In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list

Another potential thing to consider is moving the terrarian up (probably S-, but S could also be argued). In 1.4.4 it was changed so that the yoyo and the projectiles use static immunity (which are separate from each other, allowing the yoyo and projectiles to damage the same target at the same time). It's a pretty significant dps increase (and might make using yoyo bag with it a better idea), and from my testing puts up similar dps to vortex stealth SDMG w/ chlorophyte bullets (though it lacks the SDMG's consistency since you actually need to aim it), plus it pierces. Then again, endgame weapon tiering isn't that important and A+ is still a reasonable enough ranking for it.
 
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Baconfry said:
Rainbow Crystal Staff: B

Sort of does the same thing as the Lunar Portal Staff, but a little bit worse. It doesn't cover as much of the screen, it can't hit enemies that are moving too fast, and its attack range is just as limited. However, it does provide higher DPS than the Lunar Portal Staff against Moon Lord if you are standing still (not recommended unless you have 140+ defense). And it decimates the Lunatic Cultist in seconds since he stands still during all of his attacks. The Lunar Portal Staff does a much better job of protecting you when facing the pillars, though I suppose you can't afford to be picky; both Moon Lord sentries are far better than whatever sentry you were using up until now, so use whichever one you get.



Lunar Portal Staff: A+
A monstrous choice for sentry-focused builds, and one of the few Moon Lord weapons that I consider fun to use. All sentries have the disadvantage of forcing you to fight in a limited area in order to use them properly, but the Lunar Portals make up for it by killing absolutely everything. A defensive Valhalla Knight set can completely deny Moon Lord's deathray through sheer DPS alone, and an offensive Stardust set can still use it to shave off half of the top eye's health before you have to get out of there and fight Moon Lord the usual way. This completely outclasses every other sentry, but if you want it to be a primary source of DPS against Moon Lord, you'll have to run a defensive set. You can use Stardust Helmet + VK Breastplate + Stardust Leggings, or Shinobi Helmet + VK Breastplate + Stardust Leggings in Classic mode if you got less than 80 Luminite on your first Moon Lord kill.

Dodging the Moon Lord's deathrays when your screen is covered in similar-looking deathrays may prove difficult, which is another reason why I recommend defensive builds with this weapon.
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Was the Rainbow Crystal staff's description updated with Lunar Portal's buff?
 
randomuser425 said:
Was the Rainbow Crystal staff's description updated with Lunar Portal's buff?
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Indeed it was, and I ran a few more Moon Lords just to make sure.

RC deals substantially more DPS to Moon Lord's parts when summoned directly on top of them. But it copes so poorly with any kind of movement that Lunar Portal still beats it even when I babysit them by resummoning them on top of Moon Lord's parts, because he moves his hands back and forth ever so slightly. RC did deal like 14000+ DPS to the core though. Predictably, it all goes to :red: when you move your character at all whatsoever, and Lunar Portal had that problem to a much lesser extent. RC is not great overall but I guess you can't expect too much from a stationary sentry.
 
Baconfry said:
Also, it would seem that the Stardust Cell has the advantage of dealing non-piercing damage, which would allow it to deal damage alongside your piercing main weapons... but unfortunately, it actually deals piercing damage, just like the Ballista Staff and Influx Waver. It won't interfere with itself and it won't interfere with your main weapon, but it won't perform at its full potential if you're using something like Razorblade Typhoon or Solar Eruption.
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I assume this was written years ago for an older version of the game but I'm pretty sure this isn't true anymore. I'll copypaste myself from Discord since I'm lazy:

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Dapling said:
at this point this has become a common enough thing that I wonder if it’s a running joke between a bunch of people to do it
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No no no, I am not joking. I have stuff that I dont agree with this tier list, and although I would write it, I cant find enough time to do it. And also I am sure I am gonna start a whole 2 page long discussion due to the possiblity of some people thinking that I am wrong. Actually I am open for discussions, I just dont want it to get heated or agressive. If it doesnt I am okay.
 
Meowlegend said:
No no no, I am not joking. I have stuff that I dont agree with this tier list, and although I would write it, I cant find enough time to do it. And also I am sure I am gonna start a whole 2 page long discussion due to the possiblity of some people thinking that I am wrong. Actually I am open for discussions, I just dont want it to get heated or agressive. If it doesnt I am okay.
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The tier list is like hundreds of entries long, so this is not surprising, really.

I'd say go for it. I actually prefer that you don't make a super long post about every placement you want to discuss, because then I have to make a super long post responding to it. I don't mind if we tackle just like 2-3 entries at a time.
 
Bubble Gun should be ranked much higher than just B+, not only is it one of the highest DPS weapons pre-cultist (and especially before that), but its sheer damage output makes it viable for pillars & Moon Lord. It also has the feat of being able to speedkill Master EoL in under 20s without when minmaxed enough (no Hybrid Summoner builds needed).
 
Baconfry said:
Excalibur: C+
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if True Excalibur is A, slightly worse True Excalibur can't be this much worse. Being short-lived isn't an argument for viability, especially for a weapon that is basically free
Baconfry said:
Tactical Shotgun: B
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It's weaker than Sniper rifle on top of having an atrocious spread that makes it actually unusable without Chlorophyte bullets, it's affected heavily by defense... this should drop to C+

Baconfry said:
Razorblade Typhoon: A
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Baconfry said:
Snowman Cannon: S
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One is a magic weapon that is outclassed against bosses, but allows you to beat any enemy encounter by holding M1

The other is a ranged weapon that is outclassed against bosses, but allows you to beat any enemy encounter by holding M1

They are both the same, they should have the same rank

Baconfry said:
Betsy's Wrath: S+
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Betsy's Curse is overrated, it's unusable against normal enemies (you have so much DPS at this point that you can kill everything in 1 second) and for bosses... let's put into context

bows and whips/melee weapons always use Ichor Arrows or Flask respectively, so applying Ichor is free. Magic weapons get an upgrade here sure, but put it into context. If you have this you are likely right about to go to Pillars, where even pillar enemies die too quickly to get mileage out of applying this, and then for moon lord you have Nebula Blaze that doesn't get much benefit out of this

I stand that this should be seen as a strong weapon with a useful debuff and not the other way around, i've been saying this before it got almost double damage in 1.4.1
Baconfry said:
Solar Eruption: A-
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Nah. It's slow and god awful against moon lord, not even that strong against Pillar enemies. B+
 
Meowlegend said:
No way you actually said this
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It is true, Solar Eruption just isn't that great of a weapon. I wouldn't even put it in top 5 recommended weapons for Moon Lord, other weapons at earlier stages just beat it out of existence (notably Flying Dragon, Terra Blade, or Horseman's Blade/Starlight if you wanna be risky). Even if you wanna keep it to the 2 solar weapons Daybreak is just the superior option so there's no point in crafting Solar Eruption

Speaking of Horseman's Blade that weapon deserves a massive bump in this list
 
Excalibur can rise to somewhere in B, but if I do that, Chlorophyte Saber also needs to rise. No matter what, I will emphasize that Chlorophyte Partisan is better than both. I could also drop TExcal a bit, but people seem to like TExcal a lot, so I'm leaning towards not doing that

Tactical Shotgun can drop, but no further than B- because it is a heck of a lot better than the likes of rocket launcher and candy corn rifle. it is perfectly usable with crystal bullets, and even though chloro synergy is overrated, it is a synergy

RB Typhoon and Snowman Cannon can both be A, I see nothing wrong with that. Snowman Cannon's current analysis suggests A. Charged Blaster Cannon would also drop for the same reasons

Betsy's Wrath may be dropped to S or S- with the description rewritten to emphasize that it mostly benefits guns and summoners

Solar Eruption will drop to whatever tier is one bracket above Starlight, because it's basically drunk Starlight with wall pierce. So for any changes to be made, we would also be dropping Starlight

I am not convinced that HorseBlade should be tiered any higher than the likes of Butcher's Chainsaw, Psycho Knife, Keybrand, and friends
 
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Heath04🌳 said:
It is true, Solar Eruption just isn't that great of a weapon. I wouldn't even put it in top 5 recommended weapons for Moon Lord, other weapons at earlier stages just beat it out of existence (notably Flying Dragon, Terra Blade, or Horseman's Blade/Starlight if you wanna be risky). Even if you wanna keep it to the 2 solar weapons Daybreak is just the superior option
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I disagree, Solar Eruption is a great weapon. It does better against pillars and events than Terrablade and Starlight, simply because of the daybroken debuff (which as far as I can remember, was the strongest DoT debuff in the game, I might be wrong though) and the fact that it goes throughout walls and pierces throughout enemies. The only thing it kinda has a downside is that it doesnt do great against Moonlord and have shorter range than the Terrablade, but other than that if you have enough fragments to craft both the Eruption and Daybreak, you can Craft the Eruption and demolish the pillars. Atleast that is what I did. And also, obviously you wont use Solar Eruption against Moonlord because it is not a weapon designed for single target but rather a crowd-control one. For Moonlord you go with the Daybreak.

Heath04🌳 said:
so there's no point in crafting Solar Eruption
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Personally, in a Melee playthrough I always craft it along with the Daybreak if I have enough fragments. I think it does better than the Terrablade.

Important note: I am only speaking from my experience. I am not a extremely professional weapon ranker and such I can be wrong on such things, but as long as we keep it calm and have a normal discussion I am okay if you guys disagree with my takes.
 
Meowlegend said:
I disagree, Solar Eruption is a great weapon. It does better against pillars and events than Terrablade and Starlight, simply because of the daybroken debuff (which as far as I can remember, was the strongest DoT debuff in the game, I might be wrong though) and the fact that it goes throughout walls and pierces throughout enemies. The only thing it kinda has a downside is that it doesnt do great against Moonlord and have shorter range than the Terrablade, but other than that if you have enough fragments to craft both the Eruption and Daybreak, you can Craft the Eruption and demolish the pillars. Atleast that is what I did. And also, obviously you wont use Solar Eruption against Moonlord because it is not a weapon designed for single target but rather a crowd-control one. For Moonlord you go with the Daybreak.


Personally, in a Melee playthrough I always craft it along with the Daybreak if I have enough fragments. I think it does better than the Terrablade.

Important note: I am only speaking from my experience. I am not a extremely professional weapon ranker and such I can be wrong on such things, but as long as we keep it calm and have a normal discussion I am okay if you guys disagree with my takes.
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The Moon Lord matchup is weighted very heavily for pillar weapons, seeing as the Moon Lord is the only major challenge remaining in the game. And Daybroken from Solar Eruption is 100 DPS at a stage where weapons are expected to do more than 3000 DPS; it sweetens the deal slightly, but not by much.

The Stardust Cell Staff is already penalized heavily for not being that good against Moon Lord, and the Nebula Arcanum I should probably be penalizing even more. If you use a weapon that doesn't do too well against the pillars but does great against the Moon Lord, you may die a few times but you will beat the game. If you use a weapon that's the opposite, you will die when it actually matters and then do the walk of shame back to the Lunatic Cultist's doorstep.
 
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