Kholai
Terrarian
Introduction
The summoning class has had many complaints about it over the years, I won't bore you with all of them, but suffice to say:
- It has, as a class, never quite stood up to the three "main" classes.
- It doesn't have the same gear support or variety as other classes.
- It generally falls short of the other classes throughout the game (barring an early Spider set in hard mode and maybe end-game equipment).
- Few summons are worth getting, leading to a very samey playstyle.
- Whips are weapons that rely on getting up close and personal with the squishiest class in the game.
The two most common arguments against attempts to fix summons are:
You cannot buff summons to be useful without boosting other classes too much.
You don't need to be a "pure" summoner, just use vampire knives.
Since I am old and opinionated, I thought I'd take a shot at overhauling the summoner class with four goals:
- Bring summoners into their own niche, if not as powerful as the other classes at very least bringing something new to the table.
- Make all the existing summons worthy of consideration for a summoner and a non-summoner alike.
- Make pure summoner a worthwhile goal for a player.
- Achieve this without any new weapons, accessories, or an overhaul to the sometimes atrocious summons AI.
So, let's get started.1. Getting Swole
What does every single summoning weapon give the player when you use it, that you probably don't think of very much?
One of these:
That's right, a buff.
So why not have these buffs do something extra?
NB: All buffs given are examples of concept, and could be freely changed. Don't get too held up on specific buffs as being over/underpowered.
Finch Staff - Each Minion boosts movement speed by +1%
Slime Staff - Each Minion boosts Max Life by +1%
Hornet Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Minion to cause Poisoned Debuff for 10s on hit.
Vampire Frog Staff - Attacks have a 0.2% chance per Vampire Frog to create a Life Orb on hit (a la Spectre Hood).
Imp Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Minion to cause Burning debuff for 10s on hit.
Blade Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Blade to cause Bleeding debuff for 10s on hit.
Spider Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Spider to cause Venom debuff for 10s on hit.
Pirate Staff - Attacks have a 0.5% chance per Pirate of causing extra coins to drop (a la Lucky Coin).
Sanguine Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Minion to cause the Life Drain Debuff for 5s on hit.
Optic Staff - Each pair of twins increases minion knockback by 0.2.
Deadly Sphere - Each Sphere increases Armour Penetration by 1.
Pygmy Staff - Each Minion boosts Defence by 2.
Raven Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Raven to cause Shadowflame debuff for 10s on hit.
Desert Tiger Staff - Increase summon damage by 2% per Tiger, with an additional +2% bonus at 4 and
Tempest Staff - Increases Sentry fire rate by 2% per Tempest.
Terraprisma - Each Terraprisma Blade increases attack speed by 1%
Xeno Staff - Each UFO increases maximum flight time by 0.2s and flight ascent speed by 1%.
Stardust Cell Staff - Each Stardust Cell increases minion cap by 0.2, to a maximum of +2.
Slime Staff - Each Minion boosts Max Life by +1%
Hornet Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Minion to cause Poisoned Debuff for 10s on hit.
Vampire Frog Staff - Attacks have a 0.2% chance per Vampire Frog to create a Life Orb on hit (a la Spectre Hood).
Imp Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Minion to cause Burning debuff for 10s on hit.
Blade Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Blade to cause Bleeding debuff for 10s on hit.
Spider Staff - Attacks have a 2% chance per Spider to cause Venom debuff for 10s on hit.
Pirate Staff - Attacks have a 0.5% chance per Pirate of causing extra coins to drop (a la Lucky Coin).
Sanguine Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Minion to cause the Life Drain Debuff for 5s on hit.
Optic Staff - Each pair of twins increases minion knockback by 0.2.
Deadly Sphere - Each Sphere increases Armour Penetration by 1.
Pygmy Staff - Each Minion boosts Defence by 2.
Raven Staff - Attacks have a 1% chance per Raven to cause Shadowflame debuff for 10s on hit.
Desert Tiger Staff - Increase summon damage by 2% per Tiger, with an additional +2% bonus at 4 and
Tempest Staff - Increases Sentry fire rate by 2% per Tempest.
Terraprisma - Each Terraprisma Blade increases attack speed by 1%
Xeno Staff - Each UFO increases maximum flight time by 0.2s and flight ascent speed by 1%.
Stardust Cell Staff - Each Stardust Cell increases minion cap by 0.2, to a maximum of +2.
Hopefully this makes the inherently stronger minions have more restrictive, less impactful bonuses, the weaker minions have more useful general buffs without as many restrictions on the type of minion that boosts it.
With this small change, each summoner has a wide range of options available to them. Every summon slot can either maximise DPS or provide a useful bonus, with the less powerful minions giving better utility boosts. Pure summoners have the most, and biggest, bonuses, tailored to their own preferences, with hard to acquire perks that other classes would love to have. And, of course, there's some reason for a summoner to hold onto old summon weapons instead of immediately tossing them when something new comes along.
2. Whip it good
This hopefully realises our goal of having summoners fill a varied and powerful niche, but to make a pure summoner valuable, there one simple change in keeping with the change above, make these weapons have effects while held - much like holding a candle.
Holding a whip or Sentry summoning weapon counts as having one extra "generic" minion.
Holding a summon weapon gives its buff to all nearby players and counts as one minion of that type.
For example, if a summoner has a whip held, a Hornet and ten Blades summoned, they have a 24% chance of causing Poison with each attack (12 minions), and a 10% chance of causing Bleed (10 Blades, whip and hornet do not count).
If a summoner has a Blade Staff held, all nearby players have a +1% chance of causing Bleeding on hit with every attack, and if one of those nearby players has a Finch summoned then they will get an additional 2% movement speed bonus from the additional minion.
With a combination of these changes summoners would gain a versatile set of buffs they could switch between with the tap of a hotkey, a valuable support role, and a strong incentive to specialise in summoning.
So that's it. Thoughts and opinions appreciated. Would this overbalance summoning, provide the much needed boost that summoning needs, or does it fall short of what's needed in the end?
