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In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list

Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
Guide Category
Weapon/Gear Use
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-mechanical bosses)

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. Asterisk (*) 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.)
*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: A+
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.

.............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 $

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: C-
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-
An incredible minion for aerial bossing that also puts most enemies into complete lockdown. Not only is it perfectly accurate, it is the fastest-attacking minion weapon by far. Any source of additional damage will increase its damage output dramatically: Ichor, Shark Tooth Necklace, and Snapthorn/Durendal, to name a few. 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 minor 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.

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

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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....Availability: ##

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.

.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
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....Availability: #####

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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....Availability: #####

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

EXPLODING BULLET
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....Availability: #

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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....Availability: #

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.

.............DPS: ####
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.....Disruption: #
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....Availability: #

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.

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

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

# Jousting Lance: F
Jousting Lances are incredibly stylish, but also incredibly inefficient for killing things with. If you wanted to impress a date by taking up a lance and pretending to be a valiant knight in shining armor, you could try it, but in all likelihood you'll probably get splattered by a Giant Tortoise, and no one would be impressed with that. Yes, it deals considerable damage, but it fails spectacularly against anything that has high health, fires a projectile, and/or can't be knocked back. And most threatening enemies are some combination of those three things. Usually, your best bet is probably to fly low to the ground and extend the lance downward to drag it through enemies. Outside of killing lone Pixies and Possessed Armors, I would not recommend this weapon in any situation, except to those who are trying to start a tombstone collection.

Equipping a Shield of Cthulhu will make it slightly more effective, but if you dare use this in Expert mode, you are insane.

.............DPS: ###
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....Availability: #####

Sold by Zoologist for 6 Gold during Hardmode
Best prefix: 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. Vastly outperforming almost every weapon in this tier in most situations, the Onyx Blaster remains useful well into mid-hardmode, only starting to fall off somewhere around when you'd be fighting Plantera.

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. However, many people might prefer something that isn't so aim-dependent.

.............DPS: ####
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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.

.............DPS: ####
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....Availability: ###

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.

.............DPS: ####
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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: B
The Cool Whip's snowflake projectile is what the Frost armor set bonus should have been, honestly. Against large crowds of enemies, this weapon's 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 and dumb 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 synergize with minions 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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....Availability: #

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 severe damage reduction when attacking multiple enemies. It can stunlock enemies 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.

.............DPS: ##
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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! If you obtain a Sanguine Staff, you should strongly consider running a hybrid summoner set. With a minion as strong as this one, a single minion capacity slot goes a long way.

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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.

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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.

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

SILVER COIN
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....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: ####
..........Safety: #####
....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 $$$
 
Last edited:
Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
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: C-
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, but no one ever uses Excalibur in battle anyways, so that isn't much of a compliment. In my opinion, you're better off using an Obsidian Swordfish.

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

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

# Hallowed Jousting Lance: F
I don't know what content this was supposed to work well against. It definitely can't handle the Solar Eclipse, it can't handle Ogres, and it can't handle the remaining mechanical bosses either, assuming that you killed the Destroyer first. The only thing this works well against is the Destroyer itself, but the Destroyer gets wrecked by basically everything (including the Hellwing Bow and Beenades), so forgive me if I'm not impressed. Under no circumstances should you ever seriously consider using the Hallowed Jousting Lance.

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

Best prefix:

# Durendal: A-
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 shred through enemies on its own, though you should wear a Power Glove upgrade in order to receive the full benefit. If you have a Blade Staff, Durendal's tag damage will cause its DPS to skyrocket.

.............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 strongest 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: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####

Crafted from Hallowed Bar x12
Best prefix: Unreal $$

Red's Throw and Valkyrie Yoyo: A
While rare and exclusive to Expert mode, these are definite upgrades over the Yelets, which is already a solid yoyo. Use them if you get the chance, but don't be too upset if you don't get one.

DPS: 4/5. 5/5 with Yoyo Glove.
Crowd control: 3/5. Reasonable, and doesn't require you to be in harm's way.
Accuracy: 5/5. Yoyos are controllable. That's good.
Disruption: 4/5. They actually have very strong knockback. That's also good.
Safety: 5/5. It helps that they have a good matchup against most of the Underground Jungle.
Availability: 1/5. 1.33% chance to obtain either yoyo from any hardmode Treasure Bag, alongside Red's or Lazure's set.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Arkhalis: ?
Not going to rate this right now; it only recently became a Hardmode weapon, and should soon be buffed to compensate.

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

Best prefix:

# 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 eroding them to dust. Crystal Bullets turn it into one of the best single-target DPS weapons, which many people (including me) recommend using against the Twins and Skeletron Prime. Though it is only a very slight upgrade to the Uzi, so it you're lucky enough to own one, you can afford to skip the Megashark.

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: A-
Useful both on the surface and underground. If you're a melee character who never got Bananarangs or Chain Guillotines, you'll appreciate having access to a fast, disruptive ranged attack. If not, they're still the best way to make money from the Destroyer.

DPS: 3/5. You can consider bossing with it, though it's better to use on ordinary enemies.
Crowd control: 2/5. It can't pierce, but it does a pretty good job juggling enemies away from you.
Accuracy: 4/5. Light Discs are very large projectiles that travel quickly, and adjusting your aim is easy.
Disruption: 5/5. Good knockback, and highly spammable.
Safety: 4/5. Unlike a lot of boomerangs, these work just as well at long range, and even ricochet off walls (though not reliably).
Availability: 5/5. 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
A spray-and-pray weapon that you cannot afford to be aggressive while using. It needs to be in a tight space to function well; otherwise, you'll be forced to fly close to your enemies, and that can potentially be a dance with death. The Magical Harp is arguably a side-grade to the Demon Scythe and Magic Dagger, and its late arrival doesn't do it any favors. Having low velocity and zero knockback pretty much kills its usefulness.

DPS: 2/5. Its lack of damage is a huge weakness that makes it a questionable choice for bossing and ordinary encounters.
Crowd control: 5/5. It is definitely more tempting to use against invasions, though its lack of knockback will probably deter you from using it most of the time.
Accuracy: 2/5. Bouncing projectile spam is something that usually doesn't work, especially if those projectiles have poor velocity, as is the case here.
Disruption: 0/5. With no knockback, this weapon does literally nothing to stop enemies from approaching.
Safety: 5/5. The projectiles will linger in the area for a while, but their velocity is so low that you're more likely to use the Harp while beating a retreat.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from Harp, Crystal Shard x20, Soul of Sight x15, Soul of Night x8.

Best prefix: Demonic $$

Rainbow Rod: S
Has excellent DPS against bosses, and deals extreme amounts of splash damage to crowds of enemies. It is a little click-intensive, but is easily the best magic weapon in its tier.

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 5/5. 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
An unfortunate victim of power creep. As a bossing weapon, it's outclassed by both the Sanguine Staff and Blade Staff. As a crowd control weapon, the Spider Staff performs considerably better, since most crowds tend to be grounded. 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.

DPS: 3/5. It's limited more by the piercing damage cap than any weaknesses in the weapon's attack pattern.
Crowd control: 5/5. Dealing piercing damage has its upsides and downsides, but when you're facing crowds, it's an attribute you'll be glad to have.
Accuracy: 3/5. Retinazer will never lead its shots, and against moving targets, misses more often than it hits. Spazmatism is much better at tracking enemy movement.
Disruption: 2/5. Disruptive and fast, but easily distracted. Shouldn't be relied on for keeping enemies away.
Safety: 5/5. Can be resummoned on any part of your screen.
Availability: 3/5. Crafted from Black Lens, Lens x2, Hallowed Bar x12, Soul of Sight x20.

Best prefix: Ruthless $

Flamethrower: ?
pending

DPS:
Crowd control:
Accuracy:
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 5/5. 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-
This is around the time the Amarok/Hel-Fire starts falling off, so the Yelets is a welcome upgrade that is just as easy to obtain. There isn't much else to say, since past a certain point all yoyos work the same way.

DPS: 4/5. 5/5 with the Yoyo Glove, and decent for bossing.
Crowd control: 3/5. Spears are better, but yoyos will do the job against crowds if you want to eliminate enemies without any risk to yourself.
Accuracy: 5/5. Very precise even if you're using a trackpad.
Disruption: 4/5. Yoyos have a very fast attack speed, suitable for interrupting enemies.
Safety: 5/5. It is very safe to use against random monsters during exploration. But against bosses such as Plantera, there are alternatives with better range.
Availability: 4/5. 0.5% chance to drop from any enemy in the Jungle, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Unholy Trident: C+
A completely unremarkable magic weapon, mostly held back by its narrow projectile size, high mana cost, and the fact that you've seen so many better choices that were available earlier. Many people have a bad impression of this item because it has a poor matchup against flying enemies, and the Underworld is full of them. And maybe because the Unholy Tridents seem so much more powerful in the hands of the Red Devils than in the player's. Still, if you're running mana regeneration of some kind, the Unholy Trident can be much better than it's given credit for. It’s basically a poor man’s magical Terra Blade, minus the blade.

DPS: 4/5. Speed and damage per hit is very respectable, but that requires you to land your shots, which is extremely difficult unless you're on flat terrain.
Crowd control: 4/5. Against invasions, it's decent, but you'll often find that your enemies won't line up so neatly anymore.
Accuracy: 3/5. Narrow, slow, and not all that fast-moving. If either you or your targets are flying or jumping around, the Unholy Trident is much harder to aim with.
Disruption: 3/5. Like the Frost Staff, it has the potential to knock enemies backwards, but isn't exceptionally fast.
Safety: 4/5. With decent velocity and excellent range, it can be used to snipe enemies as long as they don't snipe you back.
Availability: 2/5. 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-
It certainly looks fancy, but it's just a slower, more powerful Gungnir trying its best to convince you that it's something more. In practice, its usage is similar to any other spear, but just a bit more effective against frail enemies. The mushrooms don't deal a lot of damage; if you want to safely defeat enemies from behind barriers, use an Explosive Trap Cane or something. The mushrooms alone are about as efficient at killing enemies as the Crystal Vile Shard.

Paired with a Flask of Ichor, it’s a different story. With an extra 10 damage tacked onto every individual hit, the Mushroom Spear becomes an extremely competent (albeit still short-ranged) weapon that can even be used against Plantera.

DPS: 4/5. It deals pretty good damage per hit, but keep in mind that most of the DPS comes from the spear itself.
Crowd control: 5/5. It can deal with small crowds, usually hitting each enemy twice.
Accuracy: 2/5. It is very slow, so it can't adjust to a new angle as quickly as other spears.
Disruption: 2/5. The mushrooms themselves don't deal knockback, and the spear is too slow to really hold enemies at bay.
Safety: 2/5. It gets a few points for its limited wall penetration, though that comes at the cost of most of its damage.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Truffle for 70 gold, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

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

Code 2: B+
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. Having infinite throwing time is kind of neat, at least, and a slight advantage it has over Yelets.

Stats: See Yelets.
Availability: 1/5. 1.5% chance to be sold by Traveling Merchant for 25 gold, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Super Star Shooter: ?
pending

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5.
Accuracy:
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 1/5. ?% chance to be sold by Traveling Merchant for 50 gold, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$

Ballista Cane: S
Ballista sentries are incredibly powerful against the Old One's Army and other grounded opponents, but usually too slow and inaccurate to be very useful against flying enemies. Running Squire armor removes a lot of the slowness, though, and you probably wanted Squire armor anyways for its high defense. Even without sentry armor, resummoning a ballista will clear out enemies in an area very quickly.

DPS: 2/5. This is improved to 5/5 if you have a sentry loadout, especially if it's Squire Armor, which provides Ballista Panic. It's also 5/5 when used with resummoning.
Crowd control: 5/5. As long as you remember to manually remove flying enemies, it handles grounded personnel better than any other sentry.
Accuracy: 2/5. It really needs to be on level ground to ensure that it does not miss. Projectile velocity is still good enough for mid-range flying enemies.
Disruption: 1/5. It doesn't really need to disrupt enemies because most of them die in one or two shots, which two ballistas can easily provide.
Safety: 5/5. It fires once every time it is resummoned, which is just ridiculous. Explosive Traps are a bit more consistent when used this way, at least against grounded enemies.
Availability: 5/5. 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, has limited targeting, and deals less damage per hit, which more than nullifies any advantage it could possibly have. 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 the set bonus doesn't improve DPS. The Explosive Trap is weaker when left alone, but summoning Explosive Traps under enemies is so much more fun than trying to get any use out of the Flameburst Cane. Both of them lose to the Queen Spider anyways, so let's just forget about it and move on.

DPS: 2/5. Apprentice armor doesn't actually improve it by much.
Crowd control: 2/5. The explosions are really not that large. You'll be lucky if a shot hits more than one enemy.
Accuracy: 2/5. Well, for some reason it can't shoot upwards. At least the ballistas can try.
Disruption: 1/5. Unlike the ballista, it needs more than two shots to kill enemies, making its inability to disrupt enemies a more prominent weakness.
Safety: 5/5. Worse for resummoning than the Explosive Trap and Ballista due to lower damage per hit.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$

Explosive Trap Cane: D+
Outside of combat, explosive trap sentries are useful during exploration for the lighting they provide. Unfortunately, with such a small area of effect, they rely heavily on enemies approaching you, making them easily the worst sentry to use outside the Old One's Army... if you're planning on using them as sentries. However, they are very good for primary damage (through click-spamming) if you're running a minion-centered summoning build. I'd go so far as to say that it's the only way to use them, though you'll be much better off trying to attack with any competent weapon.

DPS: 2/5. 4/5 if you take an active role and summon them below an enemy's feet.
Crowd control: 2/5 due to low range, but 5/5 when used actively.
Accuracy: 1/5. Unless an enemy is on top of it, an Explosive Trap does literally nothing. 5/5 when you place the trap yourself.
Disruption: 0/5. Considering that it literally creates explosions, it really has no excuse for having zero knockback, but here we are.
Safety: 5/5. Arguably the best sentry for wall cheesing.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Demonic $$

Lightning Aura Cane: B
Sacrifices knockback for significantly better DPS. This makes it a decent sentry for invasion events other than the Old One's Army; a lone lightning aura is better than a lone ballista. With a sentry-focused build, this offers tremendous area denial, but even without such a build, it is a significant upgrade over the Queen Spider. It is also the best sentry for defending the Eternia Crystal itself. I'd recommend it if you're fighting in an area where you're familiar with the terrain, so you can set up the sentries in areas where you know enemies will gather and get stuck.

One 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 all nail the incoming enemies at once.

DPS: 3/5. It does require you to lure enemies into its area of effect. Cutting through armored opponents is a bonus.
Crowd control: 5/5. The Old One's Army is one of many invasion-type events where it shines.
Accuracy: 3/5. It relies on enemies entering its area of effect, but its area of effect is pretty wide.
Disruption: 0/5. Zero knockback, which forces you to rely on smart placement.
Safety: 5/5. Rather than resummoning, it's more suitable for eliminating enemies below you offscreen while you're flying.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Tavernkeep for 25 Defender Medals, after a mechanical boss has been defeated.

Best prefix: Demonic $$

Dropped by Ogre

Sleepy Octopod: D+
Think of it as a worse version of the Fetid Baghnakhs that covers both sides. Its range is undeniably awful, but at least it works when you're surrounded, which few broadswords can claim.

DPS: 3/5. As long as you stay within range, the damage on every third hit is pretty decent.
Crowd control: 4/5. It's alright. If you stack melee knockback, you can hold off enemies from both sides, which is neat.
Accuracy: Not applicable. For all intents and purposes, it's a broadsword, albeit one that can hit behind you. A bidirectional broadsword?
Disruption: 3/5. For what it's worth, it deals a good number of hits per second with strong knockback, but you may still have to lead your enemies backwards a bit.
Safety: 1/5. This is what kills its usefulness. It only works when you're close enough to an enemy to smell its breath. It also cannot hit anything that flies out of reach.
Availability: 3/5. 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. But disregarding Striking Moment, 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.

DPS:
Crowd control: 2/5. This isn't even an especially long sword.
Accuracy: Not applicable. If I were allowed to rate the accuracy of the Striking Moment parry, I'd rate it a solid 0/5.
Disruption: 2/5.
Safety: 1/5.
Availability: 3/5. 10% chance to drop from Ogre.

Best prefix: Legendary ¢

Phantom Phoenix: A+
Uses standard arrows.
competes in singletarget DPS with stormbow, decimates linear crowds

DPS: 4/5. It does have the option to use special ammo such as Holy Arrows and Ichor Arrows, and is fairly competent when using them. It turns Endless Quiver shots into flaming arrows, but the On Fire! debuff isn't as valuable as the fact that you're shooting an infinitely piercing projectile for free.
Crowd control: 5/5. The phoenix projectile pierces indefinitely, deals greatly increased damage, and explodes upon hitting a surface, but it only fires once every four shots. For more reliable crowd control, use Holy or Hellfire Arrows.
Accuracy: 3/5. It is somewhat awkward in that it alternates between arcing and straight-line projectiles, which interferes with accuracy beyond mid-range. It also needs to connect both shots in order to not suck, and that is harder when its arrows spread out a bit.
Disruption: 3/5. It's fast, but unlike the Megashark it's not fast enough to stunlock.
Safety: 4/5. Pretty decent for damaging things at a safe distance.
Availability: 3/5. 10% chance to drop from Ogre.

Best prefix: Unreal ¢

Tome of Infinite Wisdom: ?
pending

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5. It does a fair bit of work blasting away crowds with its secondary attack.
Accuracy: 5/5. The tornadoes have an enormous hitbox, hitting grounded enemies consistently even if they jump. The triple shot has high velocity, but I really don't think you'll be using it in any case.
Disruption: 4/5. The knockback on its secondary is very impressive for a magic weapon.
Safety: 4/5. Both attack modes have nice range and velocity.
Availability: 3/5. 10% chance to drop from Ogre.

Best prefix: Mythical ¢

Ghastly Glaive: D
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. I guess it works better when you use the statue-spawning trick that The Horseman's Blade is famous for, but on its own merit, it's miles behind the standard spears.

DPS: 3/5. This DPS is unlikely to be applied entirely to the target you're attacking. Also, unlike other spears, it can never hit the same target twice.
Crowd control: 4/5. The ghosts that it spawns have great crowd control potential, but you have no control over them. Relying on them is a bad idea.
Accuracy: 3/5. The hitbox is only at the tip, making spacing tricker than with the standard spears.
Disruption: 2/5. It's really not that fast. While Gungnir is speedy enough to juggle enemies and carry them backward, the Ghastly Glaive has no such ability.
Safety: 1/5. Its range is pretty bad, even for a spear.
Availability: 3/5. 10% chance to drop from Ogre.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢

Crafted from Chlorophyte Bars

Chlorophyte Claymore: D+
It's better than Excalibur, but the additional energy orb is mostly like an afterthought, and doesn't change its usage much. It's kind of a noob trap with its relatively high damage value.

DPS: 3/5. It's okay, just a bit on the slow side. The DPS of the orb alone is terrible.
Crowd control: 4/5. While it does pierce, the energy orb fires too infrequently and with too heavy an arc for the Chlorophyte Claymore to be a serious option for crowd control.
Accuracy: 2/5. The projectile's high gravity is annoying. It is also hard to adjust your aim when the projectile is fired once per second, at best.
Disruption: 2/5. Since the orb is too slow to interrupt enemies consistently, you're left with the same stunlocking abilities as any other sword.
Safety: 3/5. Since it has a projectile, it's slightly better than generic swords, but still among the worst projectile swords.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12.

Best prefix: Legendary $$

Chlorophyte Saber: C-
Because it has poor knockback and reach, it isn't a straightforward weapon to use. The Chlorophyte Saber will often let you down if you try to engage enemies with it directly. It's pretty good for picking off enemies that can't reach you, but the Chlorophyte Partisan does it better with its superior range. It does surprisingly well against Plantera because its blade destroys the drifting spores it spawns during its second stage, so if you don't mind trading off DPS, then go for it. Just keep in mind that the Death Sickle and even the Ice Sickle would do the same thing much more effectively.

DPS: 3/5. 4/5 if you can catch enemies with the blade, but that's difficult because its low knockback will force you to retreat a lot of the time.
Crowd control: 4/5. The spore cloud travels far enough to at least pierce a handful of enemies.
Accuracy: 3/5. Its spores are slow, relatively small, and don't travel very far. Enemies can also just walk out of the area of effect because they have no knockback.
Disruption: 1/5. The spores don't have any knockback, so all of the knockback comes from the blade, and that isn't much unless you're running a Titan Glove. Not being able to moonwalk is also a big disadvantage.
Safety: 4/5. A decent cheesing weapon, but the spore cloud doesn't travel that far, so you have to use its wall penetration creatively.
Availability: 5/5. 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. 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. One difference in the Mushroom Spear’s favor, however, is that the Mushroom Spear’s secondary attack is affected by the Flask of Ichor while the Chlorophyte Partisan’s is not.

DPS: 4/5. If you can maintain the proper distance, the Chlorophyte Partisan easily provides enough DPS to kill bosses with.
Crowd control: 5/5. It offers the same crowd-destroying abilities as most spears, but with enormous range.
Accuracy: 3/5. Some finesse is needed to catch enemies at the sweetspot, where the spores are released.
Disruption: 4/5. Unlike the Chlorophyte Saber, it shoots spores quickly enough to hold enemies in place, though there is some adjustment of spacing required.
Safety: 5/5. It has great range and wall cheesing abilities, though ironically it actually requires you to keep your distance in order to work.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $

Chlorophyte Shotbow: S
Uses standard arrows.
It offers benefits similar to the Daedalus Stormbow, but is more suitable for general use since it is much easier to aim. Loaded with Holy Arrows, it's possibly the best bossing weapon that you can obtain before beating Plantera, period.

DPS: 4/5. 5/5 with Holy Arrows, the recommended ammunition. It gives you a small taste of what's to come if you're hoping for a Tsunami, and still deals reasonable damage with the Endless Quiver.
Crowd control: 1/5 with most ammunition. 3/5 with Holy Arrows. Unlike the Hallowed Repeater, this weapon becomes very inefficient if you use piercing arrows like Hellfire, Jester, Unholy, and Chlorophyte. It's by no means incapable of dealing with crowds, but the Hallowed Repeater fulfills that role better.
Accuracy: 4/5. Good accuracy with a very minor spread, and better velocity than magic weapons.
Disruption: 3/5. Relatively low knockback, and I don't recommend supplementing it with Hellfire Arrows because of piercing mechanics.
Safety: 4/5. A line of sight ranged weapon.
Availability: 5/5. Crafted from Chlorophyte Bar x12.

Best prefix: Unreal $$

Venom Staff: B-
The extra range it has over the Poison Staff is a godsend, and allows some of its positive traits to shine through. However, it will still never be your safest option for dealing with multiple threats.

DPS: 4/5.
Crowd control: 4/5.
Accuracy: 2/5.
Disruption: 2/5.
Safety:
Availability: 3/5. Crafted from Poison Staff, Chlorophyte Bar x14.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Solar Eclipse (req: all mechanical bosses defeated)

Death Sickle: S
Very, very good in nearly any situation. It doesn't have any truly bad matchups, and it's only in extreme situations like the Pumpkin Moon where you'll be tempted to switch to something that pierces indefinitely. It falters a bit when used on the surface, but it still deserves S rank because it has such a great matchup against Plantera and the HM Dungeon. You may have to wait until after Plantera before you can obtain one with a manually-summoned eclipse, or you could just hoik through the temple door and collect Solar Tablets that way.

DPS: 4/5. One of the best Plantera killing weapons, though after Plantera you can find better alternatives for DPS.
Crowd control: 5/5. It effortlessly cuts through all but the densest crowds.
Accuracy: 4/5. It creates large, long-lasting projectiles, which cover a huge area and easily hit enemies within close- to mid-range.
Disruption: 5/5. Not even solid barriers can stop it from delivering its chain of hits, and it's better at juggling enemies into its sweetspot than the Chlorophyte Partisan. If anything, its knockback is sometimes too strong for its own good.
Safety: 5/5. The middling range is more than compensated for by its wall-piercing abilities. This advantage dwindles to a 3/5 when you use it on the surface.
Availability: 2/5. 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: B-
If you only got one Broken Hero Sword, it might be wiser to spend it on the True Excalibur, which is faster and fires more often. The True Night's edge does have a better matchup against small flying enemies thanks to the projectile's size. Usually you'd want to use it like a regular sword, but at this it is at least fairly competent.

DPS: 4/5. There are two rhythms you can use. One maximizes the swinging speed of the blade, the other maximizes the fire rate of the beam.
Crowd control: 3/5. The sword is decent for crowd control, but the beam contributes very little because it does not pierce.
Accuracy: 3/5. The projectile is quite large and travels reasonably quickly.
Disruption: 2/5. Locking down something like a Paladin isn't possible with the projectile alone, and you can't moonwalk while using it.
Safety: 4/5. Scores points for having a nice projectile that fires at a reasonable speed, but its performance is lackluster with the projectile alone.
Availability: 3/5. 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: B
You would only use this if you had a pre-Plantera eclipse that only yielded one Broken Hero Sword, but True Excalibur is a decent melee projectile in its own right. Firing a projectile for every swing is a significant advantage it has over the True Night's Edge, especially within melee range.

DPS: 4/5. According to the math, it has superior DPS to the True Night's Edge, though it requires you to hit consistently with narrower projectiles.
Crowd control: 3/5. The blade itself is great for crowd control. The beam, not so much.
Accuracy: 3/5. It is a bit narrower than the True Night's Edge, but that isn't a significant disadvantage.
Disruption: 3/5. It can stunlock from a distance, but if you're trying to use it against a Paladin, one miss and you might be toast. It's speedier than the True Night's Edge, but will still never be your top choice for enemy interruption.
Safety: 4/5. Very safe and easy to hit with, for a melee weapon.
Availability: 3/5. 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-
It's not the strongest sword in the game, and it may be trickier to use than the Death Sickle, but you can't ignore the Terra Blade's sheer speed, power, and range. Even if it is a bit overrated, it definitely deserves a high ranking. Use the blade itself if you can; its close-range hitbox is the main advantage it has over stuff like the Unholy Trident.

DPS: 4/5. The Terra Beam shoots seriously fast, to the point where you don't even need to be in melee range to dish out the hurt. 5/5 if you're also hitting with the sword.
Crowd control: 5/5. With very strong piercing combined with good DPS, it can shred the Old One's Army from offscreen.
Accuracy: 3/5. Probably the Terra Blade's main weakness, when compared to other endgame melee weapons. Fast-moving enemies and fliers can dodge Terra Beams easily.
Disruption: 5/5. Usually carries enemies away just with the beam alone. It's not great for disrupting flying enemies, though.
Safety: 4/5. The projectile's speed and range make it useful whether you're retreating or trying to hold your ground.
Availability: 3/5. 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)
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##

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

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

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

Seedler: S
While its base damage is relatively low, this weapon actually has very good DPS that isn't situational like the Flower Pow. Each seed hits like a highly spammable shotgun blast with 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.

DPS: 4/5. It's a reasonable bossing weapon that inflicts death by a thousand cuts. Ichor and the Shark Tooth Necklace improve it significantly.
Crowd control: 3/5. Like the Shadowflame Knife, it is meant to be used against scattered crowds rather than densely packed ones, but at this the Seedler is far superior. It is probably better to try to land the seed on a single target, though.
Accuracy: 5/5. It is very difficult to intentionally miss with this weapon; every seed is likely to hit everything within its line of sight.
Disruption: 4/5. Its knockback is good enough to hold an enemy back, and it has no problem kiting if you need to.
Safety: 5/5. It can be used to peg enemies from a great distance or from behind barriers, without giving up much of its DPS.
Availability: 2/5. 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 will serve reasonably well as a bossing weapon for a while.

DPS: 4/5. Decent damage per hit, and delivers a lot of hits very quickly.
Crowd control: 1/5. This is strictly to be used against single targets.
Accuracy: 3/5. It shoots in a fairly straight line, with middling velocity.
Disruption: 5/5. Despite its weak knockback, it shoots so fast that it can prevent any single enemy from approaching, even if it's Bone Lee.
Safety: 4/5. It is line-of-sight, and the leaves travel very far before expiring.
Availability: 2/5. 14.29% chance to drop from Plantera.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic/Masterful* $$$
*25% mana cost reduction may be worthwhile for general use

Nettle Burst: ?
pending (looks pretty good so far, as DPS was the only thing holding it back)

DPS: 3/5.
Crowd control: 5/5. The more enemies you can cluster together with this weapon, the better.
Accuracy: 4/5. It has a fairly large area of effect and is spammable.
Disruption: 4/5. The Vilethorn series at least excels at trapping enemies in a perpetual chain of hits.
Safety: 5/5. The Nettle Burst's range is decent, but not good enough to hit something offscreen, so its utility applies to underground areas only.
Availability: 2/5. 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. 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.

I would recommend against using it with Spectre armor, as neither set has enough power to make the Wasp Gun work. Instead, use individual armor pieces with maximum magic damage bonuses to push the Wasp Gun ahead of enemy defense and start to kill them rather than merely disrupt them.

DPS: 2/5. Its base DPS is passable, but it definitely depends on mage gear to deal significant damage.
Crowd control: 5/5. By spraying it around indiscriminately, you can hit basically everything on your screen.
Accuracy: 4/5. Faster enemies can sometimes escape the Wasp Gun, but most will be tracked down and worn away with a constant stream of damage.
Disruption: 5/5. Though it has no inherent knockback, the Wasp Gun is an extremely disruptive weapon against casters, Paladins, and other enemies that you would actually want to disrupt.
Safety: 5/5. With strong tracking and ricochet abilities, it can function at any distance, so consider it if you need to cheese a group of enemies that can't reach you (and if you have literally nothing else to dispose of them with).
Availability: 2/5. 14.29% chance to drop from Plantera.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

Grenade Launcher: ?
The Grenade Launcher deals high damage and fires rapidly, making it an incredibly effective crowd control tool. Its projectiles last a long time, making them likely to deal damage even if you miss. You need the height advantage, and you must also pay attention in order to avoid blowing yourself up. It's ideal for performing bank shots, and you'll get many such opportunities in the Dungeon. 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.

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5. You should be salivating if you encounter a dense group of enemies and you have a loaded Grenade Launcher.
Accuracy: 2/5. 4/5 (grounded). The projectiles bounce, which gives you a bit of leeway, although they still have low velocity and are affected by gravity. It's pretty forgiving as long as you have the height advantage.
Disruption:
Safety: 3/5. As long as you're somewhat aware of your surroundings, it's not hard to avoid being blown up. Use flight to your advantage.
Availability: 5/5. 100% chance to drop from Plantera the first time it is defeated in normal mode. 2/5 in Expert Mode where this doesn't apply.

Best prefix: Unreal $

Venus Magnum: ?
Uses standard bullets.
Anyone in the market for a single-target ranged Magic Dagger? Yeah, I didn't think so. If you're using the Endless Musket Pouch, then the Venus Magnum could theoretically outdamage the Megashark if you click fast enough. (And considering that this gun has no innate ammo conservation, the Musket Pouch is something to consider.) But the DPS difference is very slight, and the Megashark's autofire makes it so much more consistent for stunlocking, especially with Exploding Bullets. Most people would probably stick with the Megashark, and who can blame them?

DPS: 4/5. If you've got a good trigger finger, you might be able to surpass the Megashark in DPS, but you're going to have to work for it.
Crowd control: 2/5 even with the Endless Musket Pouch, thanks to its high knockback. 5/5 with Exploding Bullets.
Accuracy: 4/5. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets. With the Endless Musket Pouch it's more accurate than most guns thanks to the high velocity.
Disruption: 5/5 with its relatively high base knockback. Exploding Bullets are overkill.
Safety: 4/5. If you're using Exploding Bullets, it's slightly less safe, but the Venus Magnum is still among the better guns to pair them with.
Availability: 2/5. 14.29% chance to drop from Plantera.

Best prefix: Unreal $$

Pygmy Staff: C+
Pygmies are inaccurate and don't move as freely as twins or even spiders, but at least their non-piercing damage won't interfere with your primary weapon. You might as well fill the rest of your capacity with pygmies once you have three or so twins out and don't need further crowd control. They deal marvelous DPS against slow-moving enemies such as Plantera (rematch) and Golem, but against speedy targets like Martian Saucer and Duke Fishron, their accuracy is very close to zero. You should familiarize yourself with the situations in which you should and shouldn't use them.

DPS: 4/5. It improves linearly with the number of pygmies you've stacked; with a competent summoner loadout, its DPS is very good.
Crowd control: 1/5. While it cannot pierce, that can be considered a silver lining; it may not be accurate most of the time, but it will never interfere with your attacks.
Accuracy: 1/5. Oh boy. Their aim against fast-moving enemies is barely above stormtrooper level. They also don't have enough common sense to reposition themselves for a better shot.
Disruption: 2/5. Since they also tend to fire all at the same time, pygmies usually cannot provide a constant stream of hits, meaning that completely stunlocking an enemy is all but impossible.
Safety: 5/5. You can wander away for a bit with the pygmies still firing on an enemy, but it's probably better to resummon with a minion that flies.
Availability: 3/5. 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.

DPS: 3/5. Slightly worse than the Grenade Launcher. You can use it against enemies directly, but that isn't playing to this weapon's strengths.
Crowd control: 5/5. It does work against crowds that don't even exist yet.
Accuracy: 2/5. 4/5 (grounded). While it's better suited for laying traps for enemies in advance, it's surprisingly viable to just fire it against grounded enemies.
Disruption: 1/5. Rockets carry good knockback, but each shot is meant to hit something in the near future. Use something with better use time if you're being threatened in the present.
Safety: 3/5. When using the Proximity Mine Launcher, you need to adopt a "the floor is lava" approach, using flight, grappling, and platforms to avoid the ground. A stray explosion can hurt you a lot if you're careless, so just try to keep track of where you've been shooting.
Availability: 5/5. Sold by Cyborg for 35 gold.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$

Pulse Bow: A+
Spammable and cheap to use. It slices through invasion events, and can literally 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.

DPS: 4/5. Feeding it high-damage arrows still makes a difference, but the Endless Quiver works fine for most purposes.
Crowd control: 5/5. Very strong piercing makes it excellent at dealing with crowds.
Accuracy: 4/5. Accurate and fast, covering a wide area with high-velocity bouncing bolts.
Disruption: 3/5. It has reasonably good knockback when used with Venom Arrows, probably the best ammunition for the Pulse Bow. Even better with Hellfire Arrows. Otherwise, probably not.
Safety: 5/5. In addition to line of sight, it has the ability to perform some trick shots on enemies that can't reach you.
Availability: 1/5. 0.66% 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. The lifesteal is especially effective because melee is the tankiest of the four classes, and because Crimson worlds have the Flask of Ichor to pair it with. Try not to become overly reliant on it, or you might form bad habits that will bite you once you're fighting the final boss.

It has deceptively low combat stats for an S+ weapon. Consider it more of a defensive/regenerative tool, and try to use it only in the face of genuine danger, where it can often carry you through an otherwise unsurvivable situation. 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 Flask of Ichor adds extra tag damage.

DPS: 3/5. It is not an impressive DPS weapon by any stretch, but its damage is high enough that it doesn't struggle against normal enemies.
Crowd control: 2/5. At least more enemies mean more targets to steal health from, but past a certain point you'd better start trying to dispose of them instead.
Accuracy: 4/5. You need to use it at somewhat close range to maximize DPS, but at mid-range it is still likely to hit everything.
Disruption: 3/5. While its knockback was never all that great, it can hold off a few enemies with its good speed.
Safety: 3/5. Taking its life-stealing abilities into account, you might wonder if it's more unsafe NOT to be using it. It has limited range, but that's usually not a problem.
Availability: 1/5. Found in Crimson Chest, which is unlocked after Plantera has been defeated with a key that has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Crimson biome.

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

Scourge of the Corruptor: S
People always compare it to the Vampire Knives, which I find unfair. It has an entirely different role, and it performs that role very well: completely flooding an area with projectiles and murdering everything on and off the screen. No other weapon at this point is nearly as effective against the dungeon as the Scourge of the Corruptor. When using it above ground (such as against Betsy) it is often better to deliberately shoot the SotC against the ground than to launch it into the sky and risk a miss.

DPS: 4/5. Its raw damage is already pretty good, and the reliability of the homing effect really adds to this.
Crowd control: 3/5. The SotC has more-or-less constant DPS no matter how many enemies are present. It can handle crowds, but doesn't excel at it.
Accuracy: 5/5. Few weapons are as effective at filling the screen with homing projectiles as the Scourge of the Corruptor.
Disruption: 4/5. It's better for interrupting shooters than enemies that charge at you, though it can still slow them down considerably.
Safety: 5/5. Easily hits enemies offscreen and around corners, regardless of topography.
Availability: 1/5. Found in Corruption Chest, which is unlocked after Plantera has been defeated with a key that has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Corruption biome.

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

Rainbow Gun: A+
Fired a lifeform disintegration rainbow before it was cool. This weapon adds DPS to your setup for free, so there's no reason not to have it in your hotbar. Even non-mages can benefit from using this, though unlike the Magnet Sphere it does interfere with other sources of piercing damage, and is more aim-dependent.

DPS: 4/5. About the same DPS as the Leaf Blower, applied to every target.
Crowd control: 5/5. Eats crowds for breakfast.
Accuracy: 4/5. The area of effect is massive, and it's not hard to aim it at an angle that will catch most enemies.
Disruption: 5/5. No grounded enemies can escape the constant damage stream and huge area of effect, if you've angled the rainbow right.
Safety: 4/5. A point in its favor is that it can cover an area before it becomes occupied.
Availability: 1/5. Found in Hallowed Chest, which is unlocked after Plantera has been defeated with a key that has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Hallowed biome.

Best prefix: Mythical/Godly/Demonic $$$

Piranha Gun: ?
pending (all three piranhas usually attack the same target, so its performance is disappointingly similar to before. expected A-)

DPS: 3/5. Despite its middling damage value, the stream of damage it deals is fast, steady, and uninterruptible.
Crowd control: 3/5. While its job is to steadily eat through crowds, it usually only damages one enemy at a time. However, because hitting that enemy slows it down, it may give fighter enemies behind it time to walk into the piranha's active hitbox.
Accuracy: 3/5. It's perfectly accurate after it touches an enemy once, but getting off that first shot is not that easy because the piranha doesn't travel all that fast.
Disruption: 5/5. Its single-target disruptive abilities are unmatched.
Safety: 5/5. It only requires line-of-sight for an instant. You can also take advantage of weaker, less mobile enemies to start the chain.
Availability: 1/5. Found in Jungle Chest, which is unlocked after Plantera has been defeated with a key that has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Jungle biome.

Best prefix: Unreal/Godly/Demonic $$

Staff of the Frost Hydra: C+
The highest single-target DPS of any sentry, except the Lunar Portal and 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. 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.

DPS: 4/5. For a sentry, it's great. Scales well with increased capacity.
Crowd control: 1/5. The projectile it fires doesn't pierce.
Accuracy: 2/5. Like all other summoning weapons, it can't lead its shots, so it's good only against grounded and/or slow-moving enemies.
Disruption: 2/5. It fires faster than DD2 sentries and ties in speed with the Queen Spider, but doesn't interfere with enemy movement much.
Safety: 5/5. While it can be summoned anywhere on the screen, it is not an optimal sentry for wall cheesing, because it doesn't fire immediately upon being summoned. Use explosive traps for that.
Availability: 1/5. Found in Frozen Chest, which is unlocked after Plantera has been defeated with a key that has a 0.04% chance to drop from any enemy killed in the Snow biome.

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

Desert Tiger Staff: B-
Works somewhat like a flawed Stardust Dragon. Unlike with the Stardust Dragon, investing all your capacity into the Tiger is not a good idea, as its movement is just too limited. I suspect the optimal combination is actually 1 tiger with the remaining slots dedicated to ravens, since the tiger does occasionally have some downtime, and while it locks down enemies pretty well, it doesn't do so perfectly.

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

Best prefix:

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. Often 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's worth its weight in gold in most other situations, though using it does feel a bit like min-maxing sometimes. Incidentally, it is probably the most efficient weapon for extracting health from enemies with the Spectre Hood.

DPS: 3/5. Comparable to an independently-firing Megashark, albeit one with perfect aim.
Crowd control: 2/5. Despite only hitting one enemy at a time, it shoots fast enough to beat back two or three, and doesn't mind if they're flying.
Accuracy: 5/5. The lasers never miss.
Disruption: 5/5. Easily stunlocks any enemy, flying or grounded, with little effort.
Safety: 5/5. Excels when used underground in any topography, and it's pretty safe to use elsewhere because it practically immobilizes its targets.
Availability: 3/5. 0.33% chance to drop from Armored Bones of any type.

Best prefix: Mythical/Godly/Demonic $$$$

Kraken: A
If you haven't obtained The Eye of Cthulhu yet, the Kraken still does an excellent job, and it has a great matchup against the Dungeon to boot. It's nice how yoyos retain their utility for the entire game.

DPS: 4/5. It is a significant improvement over the Yelets, more than compensating for your enemies' increased defense.
Crowd control: 3/5. As with all yoyos, it is somewhat important to choose which target to prioritize within a crowd.
Accuracy: 5/5. There's always a use for a controllable melee weapon.
Disruption: 4/5. Notably, the Kraken can be thrown for an infinite duration, so you won't ever be forced to retract it prematurely.
Safety: 5/5. Do remain aware of Diabolists and Ragged Casters, who can easily force you out of a hiding spot.
Availability: 4/5. 0.25% chance to drop from any enemy in the HM dungeon.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Keybrand: C-
pending (deals crazy damage, expected same ranking as buffed Psycho Knife)

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 2/5. It handles two or three fighter enemies pretty well, but the same can be said of almost every HM Dungeon weapon.
Accuracy: Not applicable.
Disruption: 3/5. Since it has autoswing and enables moonwalking, it can consistently interrupt a Paladin, but you'd better pray that more enemies don't show up.
Safety: 1/5. It has more range than the Fetid Baghnakhs, and that's the best that can be said of it.
Availability: 4/5. 0.5% chance to drop from Armored Bones of any type.

Best prefix: Legendary $

Shadow Jousting Lance: F
Name any remotely threatening enemy, and the odds are high that it'll be something that the Shadow Jousting Lance literally cannot deal with. A Picksaw performs better in combat than this.

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

Best prefix:

Morning Star: ?
deals superb raw damage, especially with valhalla hybrid sets. a more direct approach towards clobbering enemies than durendal, though it still retains some tag damage. great stuff.

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

Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$$

Shadowbeam Staff: C
Because it fires a bouncing projectile that pierces enemies, it is often compared to the Water Bolt, one of the most popular pre-Hardmode weapons with similar properties. However, the Shadowbeam Staff doesn't come close to matching the Water Bolt's utility. Unlike the Shadowbeam, a single Water Bolt projectile can hit a single enemy multiple times and deal enough knockback to knock it away. The Water Bolt can also easily cover both sides even when not fighting in tight spaces, and its hitboxes linger for a long time; the Shadowbeam Staff cannot make any of these claims.

The Spectre Hood and Shadowbeam Staff formed what was considered an overpowered combination in 1.2.0.1, after which the Shadowbeam Staff was nerfed to deal diminishing damage when piercing multiple enemies. But it wasn't until 1.2.3 when the developers realized that the Spectre Hood was the real offender and took appropriate measures to tone it down. Unfortunately, the nerf to the Shadowbeam Staff was never reversed, and it remains mediocre to this day. It works best in situations where you're not at risk of being surrounded, which is not a recipe for a top-tier weapon. Also, by now you've likely formed the habit of flying over enemies and attacking them from above, a strategy that the Shadowbeam Staff doesn't execute well. I can't help but wonder if a certain Youtuber convinced the developers that this weapon was more powerful than it actually was.

DPS: 3/5. It's not good enough for bossing, but good enough to cut through regular enemies even if you're wearing a Spectre Hood.
Crowd control: 3/5. The diminishing damage really damages the viability of what would otherwise be a great crowd control weapon.
Accuracy: 3/5. It's very accurate within its line of sight, but after the first ricochet you can't really rely on it anymore. It's also extremely narrow, which isn't good.
Disruption: 4/5. It's fast, but not insanely fast, and has extremely minor knockback.
Safety: 5/5. Once the situation is in control, you can usually find a way to eliminate your enemies safely. The Kraken does this, too, but with better damage and no need for 300 IQ trick shots.
Availability: 1/5. 5% chance to drop from Necromancers.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Inferno Fork: B+
With its enormous area of effect and consistent damage stream, this is as reliable as a magic weapon without homing abilities can get. Unlike line-of-sight piercing weapons, it doesn't require much positioning to use properly. Despite its low velocity and lack of homing, it is a surprisingly effective weapon against Duke Fishron, a large target that charges at you predictably.

DPS: 4/5. The Inferno Fork shreds enemies with a consistent and rapid stream of damage.
Crowd control: 5/5. It sometimes knocks enemies out of its own area of effect, but usually they're left with nowhere to run.
Accuracy: 3/5. 4/5 (grounded). It travels somewhat slowly and is unsuited for aerial combat, but is much more likely to hit enemies on the ground.
Disruption: 5/5. You can usually repel huge groups of fighters just by firing it at your feet. It easily hits fast enough and with enough knockback to keep enemies stunned.
Safety: 4/5. Homing weapons may do a better job of eliminating offscreen enemies, but the Inferno Fork's slight wall penetration makes it better than most line-of-sight weapons.
Availability: 1/5. 5% chance to drop from Diabolists.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Spectre Staff: A+
For single targets, this is a bit 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. Against grounded enemies, you'll want to attack from the side rather than from above, because its homing projectiles are not quite as smart as those of the Bat Scepter.

DPS: 4/5.
Crowd control: 4/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption: 5/5.
Safety: 5/5.
Availability: 1/5. 5% chance to drop from Ragged Casters.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Rocket Launcher: ?
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. Requires constant awareness of your surroundings. 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.

further analysis pending

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5. Like the Grenade Launcher, it works pretty well for blowing crowds of enemies into bits.
Accuracy: 3/5. Velocity is not good enough to be effective at long range.
Disruption: 3/5. It has decent speed and knockback, but if the situation changes, you cannot afford to readjust your aim without thinking.
Safety: 1/5. Because it explodes against solid blocks, this is actually very risky to use, and unlike the Grenade Launcher, you can't abuse the height advantage to perform trick shots. Obviously I'm not going to give a good safety rating to a weapon that you can easily blow yourself up with.
Availability: 2/5. 5.56% chance to drop from Skeleton Commandos.

Best prefix: Unreal $

Tactical Shotgun: B+
Uses standard bullets.
The question you're probably asking is, "Is this better than the Megashark?" The answer to that question is really not that simple, and depends on what you want from your gun. If you're planning on challenging bosses, then yes, when loaded with Chlorophyte Bullets, the Tactical Shotgun will offer slightly better DPS than the Megashark (when using the same bullets). But in situations in which you're not using Chlorophyte Bullets, the Tactical Shotgun's lack of speed and accuracy makes it mostly inferior to faster automatic guns (though it is technically automatic). People often say that the Tactical Shotgun has a great synergy with Chlorophyte Bullets, but what they really mean is that this gun shouldn't be used with any other type of bullet—though to be fair, that combination is quite good.

DPS: 4/5. Assuming all its bullets hit their mark, it deals some pretty significant damage.
Crowd control: 2/5. You might hit multiple enemies with one shot sometimes. Or you could spray them from above with Exploding Bullets (5/5).
Accuracy: 2/5. Requires point-blank range to be effective at all. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets, obviously.
Disruption: 2/5. While it's decent at repelling a single target, it doesn't deal damage fast enough to interrupt chargers like Bone Lee.
Safety: 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets. 4/5 otherwise, though from that range all you can hope to do to your enemies is tickle them.
Availability: 2/5. 7.64% chance to drop from Tactical Skeletons.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$$$

Sniper Rifle: B
Uses standard bullets.
A fun and unique weapon to be sure, but like the Spectre Staff, it suffers from a lack of crowd control in a stage of the game where crowd control is becoming more important. Consider using it against Nebula Floaters and Diabolists, who can't teleport around if they are dispatched in one hit. Since each shot counts, Chlorophyte Bullets are your ideal choice for bossing. It can potentially be more effective than rapid-fire guns against enemies with high defenses. Also worth noting is that the Sniper Rifle is the only Hardmode gun that can use Meteor Shot effectively.

DPS: 4/5 on average. Its efficiency against normal enemies depends heavily on whether you get the OHKO with a critical hit or not.
Crowd control: 1/5. Meteor Shot can raise this to a 3/5. Exploding Bullets are also an option, if you like to live dangerously.
Accuracy: 3/5. It is very precise, but relies a lot on the player's own skill to be accurate. I'd recommend Chlorophyte Bullets to bypass this.
Disruption: 2/5. It has huge knockback, but usually disrupts enemies by killing them in one shot. I don't think that counts.
Safety: 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets. 4/5 otherwise. If you're using Exploding Bullets, just be careful.
Availability: 2/5. 7.64% chance to drop from Skeleton Snipers.

Best prefix: Unreal/Ruthless* $
*ideal if you've already maximized your critical chance

Paladin's Hammer: A+
With tremendous base damage, good speed, and high knockback, this weapon is useful in almost all situations. It is still a bit reliant on positioning, but once you have a clear shot, the Paladin's Hammer's performance is nearly unmatched. The big problem is of course how difficult it is to get. Not only are Paladins rare, they're incredibly dangerous. A good percentage of deaths in the HM Dungeon will likely involve a Paladin, and you can't collect any prizes if you're dead.

DPS: 4/5. Unlike a lot of piercing weapons, it's powerful enough that using it on a single target doesn't feel like much of a waste.
Crowd control: 5/5. It has infinite piercing and decent range, and really shines during invasion events.
Accuracy: 5/5. It travels incredibly fast, and its projectile is huge. Accuracy isn't a problem.
Disruption: 5/5. It has no problems disabling a Paladin, or Bone Lee, or even both at once. Easily blasts crowds of enemies backwards.
Safety: 3/5. Its range is somewhat short for a boomerang, but with such high velocity, you can start locking down enemies almost immediately once you enter line of sight.
Availability: 1/5. 6.67% chance to drop from Paladins.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Solar Eclipse (req: Plantera defeated)

The Eye of Cthulhu: S
A ridiculous weapon. The Kraken was already good enough. The damage that The Eye of Cthulhu deals is so obscenely high that lockdown and crowd control become somewhat irrelevant, not that this yoyo is bad at either of those things.

DPS: 5/5, with or without the Yoyo Glove.
Crowd control: 3/5. In practice, you will be tearing through crowds before they even have a chance to form.
Accuracy: 5/5. While yoyos aren’t exactly low-skillcap weapons, with practice it’s easy enough to target any single enemy with a barrage of hits.
Disruption: 4/5. With high attack speed and controllability, it can easily neutralize and dispose of a threat before another one spawns.
Safety: 5/5. The reach is very slightly lower than the Kraken's, not that you'd notice.
Availability: 4/5. 25% chance to drop from Mothron after Plantera has been defeated.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$$

Butcher's Chainsaw: C+
A chainsaw is a weapon that you likely didn't get much practice using up until now. It's pretty similar in usage to the Bladetongue, though by now you've seen a lot of alternatives with better range. You could say that this weapon is "high risk, high reward", but I prefer to think of it like "high risk, same reward as you'd get from using The Eye of Cthulhu". It's a bit more reliable for killing Vampires, Dungeon Spirits, and Deadly Spheres, and is generally the ultimate answer to enemies that chase you. Hilariously, the sparks activate the Spectre Hood's healing effect, so you could try that out if you enjoy gimmicks.

DPS: 5/5. No surprises there.
Crowd control: 4/5. The sparks cover a wide area and damage a crowd even if you're only attacking the front, which makes up for its lack of immediate attack range somewhat.
Accuracy: 4/5. It lacks a hitbox on the user's body, so you have to space yourself from enemies a little bit.
Disruption: 5/5. It attacks fast and has strong knockback, so anything that tries to charge you down will be sorry.
Safety: 1/5. No surprises there, either. Its viability is severely limited by its range, so it's too risky to use most of the time.
Availability: 3/5. 2.5% chance to drop from Butchers, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Psycho Knife: C
This is probably the strongest DPS broadsword in its tier, but the only enemies it does well against are still the slow, predictable kind. Most other weapons can offer just as much DPS from a much longer range.

DPS:
Crowd control:
Accuracy: Not applicable.
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 2/5. 2.5% chance to drop from Psychos, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated.

Best prefix: Legendary $$

Deadly Sphere Staff: ?
need to conduct further research and adjust for power creep

DPS: 3/5. Improves with capacity, though once you have three or more, you may wish to switch to pygmies. This weapon can replace the Optic Staff for all purposes.
Crowd control: 5/5. They have a very long charge distance, easily catching multiple enemies in their path.
Accuracy: 4/5. Actually pretty good. They chase enemies very quickly, even if they're flying around.
Disruption: 3/5. Their lockdown is decent when there are two or three attacking the same target, but this may be abruptly broken if they get snagged against a corner. Be sure to buff cancel if this happens.
Safety: 5/5. Since they fly, they're better for resummoning than pygmies.
Availability: 2/5. 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-
Its high mana cost is its main problem, along with the fact that the Inferno Fork outclasses it in almost every way. Those who aren't dedicated mages will find little use for this weapon. But mages can use this as a more realistic alternative to the infamously rare Inferno Fork.

DPS: 4/5. Enormous DPS potential, but with a steep mana cost that needs to be supported by mana potions.
Crowd control: 5/5. Affects an incredibly wide area. While each cloud will only hit enemies once, this hardly matters because it creates so many clouds.
Accuracy: 2/5. 4/5 (grounded). No grounded enemy can escape its mammoth-sized gas clouds. It does poorly against flying enemies, but that's not the Toxic Flask's intended use.
Disruption: 5/5. Completely immobilizes enemies in its area of effect.
Safety: 4/5. It requires you to fly over enemies and fire at them from above, but by now this is the safest strategy, and should be second nature to you.
Availability: 3/5. 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: A+
A powerful weapon when measured by its raw DPS, and one that's very true to the ranger playstyle because its lack of immediate knockback forces you to kite your enemies around while firing on them from a distance. It's best used against big, threatening targets that were immune to knockback in the first place, such as bosses; this is especially true because its ammo is rather expensive.

DPS: 5/5. Very high (delayed) damage per hit and a rapid fire rate makes this very good against bosses like Duke Fishron.
Crowd control: 2/5. Each blast does carry the potential to affect multiple enemies, but since the nails don't knock enemies back or interfere with their movement in any way, it's pretty unlikely that this will happen, and not worth worrying about.
Accuracy: 3/5. Reasonably high velocity, and shoots accurately.
Disruption: 1/5. Lack of immediate interruption was the tradeoff for the Nail Gun's incredible DPS. The explosions are disruptive, but not within the time frame I'd consider relevant.
Safety: 4/5. The explosions don't hurt you, so fire as freely as you wish. Maybe not too freely, though, since every shot costs you 1 silver.
Availability: 2/5. 4% chance to drop from Nailheads, which spawn in a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated.

Best prefix: Demonic $$$$

Dropped by Golem

Golem Fist: C-
The Golem Fist doesn't offer competitive DPS against bosses unless you move in close, and considering the next bosses are the likes of Everscream and Duke Fishron, you really cannot afford to play like that. It works well enough against common enemies, but against flying enemies, its own knockback becomes a nuisance.

DPS: 3/5. It is stronger within close range.
Crowd control: 2/5. It only hits one enemy at a time, but at least you're unlikely to get overwhelmed by ground-based enemies thanks to its knockback.
Accuracy: 4/5. Good velocity, and retracts quickly so it doesn't penalize misses.
Disruption: 5/5. Easily sends most things flying. Not only does it repel enemies, you might end up having to chase them as you smack them across the screen.
Safety: 3/5. It's kind of like a straight line, but with considerably less range than ranged weapons.
Availability: 3/5. 12.5% chance to drop from Golem.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$

Possessed Hatchet: A+
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 fast bosses that you're having trouble hitting consistently.

DPS: 4/5. While not incredibly high, the DPS of this weapon is very stable.
Crowd control: 2/5. Because it's a homing weapon, it doesn't do badly against invasions, but it can usually only strike multiple enemies on the return trip.
Accuracy: 5/5. It's homing, not much else to say here.
Disruption: 5/5. With its accuracy and constant rate of fire, it is very good at interrupting enemies no matter how quickly they move.
Safety: 5/5. It has a strong homing effect that allows you to keep your distance while dealing the same amount of damage.
Availability: 3/5. 12.5% chance to drop from Golem.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Stynger: ?
A budget Jack 'O Lantern Launcher, mostly, but among the more powerful weapons dropped by Golem. It would be more tempting to use if Stynger Bolts were cheaper. Its good matchup against the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon is a bonus, but you might prefer a Nail Gun for the minibosses themselves.

DPS: 4/5 on most enemies, but you should be attacking from above to maximize the damage dealt by the shrapnel.
Crowd control: 5/5. It carpets the ground with explosions, so the more enemies on the ground, the better.
Accuracy: 4/5. Against grounded enemies (the intended targets), the area of effect is mostly inescapable. It's kind of usable on flying enemies, too, but not great.
Disruption: 4/5. Most enemies have trouble getting through the constant explosions.
Safety: 4/5. It only shines when your enemies are clustered below you, but at least its accuracy doesn’t suffer too much at a distance with its decent velocity.
Availability: 3/5. 12.5% chance to drop from Golem.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$

Heat Ray: A-
Its single-target damage output is extremely good 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.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 1/5.
Accuracy: 4/5.
Disruption: 4/5.
Safety: 4/5.
Availability: 3/5. 12.5% chance to drop from Golem.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$

Staff of Earth: A+
Crushes groups of enemies over a wide area, and hits like a truck. Among the best magic weapons against the Martians, and even puts in work against the Lunar events. Absolute unit of a weapon.

DPS: 4/5. While not insanely fast like many other magic weapons, it deals stupendous damage per hit.
Crowd control: 5/5. Does excellently against invasions.
Accuracy: 4/5. It fires at high velocity, so it can easily hit anything on-screen. It is better against grounded enemies, but not completely unusable against flying ones.
Disruption: 2/5. Not the fastest weapon, but it absolutely sends enemies flying.
Safety: 4/5. Usually you will still need a clear shot.
Availability: 3/5. 12.5% chance to drop from Golem.

Best prefix: Mythical $$$$

Pumpkin Moon

Stake Launcher: B+
A reasonable alternative to the Pulse Bow that is very satisfying to use. You do have to be grounded to take advantage of the best firing angle, meaning that this is a very logical choice against the Old One's Army, but not against swarms of annoying flying things. Its performance improves dramatically on flat terrain, and although it has autofire, you’ll find that your accuracy may improve if you ignore it and shoot once per click.

DPS: 4/5. Good damage per hit, offsetting its mediocre speed.
Crowd control: 5/5. Near-unlimited piercing and infinite range. This is the Stake Launcher’s intended strength.
Accuracy: 3/5. Very high velocity and shoots in a straight line, but still rather narrow. With its somewhat slow speed, it feels less accurate than it actually is.
Disruption: 3/5. A bit slower than most ranged weapons, but its knockback is very impressive.
Safety: 4/5. Still better suited for lining up shots on the ground than strafing enemies from above.
Availability: 3/5. 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 more situational than you might hope. The main issue is that it requires being in melee range to work, which of course means putting yourself at risk. This problem is made worse by its unimpressive speed compared to the Terra Blade or even the Keybrand. You can fix some of its weaknesses by equipping a Mechanical Glove, but it generally won't be your best option for dealing with truly dangerous situations.

DPS: 5/5. Thanks to its special ability, each hit counts as two. If you can keep hitting something reliably, its damage output is enormous.
Crowd control: 3/5. The pumpkin projectiles offer little in the way of crowd control, but this weapon becomes much more effective if you have a crowd to use it on.
Accuracy: Not applicable. While the pumpkin projectiles never miss, they're only spawned from a sword strike, so the Horseblade is functionally just a sword that hits twice.
Disruption: 5/5. It carries immense knockback, and can launch most enemies like tennis balls. I'd recommend using a Mechanical Glove to supplement its average speed.
Safety: 1/5. While it is potentially quite rewarding, The Horseman's Blade still requires you to use a sword the way swords are traditionally used. It is very difficult to use it without taking a lot of damage, especially if your enemies are knockback-immune.
Availability: 2/5. 1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

Candy Corn Rifle: B+
Barring Meowmere, this can be considered the best of the weapons that utilize gravity-affected, bouncing projectiles to strafe a wide area. It has a tremendous area of effect no matter where it's used. Best of all, its ammo is dirt cheap, though you will probably need several stacks if you're planning on using it a lot.

DPS: 4/5. It can be improved a bit if you fire directly downward at a large target such as an Everscream; the solid curtain of bouncing, piercing projectiles deals damage slightly faster than if you just fire it normally.
Crowd control: 5/5. No crowd stands a chance, and unlike a lot of piercing weapons, it doesn't require them all to be standing in a line.
Accuracy: 4/5. Bouncing was never very reliable to begin with, but that starts to matter less when the entire screen is full of corn.
Disruption: 4/5. It may not be as reliable as homing weapons for locking down a target, but the advantage of the Candy Corn Rifle is that it can't be meat shielded.
Safety: 5/5. It requires the height advantage to work well, which you may not always have when underground. By now you’re probably spending more time on the surface, so no points lost there.
Availability: 2/5. 1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Jack 'O Lantern Launcher: A-
The explosive jack 'o lanterns deal damage twice when they hit an enemy directly, making it much stronger than it may first appear. It is used exactly the same way as the Candy Corn Rifle: fly over your enemies and strafe them from above. This may be considered a direct upgrade to both the Grenade Launcher and Stynger.

DPS: 4/5. Each projectile deals damage twice, so in terms of DPS, the Jack 'O Lantern Launcher is like a Sniper Rifle with an improved fire rate.
Crowd control: 4/5. Because it lacks exceptional knockback and attack speed, it doesn't force enemies into clusters like an automatic gun with Exploding Bullets would, but still deals with crowds very well, even those that include flying enemies.
Accuracy: 4/5. The large projectile size compared to the Candy Corn Rifle makes it easier to hit with, and the jack 'o lanterns usually end up hitting something before they explode in midair.
Disruption: 2/5. It's slower than the Candy Corn Rifle, so I wouldn't use it for trying to keep enemies away.
Safety: 5/5. While it does require the height advantage, its bouncing properties can be used creatively to deal with enemies underground.
Availability: 2/5. 1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

Bat Scepter: A
This is a long-range weapon highly specialized for killing flying enemies. With its consistent damage, 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.

DPS: 4/5. Not just high, but very consistent thanks to the homing effect.
Crowd control: 1/5. It loses effectiveness against crowds because it doesn’t pierce.
Accuracy: 5/5. When used aboveground, it doesn't miss. Underground, some bats might collide with blocks, but whatever.
Disruption: 4/5. With such an enormous quantity of projectiles in a constant stream, the weapon’s weak knockback isn't too big a problem if you're facing one enemy.
Safety: 5/5. It doesn’t function quite as well underground, but usually you can just spray it in your enemies’ general direction regardless of distance or topography.
Availability: 2/5. 1.79% to 14.29% chance to drop from Pumpking, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$

Raven Staff: A-
Its tracking is not perfect, but it shreds through slower enemies that can't outpace the ravens. Until you get the Xeno Staff, you'll absolutely want to use this.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 5/5.
Accuracy: 3/5.
Disruption: 3/5.
Safety: 5/5.
Availability: 2/5. 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 meant 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. The "Dark Energy" described in its tooltip essentially adds an AoE poison effect to your minions' attacks, dealing 10 extra damage per hit as long as your minions are attacking clustered enemies.

DPS: 4/5.
Crowd control: 4/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption: 5/5.
Safety: 3/5.
Availability:

Best prefix: Sluggish/Bulky $$$$
 
Last edited:
Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
Dropped by Duke Fishron

Flairon: S
An incredible melee weapon that is named after 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. 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.

DPS: 5/5. Very stable and very high with the sheer number of homing bubbles it spits out.
Crowd control: 3/5. Since it creates so many projectiles, it's better at crowd control than most non-piercing weapons.
Accuracy: 5/5. Not only does it not penalize you for missing, it rewards you for missing. The longer the flail extends, the more homing projectiles it pumps out.
Disruption: 5/5. It delivers a constant stream of hits, all of which will likely be knocking your target away. Extremely effective for repelling enemies.
Safety: 5/5. Easy to use while kiting. You can just let the homing properties do all the work.
Availability: 3/5. 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. With Holy Arrows, it has an incredibly good matchup against the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon, and might be your best shot at reaching the later waves. Don't use it with arrows that pierce or explode.

DPS: 5/5. With Holy Arrows, you will be dealing more than three times what I would still consider a 5/5 on a weapon of this tier.
Crowd control: 5/5 with Holy Arrows, 2/5 otherwise. Like with Polyphemus in The Binding of Isaac, any overkill damage can be applied to the enemy behind the one you killed.
Accuracy: 4/5. Holy Arrows have somewhat lower velocity, but the line of arrows is so wide that usually hitting things isn't an issue. With Venom Arrows or a Magic Quiver, this problem disappears.
Disruption: 3/5. It doesn't have great knockback, but with Holy Arrows, does that even matter when almost everything dies in one shot?
Safety: 4/5. Deals line of sight damage from any distance, but your target still has to be on the screen.
Availability: 3/5. 20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron.

Best prefix: Unreal $$

Razorblade Typhoon: S+
Possibly the best magic weapon in the game for general use. It rapidly and effortlessly cuts through hordes of enemies of any size, immobilizing them in an unrelenting barrage of hits. Pressing the hotkey corresponding to the Razorblade Typhoon is likely to become second nature to those who use it, because it's just so easy to use. This is what I used to heal myself up while testing the other weapons on this list.

DPS: 4/5. It's okay for bossing, but not the absolute highest single-target DPS you have access to at this point.
Crowd control: 5/5. It can easily damage and juggle every enemy on your screen at once.
Accuracy: 5/5. Aiming? What's that?
Disruption: 5/5. With its immense size, velocity, and both homing and bouncing properties, constantly hitting and immobilizing enemies with the Razorblade Typhoon takes no effort whatsoever.
Safety: 5/5. Murders everything on and off the screen regardless of topography.
Availability: 3/5. 20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron.

Best prefix: Mythical $$

Bubble Gun: B
At the cost of attack range, it offers incredible single-target DPS that shreds most enemies before they can even touch you. Its range is actually not that bad, either. Slightly matchup-dependent, but it works incredibly well in the situations it does work well in. It also has an incredibly low mana cost, so you'll almost never have to support it with mana potions or even Celestial Cuffs.

DPS: 5/5. Roughly the DPS equivalent of two Bat Scepters, this weapon is like a magical shotgun that fires at machine-gun speed.
Crowd control: 3/5. Its DPS is high enough that it eliminates most enemies in a fraction of a second, so despite its lack of piercing, it performs pretty well against crowds.
Accuracy: 4/5. It pumps out bubbles quickly and covers a decently wide area.
Disruption: 5/5. Anything not KB-immune will be completely unable to approach.
Safety: 2/5. It's not hard to use against enemies that chase you, but you are a bit more vulnerable to projectiles at close range.
Availability: 3/5. 20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron.

Best prefix: Godly/Demonic/Masterful* $$
*25% mana cost reduction may be worthwhile for general use

Tempest Staff: C
The same damage value as deadly spheres, but far less accurate against moving enemies. You need a good-sized swarm of sharknadoes to compensate for their lack of accuracy, so if you're not using summoner equipment, this weapon is very skippable. A very underrated feature of the sharknado minion is that it has a hitbox even when it isn't firing. This means that your sharknado swarm is a portable barrier against flying enemies, and you can hide behind it to punish things that charge at you.

DPS: 4/5. If it could land all of its shots, its DPS would actually be pretty high.
Crowd control: 1/5. They don't pierce, and while the sharknadoes themselves inflict contact damage, they usually float too high to deal any, unless you lure enemies into them.
Accuracy: 2/5. Can't consistently hit anything that moves. Sharknadoes are more accurate when they move in close, and they will dutifully attempt to do so.
Disruption: 2/5. Their knockback and firing speed aren't all that great. They can prevent enemies from reaching you by straight-up killing them, but not by knocking them away.
Safety: 5/5. They do have a hitbox on contact, and fire once when summoned, making them among the better candidates for resummoning spam.
Availability: 3/5. 20% chance to drop from Duke Fishron.

Best prefix: Ruthless $$

Dropped by Empress of Light

Starlight: B+
If you loved the Fetid Baghnakhs in 1.3, you'll love this. It's not much of a bossing weapon, and using it against normal enemies is complete overkill. However, Starlight will single-handedly earn you every Pumpkin Moon drop once you hit the final wave.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 5/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption: 5/5.
Safety: 2/5.
Availability:

Best prefix:

Eventide: S
Everything I said about Tsunami applies equally to Eventide.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control:
Accuracy: 4/5.
Disruption:
Safety: 4/5.
Availability:

Best prefix:

Nightglow: S
Excellent bossing weapon that will mostly replace your Rainbow Rod or Spectre Staff. Seeking range is very high, and it can chase anything on your screen provided it has an unobstructed view. Has no utility underground.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 4/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption:
Safety: 4/5. Projectiles spawn near you with no initial velocity, so line-of-sight is still required.
Availability:

Best prefix:

Stellar Tune: A+
Homing, but only within a certain range. 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.

DPS:
Crowd control:
Accuracy:
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 0/5.

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.

DPS: 5/5. Tremendously enhances Xeno Staff DPS, and even makes the Blade Staff relevant for a while.
Crowd control: 4/5. Reduced damage against multiple enemies, but it applies tag damage, and that's the important part.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption: 4/5.
Safety: 3/5.
Availability:

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 better 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.

DPS: 5/5.
Crowd control: 5/5.
Accuracy: 5/5.
Disruption: 3/5.
Safety: 5/5.
Availability: 0/5.

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.

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: ?
Pending

DPS:
Crowd control:
Accuracy:
Disruption:
Safety:
Availability: 1/5. why is this so rare. oh my god.

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: A-
This is a much better weapon than the North Pole, I'll tell you that much.

DPS:
Crowd control:
Accuracy: 3/5.
Disruption: 3/5.
Safety: 4/5.
Availability: 2/5. 5.19% to 7.78% chance to drop from Everscream, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Legendary $$$$

Razorpine: S
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 Bat Scepter, Bubble Gun, and Laser Machinegun can be considered variants of the Razorpine, but none of them offer the same combination of DPS and consistency. It's often said that magic starts popping off in the endgame, and the people who say that are probably referring either to the Razorpine or Razorblade Typhoon. I'm detecting a theme here.

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: ?
pending

DPS:
Crowd control: 5/5. Just as good as the Flamethrower for catching large groups of enemies.
Accuracy: 5/5. Very wide, covers a huge area, and basically has a damaging hitbox up 100% of the time.
Disruption: 4/5. The constant stream of fire is decent for interrupting enemies, but most of them can still plow through it.
Safety: 4/5. Very long range makes it essentially equivalent to line-of-sight.
Availability: 2/5. 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.

DPS: 5/5. If you can get all your shots to hit, it has unrivaled DPS. Usually that means attacking a large target.
Crowd control: 3/5. You probably do want to use it against crowds, considering that most of its shots will miss if you target a lone enemy anyways.
Accuracy: 1/5. The projectiles take some time to fall and have a wide spread, so aiming it is extremely difficult. It copes very poorly with any sort of enemy movement.
Disruption: 4/5. You can immobilize an enemy completely if you catch it in the icicle stream, though not as reliably as with the Razorpine.
Safety: 5/5. If you bunker down, you'll probably be punished for it, so stay on the lookout for enemies that can penetrate walls. Not being able to strike enemies offscreen is somewhat annoying.
Availability: 1/5. 4.4% to 7.52% chance to drop from Ice Queen, scaling with wave progression.

Best prefix: Mythical $$

North Pole: B
A very weird 300 IQ weapon that works by firing over enemies and carpeting them with projectiles. It can do a lot of work in the right situations, but when you compare it to the Flairon, it just isn't as reliable. One could argue that its effectiveness is roughly equal to a Dart Rifle with Cursed Darts, which has the added benefit of creating lingering hitboxes on the ground. Probably among the highest skill caps of any weapon, and I doubt it has exceptionally great potential. At least it's more spammable than the Blizzard Staff.

DPS: 5/5. Your mileage may vary, depending on positioning. It hurts a lot if you lob its projectiles straight upwards, adjusting for wind direction, but it is not very versatile at all.
Crowd control: 4/5. Hitting a large crowd requires adjusting your throw to cover a wider area with less concentrated fire.
Accuracy: 1/5. If the recommended attack mode is to lob stuff over your enemies, it's safe to say that it won't win any points for accuracy. You can still use the spear and projectile, which will usually score at least two hits.
Disruption: 5/5. Once you've set up your snow curtain, you can dodge most enemies just by getting on the other side, though it takes a while to set up.
Safety: 4/5. It's basically identical in usage to the Blizzard Staff, but doesn't penetrate walls.
Availability: 1/5. 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: B+
Sure it's called "Aerial Bane", but the high gravity of its projectiles makes it hard to hit flying enemies. It is very rewarding if you can land your shots, but if you're having trouble with that, don't be afraid to ditch it and switch to something with Chlorophyte Bullets. Also, don't underestimate its effectiveness against grounded troops.

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. Be sure to feed it high-damage arrows; the DPS when using Venom Arrows is roughly double that of the Endless Quiver. 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: B+
People aren't giving this weapon enough credit. It's very strong for grounded crowd control and deals a great deal of single-target damage if you can land both rockets. The main issue with the Celebration, of course, is that unlike the Phantasm and S.D.M.G, it only has one mode of attack. Passable overall, but probably not as useful as the Snowman Cannon. Definitely better than the Rainbow Crystal Staff, though.

DPS: 4/5. Requires both rockets to land in order to deal good DPS.
Crowd control: 5/5. Maybe not as reliable as the Snowman Cannon, but it's still among the best ranged crowd control weapons.
Accuracy: 2/5. The rockets spread a bit and don't travel that quickly, so its utility against flying enemies is questionable.
Disruption: 3/5. While it shoots relatively slowly, rockets are still pretty disruptive when they land.
Safety: 3/5. Pretty similar to a shotgun with its poor accuracy. You need to stay fairly close to deal consistent damage.

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 $$$$
 
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Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
The Clinger Staff is ranked a little higher because its wall of cursed flames can just be thrown down without a second thought, just like with the Nimbus Rod. It is definitely worse than the Nimbus Rod, but you don't really have to pay much attention to it, so usually it's just free additional DPS. It also helps that you can use the Clinger Staff and Nimbus Rod at the same time.
 
sharkman0101

sharkman0101

Spazmatism
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.
 
Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
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.
 
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sharkman0101

sharkman0101

Spazmatism
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
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Godley

Godley

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

Baconfry

Terrarian
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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Shh! We don't want people to find out; it would take the fun out of the game!
 
Baconfry

Baconfry

Terrarian
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.
 
Gotcha!

Gotcha!

Pumpking
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

Mage-of-Rage

Plantera
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

Baconfry

Terrarian
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

Baconfry

Terrarian
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

sharkman0101

Spazmatism
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!
 
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