My ideas for a non-restrictive "summoner-only" run

[Samrux]

I am simply not the type of guy that enjoys dodging and doing nothing when I play summoner, nor the type that doesn't take it as a chore to build semi-efficient trap arenas to fight whatever thing it is without using weapons.

The "pure" summoner simply isn't for me; I find it counter-productive. I truly believe that the summoner class, while dependent on summons, is supposed to also attack with a weapon at the same time.

I've accidently been given an idea, though, by the user @Shadowaltz: A summoner that can attack, but using only appropriately themed weapons. Now of course this seems incredibly obvious now, but it's caused me some serious thought for the past half hour or so.


The conclusion is that I've made a list of weapons that are at least partially considered "living", "animal" or "sentient", or otherwise, the projectiles the weapon shoots could be labelled as such as well. Some exceptions include weapons that leave a lingering, damaging entity for some period of time after usage. Basically, anything "summony".
Now; this playthrough idea is NOT meant to be a challenge; just a type of play that forces the player to use a variety of weapons that they might not have used otherwise, while keeping the "summoner" idea of commanding other entities to attack for him.

I also tried to purposefully give some variety to the items chosen, so as to avoid frustration in case of bad RNG (some weapons are rare drops), and also having more than a single way of tackling a boss or event for different styles and skill levels.

The rules are: You cannot purposefully damage any enemies with means other than your summons, stationary turrets, the weapons in the list, or traps (for that matter). Also, since it's a class-specific run, you must use summoner armor only (starting from the queen bee), and, if possible, focus on summoner accessories.

The list is below. Before I tried it out myself, I had to ask the community what they thought, and how the design and plan could be improved.
Items with a star next to their name I consider "core" weapons; meaning that I believe they are the most fitting for the theme and most important for the gameplay itself.


The character starts with a Slime Staff from creation, as his first summon.



⋆Cactus Sword
Zombie Arm
Swordfish
Purple Clubberfish
⋆Frost Daggerfish
⋆Vilethorn/⋆Crimson Rod
Medusa's Head

⋆The Bee's Knees (wooden arrows)
⋆Bee Gun
Beenades
Book of Skulls
⋆Hellwing Bow (wooden arrows)


⋆Nimbus Rod
Obsidian Swordfish
⋆Bladetongue/⋆Toxikarp
⋆Crystal Serpent
⋆Clinger Staff/⋆Life Drain
Crystal Vileshard
Bananarang
Meteor Staff

Hammush
⋆Mushroom Spear
⋆Flower Pow
⋆Nettle Burst
Toxic Flask
Staff of Earth
Spectre Staff
⋆Magnet Sphere
⋆Rainbow Gun
⋆Piranha Gun
Scourge of the Corruptor

⋆Bat Scepter
The Horseman's Blade
Jack'o'Lantern Launcher
Electrosphere Launcher
S.D.M.G.
⋆Meowmere


And of course, the summoner stationary turrets (just in case you forget about them) are the Queen Spider Staff, Staff of the Frost Hydra, Rainbow Crystal Staff, and Lunar Portal Staff. But I hope it was obvious that they were allowed.
​

 

[Evilgrapez]

Thanks so much for the idea!! I love the Summoner class and have always wanted to do a run, but haven't been able to because it's too hard on me to go summoner only. Thank you!

EDIT: I'm actually going to start a summoner run now. Thanks again.

 

[S3V3N7HR33]

Why Electrosphere Launcher and Toxic Flask?
This seems like a good idea, I'm going to try it after finishing my latest playthrough before updating to Windows 10.
Also, y u no Razorblade and Flairon? Razorblade looks pretty much like a summon weapon and Flairon is a warlus (I guess) so it's an animal.
Toxikarp, Xmas Tree Sword and Jack o' Lantern are all plants/animals.

 

[Samrux]

Why Electrosphere Launcher and Toxic Flask?
This seems like a good idea, I'm going to try it after finishing my latest playthrough before updating to Windows 10.
Also, y u no Razorblade and Flairon? Razorblade looks pretty much like a summon weapon and Flairon is a warlus (I guess) so it's an animal.
Toxikarp, Xmas Tree Sword and Jack o' Lantern are all plants/animals.

Electrosphere Launcher leaves a lingering entity that damages enemies that touch it. And I believe that the Toxic Flask gives variety to your arsenal coming from the solar eclipse.

Razorblade and Flairon felt kind of dead to me, but I guess they kind of fit now that you mention them. They're kind of common for other classes anyways. Christmas Sword and the pumpkin launcher I'm not sure about, same as Seedler.


Thanks for helping!

 

[Zinnia]

Last time I did a pure summoner run it quickly devolved into:

"kill everything with boulders (because they totally don't count as weapons right?) and the summons can help too"

That being said, a lot of the weapons on your list are weapons I use a lot while playing normally anyways, especially the Bee weapons and Vilethorn/nettle burst, Nimbus rod , Mushroom spear, Magnet Sphere and Scourge of the Corruptor... I'm afraid this challenge wouldn't be much different from my regular runs because I'm always in summoner armor anyways, but it's totally the way I like playing so it's all good.

 

[Shadowaltz]

One reason I even thought of this kind of theme in the first place was Yrimir's series, how he included the cloud weapons because they "summoned" something.
That got me thinking about how the definition of "summon" could be twisted to fit an item.

I like thinking about it because it's such an interesting spectrum, from the sentry summons, to the possibly living items, to anything that could summon anything, be it stars or spores or lasers. You can be as strict as you want, and there's almost certainly a larger pool of usable items than you first realize no matter your theme.

 

[Puppetmaster]

I literally do not understand the restrictive properties people put on their summoner runs. A summoner run to me is always wearing summoner armor, prioritizing summoner accessories and prioritizing obtaining good summoner accessories. Even this just seems counter productive, the point of summoner is to have an army of minions doing most of your dps, but you have a backup weapon to attack too. It's like saying when you play a melee run or a ranged run you're not allowed to use summons.

 

[VaeVictis]

You added the Piranha Gun and S.D.M.G but why not Minishark and Megashark? I forgot to click the "Post Reply" button

 

[DJFlare84]

... How about adding the Eye of Cthulhu to that list? Just so that summoners can have a YoYo?

... I kinda really like YoYos with my summoning setup.