PC Tier List: Pre-Hardmode Weapons

I'd be tempted to move the Amber Staff down at least a peg. Not for its combat abilities, which I can't really comment on, but during the time the Amber Staff is viable, the opportunity cost is too high -- amber needs to be used for crate potions, and now, gemcorns for crate potions.

Might want to review the Imp Staff, too, now that the rate of fire got bumped in 1.4. Eater of Worlds isn't that much of a challenge, and you can always cheese him, even on master, so if you want it before Amazon and Starfury, day 2 or 3 is definitely doable. And it's useful up to and including Wall of Flesh. Once you have Space Gun, the Imp Staff makes The Old One's Army trivial, particularly if you use a summoning potion.

Quad barrel shotgun is something of a one-trick pony, but it makes short work of King Slime and EoC. Worth it if you don't have double jump yet.

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Oh, and Molotov is pretty hard to come by, now that it needs pink gel. I'd rarely be able to make a full stack prior to Moon Lord. And it's pretty much worthless in hardmode...
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And Star Cannon is now a viable weapon, at least on master. I don't know if the rate of falling stars increased in normal and expert, too, but if so, ammo is not that tough to get. And if you are willing to invest the effort in a rail skyway and do some AFK star collection...

Other than Jester Arrows, you aren't using all that many of them anyway.
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[EDIT3]
I've only had the Finch Staff in my very first 1.4 run. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Makes getting Amazon vastly easier. And it can be used to cheese Eater of Worlds. Build a box just outside his jumping range and wait. And wait. And wait. Kinda cool when the finch hits a dozen or more segments on a pass, though. Better than the Slime Staff for this, for sure. Not anywhere close to the Imp Staff. I've seen an Imp take out EoW before I got my first hit in.

And I'd bump Starfury. It's GREAT for finding open areas underground. Next to essential if you want to set up an underground farm without mining out the whole area.
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Definitely all valid notes, I'll keep 'em in mind.

With the Amber Staff, I've found a lot more Crate Potions from the Angler himself, and amber is a lot more common than it used to be. Haven't really had problems in that area.

Imp Staff has definitely gotten a lot better. I'll absolutely move it up a rank or two.

Quad-Barrel Shotgun performs pretty well if you can afford it before the King Slime, and I've had good success on the EoW as well. Kind of a middle-of-the-road weapon. I've played a lot of Master though, in which it suffers, so it may well be better in classic mode.

Molotov should definitely be moved down. It's had its day.

Star Cannon can comfortably start out at B, I'd say.

Finch Staff: I've gotten it once, and it was better than nothing. I'd say it belongs in B.

Edit: I've also gotten to play with the Gray Zapinator, and it's a real beast. Not the best out there, and it can be tricky to handle, but it tears through the EoW and performs admirably against everything else, even the Wall of Flesh. I'm inclined to stick it in B+.
 
Definitely all valid notes, I'll keep 'em in mind.

With the Amber Staff, I've found a lot more Crate Potions from the Angler himself, and amber is a lot more common than it used to be. Haven't really had problems in that area.

Imp Staff has definitely gotten a lot better. I'll absolutely move it up a rank or two.

Quad-Barrel Shotgun performs pretty well if you can afford it before the King Slime, and I've had good success on the EoW as well. Kind of a middle-of-the-road weapon. I've played a lot of Master though, in which it suffers, so it may well be better in classic mode.

Molotov should definitely be moved down. It's had its day.

Star Cannon can comfortably start out at B, I'd say.

Finch Staff: I've gotten it once, and it was better than nothing. I'd say it belongs in B.

Edit: I've also gotten to play with the Gray Zapinator, and it's a real beast. Not the best out there, and it can be tricky to handle, but it tears through the EoW and performs admirably against everything else, even the Wall of Flesh. I'm inclined to stick it in B+.
The problem with the amber staff isn't amber but acquiring sturdy fossils which require venturing into the underground desert. Generally I haven't been able to safely explore the new Underground Desert without higher knockback or rapid attack weapons with sufficient range and damage. It suffers the same fatal flaw as other prehardmode underground desert weapons in that they are largely outclassed by the time you can reasonably acquire them barring high risk early exploration and luck. Also note the new desert Fossil mechanics which allow much of the fossils to get lost if you don't use explosives or high power pickaxes by which point you likely have better gear. All together I have found the Underground desert is a death trap without Evil boss tier gear or better you can conceivably get by with higher tier ore armor and underground weapons on lower difficulties but none of the Loot is worth the effort it takes to get.

For example Fossil armor's set bonus isn't really worth it for much aside from slightly helping conserve ammo for the Star cannon as that is the only weapon with ammo that is really expensive enough to warrant its set bonus. Fossil throwing weapons are a little better off as you don't need much fossil to get a usable amount but not by much. By the time I can venture there without creating a graveyard on master I usually have a ruby or diamond staff or Meteor armor and the Space Gun. Without that survival is only really possible as long as no Giant Antlions spawn.

Also note regarding the Arkhalis it is straight up hardmode only now as it only is obtainable as part of Arkhalis's dev set. So it should be removed entirely from the list. Terragrim behaves basically exactly the same and has only slightly worse Stats making it effectively a plain Nerf with a name change so it can inherit whatever former position the latter had if any.
 
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For example Fossil armor's set bonus isn't really worth it for much aside from slightly helping conserve ammo for the Star cannon as that is the only weapon with ammo that is really expensive enough to warrant its set bonus.

It's good for sand farming, especially new-style.
 
...none of the [underground desert] Loot is worth the effort it takes to get.
Definitely agree with that! Anything I care about is available via crates, and if I don't get what I want fishing at the oasis on Blood Moon or quests, I guess it wasn't meant to be. The only reason I bother with underground desert before hardmode is if I want to get the golfer.

For this thread, it's kind of like the hellstone equipment, just easier to get to. You know exactly where to get it, and when most people would be doing it, the foes relative to your gear are pretty similar, except that imps shoot through blocks. Not that imps cause any problems while mining, as long as there are only 1 or 2...
 
I don‘t get why Bee‘s Knees is so low on the list. It is inexpensive to use, relatively easy to obtain and one of the most powerful pre-hardmode weapons in the game. Both in raw damage and safety with trick shots. It requires an accessory slot for the hive pack, but that isn‘t a big deal imho.
 
I don‘t get why Bee‘s Knees is so low on the list. It is inexpensive to use, relatively easy to obtain and one of the most powerful pre-hardmode weapons in the game. Both in raw damage and safety with trick shots. It requires an accessory slot for the hive pack, but that isn‘t a big deal imho.
Since the Bee's Knees have already been marked, I figured it's fair to move them up. I've had great success using it against most enemies even without the hive pack, and it only struggles against fast-moving bosses (i.e. the Wall and Skeletron), where it isn't too bad.
 
I'd definitely bump up both Flamelash and Magic Missile, homing and piercing projectiles are just too good. Flamelash in particular definitely deserves an A+, if not an S. It's basically an early hardmode weapon and useful up to the mechanical bosses, where you can replace it with the now brilliant Rainbow Rod.
 
Sturdy Fossils are also useful for Scarab Bombs. It can be worth taking an early Desert dive if you've got good mobility and ranged attacks -- stuff like the Snake Charmer Flute can be remarkably useful, and an *early* shot at those Desert weapons is more useful. What's the worst that can happen -- you could die?
 
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