Weapons & Equip Making boring weapons more unique

For a game whose main appeal is having unique and original weapons, a lot of weapons in this game can be described as forgettable. I mean, how many of you actually use the Frost Staff? It’s unironically a decent weapon, but it’s just so uninteresting that nobody ever bothers to actually use it. This can be said about a huge number of weapons. Melee and Ranged specifically turn a lot of people off because so many options just don’t do anything cool.

Here’s my list of suggestions on how to make some of these weapons more interesting. I did my best with balance, making sure that things that were too weak got reasonable buffs and things that were strong but boring got reasonable nerfs to compensate. However, a lot of the stuff might be way too strong or weak. I’ll take any balance critiques in the comments.

And most importantly, any ideas you have to make any weapon more interesting will be gladly taken. I have tons of weapons I want to do something with but I need ideas for.


MELEE
Melee is probably the worst offender in having hundreds of clutter weapons. What’s the point of having so many weapons when you aren’t using half of them?

If you’re of the group who hates broadswords because of their blandness, you’ll probably appreciate this. If you’re of the group who hates projectile swords because they don’t fit with the idea of melee, you’ll hate this section.

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Stylish Scissors

-Increase in damage and knockback as movespeed increases, by 2% per mph of movement speed above 0
-Given autoswing and higher base knockback
Running with scissors. Enough said.

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Exotic Scimitar

-Every six swings throws a vat of dye that shatters on impact, releasing an AoE cloud of dye
A change fitting for the weapon of the Dye Trader. The small rate of fire on the vats would keep its strength down.

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Mandible Blade

-Damage increased from 14 to 19
-Allows the player to charge (dash) when held, knockback on weapon doubled during dashes
Makes the weapon worth the Underground Desert, changing it from a useless piece of trash to a true melee weapon that allows for above average mobility in its tier.

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Bone Sword

-Hitting an enemy with the blade throws a spinning bone, similar to the Bone Glove but does not bounce
A buff to an underwhelming weapon, and would make it actually worth using if you got it early enough. Credit to @Mr. Spruce Tree for the idea.

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Gladius

-Gains autoswing if wearing Gladiator Armor
Would fit with the somewhat high defense and knockback immunity of Gladiator Armor. You’d be able to get a strong true melee setup if you farmed Hoplites. Credit to @Mr. Spruce Tree for the idea.

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Blade of Grass

-Striking an enemy spawns brambles from the blade. These travel up to 12 blocks out from the blade, and hit up to four separate enemies, but not the original target
This would improve the weapon’s crowding significantly, making it a decent weapon for goblins or evil bosses or if you get swarmed in the Jungle, but still requires you to enter melee range and is still somewhat slow.

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Muramasa

-Damage reduced from 26 to18
-Use time doubled for one second after hitting an enemy
-Movespeed and acceleration improved while held
How you doin' Muramasa? Credit to @Apotheosus for the idea.

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Fiery Greatsword

-Damage reduced from 40 to 32
-Every third swing now throws a single fireball that arcs down quickly, dealing the full base damage and creating a small AoE explosion if it hits tiles
This would allow the weapon to hit the area directly in front of the player with projectiles, making it a decent weapon against multiple enemies, but would be ineffective at hitting aerial targets. Credit to @J Bame for balance.

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Night's Edge
-Use time reduced from 21 to 30
-Every second swing launches a Shadow Blade projectile that pierces once
Night's Edge deserves to be really good, considering that it's the Terra Blade of its tier. It's currently okay, but far from the first thing you'd use against the only boss of its tier. This would honor its role as the final prehardmode weapon and continue the trend of Terra Blade materials shooting swords.

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Breaker Blade

-Given a right click attack that shoots a green beam - basically Cloud's neutral special from SSBU
-Beam tags the first enemy hit with a green symbol, the Breaker Blade treats that enemy as if they are at full health for the next hit
Like Keybrand, its ability to deal double damage on first hit is barely noticeable, and it ends up feeling like a generic broadsword. Same kind of change I gave Keybrand so that the sword takes advantage of its ability.

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Beam Sword

-Projectile velocity doubled - it is a “beam sword”, after all
-Projectile now bounces off of blocks twice
-Projectile now pierces 6 targets before dissipating
The weapon would still have subpar ranged DPS, but this would make it a lot more fun to use and improve its preformance in caves.

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Phaseblades/Phasesabers

-Given a right click attack where the sword is thrown like a boomerang, with both ends of the handle extended about halfway
-The sword travels 18 (phaseblades) or 36 (phasesabers) tiles before returning to the player and pierces infinitely
-Both ends of the phaseblade retract before returning to the player and the weapon does not deal damage on the return trip, to not make the ranged attack too powerful
Would give the weapons an alt attack to make them more unique and to increase their coverage in their tier. Credit to @Toxophilite [East] for the idea.

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Excalibur

-Sword now swings in direction of cursor
-Every swing now shoots a small blade which travels 12 tiles before disappearing and pierces infinitely
It would allow the weapon to deal significant damage at short range, but still kept somewhat mediocre against bosses. Also keeps up the trend of sword shooting swords in Terra Blade's recipe.

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Sleepy Octopod

-Now hurls a slimeball in the direction of the cursor when fully charged rather than spawning an explosion on the ground
-Slimeball explodes on contact with enemies or tiles, inheriting the old ability of the explosion, including triple damage
Okay, Sleepy Octopod is a pretty unique weapon. But it’s terrible, and I thought this would be a creative way to improve it at least a little bit.

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Keybrand

-Given a right click ability that throws a padlock, the padlock “tags” the first enemy hit with a lock icon - like with whips, only one enemy can be tagged at a time
-The keybrand treats the tagged enemy as if they have half as much HP remaining as they do
Keybrand’s ability is interesting, but it’s not enough to really distinguish the sword. This gives it a unique form of attack and furthers the weapon’s ability.

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Rotted Fork

-Throws a large glob of blood when swung, the blood arches down quickly and explodes into three smaller blood drops on hitting anything
Rotted Fork is actually the second weakest spear in the game, being somehow worse than the Trident and the Storm Spear in every way except size. Giving it a projectile would help, and a splitting one would be good against the Brain of Cthulhu’s first phase. It also has another change I listed in the multiclass section. Credit to @Dreadnautilus5000 for the idea.

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Swordfish, Obsidian Swordfish

-Have autoswing automatically
-Use time on both increased from 20 to 25 because of autoswing
-Allows the player to dash when held, dealing double knockback and having some i-frames during the dash
-Obsidian Swordfish does quadruple damage instead of double if landing a crit during the dash
Similar to the Mandible Blade, a mobility effect would be a good way to make some close-ranged melee weapons more effective. Plus, in my opinion, an impaling charge fits the identity of a swordfish perfectly. Credit to @CursedSliver for the idea.

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Dark Lance

-Swings similar to the Ghastly Glaive instead of most spears
-Every other swing releases a shadow wave that pierces twice and has strong knockback, the speed can be adjusted similar to Magical Harp
Dark Lance is really kind of disappointing. This change would make it an effective melee weapon with multiple niches and would be capable against the Wall. Credit to @Scratch Lunin for the rework.

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Gungnir

-Every second swing throws a hallowed bolt that travels in a straight line up to 40 tiles
-The bolt will stick to enemies, dealing 50 damage over 5 seconds and then exploding to deal damage
Acts similar to the Daybreak or the Nail Gun, but is significantly earlier in the game and has a melee part built in. Would make the weapon a hell of a lot more fun to use. Credit to @Dreadnautilus5000 for the idea.

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Chlorophyte Partisan

-Instead of a cloud, it launches a spore particle at the end of the swing, the spore particle floats around in random directions, bouncing off blocks and exploding on contact with enemies
Partisan is basically a weaker clone of Saber. This replaces it with a thematically fitting and unique attack, that you could use as a cluster killer or to fill an area with spores to kill enemies as they spawn.

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Shroomerang
-Hitting an enemy has a 50% chance to inflict the Spored debuff for 5 seconds, dealing 5 damage per second to both the enemy and nearby enemies
Just a simple change to help distinguish it from Enchanted Boomerang. Credit to @Sir Mushias Chlorophytas for the idea.

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Ice Boomerang
-Shatters on impact instead of returning, allowing the player to instantly throw another one with a 10 frame delay
-Damage reduced from 16 to 12
It's a boomerang made of ice. What did you expect? Would substantially increase its DPS if you can hit consistently but is more punishing if you miss, and separates it from the other two glowing blue boomerangs of its tier.

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Flamarang
-Explodes on impact instead of returning, allowing the player to instantly throw another one with a 10 frame delay
-Explosion damages all other enemies in a 3 tile radius
-Damage reduced from 32 to 25
Similar change to Ice Boomerang, but with some extra flair to it's not still a clone. Credit to @tenthousandhoops for the idea.

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Light Disc

-Can now bounce off of enemies as well as tiles
-Now smart bounces
-Range increased, and given another 10 tiles if it bounces at least once to help it bounce into enemies
Light Discs are supposed to be bouncy, but whats the point of being bouncy if they don’t even bounce off your targets? You also won’t take advantage of its bounce because its range is too short for you to abuse corners with it.

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Valor

-Given a dark blue particle effect to match the rest of the Dungeon
-Range doubled
An aesthetic change to make it less dull, and a small buff to give it a niche compared to Cascade.

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Cascade, Hel-Fire, Amarok
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Damage reduced by 20% each, rounded up
-Now deal 20% damage six times a second and inflict their debuffs in a 4 (8 for Hel-Fire) tile radius around the yoyo, with a particle effect to indicate range
-Amarok now glows in the dark
A small buff to these weapons give some taste to these somewhat uninspired weapons.

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Format:C

-Now follows the cursor extremely fast, having perfect accuracy and being able to hit somewhat more often
Many of the yoyos sold by merchants are forgettable, and this is no exception. Having a perfectly accurate yoyo would be a good distinction. It would also act as somewhat of a DPS buff considering that it could bounce back into the enemies faster.

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Chik
-Attaches crystal spike projectiles to enemies
-The projectile damages both the target and any overlapping targets for 5 damage, 6 times a second and ignoring defense
A small effect that wouldn't change the weapon all that much but would improve its ability against bunched up targets, something Yoyos struggle with due to their bounce. Credit to @Ogonh for the idea.

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Code 1, Code 2

-Code 1 damage reduced to 16
-Code 2 damage reduced to 50
-Now leave afterimages in their wake, similar to Terrarian except without pierce and completely stationary
If you could line them up well, they would be effective yoyos against chasers such as second phase Plantera. Code 2 is a statual upgrade to Code 1 for obvious reasons.

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Yelets

-Damage reduced to 54
-Shoots a stinger at the nearest enemy every half-second
DPS would be relatively the same, but would have a bit more functional range and would not be an Amazon copy.

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Kraken

-Damage reduced to 90
-Enemies outside of a 4 block radius from the yoyo are attacked by blue Shadowflame Hex Doll-esque tentacles that can reach up to 16 blocks from the yoyo
Makes the yoyo a crowd-focused alt to Eye of Cthulhu instead of a weaker clone. It would have more range and be able to smother crowds, but have somewhat lower single-target DPS and other general stats.


RANGED

There are plenty of good, strong ranged weapons, but a disappointing fraction of them lack unique effects. Even the iconic Megashark doesn’t do anything unique.

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Flintlock Pistol

-Use time increased to 20
-Given autofire
-Gets increasingly rapid as held down over the course of 5 seconds, down to a use time of 10
Flintlock Pistol is the second weakest gun in the game, which wouldn’t be an issue if you didn’t need to get a gun first to unlock it. This would buff the gun and make it better in sustained assaults, and make it feel more like the kind of weapon you’d use in a gun duel. Weapon suggested by @Peanut sauce


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Handgun, Phoenix Blaster, Venus Magnum

-Can now be autofired by holding down the mouse button, however attack cycle is twice as long when doing this
Gives the guns a unique property and the option to not destroy your hands while using them. Credit to @Derpling Ω for the idea.

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Quad-Barrel Shotgun

-Now has a 50% chance to fire a mini Deadly Sphere that homes in on enemies and pierces once
Obligatory Phantasm reference, and also gives the gun a little boost after its fall from fame from being moved to post-Skeletron. Credit to @J Bame for balance.

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Clockwork Assault Rifle

-Third shot in every fire is replaced with a Cog which is somewhat heavily effected by gravity and does not take on unique ammo effects
Somewhat of a (deserved) nerf, but also makes the gun more interesting. Adds in some strategy by allowing it to preform better at closer range.

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Megashark

-Every sixth shot is replaced with a small shark that pierces but does not inherit unique bullet effects and slightly interacts with gravity
The gun’s performance would hardly change in the long run, but it would be a bit more amusing to have a shark shooting machine gun than a machine gun shaped like a shark.

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Gatligator

-Spits a stream of water every 3-6 shots at random that is effected by gravity and does not inherit unique bullet effects
Gatligator is both kind of tasteless and weak, and this would fix both while keeping the gun's inaccurate, spammy behavior.

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S.D.M.G.

-Makes dolphin noises while being fired

Meowmere has obnoxious cat noises, why can't this have obnoxious dolphin noises? Just a small change to give it some flavor without messing with its balance compared to other Moon Lord drops.

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Marrow

-Fires a cluster of three arrows, the middle one is the Bone Arrow and the other two are a unique arrow that bounces once but doesn’t have smart bounce
-Middle arrow now uses the player’s arrow type when not using Wooden Arrows
-Damage reduced from 50 to 38
-Use Time increased from 19 to 40
Ice Bow, Marrow, Shadowflame Bow. The trio of boring Hardmode bows that do nothing except be incompatible with ammo choices and slightly outclassed by repeaters. Each of the three bows now has a separate effect and is compatible with player ammo. The Marrow in particular would be effective in caves due to bounce.

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Ice Bow

-Upon impacting a block, the Frost Arrows now shatter into several ice shards that deal half damage
-Now uses the player’s arrow type when not using Wooden Arrows
The arrows now shatter in exactly the same way you’d expect an arrow made of ice to shatter. Would be powerful against chasers, but would compete with Crystal Bullets.

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Shadowflame Bow

-Each shot also creates a small burst of Shadowflame that deals 75% damage and reaches 12 tiles (higher with more velocity), increasing DPS at close range but not changing DPS at long distance
-Now uses the player’s arrow type when not using Wooden Arrows
This is one of the more “for fun” ideas on here. You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be badass to shoot plumes of flame alongside each arrow.

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Tsunami
-Arrows fired have a dense ocean-blue particle effect and shader
That's it. Tsunami needs no combat changes at all, all it needed was to not be so thematically bland compared to other Duke drops and other bows of its tier.

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Hallowed Repeater

-Wooden arrows fired given a yellow glow, very high velocity, no effect from gravity and double crit chance
Chlorophyte Shotbow is distinct from other repeaters, and many of the Hallowed weapons are somewhat dull. This makes it a tiny bit more flavorful without overly buffing it. Credit to @Apotheosus for the idea.

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Proximity Mine Launcher

-Mines now stick to blocks and the tops of platforms, making them easier to stick where the player wants
-Mines after being promed no longer detonate on enemy contact; instead detonated all at once manually by player using right click
-Up to 30 primed mines can exist at once
Proximity Mine just ends up being a Grenade Launcher that takes longer to explode. It’d be more separate if you activated the mines manually, and make them somewhat more strategic to use during invasions but better for high payoffs.

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Elf Melter

-Base damage increased from 60 to 85
-Given a 75% chance to not consume ammo and now only uses one gel per use
-Flames (including on item sprite) are blue, and inflict Frostbite (25 DoT)
Pretty big waste to not make the christmas flamethrower shoot ice. I also buffed it while I was at it. Credit to @CellarDoor96 for the idea.

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Silver and Tungsten Bullets
-Instead of having +2 base damage, deal 15% extra damage to corrupt and crimson enemies
-Deal 150x damage to werewolves, just for fun
This would make Silver Bullets more logically fitting, considering they are traditionally used to kill unholy creatures. Would also make them dropping in early Hardmode make more sense considering how much more threatening the world evil becomes. Credit to @qwerty3.14 for the idea.

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Cursed Arrow, Cursed Bullet
-Cursed Arrow damage reduced to 16
-Cursed Bullet damage increased to 13
-Now leave small embers on tiles that deal 75% damage and do not pierce
Ichor ammo has high velocity, and these have nothing. Like the velocity, this is a very minor ability that changes them up a little bit but doesn't make a huge difference. Credit to @qwerty3.14 for the idea.

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Venom Bullet
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Now release a wide burst of Venom, that spreads the debuff but does not deal extra damage
Venom Arrows have the highest pre-lunar base damage, these have nothing going for them. This change wouldn't change single target ability, but would spread the debuff to many targets.

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Rocket I - II, Cluster Rockets
-Rocket I have increased explosion radius, to give them a minor niche over Rocket III
-Rocket II can destroy hardmode ores except Chlorophyte, giving them a minor niche over Rocket IV
-Cluster Rockets now work on all rockets
Allows these rockets to have a small niche over the higher tier rockets, while still being weaker overall due to being easier to obtain.


MAGIC
Honestly, Magic is very good at being original. Many mage weapons do something that no other weapon does. But there are still some really uninteresting weapons.

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Thunder Zapper

-Upon hitting an enemy with the main projectile, 2-3 more travel out from the enemy hit, aimed at other enemies if there are any nearby
-These can travel 1/3 of the distance of the original projectile before disappearing
Thunder Zapper is both weaker than any higher tier gem staves and just as uninteresting as them, this should fix both.

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Gem Staves

-All Gem Staves except Amethyst have new abilities
-Topaz: 2x knockback
-Sapphire: Bounces once
-Emerald: Homes in slightly, loses homing after landing first shot
-Amber: Pierces 4 enemies instead of 1
-Ruby: Creates an AoE explosion on impact with tiles or second enemy
-Diamond: Has 2x projectile speed
The gem staves aren’t too identical, having progression in all stats including autoswing and pierce, but are similar enough to be uninteresting, especially for what they are: magic weapons. I didn’t nerf their damage because Mage needs the hand up in early game.

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Aqua Scepter

-No longer pierces
-Shoots a dual stream of water in a double helical pattern and arches down much slower
Turns the weapon from a weaker Water Bolt to something severely lacking in this stage of the game: a single target weapon. Double helix spray is just more interesting than increasing damage. Credit to @Dreadnautilus5000 and @qwerty3.14 for the idea.

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Laser Rifle

-Name changed to Plasma Rifle
-Shots are now much brighter, slightly slower, and explode instead of pierce
Not a huge change, but separates it from the Space Gun. Name changed to reflect on the changes, because exploding lasers doesn't make much sense.

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Magic Dagger

-Damage reduced from 40 to 29
-Use time increased from 8 to 18, but given autofire
-After piercing an enemy, it hovers in place for a short time before flying at high speed back into the original target
"A magical returning dagger". Doesn't seem like it's returning to me, just looks like a copy+paste of Throwing Knives. Now it would return - to the enemy, of course. Also has a counterbalance to damage and a small change to make it less painful to spam.

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Frost Staff

-Use time tripled to 48
-Mana cost increased to 32
-Pierce removed
-Upon impacting a block or enemy, now spawns an ice cluster with an eight tile diameter which deals half damage, hits six times per second and lasts three seconds.
-Multiple clusters cannot damage the same enemy at once, and only two clusters can exisf a
This would make the item smother grounded enemies and invasions with large AoE, stunlocking multiple separate clusters of enemies and dealing fair DPS to them. Would be less effective against fast targets.

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Crystal Vile Shard
-Instead of fading away upon expiring, explodes into small crystal spikes that are effected by gravity and do not pierce
Distinguishes it from Vilethorn and improves its crowding and single target DPS, which are somewhat outclassed by other options. These would temporarily coat the area the vile shard covered with more damage.

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Leaf Blower

-Damage increased from 48 to 55
-Use time reduced from 7 to 4, being almost twice as rapid and having the same speed as Chain Gun
-Leaves now arc away from the cursor much sooner and at a much sharper angle, being much less accurate at long range
-Leaves can now be light green, red, orange or yellow
Among the post-Plantera single target weapons, Leaf Blower doesn't stand out as being particularly strong or interesting. This would make it a titan at point blank, almost like a downgrade to the Bubble Gun. The leaf colors are just for character. Credit to @Dreadnautilus5000 for the idea.

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Nettle Burst
-Instead of fading away, explodes into a wide cluster of brambles that damage enemies up to 8 tiles from where the original burst was
Similar change to Vile Shard, but with more oomph. Allows it to deal extra damage and has a greater area of effect. Credit to @tenthousandhoops for the idea.

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Unholy Trident
-Now sticks to enemies for 5 seconds, dealing 10 extra DPS and stacking up to 5 times
-Fires three tridents per cast, the first sticking to the first target, the second piercing once before sticking, etc.
-Use time tripled to 51
-Mana cost increased to 40
Makes the weapon a bit more than just a "strong projectile with some pierce". This change would improve single target DPS slightly and mana economy significantly, but weaken its piercing somewhat, and distinguish it from other similar mage weapons. Credit to @CrazyDragon for the idea.


SUMMON
There are some really interesting weapons and minions in Summoner. Some of them however are just minions that fly around and shoot projectiles, and deserve more attention.

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Hornet Staff

-Passively sprays honey at the player every 10 seconds, the buff itself lasting 1-3 seconds
-Only one hornet can spray the player per second and will not if the player already has Honey buff, so that the uptime of the buff actually improves with more minions rather than all the minions spraying you at once
-Can now fire while keeping up with the player
Hornets are very boring, with their most unique property being that they inflict poison. That’s literally it. This turns the minion into a support minion, with less emphasis on damage. Running a couple of them gives you a decent amount of extra regen, at the loss of whatever damage you’d get from a better minion.

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Imp Staff

-Damage reduced from 17 to 15
-Now wields a small red trident that it throws alongside every third shot, dealing double damage and traveling in water but does not pierce
-Can no longer interrupt itself and can now fire while keeping up with the player
Adds some character to the Imp, and gives it a much needed buff to allow it to compete with Vampire Frogs as a projectile minion. Credit to @Peanut sauce for the idea.

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Pygmy Staff

-Repeatedly hitting an enemy with a whip with Pygmies active inflicts a Jungle Rhythm buff which increases all summon damage including whips and sentries by 20%
-This buff stacks diminishingly with more pygmies, adding more damage for each pygmy active, but the bonus being 20% smaller for each one
-Can now fire projectiles while keeping up with the player
Pygmies are another minion that’s just a projectile, and is kind of forgettable. This gives them a unique ability that not only buffs them but gives them synergies with pure builds as well.

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Deadly Sphere Staff

-Gain different effects depending on their form
-Blades have a standard 20% crit similar to whip tags, spikes cause the sphere to smart bounce off of enemies instead of cutting through, the orange jet increases the speed of the sphere and inflicts On Fire, and the blue jet increases the rate at which the spear charges and inflicts Electrocuted
-Gains localimmunity to not interrupt each other
Turns the minion into more than just another ramming minion, allowing it to change its abilities. Having many at once would let you have more of the different effects at once. Credit to @Dreadnautilus5000 for the idea.

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Tempest Staff

-Now chases enemies like a melee minion rather than a projectile minion, trying to make contact and stick to the enemy
-Movespeed increased by another 75%
-Will no longer try to return to the player unless they are extremely far away, and will shoot projectiles while returning
Tempests are technically unique in that they attack both melee and projectile, but their melee attack is useless since they never go out of their way to attack with their bodies. This would change that and provide a much needed buff to the Tempests.

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Cool Whip

-Instead of spawning snowflakes on hit, snowflakes are spawned every time a tagged enemy is hit by a minion
-Snowflake damage reduced to 7, speed increased, pierce removed and size shrunk down massively
Like with Sleepy Octopod, it's not a boring weapon, but I was able to come up with changes for it that weren't stats. This basically turns the snowflake into a pseudo whip tag, acting as 7 tag damage in single target situations and keeping the crowd and wall pierce that vanilla Cool Whip uses. Credit to @qwerty3.14 for suggesting the weapon.

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Durendal/Kaleidoscope
-Both whips autoswing by default
-Kaleidoscope gains the ability to hit through walls at a 33% damage penalty
Just some small changes to make the whips more user friendly and distinguish them from each other and Snapthorn.

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Staff of the Frost Hydra
-Instead of disappearing on contact, bites enemies in its melee range twice per second
Makes the weapon into a bit of a hybrid of the tavernkeep sentries, mixing a piercing projectile and lasting hitbox. Would distinguish it from other sentries and make it worth using during the Old One's Army. Credit to @tenthousandhoops for the idea.


MULTICLASS

Just wide changes to groups of weapons that span multiple classes.

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Light's Bane, Malaise, Demon Bow, Ball o' Hurt
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Damage reduced by 2 on Malaise and Ball o’ Hurt
-Inflict Weak, which would reduce enemy defense by 4 and damage by 5% since those are the only effects that apply to enemies
-Demon Bow only inflicts debuff with Wooden Arrows
A tiny change, mostly just to not make them a stronger version of Gold/Platinum. Credit to @Apotheosus for the idea.

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Blood Butcherer, Artery, Rotted Fork, Tendon Bow, Meatball
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Damage reduced by 1 on Artery and 3 on The Meatball
-Give 0.5hp/s of regen when hitting enemies
-Tendon Bow only gives buff with Wooden Arrows
Same deal as demonite. Credit to @Apotheosus for the idea.

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Frostbrand, Flower of Frost

-Inflict the Ice Infiltration debuff, which would increase the power of crits to 3x base damage and visually cover them in ice
-Frostbrand shoots a projectile every swing
-Flower of Frost has a much faster projectile speed
A unique debuff to add character to these underwhelming Ice Mimic drops and some buffs to go along with it.

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Flask of Nanites, Nano Bullets

-Instead of inflicting Confusion, both cause weapons to release 2-3 nanobots on hit that act like Bees, homing in on ememies and dealing 20 damage and ignoring all defense (except for Dungeon Guardian)
Confusion isn’t a helpful effect to begin with, but it’s actually counterproductive with its recipes. Flask of Nanites makes enemies flee your melee range and Nano Bullets makes enemies harder to hit around corners. This would remedy that.

There we are, unique effects on many weapons to distinguish them from one another. I hope none of these are too gimmicky or unbalanced, and of course if you have suggestions of your own that I like, I’d love to add them in (while crediting you, of course).
 
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Cool whip needs something, not synergising with minions is blasphemous!

Damn, you’re right. Don’t know what to do with it though. I thought about a defense reducing debuff that I could throw on the plethora of boring ice weapons while writing this, but I don’t know if it would help Cool Whip specifically.
 
Shroomerang, hammush, mushroom spear, and more could inflict the Rotten debuff, making the mob either A) more prone to their damage, B) damage other mobs (and possibly the player) that come near them, or C) slowly lose life.
 
Shroomerang, hammush, mushroom spear, and more could inflict the Rotten debuff, making the mob either A) more prone to their damage, B) damage other mobs (and possibly the player) that come near them, or C) slowly lose life.

Speaking of Shroomerang, why are there *three* blue, glowing boomerangs in about the same tier with about the same stats? Devs must have some affinity to blue boomerangs.
 
I'm not sure why everyone hates Cool Whip so much, I loved it even before it got buffed! 😅 🤷‍♂️ I'm starting to think, maybe it's because I either typically set the slider to spawn more enemies in Journey Mode, or... I often use Battle Potions to farm for materials. That bouncing Snow Flake Minion & Frostburn Debuff are pretty fun IMHO.

I guess I'll stay outta this one, because I'm pretty satisfied with the parts of the game I frequent, but I will admit that Melee Class can be a bit boring than most early-on, but they do have a choice of Yoyo's, Spears, Javelins, Chakrams & other oddities (i.e. Vampire Knives & Scourge of the Corruptor). Not sure what more you could ask for? I'll just set this hear so I can see what others have to say about it.
 
I'm not sure why everyone hates Cool Whip so much, I loved it even before it got buffed! 😅 🤷‍♂️ I'm starting to think, maybe it's because I either typically set the slider to spawn more enemies in Journey Mode, or... I often use Battle Potions to farm for materials. That bouncing Snow Flake Minion & Frostburn Debuff are pretty fun IMHO.

I guess I'll stay outta this one, because I'm pretty satisfied with the parts of the game I frequent, but I will admit that Melee Class can be a bit boring than most early-on, but they do have a choice of Yoyo's, Spears, Javelins, Chakrams & other oddities (i.e. Vampire Knives & Scourge of the Corruptor). Not sure what more you could ask for? I'll just set this hear so I can see what others have to say about it.

I actually really like Cool Whip as a *concept*, but it has a huge, fatal flaw in that it doesn’t interact with your minions so you end up getting a lot more out of other whips unless you were using it with sentries. I just don’t know how to buff it without tacking on bigger numbers, which isn’t the point of this thread.

Melee the entire game has good and unique options, but it also just has a lot of things that do the exact same thing. Terrarian for example is the *only* yoyo in the game with its own ability.
 
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Fiery Greatsword

-Every third swing now throws four fireballs that deal 75% damage, these behave similarly to the Betsy’s Wrath fireballs but move much slower and arch down after only a few blocks
This would allow the weapon to blanket the area directly in front of the player with projectiles, making it a decent weapon against multiple enemies, but would be ineffective at hitting aerial targets.

This is actually stronger than current Night's edge (160 base DPS compared to 120) on top of having more range, and I really don't think the latter needs a buff anymore.

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Breaker Blade

-Sword recieves tripled effect from modifiers and accessories that increase size - for example, Massive modifier will increase scale by 54%
-Sword also recieves damage and knockback from size multipliers, but are not tripled. Massive modifier will increase both damage and knockback by 18%.
-Sword’s base size is 1.2x larger
For a weapon whose gimmick is being a really big sword, it doesn’t do much. The doubled damage on usually just the first hit is also barely noticeable, and the sword just feels like a generic broadsword. Now the weapon would reward you for capitalizing into size.

Being the largest sword in the game and its new 1.4 mechanic are enough unique gimmicks for this weapon. I think this weapon needs to be more focused on the latter; if its base damage was doubled but its attack rate was cut in half the weapon would suddenly be pretty good at cleaning up weak enemies in one hit.

-Hardmode Ore repeaters except Shotbow
-Flintlock Pistol, the Undertaker and some other early hardmode guns
-Demon and Tendon Bows
-Gatligator and Uzi
-Tactical Shotgun
-Tsunami

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Clockwork Assault Rifle

-Third shot in every fire is replaced with a Cog which is somewhat heavily effected by gravity and does not take on unique ammo effects
Somewhat of a (deserved) nerf, but also makes the gun more interesting. Adds in some strategy by allowing it to preform better at closer range.

Gem Staves
-All Gem Staves except Amethyst have new abilities
-Topaz: 2x knockback
-Sapphire: Bounces once
-Emerald: Homes in slightly, loses homing after landing first shot
-Amber: Pierces 4 enemies instead of 1
-Ruby: Creates an AoE explosion on impact with tiles or second enemy
-Diamond: Has 2x projectile speed

The gem staves aren’t too identical, having progression in all stats including autoswing and pierce, but are similar enough to be uninteresting, especially for what they are: magic weapons. I didn’t nerf their damage because Mage needs the hand up in early game.

I don't think these weapons need changing, not every weapon needs a unique attack style or projectile to be interesting; weapons like the Megashark and the Tsunami are classics loved by most people, and super early weapons like the gem staves or hardmode repeaters are pretty much supposed to be basic

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Quad-Barrel Shotgun

-Damage increased to 26 and shot count reduced to 4 - not really a balance change, but it’s blasphemous that the quad barrel shotgun shoots six bullets
-Now has a 50% chance to fire a mini Deadly Sphere that homes in on enemies and pierces once
Obligatory Phantasm reference, and also gives the gun a little boost after its fall from fame from being moved to post-Skeletron.

I think the change to six bullets was made so that the weapon was super focused on being extremely inaccurate at long range. Back when it had 4 high damage bullets, you could miss half your shots and still get decent DPS, while being a monster at short range.

Also, the Boomstick and the Shotgun have one barrel and can still shoot 4 bullets. It'd be weirder if a gun with four times the barrels didn't shoot more bullets.

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Magic Dagger

-Now throws a thin 25 degree spread of 2-4 daggers
-Use time increased from 8 to 18, but given autofire
-Damage reduced from 40 to 30
-Uses localimmunity to not interrupt itself
This weapon is a clone of Throwing Knives, right down to the bone. If it’s not boring, I don’t know what is. Now it would throw a thin fan of knives effected by gravity to make it more distinguished, and would autofire so it’s not as painful to use.

An early hardmode magic weapon that shoots a spread of piercing projectiles with range issues? What does this remind me of?

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Pygmy Staff

-Repeatedly hitting an enemy with a whip with Pygmies active inflicts a Jungle Rhythm buff which increases all summon damage by 5%
-This buff stacks diminishingly with more pygmies, adding more damage for each pygmy active, but the bonus being 20% smaller for each one
-Can now fire projectiles while keeping up with the player
Pygmies are another minion that’s just a projectile, and is kind of forgettable. This gives them a unique ability that not only buffs them but gives them synergies with pure builds as well.

This doesn't fix the issue of Pygmies being useless against flying targets, and the Jungle Rhythm buff is much smaller than just summoning another stronger minion instead of a pygmy.

Also... it's probably for the better if this remains as a basic weapon. Plantera drops are meant to be a little upgrade to whatever you used against her, and farming bulbs is such a tedious process that people almost always skip it.
 
I don't think these weapons need changing, not every weapon needs a unique attack style or projectile to be interesting; weapons like the Megashark and the Tsunami are classics loved by most people, and super early weapons like the gem staves or hardmode repeaters are pretty much supposed to be basic

Fair enough. Probably got a bit carried away with adding new things. I’ll leave them in the post though, see what other people think of them.


An early hardmode magic weapon that shoots a spread of piercing projectiles? What does this remind me of?

We did it, guys. A weapon so unoriginal it remains unoriginal even after being changed. I’ll think of something else for it.


This is actually stronger than current Night's edge (160 base DPS compared to 120) on top of having more range, and I really don't think the latter needs a buff anymore.

I was planning to add something to the Night’s Edge to honor its role as the final prehardmode sword, I just didn’t know what. I’ll be sure to cut down on this weapon though, and the Night’s Edge if whatever I give it is a strong effect if I do do anything to it.
 
I actually really like Cool Whip as a *concept*, but it has a huge, fatal flaw in that it doesn’t interact with your minions so you end up getting a lot more out of other whips unless you were using it with sentries. I just don’t know how to buff it without tacking on bigger numbers, which isn’t the point of this thread.
Fair enough, but... did you know that-the Cool Whip's Snowflake Minion both, goes through walls & chases some enemies down (especially the pesky flying enemies)? 🤔🥤 That Weapon does so many cool things..., I'm surprised people still think so little of it. Add a bit of Cursed Flames to the mix &... "whew"!
 
View attachment 307787Tempest Staff
-Now chases enemies like a melee minion rather than a projectile minion, trying to make contact and stick to the enemy
-Movespeed increased by another 75%
-Will no longer try to return to the player unless they are extremely far away, and will shoot projectiles while returning
Tempests are technically unique in that they attack both melee and projectile, but their melee attack is useless since they never go out of their way to attack with their bodies. This would change that and provide a much needed buff to the Tempests.
I've actually done my own rework of the tempets staff.

-damage reduced to 40, to counter all the buffs I gave it.
-now stays near the player at all times
-attack range increased dramaticly, can snipe enemies offscreen.
-shoots sharkrons at increased velocity and shoots where it thinks the enemy will be when the sharkron arrives.
-sharkron contact damage now uses local immunity, giving a hoard of sharkrons devastating close range dps(and since they stay near the player you have much more control over thier exact position)
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This sort of turns the sharknados into a 'projectile sword' type weapon where you have a weak long ranged attack that when combined with a close ranged attack can get high dps (or at least that's how projectile swords SHOULD work).

So if you plan on fighting stuff onscreen and don't plan on ramming into stuff then go for xeno.

If you want to snipe stuff offscreen or ram into them for more dps go tempest.
 
I definitely agree with you that a lot of weapons could afford to be more original. Ranger is currently my least-favourite class by a significant margin, simply because it has almost no unique weapons, so giving more of them unique properties would help it a lot.
 
I'll just leave some ideas down here.

The Flamarang should have a small explosion on hit, adding AoE damage for crowds, particularly the Hungry. It's fine if it outclasses the Combat Wrench since it's technically higher-tier.

The Frost Hydra can keep its projectile. Now it will also chomp enemies that come near, dealing increased damage without limited pierce or falloff. Sentries that don't shoot prjectiles are rare; even moreso ones that have multiple attacks.

Instead of disappearing when its lifespan is up, Nettle Burst will split apart, scattering 2-5 non-piercing brambles in an area. The brambles would stick for a few seconds before vanishing. Improves its single-target if you can aim it right and continues disrupting enemies.
 
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