In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list (2024)

Musket Ball/Endless Musket Pouch
+costs nothing to use
-no distinguishing traits

You might find yourself using the Endless Musket Pouch for practical reasons; it's an infinite ammo source, so it's the best ammunition to use for exploration if you want to save the more valuable stuff for important fights. Note that several guns gain the High Velocity piercing effect when using the Endless Musket Pouch, including the Uzi which is available before you normally have access to those bullets.

Silver Bullet
+no farming required
+absolutely destroys Werewolves
-no distinguishing traits outside of that

These earlygame bullets have the extremely funny effect of dealing triple damage to Werewolves, which might be more relevant if Werewolves were a common enemy and not restricted to a single moon phase.

Tungsten Bullet
+no farming required

-no distinguishing traits

Basically, Musket Balls with 2 more base damage. Unlike Silver Bullets, they retain the High Velocity effect when used with the Uzi, giving it marginally higher DPS than the Endless Musket Pouch while retaining its piercing properties.

Meteor Shot
+pierces or ricochets once
-mostly nonrenewable

A piercing bullet you can use early on, though you are generally encouraged to use arrows rather than bullets in situations that require crowd control. Still, if you're a gunslinger you probably found this extremely useful against the Wall of Flesh, and it'll be pretty useful for quite some time afterwards.

Assuming that the average meteorite yields 300 pieces of ore, a fully-mined meteorite can be converted into 7000 Meteor Shot, which is enough to feed an Unreal Uzi (the least ammo-efficient gun) for more than 15 minutes. So use them carefully, but don't be too stingy.

Exploding Bullet
+high knockback
+damages multiple enemies
+no farming required
+good velocity

The absolute best anti-Destroyer bullet, with some utility outside of that when facing dense crowds too large for Meteor Shot to handle. They don't require an upgraded Anvil to craft, can be made in bulk, and drastically increase the viability of several early hardmode guns.

Party Bullet
+decent knockback
+no farming required
+good velocity

-no distinguishing traits
-messy

The best generic bullet you can make in early Hardmode without farming materials, though that isn’t much of a selling point considering how easy it is to farm for better ammo such as Crystal Bullets.

Golden Bullet
+increased profit when used on bosses/minibosses
+no farming required
+good velocity

-no distinguishing traits

The best way to use them is for repeated Eye of Cthulhu and Queen Bee kills, and they won't even work for that in Expert Mode since bosses drop treasure bags instead. They're not for use against things that actually threaten you, except maybe for dealing the final blow to Pirate Captains.

(mythril or orichalcum anvil)

Crystal Bullet
+highest potential DPS
+large number of hits

The best bossing bullet if you don't think accuracy is going to be an issue. They are more likely to deal extra damage when fired against targets that are moving towards you. Crystal Bullets have a great synergy with Ichor and easily shred enemies with low defenses.

Cursed Bullet
+high damage
+good velocity

-no distinguishing traits

Dealing a fixed 24 DPS to any target stuck by a Cursed Bullet doesn't seem too significant at first, but when there are loads of enemies on the screen all burning at once, that can add up to some significant total damage. Of course the passive burning damage does nothing to control their movements, so be careful not to get overwhelmed.

Ichor Bullet
+high damage
+inflicts a powerful debuff
+good velocity

Generally superior to the Cursed Bullet if you're packing any sort of competent offense. The Ichor debuff greatly enhances DPS, so it is generally the strongest bullet if you don't have another way to inflict Ichor. But you usually do have another way, so it's hard to recommend Ichor Bullets when you can deal much more damage by using a whip, dart, or Golden Shower to inflict the debuff and using Crystal Bullets instead.

(one mechanical boss)

High Velocity Bullet
+incredibly high velocity
+pierces twice

+no farming required

The synergy between the Endless Musket Pouch and Uzi/Venus Magnum/Sniper Rifle is good enough that you generally won't find it necessary to craft an actual High Velocity Bullet if you own one of those guns. If you don't own them, you can go ahead and craft these bullets for cheap, which mainly benefits the Megashark (the most accurate automatic gun in this tier). Chain Gun enjoys them, too.

(all mechanical bosses)

Chlorophyte Bullet
+perfectly accurate
+uses a highly contested resource

Arguably the best bullet in the game. There are many guns that depend on Chlorophyte Bullets in order to be viable, and every gun is greatly improved when using them. Highly recommended for boss fights, or any situation really.

(plantera)

Venom Bullet
+high damage
+no farming required

-no distinguishing traits

Basically a straight upgrade to Cursed Bullets. However, they will usually deal less damage than Crystal Bullets, despite their higher base damage.

Nano Bullet
+high damage
+smart bounce
+inflicts situationally useful debuff
+no farming required

The positive effects of smart bounce aren't fully realized during aerial battles, but when fighting underground or near the surface, you'll find these very useful for their accuracy boost. While not quite as reliable as Chlorophyte Bullets, a major point in their favor is that you can just buy them. They also have the same base damage as Venom Bullets.

(final boss)

Luminite Bullet
+near infinite piercing
+highest base damage by far

-uses a highly contested resource
-comes too late to be of any use

The last bullet available. It destroys crowds of enemies and provides comparable DPS to Crystal Bullets, but won't work as well as Chlorophyte bullets against things that fly and move around a lot. You're not hurting for DPS given that you unlock Vortex stealth at the same time, so these bullets might be overrated, honestly.

In-depth Hardmode weapon tier list (2024)

FAQs

What is the best weapon in Terraria Hardmode? ›

The best Terraria Hardmode weapons are:
  • Palladium Sword.
  • Death Sickle.
  • Seedler.
  • Megashark.
  • Daedalus Stormbow.
  • Staff of the Frost Hydra.
  • Rainbow Gun.
Sep 11, 2023

What is the best modifier for the ice sickle in Terraria? ›

Its best modifier is Legendary.

Is marrow a good weapon in Terraria? ›

Since the Marrow has good damage and is obtainable at the start of the Hardmode, it can be used as a starting Hardmode bow if the player is lucky enough to obtain one.

What is the best melee sword in Terraria? ›

Night's Edge is the best sword available in pre-Hardmode. It's a powerful melee weapon that can be swung rapidly, dealing high damage to enemies. It can also be used to craft the True Night's Edge in Hardmode, which has an even higher damage output.

How rare is the breaker blade? ›

Breaker Blade
TypeWeapon
TooltipDeals more damage to unhurt enemies
Rarity04*
Sell3
Research1 required
4 more rows

Is Godly or Legendary better in Terraria? ›

The best universal modifier is Godly or Demonic. The two modifiers only differ in knockback, a stat that is not considered very useful (or even beneficial) in many situations.

Is purple ice corrupted in Terraria? ›

Ice Blocks can be converted into three other variants via the spread of biomes: Corruption spreads onto Ice to create Purple Ice Blocks. Crimson spreads onto Ice to create Red Ice Blocks. Hallow spreads onto Ice to create Pink Ice Blocks.

What's the fastest weapon in Terraria? ›

The Chain Gun is a Hardmode, post-Plantera gun which fires bullets in random directions over a wide spread, similar to the Gatligator. Its use time of 4 makes it the fastest weapon in Terraria, and it has a 50% chance not to consume ammunition.

How rare is Bone Sword Terraria? ›

The Bone Sword is a melee weapon that has a 1/200 (0.5%) chance to drop from Skeletons and Spore Skeletons in the Cavern layer. While rare, it can be a useful weapon if obtained early in the game. Compared to other early-game swords, it swings slower and has slightly less knockback, but deals significantly more damage.

What are the rarest weapons in Terraria? ›

What is the rarest weapon in Terraria? The rarest weapon in Terraria is the Slime Staff, which has a 110000 or 0.01% chance of dropping from any slimes. It spawns a cute slime minion which basically deals no damage to anything since it is one of the weakest summons in the game.

What weapon is best to defeat the Moon Lord in Terraria? ›

Solar Eruption is the strongest melee weapon available, dealing massive piercing damage to all parts of the boss. tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, where the Phantasmal Deathray does not pierce blocks, this allows you to hit the Moon Lord from under the safety of a ceiling.

What is the best endgame melee armor in Terraria? ›

The Solar Flare Armor is arguably the best endgame armor for the Melee build in Terraria. Players can only acquire the pieces after defeating the Moon Lord, and the full set grants the user melee weapon boosts. Wearing every piece of the Solar Flare Armor grants the following effects and stats: 78 base defense.

What is the most powerful weapon in Terraria? ›

Damage – 85 Melee

The Terra Blade has a lot of unique features and powers, rightfully being considered one of the most powerful weapon options by the players. It is capable of dealing very high damage quickly, making it one of the strongest weapons in the game until the Moon Lord is defeated.

What is the highest damage sword in Terraria? ›

The best blade. So, TL;DR – the most powerful sword you can craft is the Zenith. What is considered to be an amalgamation of many cool swords from throughout the game, Zenith is one of Terraria's best weapons and obliterates any enemy with ease.

Is the zenith the best Terraria weapon? ›

The Zenith is generally agreed upon to be the game's strongest weapon, making it ideal for any type of fight.

What is the most powerful gear in Terraria? ›

The greatest melee armor in Terraria is thought to be the Solar Flare Armor. After fighting the Moon King and creating the armor from Luminite Bars, it provides the greatest defensive rating in the entire game.

What is the best weapon in Terraria 1.4 4? ›

Hardmode Darts are really good. In fact, they turn Blowgun into one of the best weapons for starting early Hardmode. So when you bring in dart weapons with actual Hardmode stats, you get one of the strongest AND most versatile weapons in the game at the same time.

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