy or Ichor Arrows. It is a little awkward in that it alternates between arcing arrows and straight-line phoenixes, but the phoenix is where the big damage comes from, so I recommend you focus on aiming that. If you're not using Chlorophyte Arrows, you'll need to be in somewhat close range in order to land both arrows on the same target, unless that target is a boss. Speaking of boss, this is also an excellent bossing weapon thanks to its multi-shot properties, which have great synergy with the effects of Holy and Ichor Arrows. And even if you want use the Endless Quiver with this, you'll still have access to the phoenix: an infinitely piercing, highly damaging projectile that can be fired for free. This is so much better than the other Ogre weapons, it's almost unfair.

HOLY ARROW / ICHOR ARROW
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CHLOROPHYTE ARROW
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10% chance to drop from Ogre
Best prefix: Unreal ¢

# Tome of Infinite Wisdom: B+

Its ability to dismantle the Destroyer in seconds is pretty cool, but that should hardly be counted in this weapon's favor considering that the tier 2 Old One's Army is far more difficult to take down than the Destroyer anyways. The Tome of Infinite Wisdom is definitely not a weapon you'll be relying on for most situations. Its primary attack is both weaker and less mana-efficient than the Sky Fracture, so you can forget about using that. The secondary attack is a very wide and powerful anti-ground crowd control option that can be used on uneven terrain, but with a ridiculous cost of 40 mana per cast, it basically can't be sustained outside of heavily crowded invasion events, where it can feed off mana stars with the Celestial Magnet. There it will be among your best choices, but as soon as something like a Mourning Wood, Ogre, Mothron, or Martian Saucer shows up, you should switch to a single-target weapon and focus on that.

PAGES
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TORNADO
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10% chance to drop from Ogre
Best prefix: Mythical ¢

# Ghastly Glaive: F

It's like a worse version of The Horseman's Blade, and The Horseman's Blade is not an especially great or reliable weapon to begin with. What makes the Ghastly Glaive even worse is the fact that it's literally broken; when attacking a single enemy, every other swing seems to pass right through without dealing damage or knockback. At first I thought it was because my aim was bad, but now I'm pretty sure that it's the weapon's problem, not mine.

But let's assume that this weird behavior will get fixed eventually. The Ghastly Glaive is still not a weapon with great potential. It has shorter range than the Mushroom Spear and only hits a narrow area in front, so using it will always be unsafe. And as strong as its secondary projectiles are, you have no control over where they spawn, so they can't be relied on. In summary, this is a weapon with extremely poor range that affects a narrow area, deals below-average damage, and can't even hold off a single Vampire properly. When it comes to melee weapons, it doesn't get much worse than this.

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10% chance to drop from Ogre
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢

Crafted from Chlorophyte Bars

# Chlorophyte Claymore: D+

This is arguably the least useful projectile sword in the game. Its energy orb fires too slowly and with too heavy an arc to be a serious option for crowd control. And since you're obviously using a Mechanical Glove at this point, both the Claymore and Saber deal insane knockback anyways, meaning that the Claymore is actually less reliable for knocking enemies away due to its slower speed. A lot of new players will craft this on their first playthrough, probably thinking that its higher base damage should make it a stronger weapon. I don't think those people will make the same mistake on their second playthrough.

BLADE
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ORB
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Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Chlorophyte Saber: C+

It has the same DPS as the Chlorophyte Claymore, but its projectile is much, much more useful since it fires faster and pierces through walls, allowing it to cheese enemies underground. In most cases, the Chlorophyte Saber is still outclassed by the Partisan due to its shorter range and lack of knockback on its projectile, but the Saber's blade itself can be useful in a handful of circumstances. For example, it destroys the drifting spores that Plantera spawns during her second phase, while also dealing damage and knockback to the tentacles. Obviously the Terra Blade, Death Sickle, and Ice Sickle can do the same thing, but at least the Chlorophyte Saber can be obtained easily without relying on luck. I think this is above-average for a broadsword, and perhaps a bit underrated.

BLADE
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SPORE
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Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Chlorophyte Partisan: B+

While it requires a bit of experience and proper spacing, this is easily the best Chlorophyte melee weapon, packing superior range, damage, attack speed, and crowd control. It can be used in all situations where you might use a Death Sickle. Don't try to use it at point-blank range; its sweetspot is around half the distance to the edge of your screen, and it becomes unreliable when used on anything closer, since the spores aren't released until the spear reaches the end of its thrust. Some people compare it to the Mushroom Spear, but the Mushroom Spear's attack range is vastly inferior and it fails to deal significant damage when used for wall piercing. However, the Mushroom Spear is slightly more reliable at close range, while the Chlorophyte Partisan ironically requires you to keep your distance in order to work well.

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Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

# Chlorophyte Shotbow: S

Uses standard arrows.
While its stats are slightly lower than those of the Daedalus Stormbow, the Chlorophyte Shotbow will almost always perform better since it is much easier to aim. Loaded with Holy Arrows, it's one of the absolute best weapons you can use to shred large bosses like Plantera, though it does appreciate support from the Ichor debuff if you have it. Alternatively, you can use the Shotbow itself to inflict Ichor with Ichor Arrows, and follow up with Crystal Bullets from a gun.

HOLY ARROW
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CHLOROPHYTE ARROW
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Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Venom Staff: A-

The extra range it has over the Poison Staff is a godsend, and allows it to actually deal some appreciable damage to enemies that aren't directly in front of your face. The Unholy Trident still outclasses this during invasion events since its DPS doesn't suffer nearly as much when attacking a faraway enemy, and blasting things at point-blank range is not exactly a mage-friendly strategy. But the Venom Staff is a far superior weapon for taking down bosses, with higher single-target DPS potential than the Rainbow Rod. Large targets like Plantera, Golem, and Duke Fishron fall to it quite easily, and it is a very accessible choice compared to many post-Plantera magic weapons.

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Crafted from Poison Staff, Chlorophyte Bar x14
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Solar Eclipse (req: all mechanical bosses defeated)

# Death Sickle: S

This weapon is amazing for juggling enemies in close- to mid-range, and it will be among your top choices for the battle against Plantera. Since it pierces through walls, it can safely deal with almost anything you'll encounter underground. Aboveground, its limited range becomes more noticeable, but it should still easily defend you from anything that relies on contact damage by setting up an impenetrable barrier of long-lasting projectiles. Even if you obtain it after defeating Plantera, the Death Sickle will still be immensely useful if you're planning to explore the Hardmode Dungeon. It can handle basically any crowd control situation other than wave 15 of the Pumpkin Moon, where you might want to switch to a Chlorophyte Partisan or something.

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2.5% chance to drop from Reapers, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after all mechanical bosses have been defeated
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# True Night's Edge: A

Like the True Excalibur, this is a reasonably strong weapon for long-ranged combat, and an extremely strong weapon for close-ranged combat. The True Night's Edge fires a larger projectile, making it better against smallish flying enemies, but worse for fighting underground where it's more likely to collide with blocks. I might pick this on a Corruption world since the True Excalibur synergizes a bit better with the Flask of Ichor thanks to its faster attack rate. But if you had to choose, you could easily go with either sword and they'll both perform about the same.

BLADE
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BEAM
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Crafted from Night's Edge and Broken Hero Sword. Broken Hero Sword has a 25% chance to drop from Mothron, which spawns in a Solar Eclipse after all mechanical bosses have been defeated
(Best prefix: Legendary $$$$)

# True Excalibur: A

The slightly weaker but more rapid alternative to the True Night's Edge. The two swords have virtually identical DPS, and the difference in firing speed isn't enough to make a difference most of the time. Because they deal both piercing damage with the blade and non-piercing damage with the beam, the blade and beam can deal immense combined DPS to a single target. The Beam Sword does this too, but you might not have noticed because its projectile fires so slowly.

BLADE
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BEAM
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Crafted from Excalibur and Broken Hero Sword. Broken Hero Sword has a 25% chance to drop from Mothron, which spawns in a Solar Eclipse after all mechanical bosses have been defeated
(Best prefix: Legendary $$$$)

# Terra Blade: S

The Terra Blade is definitely a bit overrated, but it's still the strongest pre-Plantera melee weapon for most purposes, with better range than the Death Sickle and practically the same DPS as the Chlorophyte Shotbow. It easily takes out both Plantera and Golem, and it's one of your best options for an early Duke Fishron fight. Piercing twice also makes it pretty good for invasion events like Martian Madness, Pumpkin Moon, and the Old One's Army. It will get outclassed eventually like everything else, but stays relevant for a long time compared to most melee weapons.

Because the Terra Beam deals piercing damage, it actually performs about the same as the True Excalibur and True Night's Edge when attacking with the blade itself. Therefore, you should play it safe and keep your distance most of the time, since its performance doesn't improve very much when used for "true melee". The blade can protect you from charger-type enemies, but I don't recommend trying to approach with it.

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Crafted from True Excalibur and True Night's Edge
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$$$$$

Dropped by Plantera

# Flower Pow: A-

This weapon is the perfect showcase of Journey's End flail mechanics; unlike with most flails, all three of the Flower Pow's attack modes have great utility. Spinning the flail works as a decent close-ranged attack, while also providing some projectile support that stops caster-type enemies. Throwing the flail is excellent for smashing through crowds of enemies. Dropping the flail against the ground ramps up its fire rate and turns it into the melee equivalent of a Magnet Sphere, letting it chew through enemies with a machine-gun barrage of projectiles. It may not be a great bossing weapon, but it is excellent for almost everything else, including the Hardmode dungeon.

SPIN (projectile)
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DROP (projectile)
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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$

# Seedler: S

While its base damage is relatively low, this weapon actually has extremely high DPS for a weapon that is so easy to use. Each seed hits like a highly spammable shotgun blast with semi-homing properties that make it good even against scattered enemies, and it can often kill frail enemies in one shot. These semi-homing properties also make it reasonably good for bossing, an area in which it greatly outperforms the Terra Blade. However, it only reaches optimal DPS if you can land the seed directly on a target, and that might not be possible during mid- to long-range battles like the Empress of Light.

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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

# Leaf Blower: B

The Leaf Blower is pretty much the magical equivalent of the Megashark, but without the option to gain crowd control or homing. Its accuracy and velocity are also not as good as the Megashark's. Still, this is definitely an upgrade to the Crystal Storm and Sky Fracture, and it will serve reasonably well as a single-target weapon until you obtain the next upgrade, which is probably either the Spectre Staff or Heat Ray.

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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$

# Nettle Burst: B

While it's not especially powerful against single targets, using the Nettle Burst actually makes a lot of sense in many situations around this stage of the game. It's almost as good as the Wasp Gun against the post-Plantera Dungeon, and it's good for taking out the trash during most invasion events. Compared to the Wasp Gun, the Nettle Burst offers nonzero knockback and full wall piercing, but lacks a homing effect and has limited range. I would prefer the Wasp Gun most of the time, but the Nettle Burst isn't a bad choice at all, and it's probably better than whichever magic crowd control weapon you were using up until this point.

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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Wasp Gun: B+

The Wasp Gun is designed to counter a specific type of enemy: slow or immobile shooters that are interrupted upon taking damage. While it is not the most efficient weapon for killing things with, it is extremely good at stopping Paladins, Skeleton Commandos, Tesla Turrets, and other fiends from bothering you as you try to get the situation under control. Its ability to selectively eliminate casters and ranged attackers in the HM Dungeon is actually quite valuable, since most dangerous situations down there involve a Paladin and other shooters attacking at the same time. Its lack of knockback against fighter enemies is usually not a problem since you'll be flying all the time anyways. You can just start spamming it if the Lifeform Analyzer tells you there's something dangerous nearby. It's not great for DPS, but it's excellent for pulling you out of a disadvantage state.

Think of it as a prototype Razorblade Typhoon.

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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

# Grenade Launcher: B+

The Grenade Launcher deals high damage and fires rapidly, making it an incredibly effective crowd control tool. Its projectiles last a long time, so even if you miss your original target, they will probably collide with something if you're using it in a crowded place (which you obviously are). You'll probably need the height advantage, and you must also pay attention in order to avoid blowing yourself up. This weapon is ideal for performing bank shots, and you'll get many such opportunities in the Dungeon. For underground combat, I don't recommend using Rocket III; the increased blast radius hurts the user a lot more than it hurts enemies. Use Rocket I, which is cheaper and safer.

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100% chance to drop from Plantera the first time it is defeated. 14.29% chance to drop on subsequent kills and in Expert mode
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Venus Magnum: A

Uses standard bullets.
In theory, autofire shouldn't impact the performance of a weapon. In practice, it absolutely does, because no human being can click with the perfect timing to fire a shot every 7 frames (almost nine times per second). Fortunately for the Venus Magnum, even if you are a bit sloppy with timing your clicks, its overall DPS should easily exceed the Megashark's. It theoretically has higher DPS than the Tactical Shotgun and Sniper Rifle, but you probably won't reach it realistically, so I would treat those two guns as upgrades to the Venus Magnum. Note that if you're playing on a laptop and aren't using a mouse, this weapon is basically unusable.

The Endless Musket Pouch is a decent option for it since it gets the high-velocity effect, and the Venus Magnum has no inherent ammo conservation properties.

CRYSTAL BULLET
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CHLOROPHYTE BULLET
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EXPLODING BULLET
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14.29% chance to drop from Plantera
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Pygmy Staff: C

Though it's basically useless against flying enemies, the Pygmy Staff performs decently in the Dungeon where most enemies are grounded. Its advantage over the Optic Staff and Deadly Sphere Staff is that it doesn't suffer from diminishing returns when you have high minion capacity, since it deals non-piercing damage. When using the Pygmy Staff with a competent summoner loadout, you can expect some pretty impressive DPS against Plantera and Mourning Wood... and roughly zero DPS against Martian Saucer and Duke Fishron. The biggest problem with the Pygmies is obviously their aim; for example, they deal pretty good damage to Golem during its first phase, but then Golem starts jumping around, and the Pygmies start flinging their spears all over the place without actually hitting the boss. It's true that it performs well enough in a small handful of situations, but during important events like boss battles and invasions, the Pygmy Staff will probably be a massive disappointment.

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25% chance to drop from Plantera, independent from its regular drop table
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

Bought from NPCs (req: Plantera defeated)

# Proximity Mine Launcher: C-

Thankfully, the 3x damage bonus from primed mines does not apply to self-damage. You'll still take potentially upwards of 200 damage if you mess up, though. Primed mines are just too difficult to use in practical combat, so you'd probably be better off attacking enemies directly with it, a role in which it is completely outclassed by the Grenade Launcher. You can try using proximity mines against the Old One's Army, either placing them next to the crystal to catch wyverns, or placing it behind your sentries to catch Drakins and minibosses that can withstand the initial onslaught. The mines only last a minute, so they'll have to be refreshed every wave, but it's not like you'll have much better to do between waves besides refreshing your Frost Hydra/Queen Spider, Nimbus Rod, and Clinger Staff.

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Sold by Cyborg for 35 gold
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Pulse Bow: B+

Spammable and free to use with the Endless Quiver. It slices through invasion events, and can handle both sides of the Old One's Army at once if you set up a vertical wall behind each portal. Aim straight towards one side, tape your mouse key down, and you can literally AFK until Betsy shows up. This won't work on higher difficulties, though. Aside from that, the Pulse Bow is an average weapon that offers middling DPS compared to most other bows in its tier, and requires a perfectly flat battlefield to reach its full crowd control potential when used aboveground. It's excellent underground where it can perform bankshots, and works very well against the Dungeon; it's a shame that the Dungeon is the only underground location you'll actually be spending time in at this point.

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Extremely rare chance to be sold by Traveling Merchant for 45 gold after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Special dungeon chests

# Vampire Knives: S+

One of the biggest advantages of choosing a Crimson world, and a strong contender for the title of the most useful weapon in the game. The Vampire Knives have saved me from my own stupidity more times than I could possibly count. Melee benefits greatly from its lifesteal because it's the tankiest of the four classes, but no matter what class you're playing, you'll probably want to use this. When imbued, it is the best weapon for applying Ichor since it has a wide spread, decent range, and innate healing, while also immediately letting you know when it hits a target. And with the Ichor debuff in play, it actually deals quite a lot of damage on its own, which in turn increases its healing output. This will be useful from the time you get it all the way up until you destroy the final Celestial Pillar.

Melee/summoner hybrid sets benefit greatly from this weapon, since minions can keep up the offensive pressure while you're healing up with the knives, and the Ichor debuff will enhance their damage output. Hallowed/Spooky/Squire is a great set for a melee-based summoner, and you can later upgrade to Shinobi/Spooky/Valhalla. Of course, other classes can also use it for offhand healing and tagging enemies with ichor, which especially benefits fast weapons with low-ish base damage such as the Chain Gun and Bat Scepter.

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Found in Crimson Chest. Crimson Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Crimson biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$$$$$

# Scourge of the Corruptor: A+

This is the best weapon to use against the Dungeon by far, since it floods the entire area with long-lasting, homing projectiles. In any environment where the javelin can reliably collide with blocks, the Scourge of the Corruptor is a dominant force that provides stable, high DPS against all enemies both on and off the screen. But for aerial boss battles, it is not as efficient as the Possessed Hatchet, since the javelin can miss its target entirely without spawning eaters, and the eaters aren't quite fast enough to chase down something that's moving at high speed. Rather than shooting upwards into the sky, you should usually shoot it against the ground if you aren't sure you can hit a flying enemy with it. (For example, when fighting against Betsy.) You should also keep shooting it against the ground when you don't see any enemies on your screen, just to keep the projectile spam going. I don't think this is as useful as the Vampire Knives, but let's be real, almost nothing is as useful as the Vampire Knives. The Scourge of the Corruptor is a very strong weapon in its own right.

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Found in Corruption Chest. Corruption Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Corruption biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$$$$$

# Rainbow Gun: A

This has the same basic concept as the Magnet Sphere: you fire it once and swap to something else. I don't think this is quite as useful as the Magnet Sphere since it has a narrower area of effect, it actually needs to be aimed, and you'll often have to descend to the ground to fire it at the best angle. But it adds DPS to your setup for free and can be used alongside the Magnet Sphere, so there's no reason not to have it in your hotbar. You can benefit from using this even if you aren't a mage. It does deal piercing damage, though, so using a Spectre Staff or Wasp Gun next to it might not be the best idea. If you don't want to invest much attention in the Rainbow Gun, you can just fire it at some random angle in the middle of a fight; it won't be optimal, but it'll be better than nothing.

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Found in Hallowed Chest. Hallowed Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Hallow biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Mythical/Godly/Demonic $$$$$$$$

# Piranha Gun: A+

Getting the first shot off is the hard part, and might require you to move into close range to ensure that all three piranhas land. But after that, you can hold down the attack key and focus entirely on your movement while automatically eliminating every threat on the screen, one-by-one. Note that it's sometimes worth manually withdrawing your piranhas if a bigger threat shows up (like a Ragged Caster). While the piranhas only latch onto one enemy at a time, they will damage every enemy that they touch, which can lead to massive total DPS in a few situations where loads of enemies end up stacked on top of each other. This weapon benefits greatly from Ichor, but there's no way to inflict the debuff in singleplayer without releasing the Piranha Gun, so you decide whether that's worth it for you.

If you're planning to use the Piranha Gun as your main weapon, you should swap out your Shroomite Mask/Headgear/Helmet for a Hallowed Helmet.

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Found in Jungle Chest. Jungle Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Jungle biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Unreal/Godly/Demonic $$$$$$$$

# Staff of the Frost Hydra: C+

Provides the highest single-target DPS of any sentry at this point, except for panicked Ballistas. This gives it a niche, but arguably not a very good one. You need single-target DPS mainly for bosses, and most bosses (like Duke Fishron and the Martian Saucer) move around a lot at high speed. Sentries, being immobile and often inaccurate, are usually poorly suited for this job, and their total DPS is still very poor even if you're wearing a Shinobi Infiltrator Helmet to raise their total capacity to 3. Still, it's not totally unusable for general crowd control, performing decently if deployed on flat ground. Just keep in mind that unlike the Queen Spider, it is rather inflexible and slow to adapt to changing battle conditions; unlike Ballistas, Frost Hydras don't fire instantly when summoned, so there's no immediate payoff when you reposition them, as the situation often requires. At any rate, if you're not using a sentry build, you don't have to think about this weapon too much. Just use it to help remove Golem's opposite fist and it'll already have made its contribution to your run.

Note that it doesn't cost any Etherian Mana to summon during the Old One's Army and runs on your usual sentry limit, so it can provide some extra power if you're running the recommended Ballista build, though even in that role the Queen Spider Staff is not too far behind.

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Found in Ice Chest. Frozen Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Snow biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$$$$$

# Desert Tiger Staff: D

Despite being specialized for taking down single targets, there isn't a single boss against which the Desert Tiger's performance can even be considered "above average". That's right, not even Golem. It is weaker against grounded crowds than the Spider Staff and Pirate Staff, and does close to nothing against flying bosses like Duke Fishron, Pumpking, and Martian Saucer. It can pounce onto them, sure, but usually ends up falling off after getting in no more than three hits. Its damage output might look somewhat passable when you test it in Journey mode while standing still with godmode enabled, but when you're playing for real, you'll be moving, your enemies will be moving, and Mr. Tiger just won't be able to keep up. This is probably the worst minion weapon on this whole list.

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Found in Desert Chest. Desert Key has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Desert biome and can be used after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$$$$$

Dropped by Dungeon monsters (req: Plantera defeated)

# Magnet Sphere: A+

The best way to use the Magnet Sphere is to fire it once and swap to something else, making it essentially a free DPS upgrade. Compared to the Rainbow Gun, the Magnet Sphere needs to be refreshed more often, but it matters less which direction you fire it in. Like the Rainbow Gun, it loses a lot of usefulness in high-speed aerial boss fights, like Betsy and Duke Fishron, but it works great against basically anything else. For those who are willing to pay attention and swap weapons during combat, the Magnet Sphere will improve combat performance significantly. As a bonus, it is probably the most efficient weapon for extracting health from enemies with the Spectre Hood.

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0.33% chance to drop from Armored Bones of any type
Best prefix: Mythical/Godly/Demonic $$$$

# Kraken: S

If you haven't obtained The Eye of Cthulhu yet, the Kraken still does an excellent job, and the Dungeon is the perfect environment for yoyos to perform well in. Its infinite throw time is an extra bonus compared to Yelets. This is so close to The Eye of Cthulhu that I wouldn't go out of my way to obtain the latter if I obtained the Kraken first.

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0.25% chance to drop from any enemy in the post-Plantera dungeon
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

# Keybrand: C

With any competent melee loadout, this should kill most dungeon enemies in two hits. But here's the problem: in Classic mode, most enemies don't have that much health, so the Keybrand's special effect won't contribute much. In Expert and Master mode, enemies have more health, but there's no way you're using the Keybrand because it's a short-ranged broadsword. You couldn't have gotten this far in Expert/Master mode without learning to keep your distance from dangerous enemies, after all. So the Keybrand ends up being a sort of inferior Psycho Knife clone 100% of the time, but at least it's usable, and you can have fun with it if you like seeing big numbers and pretty lights.

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0.5% chance to drop from Armored Bones of any type
Best prefix: Legendary $

# Shadow Jousting Lance: D

This is basically a bigger, more damaging version of the Copper Shortsword. At this point, your mobility is high enough that you could probably use it in a tiny handful of situations without looking completely stupid. For example, you can kite Headless Horsemen and Pumpkings with it, and you can also blast Bone Lees backwards with a dash-boosted strike. But for the most part, it isn't a viable way to deal with any remotely threatening enemy. It sends basic enemies flying, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't collide with you anyways. This weapon takes a stupendous amount of effort to learn how to use properly, and offers mediocre returns even when performing at its absolute best. The original Jousting Lance was a reasonable choice simply because most other melee weapons at that point were even worse, but we're post-Plantera now, and there's no longer an excuse to be using something like this.

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4% chance to drop from Giant Cursed Skulls
Best prefix: Legendary/Godly/Demonic $$$$

# Morning Star: C+

If you're running any half-decent summoner set, there's a good chance that you're reading upwards of 300 base damage on this thing. That's enough to one-shot Diabolists and two-shot almost everything else in the Dungeon. It kills things a lot faster than Durendal for sure, and it's safer than most broadswords thanks to its relatively decent range and wide arc. However, whips are generally quite lackluster when used as primary damage dealers, and even as a summoner, your total DPS will probably be more impressive if you attack with a different weapon, such as Vampire Knives. At least the Morning Star can be used to safely eliminate Giant Cursed Skulls, though Durendal performs that task equally well. This whip is not exactly bad, but it's not good, either.

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Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$$

# Shadowbeam Staff: C-

Back in the 1.2 days, the game had reached a point where it was extremely obvious that Spectre armor's lifesteal bonus was overpowered. In an early attempt to solve this, the Shadowbeam Staff was nerfed, but the team later realized that it was Spectre armor that should have been nerfed. In the next update, the Spectre Hood was properly nerfed... but the nerf to the Shadowbeam Staff was never reversed. So here we are today with a weapon that is terrible against single targets, unimpressive against crowds, and relies on bouncing tricks that are too unpredictable for practical use. Here's an interesting fact: the Shadowbeam Staff's total DPS against an infinite number of enemies is lower than The Eye of Cthulhu's DPS against one enemy. Someone buff this poor weapon please.

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5% chance to drop from Necromancers
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Inferno Fork: B

The Inferno Fork is a very strong crowd control weapon, but it suffers from having a bit too much knockback, making it less efficient for killing enemies than the Nettle Burst since it tends to knock enemies out of its own area of effect. On the other hand, you can repel any number of fighter enemies simply by firing the projectile at your feet, so it will be very useful if you get it early on while exploring the Dungeon. I would usually avoid using this against flying enemies since the projectile travels too slowly, it can't deal splash damage if it misses, and the payoff isn't that great considering that many flying enemies have low knockback resistance. But some bosses (like Golem and Duke Fishron) are large and predictable enough for the Inferno Fork to hit reliably, so it's a viable option for those fights. It clears out Duke Fishron's detonating bubbles and deals significant collateral damage to Golem's fists.

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5% chance to drop from Diabolists
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Spectre Staff: S

For single targets, this is significantly stronger than the Rainbow Rod, and it still slices through crowds reasonably well. The main advantage this has over the Rainbow Rod is its ability to autofire. It actually fires faster than the piercing damage cap can keep up with, meaning that its total DPS will increase if it has multiple targets to attack. It also means that you can stop at Demonic or Godly without really losing much, if you're planning to use it for single-target bossing.

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5% chance to drop from Ragged Casters
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Rocket Launcher: B-

Of the three rocket weapons that carry the risk of self-harm, the Rocket Launcher is the one you're most likely to damage yourself with. Rockets are more dangerous than Exploding Bullets for the same reason that weapons that trade away speed for raw damage are favored in PvP: you only need to mess up once to take a fat hit that you might not be able to recover from. You absolutely do not want to use this in the same biome you received it in.

So you'd typically use this in open-air battles, where its performance is generally quite fine, and you can probably get away with using Rocket IIIs. Its velocity is still somewhat of a problem, and I would never use this if I also had access to the Stynger. But if you're good at aiming it, the Rocket Launcher can put in some work, at least for a short while. I think its main issue is that its velocity is way too low to consistently hit enemies in the air, and the Grenade Launcher outclasses it when fighting enemies on the ground.

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5.56% chance to drop from Skeleton Commandos
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$

# Tactical Shotgun: B+

Uses standard bullets.
The Tactical Shotgun and Sniper Rifle both have properties that make them less-than-optimal for general crowd control, but absolutely amazing for ripping through bosses—especially Duke Fishron. The Tactical Shotgun can be considered the more user-friendly of the two guns, since it has autofire and doesn't need to be aimed with as much precision as the Sniper Rifle. However, it generally won't deal as much damage unless you inflict the Ichor debuff somehow, like with the Dart Pistol, Golden Shower, or imbued Vampire Knives. I would usually use Crystal Bullets with this gun, and only resort to using Chlorophyte Bullets when facing a boss that is too small or distant to hit consistently, like the Empress of Light or Lunatic Cultist. Both the Sniper Rifle and Tactical Shotgun are stronger than the Megashark and Onyx Blaster, but not by a huge margin. Choosing the right bullet definitely matters more than choosing the right gun.

CRYSTAL BULLET
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CHLOROPHYTE BULLET
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7.64% chance to drop from Tactical Skeletons
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Sniper Rifle: B+

Uses standard bullets.
Crystal Bullets are the best option for this weapon most of the time. Its stupendous base damage allows the crystal fragments to cleave through the defenses of enemies that otherwise wouldn't take much damage from them; against large enemies that move quickly towards you, this can effectively deal up to 2.5 times the weapon's listed base damage per shot. It mauls predictable foes like Duke Fishron and Golem, easily outperforming the often-recommended Tactical Shotgun + Chlorophyte Bullet combination. And Chlorophyte Bullets are still a good option for smaller, more agile foes like the Empress of Light. The Sniper Rifle usually does better than the Tactical Shotgun against bosses since it's hindered less by their relatively high defense stats; its theoretical DPS is always higher, but since it doesn't have autofire, it may not actually perform better if you mess up its timing. Still, its timing is a lot easier to manage than that of the Venus Magnum, so getting it to outperform the Tactical Shotgun is not that hard.

I typically wouldn't recommend this weapon outside of boss battles, since it's slow and requires some concentration to aim properly. While it is unique in that it can use Meteor Shot without suffering a massive DPS penalty, it's not especially impressive for crowd control even with Meteor Shot, since it only pierces one enemy.

CRYSTAL BULLET
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CHLOROPHYTE BULLET
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METEOR SHOT
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7.64% chance to drop from Skeleton Snipers
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Paladin's Hammer: A+

Probably one of the best crowd control weapons out there. While many piercing weapons offer below-average DPS against single targets, the Paladin's Hammer's DPS is not below-average at all. It delivers tremendous damage and knockback to every enemy within range, and its projectile is so large and travels so fast that you won't have any issues with aiming it. The main problem with this weapon isn't its performance, but rather how difficult it is to get. Paladins are both rare and incredibly dangerous; a large percentage of deaths in the post-Plantera Dungeon will probably involve a Paladin, and you obviously can't collect any prizes if you're dead.

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6.67% chance to drop from Paladins
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Solar Eclipse (req: Plantera defeated)

# The Eye of Cthulhu: S

Anything that's immune to knockback gets absolutely ripped to pieces by this weapon, with or without the Yoyo Bag. Anything that isn't immune to knockback usually won't have enough health to withstand more than two or three hits anyways. Sure it has the same mechanics as any other yoyo, but its base damage is so ridiculous that you probably won't even care that it can be used for wall cheesing. You can just engage things out in the open and kill them before they ever get a chance to hurt you. There's a well-known yoyo trick called "walking the dog", but with The Eye of Cthulhu, it looks a lot more like "mowing the lawn".

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25% chance to drop from Mothron after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$$

# Butcher's Chainsaw: D-

This is my favorite bad weapon. It won't work at all for boss battles, and can barely handle basic enemies like Scarecrows and Splinterlings without putting the user at risk, but cutting through enemies with a literal flaming chainsaw is the purest form of satisfaction that you can get from a video game. On wave 15 of the Pumpkin Moon, it can actually be used against the ridiculous number of Pumpking spawns, but it's still no better than the Psycho Knife or The Eye of Cthulhu in those situations. As you might expect from a chainsaw, it's not at all practical, but very fun.

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2.5% chance to drop from Butchers, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Psycho Knife: B-

This is easily the most damaging broadsword in its tier, but the only enemies it does well against are still the slow, predictable kind. Many other weapons can offer nearly as much DPS from a much longer range. This weapon's most useful role is probably shredding the Pumpkings and Mourning Woods on wave 15 of the Pumpkin Moon. Since you'll be taking boatloads of damage no matter what, you might as bring out the best DPS weapon you have access to, and facetank with a Cross Necklace while staying alive by picking up hearts.

If you want to use the Psycho Knife as your main weapon for some reason, Titanium armor might be worth considering. You can use it to facetank Golem on Classic and Expert mode, and even on Master mode, kind of. (You might not be able to facetank the entire fight in Master mode, but you can probably win a DPS race against the second phase if you have more than half your health left.)

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2.5% chance to drop from Psychos, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Legendary $$

# Deadly Sphere Staff: C

This weapon is a poor choice for dedicated summoners, for largely the same reasons as the Optic Staff. Thanks to piercing mechanics, its single-target DPS is hard capped at around 600-700 or so, no matter how many you have summoned. So it should never be used against bosses. Against invasions it does reasonably well, at least until a boss or miniboss shows up. Since the bosses are usually the ones that drop loot, you'll usually prefer a minion with better single-target DPS for those situations. The Deadly Sphere makes for a fine solo minion on a non-summoner build, since it can pierce quite a lot of grounded enemies and has decent base damage. But summoning more than three or four of them is almost never a good idea.

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2.5% chance to drop from Deadly Spheres, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

# Toxic Flask: B-

Giving enemies piercing invincibility frames without actually piercing through them sounds like a recipe for a bad weapon, but in practice, this is a decent crowd control option simply due to the sheer size of its hitboxes. You can fly over large groups of weak enemies and bomb them from above, shredding them in seconds. I would only recommend this during invasions, since it's otherwise tough to get enough stars to sustain its steep mana cost. This is not an appropriate weapon to use against flying bosses.

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2.5% chance to drop from Dr. Man Flies, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Mythical $

# Nail Gun: B+

It's basically a single-target Stynger. The Nail Gun has around the same DPS potential, but isn't as effective for crowd control since it takes a bit longer to kill most targets due to the explosion delay, and the explosions aren't that large, either. When an enemy dies, all nails that were attached to it fly off at random angles and will usually be wasted, so I can't really recommend using this against enemies with low health. Instead, it should mainly be used for killing bosses. It gets outclassed by the Stynger and Jack 'O Lantern Launcher pretty quickly, but it's not a bad choice if you happen to obtain it first.

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4% chance to drop from Nailheads, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly $$$$

Dropped by Golem

# Golem Fist: C-

It has higher theoretical DPS than the Possessed Hatchet, but in practice it will only reach those levels of DPS when attacking something at point-blank range. This is a scenario you will virtually never encounter in the endgame. Duke Fishron, Empress of Light, Everscream, Ice Queen, Martian Saucer: all of these bosses are either too dangerous to approach, or refuse to approach you at all. So the Golem Fist ends up being a mediocre mid-range weapon the vast majority of the time. Even if you do attack something at point-blank range, this weapon's massive knockback ensures that it won't remain in point-blank range for very long. In short, no one should be excited to receive this as a Golem drop.

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12.5% chance to drop from Golem
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Possessed Hatchet: S

An accurate, low-risk option that allows you to focus on movement. Probably the best melee weapon for dealing with flying enemies until you have access to Flairon, and its DPS is just good enough to be worth considering against bosses that you're having trouble hitting consistently. Unlike the Spectre Staff and Scourge of the Corruptor, its projectiles have enough velocity to consistently track down Duke Fishron and the Empress of Light, so you can just spam it in the boss's general direction and deal stable DPS for the entire fight.

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12.5% chance to drop from Golem
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

# Stynger: S

Completely dominates both bosses and invasions, as long as you can land your shots. It also carpets the ground with explosive shrapnel, making it excellent for crowd control. This weapon is ideal for moon events since it can chew through bosses while dealing lots of damage to enemies on the ground, and as a bonus, Stynger Bolts are cheaper than Rocket IIIs. Compared to the Rocket Launcher, it has around the same DPS potential, but is more accurate thanks to its higher velocity, covers a wider area on the ground, and most importantly, is completely risk-free to use.

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12.5% chance to drop from Golem
Best prefix: Unreal $$$

# Heat Ray: B+

Its single-target damage output is superb if you don't mind its lack of a homing effect. This is leagues better than the Leaf Blower, dealing significantly more damage per second while also being much more accurate. Though of course it isn't quite as accurate as the Bat Scepter or Spectre Staff, both of which have roughly the same damage output as the Heat Ray. At least it's much easier to obtain.

Since it is extremely accurate against things that are on your screen and inaccurate against things that aren't, it's a good idea to hold your fire while a boss is temporarily offscreen so Mana Regeneration can refill your mana a bit.

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12.5% chance to drop from Golem
Best prefix: Mythical $$$

# Staff of Earth: S

Obliterates groups of enemies over a wide area, and hits like a truck. The Staff of Earth is among the best magic weapons to use against the Martians, and also smashes through any ground-based enemies you'll encounter in the Lunar events. Its damage per hit is so stupendously high that it can even be used for bossing; it literally crushes large targets like Everscreams even harder than the Heat Ray if you can attack them at a downwards angle.

also, 76% crit on an all-menacing build lol

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12.5% chance to drop from Golem
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Sold by NPCs (req: Golem defeated)

# Celebration: C

Its performance is rather lackluster compared to other early rocket weapons, but Celebration's advantage is that it will never hurt you. That said, neither does the Stynger. The Celebration's explosions are very large, but their hitboxes are not. This weapon is pretty mediocre, as you'd expect from a weapon directly sold by an NPC. Every post-Plantera ranged weapon is stronger than this (other than the Proximity Mine Launcher, which is also sold by an NPC).

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Sold by Party Girl for 80 gold after Golem has been defeated
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$$

Pumpkin Moon

# Stake Launcher: B

Its firing speed occupies an awkward middle ground: it's too slow for you to adjust your aim instantly like you can with automatic guns, but it's fast enough to lose out on potential DPS when you aim it carefully like you would aim a Sniper Rifle. In practice, the Stake Launcher usually ends up being less accurate than it should be. This weapon can't really deal with small flying targets, but it punches through invasion events pretty well, including the Old One's Army and Martian Madness if you're fighting on flat terrain. It's not an efficient choice for any lategame boss battles.

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2% to 20% chance to drop from Mourning Wood, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

# The Horseman's Blade: C-

I think it's fair to say that using The Horseman's Blade to rapidly kill statue-spawned enemies and create an unstoppable army of flaming pumpkin heads was not the weapon's intended use. If we disregard that gimmick and examine The Horseman's Blade's own merits as a weapon, it turns out that it's not much better than an ordinary broadsword most of the time. The main issue is that it requires being in melee range to work; a homing projectile isn't worth much if it can't be created without putting the user at risk. This problem is made worse by its unimpressive speed compared to the Terra Blade or even the Keybrand. That said, it is the best weapon for killing weak enemies with, since you can use them to spawn extra Flaming Jacks.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

# Candy Corn Rifle: A-

This is probably the best crowd control weapon for ranged users at this point, and one of the few that benefit from the Shroomite Mask. It covers a much wider area than the Stake Launcher and pierces through enemies, ensuring that your intended targets can't be body-blocked. Its single-target DPS is also quite decent, allowing it to chew through most Frost Moon enemies at a reasonable pace. As a bonus, its ammo is cheaper than Musket Balls. The Candy Corn Rifle's biggest flaw is probably its inability to reliably hit flying enemies at the edge of your screen. It works fine against Everscreams and Santa-NK1s, but for Ice Queens, you may want to switch to a Sniper Rifle.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

# Jack 'O Lantern Launcher: B+

Explosive Jack 'O Lanterns deal damage twice when they hit an enemy directly, so its DPS is a lot higher than its stats would indicate. It can be considered a direct upgrade to the Grenade Launcher: it has slightly higher damage output, its projectiles last longer and cover a larger area with their bounces, it will never inflict self-damage, and it is much, much less expensive to use. In fact, it uses cheaper ammo than any rocket weapon. However, while it is slightly more powerful than the Stynger, its projectile is more heavily affected by gravity, so you might prefer the Stynger for boss fights.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

# Bat Scepter: S

This is a long-ranged weapon specialized for killing flying enemies. With its consistently high damage output, it’s a good choice for Spectre Hood users who can use it as they flee. It has a strong homing effect, so you can simply fire it diagonally into the sky to minimize the chance that your bats will collide with blocks and disappear. Compared to the Spectre Staff, the Bat Scepter isn't as effective for crowd control, but thanks to being non-piercing, it will occasionally experience bursts of extremely high DPS when a massive clump of bats catches up to an enemy and collides with it all at once. It also benefits more from the Ichor debuff since it deals more hits per second.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

# Raven Staff: B+

Compared to the Deadly Sphere Staff and Optic Staff, the Raven Staff doesn't suffer from piercing immunity, which causes its DPS to skyrocket in comparison. However, its tracking is not perfect, so it will have severe problems trying to attack speedy enemies. The most frustrating thing about the ravens is that they will return to your side if their target is too far away, they don't have a hitbox while returning, and their return flight is so painfully slow that you might not ever be able to reactivate them without moving into harm's way. A raven that's returning to you moves exactly like an enemy that's trying to ram into you, so dodging enemies means you'll also dodge your own ravens, causing them to potentially end up in an infinite cycle of uselessness. This definitely isn't your best choice if you're trying to earn a Kaleidoscope or Tempest Staff, but that's okay because the Tempest Staff is worse than the Raven Staff anyways, and it will help you obtain a Xeno Staff. This is conditionally better than the Sanguine Staff, performing better against invasions and slow bosses like Golem, Mourning Wood, and Everscream, but much worse against many other bosses.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

# Dark Harvest: A

In contrast to Durendal, this whip is designed to shred through enemies on its own. Its ability to boost its own attack speed easily puts it ahead of the Morning Star as an attacking weapon, and whipping an enemy with Durendal first will grant a burst of even higher attack speed. The "Dark Energy" described in its tooltip essentially adds an AoE poison effect to your minions' attacks, dealing 10 extra damage per hit to all enemies near the original target. As you can imagine, its synergy with the Blade Staff is rather insane in those situations, dealing widespread crowd damage at nearly the same rate as the Blade Staff itself. The Xeno Staff also gains a respectable boost from Dark Harvest since it attacks at a rapid rate. Note that Dark Energy has no effect when you're attacking a single target, so it's not the optimal whip to use against bosses. It also has no effect on enemies that are immune to all debuffs, but we have confirmation that that's a bug, so it should be fixed in an upcoming patch.

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1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$$$

Baconfry · May 30, 2018

Dropped by Duke Fishron

# Flairon: S

A stupendously strong melee weapon that is named like a flail, but really doesn't work like a flail at all. To get maximum mileage out of the Flairon, you need to intentionally miss by as narrow a margin as you can afford, or try to catch your enemy at the tip to ensure that the flail remains in the air for as long as possible. The bubbles are a bit slow-ish, but as long as they're deployed near the target, they will probably all hit their mark. Many of the upcoming fights are aerial battles, against which the Flairon does excellently, especially if your enemies are the kind that chase you down. This is probably the best pre-Lunar melee weapon for most purposes.

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20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Tsunami: S+

Uses standard arrows.
Obscenely powerful for bossing, but works well against anything, really. Even when using Wooden Arrows, it punches through enemies more effectively than most melee and magic weapons. It's also more accurate than repeaters because its line of arrows is so wide, ensuring that it will rarely miss its target entirely. And if the Tsunami kills its target in one shot (which is likely), any remaining arrows will keep traveling, dealing damage to anything behind the original target. Holy Arrows might have some issues with velocity, but this problem disappears if you're using a Magic Quiver; if not, you can use Ichor or Venom Arrows, which have high inherent velocity and will deal stupid amounts of damage anyways. Every pre-Lunar gun and rocket launcher pales in comparison to this weapon.

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20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron
Best prefix: Unreal $$

# Razorblade Typhoon: S+

Possibly the best magic weapon in the game for general use, both aboveground and below. It rapidly and effortlessly cuts through hordes of enemies of any size, immobilizing them in an unrelenting barrage of hits. While its single-target DPS is not the absolute best (being only slightly stronger than the Bat Scepter), it's still great against bosses due to how reliable and accurate it is. Many homing weapons have somewhat low velocity, but the Razorblade Typhoon doesn't suffer from this problem, so not only is it easier to aim, but it also provides near-instant disruption even to enemies at the edge of your screen.

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20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron
Best prefix: Mythical $$

# Bubble Gun: B

At the cost of attack range, it offers insane single-target DPS that shreds most enemies before they can even touch you. Its range is actually not that bad, either. While it can't contribute to every fight, it works incredibly well in the situations it does work well in, such as kiting Duke Fishron and overwhelming crowds of enemies with its sheer quantity of projectiles. It also has an incredibly low mana cost, so you'll almost never have to support it with mana potions or even Celestial Cuffs. The Blizzard Staff is probably the weapon you'd directly compare it to: the Bubble Gun offers similar DPS and is easier and cheaper to use, but unlike the Bubble Gun, the Blizzard Staff can actually hit enemies that are further away.

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20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

# Tempest Staff: C-

Duke Fishron drops many powerful weapons that can carry you all the way through the endgame. The Tempest Staff is not one of them. Any enemy that isn't completely stationary will probably take minimal damage from this weapon. The Sharknadoes do have a hitbox when not firing, but since they don't actually try to ram into enemies, this property won't come into play most of the time. They also have the same attention-deficit issues as Ravens; namely, they will lose interest in their target if it gets too far away, and won't attack or deal contact damage until they return your side. Even if you're a dedicated summoner, I don't think you'll want to use this.

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20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron
Best prefix: Ruthless $$

Dropped by Empress of Light

# Starlight: C+

If you loved the Fetid Baghnakhs in 1.3, you'll love this. I don't think it's quite as useful as most other weapons in this tier due to its short range, and unlike the Bubble Gun, it doesn't leave a lingering trail of projectiles to damage chasers. It works decently well against all the floaty, relatively slow enemies spawned by the Vortex Pillar, but it only works against a handful of foes from other pillars (notably Selenians, Brain Sucklers, and Star Cells). It won't perform well against bosses at all, as its damage output is not high enough to compensate for the downtime you'll experience while dodging attacks. Think of it as a prototype Solar Eruption with lower DPS and range.

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Best prefix: Legendary/Godly/Demonic $$

Eventide: S

Everything I said about Tsunami applies equally to Eventide. However, Eventide has the option to use the Endless Quiver to become a full-time crowd control weapon, and even when using non-piercing ammunition, it retains one strong piercing projectile.

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ENDLESS QUIVER
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Best prefix: Unreal $$

Nightglow: S

An excellent bossing weapon that will mostly replace your Spectre Staff, and is even more powerful than the Razorblade Typhoon. Its seeking range is very high, and it can chase anything on your screen provided it has an unobstructed view. It has no utility underground, but that shouldn't matter because you'll be fighting the Lunar Events on the surface.

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Best prefix: Mythical $$

Stellar Tune: S

The Stellar Tune looks like a homing weapon, but it's actually an auto-targeting weapon like the Medusa Head or Magnet Sphere; it can miss its targets, though its projectiles are wide and erratic enough that it usually doesn't. That said, it just barely lacks enough reach to perform well against certain bosses, and its DPS is a bit below that of the Nightglow. But when fighting underground, this weapon is almost as good as the Lunar Flare. It's also perfect for taking advantage of the terrain when fighting the Lunar Events.

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Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

Kaleidoscope: A

Provides enormous summon tag damage, but compared to other weapons in its tier, its slightly limited range prevents it from performing well in many boss fights. The Xeno Staff and Blade Staff benefit tremendously from an extra 20 damage tacked onto each hit, if you can afford to get an attack in.

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Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$

Terraprisma: S+ (special case)

If you can win the most difficult boss battle in the game, you're be rewarded with a summon weapon that is about on par with the Stardust Dragon Staff. It is actually more consistent than the Dragon for events, though the Dragon performs better against a single target. I would argue that this is literally the hardest item to obtain in Terraria. If you're stuck, you can practice dodging the Empress's attacks in Journey mode with Godmode enabled, but I personally wouldn't go out of my way to earn this. It's a secret weapon, after all.

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100% chance to drop from Empress of Light if all damage dealt to the boss was during daytime
Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$$$$$

Martian Madness

Influx Waver: S

Often compared with the Terra Blade, but you'll find that the Influx Waver performs better most, if not all of the time. It is indisputably a better weapon for bossing than the Terra Blade, and it doesn't require all your enemies to be lined up.

DPS: 5/5. Against a single target in a crowd, it becomes 3/5, because the follow-up hits will be redirected onto other targets.
Crowd control: 4/5. When used against crowds, it becomes like a different weapon, sacrificing single-target DPS and evenly distributing damage onto everything behind the primary target.
Accuracy: 3/5. Aiming the Influx Waver is about as hard as aiming the Terra Blade, but every shot you land gives you two extra hits for free.
Disruption: 5/5. Not even Duke Fishron can escape the teleporting blades. Most enemies are overwhelmed by the constant barrage of hits.
Safety: 4/5. You still must remain in line-of-sight.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

Xenopopper: A

Uses standard bullets.
Direct upgrade to the Tactical Shotgun, but unless you're planning to use Chlorophyte Bullets, it takes some practice to use properly; you need to position your cursor directly over enemies rather than just pointing it in their general direction. The Xenopopper's raw DPS is extremely high with Crystal Bullets if you can master it, even higher than the Chain Gun's (making it the most damaging pre-Lunar gun). However, it is a bit more of a mid-range weapon: it works best if you can catch enemies in the middle of the bullet cloud, making it a bit like a ranged version of the Bubble Gun. It absolutely destroys large targets, and I'd consider it an intermediate between the Chlorophyte Shotbow and Tsunami. But if you want to skip directly to the Vortex Beater, there's nothing wrong with that.

DPS: 5/5. Chlorophyte gives you some very consistent DPS, but if you're good with the Xenopopper's aim, Crystal Bullets can deal double that.
Crowd control: 2/5 with Crystal Bullets or Exploding Bullets, 1/5 otherwise.
Accuracy: 3/5. The Xenopopper's aim is actually very precise, but it's hard to use because it's literally unlike any other gun in the game. You can use Chlorophyte Bullets to bypass this.
Disruption: 3/5. Significantly faster than the Tactical Shotgun, but still delivers its shots in bursts rather than consistent streams.
Safety: 4/5. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets. Rather awful at point-blank range without Chlorophyte Bullets. As I said, it’s a mid-range weapon.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Electrosphere Launcher: B+

The Electrosphere Launcher's damage and crowd control against grounded enemies is nearly unmatched, but it will never be your first choice when facing flying enemies. It has a slight learning curve because the spheres deploy directly at the cursor's position if they don't collide with anything beforehand. Don't be stingy when using it; it already consumes ammo much slower than most rocket weapons.

DPS: 5/5. Easily eats Santa-NK1 and Everscream alive with just one shot. 4/5 if you're cheap and use Rocket I, but at this stage of the game you shouldn't have any reason to.
Crowd control: 5/5. One of the only persistent AoE ranged weapons, it cuts through grounded personnel with ease.
Accuracy: 3/5. The travel time of the projectile when deployed in midair is not insignificant. You're also relying on enemies to run into the electrospheres on their own.
Disruption: 5/5. Like the Inferno Fork, it can be shot at your feet to repel enemies that jump at you. Unlike the Inferno Fork, it can be freely deployed in midair if you wish.
Safety: 4/5. It's a line of sight weapon, and it does collide with blocks.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Unreal/Godly/Demonic $$$$

Charged Blaster Cannon: B+

It offers a little bit of everything. The uncharged shot is a decent single-target damage dealer with more flexibility than the Laser Machinegun, and the charged shot packs a powerful punch against most enemies, though it's a little hard to aim if you aren't paying close attention to the timing. The full beam is very, very situational. Its firing angle can't be adjusted, so you might miss your target entirely and be forced to cancel the attack. It mainly works well against the Old One's Army and any situation where you're fighting in a flat arena. Note that the full beam's damage output and mana cost are both not as high as you might expect.

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Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Laser Machinegun: A-

The windup time isn't too big a drawback. With that in mind, don't feel obligated to hold down the attack button if you don't see any enemies on your screen. Compared to the Bubble Gun, it's less risky to use, but costs more mana and isn't as reliable against enemies that get all up in your face. It is also rather poor if your playstyle revolves around dealing high burst damage and allowing your mana to regenerate between bursts, making it more suitable for use with the Mana Flower.

DPS: 5/5. Comparable to the Bubble Gun and Razorpine, and very effective against single targets. It is slightly behind those two, but still extremely high.
Crowd control: 2/5. The Laser Machinegun is one of those weapons that can somewhat compensate for their lack of piercing with insane attack speed.
Accuracy: 4/5. High velocity and a tight spread. Even at long range, it deals consistent damage.
Disruption: 3/5. It's a 5/5 when firing at full speed, but if you're caught off guard, it's not suitable for dealing with rushers.
Safety: 4/5. The range is what gives it an edge over the Bubble Gun, and maybe even the Razorpine, which is affected by gravity.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Xeno Staff: S

The most reliable minion. It doesn't get stuck, it delivers a constant stream of damage, it doesn't interfere with piercing weapons, and it doesn't miss. Kind of like having a horde of Magnet Spheres. No matter what you’re fighting, the UFOs will almost certainly land the first hit. A useful weapon for any class, especially when bossing.

DPS: 4/5. A swarm of UFOs can deal incredible concentrated single-target damage. While damage per hit is low, they make up for it with their attack speed and the fact that they will lock onto a new target immediately after they finish something off.
Crowd control: 2/5. They may be slightly worse than deadly spheres for crowd control, but against scattered enemies they will probably do more damage per second than ravens.
Accuracy: 5/5. UFOs are incredibly precise. Their attacks are undodgeable, and they don't waste time idling when enemies are in range.
Disruption: 5/5. Rapidly stunlocks and interrupts enemies with no problem, especially in a group.
Safety: 5/5. I don't even think you need to resummon these guys. They usually take care of bad situations before they pop up.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

Frost Moon

Christmas Tree Sword: B-

Sets up a no-fly zone that easily repels aerial chasers like Brain Sucklers. Also, large things like Ice Queens will occasionally ram into all the floating ornaments and take a butt-ton of damage. It's quite a competent weapon, though it'll usually be outperformed in some department by the North Pole or Terra Blade. Flairon is a vastly superior choice, as it's basically a more damaging version of the Christmas Tree Sword that also has homing properties.

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5.19% to 7.78% chance to drop from Everscream, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

Razorpine: A+

The standard against which single-target magic weapons are measured. It's powerful and very simple to use, and probably ties with the Snowman Cannon as the best Frost Moon drop. The only point against it is that it's not a homing weapon, and at this point in the game, most enemies are so speedy and unpredictable that non-homing weapons start to fall behind a bit.

DPS: 5/5. Cuts through most enemies like paper, and depletes the health of bosses reasonably quickly.
Crowd control: 2/5. Shreds small crowds fast enough that it looks like it has limited piercing, even though it doesn't.
Accuracy: 4/5. The projectiles are a bit narrow, but it is still easy to hit enemies with as long as they're on-screen.
Disruption: 5/5. It's incredibly fast and can hold one enemy in place indefinitely.
Safety: 4/5. To minimize spread, it might be a good idea to get a bit closer to enemies.
Availability: 2/5. 5.19% to 7.78% chance to drop from Everscream, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Mythical $$

Chain Gun: A-

Uses standard bullets.
The least subtle ranged weapon in the game, it operates on the principle that any problem, no matter how large, can be overcome by drowning it in bullets. And that's kind of true, I suppose. It depends on the kind of bullets you feed it, so in order to make the Chain Gun work, you'd best be prepared to farm a lot of Chlorophyte and Crystal Shards.

DPS: 4/5. Applying Ichor/Betsy's curse improves its DPS dramatically, especially when using Crystal Bullets.
Crowd control: 1/5. 2/5 with Crystal/Chlorophyte Bullets. 5/5 with Exploding Bullets if you're into that.
Accuracy: 3/5. I guess its wide bullet spread is kind of a weakness? Except not really, you can give it homing ammo (5/5) and call it a day.
Disruption: 5/5. With its absurd speed, you don't even need to be at point blank range to keep an enemy under constant fire, especially with Chlorophyte Bullets.
Safety: 4/5. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets.
Availability: 2/5. 5.55% to 12.5% chance to drop from Santa-NK1, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Rapid $$

Elf Melter: B

Its single-target DPS isn't high enough for taking out bosses, but it's pretty good against everything else. It can comfortably handle three or four enemies at once, and might be among the best options for ranged crowd control. When using this, you'll want to swap to a Hallowed Helmet rather than Shroomite.

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5.55% to 12.5% chance to drop from Santa-NK1, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Blizzard Staff: A

This doesn't work well against everything, but there are some important fights that it does well against; namely Empress of Light, Duke Fishron, and the remainder of the Frost Moon. Like the Daedalus Stormbow, it is rather difficult to aim, but in return, it provides insane amounts of DPS against the large, predictable opponents you'd need it for. In fact, it has the highest single-target DPS potential of any pre-Lunar magic weapon, so even if you miss a bunch of your shots, it will still outperform a lot of other magic weapons.

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4.4% to 7.52% chance to drop from Ice Queen, scaling with wave progression.
Best prefix: Mythical $$

North Pole: B+

You actually don't want to spam this while shooting upwards; it's much more impressive when you fire it low to the ground, maximizing the snowflakes' likelihood of actually hitting something while ensuring that there aren't too many on your screen, which would lower their damage significantly. Flying enemies like Ice Queens are better dealt with using an Influx Waver or Flairon.

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4.4% to 7.52% chance to drop from Ice Queen, scaling with wave progression
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

Snowman Cannon: S+

IT SHOOTS HOMING ROCKETS.

DPS: 4/5. Even if you're using Rocket III, you may wish to switch to your best gun with Chlorophyte Bullets when facing a single target. It's still among the better options when facing bosses.
Crowd control: 5/5. The best thing about rocket launchers in general. You can also now use Rocket III for a wider blast radius without fear of self-harm.
Accuracy: 5/5. I've never seen one expire in midair, and I'm pretty sure they last close to forever.
Disruption: 4/5. It's certainly very disruptive, but often the rockets knock enemies toward you rather than away from you. I don't think I can rate it a 5/5 when taking that into account.
Safety: 5/5. It's homing, it has great velocity, and the explosions don't hurt you, which is good because it would otherwise have been C tier.
Availability: 1/5. 4.4% to 7.52% chance to drop from Ice Queen, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$$$$

Sold by Tavernkeep (req: Golem defeated)

Ballista Staff: A-

Still not great against flying enemies, but the same can be said of all sentries. Like explosive traps, ballistas can be used as primary weapons through resummoning, but only against targets that won’t move around too much before they fire. They are by far the best sentries if you're fighting in a flat open space, especially if you're wearing Valhalla Knight armor for the Ballista Panic buff. If you’re not planning to use Valhalla Knight armor, the Ballista Staff becomes pretty mediocre, dealing less single-target DPS than the Frost Hydra, though its piercing nature could give it an edge (and it'll still shred the Old One's Army faster than the other sentries regardless). Note that in the absence of Ballista Panic, the Ballista Staff roughly ties with (or even loses to) the Queen Spider Staff with high summoning damage bonuses in play, and you'll probably be better off using the Frost Hydra.

DPS: 3/5. Powerful, but slow and sometimes inaccurate. 5/5 if you're running Valhalla Knight and tanking hits.
Crowd control: 5/5. Pierces all targets, assuming it lined up the shot correctly, which it probably did if you're fighting in a flat area. And while it respects piercing invincibility frames, it does not add any of its own (!), which means that if four ballistas hit at the same time, it actually deals damage four times.
Accuracy: 2/5. Has a hard time hitting anything that flies or jumps around, but at close enough range it's not impossible.
Disruption: 1/5. I know it's slow, but when you're doing like 300 damage per shot, does it really matter?
Safety: 5/5. You can use it for cheesing like the Explosive Trap, too.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 100 Defender Medals after Golem has been defeated.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$$$$$

Flameburst Staff: C-

This may have been designed to be a jack-of-all-trades sentry, but lack of specialization is the last thing a sentry needs. It loses in DPS to the Frost Hydra, it loses in crowd control to the Ballista, and it has a huge blind spot above the sentry's head. While not completely useless, it is thoroughly mediocre, and it's the only DD2 sentry that isn't improved one bit by its respective armor set. Don't buy this.

DPS: 3/5. Their firing speed is a noticeable improvement over ballistas, but their DPS is inferior to that of the Staff of the Frost Hydra.
Crowd control: 3/5. The size of its explosions is actually not that large, and since they're forced to fire from ground level, they won't destroy clustered groups as well as a manually-controlled explosive weapon would. Or an infinitely-piercing weapon like the Ballista, for that matter.
Accuracy: 2/5. Why Dark Artist armor increases their range is beyond me, because at long distances they're still not accurate against much besides the Old One's Army itself. Their velocity makes them rather poor even with the range increase from Dark Artist armor.
Disruption: 2/5. They fire fast enough to slow down enemies a little bit, if you stack them.
Safety: 5/5. Like many summons, it fires immediately upon being summoned. But usually you'd want to do that with whatever has the highest base damage, another area in which the Flameburst loses to the Ballista.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 100 Defender Medals after Golem has been defeated.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$$$$$

Explosive Trap Staff: D

Like the previous explosive traps, this is best used as a primary weapon for summoners (through resummoning), and can compete with sources of AoE piercing damage from other classes (but only against grounded enemies). It contributes almost nothing when left alone, however. Probably not a great choice unless you're doing a "summoner only" playthrough for whatever reason. Red Riding armor improves these sentries a great deal, but not to the point that they would be considered better than any other sentry (set bonus or not).

DPS: 4/5 (active). 2/5 (passive). Damage is inconsistent compared to the other sentries because the area of effect is rather small.
Crowd control: 5/5 (active). 2/5 when left alone because they only attack enemies directly above them.
Accuracy: 1/5. Still does nothing unless an enemy walks over it, and does nothing for a while after that. Requires babysitting to deal any real damage.
Disruption: 0/5. Slow attack speed and no knockback at all.
Safety: 5/5. The best summon weapon for wall cheesing, though that's not as tempting this late in the game.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 100 Defender Medals after Golem has been defeated.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$$$$$

Lightning Aura Staff: B

Better than before thanks to the high defense of all the enemies you'll encounter, which the lightning aura cuts right through. However, as a stationary AoE sentry, it is a bit more situational than projectile sentries. You might wish to reposition them occasionally, because without knockback it cannot hold enemies within its area of effect. This is also great against the Solar Pillar, because all the enemies stay close to the ground, and the aura deletes Drakomire fireballs.

DPS: 3/5. Unlike other weapons that deal damage rapidly, its DPS is not reduced when fighting enemies with high defense.
Crowd control: 5/5. It does a lot of work against invasion events, and you'll be facing quite a few of those in the near future.
Accuracy: 3/5. Getting stuff into its area of effect is not as difficult as it is for the Nimbus Rod or Explosive Trap.
Disruption: 0/5. They can stop shooters, but don't have any inherent knockback.
Safety: 5/5. The best strategy is to hover in a UFO and summon lightning auras directly below yourself.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 100 Defender Medals after Golem has been defeated.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$$$$$

Dropped by Betsy

Flying Dragon: B-

While it is a slight upgrade to the Terra Blade, this is also around the time the Terra Blade is starting to fall off. It's easier to hit with and allows you to abuse the cover granted by terrain, but you will probably replace it with the Solar Eruption very quickly. Technically, it is the best light-providing weapon for exploration, so if you wanted a reason to use it, there you go.

DPS: 3/5. About the same as the Terra Blade in terms of raw numbers, but remember that the Terra Blade is falling off at this point. It’s hard not to be disappointed in its single-target performance.
Crowd control: 5/5. It's better at this than the Terra Blade because its projectile is so much larger.
Accuracy: 4/5. Very wide compared to the Terra Beam, and much easier to deal damage with.
Disruption: 3/5. Its knockback is nothing special, but can slow down KB-resistant enemies somewhat.
Safety: 5/5. It has line of sight with infinite wall piercing. Even aboveground, you can find ways to abuse the wall piercing properties because it has so much range.
Availability: 3/5. 25% chance to drop from Betsy.

Best prefix: Legendary $$

Sky Dragon's Fury: B

Pretty good for widespread AoE damage, and its primary spinning attack isn't useless because it counters flying enemies that try to rush you. It works a lot like the Electrosphere Launcher, though it sacrifices single-target DPS for the ability to cover an area more quickly. Probably the most well-executed weapon with a primary and secondary attack; both attack modes have great utility depending on the situation, which notably does not include boss fights.

DPS: 3/5. Still more suited to eliminating crowds than single targets. It falters especially against flying bosses.
Crowd control: 5/5. Unlike the Flying Dragon, it's better suited for attacking from above rather than spending time on the ground lining up shots. It grinds up scattered crowds like no one's business.
Accuracy: 2/5. 5/5 for the primary attack. The spray of electrospheres is pretty random, so you need to fire it against blocks for it to be effective, meaning that it performs poorly against flying enemies.
Disruption: 5/5. You can just create an impenetrable barrier of electrospheres, and left click exists as a failsafe, repelling all nearby enemies in a 360 degree radius.
Safety: 4/5. You should be using the right click attack most of the time, and left click only when surrounded. You can also shoot the electrospheres through thin walls.
Availability: 3/5. 25% chance to drop from Betsy.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Aerial Bane: A

"Airborne" describes basically every important enemy you'll be facing in the endgame, so the Aerial Bane's perk will almost always be active. This makes it a powerful choice, but since it can only fire one type of arrow, it is rather inflexible. While powerful against flying enemies, the Aerial Bane is not necessarily accurate since its arrow is heavily affected by gravity, limiting its range. A gun with Chlorophyte Bullets may end up being a more consistent choice.

DPS: 4/5. 5/5 against flying enemies if you can consistently land your shots, but that's quite difficult.
Crowd control: 4/5. Each shot that you land will greatly injure a crowd, if you can land it.
Accuracy: 3/5. It's fine at midrange. The arrows don't travel that far, unfortunately.
Disruption: 2/5. While it's not the slowest, you'll find that it struggles to hold enemies at bay with its mediocre speed.
Safety: 4/5. In order for this weapon to be effective, you need the height advantage.
Availability: 3/5. 25% chance to drop from Betsy.

Best prefix: Unreal $$

Betsy's Wrath: S

Inflicts an upgraded version of ichor with fewer immunities (among the relevant bosses, only Pumpking, Mourning Wood, and Lunatic Cultist appear to be immune). Betsy's Wrath is pretty much a no-brainer as a support weapon for bossing, and with its large area of effect and high damage, it's a good magic weapon in its own right. Along with Vampire Knives, this is one of the best primary weapons for summoners to use. It pairs well with weapons that deal many hits very quickly (Phantasm, Laser Machinegun, Nebula Arcanum).

DPS: 4/5. It doesn't need to be used constantly to apply Betsy's curse. While it does pretty high damage, you can find alternatives for DPS that cost less mana, and are better suited to take advantage of Betsy's curse.
Crowd control: 5/5. The radius of those explosions is actually pretty good.
Accuracy: 4/5. It has a large splash radius even if it misses, and to apply the coveted debuff, you only need to land one shot anyways.
Disruption: 2/5. Not the fastest weapon, and if you're trying to use it for disruption, you're using it wrong.
Safety: 4/5. It only needs to be applied once every ten seconds to be effective, and has pretty good range for a weapon affected by gravity.
Availability: 3/5. 25% chance to drop from Betsy.

Best prefix: Mythical $$

Crafted from Celestial Fragments

Stardust Cell Staff: A

A good summoning weapon with the incredible misfortune of being forced to compete with the Stardust Dragon. One heavily overlooked mechanic of the Stardust Cell is that it will occasionally shoot an extra projectile at the target its master is attacking directly. Because of this, its effectiveness increases dramatically if you're using a fast and accurate primary weapon. Unfortunately, it still doesn't match the Stardust Dragon's DPS even in that best-case scenario, and doesn't go through walls, either. But since it doesn't deal piercing damage, it's the better minion to use if your primary weapon is a piercing weapon like the Razorblade Typhoon. Melee users will likely prefer the Cell because they have relatively few non-piercing weapons to choose from.

DPS: 4/5. They're fairly consistent. While the dragon will deal a lot more damage while it's attacking, the cells will probably be attacking a larger percentage of the time.
Crowd control: 2/5. The biggest reason to use them is if you have a really good piercing weapon that you don't want the dragon to interfere with. Lack of piercing is actually important to this weapon's role. While their crowd control abilities aren't great on their own, they damage crowds a lot better if you use a piercing primary weapon.
Accuracy: 5/5. Unlike other minion projectiles, the cell projectiles track their targets indefinitely. Enemies can still dodge them by entering solid blocks.
Disruption: 2/5. They attack intermittently and have a habit of changing targets, so the Xeno Staff is actually better for disruption.
Safety: 5/5. Oddly, the cells seem reluctant to attack enemies who are out of reach when re-summoned, so it's better to just leave them be.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Stardust Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

Stardust Dragon Staff: S+

The strongest solitary minion whether you're a dedicated summoner or not. It bypasses all barriers and hunts down enemies at every corner of your screen, and performs excellently with no investment other than a Bewitching Table and Summoning Potion. All three other classes can put together viable hybrid sets that boost the power and capacity of the dragon without sacrificing too many class damage bonuses. (These sets are Shinobi/Spooky/Valhalla, Shroomite/Red Riding/Spooky, and Hallowed/Spooky/Dark Artist.)

DPS: 5/5. No summoning weapon comes close to dealing as much damage as the Stardust Dragon. Just a few segments and it's already dealing around 200 damage per hit at an incredibly rapid rate.
Crowd control: 4/5. All enemies near the dragon's primary target also get shredded. It kind of reminds me of the Piranha Gun, except the piranha is ten times the size and does ten times as much damage. However, it still only attacks one enemy at once, so be warned.
Accuracy: 4/5. It is somewhat possible for extremely fast enemies like Duke Fishron to escape from the Dragon's clutches, especially with its roundabout way of encircling enemies. But slower enemies cannot escape.
Disruption: 5/5. Consistently hits the piercing damage cap. Even a dragon with one segment can completely disrupt its target.
Safety: 5/5. Goes through walls and attacks enemies offscreen.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Stardust Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

Vortex Beater: S-

Uses standard bullets.
The Phantasm has higher DPS potential against the final boss, but is much more difficult to aim with, so use the Vortex Beater with Chlorophyte Bullets for that fight if you want consistency. Against the remaining invasion-based Celestial events, of course, the Vortex Beater blows the Phantasm out of the water, assuming you have Chlorophyte Bullets to spare. It can also be used with an Endless Musket Pouch if you want a budget Snowman Cannon, though its performance with homing bullets is what earns the Vortex Beater its S rank.

DPS: 4/5. Though its wide spread and rocket secondary suggest that the Vortex Beater was meant to be specialized for crowd control, just feed it Chlorophyte Bullets and it becomes a fearsome single-target weapon, about on par with Nebula Blaze.
Crowd control: 5/5. Thanks to the rockets, it's extremely good against crowds. But you should go with the Snowman Cannon if you want to rely on rockets exclusively.
Accuracy: 3/5. The bullets have a pretty wide spread. Obviously the homing Vortex Rocket is a solid 5/5, and you can also feed it homing bullets, so I doubt accuracy will be a problem.
Disruption: 5/5. Its firing speed is really not that far behind the Chain Gun's.
Safety: 5/5. Even if you aren't using Chlorophyte Bullets, you can always count on those homing rockets to take things out from a distance.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Vortex Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Phantasm: S

Uses standard arrows.
While it offers the best single-target ranged DPS when used with Holy Arrows, it's trickier to use than the Vortex Beater against the final boss, who moves around a lot and also forces you to move around a lot. It's far from unusable in that fight, though, because it comes with a built-in aim correction system: your phantasm arrows will always point in the direction of a live target. Pay attention to the direction they shoot and adjust your angle accordingly. Also, because of its somewhat low damage value and large number of hits per second, this is a weapon on which a good modifier matters a great deal, and any damage boosts you can get from ammo, buffs, and accessories will have a much larger effect than usual. Overall, using the Phantasm is a bit of a commitment, but it is insanely powerful and rivals even the S.D.M.G when aimed properly.

DPS: 5/5, even with the Endless Quiver, though by using better arrows it improves dramatically.
Crowd control: 5/5 with Holy Arrows, 2/5 otherwise. Use the Vortex Beater for the Celestial events.
Accuracy: 4/5. You are using an Archery Potion, right? With Venom Arrows, its velocity should be good enough not to be a problem. With a Magic Quiver, you can have great arrow velocity with whatever ammunition you want.
Disruption: 5/5. The wide range of arrow velocities works in the Phantasm's favor to essentially grant it a constant arrow stream. It also improves in speed as you hold down the fire button.
Safety: 4/5. Great range, but you may struggle to land your shots if you're using it as you retreat.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Vortex Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Nebula Blaze: A

Very impressive damage output, but it's a good idea to have an offhand non-magic weapon to use during downtime while your mana regenerates. This is usually the best single-target magic weapon against the Moon Lord, but the Arcanum is still situationally better if you can gather enough projectiles in one place.

DPS: 5/5. The highest base damage of any magic weapon in the game, and packs respectable speed, too.
Crowd control: 1/5. Nah. Use it on a single target.
Accuracy: 5/5. Fully homing, and should never miss when used in an open area.
Disruption: 0/5. It has no knockback, and mostly prevents enemies from approaching by just killing them outright.
Safety: 5/5. The only advantage it has over the Arcanum is how easily it can be used in high-speed aerial battles, and there's at least one important one coming up.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Nebula Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

Nebula Arcanum: S

Technically a homing weapon, but works more like an AoE. This is arguably the closest magic weapon to being a true upgrade to the Water Bolt. Once you've got a good number of galaxies deployed, the Nebula Arcanum kills everything that enters its area of effect almost instantly, and you can maintain control of the area by picking up all the mana stars to refuel. It’s the best way to burn up extra mana stars lying on the ground. But because it requires you to remain in the same place to allow the galaxies to build up and slowly home in on enemies, you'd better find an area with decent cover if you're going to take it all the way to the final boss.

DPS: 5/5. If you can support its mana cost, the Nebula Arcanum outcompetes even the Bubble Gun.
Crowd control: 5/5. It doesn't matter how quickly they spawn, the Nebula Arcanum will kill them equally fast. Better than many infinitely-piercing weapons.
Accuracy: 4/5. The galaxies last a long time and home in on enemies, but it is possible for faster targets to outrun them.
Disruption: 1/5. It tends to pierce enemies on its first pass before it loops around to chase them, so I wouldn't rely on it to repel pursuers.
Safety: 5/5. It has good range, but it relies heavily on galaxy buildup, forcing you to remain in the same area if you want it to work effectively.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Nebula Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Solar Eruption: A+

Destroys all the crowds of enemies you'll encounter in the remainder of the Celestial events, but falls somewhat short against the final boss due to its middling range. For that reason, I would generally recommend against using melee for that fight.

DPS: 5/5. For some reason it has better DPS than its counterpart the Daybreak, which was supposed to be specialized for single target damage. Hmm.
Crowd control: 5/5. This is arguably the best melee weapon for crowd control, and among the best crowd control weapons in the game.
Accuracy: 4/5. Hits a reasonably wide area, and is quite effective even at the tip.
Disruption: 5/5. Delivers a ruthless chain of explosions, easily stopping enemies from approaching if not simply destroying them in one sweep.
Safety: 3/5. It pierces through terrain, but that usually won't do much good in the lategame where battles mostly take place in the sky.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Solar Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Daybreak: B-

This isn't a bad weapon; it just isn't terribly useful when you consider what it's up against. While its DPS against a single target is slightly better than the Nebula Blaze, the Nebula Blaze is much easier to use since it's a homing weapon. And when you compare it to the Solar Eruption, the Daybreak actually has inferior DPS. Yes, I took the Daybroken debuff into account and added 800 to its DPS meter rating, and it's still worse than the Solar Eruption. This weapon has a pretty bad matchup against the final boss since homing is so important for hitting consistently, not to mention that the Daybroken debuff gets periodically removed. It's probably the best melee weapon to use for that fight, but still not as good as either of the Vortex weapons. One nice thing about it is that you can apply eight spears and allow the DoT damage to persist while you switch to a weapon that hits harder, though that probably isn’t worth the micromanagement it takes.

Because it technically applies piercing damage, the Stardust Dragon will interrupt the Daybreak; this is an interaction you're likely to see if you use both.

DPS: 4/5. Half of it comes from the Daybroken debuff.
Crowd control: 1/5. It's a single target weapon, so it's best suited for taking down one enemy at a time.
Accuracy: 3/5. It still requires aiming and isn't too accurate beyond Solar Eruption range. At least your targets are probably very large.
Disruption: 3/5. Its knockback is good enough to repel enemies with its fast speed.
Safety: 4/5. Marginally safer than the Solar Eruption in aerial fights, with its better range.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from 18 Solar Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Dropped by Moon Lord

Terrarian: S

The Yoyo Bag actually doesn't double the Terrarian's DPS like you might think; it just widens its area of effect and increases the projectile density. This makes it easier to wipe out crowds with, but a Mechanical Glove might be better suited for that accessory slot if you're looking to maximize single-target DPS. Whether you elect to use the Yoyo Bag or not, it's ridiculously strong against crowds and bosses alike. However, in multiplayer, two players should not target the same enemy with the Terrarian; only one will deal damage every six frames.

DPS: 5/5. Probably the best of the three melee weapons for general boss-killing.
Crowd control: 5/5. It deals piercing damage, so you can eliminate crowds just by flying over and dragging the Terrarian through them.
Accuracy: 5/5. Since it creates so many homing projectiles, keeping enemies within its area of effect is very easy.
Disruption: 5/5. Like the Razorblade Typhoon, it easily hits the piercing damage cap.
Safety: 5/5. The best throwing distance of any yoyo. It doesn't require you to stand anywhere near your target.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Meowmere: A+

You need to stick to the ground to get the maximum benefit from its bouncing projectiles. Consider setting up a projectile curtain like you would with the Candy Corn Rifle or North Pole. Meowmere is like the ground-based counterpart to Star Wrath, but I'm putting it a little higher because it's much easier to use. Overall, an extremely powerful and brainless weapon. Highly recommended for your toddler.

DPS: 4/5. Rebounding projectiles can bring it to a 5/5 depending on the terrain.
Crowd control: 5/5. It doesn't even matter that much where you aim it, it still destroys crowds with ease.
Accuracy: 3/5. More aiming is required than with the Terrarian. I guess a projectile spamming weapon like Meowmere doesn't need to be especially accurate.
Disruption: 3/5. This statistic probably isn't relevant anymore at the stage of the game where anything vulnerable to knockback dies in one or two hits.
Safety: 5/5. With all the projectiles it creates, you'll be killing enemies that aren't even visible on the screen.

Best prefix: Legendary $$$$$$$$

Star Wrath: A

The trickiest of the three melee weapons in this tier to use, but that isn't saying much because they're all pretty straightforward and spammable. While the Meowmere shreds enemies on the ground, the Star Wrath is better suited for fighting in the sky, which might help you as you try to farm out all the other Luminite-tier weapons. The Terrarian is probably better at this, though, because like the Blizzard Staff, the Star Wrath isn't great at hitting things that move around a lot.

DPS: 5/5. Requires some finesse to keep enemies within the stream of stars. The blade isn't really worth using, since it only deals half the damage of the stars.
Crowd control: 4/5. Because it rains projectiles from the sky, it's not as effective as Meowmere for clearing out crowds that accumulate on the ground.
Accuracy: 2/5. The projectiles are somewhat larger than the Blizzard Staff's icicles, but against fast, small enemies I wouldn't rely on it.
Disruption: 3/5. More spammable than the Blizzard Staff because it doesn't require mana. I guess it's pretty close to being a direct upgrade to the North Pole.
Safety: 5/5. If you use the Star Wrath on the ground, be sure to abuse its ability to bypass natural obstacles such as hills.

Best prefix: Legendary $$$$$$$$

S.D.M.G: S

Uses standard bullets.
It's actually mostly on par with the Phantasm in single-target situations, so use Chlorophyte or Luminite Bullets if you want it to be more unique. Vortex Armor is what allows it to compete with all the other Luminite-tier weapons. The Phantasm, too, becomes S rank when stealth is taken into account. But even without Vortex Armor, it's worth consideration on summoner builds that need a weapon that won't compete with the Stardust Dragon.

DPS: 4/5, but 5/5 (almost equal to Last Prism) when stealthed.
Crowd control: 1/5. 2/5 with Chlorophyte/Crystal Bullets. 5/5 with Luminite/Exploding Bullets.
Accuracy: 4/5. Unlike the Chain Gun, it fires with near perfect accuracy toward the cursor. It's an advantage that doesn't mean much because you can just use homing bullets on either.
Disruption: 5/5. With a Deadly, Unreal, or any +10% speed modifier, it has the same firing speed as an unmodified Chain Gun.
Safety: 4/5. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$$

Celebration Mk2: ?

Its damage output is bonkers, to the point that its relatively poor accuracy probably doesn't hinder it too much. You definitely can't hit something offscreen with it, though; its projectiles are too heavily affected by gravity (especially the red rocket, the most damaging one).

.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability:

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Last Prism: S+

With magic weapons, you're often left with a choice between the Celestial Cuffs/Emblem and the Mana Flower for mana restoration, but the Last Prism definitely prefers the Mana Flower. Sure, Mana Sickness exists, but it barely slows this weapon down. It's great for crowd control even if you don't want to use a Mana Flower. Just like with the Laser Machinegun, if you don't see any enemies, stop firing. The scattered beams are much more mana-efficient to use, and equally effective against everything except bosses. As a bonus, the unfocused beams can activate Spectre healing, and the full beam cannot.

DPS: 5/5. Even after a few stacks of Mana Sickness, it's still a 5/5. Probably the best single target damage in the game, maybe even surpassing fully-stealthed Phantasm with Holy Arrows.
Crowd control: 5/5. Rips through everything. The scattered-beam stage is probably better for destroying most crowds.
Accuracy: 5/5. The hitbox appears instantly and is incredibly wide. Also, unlike its failure of a sibling, the Charged Blaster Cannon, the Last Prism allows you to adjust its aim, albeit more slowly than normal weapons.
Disruption: 0/5. May as well be 5/5, because everything that isn't immune to knockback can only withstand the beam for a fraction of a second before getting vaporized.
Safety: 4/5. A line-of-sight weapon that relies on killing enemies before they can really threaten you, and it does this job well.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

Lunar Flare: A+

There are two situations where you'd want to use the Lunar Flare over the Last Prism: you need to bypass a wall to hit an enemy, or you're using the Spectre Hood. It's probably the more economical choice if you're using the Celestial Magnet to restore mana, since it doesn't require continued use. In fact, it penalizes sustained use just as harshly as the Last Prism, which you might notice if you're using the Mana Flower and Spectre Hood. It is a bit unfortunate that the Lunar Flare will inevitably end up getting compared to the most brokenly overpowered weapon in the game, but viewed on its own merit, it is definitely better than the Star Wrath for PvE situations.

DPS: 5/5. While not as broken as the Last Prism, it still rips through bosses.
Crowd control: 5/5. Much better area of effect than any other weapon that rains projectiles from the sky.
Accuracy: 4/5. Exploding upon hitting blocks makes the Lunar Flare much, much more accurate against grounded enemies than the Blizzard Staff and Star Wrath. 2/5 against faster flying enemies.
Disruption: 5/5. Stunlocking enemies is hilariously easy.
Safety: 5/5. Fires with pinpoint accuracy towards any part of your screen.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Rainbow Crystal Staff: C-

It deals considerable damage during invasion events. The problem is that its damage is scattered randomly across a wide field. It will kill enemies, but not necessarily the one you'd want to kill the most at any given moment. For this reason, you'd usually pick the Lunar Portal as your solitary sentry, since its beam is more concentrated and disruptive enough to stall enemies a bit, and it will do around the same amount of damage in the long run. That is to say, not very much.

DPS: 4/5.
Crowd control:
Accuracy: 2/5. It can take out somewhat slow-moving enemies like Milkyway Weavers, and works reasonably well against the Lunatic Cultist. Against most other bosses, it does nothing.
Disruption: 0/5.
Safety: 5/5.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

Lunar Portal Staff: C+

It's probably the best sentry weapon, but that isn't saying much because you're not going to rely on sentries to get you through the Celestial events. The Lunar Portal Staff doesn't improve summoner viability nearly as much as the Stardust Dragon (or even the Stardust Cell), and is pretty forgettable overall. At least it does improve your overall combat effectiveness, unlike the Rainbow Crystal. It also helps that the most durable summoner armor in the game is sentry-based.

DPS: 3/5. It's okay, I guess. You can run a sentry build to improve its performance, but you really ought to invest in more dragon segments instead.
Crowd control: 5/5. It can hit a lot of enemies if it fires at the right angle.
Accuracy: 3/5. It's indisputably more effective against slower enemies than faster ones, but with its wide coverage, it isn't that bad even at hitting flying things.
Disruption: 4/5. Unlike other sentries, it has enough knockback to repel fighter enemies, though only while the beam is out (which is around half the time).
Safety: 5/5. To maximize its effectiveness, try to remain in roughly the same area where you've summoned it.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$$$

Baconfry · May 30, 2018

The forum overhaul last year added a character limit, so I had to split the guide up into 3 sections. This post is reserved in case I come up with anything else to use it for, like a new section or something. Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

sharkman0101 · May 31, 2018

The Anchor should be moved down to F rank honestly. The Anchor lacks any sort of usefulness in the point of the game you obtain it, it has terrible damage, limited uses, slower attack rate than a snail, and lacks any tactical uses to help defend yourself effectively(especially in Expert.) It should be down in the pits with the Crystal Vile Shard. (Which is a shame too, the weapon only gains any usability if you combine it with an Ichor debuff, and it still gets a rather subpar DPS anyways. The Crystal Vile Shard should really get a buff to make it worthy of being in the Mimic drop pools, such as armor penetration and slightly increased damage to up the DPS a bit.)

Other than that, excellent tier list! It clearly shows effort and thought put into it.

Vessyl · May 31, 2018

Wow, I...did not know the bladetongue existed. Might have to get me one, it seems pretty good!

Baconfry · Jun 5, 2018

I've updated post #2, so this thread now covers every single weapon available in the latter half of Hardmode (except the stuff that drops from the final boss). I think there are roughly three times as many post-mech weapons as pre-mech, so as you can imagine, this took me several days to write. Hopefully you find it useful!

The post-mech weapons are roughly listed in the order you'd encounter them in, and the pre-mech weapons were in no particular order, though I did group them together if they were obtained in a similar way.

sharkman0101 · Jun 6, 2018

Nicely done with the 2nd part of the tier list! Can't say I would argue anything wrong with the list rankings, mostly just boasts my own personal experiences with certain weapons which I'm not gonna bring up. (Hey, nothing wrong with personal preferences.)

I would like to see you group the final Post-Moon Lords weapons as its own tier, just to compare them among themselves along with the Pillar-tier gear. That gear is almost as strong as Moon-Lord-tier weapons, if not stronger, so why not include them as well?

Also, just noticed this:

Classy Cane: F

I'll have you know that this is incorrcet and unreasonable. The Classy Cane is the best weapon in the game, it can kill Moon Lord easily in seconds.

Godley · Jun 6, 2018

KO Cannon can be obtained via statues, so it’s actually quite easy to get if you farm for it.

Baconfry · Jun 7, 2018

sharkman0101 said:
I would like to see you group the final Post-Moon Lords weapons as its own tier, just to compare them among themselves along with the Pillar-tier gear. That gear is almost as strong as Moon-Lord-tier weapons, if not stronger, so why not include them as well?

Sure, I've updated the post and added the post-Moon Lord weapons.

The Classy Cane is the best weapon in the game, it can kill Moon Lord easily in seconds.

Shh! We don't want people to find out; it would take the fun out of the game!

FlyKip · Jun 18, 2018

Baconfry said:
Classy Cane, Pearlwood Sword and Pearlwood Bow: F

lol

Easily one of the most accurate statements ever. Amazing job btw, this is absolutely amazing.

Baconfry · Jun 27, 2018

After a bit of testing, I've concluded that the Anchor deserves F rank way more than the Crystal Vile Shard does. Also, ballistas are much better and flamebursts are much worse than I initially thought. I don't hear people talking about sentries very much, so let me know what you think of these changes.

Kaladin78 · Jun 27, 2018

Nice list, but true nights edge deserves to be a higher tier than true Excalibur.

sharkman0101 · Jun 27, 2018

Kaladin78 said:
Nice list, but true nights edge deserves to be a higher tier than true Excalibur.

Excaliber is much better in terms of speed and DPS. The large projectile is nice, but it doesn't make it better than the True Excalibur.

Kaladin78 · Jun 28, 2018

True, but if you use true night's edge's blade, it's much better.

Gotcha! · Jun 28, 2018

Very nice work on this! It must have taken you a lot of time. Lots of kudos.

Can't say I disagree with anything you posted. In my opinion it's all spot on.

Mage-of-Rage · Jul 6, 2018

The list looks fine but I personally feel like the Clockwork Assault Rifle warrants an "A" equal to the Laser Rifle or at least a "B+"

Though it doesn't have huge DPS or CC abilities the CAR (which I will now call it) comes at a point where HM bullets are still scarce and hard to find. With the CAR you can easily fire away your Crystal or Cursed Bullets early on relatively guilt free at incoming enemies. Though going straight to the Onyx Blaster is the ideal the CAR will give you a relatively nice foothold in HM before you do so and even after if you REALLY want to unload on that Rune Wizard without spending all your good ammo.

Baconfry · Jul 6, 2018

I’ll admit that the Clockwork Assault Rifle is one of the earlier things I tested, and I used the pirates as my test subject (against which it fares very poorly). I’ll re-evaluate it once I get back from work, but I don’t expect it to be higher than B+, given that it can’t help you when you’re surrounded. Maybe I’ll try loading it with Exploding Bullets. We’ll see.

I’m also considering lowering the ranking of the Bladetongue (low range), Phasesabers (low knockback), Flying Knife (annoying in general) and Rainbow Gun (distracting to use), while raising the ranking of the Possessed Hatchet, Cutlass, and Bananarang (3+).

I’ve also made some stealth tweaks (such as Shadowflame Hex Doll and Magic Dagger essentially swapping places). I’d appreciate if you guys give the list another once-over and suggest adjustments, no matter how small.

Baconfry · Jul 17, 2018

Alright, another major update. I've split the "lockdown" stat into two separate things, accuracy and disruption, and updated every single entry to reflect this. I've also added the best modifiers on each weapon for convenience.

In addition, several rankings have been adjusted.

Clockwork Assault Rifle: raised to B+
Crystal Storm: lowered to C
Shotgun: raised to C
Slap Hand: lowered to D+
Meteor Staff: lowered to B-
Spirit Flame: raised to B+
Bladetongue: lowered to B+
Shadowflame Bow: lowered to A+
Flying Knife: raised to A
Dart Rifle: raised to S
Clinger Staff: lowered to B-
Hallowed Repeater: raised to A+
Chlorophyte Saber: raised to C-
Chlorophyte Shotbow: raised to S
True Night's Edge and True Excalibur: lowered to C/C+
Possessed Hatchet: raised to A-
Tempest Staff: raised to B
Charged Blaster Cannon: lowered to F

idk, I've seen you guys reply more zealously to a tier list thread that you thought was far less accurate, but I really do appreciate replies, even if you're just campaigning for a shift from B to B+ or something. I think this thread could benefit from more visibility.

sharkman0101 · Jul 17, 2018

Note: The Ice Sickle can actually be obtained from ALL hardmode Ice biome enemies(excluding the Pigron, Wolves, and the Ice Golem). That wouldn't bump up the availability though since they have the same chance to drop, but it should still be noted in the tier list regardless.

I can't seem to find anything to argue about in the tier list now, but I'll do so if I find something in the future. Again, you covered a lot of ground in this tier list, awesome job!