Staff of the Frost Hydra



The Staff of the Frost Hydra is a Hardmode post-Plantera magic weapon that summons a unique stationary creature (the "Frost Hydra") for one minute at the cost of 20 mana. Once summoned, the Frost Hydra fires a magic ice ball when enemies are within its roughly 60-tile range, acting as a stationary turret. It will automatically angle its head up and down, and turn left and right, to target enemies in any direction. The Staff of the Frost Hydra is always found in the Frozen Chest within the Dungeon, which must be unlocked with its corresponding Frozen Key.

The summoned Frost Hydra creature inflicts Minion damage, so only Minion bonuses apply to it, rather than magic weapon bonuses; though magic bonuses will affect the Staff's initial summoning (eg. decreased Mana use). The summoned Hydra is different from traditional Minions in that it does not count toward the maximum Minion count, does not move, and only lasts for one minute.

The Frost Hydra can be summoned anywhere on the visible screen, even if blocks completely separate the player from the point clicked. It does however require solid blocks to land on, and cannot be cast on wood platforms; it will instead appear on the first solid block encountered below the point clicked, even if that point is far below the visible screen.

Once cast, the player can switch to another weapon and the Hydra will remain. Summoning a second Hydra will cause the first to disappear, even if the player has Minion bonuses, as the Frost Hydra does not count toward the Minion cap.

The Frost Hydra creature measures approximately 4 tiles wide by 3 high, is semi-transparent, and provides a large burst of light on its initial appearance. Its projectile also produces moderate light.

The best Modifier for this weapon is Ruthless. The Mythical modifier presents a wider array of stat bonuses, but most of these apply to the initial summoning, and not to the resulting Frost Hydra. Additionally, minions cannot critically hit.

When first summoned, the Hydra will move any overlapping enemies out of the way with knockback, but will not do damage until a few moments have passed.

Tips

 * The high damage, versatile remote placement capability, and lighting effect makes this Staff a valuable auxiliary weapon.
 * The remote capabilities of the Frost Hydra make it useful for battles and invasions, since it can be placed and left alone to slay enemies while the player does other things, such as making purchases, hiding, or fighting enemies in a different location.
 * The Frost Hydra will fall when blocks below it are removed, making it useful for guarding the player while digging vertical tunnels.

Trivia

 * The Stationary Nature of the Hydra this staff summons is likely a reference to the Diablo 3 Wizard skill rune effect by the same name, which costs 20 mana and summons stationary Hydra that will attack nearby enemies for cold damage.