Rating the end-game specializations

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OnyxShadow

Terrarian
Ranked from weakest to strongest...

Summoner

Damage - 4/5
Survivability - 2/5
Fun - 3/5

Surprisingly good damage with full summoner gear and accessories especially if you use a high damage melee or ranged weapon. However, the armor is shockingly low, and it doesn't have magic's regen buff. The summoner set "tank" isn't a complete waste of time, but its definitely not very effective in most cases. This specialization excels in AFK farming.

Melee

Damage - 2/5 (4/5 with Terrarian)
Survivability - 5/5
Fun - 3/5

Yep, that Moon Lord yo-yo makes or breaks this specialization in this tier. Even with Meowmere or Solar Eruption expect to take 2x as long as ranged or magic to kill things. However, the high armor and mitigation gives you a lot of leeway to make mistakes. Its a moderately fun playstyle.

Ranged

Damage - 5/5
Survivability - 3/5
Fun - 4/5

SDMG and chlorophyte bullets tear through anything and everything in moments. Even Moon Lord goes down...in the blink of an eye. The set has surprisingly good defense...second only to melee. Mostly, though, its just a case of a good offense being the best defense. And of course being OP is a lot of fun...at least for me.

Magic

Damage - 5/5
Survivability - 4/5
Fun - 5/5

Last Prism has the best damage in the game. The initial few seconds are awesome for AOE, and the focused beam is unstoppable single target DPS. Lunar Flare isn't quite as high DPS as Last Prism at its best, but it can hit any target on the screen (even those behind walls) and is more flexible and mana efficient. The Nebula armor set bonus buffs really make survivability quite solid. However, the specialization is a bit squishy for a few moments before picking up the buffs. Lastly, the magic-user is by far the most interesting playstyle. Balancing mana in terms of accessory choice and in the middle of a fight makes it more involved than any of the other classes.
 
Not even the Star Wrath, the Influx Waver and Daybreak should already get results. When I decid to put on Solar Flare, the Terrarian is the last thing I think about using. Also, wen wearing Stardust Armor, you're really not supposed to be getting hit. When you have either one long Stardust Dragon or a legion of Star Cells, they should be murdering almost everything before they even get near you. Vortex and Nebula have gone barely used by me, so I can't really say anything about them except that Nebula's neat gimmick still didn't want to make me use it more than Solar or Stardust, same goes for Vortex. If I maybe didn't use every weapon type no matter what armor I have on, I might be able to see something in Vortex or Nebula as worth it, but so far it's either Solar or Stardust for me.
 
Solar armor was my absolute favourite up until I got enough luminite for the other sets and got their corresponding weapons. Nebula is by far the best in my book. The overpowered use of Aoe to single damage dps on the last prism was hilariously fun to use and the black hole thing made up of nebula fragments is all in all pure fun to spam with a mana crystal farm. The Lunar flare is one of the most useful weapons along with the fantastically OP stat boosters. At first I saw it as a pullback if I had to constantly collect them just to stay alive, but you can survive quite well without having to go out of your way to collect em. The regeneration perk just skyrockets speeds and WILL save your butt. Vortex's slowness from stealth mode is a huge bummer that makes it unplayable for me--a person who just wants to fly across the map with the highest of mobility. Nontheless I still love it with the S.D.M.G and chlrolophyte bullet combo, and the Phantasm. Melee just tanks hits like a boss and the Terrarian is my favourite item in the game despite the last prism having a somewhat high dps. Lastly, Stardust...I just can't. I loved playing as a summoner but the armor's set bonus of being able to summon a huge, fierce badass guardian just sucks. The idea of having a staffless minion who can be place anywhere is a brilliant idea, don't get me wrong, but his damage is so poor, not even the rainbow crystal can save it! You'd expect a buff, celestial being like him could just pound enemies with huge damage but with slow speeds wouldn't be so bad, but even lower leveled summons could do better! It took him at least 2 hits to kill a giant bat! While the Xeno staff just poofs and kills it with no problem whatsoever. I don't know if I'm using him wrong but he is just so worthless that I don't even bother playing my summoner anymore since having a minion do jack all damage is not worth the time to play with while the 10 other minions does all the work.

TL;DR: Stongest to Weakest on my opinion is Nebula, Solar, Vortex, then Stardust.
 
And what about Expert mode, on different progress stages? In Normal mode, for most cases, weapon choice is all about preferences. But in Expert mode poor weapon and armor choice could make some challenges almost impossible to beat for an "average" player, even simply walking around with "wrong" weapon is quite hard . From my limited experience with Expert mode instead of using Max Damage weapon it's better to have something with speed and knockback, because until late game killing mods fast is hard because of x2 HP, and not letting them near you is a top priority with their x2 damage.
 
Lol, try star wrath, ull be surprised

To me Star Wrath felt worse than Meowmere in terms of DPS, but it was nice to be able to hit things on the other side of walls.

Also, wen wearing Stardust Armor, you're really not supposed to be getting hit. When you have either one long Stardust Dragon or a legion of Star Cells, they should be murdering almost everything before they even get near you.

Of course not getting hit is always a nice thought. However, with pillars swarming you with 6 mobs at a time and Moon Lord himself basically filling the entire screen with stuff, getting hit happens. Stardust provides poor protection.

Vortex's slowness from stealth mode is a huge bummer that makes it unplayable for me--a person who just wants to fly across the map with the highest of mobility.

I saw the set had that and even goofed around with it for a minute, but I still can't understand the value of stealth...at least in single player. So I just treat the set like a 2x DPS buff with defense just a little less than melee. Stealth is never used at all.

And what about Expert mode, on different progress stages? In Normal mode, for most cases, weapon choice is all about preferences. But in Expert mode poor weapon and armor choice could make some challenges almost impossible to beat for an "average" player, even simply walking around with "wrong" weapon is quite hard . From my limited experience with Expert mode instead of using Max Damage weapon it's better to have something with speed and knockback, because until late game killing mods fast is hard because of x2 HP, and not letting them near you is a top priority with their x2 damage.

Honestly, when the patch came out, I made an expert mode world and took my Fishron-equipped character through that. However, I've beat Fishron, Cultist, Pillars, and Moon Lord in that world so I think its fine (although I do want to play expert from scratch at some point). When I am in expert mode, I have my scarf equipped plus an extra defensive item or two and am more active with buff maintenance, but its not exactly Dark Souls difficulty.

Going over different random progression points would have just taken too much time, and people don't spend much time at any stage to justify that. I figured most people were most interested in the comparison of end-game ability/fun. Also, when progressing I generally only play as a single specialization (so wouldn't be informed enough to comment on most of them) and then branch out to give myself something to do when all bosses are dead.

During progression I definitely don't just value damage. However, I tend to emphasize defense over knockback.
 
Star wrath outdamages your terrarian yoyos when proper equipped, how did you test it, melee hits with no attack speed?
To me Star Wrath felt worse than Meowmere in terms of DPS, but it was nice to be able to hit things on the other side of walls.
 
In my opinion, endgame melee is the most OP. Most endgame swords provide high dps with some range that uses no ammo or manna. That, and the high defense. The only disadvantage is the range, and even that compares well against ranged weapons.
 
Star wrath outdamages your terrarian yoyos when proper equipped, how did you test it, melee hits with no attack speed?

Honestly, I didn't do anything particularly scientific to test weapons...just did the pillars and Moon Lord. Doing pillars I can fly around with Meowmere on auto and cover the screen with cats more or less replicating the number of hits of Star Wrath while doing 2x the listed damage per hit. Terrarian with its veritable cloud of homing projectiles (and listed damage only slightly lower than Meowmere) killed things significantly faster for me than any other melee weapon.

What it comes down to is that it may be that Star Wrath somehow does very well again a dummy or something, but in actual action I couldn't get very impressive results. Your mileage may vary.
 
ut in actual action I couldn't get very impressive results.
Exactly. Take different situations and you will get different results, but overall melee semi-dps - dps builds can do far more than ur mentioned 2\5 damage stat
Id give it a strong 75% out of 100, depends on the situation and weapon used mostly
 
Exactly. Take different situations and you will get different results, but overall melee semi-dps - dps builds can do far more than ur mentioned 2\5 damage stat
Id give it a strong 75% out of 100, depends on the situation and weapon used mostly

I actually have much more time spent as melee than than the other two main specializations. However, with anything other than Terrarian (Meow, SW, or Flairon) killing Moon Lord takes more than twice as long for me as Last Prism Magic or SDMG Ranged. How long that boss takes is the ultimate measuring stick for me since everything else is trivial at this point. The big problem with melee (once again other than Terrarian) is the lack of homing that ranged has or sheer stupid DPS that Last Prism has.
 
And what about Expert mode, on different progress stages? In Normal mode, for most cases, weapon choice is all about preferences. But in Expert mode poor weapon and armor choice could make some challenges almost impossible to beat for an "average" player, even simply walking around with "wrong" weapon is quite hard . From my limited experience with Expert mode instead of using Max Damage weapon it's better to have something with speed and knockback, because until late game killing mods fast is hard because of x2 HP, and not letting them near you is a top priority with their x2 damage.

This! I'm on Moon Lord on expert (haven't killed him yet) and expert is a different ball of wax. I can't IMAGINE being melee on expert. The amount of damage everything does is absurd. Even with high armor!

I plan on running through expert as each "class" after I finish my first play through. I'll write my first review then.
 
This! I'm on Moon Lord on expert (haven't killed him yet) and expert is a different ball of wax. I can't IMAGINE being melee on expert. The amount of damage everything does is absurd. Even with high armor!

I plan on running through expert as each "class" after I finish my first play through. I'll write my first review then.

I did Moon Lord Expert first on melee, and it was the hardest. Terrarian (or Meowmere/Flairon if you're desperate) at max range while moving away but getting in and looping around top mid eye during death laser works until final phase at which time you just basically run away and count on homing Terrarian projectiles to find the mid lower eye. Dodge those 6-sphere projectiles, too.

Magic just collects buffs and blows up his face with Last Prism.

Range just spends the whole fight running away while firing Chlorophyte bullets in reverse with him barely off screen.

If you are still having trouble with Moon Lord, I'd predict that you aren't using enough buffs. Go fishing to win the game. LOL
 
I did Moon Lord Expert first on melee, and it was the hardest. Terrarian (or Meowmere/Flairon if you're desperate) at max range while moving away but getting in and looping around top mid eye during death laser works until final phase at which time you just basically run away and count on homing Terrarian projectiles to find the mid lower eye. Dodge those 6-sphere projectiles, too.

Magic just collects buffs and blows up his face with Last Prism.

Range just spends the whole fight running away while firing Chlorophyte bullets in reverse with him barely off screen.

If you are still having trouble with Moon Lord, I'd predict that you aren't using enough buffs. Go fishing to win the game. LOL

Thanks for the tips. I'm doing mostly ranged. I've only tried him twice now, and on expert I've been torn apart pretty fast. I don't like having new fights ruined for me so I don't look up exactly how to beat new bosses. I just haven't taken the time to farm choloro bullets, but that's the next thing I was going to do, paired with the new blaster gun.
 
Of course not getting hit is always a nice thought. However, with pillars swarming you with 6 mobs at a time and Moon Lord himself basically filling the entire screen with stuff, getting hit happens. Stardust provides poor protection.

Really? My summoner is in expert and every pillar enemy dies even before I see it. Moon lord is another story, though.
 
I can't IMAGINE being melee on expert. The amount of damage everything does is absurd. Even with high armor!

I plan on running through expert as each "class" after I finish my first play through. I'll write my first review then.
I killed the Moon Lord with bettle armor, there was this moment when I had like 20 hp a few hits before beating him, but I did it, Exciting fight, but I'll have to kill him several times to get enough lumitine :rolleyes:
 
Vortex's slowness from stealth mode is a huge bummer that makes it unplayable for me--a person who just wants to fly across the map with the highest of mobility.
FUN TRICK: If you start a dash (Master Ninja Gear or Shield of Cthulhu) to go directly into a sprint, and then double-tap down while running, you'll retain your running speed while going into stealth mode.

Not sure how well this works if you're using wings and NO running boots. At the moment, the only wings I have are Nebula and they have 0% horizontal acceleration for no reason and it makes me sad. ]:
 
FUN TRICK: If you start a dash (Master Ninja Gear or Shield of Cthulhu) to go directly into a sprint, and then double-tap down while running, you'll retain your running speed while going into stealth mode.

Not sure how well this works if you're using wings and NO running boots. At the moment, the only wings I have are Nebula and they have 0% horizontal acceleration for no reason and it makes me sad. ]:

I'll keep that in mind If I ever equip a dashing accessory as I'm all Offensive with Ranger (Menacing Sniper scope, Menacing avengers emblem, and Lucky Rangers Emblem.)

The idea of having a staffless minion who can be place anywhere is a brilliant idea, don't get me wrong, but his damage is so poor, not even the rainbow crystal can save it! You'd expect a buff, celestial being like him could just pound enemies with huge damage but with slow speeds wouldn't be so bad, but even lower leveled summons could do better! It took him at least 2 hits to kill a giant bat!

The guardian was actually useful for a few minutes when i did not have a damaged slime staff. His low damage allows for some extra coins when using a coin ring.
 
Ranked from weakest to strongest...

Summoner

Damage - 4/5
Survivability - 2/5
Fun - 3/5

Surprisingly good damage with full summoner gear and accessories especially if you use a high damage melee or ranged weapon. However, the armor is shockingly low, and it doesn't have magic's regen buff. The summoner set "tank" isn't a complete waste of time, but its definitely not very effective in most cases. This specialization excels in AFK farming.

Melee

Damage - 2/5 (4/5 with Terrarian)
Survivability - 5/5
Fun - 3/5

Yep, that Moon Lord yo-yo makes or breaks this specialization in this tier. Even with Meowmere or Solar Eruption expect to take 2x as long as ranged or magic to kill things. However, the high armor and mitigation gives you a lot of leeway to make mistakes. Its a moderately fun playstyle.

Ranged

Damage - 5/5
Survivability - 3/5
Fun - 4/5

SDMG and chlorophyte bullets tear through anything and everything in moments. Even Moon Lord goes down...in the blink of an eye. The set has surprisingly good defense...second only to melee. Mostly, though, its just a case of a good offense being the best defense. And of course being OP is a lot of fun...at least for me.

Magic

Damage - 5/5
Survivability - 4/5
Fun - 5/5

Last Prism has the best damage in the game. The initial few seconds are awesome for AOE, and the focused beam is unstoppable single target DPS. Lunar Flare isn't quite as high DPS as Last Prism at its best, but it can hit any target on the screen (even those behind walls) and is more flexible and mana efficient. The Nebula armor set bonus buffs really make survivability quite solid. However, the specialization is a bit squishy for a few moments before picking up the buffs. Lastly, the magic-user is by far the most interesting playstyle. Balancing mana in terms of accessory choice and in the middle of a fight makes it more involved than any of the other classes.
Melee is the most fun IMO, it's so fun to be surrounded by enemies and not give AF, ranged is fun, magic is fun and op late game and summoners more of a subclass
 
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