Rate the Weapon: Day Seven - Pistols

How often do you use pistols in your playthroughs?

  • 1 - Never

    Votes: 4 6.7%
  • 2 - Rarely - The resources are too limited, or the time it's useful is too short.

    Votes: 7 11.7%
  • 3 - Sometimes - If I have the resources to spare

    Votes: 11 18.3%
  • 4 - Often - It makes progression easier, but skippable

    Votes: 7 11.7%
  • 5 - Most Games - It's great to have, but not worth ten hours to get.

    Votes: 19 31.7%
  • 6 - Always - I will build a farm for this if I have to. I'm not progressing without it.

    Votes: 12 20.0%

  • Total voters
    60

Ami

Terrarian
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 Seven: Flintlock Pistol, The Undertaker, Revolver, Musket, Handgun, Phoenix Blaster

Day 1 - Ore Swords - 2.41 - Everyone agrees these are not very good, but have no idea how to improve them.
Day 2 - Ore Bows - 3.41
Day 3 - Grenades - 3.28
Day 4 - Normal Yoyos - 3.7
Day 5 - Normal Boomerangs - 3.35 - 1 and 6 votes. Love 'em or hate 'em.
Day 6 - Normal Flails - 2.05 - Even lower than silver sword!

Today's edition is for non-atomatic pre-hardmode guns. Prior to Hellwing bow, I loved getting a phoenix blaster. The DPS was very good, and worked for early hardmode. Since Hellwing+Molten is my go-to for wall of flesh these days, I tend to reserve my hellstone bars for more hellfire arrows, rather than a pistol. They're certain not bad weapons, but I simply don't use them, for reasons.
 
In my oponion those are pretty good weapons, particulary the musket, which stands out as the poor mans sniper rifle, and the phoenix blaster which plainly deals good damage at far range, no questions asked. Easy to use, doesnt arch, faster velocity, various effects based on the bullets (even as that early) make those a good upgrade from bows, though one might nitpick that their ammo rather costy at this point still.

Hellwing just cannot replace the Phoenix Blaster for my ususes, unless its for fighting WoF (where i prefer to use Waterbolt/Demonsclythe) as its accuracy is wayy out of the wazoo.
 
The Musket/Undertaker are SO EASY to get, and SO powerful for when you can get them (got 2-3 bombs? you can get the Musket/Undertaker) that, unless you are doing a Class-based playthrough, you're kinda crazy not getting and using them.

The Boomstick is a nice-but-not-necessary gun.

And the Pheonix Blaster is outclassed by other weapons at its tier, but is a MUST HAVE for Gunslingers in Expert early Hardmode.
 
Guns are half of the yin yang that comprises the core of ranged weapons throughout the game. Most power players using ranged I have seen prefer firearms, they're simple and quick. While they don't have the versatility of bows, especially in hardmode, they certainly have their place. You can't talk about a ranged weapon without discussing the ammo (except for weird ammo weapons like the candy corn rifle), and normal mode guns have three: Bullet, silver bullet, and meteor shot. Only the last has any effect. Guns also have little knockback. They exist purely for damage, and that's what they do. Always a viable option, and for me a solid 4.
 
Phoenix Blaster is probably the best prehardmode weapon there is, period. Straight easymode's a lot of the game after too, it's actually very reasonable to kill a mech on hardmode night one with the pheonix blaster on non-expert worlds. All you need is some good accessory prefixes, buff potions, and you're set to jump straight from molten to hallowed tier.

It's hell on your finger, but the DPS of the phoenix blaster dwarfs pretty much everything in the entire pre mech phase of the game. Only a few exceptions stand out, like that stormbow everyone's using these days.
 
Musket and especially The Undertaker are very good weapons to have early pre-hardmode. They will serve you very well before you get something better. About Flintlock Pistol and Revolver are i think waste of money(Never used them). The question is, why I pay for them when I can get a Minishark? I have no idea about Handgun and Phoenix Blaster, so there's no comment for these two.
 
why I pay for them when I can get a Minishark?

Cheaper, higher damage per shot. cheaper to fire over longer periods of time. Works better vs enemies that have a positive defense value.

I'm not saying any of these are better than a minishark, but objectively, reasons exist to use these weapons (as opposed to flails vs yoyos)
 
Phoenix Blaster is probably the best prehardmode weapon there is, period. Straight easymode's a lot of the game after too, it's actually very reasonable to kill a mech on hardmode night one with the pheonix blaster on non-expert worlds. All you need is some good accessory prefixes, buff potions, and you're set to jump straight from molten to hallowed tier.

It's hell on your finger, but the DPS of the phoenix blaster dwarfs pretty much everything in the entire pre mech phase of the game. Only a few exceptions stand out, like that stormbow everyone's using these days.
And the fact that it is a badass looking pistol
 
I wouldn't consider a musket a pistol, but that point not withstanding, I'll normally use the musket / undertaker for a bit when I first get them, although I'm usually more interested in using it for finding floating islands than as a weapon. And then it's not until the final stages of easy mode that you find another one worth much attention in my opinion. The Phoenix Blaster is indeed very nice. The only reason I wouldn't use it is if I'm specifically doing an all magic play-through or something like that.
 
Unless I have some specific reason to not use them, I'll use them. Early on, guns are a very good ranged option. The Undertaker is okay, but I prefer the Musket due to having higher damage per shot. I usually don't use the Handgun, but I do upgrade it to the Phoenix Blaster as a high priority use for my Hellstone.
Moving on to Hardmode, the Phoenix Blaster, of course, is obsoleted by the Megashark (AKA the only good reason to buy a Minishark), which is itself obsoleted by the last true pistol, the Venus Magnum, which itself is a fine piece of work. And, of course, obsoleted by things like the Sniper Rifle, Vortex Beater, and SDMG.

Overall? The guns that can be considered "pistols" are essential progression weapons for any Ranged user, but by no means endgame things. At least, not anymore.
 
Phoenix Blaster is probably the best prehardmode weapon there is, period. Straight easymode's a lot of the game after too, it's actually very reasonable to kill a mech on hardmode night one with the phoenix blaster on non-expert worlds. All you need is some good accessory prefixes, buff potions, and you're set to jump straight from molten to hallowed tier.

It's hell on your finger, but the DPS of the phoenix blaster dwarfs pretty much everything in the entire pre mech phase of the game. Only a few exceptions stand out, like that stormbow everyone's using these days.
Yeah it and the absurdly rare Arkhalis are the two prehardmode weapons that can devastate enemies up to mech tier with little difficulty... (However Skeletron is so hard to beat on expert mode it effectively balences things out...

However I don't think you can get the Phoenix Blaster in time to fight a mech on night one o_O It would take to long without absurd luck to build a hellevator prep for and kill the WOF, then recall and reach the dungeon at the start of the night to enter the dungeon and hope for a mechanical summon to drop/craft a mythril tier anvil to make mech summon... Now potion finds could let some of this be bypassed (water walking, recall, teleport and combat potions come to mind) saving enough time .

Now I guess it is plausible with lucky world gen but very hard to pull off time wise... Mainly due to potion dependence and the lack of enough time to grow them, and I will admit I have once found a world that had a cave complex through the Jungle/underground that naturally reached from the surface down to hell with absolutely no mining required back in early 1.2 but that has only happened once in the hundreds of worlds I have generated...
 
Yeah it and the absurdly rare Arkhalis are the two prehardmode weapons that can devastate enemies up to mech tier with little difficulty... (However Skeletron is so hard to beat on expert mode it effectively balences things out...

However I don't think you can get the Phoenix Blaster in time to fight a mech on night one o_O It would take to long without absurd luck to build a hellevator prep for and kill the WOF, then recall and reach the dungeon at the start of the night to enter the dungeon and hope for a mechanical summon to drop/craft a mythril tier anvil to make mech summon... Now potion finds could let some of this be bypassed (water walking, recall, teleport and combat potions come to mind) saving enough time .

Now I guess it is plausible with lucky world gen but very hard to pull off time wise... Mainly due to potion dependence and the lack of enough time to grow them, and I will admit I have once found a world that had a cave complex through the Jungle/underground that naturally reached from the surface down to hell with absolutely no mining required back in early 1.2 but that has only happened once in the hundreds of worlds I have generated...
They mean first night of hardmode, not first night of the world
 
I don't usually use the Undertaker (not enough damage), the Musket is OK but too slow...

I'll tell you what I like, though, is that gun sold by the Travelling Merchant (the Revolver). It's more powerful than the Undertaker, and faster than the Musket. If I see one of those, there's a chance I'll pick it up for a nice weapon.

I know it's not mentioned on your list, but I feel the Boomstick should be included too, as it is one of the only other guns in Easymode (I know you said Pistols, but IMO, you should just include all Pre-Hardmode Guns).

While going on an early Amarok run, if I run into a Boomstick, chances are I will very much use it at least for a little while.

As for the Phoenix Blaster, on most playthroughs I'll make one, because it makes killing Angry Nimbus Clouds in Hardmode MUCH easier (it can also come in handy with some other enemies too). It's a handy weapon that's got all the perks of guns, the only flaw is that it is not auto-fire.

The PB is a weapon that can serve you well during half of Hardmode, it's easily got enough oomph behind it that it can compete with several early Hardmode weapons, and that's even without ranger armor. The PB is also one of three weapons I commonly use on the WoF: The PB, Cascade, or the Hellwing Bow.

And the Pheonix Blaster is outclassed by other weapons at its tier,

.......wut?

You're joking, right?

Phoenix Blaster is the only Pre-Hardmode weapon other than maybe Night's Edge, Cascade, Demon Scythe (that's only if you're good at aiming it) and maybe Flamelash that are really any good in Hardmode, and even then, Night's Edge can quickly be replaced by Bladetongue or T3 Hardmode Ore Sword, Cascade is quickly replaced by Amarok.

With the PB, you don't see a better gun until (maybe) the Megashark or the Uzi. Good luck getting an Uzi Pre-Mechs, lol.
 
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5 - I love guns, so I usually have at least one during my playthrough. The Phoenix Blaster, Musket, The Undertaker, Megashark, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun. Loving these weapons.
 
Alright. The musket is my favourite ranged weapon in the entire game, purely for the fact it's pretty much the only slow, hard-hitting full-auto ranged weapon in the game (pretty sure the dart rifle is an exception, but that doesn't feel the same with the dart gimmicks). All the other guns I don't really care about in the listing provided. I will use the musket right up to the WoF and maybe beyond. The high damage makes it effective right into early-HM. Gets a 6 from me.
 
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