User blog:652Graystripe/Weapon Tutorials - North Pole

Weapon Tutorials is a series SilverHexxitFights and 652Graystripe will be working on for a while! It focuses on taking one weapon of Terraria that one of us is extremely good at using, and telling you how to use it in a PvP situation. If you wish to suggest a weapon, tell us in the comments.

Credits

 * 652Graystripe: Idea, blogmaking
 * SilverHexxitFights: Blogmaking
 * Hunited: Interviews
 * SlayerOfTheBad: Interviews

North Pole
Dubbed the 2nd best melee weapon in the game by professional testers, the North Pole is a powerful spear dropped by the Ice Queen during the Frost Moon. It is the strongest spear in the game, as well as the longest-ranged spear by far. When it is stabbed, a slightly smaller afterimage of itself will be shot out of the spear's tip and fly through the air. It has a fairly severe arc. This spear will trail deadly piercing snowflakes after it, which will fall. This can be concentrated over a large area or rained in one for massive DPS.

Strategies
For maximum DPS on a single-enemy target, one should shoot the North Pole as straight in the air as they can. This will drop a highly concentrated rain of snowflakes on your area.

For larger enemies or invasions, one should shoot the North Pole at a mild angle, slightly less than 45˚ off the ground. This makes a rain of snowflakes that will hit just about everywhere, tearing through your attackers. This can be handy during Blood Moons, against large bosses or against invasions.

Counters
The North Pole is an extremely hard weapon to counter. Your best hope is to stay above the main arc of the projectile, which is not terribly hard to do - at maximum, it goes maybe 40 blocks above the attacker. In addition, staying in close to the attacker, stupid as it may sound, is your best hope to avoid being caught in a blizzard of death.