Arkhalis



The Arkhalis is a rare melee weapon that appears to be a sword, but behaves unlike any other weapon. It is quite rare, only obtainable from the unique background object found in an Enchanted Sword Shrine or very rarely in the Caverns layer. This background object has a 33% (1 in 3) chance to contain a "true" breakable sword item rather than a discolored "false" sword. When this item is broken, it has a 10% (1 in 10) chance to drop the Arkhalis rather than an Enchanted Sword. This means that on average, the chance of an Enchanted Sword Shrine dropping an Arkhalis is 1/30. The sword that the item gives is determined at the time the background object is broken, so there is no way to determine which sword the player will be given.

The Arkhalis autoswings, though it does not present an actual blade when used. Instead of an overhead broadsword swing or a shortsword stab, the Arkhalis appears as a series of blurred slashes aimed in the direction of the cursor. Anything within this area takes constant damage at a rate far exceeding the weapon's stated use time. This damaging area has a rather wide spread, even attacking behind the player for a very short distance.

The Arkhalis's unique means of attack is unaffected by any size and speed modifiers.

Tips

 * The Arkhalis emits a large amount of white light-emitting particles for a short distance, making it useful for peeking through cave walls.
 * Though its base damage is low, its high attack speed and multiple attacks per hit make it effective well into Hardmode.
 * Because of its high attack speed and its ability to hit everything around the player, it can hit any projectile that can be destroyed before it reaches the player, making it fairly useful against the Goblin Sorcerer and Goblin Summoner's Chaos Balls and any other enemy with destructible projectiles.
 * You should balance knockback on this weapon, to keep enemies inside the damage zone. Consider using a Ruthless Modifier for pre-hardmode enemies, and Godly or Demonic for hardmode enemies.
 * Due to the fast speed of the Arkhalis combined with the minute knockback, you can easily continuously attack enemies like the Unicorn and keep them in front of you, continuously damaging them but not allowing it to attack you.
 * The best world size for finding the Arkhalis is medium, due to there being 1 sword shrine in small worlds, 3 in medium worlds, and 4 in large worlds. Despite there being more sword shrines in large worlds, it is easier to find them in medium worlds due to there being less space in between each shrine.
 * Since the presence of the Arkhalis is determined when the sword-sprite is broken, it is possible to force its appearance by "save scumming":  Having found an Enchanted Sword Shrine with a "real" sword-sprite, switch autosave off, and then keep breaking the sprite and force-quitting Terraria until you get an Arkhalis instead of an Enchanted Sword. While considered cheating, the low drop chance makes it necessary for this procedure without trading/External Tools.

Trivia

 * The weapon is named for Arkhayla, a former Quality Director at Re-Logic. Its tooltip, "I didn't get this off of a Schmoo", refers to the means of obtaining a Crissaegrim in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Crissaegrim is Arkhayla's favorite sword, and her namesake weapon's appearance and function are modeled after it.