Baconfry
Terrarian
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 UP-TO-DATE as of 1.4.4.9.
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, or how well it tracks enemies if homing. Not applicable to some weapons, like broadswords and stationary AoE weapons.
Disruption - ability to protect the player through means other than raw damage (such as knockback or stunlock). Weapon must be accurate for this to mean anything.
Safety - ability to damage enemies without putting yourself at risk. Bonus points (##) are given to weapons that have limited range, but can damage enemies from behind blocks.
Availability - ability to obtain the weapon without excessive grinding or luck. Not factored into final rank, since this guide is focused on combat performance.
Overall ranks are assigned using the following scale:
S rank: Incredibly useful for both the short and long term. Provides overwhelming power, irreplaceable utility, or both.
A rank: Useful, efficient, and generally worth a short grind. If Terraria were perfectly balanced, most weapons would be A rank.
B rank: A decent choice if nothing better is available. Has at least one solid niche. The cutoff for a "good weapon".
C rank: Not entirely unusable, but almost certain to be heavily outclassed. If it has a niche, that niche is very small.
D rank: Better than nothing, but only slightly. If you've used it for more than 1 minute, you know that it sucks. Has no place in a serious run.
F rank: You are better off attacking with a pickaxe.
I've also included the best prefixes, along with a rough indicator of reforge cost. Godly and Demonic are listed as best prefixes for weapons whose performance is unaffected by their speed, even if they support Mythical/Unreal.
Some weapons are used as crafting ingredients and will lose their prefix when made into a new weapon, but they should be reforged anyways if you plan to use them extensively. Most weapons eventually get retired anyways, whether they're a crafting material or not.
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, you are welcome (and in fact encouraged) to reply, and I will retest them.
Notable Pre-Hardmode weapons
Night's Edge: B+
Abigail's Flower: B+
Imp Staff: C-
Hellwing Bow: B
Phoenix Blaster: A-
Star Cannon: S-
Blowgun: A
Book of Skulls: B
Demon Scythe: C+
"Technically hardmode"
Classy Cane: F
Pearlwood Sword: D
Pearlwood Bow: F+
Dropped by Wall of Flesh
Breaker Blade: C-
Clockwork Assault Rifle: A
Laser Rifle: B-
Firecracker: S
Crafted through mining
Ore Swords: D+
Phasesabers: D
Ore Spears: D
Ore Repeaters: A-
Dropped by monsters
Amarok / Hel-Fire: B+
KO Cannon: C-
Chain Knife (remix): D+
Bananarang: A-
Nimbus Rod: A+
Poison Staff: B
Marrow: B-
Ice Bow: B
Snowball Cannon (remix): A
Beam Sword: C
Magic Dagger: A
Wand of Sparking / Wand of Frosting (remix): B
Medusa Head: C+
Uzi: S+
Frost Staff: B+
Ice Sickle: A-
Flower of Frost: B
Frostbrand: B+
Ham Bat: D-
Obtained from NPCs
Gradient: B
Format C: B-
Ice Rod: C+
Shotgun: B+
Gatligator: A-
Sergeant United Shield: A+
Orange Zapinator: A+
Slap Hand: D+
Jousting Lance: F
Crafted from monster drops
Onyx Blaster: S-
Sky Fracture: B+
Dao of Pow: A-
Chik: B+
Crystal Storm: B
Golden Shower: A
Cursed Flames: A+
Meteor Staff: B-
Spirit Flame: A
Spider Staff: A
Queen Spider Staff: S
Cool Whip: A+
Obtained through Fishing
Crystal Serpent: B+
Toxikarp: A-
Bladetongue: C+
Obsidian Swordfish: C+
Anchor: C
Blood Moon Fishing
Blood Thorn: C+
Drippler Crippler: S
Sanguine Staff: A+
Goblin Invasion
Shadowflame Bow: B+
Shadowflame Knife: B+
Shadowflame Hex Doll: A-
Pirate Invasion
Cutlass: D
Pirate Staff: C
Coin Gun: S
Dropped by special Mimics
Daedalus Stormbow: S-
Flying Knife: B
Crystal Vile Shard: B+
Dart Pistol: S
Fetid Baghnakhs: A+
Life Drain: S-
Dart Rifle: S
Chain Guillotines: B+
Clinger Staff: S
Dropped by Queen Slime
Blade Staff: S+
IT IS CURRENTLY UP-TO-DATE as of 1.4.4.9.
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, or how well it tracks enemies if homing. Not applicable to some weapons, like broadswords and stationary AoE weapons.
Disruption - ability to protect the player through means other than raw damage (such as knockback or stunlock). Weapon must be accurate for this to mean anything.
Safety - ability to damage enemies without putting yourself at risk. Bonus points (##) are given to weapons that have limited range, but can damage enemies from behind blocks.
Availability - ability to obtain the weapon without excessive grinding or luck. Not factored into final rank, since this guide is focused on combat performance.
Overall ranks are assigned using the following scale:
S rank: Incredibly useful for both the short and long term. Provides overwhelming power, irreplaceable utility, or both.
A rank: Useful, efficient, and generally worth a short grind. If Terraria were perfectly balanced, most weapons would be A rank.
B rank: A decent choice if nothing better is available. Has at least one solid niche. The cutoff for a "good weapon".
C rank: Not entirely unusable, but almost certain to be heavily outclassed. If it has a niche, that niche is very small.
D rank: Better than nothing, but only slightly. If you've used it for more than 1 minute, you know that it sucks. Has no place in a serious run.
F rank: You are better off attacking with a pickaxe.
I've also included the best prefixes, along with a rough indicator of reforge cost. Godly and Demonic are listed as best prefixes for weapons whose performance is unaffected by their speed, even if they support Mythical/Unreal.
Some weapons are used as crafting ingredients and will lose their prefix when made into a new weapon, but they should be reforged anyways if you plan to use them extensively. Most weapons eventually get retired anyways, whether they're a crafting material or not.
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, you are welcome (and in fact encouraged) to reply, and I will retest 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 if you want to save the more valuable stuff for important fights. Note that several guns gain the High Velocity piercing effect when using the Endless Musket Pouch, including the Uzi which is available before you normally have access to those bullets.
Silver Bullet / Tungsten 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. Expect them to perform exactly the same as the Musket Pouch. They have 2 more base damage than the Musket Pouch and still enable the high-velocity effect of guns like Uzi and Sniper Rifle, if that matters to you.
Meteor Shot
+pierces or ricochets once
-mostly nonrenewable
A piercing bullet you can use early on, though you are generally encouraged to use arrows rather than bullets in situations that require crowd control. Still, if you're a gunslinger you probably found this extremely useful against the Wall of Flesh, and it'll be pretty useful for quite some time afterwards.
Assuming that the average meteorite yields 300 pieces of ore, a fully-mined meteorite can be converted into 7000 Meteor Shot, which is enough to feed an Unreal Uzi for more than 15 minutes. So use them carefully, but don't be too stingy.
Exploding Bullet
+high knockback
+damages multiple enemies
+no farming required
+good velocity
The absolute best anti-Destroyer bullet, with some utility outside of that when facing dense crowds too large for Meteor Shot to handle. They don't require an upgraded Anvil to craft, can be made in bulk, and drastically increase 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, and they won't even work for that in Expert Mode since bosses drop treasure bags instead. 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
+good velocity
-no distinguishing traits
Dealing a fixed 24 DPS to any target stuck by a Cursed Bullet doesn't seem too significant at first, but when there are loads of enemies on the screen all burning at once, that can add up to some significant total damage. Of course the passive burning damage does nothing to control their movements, so be careful not to get overwhelmed.
Ichor Bullet
+high damage
+inflicts a powerful debuff
+good velocity
Generally superior to the Cursed Bullet if you're packing any sort of competent offense. The Ichor debuff greatly enhances DPS, so it is generally the strongest bullet if you don't have another way to inflict Ichor. But you usually do have another way, so it's hard to recommend Ichor Bullets when you can deal much more damage by using a whip, dart, or Golden Shower to inflict the debuff and using Crystal Bullets instead.
(one mechanical boss)
High Velocity Bullet
+incredibly high velocity
+pierces twice
+no farming required
The synergy between the Endless Musket Pouch and Uzi/Venus Magnum/Sniper Rifle is good enough that you generally won't find it necessary to craft an actual High Velocity Bullet if you own one of those guns. If you don't own them, you can go ahead and craft these bullets for cheap, which mainly benefits the Megashark (the most accurate automatic gun in this tier). Chain Gun enjoys them, too.
(all mechanical bosses)
Chlorophyte Bullet
+perfectly accurate
+uses a highly contested resource
Arguably the best bullet in the game. There are 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
Basically a straight upgrade to Cursed Bullets. However, they will usually deal less damage than Crystal Bullets, despite their higher base damage.
Nano Bullet
+high damage
+smart bounce
+inflicts situationally useful debuff
+no farming required
The positive effects of smart bounce aren't fully realized during aerial battles, but when fighting underground or near the surface, you'll find these very useful for their accuracy boost. While not quite as reliable as Chlorophyte Bullets, a major point in their favor is that you can just buy them. They also have the same base damage as Venom Bullets.
(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
The last bullet available. It destroys crowds of enemies and provides comparable DPS to Crystal Bullets, but won't work as well as Chlorophyte bullets against things that fly and move around a lot. You're not hurting for DPS given that you unlock Vortex stealth at the same time, so these bullets might be overrated, honestly.
+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 if you want to save the more valuable stuff for important fights. Note that several guns gain the High Velocity piercing effect when using the Endless Musket Pouch, including the Uzi which is available before you normally have access to those bullets.
Silver Bullet / Tungsten 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. Expect them to perform exactly the same as the Musket Pouch. They have 2 more base damage than the Musket Pouch and still enable the high-velocity effect of guns like Uzi and Sniper Rifle, if that matters to you.
Meteor Shot
+pierces or ricochets once
-mostly nonrenewable
A piercing bullet you can use early on, though you are generally encouraged to use arrows rather than bullets in situations that require crowd control. Still, if you're a gunslinger you probably found this extremely useful against the Wall of Flesh, and it'll be pretty useful for quite some time afterwards.
Assuming that the average meteorite yields 300 pieces of ore, a fully-mined meteorite can be converted into 7000 Meteor Shot, which is enough to feed an Unreal Uzi for more than 15 minutes. So use them carefully, but don't be too stingy.
Exploding Bullet
+high knockback
+damages multiple enemies
+no farming required
+good velocity
The absolute best anti-Destroyer bullet, with some utility outside of that when facing dense crowds too large for Meteor Shot to handle. They don't require an upgraded Anvil to craft, can be made in bulk, and drastically increase 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, and they won't even work for that in Expert Mode since bosses drop treasure bags instead. 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
+good velocity
-no distinguishing traits
Dealing a fixed 24 DPS to any target stuck by a Cursed Bullet doesn't seem too significant at first, but when there are loads of enemies on the screen all burning at once, that can add up to some significant total damage. Of course the passive burning damage does nothing to control their movements, so be careful not to get overwhelmed.
Ichor Bullet
+high damage
+inflicts a powerful debuff
+good velocity
Generally superior to the Cursed Bullet if you're packing any sort of competent offense. The Ichor debuff greatly enhances DPS, so it is generally the strongest bullet if you don't have another way to inflict Ichor. But you usually do have another way, so it's hard to recommend Ichor Bullets when you can deal much more damage by using a whip, dart, or Golden Shower to inflict the debuff and using Crystal Bullets instead.
(one mechanical boss)
High Velocity Bullet
+incredibly high velocity
+pierces twice
+no farming required
The synergy between the Endless Musket Pouch and Uzi/Venus Magnum/Sniper Rifle is good enough that you generally won't find it necessary to craft an actual High Velocity Bullet if you own one of those guns. If you don't own them, you can go ahead and craft these bullets for cheap, which mainly benefits the Megashark (the most accurate automatic gun in this tier). Chain Gun enjoys them, too.
(all mechanical bosses)
Chlorophyte Bullet
+perfectly accurate
+uses a highly contested resource
Arguably the best bullet in the game. There are 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
Basically a straight upgrade to Cursed Bullets. However, they will usually deal less damage than Crystal Bullets, despite their higher base damage.
Nano Bullet
+high damage
+smart bounce
+inflicts situationally useful debuff
+no farming required
The positive effects of smart bounce aren't fully realized during aerial battles, but when fighting underground or near the surface, you'll find these very useful for their accuracy boost. While not quite as reliable as Chlorophyte Bullets, a major point in their favor is that you can just buy them. They also have the same base damage as Venom Bullets.
(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
The last bullet available. It destroys crowds of enemies and provides comparable DPS to Crystal Bullets, but won't work as well as Chlorophyte bullets against things that fly and move around a lot. You're not hurting for DPS given that you unlock Vortex stealth at the same time, so these bullets might be overrated, honestly.
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.
At first glance it seems to synergize well with The Bee's Knees, but Hardmode enemies have too much defense for that to be a good idea. However, it does synergize with Hellwing Bow.
Bone Arrow
+pierces once
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
-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. They don't receive a fire rate penalty with the Daedalus Stormbow, but are still inferior to Unholy Arrows against the Destroyer.
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
Basically a free upgrade to Wooden/Flaming Arrows, but you should never find yourself in a situation where Frostburn Arrows are your best option since Unholy Arrows are buyable now.
Shimmer Arrow
+free upgrade to Wooden Arrows
-mind screw
An even cheaper budget option than the buyable arrows since you can just craft a bunch of Wooden Arrows and dump them in the Shimmer, and they have the same base damage as Unholy Arrows. However, I would consider their upside-down arc to be mostly a downside since you're probably used to a normal arrow trajectory. They do look very funny when used with the Daedalus Stormbow, though.
Jester's Arrow
+pierces infinitely (-10% per hit)
-uses a somewhat contested resource
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
The only arrow that pierces infinitely, and works well against the Destroyer if you're using a standard repeater. In order for them to surpass Unholy Arrows, you need to manipulate the Destroyer to move horizontally (or vertically with Stormbow) so they can pierce more segments. Note that they will disappear after flying for some distance, so if you shoot them upwards, they're not coming back.
Unholy Arrow
+pierces four times (-5% per hit)
+no farming required
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
You can buy them from the Arms Dealer for cheap or farm them from the Eye of Cthulhu, and they perform as well as Jester's Arrows for most purposes. Notably, they suffer from a lower piercing penalty than Jester's Arrows, and they don't cost any Fallen Stars to make.
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. However, they are generally not the preferred method of crowd control since the explosion radius is rather small, and their high knockback combined with the slower attack speed of bows/repeaters means that enemies won't end up bunched together like they do with Exploding Bullets.
(mythril or orichalcum anvil)
Holy Arrow
+high single-target DPS potential
+synergy with multi-shot bows
-penalized when used with Daedalus Stormbow
-less effective if target moves quickly
Essentially the arrow equivalent to Crystal Bullets, though the stars are significantly less accurate than the crystal shards spawned by the bullets. While their single-target DPS is very high against stationary or large targets, don't expect the stars to do more than 10 damage if you aren't using good ranged gear.
Cursed Arrow
+high 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. Cursed Inferno is an excellent debuff when spread across multiple targets, which is something Cursed Arrows aren't good at because they don't pierce.
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. If the debuff is all you care about, Ichor Arrows give you 50 more shots per Ichor than Ichor Darts, but the tradeoff is that Ichor Darts can be crafted by hand (and used with a Blowpipe/Blowgun) while Ichor Arrows require a Hardmode anvil.
(all mechanical bosses)
Chlorophyte Arrow
+ricochets once, smart bounce
-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. While not as reliable as Chlorophyte Bullets, they are still a relatively safe way to hit distant enemies that you don't want in your line-of-sight, and they are much better than any other arrow for killing scattered enemies over a wide area.
(plantera)
Venom Arrow
+highest base damage
+high velocity
+no farming required
-no other distinguishing traits
Usually the best arrow to use with the Phantasm against the final boss due to its velocity alone, which makes Magic Quiver optional. It also packs high base damage and decent knockback, and provides the best stat boosts for the Pulse Bow and Aerial Bane. Its sheer base damage allows it to usually tie with Holy Arrows against most relevant post-Golem bosses.
(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. It is more potent than Holy Arrows, but suffers from similar accuracy issues; if something is moving fast enough to dodge the stars, it'll probably dodge the secondary Luminite Arrows, too.
+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.
At first glance it seems to synergize well with The Bee's Knees, but Hardmode enemies have too much defense for that to be a good idea. However, it does synergize with Hellwing Bow.
Bone Arrow
+pierces once
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
-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. They don't receive a fire rate penalty with the Daedalus Stormbow, but are still inferior to Unholy Arrows against the Destroyer.
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
Basically a free upgrade to Wooden/Flaming Arrows, but you should never find yourself in a situation where Frostburn Arrows are your best option since Unholy Arrows are buyable now.
Shimmer Arrow
+free upgrade to Wooden Arrows
-mind screw
An even cheaper budget option than the buyable arrows since you can just craft a bunch of Wooden Arrows and dump them in the Shimmer, and they have the same base damage as Unholy Arrows. However, I would consider their upside-down arc to be mostly a downside since you're probably used to a normal arrow trajectory. They do look very funny when used with the Daedalus Stormbow, though.
Jester's Arrow
+pierces infinitely (-10% per hit)
-uses a somewhat contested resource
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
The only arrow that pierces infinitely, and works well against the Destroyer if you're using a standard repeater. In order for them to surpass Unholy Arrows, you need to manipulate the Destroyer to move horizontally (or vertically with Stormbow) so they can pierce more segments. Note that they will disappear after flying for some distance, so if you shoot them upwards, they're not coming back.
Unholy Arrow
+pierces four times (-5% per hit)
+no farming required
-anti synergy with multi-shot bows
You can buy them from the Arms Dealer for cheap or farm them from the Eye of Cthulhu, and they perform as well as Jester's Arrows for most purposes. Notably, they suffer from a lower piercing penalty than Jester's Arrows, and they don't cost any Fallen Stars to make.
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. However, they are generally not the preferred method of crowd control since the explosion radius is rather small, and their high knockback combined with the slower attack speed of bows/repeaters means that enemies won't end up bunched together like they do with Exploding Bullets.
(mythril or orichalcum anvil)
Holy Arrow
+high single-target DPS potential
+synergy with multi-shot bows
-penalized when used with Daedalus Stormbow
-less effective if target moves quickly
Essentially the arrow equivalent to Crystal Bullets, though the stars are significantly less accurate than the crystal shards spawned by the bullets. While their single-target DPS is very high against stationary or large targets, don't expect the stars to do more than 10 damage if you aren't using good ranged gear.
Cursed Arrow
+high 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. Cursed Inferno is an excellent debuff when spread across multiple targets, which is something Cursed Arrows aren't good at because they don't pierce.
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. If the debuff is all you care about, Ichor Arrows give you 50 more shots per Ichor than Ichor Darts, but the tradeoff is that Ichor Darts can be crafted by hand (and used with a Blowpipe/Blowgun) while Ichor Arrows require a Hardmode anvil.
(all mechanical bosses)
Chlorophyte Arrow
+ricochets once, smart bounce
-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. While not as reliable as Chlorophyte Bullets, they are still a relatively safe way to hit distant enemies that you don't want in your line-of-sight, and they are much better than any other arrow for killing scattered enemies over a wide area.
(plantera)
Venom Arrow
+highest base damage
+high velocity
+no farming required
-no other distinguishing traits
Usually the best arrow to use with the Phantasm against the final boss due to its velocity alone, which makes Magic Quiver optional. It also packs high base damage and decent knockback, and provides the best stat boosts for the Pulse Bow and Aerial Bane. Its sheer base damage allows it to usually tie with Holy Arrows against most relevant post-Golem bosses.
(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. It is more potent than Holy Arrows, but suffers from similar accuracy issues; if something is moving fast enough to dodge the stars, it'll probably dodge the secondary Luminite Arrows, too.
Notable Pre-Hardmode weapons
Night's Edge: B+
While not really worthwhile for any important boss fights, the Night's Edge is phenomenally useful for bullying random underground enemies, especially enemies with small hitboxes like bats, or worms and wraith-type enemies that can pass through walls. Its range and ability to be aimed in any direction give it a significant edge over most early Hardmode swords. Be sure not to overestimate its crowd control potential: each swing will only hit 4 enemies over its entire two rotations, so it's not as good against the Destroyer as it looks.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Blood Butcherer/Light's Bane, Muramasa, Volcano, Blade of Grass at Crimson/Demon Altar
Best prefix: Legendary $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Blood Butcherer/Light's Bane, Muramasa, Volcano, Blade of Grass at Crimson/Demon Altar
Best prefix: Legendary $
Abigail's Flower: B+
You may remember Abigail for her mediocre showing in pre-Hardmode, but with modified scaling in Hardmode, Abigail's Flower is essentially an entirely new weapon. She can be considered a starter Hardmode minion that comes bundled with the Firecracker if that happens to drop from the Wall of Flesh, and you WILL use her with the Firecracker because that's the only thing making her viable. Thanks to the 2.75x damage multiplier from the Firecracker, she can blast the heck out of Black Recluses and help you get your starting summoner gear, and with Spider armor she can even assist with some Hardmode bosses like the Destroyer and Queen Slime. In fact, if you don't have the patience to get the Sanguine Staff, then she'll be your best option for the Destroyer. She's not good against the Twins because the Firecracker just barely lacks the range to hit them, but you can use her to get the Blade Staff and Durendal and go from there.
Abigail's main problem, apart from her occasional bouts of Rainbow Crystal Staff syndrome, is that she often feels like she's been stretched too thin. If you run Spider armor, you'll miss out on the whip range from Obsidian armor. If you use Obsidian armor, Abigail becomes too slow to do much of anything. She absolutely needs as many capacity bonuses as you can get, so minion mixing and hybrid tank armor sets are off the table. Nonetheless, I would consider this to be Abigail's peak performance; if you intend to use her at all in your playthrough, this is the best time to do it.
NORMAL
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Crowd control: ###
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.....Disruption: #
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+FIRECRACKER
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Crowd control: ###
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.....Disruption: ###
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....Availability: #####
Found growing on grass near Tombstones
Best prefix: Mythical/Furious/Godly/Demonic/Masterful/Ruthless ¢
Abigail's main problem, apart from her occasional bouts of Rainbow Crystal Staff syndrome, is that she often feels like she's been stretched too thin. If you run Spider armor, you'll miss out on the whip range from Obsidian armor. If you use Obsidian armor, Abigail becomes too slow to do much of anything. She absolutely needs as many capacity bonuses as you can get, so minion mixing and hybrid tank armor sets are off the table. Nonetheless, I would consider this to be Abigail's peak performance; if you intend to use her at all in your playthrough, this is the best time to do it.
NORMAL
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
+FIRECRACKER
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
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....Availability: #####
Found growing on grass near Tombstones
Best prefix: Mythical/Furious/Godly/Demonic/Masterful/Ruthless ¢
Imp Staff: C-
This is not a recommendation, it is a warning. While it may seem enticing due to being the final minion in pre-Hardmode progression, the only notable thing about the Imp Staff is how unexpectedly bad it is. It is outperformed by almost every single other pre-Hardmode minion as long as you are using 2 whips (likely Snapthorn and Spinal Tap). Unlike the Flinx, Vampire Frog, Hornet, Finch, or even the lowly Slime, it is too slow to benefit much from tag damage, and its base damage isn't high enough to work well with the Firecracker. It does pierce, but that piercing ability is wasted because the imps love to shoot directly into the ground instead of lining up their shots. You will deal considerably more DPS with a 2 Vampire Frog + 2 Flinx setup, or 2 Flinxes with almost any other minion. I think this is probably the worst weapon in the game that people still convince themselves that they have to use.
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 17 Hellstone Bars at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical/Furious/Godly/Demonic/Masterful/Ruthless ¢
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 17 Hellstone Bars at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical/Furious/Godly/Demonic/Masterful/Ruthless ¢
Hellwing Bow: B
One perk of using the Hellwing Bow in early Hardmode is, of course, the Endless Quiver which allows its best attack to be spammed for free. The other perk is that it has infinite piercing, which automatically makes it a viable choice for the Destroyer despite being a pre-Hardmode weapon. Players who didn't get the memo and are still using the Daedalus Stormbow with Holy Arrows against the Destroyer might be surprised to learn that the Hellwing Bow deals higher DPS for that fight! Though it's not as strong as the arrows you should actually be using with the Stormbow, namely Unholy or Jester's Arrows. It is roughly comparable to the Stormbow with Bone Arrows, or the Sandgun with Pearlsand (which you will not be using lol). Unfortunately, the Hellwing Bow's poor accuracy makes it annoying to use in the caverns that early Hardmode takes place in, and even rangers will likely prefer the Night's Edge for random encounters.
This is probably the only pre-Hardmode bow you should consider using in Hardmode. The Molten Fury is just a worse Cobalt Repeater, the Bee's Knees is ruined by enemy defense, and the Blood Rain Bow was never good to begin with.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ####
20% chance to be found in Shadow Chests
Best prefix: Unreal $
This is probably the only pre-Hardmode bow you should consider using in Hardmode. The Molten Fury is just a worse Cobalt Repeater, the Bee's Knees is ruined by enemy defense, and the Blood Rain Bow was never good to begin with.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ####
20% chance to be found in Shadow Chests
Best prefix: Unreal $
Phoenix Blaster: A-
Although it has slightly lower DPS than the Clockwork Assault Rifle and other early Hardmode guns, the difference is minuscule and anyone who can beat the mechanical bosses with a ClockRifle can probably do it with a Phoenix Blaster.
If you intend to use the Phoenix Blaster in early Hardmode, you should probably use it with Exploding Bullets, as they can be made without an upgraded anvil and provide some much-needed crowd control.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from 10 Hellstone Bars, Handgun at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $
If you intend to use the Phoenix Blaster in early Hardmode, you should probably use it with Exploding Bullets, as they can be made without an upgraded anvil and provide some much-needed crowd control.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
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.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from 10 Hellstone Bars, Handgun at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $
Star Cannon: S-
No ranged weapon available in early Hardmode kills the Destroyer faster than the Star Cannon. Not even the Daedalus Stormbow, Dart Rifle, or Coin Gun. The question you should be asking is not "can I defeat the Destroyer with the Star Cannon", but rather, "how many Fallen Stars does it take to defeat the Destroyer with the Star Cannon". The answer is around 200 if you play aggressively and line up with its body to hit as many segments as possible, but even if you can't quite finish him off with your ammo supply, you can just bring another mediocre piercing weapon to finish the job. The Destroyer is probably the only thing you want to use the Star Cannon against, because its single-target DPS is kind of whatever and it's mostly carried by its infinite piercing ability. And of course, there is a more obvious reason why you can't just use this weapon against everything.
It's a tad expensive to reforge and doesn't need speed-increasing prefixes to do its job, so I'd probably go with Godly or Demonic to slightly reduce its ammo usage compared to Unreal.
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Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Minishark, 20 Meteorite Bars, 5 Fallen Stars at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$
It's a tad expensive to reforge and doesn't need speed-increasing prefixes to do its job, so I'd probably go with Godly or Demonic to slightly reduce its ammo usage compared to Unreal.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Minishark, 20 Meteorite Bars, 5 Fallen Stars at Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $$$$
Blowgun: A
Both the Blowgun and Blowpipe essentially function as stat sticks that slightly augment the damage of the real breadwinner: Hardmode darts. Apart from their high base damage, these darts have additional effects that make them so powerful, they'd be viable even if you could just throw them with your bare hands. But you can't, so until you can get yourself a Dart Pistol or Dart Rifle, you'll be using these. One significant advantage of dart weapons is that their ammo is crafted by hand, so you can start using them immediately even before you have access to a Hardmode anvil.
Since most of the base damage comes from the darts themselves, there isn't really that much of a difference between the Blowpipe and Blowgun. The Blowpipe is noticeably faster, so you might prefer it if you're using it purely for inflicting Ichor.
ICHOR DART
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CURSED DART
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Crowd control: ####
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.....Disruption: ###
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CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
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....Availability: #####
Sold by the Witch Doctor for 5 Gold
Best prefix: Unreal $
Since most of the base damage comes from the darts themselves, there isn't really that much of a difference between the Blowpipe and Blowgun. The Blowpipe is noticeably faster, so you might prefer it if you're using it purely for inflicting Ichor.
ICHOR DART
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Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
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CURSED DART
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Crowd control: ####
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.....Disruption: ###
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CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
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....Availability: #####
Sold by the Witch Doctor for 5 Gold
Best prefix: Unreal $
Book of Skulls: B
The utility that it offers is very similar to that of a yoyo, though it trades away some DPS for better range. It is useful for eliminating trapped enemies without requiring line-of-sight, and I would rate it as the best pre-Hardmode magic weapon for underground combat. It can also be used as a last resort for cheesing the pirates. Think of it like a Bee Gun, but with knockback and actual damage.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
10.5% chance to drop from Skeletron (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
10.5% chance to drop from Skeletron (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $
Demon Scythe: C+
One of the most difficult weapons to master, but its potential is undeniable. Since it is horrifically inaccurate at long distances, it functions more like a close-ranged anti-melee weapon thanks to its ability to juggle enemies backwards. Fighting on perfectly flat terrain patches up its accuracy problem and allows it to be used as a ranged weapon against grounded enemies, though you'll have to watch out for enemies with projectiles since the Demon Scythe does not have enough velocity to disrupt them before they get a shot off. Technically, you can also use it against the Destroyer and it won't be the worst thing ever, but unless you're doing a pre-Hardmode gear only challenge, maybe don't.
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Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: ###
2.86% chance to drop from Demons and Voodoo Demons
Best prefix: Mythical $
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: ###
2.86% chance to drop from Demons and Voodoo Demons
Best prefix: Mythical $
"Technically hardmode"
Classy Cane: F
An obvious meme weapon with no redeeming qualities, whose only purpose is to establish the baseline for F tier because let's be real: if this isn't F tier, nothing is.
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from Tax Collector
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from Tax Collector
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
Pearlwood Sword: D
It actually does a fine job as a starter weapon, believe it or not. Unlike the Classy Cane, it actually has stats, which can be improved further by reforging it to Legendary basically for free, and its high speed and knockback allow it to easily fend off basic Hardmode enemies. Now let me be clear, this is not a good weapon and would almost never be considered for a serious playthrough. However, it is far from the worst thing you could be using, and notably does significantly higher DPS against the Destroyer than the Daedalus Stormbow with Holy Arrows, as well as the Night's Edge. If you're feeling wacky, you can try it out and it's almost certain to exceed the zero expectations you probably have for it.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 7 Pearlwood at a Work Bench
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 7 Pearlwood at a Work Bench
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
Pearlwood Bow: F+
Uses standard arrows.
Ichor is an extremely powerful debuff that provides a substantial DPS increase to any weapon with a high rate of fire. In fact, it is so powerful that any weapon that can inflict Ichor from a distance should be considered for use as a support weapon, no matter how laughable its stats may be. So, as absurd as it sounds, the Pearlwood Bow has an actual legitimate niche: it can inflict Ichor on bosses with Ichor Arrows before swapping to a faster weapon that can take advantage of the defense drop. It's not a unique niche, because literally any pre-Hardmode bow other than Blood Rain Bow can do the exact same thing. Nor are Ichor Arrows uniquely suitable for this niche; the Blowpipe (yes, the one with 9 base damage that you find in Wooden Chests) can also inflict the debuff with Ichor Darts, doesn't require a Hardmode anvil for its ammunition, and is actually strong enough to kill Expert mode bosses on its own. But even though it will almost never be your best option, the Pearlwood Bow can be genuinely useful in a serious run, which is more than can be said about most pre-mech melee weapons.
If you're still not convinced, consider this: the well-known 90-minute Expert mode speedrun by Ningishu (viewable here) uses a Silver Bow with Ichor Arrows against all bosses between Destroyer and Lunatic Cultist, and the Silver Bow has the exact same stats as the Pearlwood Bow.
ICHOR ARROW
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from 10 Pearlwood at a Work Bench
Best prefix: Rapid ¢
Ichor is an extremely powerful debuff that provides a substantial DPS increase to any weapon with a high rate of fire. In fact, it is so powerful that any weapon that can inflict Ichor from a distance should be considered for use as a support weapon, no matter how laughable its stats may be. So, as absurd as it sounds, the Pearlwood Bow has an actual legitimate niche: it can inflict Ichor on bosses with Ichor Arrows before swapping to a faster weapon that can take advantage of the defense drop. It's not a unique niche, because literally any pre-Hardmode bow other than Blood Rain Bow can do the exact same thing. Nor are Ichor Arrows uniquely suitable for this niche; the Blowpipe (yes, the one with 9 base damage that you find in Wooden Chests) can also inflict the debuff with Ichor Darts, doesn't require a Hardmode anvil for its ammunition, and is actually strong enough to kill Expert mode bosses on its own. But even though it will almost never be your best option, the Pearlwood Bow can be genuinely useful in a serious run, which is more than can be said about most pre-mech melee weapons.
If you're still not convinced, consider this: the well-known 90-minute Expert mode speedrun by Ningishu (viewable here) uses a Silver Bow with Ichor Arrows against all bosses between Destroyer and Lunatic Cultist, and the Silver Bow has the exact same stats as the Pearlwood Bow.
ICHOR ARROW
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from 10 Pearlwood at a Work Bench
Best prefix: Rapid ¢
Dropped by Wall of Flesh
Breaker Blade: C-
Very satisfying to one-shot weak enemies with, but its special ability is somewhat mismatched with the fundamental nature of the weapon. As large as it is, the Breaker Blade still has shorter range than most weapons from other classes, and short range is not a desirable trait for a weapon that's meant to be used as an opener. You can use it for the first few seconds of the Destroyer fight for amazing DPS, but outside of that it's probably worse than whatever weapon you killed the Wall of Flesh with.
.............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 $
.............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.
Despite having lower base damage than The Undertaker, this weapon is not to be underestimated. Its damage output with the Endless Musket Pouch is unimpressive, but it becomes quite fearsome when loaded with higher-grade ammunition. And because it is ammo-efficient, there is little reason not to use the best ammunition available to you. While it's not technically a machine gun, it produces a nearly uninterrupted stream of bullets, so it functions similarly to one. 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 or Meteor Shot 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). While Demonic is usually the best modifier, Rapid and Deadly are also excellent for their speed boost. If you're running armor penetration with Stinger + Shark Tooth, all three modifiers will perform about the same.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly/Rapid $
Despite having lower base damage than The Undertaker, this weapon is not to be underestimated. Its damage output with the Endless Musket Pouch is unimpressive, but it becomes quite fearsome when loaded with higher-grade ammunition. And because it is ammo-efficient, there is little reason not to use the best ammunition available to you. While it's not technically a machine gun, it produces a nearly uninterrupted stream of bullets, so it functions similarly to one. 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 or Meteor Shot 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). While Demonic is usually the best modifier, Rapid and Deadly are also excellent for their speed boost. If you're running armor penetration with Stinger + Shark Tooth, all three modifiers will perform about the same.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly/Rapid $
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. It offers more immediate disruption compared to the Demon Scythe, 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. Due to its very mediocre single-target damage, it's best to use this only when facing three or more enemies.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $
Firecracker: S
The Firecracker doesn't add tag damage, but the blazing energy effect easily compensates for that. The explosion nearly 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. Spiders, Sanguine Bats, and Abigail all benefit greatly from it since the explosion damage scales with the minion's base damage. While it deals reduced damage to crowds of enemies, it will interrupt all of them, and sometimes that's more important. Like all whips, it is notable for its ability to safely eliminate enemies that can pass through walls, such as Clingers, Giant Fungi Bulbs, and Enchanted Swords. It also provides a decent amount of light, making it an excellent exploration tool even for non-summoners.
It is unlike any other whip because while most whips synergize with faster minions that deal less damage per hit, the Firecracker synergizes with slower minions that deal higher damage per hit. This keeps it relevant even much later in the game when used with certain minions, as long as you can put up with its short range compared to lategame whips. Note that it must strike enemies continuously in order to provide its boost, so if your target is hard to hit, you may prefer to use a non-whip weapon and only attack with the Cool Whip and/or Spinal Tap when you have the chance.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Legendary $
It is unlike any other whip because while most whips synergize with faster minions that deal less damage per hit, the Firecracker synergizes with slower minions that deal higher damage per hit. This keeps it relevant even much later in the game when used with certain minions, as long as you can put up with its short range compared to lategame whips. Note that it must strike enemies continuously in order to provide its boost, so if your target is hard to hit, you may prefer to use a non-whip weapon and only attack with the Cool Whip and/or Spinal Tap when you have the chance.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
12.5% chance to drop from the Wall of Flesh (25% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Legendary $
Crafted through mining
Ore Swords: D+
To be fair, most melee weapons aren't much better than these, but crafting Hardmode bars into swords is a pretty good sign that you don't know what you're doing. Their attack range is terrible, 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. Any role you might want them to fulfill is already fulfilled by the Night's Edge.
COBALT SWORD
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
TITANIUM SWORD
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 10-13 bars at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary $
COBALT SWORD
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
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, apart from their inability to attack backwards when moving away from an enemy. They are at least slightly cheaper to reforge and use a different crafting recipe, meaning that you won't have to choose between armor or weapons like you do with Hardmode ores. However, the value added to your run is so small that you should probably find something better to use your Crystal Shards on, like Crystal Bullets or Crystal Darts.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
Crafted from Phaseblade and 25 Crystal Shards at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
Crafted from Phaseblade and 25 Crystal Shards at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary ¢
Ore Spears: D
For the most part, they're better than their broadsword counterparts thanks to their infinite piercing ability which grants them higher peak DPS against the Destroyer, but the main issues are still the same: their short reach makes them useless against shooters and knockback-immune enemies. If you want a spear with good DPS, use the Obsidian Swordfish, and if you want a spear with good reach, use the Dark Lance. Neither of those spears require you to do Hardmode content, and both are better than even the Titanium Trident at whatever I recommended them for.
COBALT NAGINATA
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
TITANIUM TRIDENT
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Crafted from 10-13 bars at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
COBALT NAGINATA
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
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. (Shark Tooth Necklace is highly encouraged if you're using Jester.) For other bosses, use Holy/Ichor Arrows. Their accuracy is improved slightly with Archery Potions, and improved significantly with a Magic Quiver. You don't have to spend your Adamantite or Titanium Bars on these; Mythril and Orichalcum will work just fine. Save your bars for a ranged headpiece and Frost Breastplate.
HOLY ARROW
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
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 $
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. (Shark Tooth Necklace is highly encouraged if you're using Jester.) For other bosses, use Holy/Ichor Arrows. Their accuracy is improved slightly with Archery Potions, and improved significantly with a Magic Quiver. You don't have to spend your Adamantite or Titanium Bars on these; Mythril and Orichalcum will work just fine. Save your bars for a ranged headpiece and Frost Breastplate.
HOLY ARROW
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
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 / Hel-Fire: B+
Yoyos are decent enough when engaging enemies directly, since they hit 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, and you might want to save that accessory slot for something else.
Both Amarok and Hel-Fire inflict pretty decent debuffs for this stage, with the Amarok's Frostbite being particularly nasty as it is the most potent DoT debuff other than Acid Venom and the debuffs inflicted by pillar weapons.
.............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 $$
Both Amarok and Hel-Fire inflict pretty decent debuffs for this stage, with the Amarok's Frostbite being particularly nasty as it is the most potent DoT debuff other than Acid Venom and the debuffs inflicted by pillar weapons.
.............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-
It has better range than most melee weapons, but its range still isn't good. Like most mediocre melee weapons, it can deal with fighter enemies just fine, but won't work well against anything else. On the bright side, it deals quite a bit more DPS than broadswords at point-blank range, on top of being a lot more fun to watch. This performs about the same as the Anchor in most situations, though it's a lot less useful for the average player since the Anchor is really easy to get and the KO Cannon is not.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
20% chance to drop from Clowns
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
20% chance to drop from Clowns
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
Chain Knife (remix): D+
If you take a kitten and scale it up three times, you get a large kitten, which is not the same as a cat. The remixed Chain Knife is basically a pre-Hardmode weapon that was crudely scaled up to Hardmode levels of base damage, and unfortunately that is not enough to make it competent in Hardmode. Simply comparing the name "Chain Knife" with "Chain Guillotines" tells you everything you need to know about how these weapons compare to each other: a knife is far less threatening than a guillotine, and there is only one of them. On top of having lower range than the Chain Guillotines, it deals significantly less DPS at its max range because you have to wait for it to return before firing again. The only time the remixed Chain Knife does decent damage is when you're spamming it inside the Destroyer's body at a position where it's overlapping itself, but this will obviously never work on higher difficulties of GFB where you get vaporized the instant an enemy touches you. Though to be fair, it's not like anyone was expecting much from the weapon that's meant to be a replacement for the KO Cannon.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
20% chance to drop from Clowns (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
20% chance to drop from Clowns (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
Bananarang: A-
The Bananarang is one of many generic mid-ranged melee weapons with average DPS that you might use if you're not brave enough to go full tank mode and use something more manly, like the Fetid Baghnakhs. Though I suppose you could also go full tank mode and continue to use the Bananarang, which is strong enough to take out the Twins and Skeletron Prime without too much trouble regardless. It's practically interchangeable with Chain Guillotines, Light Disc, and Shadowflame Knife.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
10% chance to drop from Clowns
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
10% chance to drop from Clowns
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$$
Nimbus Rod: A+
If you don’t have the patience to search for a Daedalus Stormbow, the Nimbus Rod will carry you through the battle with the Destroyer with almost equal ease. Using it comes with no opportunity cost; whether you’re exploring underground or dealing with an event aboveground, you can almost certainly find a way to make the Nimbus Rod useful. You don't even have to be a mage to want this on your hotbar at all times. It deals damage for free, and if you're smart with placing the clouds, the damage it deals is actually very significant. Usually, this involves luring enemies directly beneath you. This weapon is highly recommended against the Old One's Army, since it can take a decent chunk out of every enemy that emerges from a portal, and usually lasts for the entire wave. It also effectively one-shots the Lunar Pillars after their shields are down; just place the clouds over them, teleport away, and wait from the comfort of your home while the pillar dies.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ##
6.67% chance to drop from Angry Nimbuses, which spawn on the surface during rain
Best prefix: Demonic $$
.............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 $$
Poison Staff: B
If you can get used to its rather wide projectile spread and middling range, this actually does pretty well against big bosses like the Twins. Its damage output against smaller enemies is not as impressive, and it doesn't have enough piercing power to cut through the Destroyer, but there are at least a few key situations where the Poison Staff might serve you well. It is surprisingly powerful considering that it's likely to be one of the first magic weapons you'll obtain in Hardmode.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
2.5% chance to drop from Black Recluses
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
2.5% chance to drop from Black Recluses
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Marrow: B-
Despite its low drop rate, it often manages to find its way into people's inventories thanks to the popularity of AFK farms. It's basically interchangeable with the Ice Bow, with higher damage per hit offsetting its lower fire rate. I find the Marrow a bit trickier to aim since the projectile is harder to see, but otherwise, there are no significant differences.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to drop from Skeleton Archers
Best prefix: Unreal ¢
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to drop from Skeleton Archers
Best prefix: Unreal ¢
Ice Bow: B
Kind of plays like a ranged version of Shadowflame Knife. Like the Marrow, it's a spammy weapon that works well with the Endless Quiver, and it's more accurate (but much less versatile) than repeaters. I wouldn't challenge bosses with this, and I wouldn't pull this out against invasions, but for stunlocking and killing random encounters underground, the Ice Bow is pretty great.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Unreal $$
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Snowball Cannon (remix): A
Surprisingly decent, or perhaps not too surprising since the Snowball Cannon is the only remixed Hardmode weapon that has always been good in pre-Hardmode on standard worlds. It can function as a main weapon against Queen Slime and DDU mechs, with better DPS than the ClockRifle and Gatligator with Crystal Bullets. (I would not recommend using this or any non-piercing weapon against Mechdusa.) As with all rapid-fire weapons, Ichor debuff support is highly recommended. Gathering ammo for it is easier than collecting Crystal Shards for Crystal Bullets, but it's still something you have to do, and it does consume ammo much faster than its pre-Hardmode version.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Unreal $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Beam Sword: C
A decent sword combined with a bad projectile to get a sword that's a bit better than other swords, though not by much. If you were searching for a proper long-ranged DPS weapon, then keep searching. The beam alone deals pitiful damage to one enemy, is too slow to aim properly, and is pretty janky on top of that thanks to the way it interacts with the player's facing direction. But, if for whatever reason you really want to swing a sword in one direction while farting a mediocre beam in the other direction, then look no further, as this is the only weapon in the game that can do it.
BLADE
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.67% chance to drop from Armored Skeletons
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$
BLADE
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.67% chance to drop from Armored Skeletons
Best prefix: Legendary $$$$
Magic Dagger: A
Has extremely high DPS considering you could potentially get it within minutes of defeating the Wall of Flesh. Powerful, disruptive, and it actually has the highest single-target DPS of any pre-Plantera magic weapon when used for facetanking: fire it directly upwards and each dagger will hit the boss twice. It is a bit limited by its lacking range when not facetanking, but it still works great against enemies that happen to float above you, like Skeletron Prime.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
14.29% chance to drop from naturally-spawned Wood, Gold, and Shadow Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
14.29% chance to drop from naturally-spawned Wood, Gold, and Shadow Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Wand of Sparking / Wand of Frosting (remix): B
I'll assume that you're using the Wand of Frosting, since it can be upgraded immediately and there is no reason not to. The remixed Wand of Frosting is basically a marginally faster and weaker Frost Staff that is slightly worse in most other aspects, but is an acceptable substitute in situations where DPS is all you care about. While it has zero knockback, that doesn't matter for bosses who have 100% knockback resistance anyways. Keep in mind that it only pierces two enemies, which is not enough for it to be worth using against Mechdusa (though in fairness, neither do the Magic Dagger or Frost Staff).
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
14.29% chance to drop from naturally-spawned Wood, Gold, and Shadow Mimics / Crafted with 99 Ice Torches and Wand of Sparking (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
14.29% chance to drop from naturally-spawned Wood, Gold, and Shadow Mimics / Crafted with 99 Ice Torches and Wand of Sparking (dontdigup and getfixedboi seed)
Best prefix: Demonic/Deadly $$
Medusa Head: C+
You would think that this would have a niche as an auto-targeting weapon that allows you to focus on dodging. The reality is that this weapon forces you to focus on dodging because it fails to kill the long-ranged enemies that shoot at you. Its range isn't long enough to interrupt things like Crossbowers and Deadeyes, and considering how close you have to get to the Destroyer to hit it with the Medusa Head, its DPS is very disappointing. Its lack of knockback also leaves you quite vulnerable to enemies that can chase you in midair. Truthfully, I cannot think of anything good to say about this weapon.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
4% chance to drop from Medusas; 0.2% chance to drop from statue-spawned Medusas
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption:
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: #
4% chance to drop from Medusas; 0.2% chance to drop from statue-spawned Medusas
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Uzi: S+
Uses standard bullets.
Even though the Uzi is the only thing you can obtain from the Hardmode Jungle before defeating a mech boss, its sheer power could make that grind worthwhile. It is strong enough to give the Megashark some serious competition, and it effectively provides access to High Velocity Bullets even though you're not supposed to have them yet. This allows it to easily cut through crowds of enemies (and worms of all sizes) without spending any ammo at all. And once you're ready for the mechanical bosses, you can load it up with Crystal Bullets and it'll perform about the same as the Onyx Blaster. The Uzi's rarity is the only thing that holds it back.
ENDLESS MUSKET POUCH
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
1% chance to drop from Angry Trappers
Best prefix: Unreal $$$
Even though the Uzi is the only thing you can obtain from the Hardmode Jungle before defeating a mech boss, its sheer power could make that grind worthwhile. It is strong enough to give the Megashark some serious competition, and it effectively provides access to High Velocity Bullets even though you're not supposed to have them yet. This allows it to easily cut through crowds of enemies (and worms of all sizes) without spending any ammo at all. And once you're ready for the mechanical bosses, you can load it up with Crystal Bullets and it'll perform about the same as the Onyx Blaster. The Uzi's rarity is the only thing that holds it back.
ENDLESS MUSKET POUCH
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
1% chance to drop from Angry Trappers
Best prefix: Unreal $$$
Frost Staff: B+
With decently high DPS and velocity, this basically replaces the Laser Rifle in most situations, and its ability to pierce once makes it somewhat usable against the pirates. It has much higher velocity than many magic weapons, and can even juggle certain targets. The Crystal Serpent is the weapon you'd be most likely to compare it to; in comparison, the Frost Staff has better crowd control and a faster fire rate, but lower single-target DPS. Many other weapons offer better crowd control, so the Frost Staff is a sort of middle-ground option with no prominent strengths nor weaknesses.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
2% chance to drop from Ice Elementals, Icy Mermen, and Ice Golems
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
2% chance to drop from Ice Elementals, Icy Mermen, and Ice Golems
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Ice Sickle: A-
The quintessential melee weapon. While it has limited use against fast-moving bosses, it shreds crowds of enemies at close range and vastly outperforms swords when it comes to beating them back, easily setting up an impenetrable barrier of lingering ice blades. It can hold off practically any number of fighter enemies, juggling them backwards while dealing very high DPS. However, it's pretty bad against enemies that don't give chase and instead fire on you from a distance.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ##
0.56% chance to drop from Armored Vikings, Icy Mermen, Ice Elementals, and Ice Tortoises
Best prefix: Legendary $$
.............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 $$
Flower of Frost: B
It fires quickly and is quite economical to use despite its high attacking speed. However, its effective range is rather low due to its poor horizontal velocity. It also can't handle more than two enemies at a time. Usually you'll want to fire it while flying low to the ground on relatively flat terrain; this makes it reasonable for attacking rows of grounded enemies, but in those situations you'll usually prefer something with line-of-sight, like a Laser Rifle. While it is generally outclassed by Cursed Flames and Crystal Storm for surface and underground combat respectively, its DPS is still top-class among pre-mech magic weapons, so it may be worth considering for bosses. Just don't use it in a sky arena made entirely of platforms, because it will inevitably disappoint you.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical ¢
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Mythical ¢
Frostbrand: B+
Unlike the Beam Sword, the Frostbrand fires its projectile rapidly enough to be almost usable against bosses, and the Frostbite debuff it applies is a nice bonus that can contribute significant damage over time if applied to multiple targets. The projectile alone is only about a third as powerful as a proper early Hardmode weapon, so you should be using the blade whenever possible.
BLADE
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Legendary $$
BLADE
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: #
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
28.5% chance to drop from Ice Mimics
Best prefix: Legendary $$
Ham Bat: D-
Everything potentially interesting about this weapon is overshadowed by its horrible range and mediocre damage. If you're ever in a position where you need the 21 HP of healing that Hearty Meal provides, then getting close to an enemy to bludgeon it with a melee weapon is probably the last thing you'd want to do. If the Hearty Meal buff were applied upon hitting enemies rather than killing them, then perhaps we'd be cooking, but as it stands, this pork is undercooked. Not recommended for safety reasons.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #
4% chance to drop from Pigrons; 0.2% chance to drop from statue-spawned Pigrons
Best prefix: Legendary $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #
4% chance to drop from Pigrons; 0.2% chance to drop from statue-spawned Pigrons
Best prefix: Legendary $
Obtained from NPCs
Gradient: B
All the yoyo-specific advice in the analysis for Amarok also applies here. Gradient has higher damage and a shorter throw duration, and the throw duration is probably more impactful. However, in the earliest part of Hardmode you can't afford to be picky, so I recommend using whichever Hardmode yoyo you happen to get first. You'll be searching for a Skeleton Merchant in order to get the Yoyo Glove anyways, so it's reasonable to skip Amarok and buy Gradient along with your Yoyo Glove.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold in Hardmode during full moon and waning phases
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold in Hardmode during full moon and waning phases
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
Format C: B-
Gradient's malnourished cousin. It has the exact same base damage as Chik, with none of Chik's other good qualities. It is the worst Hardmode yoyo, but it is probably still worth buying if you don't have one because the utility offered by yoyos is just that good. It's a shame that I can't assign it C rank when it's literally in the name, but it is what it is.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold in Hardmode during new moon and waxing phases
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold in Hardmode during new moon and waxing phases
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
Ice Rod: C+
A niche weapon that can perform some neat tricks, but generally isn't as effective as most magic weapons in its tier. While it fires stupidly fast, its range and velocity are a bit too low for it to contribute properly to most boss fights (though it can somewhat cheese Retinazer's second phase if you didn't already have a bunker to cheese it with). You can try blocking enemies off with a wall of ice and pelting them from relative safety, but that will probably only work underground, and you're usually better off using an equally disruptive weapon with better DPS. Also, please don't be that person who uses the Ice Rod during a crowded boss battle in multiplayer.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####
Sold by Wizard for 50 gold
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####
Sold by Wizard for 50 gold
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
Shotgun: B+
Uses standard bullets.
While it has slightly higher potential DPS than the Clockwork Assault Rifle, the Shotgun is substantially harder to use in most situations. However, it works just fine against bosses with Crystal Bullets, and against crowds with Exploding Bullets. It has a bit of projectile spread, but it's still tight enough to be useful over long distances. In my opinion, the Quad-Barrel Shotgun never outclassed this weapon at any point in its history; the Shotgun has much better effective range, and its projectile spread is much more tolerable in comparison.
There's no denying that the Shotgun is outclassed by most Hardmode ranged weapons, but if you've ever played on a public SSC server that threw you straight into Hardmode armed with only a Copper Shortsword, there's a good chance that you've used this. Nowadays, the Pearlwood Sword can fill that niche. Or the Jousting Lance, if the server also prevents you from destroying blocks (but you should probably just quit the server at that rate).
EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ####
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####
Sold by the Arms Dealer for 25 gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$
While it has slightly higher potential DPS than the Clockwork Assault Rifle, the Shotgun is substantially harder to use in most situations. However, it works just fine against bosses with Crystal Bullets, and against crowds with Exploding Bullets. It has a bit of projectile spread, but it's still tight enough to be useful over long distances. In my opinion, the Quad-Barrel Shotgun never outclassed this weapon at any point in its history; the Shotgun has much better effective range, and its projectile spread is much more tolerable in comparison.
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. Nowadays, the Pearlwood Sword can fill that niche. Or the Jousting Lance, if the server also prevents you from destroying blocks (but you should probably just quit the server at that rate).
EXPLODING BULLET
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Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ##
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CRYSTAL BULLET
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Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
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....Availability: #####
Sold by the Arms Dealer for 25 gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Gatligator: A-
Uses standard bullets.
If you don't have an Uzi, this is probably your best option for crowd control when paired with Exploding Bullets, and it can clear out large groups of enemies by strafing them from above. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it difficult to use as an actual ranged weapon, so you'll probably be shooting things point-blank instead to take full advantage of its high fire rate. Its accuracy actually isn't too terrible against large targets like the Twins; it performs much better than the Clockwork Assault Rifle at close distances (and about the same at long distances). It sort of works like a demo version of the Megashark, except it's not really a demo version because you paid 35 gold for it.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
EXPLODING BULLET
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$$
If you don't have an Uzi, this is probably your best option for crowd control when paired with Exploding Bullets, and it can clear out large groups of enemies by strafing them from above. Unfortunately, its poor 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. Its accuracy actually isn't too terrible against large targets like the Twins; 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: ##
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
EXPLODING BULLET
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Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$$
Sergeant United Shield: A+
This is the only homing melee weapon you'll get for a very long time, which naturally gives it a number of unique advantages. When imbued, it is the most reliable way to inflict Ichor by far, irrespective of class. It performs at least decently against all mechanical bosses, and extremely well against Queen Slime. And it easily cheeses all underground enemies since it is both bouncing and homing. As a bonus, it can parry incoming contact damage and grant Striking Moment, which is usually not worth going out of your way to try to activate, but it actually isn't too hard to pull off against Duke Fishron in his final phase. That said, you can't realistically parry every single attack, so I would probably try to dodge him the normal way. It's not a Get Out of Jail Free card; you have to actually face the direction that the attack is coming from.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$
Orange Zapinator: A+
This is the wackiest weapon in the game by far, and it basically wins the fight against the Destroyer by itself. If it were any faster, its tooltip ("It might be broken") would take on an entirely new meaning, but even with its slow speed holding it back, it is surprisingly viable for what is essentially a joke weapon. It has extremely high base damage for a pre-mech weapon, and performs better on average against bosses due to the occasional omega-hit dealing upwards of 1500 damage in a single shot (which can potentially hit multiple times). The most common glitchy outcome is the laser teleporting backwards and hitting the same target again, which not only improves its DPS, but also grants more chances to roll the dice and do the funny. Apart from shattering the Destroyer with surprising consistency, it also does exceptionally well against Queen Slime since it can take advantage of her minions to trigger more effects. It is probably the only weapon that is truly luck-reliant when it comes to its actual combat performance, and always has a small but non-zero chance to completely cheese a difficult fight. Use it like you would use a Sniper Rifle; it is at least guaranteed to get a single strong, accurate hit on whatever you shoot with it, and whatever happens next can only help you.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #
Extremely rare chance to be sold by the Traveling Merchant for 35 Gold in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
Slap Hand: D+
Pearlwood Sword Plus. It has similar stats to ore swords, with the key difference being a comically inflated knockback value that, while funny to play around with, ends up being counterproductive most of the time. Stunlocking enemies in place is much more effective than sending them flying, especially if they have a ranged attack and therefore want to be as far away from you as possible. Nonetheless, like most swords it still manages to deal high damage to the Destroyer, and it's one of the few weapons that won't produce the usual unsatisfying metal clinking sounds when fighting the mechs.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ##
Sold by the Skeleton Merchant for 25 gold during a Blood Moon in Hardmode
Best prefix: Legendary $$
.............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
A pathetic excuse for a weapon that you would only use if you just entered Hardmode whilst having never made Hellstone weapons for whatever reason and were truly desperate for something that could deal more than 2 damage, but you might as well use the Pearlwood Sword at that rate. It is extremely difficult to master and not even close to being worth the trouble. In theory, scaling with movement speed shouldn't be too bad because you're moving most of the time anyways, but the fact that it is a close-ranged, high knockback weapon that requires you to move means that this is pretty much the worst thing ever. 6 Gold may be a negligible price but this is still a robbery.
If you lost a bet and were forced to use this, the best way to use it is to either pair it with the Shield of Cthulhu's dash, or jump up and down while holding it inside an enemy. You can kill the Destroyer with it if you use a full tank set, but I wouldn't count that in the Jousting Lance's favor because a tank set can also kill the Destroyer with no weapon at all.
Yes, I know about Inner Tube and minecart cheese, and no, I'm not going to raise the ranking of an F tier weapon just because it performs well when paired with borderline bug abuse. Shut up.
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Sold by Zoologist for 6 Gold during Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
If you lost a bet and were forced to use this, the best way to use it is to either pair it with the Shield of Cthulhu's dash, or jump up and down while holding it inside an enemy. You can kill the Destroyer with it if you use a full tank set, but I wouldn't count that in the Jousting Lance's favor because a tank set can also kill the Destroyer with no weapon at all.
Yes, I know about Inner Tube and minecart cheese, and no, I'm not going to raise the ranking of an F tier weapon just because it performs well when paired with borderline bug abuse. Shut up.
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #####
Sold by Zoologist for 6 Gold during Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
Crafted from monster drops
Onyx Blaster: S-
Uses standard bullets.
Although aiming it may take some practice if you're used to automatic guns, the enormous damage that the Onyx Blaster deals in a single shot easily compensates for its lack of speed. You can easily deal more than 600 damage to large targets 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 blast deals double the listed damage, it can even muscle through heavily armored opponents later on. It's perfectly reasonable to use this against Plantera, Golem, or even Duke Fishron. Note that it actually has an anti-synergy with Exploding Bullets, since the bullets deal piercing damage and may interfere with the explosive blast. If using this weapon against the Destroyer, you are better off using Meteor Shot.
CRYSTAL BULLET
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from Shotgun, Soul of Night x10, Dark Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Although aiming it may take some practice if you're used to automatic guns, the enormous damage that the Onyx Blaster deals in a single shot easily compensates for its lack of speed. You can easily deal more than 600 damage to large targets 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 blast deals double the listed damage, it can even muscle through heavily armored opponents later on. It's perfectly reasonable to use this against Plantera, Golem, or even Duke Fishron. Note that it actually has an anti-synergy with Exploding Bullets, since the bullets deal piercing damage and may interfere with the explosive blast. If using this weapon against the Destroyer, you are better off using Meteor Shot.
CRYSTAL BULLET
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Crowd control: ####
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.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from Shotgun, Soul of Night x10, Dark Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Sky Fracture: B+
The Sky Fracture is a mediocre weapon that sees widespread use mainly because it has acceptable DPS for bosses, is fairly easy to obtain, and most importantly, is one of the few reasonable options for the poor saps who restrict themselves to using magic weapons only. Its poor projectile velocity makes it extremely annoying to use against small targets, but this is less of an issue when fighting bosses due to their size. However, you still have to lead your shots by a wide margin. I would only recommend using it against bosses, because it is useless for crowd control and extremely inefficient at killing flying enemies due to its high knockback. Most magic weapons at this stage are specialized for crowd control with mediocre single-target damage, and the Sky Fracture gives up all of its crowd control in exchange for out-DPSing the others by a hair's width. Not very exciting.
If you are lucky enough to own an Orange Zapinator or Spirit Flame, there's no need to bother with this weapon. Otherwise, the Sky Fracture is a solid option for the Twins, along with the Crystal Storm, Frost Staff, Cursed Flames, and Crystal Serpent. The Magic Dagger and Shadowflame Hex Doll are shorter-ranged alternatives that can be used against Skeletron Prime. I only listed magic weapons because there is no reason to touch the Sky Fracture (or 80% of the other pre-mech magic weapons) unless you are doing a magic-only playthrough.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from Magic Missile, Soul of Light x16, Light Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $$
If you are lucky enough to own an Orange Zapinator or Spirit Flame, there's no need to bother with this weapon. Otherwise, the Sky Fracture is a solid option for the Twins, along with the Crystal Storm, Frost Staff, Cursed Flames, and Crystal Serpent. The Magic Dagger and Shadowflame Hex Doll are shorter-ranged alternatives that can be used against Skeletron Prime. I only listed magic weapons because there is no reason to touch the Sky Fracture (or 80% of the other pre-mech magic weapons) unless you are doing a magic-only playthrough.
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Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ####
Crafted from Magic Missile, Soul of Light x16, Light Shard x2 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Dao of Pow: A-
Though it is 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 click-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: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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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 $
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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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: B+
Performance-wise, it's about the same as Amarok, but its main problem is that it requires an upgraded Anvil to craft. You'll really want a yoyo when you're hunting for ores underground and fighting off cavern monsters, and Chik won't be around for that. However, once you do obtain it, Chik is a lot more potent than its base damage suggests because it travels faster than the other yoyos and isn't knocked away as far upon hitting an enemy. In practice, it hits faster than the Gradient and Amarok, and if it weren't for Amarok's Frostbite debuff, it would be the strongest pre-mech yoyo. So if you happen to be using Frost armor, Chik is the ideal choice, and even if you aren't, you may prefer Chik because it has the best overall duration and reach.
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Crafted from Wooden Yoyo, Crystal Shard x15, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
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Crowd control: ###
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Crafted from Wooden Yoyo, Crystal Shard x15, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
Crystal Storm: B
A magical machine gun that is most useful in cramped corridors, but is also decent against bosses if they're the type that chase you around. It easily stunlocks regular enemies while dealing around the same DPS as a Megashark, and has just enough range to damage Spazmatism during its flamethrower attack. Its projectiles spread out a bit, but that's not too much of a hindrance for a weapon that attacks so quickly; it is much more likely to hit flying enemies than many weapons with narrow projectiles, like the Laser Rifle. Like all fast-firing weapons, it greatly appreciates the Ichor debuff, especially because it helps to offset Skeletron Prime's increased defense during his spin attack (which is when he is the easiest to hit).
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
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.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Crystal Shard x20, Soul of Light x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Crystal Shard x20, Soul of Light x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
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. You could also use a Flask of Ichor or Ichor ammunition, but the Golden Shower applies Ichor without consuming any resources, and therefore grants you permanent access to the debuff. 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). It synergizes with rapid-fire weapons like the Crystal Storm and guns with Crystal Bullets, but slower weapons like the Orange Zapinator and Spirit Flame don't benefit much.
Ironically, if you are using it just for the debuff, the Golden Shower is much more effective for non-mages than it is for mages because you can't regenerate mana while using it. I would advise mages to use an imbued whip, boomerang, or Blowpipe to inflict Ichor instead, since Mana Regeneration can restore a large chunk of mana during those brief moments while using a non-magic weapon. Also, an imbued weapon inflicts Ichor for the longest duration on average (10-19 seconds, as opposed to 10 seconds for the Golden Shower).
The best time to use Golden Shower is when bosses start moving around quickly in a way that makes them hard to hit. You won't be able to deal any consistent damage during this time, but you can at least land one hit with the Golden Shower. The brief moments afterwards when bosses pause their movement are opportunities to deal as much damage as possible, and you don't want to waste those precious seconds using the Golden Shower and swapping when you could have applied the debuff earlier.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Ichor x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
Ironically, if you are using it just for the debuff, the Golden Shower is much more effective for non-mages than it is for mages because you can't regenerate mana while using it. I would advise mages to use an imbued whip, boomerang, or Blowpipe to inflict Ichor instead, since Mana Regeneration can restore a large chunk of mana during those brief moments while using a non-magic weapon. Also, an imbued weapon inflicts Ichor for the longest duration on average (10-19 seconds, as opposed to 10 seconds for the Golden Shower).
The best time to use Golden Shower is when bosses start moving around quickly in a way that makes them hard to hit. You won't be able to deal any consistent damage during this time, but you can at least land one hit with the Golden Shower. The brief moments afterwards when bosses pause their movement are opportunities to deal as much damage as possible, and you don't want to waste those precious seconds using the Golden Shower and swapping when you could have applied the debuff earlier.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Ichor x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
Cursed Flames: A+
Back in 1.1, this was an infamous weapon in PvP for carpeting wide areas in endless projectile spam, and this is still the best way to use the weapon more than a decade later. You ideally want the fireballs to bounce as low as possible, so its damage will be concentrated on grounded crowds. However, it's sometimes a good idea to let the projectiles bounce a bit higher so they can catch flying enemies in the crossfire. This weapon deals more single-target DPS than the Golden Shower, even taking the latter's Ichor debuff into account. It also has more reach than the Flower of Frost. So bossing is a possibility for Cursed Flames, though it probably isn't your most efficient option.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Cursed Flame x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spell Tome, Cursed Flame x20, Soul of Night x15 at a Bookshelf
Best prefix: Mythical $$$$
Meteor Staff: B-
The Meteor Staff is basically the magic equivalent of a watered-down Daedalus Stormbow. Since it does literally nothing underground, it is strictly to be used against bosses and pirates. It has a somewhat favorable matchup against Prime and the Twins, performing a bit better than the Sky Fracture during phases when the boss isn't chasing you. And it is very good against the Destroyer, as you might expect. These positive matchups are offset by the fact that the Meteor Staff is useless during most of early Hardmode because this part of the game mainly takes place underground. It can technically be used for surface combat, but it won't be efficient unless your targets are very numerous or very large. Its extremely high mana usage is also a significant flaw; Mana Regeneration alone will not be enough, and you'll need a Magnet/Mana Flower in order to use it properly. It can definitely contribute to your run as an effective boss-killer, but it's not at all suited for general use. Also, it really sucks if you're playing on low resolution. If you're playing on a laptop, I'd recommend going fullscreen and zooming out in order to extend the Meteor Staff's range as far as possible, which massively improves its performance.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Meteorite Bar x20, Pixie Dust x10, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Meteorite Bar x20, Pixie Dust x10, Soul of Light x10 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical $
Spirit Flame: A
Though it is wretchedly 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.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
Crafted from Desert Spirit Lamp, Forbidden Fragment x2, Soul of Night x12 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical ¢
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ##
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....Availability: #
Crafted from Desert Spirit Lamp, Forbidden Fragment x2, Soul of Night x12 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Mythical ¢
Spider Staff: A
Summoners jump significantly in viability at the start of Hardmode thanks to this weapon alone, and unless you already obtained a full ore set, for the short term I honestly think that any non-restricted character should switch to Obsidian or Bee armor the moment this weapon is made. 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 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. It can even be used unironically against the post-Plantera dungeon since the entire place is covered in background walls, and it puts up a decent showing against Plantera herself.
You'll get diminishing returns after summoning 3 spiders, so instead of running full Spider armor, you may want to consider using it with Obsidian armor, or a tank set with a melee helmet. (Minion mixing is pointless because you can't mix with Abigail, the other pre-Hardmode minions are significantly worse than Spiders, and the ones that come after are significantly better.) Also, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position where you're facing Queen Slime or Skeletron Prime with only the Spider Staff available, don't use whips, because they'll cause the spiders to detach when the whip strikes an arm or Heavenly Slime. Instead, have the spiders manually target the main body and use any non-whip weapon.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spider Fang x16 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless ¢
You'll get diminishing returns after summoning 3 spiders, so instead of running full Spider armor, you may want to consider using it with Obsidian armor, or a tank set with a melee helmet. (Minion mixing is pointless because you can't mix with Abigail, the other pre-Hardmode minions are significantly worse than Spiders, and the ones that come after are significantly better.) Also, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position where you're facing Queen Slime or Skeletron Prime with only the Spider Staff available, don't use whips, because they'll cause the spiders to detach when the whip strikes an arm or Heavenly Slime. Instead, have the spiders manually target the main body and use any non-whip weapon.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
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....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spider Fang x16 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless ¢
Queen Spider Staff: S
The first good sentry you'll obtain in your run, the Queen is immediately useful and scales extraordinarily well into the lategame for largely the same reasons as the Blade Staff does. In the beginning of hardmode, as long as you picked up a War Table from the Old One's Army for the Strategist buff, you can place two Queen Spiders anywhere on your screen to cheese underground enemies, and her Venom debuff can deal some decent chip damage to early Hardmode bosses. 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. And in the lategame, after you have access to the best gear from the Tavernkeep, this early Hardmode weapon is still relevant, retaining its role as the least placement-dependent sentry in the entire game (other than the two postgame sentries). It offers more stable DPS than the other sentries, which all suffer from low accuracy or tiny range, and its high attack rate allows it to benefit more from the tag effects of lategame whips. Though for all its strengths, it is still predominantly anti-ground just like every other sentry.
The Queen Spider has higher single-target DPS than every sentry Cane even with set bonuses, and also outclasses the Flameburst Staff and Frost Hydra due to having much better whip synergy. However, its lack of piercing makes it worse than the Frost Hydra against the Old One's Army. You might be tempted to boost the Queen Spider by running sentry-based hybrid sets, but with the exception of full Squire, that's not really worth doing until post-Golem since the tier 2 armors are bogged down by their mediocre helmet stats.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spider Fang x24 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless $$
The Queen Spider has higher single-target DPS than every sentry Cane even with set bonuses, and also outclasses the Flameburst Staff and Frost Hydra due to having much better whip synergy. However, its lack of piercing makes it worse than the Frost Hydra against the Old One's Army. You might be tempted to boost the Queen Spider by running sentry-based hybrid sets, but with the exception of full Squire, that's not really worth doing until post-Golem since the tier 2 armors are bogged down by their mediocre helmet stats.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: #####
Crafted from Spider Fang x24 at an Iron/Lead Anvil
Best prefix: Ruthless $$
Cool Whip: A+
With a surprisingly potent Frostbite debuff, a snowflake effect that acts as the rough equivalent of two bonus Blade Staff summons, and decent tag damage, Cool Whip is everything a summoner could possibly ask for, serving you up to Plantera or even beyond (if you are a crazy person who likes to stack three or more whips). It can even be used by non-summoners against the Destroyer, due to how efficiently it kills Probes. It's also nice as a sidearm for mages who can use it while their mana is low, since the whip tag and debuff maximize the mileage you get out of a single strike. If you're going to use this as a summoner, I recommend at least stacking it with Spinal Tap, as it only has 6 tag damage while Spinal Tap has 7.
Critically, its range is just slightly longer than the Firecracker's, which allows it to hit Spazmatism more consistently during its first phase. However, the cursed flamethrower in the second phase makes whipping basically impossible, so for that phase I don't recommend using either whip if you have access to a semi-decent ranged weapon.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ####
Crafted from Frost Core, Soul of Light x8, Soul of Night x8 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary $$
Critically, its range is just slightly longer than the Firecracker's, which allows it to hit Spazmatism more consistently during its first phase. However, the cursed flamethrower in the second phase makes whipping basically impossible, so for that phase I don't recommend using either whip if you have access to a semi-decent ranged weapon.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ####
Crafted from Frost Core, Soul of Light x8, Soul of Night x8 at a Hardmode Anvil
Best prefix: Legendary $$
Obtained through Fishing
Crystal Serpent: B+
The Crystal Serpent's performance is average against most enemies, but it performs much, much better against bosses. Due to their large size and tendency to charge at you, bosses like Queen Slime and Spazmatism will take massive amounts of damage from each shot as they ram into all the secondary projectiles. This weapon usually has better bossing DPS than the Sky Fracture, and performs well in all situations that guns with Crystal Bullets perform well in (though the guns would be better if you have a choice). As a bonus, its mana cost is very low, so it can be freely spammed while exploring underground, and it's rather decent underground since its secondary projectiles bounce off of walls.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Hallowed Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Hallowed Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Toxikarp: A-
Thanks to the existence of the Endless Quiver and Endless Musket Pouch, its ability to conserve ammo is hardly unique, but the Toxikarp has a number of other things going for it. Its large projectile is very effective against flying enemies, and thanks to its fast fire rate, it deals damage quite rapidly while covering a large area over your entire screen. This can be used against the Twins and Skeletron Prime, and should easily perform better than the Shadowflame Knife and Ice Bow. Note that fishing in the Corruption can be rather dangerous since the biome tends to spawn World Feeders.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Corruption Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Corruption Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Unreal $$
Bladetongue: C+
Like all broadswords, this is a difficult weapon to use, but unlike most broadswords, the Bladetongue is powerful enough to possibly justify the increased danger it puts you in. Apart from being a reasonable weapon against the Destroyer, it's very good for crowd control despite the unreliability of its bouncing ichor streams. But this is definitely more of a weapon that gets you into trouble rather than getting you out of it, and it doesn't compare favorably to the other, far burlier Crimson-themed close ranged melee weapon.
BLADE
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #
0.5% chance to be caught when fishing in the Crimson Biome in Hardmode
Best prefix: Legendary $$
BLADE
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
BEAM
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #
....Availability: #
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 also very unsafe to use; its range is very short even compared to other spears, which makes it difficult to attack enemies without getting hit in return. If the enemy is immune to knockback, you're basically guaranteed to take contact damage. 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'd avoid using this outside of tank sets.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
14.29% chance to be caught when fishing in lava in Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
14.29% chance to be caught when fishing in lava in Hardmode
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
Anchor: C
The Anchor really doesn't want to face off against more than two or three enemies at once, but it packs a decent punch and it's a hell of a lot better than the Breaker Blade as a starting weapon. It also invalidates the KO Cannon's entire existence. A minor annoyance with the Anchor is that its projectile is so large, it often ends up colliding with the ground and returning prematurely, not to mention that it takes a while to return if it misses. On the bright side, it won't stop you from swapping weapons while it's out, so you can use it sort of like a crappy Magnet Sphere.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ####
4% chance to drop from Pearlwood Crates
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ####
4% chance to drop from Pearlwood Crates
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic ¢
Blood Moon Fishing
Blood Thorn: C+
Ironically, the best that this blood-themed weapon can hope to be is a severely anemic version of Life Drain. It's not too bad when it's actually hitting its target, but the most obvious problem with Blood Thorn is that it can only hit a distant enemy when there are blocks near it, and that's not a drawback that most people are willing to put up with in exchange for mediocre damage output. Despite having some of the most impressive visuals of any weapon, it is basically the definition of a junk rare. There is no reason to go out of your way to obtain this; even if you are on a Corruption world, it might be more practical to create an artificial Crimson and farm naturally spawned Crimson Mimics for a Life Drain than to try to fish for a Blood Thorn. I wouldn't even bother reeling it in.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
12.5% chance to drop from Hemogoblin Shark
Best prefix: Mythical $$
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ##
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
12.5% chance to drop from Hemogoblin Shark
Best prefix: Mythical $$
Drippler Crippler: S
A completely deranged melee weapon that is comparable to Chlorophyte-tier gear, dropped by an enemy that isn't much tougher than a Wyvern. There are two viable ways to use it: either throw it the full distance to pierce through linear crowds, or click rapidly to fire off as many projectiles as possible, damaging and stunlocking enemies at mid-range. The latter is also your best option for close-ranged DPS. With its massive base damage, it can even be used for bossing, and apart from shredding the Destroyer (obviously), it also deals reasonable damage to Skeletron Prime; I was able to destroy most of the boss's arms without even meaning to. In short, the Drippler Crippler is an incredibly nutty weapon that stays relevant for a very long time. I would go so far to say that the Flower Pow does not directly outclass it, since the Drippler Crippler fires piercing projectiles while the Flower Pow does not.
If you can set up an AHK macro to click-spam it as fast as possible, it surpasses the Fetid Baghnakhs as a facetanking weapon when aimed upwards.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
12.5% chance to drop from Blood Eel
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
If you can set up an AHK macro to click-spam it as fast as possible, it surpasses the Fetid Baghnakhs as a facetanking weapon when aimed upwards.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: #
12.5% chance to drop from Blood Eel
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$
Sanguine Staff: A+
The main appeal of the Sanguine Staff is its accuracy and stable DPS, making it a popular choice against bosses. It also handles clustered enemies really well. Even if you're not a dedicated summoner, you'll definitely want to use this; just using a Summoning Potion and Bewitching Table will allow this weapon to consistently contribute to your total DPS, to the order of (base damage x # of capacity slots) since they attack around once per second. Of course, raw DPS isn't their only advantage; because the bats spend all their time traveling back and forth between you and your target, they're pretty good at keeping you safe since they knock enemies away 100% of the time. Not as insane for enemy lockdown as the Blade Staff, but still very good.
Its main downside is its obtainment method, because farming Dreadnautilus is extremely obnoxious. In contrast, while farming Queen Slime for the Blade Staff is also extremely obnoxious because of her projectile spam, at least it can be done reliably thanks to the abundance of Gelatin Crystals. The Sanguine Staff is rare to the point that many people question whether it's even worth getting. And if it were the only possible reward from Blood Moon fishing, I'd probably say no. Go for it only if you also want a Bananarang or Drippler Crippler.
While the Sanguine Staff starts off stronger with its Firecracker synergy, you might find Blade Staff more appealing later on since it benefits much more from post-mech summoner equipment and doesn't really care about the low offensive bonuses of Hallowed armor.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
50% chance to drop from Dreadnautilus (100% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Ruthless $$
Its main downside is its obtainment method, because farming Dreadnautilus is extremely obnoxious. In contrast, while farming Queen Slime for the Blade Staff is also extremely obnoxious because of her projectile spam, at least it can be done reliably thanks to the abundance of Gelatin Crystals. The Sanguine Staff is rare to the point that many people question whether it's even worth getting. And if it were the only possible reward from Blood Moon fishing, I'd probably say no. Go for it only if you also want a Bananarang or Drippler Crippler.
While the Sanguine Staff starts off stronger with its Firecracker synergy, you might find Blade Staff more appealing later on since it benefits much more from post-mech summoner equipment and doesn't really care about the low offensive bonuses of Hallowed armor.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
50% chance to drop from Dreadnautilus (100% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Ruthless $$
Goblin Invasion
Shadowflame Bow: B+
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 as many 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, this weapon is useful, but somewhat boring since it doesn't offer anything new to your arsenal.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
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....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Unreal $
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Unreal $
Shadowflame Knife: B+
A highly spammable single-target weapon that deals *barely* 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, so you can try using this if you don't have quite enough defense to tank him.
It is significantly worse at base than pre-mech ranged weapons like the Daedalus Stormbow and Dart Pistol and cannot outperform them even when wearing melee armor, so it is only really useful for melee-only challenges. That said, the popularity of these challenges means that the Shadowflame Knife gets recommended more often than it probably should.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
It is significantly worse at base than pre-mech ranged weapons like the Daedalus Stormbow and Dart Pistol and cannot outperform them even when wearing melee armor, so it is only really useful for melee-only challenges. That said, the popularity of these challenges means that the Shadowflame Knife gets recommended more often than it probably should.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $
Shadowflame Hex Doll: A-
This strange magic weapon is a bit tricky to use due to its limited 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. Its single-target DPS is also deceptively high, with similar killtimes against all three mechanical bosses (though it falls somewhat short against Spazmatism's 2nd phase). With some help from Ichor, it is comfortably the strongest magic option against most single targets. One additional bonus is that it has relatively low mana usage, giving it basically 100% uptime against Skeletron Prime if you stop attacking when he is out of range. It becomes somewhat unreliable past the distance where the tentacles start to curve, so it's best to use it at close range; this makes it a natural fit on unconventional tank mage sets, although pre-mech mages don't have many good armor options for tanking, and by the time they do, the Hex Doll will most likely be outclassed.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (33.3% chance in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Mythical $
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ##
....Availability: ##
16.7% chance to drop from Goblin Warlocks (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. You probably won't be thrilled to get it unless it's literally your first Hardmode weapon, but at least it looks pretty good on a Weapon Rack.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
0.5% chance to be dropped by Pirates / 2% from Pirate Captains / 10% from Flying Dutchman
Best prefix: Legendary $
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ####
0.5% chance to be dropped by Pirates / 2% from Pirate Captains / 10% from Flying Dutchman
Best prefix: Legendary $
Pirate Staff: C
Having local immunity frames is nice since they won't interfere with each other, but what's not nice is the hideously incompetent AI that wastes most of its time either jumping over enemies or walking harmlessly through them on their way to attack something else. It really is a shame, because they would actually deal very high DPS against the Destroyer if only they weren't so stupid. They are the pirates who don't do anything.
.............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 ¢
.............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 few people actually know how good it is. 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 you'll usually break even with the money dropped by bosses. With Gold Coins, it's stronger than many post-Plantera weapons; for the relatively affordable price of around 3-4 platinum, you can easily blast through a boss that would otherwise give you trouble. In other words, instead of wasting gold reforging the same weapon over and over, you could yeet that gold directly towards a boss and actually make progress. This is what earns the Coin Gun its high ranking. Platinum Coins are not affordable outside of Journey mode and won't be relevant to most people, but if you must know, they deal about the same DPS as an unmodified S.D.M.G. with Musket Balls.
When using the Coin Gun, you'll want to prepare your coin stacks in advance; bank all your Platinum Coins, and prepare stacks of 100 Gold/Silver Coins each in your coin slots. Because it draws ammo from the coin slots first, you'll need to constantly micromanage your inventory in order to consistently fire the type of coin you want, so keep an eye on the ammo number displayed next to the weapon. Carrying an Encumbering Stone will prevent you from picking up random coins and messing up the order of your ammo.
For most ranged weapons, ammo is cheap enough that I wouldn't pay much attention to ammo conservation bonuses, but an exception can be made for the Coin Gun. If a penny saved is a penny earned, then a 20% ammo conservation bonus would basically earn you 1g 50s per second. Whether this is worth using full Adamantite armor is up to you, but it's a great idea to use an Ammo Box and Ammo Reservation Potion.
COPPER COIN
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
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SILVER COIN
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
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: none
When using the Coin Gun, you'll want to prepare your coin stacks in advance; bank all your Platinum Coins, and prepare stacks of 100 Gold/Silver Coins each in your coin slots. Because it draws ammo from the coin slots first, you'll need to constantly micromanage your inventory in order to consistently fire the type of coin you want, so keep an eye on the ammo number displayed next to the weapon. Carrying an Encumbering Stone will prevent you from picking up random coins and messing up the order of your ammo.
For most ranged weapons, ammo is cheap enough that I wouldn't pay much attention to ammo conservation bonuses, but an exception can be made for the Coin Gun. If a penny saved is a penny earned, then a 20% ammo conservation bonus would basically earn you 1g 50s per second. Whether this is worth using full Adamantite armor is up to you, but it's a great idea to use an Ammo Box and Ammo Reservation Potion.
COPPER COIN
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
SILVER COIN
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: #
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
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: none
Dropped by special Mimics
Daedalus Stormbow: S-
Uses standard arrows.
Raining arrows from the sky is not a reliable way to deal with most enemies, but the Daedalus Stormbow still has a very good matchup against large, predictable bosses like the Destroyer, Skeletron Prime, Queen Slime, Mourning Wood, and Pumpking. You'll usually deal the most single-target damage with Ichor Arrows, since the stars from Holy Arrows don't deal enough damage to make up for the built-in fire rate penalty that it suffers when using them. The Stormbow 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 you won't need it in your hotbar most of the time. But it is THE best weapon for taking down the next few bosses, thanks to the sheer quantity of projectiles making up for its horrible accuracy. One possibly relevant downside of the Stormbow is that you will probably not kill Spazmatism before triggering Retinazer's second form, so prepare yourself accordingly.
The Stormbow works excellently against the Destroyer, but not with Holy Arrows; you'll instead want to use Jester's/Unholy/Hellfire Arrows, or even Bone Arrows for that matchup. Later in the game you'll gain access to Chlorophyte Arrows, which can somewhat fix the Stormbow's accuracy problems. (However, you'll also gain access to the Chlorophyte Shotbow, which is a far more reliable weapon that does more or less the exact same thing.)
ICHOR 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 $$$
Raining arrows from the sky is not a reliable way to deal with most enemies, but the Daedalus Stormbow still has a very good matchup against large, predictable bosses like the Destroyer, Skeletron Prime, Queen Slime, Mourning Wood, and Pumpking. You'll usually deal the most single-target damage with Ichor Arrows, since the stars from Holy Arrows don't deal enough damage to make up for the built-in fire rate penalty that it suffers when using them. The Stormbow 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 you won't need it in your hotbar most of the time. But it is THE best weapon for taking down the next few bosses, thanks to the sheer quantity of projectiles making up for its horrible accuracy. One possibly relevant downside of the Stormbow is that you will probably not kill Spazmatism before triggering Retinazer's second form, so prepare yourself accordingly.
The Stormbow works excellently against the Destroyer, but not with Holy Arrows; you'll instead want to use Jester's/Unholy/Hellfire Arrows, or even Bone Arrows for that matchup. Later in the game you'll gain access to Chlorophyte Arrows, which can somewhat fix the Stormbow's accuracy problems. (However, you'll also gain access to the Chlorophyte Shotbow, which is a far more reliable weapon that does more or less the exact same thing.)
ICHOR 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 $$$
Flying Knife: B
As far as melee weapons go, the Flying Knife is unique in that it is almost completely worthless for close-ranged combat. It can deal large amounts of damage to crowds of enemies, but does nothing to prevent them from swarming you. Trying to aim this weapon is such a mental struggle that it can easily distract you from dodging attacks, and its tendency to smack enemies towards you rather than away from you doesn't help, either. So this weapon is usually not recommended for direct combat. But for picking off groups of enemies that are trapped and can't reach you, the Flying Knife is a great weapon with several advantages over yoyos, namely its fullscreen range and lack of a time limit. It also deals substantial damage to the Destroyer while still allowing you to hide behind blocks, though the ensuing swarm of Probes is a problem that it was not designed to handle.
There are a couple of other tricks you can pull off with this weapon. At worst, it can be used like a poor man's Dao of Pow by simply throwing it in a straight line and letting it return to you, piercing all enemies along the way. You can also drag the cursor down where the Flying Knife can't reach, causing it to press itself against the ground and deal far more consistent damage to grounded enemies on top of it. This weapon isn't for everyone, but it can be quite good in the hands of someone who has enough patience to figure out how to use it (and is using a mouse rather than a trackpad). It also helps that the Flying Knife is a superb cheese weapon that arrives at a time when cheese weapons are in high demand. Use it with DoT debuffs for the best results.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: #
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
25% chance to drop from Hallowed Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Light in an empty chest
Best prefix: Demonic/Godly $$$
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). It also helps that the Flying Knife is a superb cheese weapon that arrives at a time when cheese weapons are in high demand. Use it with DoT debuffs for the best results.
.............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 $$$
Crystal Vile Shard: B+
It has a bit of an inferiority complex compared to Life Drain, but the Crystal Vile Shard is still a potent crowd control weapon that earns you a free win against the Pirates and can also heavily damage the Destroyer. Naturally, you'll want to abuse its wall-piercing capabilities to the fullest when fighting underground. Its short range becomes more of an issue when fighting on the surface, though I'd consider that a fair trade considering that it is a truly infinite piercing weapon with no damage falloff.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
25% chance to drop from Hallowed Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Light in an empty chest
Best prefix: Mythical $$$
.............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 $$$
Dart Pistol: S
If you were using a Blowpipe or Blowgun to inflict Ichor with darts, this is basically a straight upgrade that can act as your main DPS. The strongest single-target option is to continue using Ichor Darts, which will deal insane DPS if they split inside an enemy, but unfortunately this distance is shorter than the range of Spazmatism's flamethrower. Nonetheless, it is one of the top choices for eviscerating Skeletron Prime and the Twins, and you can continue using it post-mech if you want to use both Holy Arrows and Crystal Bullets and need a separate weapon to inflict Ichor with. It's also a very good crowd control option when using Crystal Darts, though its performance against the Destroyer doesn't quite match up to the Dart Rifle with Cursed Darts.
Ichor Darts will pierce infinitely before splitting. While this won't do as much single-target damage as hitting enemies with the sweetspot, it does allow you to juggle normal enemies backwards with knockback until they are far enough for the darts to split inside them and finish them off. And it also means that Skeletron Prime's arms and Plantera's tentacles can't bodyblock your shots.
CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
ICHOR DART
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ###
......Accuracy: ##
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Unreal $$$
Ichor Darts will pierce infinitely before splitting. While this won't do as much single-target damage as hitting enemies with the sweetspot, it does allow you to juggle normal enemies backwards with knockback until they are far enough for the darts to split inside them and finish them off. And it also means that Skeletron Prime's arms and Plantera's tentacles can't bodyblock your shots.
CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
ICHOR DART
.............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: Unreal $$$
Fetid Baghnakhs: A+
This is the most powerful broadsword for this stage of the game, and in fact it has the highest single-target DPS of any pre-mech weapon besides the Coin Gun. Obviously DPS isn't everything, but this is a LOT of DPS, and if you're planning to facetank, you might as well use the strongest weapon available while doing it. With a defensive build, you can basically flip the script on your enemies, kind of like how Pac-Man can eat a power pellet and start chasing the ghosts instead of the ghosts chasing him. I wouldn't recommend trying to facetank Skeletron Prime's spinning head, but it's a pretty good strategy for any other enemy that isn't programmed to fly away from you. If you aren't using it to facetank, it is a lot more niche and you'll probably only use it as a get-off-me weapon when you're getting swarmed.
Don't worry about the loss of offensive bonuses when running a tank set; it will always deal higher DPS with an all-Warding build than long-ranged weapons like the Shadowflame Knife will deal with an all-Menacing build. It can cheese the Destroyer as hard as the Daedalus Stormbow used to, but you probably need a Star Veil and around 80+ defense to pull off a full facetank in Expert mode, and 120+ to facetank Plantera.
.............DPS: #####
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: n/a
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: #
....Availability: ###
20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Legendary $$$
Don't worry about the loss of offensive bonuses when running a tank set; it will always deal higher DPS with an all-Warding build than long-ranged weapons like the Shadowflame Knife will deal with an all-Menacing build. It can cheese the Destroyer as hard as the Daedalus Stormbow used to, but you probably need a Star Veil and around 80+ defense to pull off a full facetank in Expert mode, and 120+ to facetank Plantera.
.............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 $$$
Life Drain: S-
Due to its ability to instantly disrupt large groups of enemies with perfect accuracy, this is one of the best magic weapons for getting nasty situations under control, especially those that involve projectile-based enemies. Unlike many weapons whose performance tends to fall apart as swarms of enemies start to accumulate, Life Drain thrives under the same conditions, completely shutting down both grounded and airborne enemies within a massive radius. Of course, the opposite is also true: its performance is unimpressive against single targets, and it may not be able to sustain itself off the Celestial Magnet alone. So it usually doesn't do well against bosses—except the Destroyer, against which it is arguably the best magic weapon you could possibly use, and Queen Slime, which spawns hordes of annoying enemies that few weapons other than the Life Drain can handle. It is also excellent underground since it can penetrate into walls a bit, and instantly deletes most worm enemies from existence. As a bonus, it increases your passive health regeneration while in use, though it won't save you from the brink of death like Vampire Knives can. Ironically, despite literally being named "Life Drain", this weapon's ability to drain life ends up being a mere footnote compared to all of its other excellent qualities.
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: #####
....Availability: ###
20% chance to drop from Crimson Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Crimson world
Best prefix: Mythical $$$
.............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 that actually doesn't work too well against things other than the Destroyer because the flames will expire before they hit the ground. 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.
The difference between the two mainly boils down to the availability of biome-specific darts. The Dart Rifle with Cursed Darts is better against the Destroyer, and the Dart Pistol with Ichor Darts is better against the Twins and Skeletron Prime (but not as good as the Daedalus Stormbow with Ichor Arrows). Both combos have specific synergies that encourage you to use them with their matching ammo: the faster fire rate of the Dart Pistol provides more mileage from the Ichor debuff, and the more powerful Dart Rifle helps Cursed Darts bulldoze through enemy defense. You have the option of using dart weapons with mismatched darts, but I wouldn't encourage it.
CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #####
CURSED DART
.............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: Unreal $$$
The difference between the two mainly boils down to the availability of biome-specific darts. The Dart Rifle with Cursed Darts is better against the Destroyer, and the Dart Pistol with Ichor Darts is better against the Twins and Skeletron Prime (but not as good as the Daedalus Stormbow with Ichor Arrows). Both combos have specific synergies that encourage you to use them with their matching ammo: the faster fire rate of the Dart Pistol provides more mileage from the Ichor debuff, and the more powerful Dart Rifle helps Cursed Darts bulldoze through enemy defense. You have the option of using dart weapons with mismatched darts, but I wouldn't encourage it.
CRYSTAL DART
.............DPS: ###
Crowd control: #####
......Accuracy: ####
.....Disruption: ###
..........Safety: #####
CURSED DART
.............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: Unreal $$$
Chain Guillotines: B+
It suffers from middling range, but its damage output is high enough that it can potentially be better than the Shadowflame Knife if enemies stay within reach of your attacks. Compared to the Anchor, Chain Guillotines have the advantage of not being completely scuffed when attacking an enemy that's above you, meaning that it is actually usable for boss fights. But there is little reason to use this over the wide variety of excellent pre-mech ranged weapons unless you're doing a melee-only challenge, and like most melee weapons designed to attack at range, its DPS is nothing compared to the Fetid Baghnakhs.
.............DPS: ####
Crowd control: ##
......Accuracy: ###
.....Disruption: ####
..........Safety: ###
....Availability: ###
20% chance to drop from Corrupt Mimics, which can be summoned by placing a Key of Night in an empty chest on a Corruption world
Best prefix: Godly/Demonic $$$
.............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: S
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 (and Cursed Inferno) 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.
Apart from being arguably the most important non-summoner weapon for efficient OOA runs, it is also highly valuable for facetanking strategies since you can add significant DPS by placing it at your feet. This allows tank mages to do something sort of similar to Fetid Baghnakhs, as the combined DPS of a Nimbus Rod and Clinger Staff concentrated in a small area can shred through stationary bosses.
Its critical strike chance is calculated based on the magic weapon you're currently holding. Since Clinger Staff will almost never be the magic weapon you're currently holding, its base damage is the only stat that matters. Therefore, Ruthless is technically its best modifier. For the same reasons, it also gains a bit of extra DPS if you happen to use Sky Fracture a lot.
.............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: Ruthless $$$
Apart from being arguably the most important non-summoner weapon for efficient OOA runs, it is also highly valuable for facetanking strategies since you can add significant DPS by placing it at your feet. This allows tank mages to do something sort of similar to Fetid Baghnakhs, as the combined DPS of a Nimbus Rod and Clinger Staff concentrated in a small area can shred through stationary bosses.
Its critical strike chance is calculated based on the magic weapon you're currently holding. Since Clinger Staff will almost never be the magic weapon you're currently holding, its base damage is the only stat that matters. Therefore, Ruthless is technically its best modifier. For the same reasons, it also gains a bit of extra DPS if you happen to use Sky Fracture a lot.
.............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: Ruthless $$$
Dropped by Queen Slime
Blade Staff: S+
One of the two pre-mech summoning weapons that can actually be used against flying bosses like the Twins, Skeletron Prime, and Dreadnautilus. Not only is it perfectly accurate, it is the fastest-attacking minion weapon by far, putting most enemies in total lockdown. (Despite having zero base knockback, it gains a tiny bit of knockback if you have the Well Fed buff.) Any source of additional fixed damage will increase its damage output dramatically: the most notable sources of fixed damage are additional defense piercing (Stinger Necklace, Flask of Ichor, Sharpening Station + held melee weapon) and tag damage from whips (Spinal Tap, Cool Whip, Durendal). It has slightly lower DPS than the Spider Staff, but with a Shark Tooth Necklace equipped, it becomes about the same. In order to use this weapon properly, you need to understand how it works; because it has very low base damage, effects that add a fixed amount of damage per hit provide a monstrous boost to its damage output. So depending on how well you understand and build around it, it could be either very mediocre or very powerful. The Blade Staff's extremely low base damage also means that it benefits very little from percentage-based damage bonuses. This can be a blessing in disguise since it means you can run full Warding without sacrificing much of your damage, as long as you're still using defense penetration and whip tags.
While its dependency on tag damage makes it weak if not using whips or armor penetration, the Blade Staff can still be useful for stunlocking enemies while exploring. Even if it only does 1 damage, it can still hold enemies in place and prevent them from approaching or firing projectiles. Most enemies are rendered completely useless by just two Enchanted Daggers, which you can get easily with just a Bewitching Table. In addition, you're free to throw in an occasional whip strike even when not running summoner gear, which will help them deal damage to bosses and is one of the better things you can be doing as a mage when you're low on mana.
Due to its low base damage, this weapon doesn't work very well with the Firecracker. You'll mainly want to use Spinal Tap and Cool Whip to maximize tag damage. Later, the Blade Staff can synergize with Dark Harvest for some insane crowd damage, though it's more of a special-effects show than an optimal strategy since the Raven Staff and Deadly Sphere Staff usually do a better job dishing out damage.
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
25% chance to drop from Queen Slime (33% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Demonic/Mystic/Deadly/Hurtful ¢
While its dependency on tag damage makes it weak if not using whips or armor penetration, the Blade Staff can still be useful for stunlocking enemies while exploring. Even if it only does 1 damage, it can still hold enemies in place and prevent them from approaching or firing projectiles. Most enemies are rendered completely useless by just two Enchanted Daggers, which you can get easily with just a Bewitching Table. In addition, you're free to throw in an occasional whip strike even when not running summoner gear, which will help them deal damage to bosses and is one of the better things you can be doing as a mage when you're low on mana.
Due to its low base damage, this weapon doesn't work very well with the Firecracker. You'll mainly want to use Spinal Tap and Cool Whip to maximize tag damage. Later, the Blade Staff can synergize with Dark Harvest for some insane crowd damage, though it's more of a special-effects show than an optimal strategy since the Raven Staff and Deadly Sphere Staff usually do a better job dishing out damage.
.............DPS: ##
Crowd control: ####
......Accuracy: #####
.....Disruption: #####
..........Safety: ####
....Availability: ###
25% chance to drop from Queen Slime (33% in Expert mode)
Best prefix: Demonic/Mystic/Deadly/Hurtful ¢
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