The best summoner loadouts in Terraria allow you to have the perfect mix of attack and defense in addition to maximizing your minion slots. Since the summoner relies on using companions and whips to deal damage, it might take a bit of research to get the balance you need to survive throughout the game.
We’ve created a compilation of our suggestions for the best equipment for journeying across your newly created world up until you defeat the Lunar evils. This is your guide to being your best as the game’s unique Summoner class.
Summoner Loadouts Ranked by Progression
This list includes all the best armor sets and combinations in addition to accessory and weapon suggestions that will carry you out throughout the following game phases:
So without further ado, let’s get right to it!
Best Summoner Loadout in Terraria for Pre-Hardmode
This section covers all armor sets you can get for the entirety of pre-Hardmode.
Accessory recommendations:
- Feral Claws – 12% increased melee speed and enables auto-swing for whips
- Magiluminescence – Increases movement speed and acceleration
- Pygmy Necklace – Adds +1 minion slot
- Apprentice Scarf / Squire Shield – Adds +1 sentry slot. Adds 10% summon damage
Check our list of pre-hardmode weapon recommendations!
Jungle Flinx Set
- 12 defense
- Increases summon damage by 5%
- +1 minion slot
This mishmash of an armor set is the earliest form of defense that you can get as the summoner class. This set is a combination of the Jungle Helm and Pants and the Flinx Fur Coat. This may be a bit challenging to obtain, but your priority should be to get the Flinx Fur from the Ice biome.
This armor set prioritizes having the extra minion slot along with the defense from the Jungle armor pieces. Although it’s not necessarily a set, it’s your best bet until you can progress through a few of the starting bosses.
Weapon recommendations:
Obsidian Armor Set
- 15 defense
- 31% increased minion damage
- 15% increased whip speed
- +30% increased whip range
- +1 minion slot
The Obsidian Armor set is one of the earliest pure summoner sets that you can get in the game. Unlike other classes, the summoner sets provide a sizable damage boost very early. This set alone provides a huge 31% increase to your minion and whip damage. This can be crafted once you have defeated your world’s Evil (Eater or Worlds / Brain of Cthulhu).
Although this has a huge boost to base damage, it only increases your minion slots by 1. This makes it a great set for whip-focused summoners, especially when you get access to the Leather Whip or the Snapthorn.
Weapon recommendations:
Bee Armor Set
- 23% increased summon damage
- 13 defense
- +2 minion slots
The Bee Armor set combined with our recommended accessories is the best summoner loadout in Terraria for pre-hardmode if you focus on minion slots. As an alternative, you can swap out the leggings for the Molten Armor legs to increase your defense while sacrificing your damage. This damage deficit can be countered by using whips to add summon tag damage to your minions.
If you opt for the pure Bee Armor set, you should be aware of the low defense stat that the armor has. Having the Goblin Tinkerer unlocked at this point would be great for getting the Warding prefix for your accessories.
Weapon recommendations:
Terraria Summoner Loadouts for Early to Mid Hardmode
This section is dedicated to armor sets that you can use from the start of Hardmode until the Mechanical Bosses.
Accessory recommendations:
- Summoner Emblem – +15% minion damage
- Pygmy Necklace – +1 minion slot
- Hercules Beetle – +15% minion damage. Increased minion knockback
- Necromantic Scroll – +1 minion slot. +10% minion damage.
- Papyrus Scarab – +1 minion slot. +15% minion damage. Increased minion knockback
- Berserker’s Glove – +12% whip attack speed. +8 defense
Check here for our hardmode weapon recommendations!
Hallowed Armor Set
- 17% increased summon damage
- 27 defense
- +3 minion slots
- Grants Holy Protection buff
The Hallowed Armor set isn’t one of the first armor sets you can get in Hardmode, but its purpose is a bit niche so we decided to rank it a bit early. This armor set has one of the smallest boosts to damage you can get at this point, ranking even lower than the pre-Hardmode Bee Armor.
The set, however, provides you with a huge jump to your defensive stats from earlier armor while also granting you the unique Holy Protection buff. This buff allows you to perfectly dodge a viable attack every 30 seconds (does not dodge Empress of Light’s daytime rage).
Weapon recommendations:
Forbidden Armor Set
- 25% minion and magic damage
- 26 defense
- +2 minion slots
- Ancient Storm ability
The Forbidden Armor Set is both a magic and summoner armor set. This allows you to be versatile with your loadout as you can also include mage weapons in your arsenal without losing out too much on damage. You can get this by farming Sand Elementals during the Hardmode Sandstorm event.
The set also enables you to cast an Ancient Storm at your cursor that can deal massive damage to enemy waves or segmented bosses such as the Destroyer. The ability scales off of both magic and minion damage, so having a hybrid build at this point would be perfect for this armor set.
Weapon recommendations:
Spider Armor Set
- 28% increased minion damage
- 20 defense
- +3 minion slots
The Spider Armor Set is the very first summoner armor set you can get in Hardmode. We’ve placed it on the latter part of our list as this set is viable up to the defeat of Plantera. It boasts the highest boost in damage for minions and sentries with the tradeoff that it has a horrible defensive stat.
Once Hardmode begins, your first goal should be to find the nearest Spider biome in your world. Be very cautious when farming for this set, however, as you can easily get overwhelmed very easily as the summoner class can be quite squishy.
Weapon recommendations:
Best Summoner Loadout in Terraria Pre-Moon Lord
This part contains all the necessary equipment sets you need to defeat the entire endgame. This covers everything after Plantera is defeated.
Accessory recommendations:
- Same accessories as the previous section
Tiki Armor Set
- 30% increased minion damage
- 35 defense
- +4 minion slots
- +30% whip range
The Tiki Armor set is immediately unlocked once you have defeated Plantera. This armor will be sold by the Witch Doctor for 1 Platinum and 50 Gold. Although the set may be pricey, you may just have enough money by playing normally up until this point in the game. If you’re short on cash, farming the Pirate invasion might be a good choice.
This set favors the whip user more as it increases the range for whips by a decent amount. This is the only other set in this list to do this other than the Obsidian Armor set.
Weapon recommendations:
Spooky Armor Set
- 58% increased summon damage
- 30 defense
- +4 minion slots
The Spooky Armor set is what you’ll probably be using to beat the Lunar Pillars during the Lunar Invasion event. This set is farmed from the Pumpkin Moon event and can easily be obtained from the Mourning Wood miniboss. This is the highest DPS armor set for summoners up until the endgame armor.
While the Tiki set increases your whip range, the Spooky set provides you with damage boosts that affect all summoner weapons. The drawback is that both armor sets can only provide you with so much defense, so swapping out the pieces of the Old One’s Tier 3 armor may be a better choice.
Weapon recommendations:
Stardust Armor / Valhalla Knight Set
- 66% (Stardust) / 60% (Valhalla) additional minion damage
- +5 (Stardust) / +2 (Valhalla) minion slots
- +1 (Stardust) / +2 (Valhalla) sentry slots
- 38 (Stardust) / 68 (Valhalla) defense
While it’s true that the Stardust Armor from the Stardust Pillar has the highest damage boost for summoners, its lack of defense will have you scratching your head against the Moon Lord. The same can be said for the Valhalla Knight Set where you just lack the significant amount of minions for DPS.
Before 1.4.4.9, choosing one over the other is your only option as hot-swapping armor during boss fights can lead to your demise very quickly. However, due to the introduction of the Loadout feature, the best summoner loadout in Terraria is ultimately both of these armor sets.
Weapon recommendations:
- Tier 3 Old One’s Army Sentries
- Terraprisma – note: very difficult to obtain
Conclusion
Among all four classes that we have covered, the best summoner loadout in Terraria is the only one that ended in a tie. While the Melee, Ranged, and Magic classes had very straightforward class progressions, the Summoner was made more complex in the later iterations of the game. If you think we’ve missed any vital points or if you have suggestions for the loadouts on your own, feel free to leave a comment below!
