Harpoon



The Harpoon is a unique ranged weapon that auto-fires an arcing projectile that is connected to the player via a chain, and returns after reaching a maximum distance or impacting. Its physics are similar to launched flails, though it is highly affected by gravity. Harpoons are dropped by most enemies during a Goblin Army with a chance of.

The Harpoon has no cooldown period; its auto-fire rate dependent only on the distance to its impact, meaning that an enemy or object in close range will cause a faster auto-fire rate. The projectile also deals damage and knockback to multiple enemies on its return trip, similar to a flail or boomerang, making it effective for crowd control.

Tips

 * As the Harpoon is one of the few sources of ranged damage that does not consume ammo, this weapon makes a decent (albeit weak later in the game) backup weapon for characters specializing in ranged weapons and armor. Eventually, however, it is eclipsed by Hardmode weapons like the Piranha Gun and the Toxikarp.
 * Once launched, the player is unable to switch away from the Harpoon before the projectile returns, making distant shots risky as it will leave the user vulnerable if they miss. It should be optimally used for close to mid-range combat.
 * When surrounded by weaker enemies, it may be a good idea to fire over the crowd, hitting them all on the return trip, rather than firing straight in front of the player and only hitting one enemy at at time.
 * It can be used against strong Fighter AI enemies like the Nymph or even the Chaos Elemental to deadly effect if the enemy is directly in front of you, as it will autofire extremely quickly and put out massive amounts of DPS, especially for a weapon that can be obtained before any bosses have been defeated.

Trivia

 * The Harpoon was originally called the Harpoonitron, as seen in a pre-release video.