What is the worst and best point in game progression for each class?

[MoultonLava]

In Terraria, there are 4 classes. Melee, Ranged, Mage, and Summoner. Each of them plays uniquely and add a lot of replayability to the game. However, they all for the most part can have some bad times at certain points. So, what are every classes highest and lowest points? I will do 1 and you guys can do the rest. Melee's worst point is early Hardmode. I can count the number of viable weapons on my fingers. The ore swords suck REALLY bad, and a lot of the other weapons are either to hard to get (anchor as an example) or true melee, when the next bosses are nigh impossible with true melee. You have barely any options besides the S-flame Knife from a boring and tedious to summon event, Chain Guillotines can only really appear in HALF of worlds unless you are willing to sit through hours in an artificial corruption, The Drippler Crippler is only really good against the Destroyer and even then, it is inconsistent. The Ice Sickle and Frostbrand are your only really good choices, but they can get annoying because of you getting slowed constantly and also the tortoises are a pain.

 

[MoultonLava]

just remembered about the Seargeant united shield, although it really isn't that viable due to its extreme rarity.
Edit: I was playing with my friends today and we got the Shield from the merchant! I couldn't believe this happened, and it was good since my friend was playing Melee and didn't have anything else!

 

[chewythebigblackdog]

For pre-mech melee, while sure most of the good weapons are hard/annoying to get (btw drippler crippler is one of the best melee weapons for all 3 mechs, not just destroyer) you can also just go for destroyer first (with one of the several options that work well on that fight) and make the light disk for the other 2 mechs. It's still probably melee's worst stage of progression though (maybe queen bee/skeletron comes close if you don't want to play aggressively since all of your best weapons are short-ranged).

As for the other 3 classes:

Ranged doesn't really have one (which is why I consider it the best class)

For mage it's probably skeletron. Unless you have demon scythe there isn't really a good option for the fight. The other contender is early game, though my gripes with early game mage are less about power and more about basically all the weapons just being clones of one another (looking at you, gem staves and thunder zapper).

For summoner it's the mech bosses, especially twins and prime. Both spiders and pirates are basically unusable for those fights, and abigail is okay at best, meaning you need to get either sanguine or blade staff to have a chance (though abigail does a decent job at getting them). Once you have one of those, it's smooth sailing, but it's still a lot of effort to get a weapon.

As for the best stages:

• For melee it's post-plantera (once you get terra blade and/or vampire knives). Those 2 weapons are pretty large power spikes and are basically all you need until pillars.
• For ranged it's early game. At a stage where basically everyone else is scrambling for good options, it has so many good options available. Musket, boomstick, a good bow, spiky balls, grenades, the list goes on.
• For magic it's also post-plantera, since spectre hood is insanely broken. Could also argue post-golem since you have both spectre hood and top tier weapons available.
• For summoner it's probably post-golem due to just how good xeno staff/terraprisma + kaleidoscope is, though I'm a little iffy on this one.

 

[Timey-Whimy]

I have enjoyed mining chlorophyte for every class except summoner

 

[zenithspeed]

i once saw a graph specficically about this though idk if i still have it saved or how accurate it is, i'll see if i can find it later

i can't really list my own opinions, as aside from my playthroughs, i pretty much only use melee for any kind of actual (not-for-fun) combat; i do mostly agree with what others said though, and the melee parts of those i can definitely agree with

 

[MoultonLava]

For melee it's post-plantera (once you get terra blade and/or vampire knives). Those 2 weapons are pretty large power spikes and are basically all you need until pillars.

I totally agree with this, but i will always say that the Scourge is better in all ways than the Knives. I know it has lifesteal, but it has abysmal damage and a bad spread while the Scourge has homing, high damage, and style points.

 

[Aurora3500]

Melee

• The Best - Would say around the point the player fights EoC and a little before that point and after. Around that point, the player finds several different weapon types for the melee class, taking their preference of swords, spears, flails, yo-yos, etc. With the EoC granting easy access to Demonite/Crimtane-tier melee weapons, it becomes the point where melee really shines out for Pre-Hardmode
• The Worst - I agree with MoultonLava on this one. Early-Hardmode is around the worst point of progression for melee. There are more enemies that can use projectile attacks in Hardmode, not to mention the bosses including Queen Slime and the Mechs are difficult to damage using melee weapons that don't have some form of projectile. It remains a challenge unless one can get weapons like the Shadowflame Knife and Drippler Crippler that have some range. After that it gets better with more melee weapons gaining projectiles.

Ranged

• The Best - By contrast, Ranged really excels starting from Hardmode on. The Endless Quiver & Pouch allow base ammo to be infinite, and in addition to far more powerful bows, repeaters, and guns, ammo-types such as Cursed/Ichor/Crystal arrows/bullets become accessible. When combined together with the new weapons, they make ranged players formidable for the rest of the game.
• The Worst - I'd say the early game is the worst for ranged. At this point, the player doesn't have as many options to get weapons and ammo early on. Usually it's a rough effort to acquire ammo from crafting or monster drops until you unlock the Merchant and are able to get enough money to buy arrows.

Magic

• The Best - Post-Plantera I agree with being the best area for Magic progression. The Dungeon alone offers many more options for Magic weapons. It becomes a very powerful class at that point, more-so than the beginning of hardmode. By then there are plenty of accessories available for making versatile magic-class builds.
• The Worst - The majority of Pre-Hardmode seems like the worst for Magic. There's the element of how one needs to collect fallen stars to make the Mana Crystals to increase Max Mana. Armor and weapons are also very limited at the beginning until the Jungle, Dungeon, and Underworld become accessible and manageable to the player.

Summoner

• The Best - From Early-Hardmode on, playing as Summoner gives a lot more options and makes it pack more of a punch. There's the Spider Armor which can be gotten very quickly once hardmode starts, as well as access to accessories to support summoners better and high-end whips. Though Post-Plantera and Post-Golem when the Holiday Moons become accessible give a ton of options to make Summoner very powerful close to the end of the game.
• The Worst - Similar to Ranged and Magic, Summoner is harder to start off as in the early game. It has gotten a little better with recent updates, but there is still no armor accessible for awhile. Getting a 1st minion in a practical way will usually involve going off the beaten path. Unless on Journey Mode, the Finch Staff isn't always guaranteed to appear, which requires one to get either Abigail's Flower which can appear by chance. The Flinx Staff which requires considerable grinding requiring a rare enemy. Or a Vampire Frog Staff which requires defeating Blood Moon Fish enemies that are really powerful for the early-game. It can be tricky if one wants to play as a pure-summoner which generally will require playing as another class until the weapons for the Summon-class can be obtained.

 

[Waldofoce]

Pre-Mech melee, while definitely the class’ weakest point; is definitely doable. I’m on an Expert melee play through at the moment and I can confidently that melee performs very well with the Cascade, Armarok or Format:C, all of which are quite easy to get, paired with the Toyo glove.

 

[MoultonLava]

I’m on an Expert melee play through at the moment and I can confidently that melee performs very well with the Cascade, Armarok or Format:C, all of which are quite easy to get, paired with the Toyo glove.

I assume you mean the Hel-Fire, as the Cascade is prehardmode?

 

[MoultonLava]

I

Melee

• The Best - Would say around the point the player fights EoC and a little before that point and after. Around that point, the player finds several different weapon types for the melee class, taking their preference of swords, spears, flails, yo-yos, etc. With the EoC granting easy access to Demonite/Crimtane-tier melee weapons, it becomes the point where melee really shines out for Pre-Hardmode
• The Worst - I agree with MoultonLava on this one. Early-Hardmode is around the worst point of progression for melee. There are more enemies that can use projectile attacks in Hardmode, not to mention the bosses including Queen Slime and the Mechs are difficult to damage using melee weapons that don't have some form of projectile. It remains a challenge unless one can get weapons like the Shadowflame Knife and Drippler Crippler that have some range. After that it gets better with more melee weapons gaining projectiles.

Ranged

• The Best - By contrast, Ranged really excels starting from Hardmode on. The Endless Quiver & Pouch allow base ammo to be infinite, and in addition to far more powerful bows, repeaters, and guns, ammo-types such as Cursed/Ichor/Crystal arrows/bullets become accessible. When combined together with the new weapons, they make ranged players formidable for the rest of the game.
• The Worst - I'd say the early game is the worst for ranged. At this point, the player doesn't have as many options to get weapons and ammo early on. Usually it's a rough effort to acquire ammo from crafting or monster drops until you unlock the Merchant and are able to get enough money to buy arrows.

Magic

• The Best - Post-Plantera I agree with being the best area for Magic progression. The Dungeon alone offers many more options for Magic weapons. It becomes a very powerful class at that point, more-so than the beginning of hardmode. By then there are plenty of accessories available for making versatile magic-class builds.
• The Worst - The majority of Pre-Hardmode seems like the worst for Magic. There's the element of how one needs to collect fallen stars to make the Mana Crystals to increase Max Mana. Armor and weapons are also very limited at the beginning until the Jungle, Dungeon, and Underworld become accessible and manageable to the player.

Summoner

• The Best - From Early-Hardmode on, playing as Summoner gives a lot more options and makes it pack more of a punch. There's the Spider Armor which can be gotten very quickly once hardmode starts, as well as access to accessories to support summoners better and high-end whips. Though Post-Plantera and Post-Golem when the Holiday Moons become accessible give a ton of options to make Summoner very powerful close to the end of the game.
• The Worst - Similar to Ranged and Magic, Summoner is harder to start off as in the early game. It has gotten a little better with recent updates, but there is still no armor accessible for awhile. Getting a 1st minion in a practical way will usually involve going off the beaten path. Unless on Journey Mode, the Finch Staff isn't always guaranteed to appear, which requires one to get either Abigail's Flower which can appear by chance. The Flinx Staff which requires considerable grinding requiring a rare enemy. Or a Vampire Frog Staff which requires defeating Blood Moon Fish enemies that are really powerful for the early-game. It can be tricky if one wants to play as a pure-summoner which generally will require playing as another class until the weapons for the Summon-class can be obtained.

I didn't expect to see a moderator here, thanks for commenting on this post Aurora!