Usagi Tsukino
Terrarian
Am I making the game harder on myself by running menacing instead of warding? im playing a ranger
Menacing instead of Warding? (Expert)
- Thread starter Usagi Tsukino
- Start date
Lord Garak
Retinazer
Menacing is a much better stat. Max warding only decreases taken damage by 15 per hit.
The Storm
Golem
18 in Hardmode
And yes defence is practically useless in Expert mode Hardmode, increasing you damage is far more important.
Usagi Tsukino
Terrarian
what about the worm scarf?
The Storm
Golem
That alone is better than having warding on all 6 accessories for damage greater than 106, which all hardmode expert enemies easily deal.
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
While it can be considered practically useless, the extra damage reduction does add up over longer battles - the problem is that "longer battles" start to require larger amounts of health regeneration (through potions, heart statues, etc) to matter, and the opportunity cost of damage loss actually has an exponential effect on battle duration.
Running full Warding in Expert vs full Menacing is a total loss of a 24% damage modifier; and while this isn't a 1:1 case, this means that battles will generally take 24% longer.. meaning you open yourself up to more potential attacks, thus making the single-player applications of Warding very slim as the damage saved per hit doesn't make up for the fact the battle will last longer and cause you to be hit more often... Unless you aren't getting hit, in which case the extra defense is meaningless.
Basically, in short, as you are playing Ranged damage, run Menacing.
Of course, for multiplayer, a dedicated tank player can feel free to run Warding all day - they'll be the primary target of enemy attacks and will likely have enough health regeneration to make it worth it.
Running full Warding in Expert vs full Menacing is a total loss of a 24% damage modifier; and while this isn't a 1:1 case, this means that battles will generally take 24% longer.. meaning you open yourself up to more potential attacks, thus making the single-player applications of Warding very slim as the damage saved per hit doesn't make up for the fact the battle will last longer and cause you to be hit more often... Unless you aren't getting hit, in which case the extra defense is meaningless.
Basically, in short, as you are playing Ranged damage, run Menacing.
Of course, for multiplayer, a dedicated tank player can feel free to run Warding all day - they'll be the primary target of enemy attacks and will likely have enough health regeneration to make it worth it.
Gotcha!
Pumpking
It doesn't seem to be that useless to me, judging from the math:
But then again, I've never used Warding in Expert Mode myself, and a lot of enemies sure pack a wallop.
Perhaps it might be better suited for melee characters, since they have a higher defense to begin with, and can reach some pretty high defense numbers with the right gear.
In the end, of course Menacing/Lucky is better. A dead enemy does no damage, so the sooner you kill them, the better. But if your dodging skills are beyond poor, then perhaps it's worth giving Warding a try.
But then again, I've never used Warding in Expert Mode myself, and a lot of enemies sure pack a wallop.
Perhaps it might be better suited for melee characters, since they have a higher defense to begin with, and can reach some pretty high defense numbers with the right gear.
In the end, of course Menacing/Lucky is better. A dead enemy does no damage, so the sooner you kill them, the better. But if your dodging skills are beyond poor, then perhaps it's worth giving Warding a try.
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
This is ultimately the cusp of it, yeah. If you take a lot of hits, Warding and other defensive options are better, since they allow you to take more hits without dying.
At higher levels, it falls off for damage reforges and becomes a for-fun build option.
It's like Worm Scarf - If you think you need it, give it a try and use it. And you may never actually get past needing it, and that's fine. The game doesn't care how you defeated a boss - it only cares if you defeated the boss or not.
But don't be afraid of taking it off if you wish to further push yourself. The worst that happens to the average player in Terraria when they die is they get put in time out for 30 seconds and mull over how they died, after all. (Unless you're playing Hardcore. F)
... Especially because Potions exist. Lifeforce is also worth mentioning, along with Regeneration - those four Potions combined do tons of work for even the squishiest of characters.
I consider Well Fed, Regeneration, and Ironskin to be the baseline for exploration in Expert mode. Endurance and Lifeforce get added for bosses and raids.
Warmth for Frost Moon.
The Storm
Golem
On every playthrough I always forget this exists
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
It's admittedly very forgettable due to just how niche it is; I often tend to forget about it myself and I very quickly remember about it when I get beaned for 150 by a Frost Wave and a shower of 120+ damage Frost Shards rain on me during my final moments among the living, my icy prison obscuring my anguished expression and muffling my screams of agony and cries for mercy.On every playthrough I always forget this exists
Gotcha!
Pumpking
Absolutely. A decade ago I would have nothing else but Warding; once I got a bit decent at the game, I devoted my life to Menacing. I haven't used anything Warding in ages.
And with that, I lost interest in items like the Worm Scarf and Ankh shield (unless melee).
The Storm
Golem
Same here, back when I was (really) terrible at Terraria in 1.1 the only stat I would try to maximise was defence, even using melee armour with ranged weapons ignoring all damage bonuses. Now I don't bother with Warding.
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
While both valid viewpoints, sometimes in your life you just need to sit back and tank. It may just be me, but there's an odd sort of satisfaction that comes from shrugging off huge attacks that should kill you.
I highly recommend next chance you get in a multiplayer setting that you try out a dedicated tank build setup (defensive Beetle, full Warding, the works). Standing in one spot with a Heart Statue dripfeed as ten Pumpkings fail to kill you and your ranged DPS friends happily get to do damage without any worries is a highly satisfying experience.
The Storm
Golem
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
Tank for me, storm boy.
The Storm
Golem
Well I am mostly a pure ranger, (All Storm Divers are)
Gotcha!
Pumpking
I agree; hence the (unless melee). Especially in multiplayer, where it's so much fun when someone takes the brunt of the damage while the higher damage dealers are safe and clean everything up from a distance.
Again agreed. I've been the tank in the past, and it is indeed fulfilling. Last playthrough someone else was tanking (Expert), and it's so nice to be able shoot everything dead while they're going after someone else. It's been a long time though. Now I feel like tanking again in a future play-through. But that will be on Master, so I am unsure if that's a good idea...
There's a whole forum full of them. Try a quick hookup.I just need some friends first.....
Mille Marteaux
Empress of Light
I feel a dedicated tank spec player will make Master mode go much, much more smoothly in multiplayer, just like they do in Expert.
It'll likely require a lot (LOT) more Heart Statues, however, if you just want to stand in place.
That sounds like a you problem, I'd say.