Rate the Weapon: Day Nineteen - Crystal Vile Shard

[Ami]

Inspired by another topic, it occurs to me that many of us think weapons are bad or unusable, simply because we know what we like. But, do we know what we DON'T like? What's a worthy investment of your time and resources? In the case of polls which have multiple items bunched together, such as the ore swords, pick only the best one. If you love silver sword, but think iron sword is a waste of the bars, vote as if this were a poll for silver sword. I'll be logging these in a spreadsheet and making a compilation of which items users think are good, bad, OP, or a waste of space.
If they're bad, what would make them better? Lower cost? Autoswing? Projectiles? Different attack animation?
If they're OP, what would make them balanced?

Day Nineteen: Crystal Vile Shard

So I herd u liek vilethorn. The hardmode successor is stronger, and has a longer range. It goes through walls, and hits multiple enemies multiple times. Well, I've got bad news for you. The base damage on this weapon is exceptionally low. While it would be outright hilarious to use something like this on destroyer, golem, or skeletron prime, the likelihood is that you're going to be spawning a veritable ton of single digit numbers for damage on every enemy you'd like to use this on.

Perhaps if this weapon's damage completely ignored enemy defense, doing a fixed amount of damage, it'd be better? Maybe if the damage of the weapon was simply increased, it'd be usable? I'm not sure, but as it stands, the only use this thing has is probably hitting enemies that can't hit back (other side of wall, trapped in a pit, etc.)

Early Hardmode items
Day 12 - Daedalus Stormbow - 4.76 (26 votes) - this guy probably needs a nerf. People intentionally go out of their way to not use it, as it makes progression too easy.
Day 11 - Nimbus Rod - 4.47 - (21 votes)
Day 13 - Fetid Baghnakhs - 3.5 - (20 votes)
Day 14 - Chain Guillotine - 2.85 - (14 votes)
Day 15 - Bladetongue - 2.8 - (20 votes)
Day 17 - Toxikarp - 2.87 (16 votes)
Day 16 - Dart Gun - 2.78 - (19 votes)
Day 18 - Life Drain - 2.17 - (17 votes) - Maybe if this replenished life based on damage dealt, instead of providing a buff to regeneration, people would like it more.

Pre-Hardmode items
Day 7 - Pistols - 4.21 - (38 votes)
Day 4 - Yoyos - 4.21 - (14 votes)
Day 8 - Covered in BEES! - 3.72 - (25 votes)
Day 5 - Boomerangs - 3.52 - (21 votes)
Day 2 - Ore Bows - 3.48 - (27 votes)
Day 3 - Grenades - 3.37 - (24 votes)
Day 10 - Gem Staves - 2.80 - (26 votes)
Day 1 - Ore Swords - 2.54 - (24 votes)
Day 9 - Throwing knife/shuriken family - 2.52 (17 votes)
Day 6 - Flails - 2.04 - (24 votes) - RIP Old, bad yoyos

 

[Aurora3500]

The Crystal Vile Shard is a suitable upgrade from the Vilethorn which becomes useless during Hardmode.

Despite it's role of being a weapon of being able a magic weapon able to pierce through blocks/walls to attack enemies behind them, it is still underwhelming in terms of raw damage as the Topic Creator has said.

I keep the Crystal Vile Shard if I find it for awhile as one of my 6-7 weapons always in my hotbar through Early-Hardmode. However I do not use it regularly. Only if there is an enemy behind a block, or I'm in a situation where I have to barricade myself from enemies to prevent me from dying, I pull this weapon out to cause damage to enemies safely from where I am. It isn't practical as a weapon to use regularly to damage lots of enemies with reliable amounts of damage. But it's still a useful weapon to have in a pinch to kill a few enemies from safety which is why I put my rating for this weapon at 4. Not required to have in my playthroughs, but it is a convenience when I do get it.

Design-wise I also love the appearance and theme of the Weapon. Because I love the Crystal theme it has that represents the Underground Hallow.

 

[Galaxinator]

I use it never :^), I'm rarely mage, but when I am, this one doesn't strike attention.

 

[SteveisNoob]

It's ability to shoot through blocks makes it an excellent choice for Red Devils and Moss Hornets, especially for Expert. So, often, I don't farm it, but if I found one while trying to get the Daedalus I will surely spend some gold to reforge it, unless I get lucky with prefix

 

[Xakk]

With Life Drain, I mentioned the utility of the weapons that can shoot through walls. I don't know why others don't see the use in this, but I imagine it involves spending as little time exploring the underground as possible. Crystal shard is the successor to the Vilethorn, flagship for these weapons (not the first of this kind though, just the first you can still get). Piercing bricks is really the whole schtick of this weapon, unlike Life Drain. The damage is low, as many say, but is supposed to be compensated for by the ability to hit multiple times per shot, if properly aimed. That and keeping you apart from enemies make this weapon great for convserving mana. However, the 'properly aimed' part becomes the difficulty, as like the vilethorn, this weapon has short range and a narrow spread, making it somewhat difficult to land a hit. The thing is really best used for running up to walls behind which enemies are hiding and digging them out.

I personally love Vilethorn, when I saw someone with Vileshard I farmed it, and I almost always pack at least one wall piercing weapon. the Nettleburst addressing the short range, and going more rapid fire make this class even more excellent in exploration. I give it a five.

 

[Melt in the Sun]

As a weapon it sucks. But - it does go through blocks and give off a small amount of light, so it can be very useful for underground exploration. I use it every game, unless I've outlawed magic weapons for that character.

 

[Ami]

same as my reasoning for Starfury. That thing is a godsend for spelunking.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

It's ok. It's a decent weapon early hard mode for a mage, especially in the jungle, but its low damage and relatively short range hurts it later on.
Decent knockback though.

 

[Mille Marteaux]

It's a Vilethorn that gives off light and does 5~10 damage to enemies instead of 1 and you'll probably get one along the way for Stormbow grinding anyway. 10/10.

Works best if you have a slot for Sharktooth.

 

[Xakk]

I'm not so sure this or any large mimic weapon counts as 'early hard mode'. Without serious skills or preparations most players won't be getting these till after a tier or two or ore, hardmode drops, and normal mimic gear.

 

[Galaxinator]

I'm not so sure this or any large mimic weapon counts as 'early hard mode'. Without serious skills or preparations most players won't be getting these till after a tier or two or ore, hardmode drops, and normal mimic gear.

Well considering by Hell you should have mobility, and start of HM I usually go get Spiders, and you could easily fish for a weapon like Toxikarp, I mean considering a Mimic is about WoF hp it shouldn't be that hard for people

 

[Xakk]

I mean considering a Mimic is about WoF hp it shouldn't be that hard for people

Except the WoF you build an arena for and buff yourself as you would any boss, a large mimic can happen anytime, anywhere the biome has infiltrated. Usually without the user highon potions and standing in a ready built arena. the WoF takes it's sweet time in attacking but a large Mimic is aggressive and fast. It's really a miniboss appropriate for it's loot.
Additionally farming for spider gear and specific weapons simply to defeat mimics would count as preparation, time that could also be spent progressing through ore tiers and finding drops. That said, I think it would take a bit of skill as well to take a large mimic on at random with only that. I'd personally not want to face one without a RoD, wings, or reasonable defensive ability. Spider armor lags behind ore armors in that department and I'd certainly not want to be less than optimally mobile when relying on minions.

 

[ManaUser]

Don't forget you can create a mimic in a favorable location using 15 souls. I guess it depends on what one means by "early" exactly, but it certainly wouldn't be unusual for me to kill a few of these before taking on the mechanical bosses.

 

[Galaxinator]

Except the WoF you build an arena for and buff yourself as you would any boss, a large mimic can happen anytime, anywhere the biome has infiltrated. Usually without the user highon potions and standing in a ready built arena. the WoF takes it's sweet time in attacking but a large Mimic is aggressive and fast. It's really a miniboss appropriate for it's loot.
Additionally farming for spider gear and specific weapons simply to defeat mimics would count as preparation, time that could also be spent progressing through ore tiers and finding drops. That said, I think it would take a bit of skill as well to take a large mimic on at random with only that. I'd personally not want to face one without a RoD, wings, or reasonable defensive ability. Spider armor lags behind ore armors in that department and I'd certainly not want to be less than optimally mobile when relying on minions.

"preparation" I don't prepare for mimics to spawn, they just happen when I get things, as for Spider armor, I said I tend to go for that right when Hardmode hits, also I only use Buff Potions during boss fights, and I usually don't do buff potions, Mimics to me are quite easy to dodge, although normal mimics drop a Dual Hook if you need quick mobility, I dunno, I don't often get problems with Mimics unless I'm just screwing around or just not paying attention :^), I just don't like Pre-Hardmode, like first few bosses, because there's not really variety in weapon choice, I usually start with Wooden Bow, then I dunno if you find early bombs get a Vile Thorn / Musket, and if a Meteorite drops you get that armor and Space Gun, I haven't done the Reaver Shark Hellstone items before, I mean with my luck with Fishing it's "start world, get ready for Ocean, 10 mins later *all tools*"

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Except the WoF you build an arena for and buff yourself as you would any boss, a large mimic can happen anytime, anywhere the biome has infiltrated. Usually without the user highon potions and standing in a ready built arena. the WoF takes it's sweet time in attacking but a large Mimic is aggressive and fast. It's really a miniboss appropriate for it's loot.
Additionally farming for spider gear and specific weapons simply to defeat mimics would count as preparation, time that could also be spent progressing through ore tiers and finding drops. That said, I think it would take a bit of skill as well to take a large mimic on at random with only that. I'd personally not want to face one without a RoD, wings, or reasonable defensive ability. Spider armor lags behind ore armors in that department and I'd certainly not want to be less than optimally mobile when relying on minions.

Yes and no. If you face a mimic in the wild, yes it will be a hard fight.
However, Mimics are child's play if you build a long bridge of solid blocks, ideally frozen slime, and use the soul keys to create one.

 

[Ezel]

Mimics are only hard to fight underground if you're in early Hardmode.

As for the weapon, I use it rarely. It might deal decent damage for enemies with lower defense, but if any enemy has more than 20-30 defense, it will usually deal a little damage. However, it might be useful for exploring.

 

[Xylia]

It's a gimped Nettle Burst, basically. It doesn't do enough damage, it's a magic weapon to begin with, and it is rather meh even if you were wearing magic armor.