Late in the game, Terraria gets a lot harder, so now is the best time to make the best wide build you can.
The Ranged build in Terraria 1.4 is an unsung hero of late-game success. It is often forgotten and sometimes underappreciated. One of the most fun ways to play Terraria is to use a stacked Minigun and Ranged buffs to kill a boss.
Ranged builds don’t really start to take off until Hardmode. Instead of bows, they have powerful guns, and the different equipment and armour sets let you change their loadout to suit your needs. Here is our list of the best Ranged builds in Terraria 1.4.
Fundamentals Of A Ranged Build
As a Ranged character in Terraria, you will always be less tanky than a Melee build and sometimes not as good at taking out big groups of enemies as a Mage or Yoyo wielder. Terraria has a lot of boss fights, and ranged is the best way to beat them.
The Wall Made of People? With a bow and arrow, it’s easy. The One Who Kills? The Moonmaster? If you equip yourself with a strong gun, you’ll be able to avoid most of the boss’s hits and do a lot of damage to him. It’s not easy to get to that point, though. Here are the steps to get there.
What Is The Best Ranged Weapon In Terraria 1.4?
In Terraria, the best weapon for a Ranged build changes based on where you are in the game. Check out our full Boss progression guide to learn more about the game’s different places.
For a thrown build, the Star Cannon is the best thrown weapon before Hard Mode.This monster weapon fires Fallen Stars that do a lot of damage, but because its ammunition is so rare, it’s hard to keep it going. But it will make quick work of the Wall of Flesh.
- A Minishark, 20 Meteorite Bars, and five Fallen Stars are used to make the Star Cannon.
- As of version 1.4, it can be upgraded to the Super Star Shooter, but there may be better long-range guns in Hardmode.
As you move into Hardmode in Terraria, the Daedalus Stormbow is possibly the best Ranged weapon, at least at first. You can get it by killing Hallowed Mimics, and it has a 25% chance of dropping. It’s a great tool because it’s perfect for beating the Mechanical Bosses, especially The Destroyer.
You can get the S.D.M.G after you beat Moon Lord, which is a long way into the game. It is probably the best Ranged weapon in the game. Since you’ve already beaten the end boss, it’s more useful for PVP if that’s your thing.
Honorable Mention: Don’t Starve Together
Since the 1.4.3 update, when Terraria and Don’t Starve Together crossed over, Terrarians have run into the Deerclops during blizzards and on cold, dark nights. This mini-boss before hard mode can appear in a Snow setting when you have at least 200 health. Its weapons are like those in the first game. It throws debris and ice shards through the ground.
A Deerclops will always drop one of four different types of weapons. The Pew-Matic Horn is the Ranged weapon. It’s more of a toy than a serious weapon, since it turns bullets into random items that fly at foes. Gravity affects the things, and each one does a different amount of damage (on average, 20.8).
Early Game Ranged Build
In the beginning of Terraria, you have to take what the RNG master gives you. Don’t worry with a Wooden Bow, but if you find an Enchanted Boomerang early on, you should be able to handle the monsters in the Caverns and beyond.
Set yourself up with a sword and a bow. After you beat some of the first bosses, you might want to upgrade your bow to a Tendon or Demon bow and work on getting better armour. You can use the Undertaker or the Musket, which are dropped when you destroy Orbs or Hearts. They aren’t great, but they do what needs to be done.
Recommended early game ranged build
- Tendon or Demon bow, Undertaker or Musket
- Jungle or Platinum Armor
- Cloud in a Bottle, Hermes Boots
Pre-Hardmode And The Wall Of Flesh
By the time you’re ready to take down the Wall of Flesh and go into Hardmode, your build should have hit its full potential for the early game. The Beenade or The Bee’s Knees bow, both of which were dropped by the Queen Bee in the Jungle, are without a doubt the best tools to easily take down the Wall of Flesh.Check out our guide for the best guns in Terraria before Hard Mode.
The best mode before Hardmode Either Necro Armour or Fossil Armour will also be part of a ranged build. When worn as a full set, Necro Armour gives two big bonuses: a 15% chance for shooting critical damage and a 20% chance to not use up ammo. Fossil Armour doesn’t have the critical damage bonus, but it does increase the chance that you won’t use up any ammo by 20%.
The best ranged build for pre-hard mode looks like this:
- Star Cannon, Mini Shark, Hellwing Bow
- Necro Armor, Fossil Armor
There are no ranged devices in Pre-Hardmode, so try to choose things like the Obsidian Shield that give you more defence. You should also have Spectre or Lightning Boots, a Cloud in a Balloon, or other useful items.
Hardmode Pre-Mechanical Boss Ranged Build
The change from Easy mode to Hard mode is not easy. You’ll need to improve your current Ranged gear before you can even think about taking on the mechanical bosses. The Adamantite or Titanium Repeater, based on which Ore spawns in your world, is the best early Hardmode ranged weapon.
You could also choose a strong weapon like the Daedalus Stormbow, which a Hallowed Mimic drops. It’s clear that this is a bit harder to get. Those fake chests are no laughing matter. But at this stage, Skeleton Archers are easier to farm because they might drop both the Magic Quiver and the Marrow bow, which turns normal arrows into bones that do at least 50 damage each.
The best first Hardmode Ranged build could look like this:
- Repeater, Marrow Bow or Daedalus Stormbow, Endless Quiver
- Orichalcum, Palladium, Adamantite, or Titanium Armor
- Ranger Emblem, Magic Quiver
Plantera Hardmode Ranged Build
You’ve already beaten the mechanical bosses, so you’re ready to take on Plantera, the next boss in Terraria’s development system. At this point in Spacebar Clicker game, it is also much harder to play with a mix of things and accessories. From now on, you have to pick a class, and Ranged isn’t a bad option.
The whole point of a Ranged build is to kill bosses. You can choose from top-tier guns like the Super Star Shooter and the Phantom Phoenix Bow. Now, you can get Hallowed Bars and, by extension, Chlorophyte. Use it well by making its armour and Shotbow, a weapon that can shoot up to four arrows at once and is great for hitting big bosses like Plantera.
The most important parts of the best Plantera Hardmode Ranged build are:
- Super Star Shooter, Chlorophyte Shotbow Phantom Phoenix Bow
- Chlorophyte Armor with the Helmet, Hallowed Armor with the Helmet
- Ranger Emblem, Magic Quiver
At this point, you should also think about which Wings you’re going to use. As a Ranged build, you need wings to stay safe. We suggest Flame, Bat Wings, or a mount like the Unicorn. At this point, you can also make a pair of Terraspark Boots.
Golem Hardmode Ranged Build
You easily took care of the angry plant, so it’s time to take on the Jungle Temple. At its centre is the Golem, a hard boss that you have to fight in a small area. With the ranged build’s mobility and power, you should be in pretty good shape to give it a shot.
This part of the build is a lot like the Plantera build, but now you can use the Venus Magnum that the last boss dropped to upgrade your weapons. You might have challenged the Pumpking to a fight and picked up the Stake Launcher from Mourning Wood. This weapon, which is like a repeater, can strike up to nine enemies. It’s also time to update to Shroomite Armour, a set of armour for the Ranged class that can be changed in a lot of ways.
For the best Ranged build to kill the Golem, you need:
- Venus Magnum, Sniper Rifle, Stake Launcher
- Shroomite Armor, with a modifier of choice (could be ranged damage, crit chance, or rocket damage)
- Ranger Emblem, Magic Quiver, Terraspark Boots
Lunar Events And The Moon Lord Ranged Build
In Terraria 1.4, the ending is where the Ranged class really starts to shine. The days of using a wooden bow are long gone, and you can now update to top-tier Ranged weapons like the Xenopopper or Chain Gun that a Martian dropped.
Shroomite Armour works until you want to switch to the final Vortex Armour, at which point you are pretty much unbeatable. You should also get the Sniper Scope add-on to increase your range.
Terraria Moon Lord Ranged Build:
- Stake Launcher, Vortex Beater, Electrosphere Launcher
- Shroomite Armor, Vortex Armor
- Ranger Emblem, Molten Quiver, Sniper Scope
Post Moon Lord Ranged Build
Once you’ve killed the Moon Lord and gotten all of his great drops, you should think about killing the Empress of Light and Duke Fishron, if you haven’t already. At this level of power, it should be easy to beat the Old One’s Army, and the Aerial Bane bow will be your new best friend. The Stake Launcher is still a great tool, especially when there are a lot of people around, and the Vortex Armour still works great.
For launchers, the Moon Lord has a 22.2% chance of leaving behind either the Celebration Mk2, one of the most visually interesting guns in the game, or the powerful Space Dolphin Machine Gun. You did read that correctly. From here on out, accessories don’t really change, but it’s fun to play around with your loadout.
- Celebration Mk2, Aerial Bane, Stake Launcher
- Vortex Armor
- Ranger Emblem, Molten Quiver, Sniper Scope