In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list

meh still
I think at this point this has devolved into a matter of opinion. On its own, with only 1 summon, the cell staff is probably better because of the higher base damage, but because of the fact that the Stardust Cell DoT doesn't stack over things like Daybroken, it is only good in smaller numbers. Besides, most non-summoners can still grab up to I think 3 segments with the bewitching table and 1 summoning potion.
 
You just gave the stardust dragon 5/5 and S+ because its a dragon i say cells are better



And i mean WAY better


though thats just opinion
Your opinion is, uh, appreciated, but until you explain why you think the cells are “WAY better” than the dragon, I’m afraid I won’t be able to respond to your feedback properly.

Maybe let’s start by naming a field (damage, crowd control, etc) in which the cells outperform the dragon? I can run tests to see whether what you say is true.

I will say this: the fact that the Stardust Dragon is a dragon has no bearing on its placement. It could be a gummy worm or a tube sock, and I would still rank it S+ if it worked the same way.
 
I may or may not have just seen all 5/5 on the Stardust Dragon Staff and i may or may not have been like, "Nuff said they just said that because its a frikking dragon"
 
How do you write in color?
[doublepost=1544230557,1544230300][/doublepost]The fetid isn’t a sword!
 
I may or may not have just seen all 5/5 on the Stardust Dragon Staff and i may or may not have been like, "Nuff said they just said that because its a frikking dragon"
That is not the approach I am taking for this thread. I am rating the weapons based on how effective they are in combat. If you thought I would give a weapon an S+ rating for such a superficial reason, you are mistaken.

I will continue to believe that you are capable of making better posts than this. Please try to put more thought into the next one.

The fetid isn’t a sword!
It works like one. Doesn't look like one, but it is by far the best sword for the close-combat situations that usually call for a sword. Stylish Scissors and Slap Hand are also swords. If they work like swords, wouldn't it be confusing for me not to treat them as such?

How do you write in color?
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this text is red

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Nice guide, I really liked reading through it. It is also well structured, I could easily find the weapons I was most curious about. I didn't know the Terrarian doens't gain an increase in single target DPS when the yoyo bag is equipped, so thank you for bringing that to my attention.
 
It works like one. Doesn't look like one, but it is by far the best sword for the close-combat situations that usually call for a sword. Stylish Scissors and Slap Hand are also swords. If they work like swords, wouldn't it be confusing for me not to treat them as such?
If a weapon that works like a sword doesn’t look like a sword, it doesn’t deserve its name as the swordiest sword around, does it?


“Baconfry said:
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Thanks!







also, I’m not exactly sure why the magical daggers are rated so high, most people can’t sustain DPS with this weapon, and it drains mana really fast.
Also, do you hold a gouge against true melee swords or something?
And believe it or not, the mushroom spear used to be the ultimate plantera weapon due to its high crit chance and, well, the fact that flasks Of ichor was released at the same time it was.
 
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If a weapon that works like a sword doesn’t look like a sword, it doesn’t deserve its name as the swordiest sword around, does it?
I guess you could put it that way, but this thread isn’t about appearances, it’s about how the weapons actually work. And technically, the Fetid Baghnakhs is a sword. I called it the “swordiest sword in the game” because when it comes to shredding enemies at point-blank range, no other sword comes close to beating it.

also, I’m not exactly sure why the magical daggers are rated so high, most people can’t sustain DPS with this weapon, and it drains mana really fast.
Its mana cost is not as high as that of many magic weapons, such as Life Drain and Meteor Staff. I rated it highly because of its high potential damage output, and personally I had no trouble using it for at least a few minutes.

Also, do you hold a grudge against true melee swords or something?
If we take an objective look at their combat effectiveness, they’re not very good. They have very poor range, cover a limited range of angles, and cannot reliably repel more than 3 enemies at once. This isn’t a grudge, it’s what I believe to be an accurate judgment.

And believe it or not, the mushroom spear used to be the ultimate plantera weapon due to its high crit chance and, well, the fact that flasks Of ichor was released at the same time it was.
I can definitely see the Mushroom Spear being an effective weapon against Plantera when using a Flask of Ichor, but its range is considerably worse than that of the Death Sickle or Chlorophyte Partisan, so I doubt it was ever the #1 choice for an anti-Plantera melee weapon.
 
if we take an objective look at their combat effectiveness, they’re not very good. They have very poor range, cover a limited range of angles, and cannot reliably repel more than 3 enemies at once. This isn’t a grudge, it’s what I believe to be an accurate judgment.
You forgot that most enemies in the game have to touch the character to deal any damage.
This is especially apparent in cavern mining, where one of the only reliable ways of holding many enemies off and killing them are swords.
Also, they’re the only continuously spammable weapons that doesn’t really require aiming or mush attention, and probably one of the only continuously spammable weapons.
I can definitely see the Mushroom Spear being an effective weapon against Plantera when using a Flask of Ichor, but its range is considerably worse than that of the Death Sickle or Chlorophyte Partisan, so I doubt it was ever the #1 choice for an anti-Plantera melee weapon.
Considering that Chlorophyte partisan can only releases its cloud at the end of the thrust, and the fact that the cloud gives off enemy immunity frames, the partisan definitely deals less damage.
Also, the mushrooms lingers in walls, making it perfect for plantera.
As for death sickle vs mushroom spear, i’m Not too sure on that one, though you’re comparing a S+ weapon with what you consider a c+ weapon, and the fact that these two are comparable means it should be moved a bit up.
 
You forgot that most enemies in the game have to touch the character to deal any damage.
This is especially apparent in cavern mining, where one of the only reliable ways of holding many enemies off and killing them are swords.
Also, they’re the only continuously spammable weapons that doesn’t really require aiming or much attention, and probably one of the only continuously spammable weapons.
Allowing enemies to get close to you is not a great strategy in the first place. The best approach is to detect and eliminate them from a safe distance, which is why this list favors weapons that have better range. Also, if you are surrounded, it is usually better to escape the crowd and fire on them from afar than to try to engage them in close quarters.

Considering that Chlorophyte partisan can only releases its cloud at the end of the thrust, and the fact that the cloud gives off enemy immunity frames, the partisan definitely deals less damage.
Also, the mushrooms lingers in walls, making it perfect for plantera.
As for death sickle vs mushroom spear, i’m Not too sure on that one, though you’re comparing a S+ weapon with what you consider a c+ weapon, and the fact that these two are comparable means it should be moved a bit up.
You might have a point there. I just tested them out against Plantera, and the Mushroom Spear and Chlorophyte Partisan did around the same DPS on average. After that, I tried it with a Flask of Ichor, and the Mushroom Spear's DPS nearly doubled, whereas the Chlorophyte Partisan did not improve as much. I took a closer look at the rankings and decided to move the Chlorophyte Partisan to B+, and the Mushroom Spear to B- (since it is noticeably better than the Chlorophyte Saber). However, as you can see, I still believe the Mushroom Spear is not as effective as the Chlorophyte Partisan:

Screen Shot 2018-12-09 at 3.07.01 PM.png


This is the range at which the Chlorophyte Partisan is effective.

Screen Shot 2018-12-09 at 3.07.54 PM.png


This is the range that the Mushroom Spear needs. As you can see, the Mushroom Spear has much worse range than the Chlorophyte Partisan, and considering how important it is to avoid damage in boss battles, this is a significant disadvantage for the Mushroom Spear; you can't win a boss fight if you take too much damage and die. I did appreciate its ability to damage and disrupt Plantera's tentacles in phase 2, though.

Oh, and my testing also concluded that the Death Sickle is much, much better than both of these weapons, and so it remains in S.

Your feedback has been very valuable, and as you can see I've used it to re-evaluate some of my rankings. Thank you!
 
Crafted or obtained from Mechanical Boss drops
Xenopopper: B+
Uses standard bullets.
A direct upgrade to the Tactical Shotgun, but unless you're planning to use Chlorophyte Bullets, it takes some practice to use properly. Realistically it will see use against the holiday Moon events, Lunatic Cultist, and Vortex Pillar, after which the Vortex Beater can replace it entirely.

DPS: 4/5. Requires Chlorophyte Bullets to be consistent. You can achieve 5/5 with Crystal Bullets if you're good.
Crowd control: 2/5 with Crystal Bullets, 1/5 otherwise. With its odd firing pattern I wouldn't recommend Exploding Bullets.
Accuracy: 3/5. The Xenopopper's aim is actually very precise, but it's hard to use because it's literally unlike any other gun in the game. You can use Chlorophyte Bullets to bypass this.
Disruption: 3/5. Significantly faster than the Tactical Shotgun, but still delivers its shots in bursts rather than consistent streams.
Safety: 4/5. 5/5 with Chlorophyte Bullets. To some extent, it requires you to stay at long range, because it can't deal with enemies point-blank without homing.
Availability: 3/5. 11.11% chance to drop from Martian Saucer.

Best prefix: Unreal $$$$

I'd totally disagree with the Xenopopper's 4/5 DPS. In the guns section on the terraria wiki (https://terraria.wiki.gg/Guns), it has the 2nd highest DPS for guns in the game, second only to the S.D.M.G., and is far better than the Vortex Beater. Even without crystal bullets, I feel like it should have a much higher rating in the DPS apartment.
 
I'd totally disagree with the Xenopopper's 4/5 DPS. In the guns section on the terraria wiki (https://terraria.wiki.gg/Guns), it has the 2nd highest DPS for guns in the game, second only to the S.D.M.G., and is far better than the Vortex Beater. Even without crystal bullets, I feel like it should have a much higher rating in the DPS apartment.
My computer is broken right now, so could you do me a favour and run a few DPS tests comparing the two? Preferably with the Twins or Duke Fishron as a target. I don’t expect the Vortex Beater to lose to the Xenopopper in a DPS race, but we should always run tests to make sure!

I also don’t think the wiki chart takes into account the Vortex Rocket secondary, which by itself is equivalent to about 1/3 of a Snowman Cannon.
 
fun fact:the north pole have the single highest dps of any melee weapon(2600 gear/buff-less)
also, since nobody do bitsy pre-events and rarely pre-moonlord, the bitsy drops should be compared with pillar weapons or even moon weapons.
 
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since nobody do betsy pre-events and rarely pre-moonlord, the betsy drops should be compared with pillar weapons or even moon weapons.
At least in normal mode, Betsy can be done pretty comfortably with equipment like SoTC and Possessed Hatchet. I think the intended difficulty is around that of Duke Fishron, though I guess in expert mode it’s quite a lot harder than that.

As for their power, Betsy’s weapons are pretty decent, but not quite as good as Duke Fishron’s. I remember someone on the Terraria discord who kept saying that Aerial Bane was better than Phantasm, and he must have been smoking some of that good stuff.
 
My computer is broken right now, so could you do me a favour and run a few DPS tests comparing the two? Preferably with the Twins or Duke Fishron as a target. I don’t expect the Vortex Beater to lose to the Xenopopper in a DPS race, but we should always run tests to make sure!

I also don’t think the wiki chart takes into account the Vortex Rocket secondary, which by itself is equivalent to about 1/3 of a Snowman Cannon.
I did a test on fishron, and turns out you were correct. I don't know if the rocket was what made the difference, but the vortex beater did out-dps the xenopopper with chlorophyte bullets. I captured it all in video, but since I don't know how to share it on here (it's about 2 minutes), I'll just say that the vortex beater took about 19 seconds with shroomite armor, powerful accessories, and only the well fed buff (and werewolf buff), while the xenopopper under the same conditions took about 25 seconds.
(If you know a good way to share the video, lmk and I'll share it)
 
the flying dragon have a higher total score compared to aerial bane, but it have a lower rank.
reason?
 
the flying dragon have a higher total score compared to aerial bane, but it have a lower rank.
reason?
Ranking is dependent only on how well the weapon performs. Usually better weapons have a higher total score, but this is not always the case. See Vampire Knives and Fetid Baghnakhs.

In the Flying Dragon’s case, its relatively poor DPS makes it worse than the Aerial Bane. You could say that DPS is weighted more heavily than others; the individual subscores are there to help you gain an understanding of how each weapon works.
 
so, why is the absurdly powerful fetid bagnakhs not s tier? because i feel like they should be since hallowed armor exists.
 
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