User blog:SilverHexxitFights/Weapon Tutorials - Blizzard Staff

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

Blizzard Staff
The Blizzard Staff is a rare, hard-to-obtain weapon dropped by the Ice Queen during the Frost Moon. Its unique attacking style and very high DPS capabilty makes it one of the best magic weapons in the game. As my colleague and friend 652Graystripe puts it, "The Razorpine had a reign of glory. It lasted five minutes. That was when we discovered the Blizzard Staff."

Though a possible exaggeration, the Blizzard Staff is stronger than the Razorpine in terms of DPS, with an interesting attack style shared by no other weapon in the game. Unlike most magic weapons, which shoot projectiles from the player's body, the Blizzard Staff rains its projectiles down from the sky. This is helpful in some cases, such as attacking from behind a wall, but can be very inhibiting underground, where a roof often shields enemies from rains of icicles. Take note that the Blizzard Staff's icicle barrage will start straight above the attacker and end on the mouse cursor, so it may not be completely vertical.

In PvP, the Blizzard Staff loses some of its viability, but very little. It is excellent for sweeping a wide area in search of a fleeing player. In addition, when a player is hiding behind a wall, it can smash them - or keep the attacker safe as they deep freeze enemies outside of a protective shield.

Countering the Blizzard Staff
Against the Blizzard Staff, remaining beneath a roof is a good defense, unless neither the attacker nor the attacked can see the roof. That allows the projectiles to go through. In addition, the roof should be wide, because the Blizzard Staff's barrage can be modified to a little over a 45˚ angle.