Guide:Weapon playthroughs

So you know the basic classes, which are Melee, Ranged, Magic, Summoner and Throwing. However, some of these classes have a specific type of weapon that stands out from others. This guide will cover info for these type of weapons.

Note: this guide is in development and will need support to be updated and accessible for others.

Sword
The sword is the most basic melee weapon of the game. They have the shortest range of all weapons of the game. There also are swords that can shoot projectiles, which increases their overall range, but they are rarer. There are swords,  of which are Hardmode-exclusive.

Pre-Boss
The first weapon you start out with is a Copper Shortsword, but you're going to want to replace this quickly due to its short range and pitiful damage. Upon spawning, it's recommended you immediately craft a Wooden Sword, then quickly go to the Desert and make a Cactus Sword. This is a large weapon with decent damage. You can also quickly venture into the Corruption or Crimson, and chop down some trees to get an Ebonwood or Shadewood Sword, respectively. These are equivalent in power to Iron and Lead Broadswords but can be obtained quite easily and provide a great advantage at the beginning of the game. At night, if you're lucky enough, you have a chance to get a Zombie Arm from a Zombie at night, which is equivalent in power to a Tungsten Broadsword but easier to obtain. If it's Christmas, you can go for the Candy Cane Sword, which is dropped from Presents and is quite powerful and has great range.

If a Traveling Merchant spawns, there's a chance he'll have the Katana, a fast and powerful weapon with great range that can be purchased for. Exploring into the Underground Ice Biome, it's likely you'll come across an Underground House that has the possibility of containing an Ice Blade. This is autoswing and shoots an icy bolt projectile which can easily increase your power when you're exploring.

Venturing farther from spawn, it's likely you'll encounter an Enchanted Sword Shrine – there is always one in a small world, three in medium worlds, and 4 in large worlds. You can spot them by a deep, one-block wide hole in the ground leading to a shrine farther underground. Upon breaking these shrines, you have a 2/3 chance for them to be fake and 1/3 for them to be real. If they are real, you have a 9/10 chance of it being an Enchanted Sword – a very powerful weapon that is autoswing, shoots a projectile and deals an impressive damage, and can carry you through most of pre-Hardmode. The Enchanted Sword is also an upgrade to the Ice Blade. If you're incredibly lucky, there's a 1/10 chance it'll be an Arkhalis. This deals damage, but is incredibly fast and easily stun-locks most enemies. Combined with its DPS, it can effortlessly take you through most biomes in pre-Hardmode. However, its short range will require that you have higher defense to shield you from the more hits you'll take.

Another option is to go to the Corruption or Crimson and smash two Shadow Orbs or Crimson Hearts, respectively. Though you can't obtain a sword from these, they provide the player with two great options for progression. If the player has 200 health, there's a chance a Goblin Army will spawn each morning after an orb or heart is smashed. After it's defeated, the player can access the Goblin Tinkerer, who gives access to mobility with the Rocket Boots (purchased for ) and reforging of accessories and weapons to gain extra critical strike chance, damage, and defense. Also, there's a 50% chance a Meteorite will crash, which gives access to Phaseblades, which deal a good amount of damage and are crafted with 15 Meteorite Bars (45 Meteorite) and 10 of any gem.

If you obtained some Gravitation Potions and are brave enough to battle the versatile Harpies that spawn, you can explore Floating Islands. The chests on them have a chance of containing the Starfury, a weapon which deals  damage on its own but also summons a star projectile that falls from the sky to the location of the mouse cursor, piercing enemies and dealing an insane 40 damage. Though it isn't autoswing, the Starfury makes it easier for melee players to battle both bosses and enemies.

After you've obtained an Arkhalis, Enchanted Sword, Ice Blade, or Katana, then you can either begin taking on the bosses or take another step. If you're into skipping stones, then you can obtain Molten Armor and the Fiery Greatsword before you defeat any bosses. First, craft a Reinforced Fishing Pole and some Enchanted Nightcrawlers, and then head to the beach. You'll want to fish up a Reaver Shark – it has the same pickaxe power as the Molten Pickaxe but can be obtained before any bosses are defeated. It will certainly take some time, and you'll likely fish up some Crates along the way (save these for Hardmode), but once you get it, you'll want to dig straight to the Underworld. If you have Obsidian Skin Potions, you'll want to dive straight into the lava and mine 195 Hellstone (alongside 65 Obsidian which you can obtain in the Caverns) and a Hellforge. Combine your Hellstone and Obsidian into a total of 65 Hellstone Bars, which can then be made into a Fiery Greatsword and Molten Armor. The former isn't autoswing but has a great range, inflicts damage, and even has a 50% chance of inflicting On Fire! to enemies. The Molten Armor provides defense and 17% extra melee damage, which is amazing for a tank loadout.

You'll probably want to have very high defense if you're playing with swords – or melee weapons in general – as their shorter range will mean you'll be taking for more hits from bosses and enemies. If you plan to do a sword run on, it's recommended you play on a Corruption world. The 10% less knockback means you will be taking more damage than any other class, which means that the Worm Scarf will give massive amounts of survivability. If playing on normal mode, either the Corruption or Crimson will work.

Once you've obtained either an Arkhalis, Enchanted Sword, Fiery Greatsword, Ice Blade, or Katana, then you'll be ready to take on the bosses.

Eye of Cthulhu
The Eye of Cthulhu fight can be difficult with a melee loadout, but swords with large range (like the Fiery Greatsword or Katana) and/or projectiles (like the Enchanted Sword or Ice Blade) can make the fight quite easy. Though it's optional, you may defeat the King Slime beforehand and obtain the Slime Hook – which has short range but shoots three different hooks – and the Slimy Saddle, whose Slime mount can greatly improve your mobility in the Eye of Cthulhu fight.

You should have the following gear:


 * Iron/Lead, Silver/Tungsten, or Gold/Platinum armor.
 * An Aglet and/or a Shackle, with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * A Shark Tooth Necklace to eliminate most of the boss's defense.
 * Spectre, Lightning, or Frostspark Boots with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * A Hook – preferably one of the gem hooks or a Slime Hook – to grapple with in tight situations.
 * ≥180 life.
 * Ironskin, Regeneration, and Swiftness Potions, which provide extra defense, health regeneration, and speed respectively.
 * Lesser Healing Potions. If you can find a Glowing Mushroom biome and craft Healing Potions (which heal 100 health instead of 50), that would make the fight even easier.

Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu
After fighting the Eye of Cthulhu, you'll receive 30 to 87 Demonite or Crimtane Ore (based on whether your world has the Corruption or the Crimson). 3 Demonite or Crimtane Ore can craft one Demonite or Crimtane Bar, respectively. 10 of these bars (30 ore in total) can craft a Light's Bane or Blood Butcherer (these can later be used to craft the ultimate pre-Hardmode sword, the Night's Edge). Though the Light's Bane is much faster than the Blood Butcherer, it also deals less damage and has a smaller range.

In, the Eye of Cthulhu will also drop a Shield of Cthulhu, which provides defense and gives the player a dashing ability. This dashing ability both greatly increases your mobility and also deals damage to the enemies you dash into.

You'll generally be using the same strategies as you used with the Eye of Cthulhu. Despite their different attack styles, the Eater of Worlds and Brain of Cthulhu generally require the same strategies. Fast swinging swords with either large range (like the Blood Butcherer, Fiery Greatsword, or Phasesaber) or projectiles (like the Enchanted Sword or Ice Blade) will help stunlock the Eater of Worlds and will easily kill the Brain of Cthulhu's minions, the Creepers.

You should have the following gear:


 * Silver/Tungsten or Gold/Platinum armor (Molten armor if you've obtained the Reaver Shark).
 * An Aglet and/or a Shackle, with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * A Shark Tooth Necklace to eliminate most of the bosses' defense.
 * Spectre, Lightning, or Frostspark Boots with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * A hook – preferably one of the gem hooks or a Slime Hook – to grapple with in tight situations.
 * ≥240 life.
 * Ironskin, Regeneration, and Swiftness potions, which provide extra defense, health regeneration, and speed respectively.
 * Lesser Healing Potions. If you can find a Glowing Mushroom biome and craft Healing Potions (which heal 100 health instead of 50), that would make the fight even easier.

Queen Bee and the Underground Jungle
After your fight with the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu, you'll have 50 to 100 Shadow Scales or Tissue Samples, respectively. This is almost always enough to craft the Shadow armor or Crimson armor, which are great armor sets if you don't already have Molten armor. In total, the armor sets will require 60 Demonite/Crimtane Bars (180 Demonite/Crimtane Ore) and 45 Shadow Scales/Tissue Samples. The Shadow armor provides defense alongside 21% increased melee speed and a set bonus of 15% increased movement speed. Meanwhile, Crimson armor provides 6% increased damage and a set bonus of greatly increase life regeneration. Both of these armor sets will greatly benefit your power as you progress.

If you are playing, then you'll receive a Worm Scarf from the Eater of Worlds, which reduces all damage taken by the player by 17%. This is one of the most beneficial accessories in the game, especially for a melee loadout which will take a lot of damage. If you're playing Expert mode on a Crimson world, however, you'll receive the Brain of Confusion, a mostly useless accessory that has a 60% chance of inflicting the Confused debuff on enemies which attack the player. The Brain of Confusion is easily replaced by other accessories and should therefore be mostly overlooked by melee players.

After you've fought the Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu, you'll want to venture into the Underground Jungle. You're going to have three major goals here. First, you'll want to obtain 12 Jungle Spores and 12 Stingers (the latter of which dropped from Hornets and Spiked Jungle Slimes). These can be combined to create a Blade of Grass, which deals a powerful damage and has a 25% chance of inflicting the Poisoned debuff on hit enemies. The Blade of Grass can also be used for the Queen Bee fight as it has both a big range and can inflict Poisoned on the Queen Bee (who, strangely, isn't immune to the debuff). More importantly, however, it is one of the four swords that's combined to craft the Night's Edge. Additionally, Jungle Shrines and Living Mahogany Trees will always have an Ivy Chest. These have a 22.5% chance of having the Anklet of the Wind and the Feral Claws. The former is an accessory which increases your movement speed by 10% and is also used to craft the Lightning Boots, a powerful movement accessory. Meanwhile, the latter increases your melee speed by 12% and will later be used to craft the Power Glove, and eventually the Fire Gauntlet in Hardmode.

Next, you'll likely want to fight the Queen Bee. Though she's generally an easy boss, the way she attacks makes her quite difficult for melee players. When she's doing her dashing attack, you'll want to avoid her as she can deal heavy damage. When she is hovering and spawning Bees, you'll want to be right under or next to her. Continue swinging your sword in order to both deal damage and kill the bees she spawns. You'll want a sword that autoswings so you aren't attacked by bees. The Queen Bee will often also hover and shoot stingers at the player. In this case, you'll want a short that has a large range (such as the Blade of Grass or Fiery Greatsword) or has a projectile attack (such as the Enchanted Sword). This fight will likely take a long time but it will provide you with a few valuable rewards.

You should have the following gear:


 * Shadow/Crimson or Molten armor.
 * A Blue, Green, Pink, or White Horseshoe Balloon (which provide double jump, increased jump height, and negate fall damage) with a critical strike chance or defense modifier.
 * A Bezoar for immunity from the Poisoned debuff which would otherwise be detrimental to your health.
 * A Shark Tooth Necklace to increase armor penetration by 5 and eliminate much of the Queen Bee's defense.
 * In, you should have a Shield of Cthulhu – which increases your mobility greatly and allows you to dash into enemies. If you're in a Corruption world and have defeated the Eater of Worlds, a Worm Scarf is absolutely necessary is it decreases the damage you take by 17%.
 * Spectre, Lightning, or Frostspark Boots (for increased mobility and temporary flight) with a critical strike chance or defense modifier.
 * A hook – preferably an Ivy Whip – to grapple with in tight situations.
 * ≥340 life.
 * Endurance, Ironskin, Rage/Wrath, Regeneration, and Swiftness potions, which provide increased armor penetration, defense, critical strike chance/damage, health regeneration, and speed, respectively.
 * Healing Potions. You should also use the honey, which is provided in great pools within the Bee Hive, to occasionally dip into during the fight. The Honey buff it provides greatly increases your life regeneration for 30 seconds after you've stepped out.

Skeletron and the Dungeon
After you've fought the Queen Bee a few times, your next goal will be to defeat Skeletron and access the incredibly bountiful Dungeon. The Queen Bee will have a chance of dropping the Bee Keeper, an autoswing sword that deals  damage, has a 90% chance of inflicting the Confused debuff on an enemy it hits, and will spawn friendly bees to fight for you. In, the Queen Bee will have dropped the Hive Pack. This is an accessory that increases the damage, knockback, piercing, quantity, and size of the friendly bees spawned from the Bee Keeper and other bee-related weapons. It can be very useful and can easily allow massive swarms of bees to collect, dealing high damage to enemies.

If you haven't already ventured to the Underworld and obtained Molten armor and the Fiery Greatsword, then it's recommended you do that to prepare yourself for the Dungeon. It's also recommended you break the Pots you find there, as these often contain very useful buff potions and Healing Potions.

Spear
Spears are relatively versatile weapons, which are used in a stabbing motion rather than swung like swords. Spears have piercing ability, but lack range at times, and although they look like it, they cannot hit enemies through blocks, with two exceptions; the Mushroom Spear’s and Chlorophyte Partisan's sprites cannot hit through blocks, but the spores/mushrooms they create can.

There are 16 different Spears, 5 of which are Pre-Hardmode, 11 are Hardmode. Note that one of them, the Tonbogiri, is -exclusive.

Pre-Boss
The first spear can be found in a Wooden chest, called "creatively" the Spear. Its high knockback and piercing ability makes it an excellent weapon early-game, especially for fighting off Zombies, but lacks a bit of damage.

It's best to do a Spear playthrough on a Crimson world, as it has The Rotted Fork, a powerful stone skipper if you're lucky enough. If you don't fancy going into the Crimson, the Trident, found in Water Chests is a fine alternative.

Eye of Cthulhu
Little is required for the Eye of Cthulhu fight except range, and that can pose a problem. It's better to dodge all of the Eye's attacks given the gear you have right now, than to tank it all.

You should have the following gear:
 * Iron/Lead, Silver/Tungsten, or Gold/Platinum armor.
 * An Aglet and/or a Shackle, with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * Hermes Boots (or its counterparts the Flurry or Sailfish Boots) with a critical strike or defense modifier.
 * A Hook – preferably one of the gem hooks – to grapple with in tight situations.
 * ≥180 life.
 * Ironskin, Regeneration, and Swiftness potions, which provide extra defense, health regeneration, and speed respectively.
 * Lesser Healing Potions. If you can find a Glowing Mushroom biome and craft Healing Potions (which heal 100 health instead of 50), that would make the fight even easier.

If your dodging skills are great, the Eye shouldn't be too much of a problem. What you lack in damage, you will make up in speed and crits. What you lack in health, you will make up for damage.

Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu
You'll likely fight the Brain of Cthulhu. If you do this on a corruption world, the Eater should be no problem, as long as you don't lack damage. The Brain is slightly harder to control, especially with the randomness of the Creepers. Try lining them up and hitting them all at once to maximize area damage.

You should have the following gear:


 * Silver armor -> Gold armor (and counterparts)
 * Hermes Boots/Flurry Boots
 * Shield of Cthuhlu (Expert mode)
 * Band of Regeneration
 * >= 240 life, you'll be taking a lot of hits, regardless of dodging.
 * Ironskin, Regeneration, Speed potions.
 * Lesser Healing Potions -> Healing Potions

Skeletron
You MUST be very confident in your dodging skills for this fight, as Skeletron's hands will give you a hard time. The spinning head, especially in Expert mode, is very dangerous without good armor. Stick with the Rotted Fork (or whatever spear you have at the time). Alternatively, you can fish in the ocean and get a chance to receive a Swordfish, a quicker spear that, although lacks range, it makes up for DPS.

You should have the following gear:


 * Shadow/Crimson armor
 * Hermes/Flurry Boots -> Spectre Boots -> Lightning Boots
 * Band of Regeneration
 * Shield of Cthulhu/Worm Scarf (Expert)
 * Cloud in a bottle (and variants)
 * >= 320 life
 * Healing potions
 * Ironskin, Regeneration, Endurance, Speed potions

Wall of Flesh
What you want in the Dungeon is the Shadow Key and the Cobalt Shield. Dig your way to hell, and find yourself a Shadow chest. What you're looking for is a Dark Lance, a powerful Pre-Hardmode spear.

Molten armor can prove to be very helpful, with the damage increase and defense boost. The Wof, however can still pack a punch, so be careful.

For more elaborate strategies on defeating the Wall of Flesh, see Guide:Wall of Flesh strategies

Pre Mechanical Bosses/Early Hardmode
Welcome to Hardmode. Getting better weapons is now easier because you can FINALLY craft the ore spears. When you begin Hardmode, you'll probably spend most of your time on mining the Hardmode ores, so you can get the spears and armor.

Consider getting Titanium armor, for its shadow dodge ability is perfect for withstanding hits. The Titanium Trident is a very powerful spear that can be easily obtained. It's enormous and its knockback is ferocious, making it a very powerful weapon to have. If you don't have Titanium, Frost armor with an Adamantite Glaive will work as well.

Mechanical Bosses
Destroyer

The fight is immensely easier with a spear, as you can pierce many segments at a time, resulting in a kill in less than 2 mins, provided you setup correctly.

Twins

Get in the air and close to the Twins with a Gravitation potion or Wings. It helps to dodge the attacks in the air so that you have more mobility.

Skeletron Prime

Center yourself with Prime and kill his limbs only if they are a nuisance. Time is key as well as damage.

It is noted that you can create a Gungnir using Hallowed Bars, which can be used with devastating effect. Also, you can purchase the more powerful Mushroom Spear from the Truffle after a Mechanical Boss is defeated.

Plantera
If you couldn't afford a Mushroom Spear, you have two options: 1, make a money farm and get the money required, or 2, mine chlorophyte and make a Chlorophyte Partisan. Fishing in lava can give you an Obsidian Swordfish, a powerful spear like the Swordfish, but stronger.

You can get a Tonbogiri, a very powerful spear worthy late game.

Get Chlorophyte -> Turtle armor to withstand Plantera's attacks. Make sure you make a clear area to fight in, so you have space to move and dodge around.

Frost Moon
The Frost Moon holds the North Pole, a very useful and powerful weapon to use Post-Golem. It is dropped by the Ice Queen.

Flails
There are currently 13 different types of Flails, 6 of which are Pre-Hardmode, 7 of which are Hardmode. Flails are exceptional, excellent weapons that are thrown, piercing and high-damaging. There are two types of Flails; thrown and launched. Thrown Flails are affected by gravity, but can potentially last forever. What they lack in control, they make up for their piercing ability. Launched Flails aren't affected by gravity, but retract when the flail hits an enemy, or it reaches its maximum range. What they lack in range, they make up for autofire, with the Chain Knife being an exception.

Pre-boss
Much like Spears and Yoyos, it is recommended to get some decent armor before you attempt to fight bosses.

The first Flail you'll need to acquire is the Chain Knife, a Launched Flail that can be obtained by killing Cave Bats. If you don't want to use a weapon other than a flail, a simple lava farm will do. The Chain Knife will help greatly, as it is thrown with great accuracy, as well as doing decent damage.

Eye of Cthulhu
Another suggestion is to break two Shadow Orbs in a Corruption world to possibly get a Ball O' Hurt, an excellent weapon that will help all the way to the Dungeon.
 * Breaking Shadow Orbs will also have a chance to send a Meteor crashing down, giving the player the opportunity to mine it out for Meteor armor.

Fighting the Eye of Cthulhu is long if you have a Chain Knife, due to its lack of damage, however, you can get in from virtually all angles, including throwing the knife behind you as you run. As for this, Hermes Boots are a recommended choice, especially for expert mode.

Post-Eye of Cthulhu
After beating the Eye of Cthulhu, you have 2 options:

1) Fight the world's evil boss (Brain/Eater) The Eater can be easily dealt with by making 2-3 long platforms and using the Ball O' Hurt. Easily dispatch of the segments by holding the mouse button and allowing the flail head to stay out, dealing enough damage to kill the boss.

Yoyo
There are 20 different types of Yoyos in the game, 8 of which are from Pre-hardmode, 12 in Hardmode. As their name suggests, Yoyos are "thrown" melee weapons that deal damage a small distance away from the player. Unlike Beam swords, their range is limited.

Pre-Boss
Few yoyos are quite useful before any boss has been defeated, but it is possible to go into the Underground Jungle and get enough materials to craft the Amazon, a powerful yoyo that can be crafted with a few jungle items easily found.

If going into the jungle is impossible for you, or if you aren't brave enough, it's best if you stick to a Wooden Yoyo, find heart crystals to increase life, and mine for ore to make armor.

Eye of Cthulhu
If you have the Amazon, this fight should be no problem, although you should mind your armor and health.

However, if you stuck to the wooden yoyo, keep in mind that it doesn't do much damage, so the fight could be a bit tedious.

You should have the following gear:

If using wooden yoyo
 * Iron armor -> Silver armor -> Gold armor (and counterparts)
 * Shackle, preferably with damage or defense modifiers.
 * Aglet -> Hermes Boots/Flurry Boots, mobility is important.
 * Other accessories optional, but can prove nice for the fight.
 * Lesser Healing Potions, save higher tiers for beefier bosses.
 * Swiftness and Ironskin potions, mobility and defense are important for a long fight.
 * >=140 life. Depends on dodging skills.

For a quicker battle, use damage-increasing modifiers for accessories.

If using Amazon


 * Same types of armor and accessories above, though you'd probably tough out the fight easily with lower-tier armor.
 * Lesser Healing Potions, although these could prove unnecessary combined with great mobility.
 * ≥140 life

Accessories are best reforged to speed or defense modifiers, these prove to give a safer fight.

If you can get your hands on other potions, i.e. regeneration, these can prove useful, but are best saved for another fight.

While mining, it is possible to get a Rally, a better yoyo than the wooden yoyo, but still relatively weak.

Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthuhlu
If you just defeated the Eye with the Wooden Yoyo, it's time to switch that with something more powerful. In a Corruption world, take your Demonite Ore and then craft the Malaise using Bars, or in a Crimson world, use your Crimtane Ore and then make an Artery using the Bars. These are both nice upgrades to get before fighting the Eater of Worlds or the Brain of Cthulhu.

If you defeated the Eye of Cthulhu with the Amazon, you can continue on and defeat the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu, but get some better armor and accessories to ensure protection against these bosses. Alternatively, the Traveling Merchant can sell the Code 1, a slightly better yoyo than the Amazon.

You should have the following gear:


 * Silver armor -> Gold armor (and counterparts)
 * Hermes Boots/Flurry Boots
 * Band of regeneration
 * Shield of Cthulhu (If you're doing an Expert Mode playthrough)
 * Anklet of the wind (Jungle)/Aglet (with good modifier)
 * Lesser Healing Potions -> healing potions, only if you're bad at these bosses
 * >=200 life. If not careful, the Eow/Boc can actually dish out a lot of damage if one's not careful.
 * Ironskin, Speed, Regeneration potions. If you've gone fishing, endurance potions make the fight easier.

Eater of Worlds

Without a piercing weapon, the Eow is not as efficient to kill, so focus on damaging segments when the Eow is arching. When head areas are low, hack them off with your Yoyo.

An arena is advisable, but unnecessary, as long as you can withstand the Eow's hits. Campfires can help and always remember, especially in Expert mode, that the head does the most damage of all the worm's segments.

Brain of Cthuhlu

Your Yoyo should make killing Creepers easy, as the Yoyo gets knocked around, damaging more Creepers at a time. As the Brain gets into second form, focus on predicting the Brain's movements, as a hit from the Brain can lead you into the hungry mouths of Blood Crawlers.

The central cavern of the chasm makes a pretty good arena, once make some improvements. Just wall off the tunnels, install some platforms, and place conveniences like a campfire and bed. An arena of some sort is a good idea, as the Creepers are easier to hit as long as you can maintain their height, and the Brain is easier to dodge.

Skeletron
At this point, you may wish to boost your Yoyo with a couple of accessories: White String, (which can be crafted at a loom with cobwebs), will increase your range, and Counterweights double your attack. A variety of counterweights can be bought from the Skeleton Merchant and/or Traveling Merchant. Later (in Hardmode), the Skeleton merchant will sell you the Yoyo Glove, and you can combine the three items into a Yoyo Bag.

If you haven't already, the Amazon is a crucial upgrade, proving necessary to destroy Skeletron with.

After defeating the Eow/Boc, you should make Shadow/Crimtane armor for their melee benefits. These armor will prove lifesaving in later situations.

Before you fight Skeletron, it's best to build an arena to fight him with ease, especially in his spinning attack. Campfires are good for regeneration, and multiple layers of platforms should help with dodging the hands.

It is very helpful to use a Grappling Hook, as they can put you up to full speed easily with Hermes Boots equipped.

You should have the following gear:
 * Shadow/Crimtane armor
 * Hermes Boots/Flurry Boots -> Spectre Boots -> Lightning Boots, if you can get your hands on them.
 * Tiger Climbing Gear, optional but can be effective to scale up walls
 * At least one component of the Yoyo Bag
 * Shield of Cthulhu & Worm Scarf (Expert mode corruption), this will be great for absorbing the damage expert Skeletron can do.
 * Band of Regeneration
 * Any type of Cloud in a bottle. Great for dodging.
 * 360-400 life
 * Healing potions, conserve them.
 * Ironskin, Speed, Endurance, Regeneration, Heartreach potions, and if possible, Rage/Wrath potions

Two main factors: damage and mobility. Defense is only a last resort, especially if your dodging skills are great, because even at this stage, Skeletron is relatively powerful, especially in Expert Mode.

Wall of Flesh
Every meleer knows that the Wof is annoying to fight, and the Yoyo is no exception. If you haven't already, go and loot the dungeon, so you can get two crucial items; a Cobalt Shield, and a Valor, a nice yoyo to have with you.

The dungeon can also place you closer to the underworld, so mine down if you haven't made a hellevator. If you can, a Cascade could help nicely, as it does lots of damage, as well as giving the On Fire! debuff.

Molten armor is optional, but can be useful in terms of damage. For speed, choose Shadow armor (Corruption only), and for ease of regenerating life, Crimtane armor (Crimson only). Anything under this gear is practically suicide for you.

You should have the following gear:


 * Any armor listed above
 * Spectre Boots -> Lightning Boots
 * Cobalt Shield -> Obsidian Shield
 * Shield of Cthuhlu/Worm Scarf (Expert Mode)
 * Lava Charm -> Lava waders, only if you don't make a bridge, or you don't use proper potions
 * Healing Potions
 * At least 380 life
 * Swiftness, Ironskin, Endurance, Regeneration, Obsidian Skin, Water Walking potion. If you can get your hands on them, Rage/Wrath and Inferno potions greatly help.

When you fight, focus on hitting the eyes for a quicker fight. It's worth taking the damage than risk being licked.

Watch your potions when you can, the worst scenario is when you're walking on lava and your Water Walking buff runs out.

Pre-Mechanical/Early Hardmode
Welcome to Hardmode! Things are going to get a lot harder from now on. Enemies will get tougher, so you're going to need better gear to ward off monsters.

A good start would be to farm more monsters in the underworld, so you can get a Hel-Fire, a great yoyo to get. An alternative is the Amarok, a similar yoyo found in the ice biome. While you're in the ice biome, it's nice to get an ice feather so you can craft Frost Wings, which will help greatly with movement.

Destroy at least three altars, then use the ore to make Pickaxes/Drills, and use only ores better than Cobalt/Palladium for armor. Adamantite for stat buffs, Titanium for survivability, Orichalcum for offense, and Mythril as a minimum.

Go find the Skeleton Merchant to buy your Yoyo Glove and make a Yoyo Bag. If you don't like grinding for Yoyos, he can sell you a couple of decent ones as well, namely Format C and Gradient. If you want something more damaging, collect a few Crystal Shards from the Hallow, salvage the dinky Wooden Yoyo you put away before, and craft a Chik, a nice damaging yoyo. However, it is still recommended you get a Hel-Fire or an Amarok, as they both inflict status effects, as well as do more damage.

Mechanical Bosses
In preparation of destroying some Mechanical bosses, get some good armor, good mobility and a Yoyo Bag to take down these bosses quicker. Also, use good potions to help yourself in these battles.

Destroyer

Same strategy for defeating the Eow, but since the whole destroyer shares one bar of health, hit anywhere you please. A higher arena will help, but not so high you can't reach the Destroyer itself.

Probes could serve a problem without a Yoyo Bag. One Yoyo isn't good enough to take down several probes, and the lasers don't help, either.

Twins

Treat them like two REALLY powerful Eyes of Cthulhu, one that shoots lasers (keep distance) and one that spits cursed fire (dodge well). The Twins are best fought in a sky battle, so if you don't have wings, use a Gravitation potion.

Spazmatism's second form's "flamethrower" can be a big problem, so only attack him when he's ramming, or position your Yoyo so that it's over or under the Eye's fire (requires practice without burning to a crisp).

Skeletron Prime

Skeleton Prime is relatively hard without range, and the Yoyo is no exception. Always stay center to Prime, so you can hit his head more than his limbs. If the limbs become a nuisance, remove them, but at the cost of time.

It is worth noting that after a Mechanical Boss has been defeated, the powerful Yelets becomes available in the Jungle, as well as the infinite-flying Code 2, sold by the Traveling Merchant. Also, after defeating one Mechanical Boss, life fruits can appear, which can increase total life to 500.

Plantera
Before you fight Plantera, obtaining a Yelets or Code 2 is really helpful, and if you're in Expert mode, Red's Throw and Valkyrie Yoyo are sweet deals as well. Use Hallowed armor as a BARE MINIMUM. Without good dodging skills, you will be quickly torn to shreds by Plantera. Chlorophyte or Turtle armor is ideal.

When fighting Plantera, make a large arena with honey, heart lanterns and campfires. This way, it's easier to dodge Plantera's attacks, and you have the best health regeneration.

Golem
After defeating Plantera, you now have access to two better Yoyos; the Kraken, found in the Dungeon, and The Eye of Cthulhu, dropped in a Solar Eclipse by Mothron. The Eye of Cthulhu is the more damaging Yoyo, doing 115 base damage, however the Kraken has more knockback. The Pumpkin/Frost Moon events are irrelevant in this playthrough, because it drops nothing the player can benefit from, other than coins and familiars.

When defeating the Golem, you can go close, but only when he's not jumping. Always maintain good mobility, as the Golem's attacks are unpredictable and quick. In his first stage, use regeneration and wrath/rage potions to tank down the Golem fast.

As soon as the Golem is in its second form, kick in the defensive buffs (ironskin, endurance, lifeforce) as the Golem can now attack from two points. You'll likely soak up many hits, so these potions prove beneficial.

Moon Lord/Endgame
After Golem is defeated, the Beetle Armor set will prove useful to fight the Moon Lord with. Before you do, reforge all your accessories and Yoyos to damage or crit modifiers, as they will make quick work of the Moon Lord. Do not attempt Martian Madness, because it's a time waster, unless you want to get the UFO mount.

After activating Lunar Events, it's crucial that you reserve your solar fragments to create Solar Flare Armor, with the Lunar Hook and Super Healing Potions being exceptions.

For more elaborate strategies on defeating the Moon Lord, see Guide:Moon Lord strategies.

Once you obtain the Terrarian from the Moon Lord, you should rake up your Luminite (Defeat Moon Lord as many times as needed) and craft Solar Flare Armor.

Bows
Bows are the earliest type of ranged weapon that the player can obtain. It's the hardest of the four, due to it's projectile travelling slowly, requiring players to aim.

Pre-Bosses
Wooden bow is the first type of bow one may acquire, and a pretty solid option both for surface and underground exploration. Crafting wooden arrows is cheap, and it is recommended to upgrade at least few hundreds of wooden arrows into flaming ones as soon as you have collected enough gel to create a couple stacks of torches. Flaming arrows substantially increase your damage output, and are better saved for EOC and Skeletron. Upgrade to silver->gold bow as a first priority, as it increases both damage and firing rate. Playing ranged doesn't require as much armor compared to melee, so you can delay armor upgrade, sticking to cactus or low-tier ore equipment set for quite a bit longer. Prerequisites for killing the EOC are quite the same for every class setup, with silver armor and 140 hp being a bare minimum. Don't forget to switch to flaming arrows, by adjusting order in your ammo tray(Ammo in top cell is used first, in the last cell - last, and ammo tray ammunition is always used beforehand ammunition from the main inventory). Take into consideration that pre-hardmode bows with basic arrows tend to arc very fast, thus forcing you to adjust your aim accordingly.

Demon and Tendon bows, obtainable right as you kill EOC are a substantial upgrade to ore bows. Note that crimson variant has slower fire rate, but provides more damage per shot, making it a better option vs armored opponents.

Before geting to BOC/EOW fight, make sure to collect a couple dozens of stars - they can be used to craft Jester's arrows, which is one of the two types of piercing arrows obtainable pre-hardmode. Using Jester's arrows makes fighting both these bosses considerably easier. Note, however, that these arrows, while having almost no arc, disappear into thin air after a fixed amount of time after being shot, so you can neither collect them afterwards, nor consistently hit the enemy off-screen.

Pre-WOF
Bee's Knees is an incredible bow, which is dropped from the Queen Bee, and it will increase your output significantly, while providing more utility due to homing properties of bees and the ability to save up on rare ammo, as Knees converts your arrows into the bees anyways, so you are gonna to be fine by using wooden ones. This bow allows you to shred Skeletron and Queen Bee itself into pieces, as well as being an OK option for WOF.

Hellwing Bow found in Shadow Chests provides very high DPS due to incredible fire rate, and is a great option for WOF but inaccuracy makes it not quite great for the routine tasks.

Molten Fury is an excellent bow, which converts wooden arrows into flaming ones, but allows to use any other kind of arrows retaining their original properties. It also has the highest base damage amongst all the pre-hardmode bows.

Crimtane and demonite bows are still very affordable and sufficient for taking out WOF. Gold/Platinum bows are still the easiest to obtain, but the worst pre-wof options for a bow build. It is definitely an option nonetheless, especially as you can stack up any amount of Unholy Arrows(second pre-hardmode piercing arrows, behaving like the regular arrows but with piercing and higher damage) from the arms dealer.

Once you get to the Underworld, Hellfire arrows become available, being one of the best bow ammunition, proving to be very useful all the way through the game's content. Hellfire arrow's explosion doesn't hurt the player and provides a lot of knockback.

There are no specific bow-related accessories, gear or armor in pre-hardmode, however Necro set is a go-to option for any pre-hardmode ranger. Crimtane, Shadow and Molten Armor may prove to be useful with higher defensive stats, but they won't boost you dps as much.

Guns
Guns are another type of ranged weapon, which becomes available by smashing the first Shadow Orb or Crimson Heart. It's the easiest of the four, due to projectiles being very fast, making aiming easier.

Rockets
Rockets are a Hardmode subclass of Ranged, which becomes available by defeating Plantera. It's the most damaging ranged subclass, but also the most risky and expensive one.

Dart
Darts are a minor type of ranged weapon consisting of the pre-hardmode Blowpipe and Blowgun and the hardmode Dart Pistol and Dart Rifle.

Magic
The mage class is a mana-consuming class, and requires you to have maximum mana at some point in the game for maximum DPS. You use mana-consuming weapons, and accessories are important to keep mana high.

Spell Tome
Spell tomes are weapons that resemble books. The earliest accessible one is the Water Bolt Via Dungeon searching. Typically post-Skeletron, but if you're lucky, you can find it on the top of your dungeon. But generally not the most common of the mage weapons.

Staffs
Staffs are generally a little more common than the Spell Tomes, but its pretty evened out in rarity. The earliest obtainable staff is the Amethyst Staff.

Magic Guns
These are generally gun shaped, and still do consume mana and not ammo/bullets. The earliest accessible one is the Space Gun.

Pre-Boss
You will want to have Gold/Platinum armor, and the Topaz or Amethyst Staffs. If accessible at that given time the Water Bolt is also recommended. If you break a Crimson Heart or Shadow Orb, there is a chance a meteorite will hit. This allows you to access the Space Gun, before any boss fight. If possible, obtain a full set of Meteor armor and use the Space Gun, and it will never consume Mana. Here's a quick summary of what you need:


 * Gold/Platinum/Meteor armors
 * Topaz/Amethyst Staves
 * Water Bolt (if accessible)
 * Space Gun (if desired)
 * Lesser Mana Potions
 * Nature's Gift (or even Mana Flower, if accessible)

Pre-EoC
So you wanna get a Dryad and fight the Eye of Cthulhu, huh? Well, fear not! Help is near. The Meteor Armor and Space Gun are good to keep if you got them, if you didn't I recommend getting them soon. Make an arena for EoC, as it's gonna be a rough fight. Switch out your Topaz or Amethyst Staff for a Emerald Staff. Finding a Water Bolt is worth making a new world for, but for maximum DPS you need to make a specific type of arena. Get the band of Starpower via Shadow Orbs, and craft the Mana Flower (if you haven't already). Try to get Meteor armor, but you may keep Gold or Platinum armor at this point.


 * Gold/Platinum/Meteor armors
 * Emerald Staff
 * Space Gun
 * Water Bolt (if accessible)
 * Lesser Mana Potions
 * Band of Starpower
 * Mana Flower

Pre-EoW or Brain of Cthulhu
At this point it is advised to get a Vilethorn. Try to get the Jungle Armor set. You should have close to max mana at this point if you decided to make some Mana Stars. Other than that keep all of your stuff that you had before, only switch your Emerald Staff for a Ruby Staff.

Thrower
The thrower is a tough class to play as. It is similar to the ranged, although you use throwing weapons. Accessories are most important in the run!

Pre-boss
Upon joining a new world, you need to get some weapons. Your options are to either obtain snowballs, which you can get from snow blocks, or you can open chests/pots to get shurikens and throwing knives. Building houses for NPCs are the most important thing in this run, as you buy your weapons from them. Fishing is your friend in this run, as the Extractinator is found in wooden crates, and frost daggerfish are found in snow biomes this way.

Armor
So you got the Extractinator! Time to do one of the most tedious mining quests possible. Hopefully you got a Reaver Shark while fishing, because you need one (or an evil ore pick) to mine desert fossils. You need 75 sturdy fossils, and they have a 14% drop from desert fossils in the Extractinator. It's worth it though, because it's the best Thrower armor you can get. At all.

King Slime
After getting armor, you're going to need a lot of gel for sticky grenades. Where to look..... The giant slime is still an easy fight, and if you have a big enough stack of weapons, you should be fine.

Queen Bee
The boss progression is much different as a thrower. As with King Slime, the fight is easy when you're prepared. Poisoned Knives made from Throwing Knives and the powder of the world's evil should be a good weapon. Bee Wax is good for making Beenades. Speaking of bees, if you play in Expert, then it drops the Hive Pack. An extra 7.5% damage from bees is nothing to cough at.

Eye Of Cthulhu
Well, it's time to fight the usual bosses now. Fight as you would with a bow. On Expert mode, it gives the Shield of Cthulhu, the dash of which is useful for all classes.

Eater Of Worlds
Sticky Grenades. Kaboom. Easiest fight in the game. On Expert mode, however, explosives do a lot less damage against it. Other piercing weapons like Spiky Balls or Molotov Cocktails should be used.

Brain Of Cthulhu
Might be an idea to pull out those Daggerfish now, as the 3x pierce they grant is good against the Creepers.

Goblin Invasion
Worth mentioning because of 2 useful items. Spiked balls, and the Tinkerer's workshop from the Goblin Tinkerer.

Blood Moon
The Shark Tooth Necklace is dropped by Blood Moon foes, so hopefully you can rely on your strength for this.

Skeletron
Skeletron's hands have high defense, so you need something to counteract that. (Of course, you could use bombs instead) Aiming may be tough in this fight. To compensate, high-velocity weapons such as the Bone Javelin are recommended. If you manage to pull the fight off in Expert, congrats! You got the Bone Glove.

Endgame
You've now got one challenge left: The Wall of Flesh, the last pre-hardmode boss. First off, you're going to need good accessories. For this battle you're gonna want Frostspark Boots, Obsidian Shield, Shark Tooth Necklace, variants of the Cloud in a Balloon, and if playing Expert Mode, Shield of Cthulhu or Worm Scarf. The Wall of Flesh is a difficult fight, as you'd expect. More than ever, an arena is required. Start the fight at the world's edge, and throw spiky balls for when it moves over them. Keep throwing Beenades, javelins, or bones from the glove at the eyes until it's dead.

Hardmode
Due to the complete lack of Hardmode gear for throwers, it is almost impossible to beat the rest of the game as the class, so you should switch to another one at this point. However, one could still use melee class throwing-type weapons, such Boomerangs, Shadowflame Knife and the Daybreak.

Minions
Summoner Playthroughs are very difficult, especially in the beginning, due to an extreme lack of weapons. Keep in mind that summoners can still use many weapons from other classes, but a "true" summoner playthrough is possible, but nearly impossible.

The most sensible way to go about Pre-Hardmode is to first go fishing in the Ocean for the Reaver Shark and go to the Underworld to mine some Hellstone for the Imp Staff. Then it's straight to the Queen Bee.

Queen Bee
For this fight, you are going to need a huge arena. Dodging the Queen Bee's attacks is necessary for survival. While fishing for the Reaver Shark, you probably got a lot of metals. Silver/Tungsten armor is a minimum. If you found some gems going to the hive or stumbled upon a Goblin Army, than some sort of hook is a good idea. Some good accesories to have: Frog Leg, Band of Regeneration, Hermes/Spectre/Lightning Boots, Panic Necklace, Cloud in a Bottle, Blizzard in a Bottle, Tsunami in a Bottle, Sandstorm in a Bottle, and Flying Carpet. As long as you avoid Queen Bee's attacks, you'll be fine. After the fight, immediately craft Bee armor.

Wall of Flesh
Not much is different between the Queen Bee and Wall of Flesh fights. If you can get the Witch Doctor to spawn in, you can buy the Bewitching Table and use a Summoning Potion to achieve the maximum amount of Pre-Hardmode minions, 5. A large number of buffs is recommended for this fight, because doing it with 5 Imps is very tricky. Once in Hardmode, locate a Spider Nest and get Spider Armor and the Queen Spider Staff. You can go up to a Floating Island and farm Wyverns for Wings. The Twins are the first Mechanical Boss you should fight.

The Twins
Obtain the Frost Wings, then create platforms 25-50 blocks apart, have a Mana summoner and Heart Lantern. Afterwards, you can craft the Optic Staff and take on the other two Mechanical Bosses.

The Destroyer
Use the Optic Staff and create a sky platform about 150 blocks into the air, too high for the boss to reach you. You should have a Heart Generator, Bewitching Table and Heart Lantern. Re-summon your minions for control of the probes. The destroyer fight may take a long time. It is also optional to do the Old One's Army or get the Ballista Cane/Lightning Aura Cane if you did The Twins before this boss.

Plantera
For Plantera, you can either use the Optic Staff, Spider Staff, or the Pirate Staff. Nothing will ever change in fighting bosses, so no further explanation is necessary.

Golem
Golem can easily be killed with any Hardmode summon, but after he dies, you can get the very useful Xeno Staff. At this point, get Tiki Armor, Papyrus Scarab, Cosmic Car Key, Necromantic Scroll, and Pygmy Necklace, and get ready for the Lunar Events.

Lunar Events
The Lunatic Cultist is easy. Just run away from him. The Lunar Events are a matter of dodging attacks. Do Stardust first so you can get the Stardust Dragon Staff. As long as you can dodge the Moon Lord's attacks, you can tear through him in seconds.