Mage Challenge - No other weapons

Dark Phoenix Down

Dark Phoenix Down

Terrarian
I'm attempting to do a five class personal challenge, just for fun, where I pick a class & only stick with weapons of those classes.
  • Archer - Only ranged weapons & bows & arrows {this does not include guns}
  • Gunner - Only ranged weapons & guns {this does not include bows & arrows}
  • Mage - Only magic weapons
  • Summoner - Only minion summoning weapons
  • Warrior - Only melee weapons
I know the challenges have all been done before but I've been playing on my end game character, building my main world & filling it with items from multiple worlds that I needed a fresh start.

I started with the Archer, but I was having a hard time with the Wall of Flesh, so I decided to move on to the Mage. I thought the Archer was hard, after enough wood & stone I could craft a Wooden Bow & Wooden Arrows. Strictly using magic weapons, however, is beginning to seem near impossible. I was lucky enough to find a jar with torches in it, & two living trees hollowed out just to the right of my spawn, but it seems pretty hopeless. I was lucky enough to spawn in a snow biome, but I'm not sure how I can make it without killing slimes with my pickaxe or axe until I find a magic weapon.

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas to help me, or just give me pointers?
 
zimberzimber said:
The underground ice biome has a lot of gems, but they are easy to overlook.
Unlike the stone gems, they hang from walls, so be on the look out!
Click to expand...
I'll keep my eye out for sure, thank you. ^.^

The Green One said:
of course, if you can run for the dungeon, you may be able to find a waterbolt in the entrance, making you ready for anything
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I was thinking of doing that, too, if I was unsuccessful with finding enough gems or ore. I don't think I've ever seen a Water Bolt spawn so close to the surface but I know sometimes it does, hopefully I got lucky with this world lol
 
The Green One said:
of course, if you can run for the dungeon, you may be able to find a waterbolt in the entrance, making you ready for anything
Click to expand...
You have to be extremely lucky for this though.
Also, try going down a bit, it can also spawn on the shelves on the way down.

I forgot to mention two things:
1) You can also craft robes from gems, increasing your magic abilities
2) Sapphire looks exactly like ice in the underground snow, so make sure you break EVERY PIECE OF ICE!
 
one thing that a lot of the speed runners do, is create multiple worlds until they get one that suits, not sure if you want to do that, but its a possible option if you are desperate
 
Dark Phoenix Down said:
I started with the Archer, but I was having a hard time with the Wall of Flesh, so I decided to move on to the Mage.
Click to expand...

Really? I mean, the Molten Fury isn't that bad, especially if you get Unholy arrows and hit all three parts of the Wall of Flesh by shooting up at the bottom eye. It kills the boss faster than the Phoenix Blaster and I daresay Demon Scythe, long as you take out those Hungry first. Those things get close to triple digits if you leave them alive when the WoF hits the threshold of 2000 health.

Quick note, if you want to start out well as a mage then a small world is best. The gems are pretty compact on a small world.
 
zimberzimber said:
You have to be extremely lucky for this though.
Also, try going down a bit, it can also spawn on the shelves on the way down.

I forgot to mention two things:
1) You can also craft robes from gems, increasing your magic abilities
2) Sapphire looks exactly like ice in the underground snow, so make sure you break EVERY PIECE OF ICE!
Click to expand...
I've already died twice so I daresay that trying for the Water Bolt until I get killed by the Guardian would hurt my pride much by this point. XD

The Green One said:
one thing that a lot of the speed runners do, is create multiple worlds until they get one that suits, not sure if you want to do that, but its a possible option if you are desperate
Click to expand...
A good piece of advice but I'm sure this world will cater to my needs. I actually never spawned directly in a snow biome before, so I'm excited to make an ice house. ^.^

FlakMaster said:
Really? I mean, the Molten Fury isn't that bad, especially if you get Unholy arrows and hit all three parts of the Wall of Flesh by shooting up at the bottom eye. It kills the boss faster than the Phoenix Blaster and I daresay Demon Scythe, long as you take out those Hungry first. Those things get close to triple digits if you leave them alive when the WoF hits the threshold of 2000 health.

Quick note, if you want to start out well as a mage then a small world is best. The gems are pretty compact on a small world.
Click to expand...
Yeah, my platform had a few jumps backwards that I, for some reason, thought were drops {I had been playing for I think 20 or so hours by that point} & I just didn't have the drive to fix it to be as flat as it should. I mean, both times I did have him down to under 1000 health, I think the last time I saw one hundred something as he scrolled past but I just got caught up. I'll make it flat, eventually. I just figured I'd start on the second challenge because I'm a horrible procrastinator. XD

Also, the world is large, as I don't think I've ever made anything less than a large world before. It's just my personal preference.

I appreciate all of the advice & help so far! Please, keep it coming if anyone has anymore!
 
just some advice, this is a bit ahead but during the wall of flesh fight, you may want to use the waterbolt, as it is known to be surprisingly effective against him, especially when you get a well angled shot
 
The Green One said:
just some advice, this is a bit ahead but during the wall of flesh fight, you may want to use the waterbolt, as it is known to be surprisingly effective against him, especially when you get a well angled shot
Click to expand...
I was thinking Water Bolt, or if I'm lucky in the dungeon, Aqua Scepter, definitely.
 
Water Bolt is overrated to be honest. You'd probably get better results maintaining distance with a Space Gun if you don't utilise the Water Bolt fully (rebounding the bolts up and down).

But Demon Scythe...that thing retains usefulness up to (and perhaps including the Destroyer) the mechanical bosses.
 
Update: I have enough Topaz to make the Topaz Staff, buuuuut my world spawned Copper. No amethyst seen yet.

Also, I was not lucky enough for a Water Bolt to spawn where I could get it in the Dungeon. The struggle continues.

The last thing I did before I decided to take a break from my Archer? Sell two Water Bolts & an Aqua Scepter. :dryadindifferent:
 
If you get lucky you might find the extractinator and try to get your copper that way. Or, of course, your missing gems.
 
Water bolt is probably the way to go. Most dungeons have those at the surface, and it's a lot easier than finding 8 gems and making a staff.
 
You'd sooner find the stuff for a better tiered staff then get enough copper/whatever from the extractinator
 
Inspired by this thread, I also started up a new game with the purpose of going mage-only. Like Dark Phoenix Down said, the beginning was pretty rough. I was very happy with finding just two torches, as it allowed me to go underground. My first two fallen stars were used to make lamps, that's how desperate I was for light. The first few hours mostly consisted in spelunking downward though the Ice biome, creating tunnels to ward off enemies, and sealing them behind me again. I eventually smashed enough pots to create a solid stack of torches, allowing me to start building a hellevator. I also found some decent trinkets to aid in mobility, and found more than enough ores. But the game was pretty one-dimensional up until I found my first 8 gems of a single category.

After crafting my first staff, the game became relatively normal. I was able to venture outside during nighttime, allowing me to gather fallen stars. The traveling merchant sold me some decent gear (gypsy robe, celestial magnet) and I got a wizard hat (apparently these are a set?). I ended my run today by defeating the eye, which was relatively easy given how well ranged stuff works against him (the lack of tiny eyes in second form is annoying though, be prepared to restore your mana in other ways).

The next step will probably be finishing my jungle armor set or smashing an orb and mining the meteorite. Since meteorite set + gun is soooo good, it will probably last me until hard-mode. After that, it just becomes a 'go with the flow' of whatever comes your way. Since mage was pretty much my first run as well, I figure this part will be relatively hard, up until the point that you reach hardmode dungeon. After that, mages reign supreme, and it all becomes smooth sailing.
 
I started this challenge a few months ago, and I'm about to make you all jealous. I started going right, and I found a living tree with a tunnel. At the bottom I found a cavern with all the ingredients for a Topaz Staff right off the bat. :p
I discovered this thread and decided to go back (the character/world hadn't been touched in a long time). Today I finished creating a Diamond Staff and am well on my way to a Diamond Robe. Good luck to everyone else, it is quite difficult.

-Slayer of Hornets
 
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