Desert Tiger Staff

The Desert Tiger Staff is a Hardmode, post-Plantera summon weapon. It summons a Desert Tiger that deals contact damage to enemies. Every six seconds, the tiger can curl up and perform a pounce attack at nearby enemies, dealing damage (1.5× the base damage), and passing through blocks to reach them. Additionally, it can deal critical hits with this attack. The Desert Tiger Staff can always be found inside the Dungeon's Desert Chest, which can only be unlocked by a Desert Key after Plantera has been defeated.



The Desert Tiger Staff is special in that if used more than once, multiple tigers do not spawn – instead, the spawned tiger becomes stronger ( +16/+17 damage; 40% of the base damage ) and faster for each additional summon. The tiger will appear as a baby if summoned 1 to 3 times, an adult if summoned 4 to 6 times, and an armored adult if summoned 7 or more times. Other minions may be used in addition to the Desert Tiger.

Note that the minion does deal critical hits when pouncing, though this attack is performed rather infrequently, in comparison.

Tips

 * The reforge cost of this weapon is disproportionately high compared to other summon weapons.
 * The tiger's contact damage is high enough that it kills any critters it comes in contact with. This may lead to a very surprising and unwanted Empress of Light summon, should the Prismatic Lacewing get pounced on by the tiger while it is engaging other enemies; this can be avoided by keeping a Guide To Critter Companionship in the inventory.
 * It is better suited for singular targets rather than crowds. This is because, unlike most other summon weapons, additional summons only strengthens the initial summon, rather than summon additional minions. As such, for events or farming, the player may wish to use a different summon weapon instead of, or alongside the Desert Tiger, such as the Pygmy Staff.

Trivia

 * The Stardust Dragon Staff and Abigail's Flower are the only other summon weapons that do not spawn a new minion but rather enhance the existing one.
 * The tooltip of this weapon reads "fights besides you" instead of "fights for you".
 * There is an unused projectile #832, whose sprite is a duplicate of projectile #818 (pounce).
 * The Desert Tiger bears resemblance to real-life s.