Before the Journey’s End update, it was quite challenging to find the best summoner weapons in Terraria. In recent updates, however, the Summoner’s arsenal has finally caught up. This class has always been my favorite, so covering the best weapons for this class is bliss. These weapons have helped me clear the game.
Best Summoner Weapons in Terraria by Progression
| Best Pre-Hardmode Minion | Imp Staff |
| Best Hardmode Minion | Terraprisma |
| Best Pre-Hardmode Whip | Spinal Tap |
| Best Hardmode Whip | Kaleidoscope |
Summoner weapons are split into 3 types. These are the Minion and Sentry weapons, which have been in the game since the beginning, and the newer Whip weapons, which were added later on. We’ve included weapons from all three types so you won’t miss out on any of them. So let’s stop waiting and let’s get into it.
Houndius Shootius
- Damage – 24
- Mana cost – 14
- Summons an Eye Pillar sentry to do damage
The Houndius Shootius is the best summoner weapon in Terraria in the pre-Hardmode sentries category. This weapon is tied to the Don’t Starve collaboration as it drops from the Deerclops boss in the early stages of the game. Finding this weapon early can help you battle most Hardmode bosses, except the Wall of Flesh.
This sentry is welcomed as sentries do not consume minion slots. This means you can fight with all 3 weapon types for maximum DPS. As we mentioned earlier, it’s not very effective for the Wall of Flesh since you’d need to keep replacing it due to the nature of the fight.
Spinal Tap
- Damage – 27
- Summon Tag Damage – 7
- 10% diminishing damage on successive enemies hit
The Spinal Tap is one of the better options for whips at the end of pre-Hardmode. This whip made it to the list due to its decent DPS on top of adding summon tag damage as well. Overall, this weapon makes up for the Summoner’s lack of crowd control, making it a decent part of any summoner loadout.
The whip itself does not add any extra effects like the Firecracker or the Snapthorn, but it’s still very powerful due to the base stats of the weapon itself. Overall, this will deal more damage to bosses like the Wall of Flesh as compared to the Snapthorn.
Imp Staff
- Damage – 17
- Mana cost – 10
- Summons the Imp minion to help
The Imp Staff will be your best choice for a minion summon for pre-Hardmode. This weapon can easily be crafted using Hellstone Bars in an anvil. You can immediately get this weapon as soon as you get access to your evil-tier Pickaxe and should be obtainable during the middle of pre-Hardmode.
This staff can summon the Imp minion which hurls fireballs that are not affected by gravity. These fireballs can pierce up to a total of 4 enemies while also inflicting the On Fire debuff that deals 4 DPS for 3-6 seconds. The versatility of this weapon can still carry on to early Hardmode as well.
Staff of the Frost Hydra
- Damage – 100
- Mana cost – 20
- Summons an immobile Frost Hydra sentry
Defeating Plantera will allow you to finally open your Biome Chests in the Dungeon. Opening the Ice Chest will reward you with the Staff of the Frost Hydra which will be your go-to sentry from Golem onwards. This staff will summon a Frost Hydra that will last for 10 minutes and does not cost any minion slots.
The sentry will fire ice bullets within a 60-tile range, piercing up to 2 enemies (total of 3 hits) with a 15% damage penalty per pierce. This bullet will also inflict Frostbite which deals 25 DPS for 5 seconds with a 100% chance of occurring.
Dark Harvest
- Damage – 100
- Applies Dark energy that explodes on taking damage from minions/sentries
- Grants the Harvest Time buff
The Dark Harvest, as compared to the previous whip in this list, offers more utility than anything else. This whip can be obtained during the Pumpkin Moon event as a drop from the Pumpking boss. The weapon can also hit multiple enemies with a 10% damage reduction per successive enemy hit.
The main utility of this whip, however, is its Dark energy debuff that deals 10 bonus damage with 50 armor penetration. This aura explodes when hit by a minion or a sentry. A secondary utility from the whip is the Harvest Time buff which speeds up whip attack speed for 3 seconds (possible to hot-swap other whips).
Xeno Staff
- Damage – 36
- Mana cost – 10
- Summons a UFO minion to fight for you
The Xeno Staff would be your best minion choice for pre-Lunar events. Yes, you can craft one of the stronger Stardust weapons right after defeating the pillar, but that would require you to defeat the Lunatic Cultist first. The UFO minion may have low base damage, but they do fire once every 0.4 seconds.
Fighting the Martian Madness event is optional for most other classes, but if you’re like me and want to have great damage as a summoner, it’s an event you shouldn’t miss. This is best paired with the Dark Harvest due to the speed of attacks affecting the whip explosions.
Lunar Portal Staff
- Damage – 100
- Mana cost – 10
- Summons the Moon Lord’s Lunar Portal as a sentry
The most powerful sentry weapon is the Lunar Portal Staff. This is a Moon Lord weapon that appears at the same time as the Rainbow Crystal staff but is by no means on the same level. In previous versions, this staff had only 50 base damage and a slower fire rate, making it a chump of a Moon Lord weapon.
Update 1.4.4, however, buffed the weapon immensely. The damage has been doubled from 50 to 100 and the fire rate has been tripled. Basic math alone will show that the DPS has increased by 6 times in one update.
Kaleidoscope
- Damage – 180
- Summon Tag Damage – 20
- Allows your minions to critically strike
The Kaleidoscope is the final whip entry in this list. You can get it way before the end of the game by defeating the Empress of Light and obtaining this as a boss drop. The boss is summoned by killing a Prismatic Lacewing at night after Plantera is defeated.
This weapon is a stronger version of the Morning Star which deals only 8 summon tag damage instead of the Kaleidoscope’s 20 summon tag damage. That said, it has a 2% less summon critical chance than the former. The ability for your minions and sentries to do critical strikes is a great reason to get this weapon.
Terraprisma
- Damage – 90
- Mana cost – 10
- Summons a flying Enchanted Sword minion
The Terraprisma is the best summoner weapon in Terraria, par to none. Being the strongest minion-type weapon comes at a price, however. Getting this weapon requires you to fight the Empress of Light and do 100% damage to her during the day. If you think that’s simple, no, no it’s not.
The boss, when summoned at daytime will kill you in a single hit. Once you complete it, though, you’ll get this absolute powerhouse of a weapon. The Terrapisma also offers a more consistent AI than the Stardust Dragon Staff, making it the better overall weapon.
If you have any favorite summoner weapons that you feel should have made this list, tell us in the comments below!
Need help finding the best equipment for the Summoner Class? Click here for our loadout recommendations and here for summoner accessories!
