So. Stinking. Close.

An arena could make that much of a difference.

EDIT: Add traps and lava to your arena as well. It will kill the weaker enemies so you can focus on the stronger ones.
 
I do have an arena. It has spiky ball, spear, dart and flame traps along with a bed of lava. Otherwise I would be nowhere near wave 14. On my first try, which was without an arena, I reached wave 7.
Try again to kill the Moon Lord. The Meowmere is beautiful for melee, the Last Prism wreaks everything with mage equipment, and the Space Dolphin Machine Gun(S.D.M.G) with Ichor Bullets would tear through the Pumpking.
 
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Menacing is a joke. Reforge everything to Lucky. Critical hits are far more valuable than a slight increase in power.
 
Menacing is a joke. Reforge everything to Lucky. Critical hits are far more valuable than a slight increase in power.

Base stats without modifier bonuses: 111 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.46) + (222 * 0.54)
= ~171 damage

24% damage bonus from 6 menacing trinkets: ~138 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (138 * 0.46) + (276 * 0.54) = ~212 damage

24% critical strike bonus from 6 lucky trinkets: 111 damage and 78% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.22) + (222 * 0.78) = ~198 damage

Why the difference? Because critical strike chance suffers from diminishing returns. The bonus damage effects your non-critical strikes and your critical strikes.

Edit: Unless you have some sort of effect that happens when a critical strike occurs I don't know how you get more DPS with Lucky than Menacing.
 
Base stats without modifier bonuses: 111 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.46) + (222 * 0.54)
= ~171 damage

24% damage bonus from 6 menacing trinkets: ~138 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (138 * 0.46) + (276 * 0.54) = ~212 damage

24% critical strike bonus from 6 lucky trinkets: 111 damage and 78% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.22) + (222 * 0.78) = ~198 damage

Why the difference? Because critical strike chance suffers from diminishing returns. The bonus damage effects your non-critical strikes and your critical strikes.

Edit: Unless you have some sort of effect that happens when a critical strike occurs I don't know how you get more DPS with Lucky than Menacing.
What weapon are you talking about.
 
Base stats without modifier bonuses: 111 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.46) + (222 * 0.54)
= ~171 damage

24% damage bonus from 6 menacing trinkets: ~138 damage and 54% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (138 * 0.46) + (276 * 0.54) = ~212 damage

24% critical strike bonus from 6 lucky trinkets: 111 damage and 78% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (111 * 0.22) + (222 * 0.78) = ~198 damage

Why the difference? Because critical strike chance suffers from diminishing returns. The bonus damage effects your non-critical strikes and your critical strikes.

Edit: Unless you have some sort of effect that happens when a critical strike occurs I don't know how you get more DPS with Lucky than Menacing.
You forgot to add that these bonuses are multiplicative in regards with each other. 12% crit 12% dmg >24% dmg > 24% crit.
 
Menacing is a joke. Reforge everything to Lucky. Critical hits are far more valuable than a slight increase in power.
A higher base damage means higher armour penetration. That does count for something.
I don't have the numbers, but Menacing is certainly not a joke.
 
What weapon are you talking about.

That was with an Unreal Phantasm in Shroomite armor with pretty much all the damage accessories for ranged. I used the Celestial Shell instead of the Golem Eye though. It's really not relevant what I start with for a base though, the numbers will always be higher for % damage bonus because having any critical strike before adding to it will reduce the amount gained relative to damage. Play around with the numbers yourself if you wish or get a target dummy and test. One thing I didn't mention is that summons don't crit, yet they get the % damage bonus(at least that's what the wiki says- I have not tested it and I don't particularly care about summon damage besides convenience), so even if critical strike chance and % damage did map out 1 to 1 there would still be another benefit to using %damage over crit. Of course, if you did need the knock-back then there is some utility in critical strikes that can't be replicated via damage, so there's that.

You forgot to add that these bonuses are multiplicative in regards with each other. 12% crit 12% dmg >24% dmg > 24% crit.

Here's my math;

12% critical strike bonus and 12% damage bonus: ~125 damage and 66% critical strike chance, average damage per hit = (125 * 0.34) + (250 * 0.66) = ~208 damage

Which is closer but still less expected average damage per hit. The problem for proponents of critical strike is that weapons already have a base chance to land a critical hit and that throws off the numbers. If you had absolutely no other critical strike modifiers other than the trinket modification then they would give the same damage, but as soon as a weapon has a critical strike chance as a base you get more out of % damage.
 
For me, the Phantasm with holy arrows is really powerful, preferably with vortex armour.
I'm able to kill 100 pumpkings in one moon using those.
 
Which is closer but still less expected average damage per hit. The problem for proponents of critical strike is that weapons already have a base chance to land a critical hit and that throws off the numbers. If you had absolutely no other critical strike modifiers other than the trinket modification then they would give the same damage, but as soon as a weapon has a critical strike chance as a base you get more out of % damage.

Well, you'll have to take all your +% into account, its the best when your %damage equals your %crit. I think @W1K did the math on that once but i cba to dig trough his posts to find it.
 
When it comes to choosing between damage and critical, the important thing to keep in mind is the dps boost from both is multiplicative rather than simply additive. The factors in which dps is maximized depends on the target's defense.
Not sure whether this includes anything that hasn't been mentioned already, but given I was asked to, this is my stance on the matter and here's some old math.
 
I'm going to take a look at the hypothetical numbers and try to figure out what's going on with it, but bear in mind that unless there's actually something wrong with the math that I did earlier it is incorrect that 12% crit and 12% damage yields more average damage per hit than 24% damage.

Here's the relevant portion of the old post for those interested:
Base Megashark's dps is 325.

On 28 defense.
100% damage: 637 dps.
100% crit: 623 dps.
30% damage and 70% crit: 696 dps.
70% damage and 30% crit: 701 dps.
50% damage and 50% crit: 711 dps.

On 14 defense.
100% damage: 644 dps.
100% crit: 637 dps.
30% damage and 70% crit: 707 dps.
70% damage and 30% crit: 710 dps.
50% damage and 50% crit: 722 dps.​

There's no work shown for these calculations at all. How did you arrive at these numbers?

Edit for phrasing and thoroughness, please bear with me.
 
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I'm going to take a look at the hypothetical numbers and try to figure out what's going on with it, but bear in mind that unless there's actually something wrong with the math that I did earlier it is incorrect that 12% crit and 12% damage yields more average damage per hit than 24% damage.

Here's the relevant portion of the old post for those interested:
Base Megashark's dps is 325.

On 28 defense.
100% damage: 637 dps.
100% crit: 623 dps.
30% damage and 70% crit: 696 dps.
70% damage and 30% crit: 701 dps.
50% damage and 50% crit: 711 dps.

On 14 defense.
100% damage: 644 dps.
100% crit: 637 dps.
30% damage and 70% crit: 707 dps.
70% damage and 30% crit: 710 dps.
50% damage and 50% crit: 722 dps.​

There's no work shown for these calculations at all. How did you arrive at these numbers?

Edit for phrasing and thoroughness, please bear with me.
The percentages are suppositions, the results are simple weapon DPS calculations.
The generic formula for a weapon's DPS calculation would be
(60/useTime)*((damage+bulletDamage)*damageBonus-(defense/2))*(critChance+critBonus)

Granted, other than the fact Chlorophyte Bullets have been nerfed and Megashark has been buffed, for whatever reason the numbers seem to be wrong and I don't exactly get why. I'll just recalculate them showing the full formula with the right numbers.


Megashark using Chlorophyte Bullets

On 28 defense.
100% damage and 0% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 2.00 - (28 / 2))* 1.00 = 480
0% damage and 100% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.00 - (28 / 2))* 2.00 = 360
30% damage and 70% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.30 - (28 / 2))* 1.70 = 459
70% damage and 30% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.70 - (28 / 2))* 1.30 = 507
50% damage and 50% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.50 - (28 / 2))* 1.50 = 495

On 14 defense.
100% damage and 0% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 2.00 - (14 / 2))* 1.00 = 540
0% damage and 100% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.00 - (14 / 2))* 2.00 = 480
30% damage and 70% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.30 - (14 / 2))* 1.70 = 561
70% damage and 30% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.70 - (14 / 2))* 1.30 = 585
50% damage and 50% crit: (60 / 7) * ((25 + 10) * 1.50 - (14 / 2))* 1.50 = 585


Essentially the point, having a maxed damage grants better results than a maxed crit, but on a side note, properly mixing them together (depending on the target defense) can output the best results. It's kinda hard to deduce the proper amount of damage and crit bonuses needed to maximize, which is why I tend to go for 50/50. The result can also vary by weapon of course. The defense values to verify are also supposed to be higher as this was a calculation which took place back in 1.2 if not even earlier, there's enemies with much higher defense values.
 
Alright, thanks for posting it. I"ll go back and re-check my numbers again to see if they're matching up later today.
 
Ok, update guys: After a few more attempts, I FINALLY did it and got the baleful harvest achievement!!!!! Even though I died a few times, I'm still pretty happy and not many people can say they've done pumpkin moon wave 15. I have all the loot from the event including the bat scepter although unfortunately I wasn't able to get a mourning wood trophy as I was too busy dealing with pumpkings... oh well. Maybe one day once I have op moon lord gear I will go back and try again, this time trying to do it without dying as well lol but for now onto the frost moon.
Congrats, Man. You've done well. As for the frost moon, it is much, MUCH harder then the pumpkin moon. My arena is just platforms, and I've gotten to wave 16 in the event. Perhaps you can do better, as your arena is much better then mine.
 
I just did a frost moon, and this time I managed to get to wave 11!!! But when I did, those ice queens absolutely KOed me. Their slow effect is so annoying! I managed to kill 1 and it was pretty tough but then more and more kept spawning and I died about 2 or 3 times due to ice queens. Seriously though, I can't have been much later than 1am when I got to wave 11. I thought Santanks were tough, but they're nothing compared to ice queens...
What weapons and armor do you have? Besides the Solar Eruption and Stardust Dragon.

EDIT: What accessories as well?
 
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Beetle Armor with shell, Superior Terra Blade (want to make it legendary but currently skint), my Solar Eruption is Godly by the way, Godly Vampire Knives, Godly Paladin's Hammer, Zealous Bat Scepter (that I literally got half an hour ago in that pumpkin moon), Manic Razorblade Typhoon (I hardly ever use this anymore). I also have a bunch of Horseman's Blades stocked up in a chest. My accessories are: Menacing Steampunk Wings, Menacing Hermes Boots, Lucky Charm of Myths, Armored Avenger Emblem (yet again need to reforge), Lucky Paladin's Shield.
As your armor is meant for melee, You should stick with melee weapons. The Solar Eruption is an excellent choice for the moon events, it can pierce enemies 100 times. And has a 25 DPS after effect.
Also, When you kill the Everscreams and Santa-NK1's, don't collect the hearts they drop until you really need them. That way, you won't have to heal with the very low damage Vampire Knifes. If you are dying a lot, warding on most of your accessories does help a bit. Potions never hurt either.
 
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