Terraria 1.4 Summoner Guide (How to Play, Armor, Mounts, Buffs & Accessories)

The Summoner is a character whose strength lies within the minions they summon to fight by their side, instead of in the overrated endgame weapons that everyone else uses. So step aside, solar-clad, cat-throwing players; there’s a new sheriff in town.

Anyway, the Summoner works highly different from the rest of the Terrarians. For instance, their main damage output does not come necessarily from themselves, but from the minions they summon. This allows for more flexible fighting, especially from a distance, while safely barricaded, or more infamously, for AFK farming. A skilled Summoner utilizes their minions as a way to let them focus on dodging attacks while the minions fight for you, and as such, this class is a good way to help one recognize boss patterns and improve their survival skills.
You are also able to use any weapon you desire without being locked behind a certain class that requires a certain weapon to be used for full effect. This way, you can add onto your minions’ DPS with your own, or assist them with various debuffs.

As well, dying is a little more punishing than most characters. When a Summoner dies, all of his/her summons disappear, and have to be re-summoned when respawning. This doesn’t bode well for the Summoner, especially if in the middle of an invasion like a Solar Eclipse or Pirate Invasion, where enemies can just spawn-camp you. With other characters, you can just keep fighting, maybe pop a potion or two and you’re set.

On top of this, the Summoner has generally the lowest defense compared to the rest of the classes. This usually makes the Summoner quite squishy and you’ll want to avoid as much damage as you can. However, this is made up for by the fact that you’ll have the best area control in the game; with the right terrain, a large amount of minions and several sentries, you can cover an entire screen and more with sheer firepower.

Plus, most minions cannot deal critical hits. Meaning, you’d have to reforge accessories to Warding or Menacing, for more defense or plain attack power, respectively.
Also keep in mind that you can summon multiple minions with just one summoning weapon, assuming you have minion cap bonuses. There’s no real point in making more than one of the same summoning weapon for yourself.

When you summon a minion, a buff icon featuring the minion you summoned appears in the top-left along with any other buffs. A summoned minion lasts forever and cannot die, unless the buff is cancelled; either by right-clicking the buff, summoning another minion that breaks the minion cap and causes a previous one to vanish, removing cap bonuses, leaving the world, or by dying. Some minions can also despawn if they stray too far above the top of the map; keep this in mind when in the space layer. In the lategame, having too many (over 22) buffs at once can cause others to disappear, meaning a minion can just straight-up vanish in the heat of battle. Frost Moons can go very wrong due to this…

Without any summoning armor, buffs or accessories, you can only have one minion following you at a time. If you have spare minion bonuses from summoning armor and the like, it is possible to have different kinds of minions out at once. I encourage you to form a party with variety, and see which combinations of minions work well for you in specific parts of the game. Though, as you progress, you’ll want to fill all your minion slots with one kind of minion for especially difficult/endgame situations (exempli gratia, Stardust Dragon).

If you are too far from a minion and they have trouble catching up to you, whether they’re stuck behind a wall or similar, they will fly towards you at a fast rate, bypassing any obstacles. Activating Rocket or Spectre Boots (but not wings for some reason) will also cause any stuck minion to fly back to you. Some minions have their own ways of movement; some just run around on the ground, others fly, and the Spider minion in particular can climb background walls. A handful can move through blocks on their own, but only the Stardust Dragon can detect enemies through walls.

And if you haven’t figured it out already, the minions automatically target and attack any enemy in their sight. This includes enemies off your screen, making minions an awesome way to protect you from harm. Oftentimes they can travel far from you to kill whatever enemy they’ve spotted, sometimes even going offscreen. Furthermore, they can serve as a method of protection when in a dark cave or at night, where it would be difficult for other Terrarians to notice the approaching enemy.
As of 1.3.4, you can right-click near an enemy while holding a summon staff, and your following minions will target it, if it’s within reach.

Also, just because your minions are fighting for you doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be wise to assist them. Personally I used a combination of melee and magic weapons when attacking enemies beside my minions. Once I had obtained the Crimson Key, the Vampire Knives were very beneficial to me. In Hardmode, even Tiki Armor doesn’t have as much defense as Shroomite, Turtle, Beetle and even Spectre Armor with the Mask. Heck, out of all the endgame armors, Stardust Armor has the absolute lowest defense. So if you’re making a Summoner, hope for a Crimson world, because the Vampire Knives will be a huge help in the game. It’s not as bad in Pre-Hardmode, because for the most part defense isn’t important once you have any armor set, and the minions were very powerful, each one making the game just a bit easier for me.

Alternatively, a Corruption world will be valuable because of the availability of Ebonkoi, a vital ingredient in the Wrath Potion which your minions will greatly appreciate.

Do keep in mind though, that by the time you beat the game, the Vampire Knives will no longer be necessary for several reasons, one of which being that you’ll be doing so much damage that almost nothing can touch you. Just remember; defense isn’t everything. Playing the Summoner will be sure to sharpen your dodging and preparation skills.

Here I will give a semi-brief list of the items that summon minions for you, by order of game progression. Each one is different from the rest, though obviously some are more powerful than others. Most summoning weapons use 10 Mana, other than the sentry rods which use 5, the sentry staves which use 15, and the Frost Hydra which uses 20.

The iconic Slime Staff is the weakest of the summoning weapons, and ironically the rarest. It’s the rarest dropped weapon in the entire game, actually, having a 0.01%, or 1 in 10,000 chance of being dropped by most Slimes or Slimed Zombies (0.014% chance in Expert Mode). However, as of 1.3, Pinkies have an increased chance of dropping the Slime Staff, at 1% (1.4% in Expert Mode). Sand Slimes in particular have a 0.013% or 1 in 8,000 (0.018% or 1 in 5,600 in Expert) chance of dropping it. As said earlier, it’s so rare that a lot of people don’t go farming for it. Plus, its summon damage of 8 just doesn’t seem worth the effort. Although, if you are blessed with one early on in the game, that’s pure fate right there. The Baby Slime it summons attacks by jumping into the enemy’s hitbox, dealing rapid damage. Although, it becomes next to useless in Hardmode when it’s doing a rapid 1 damage. Plus, it attacks fast enough that most of your weapon shots will miss because of the enemy’s brief invulnerability from being hit so often. If you had it early enough, though, it would be a huge load off your back. Since starting characters have to fight enemies up close, the Baby Slime will take care of any enemy nearby with little trouble. Once I had even seen my Baby Slime take out a flying Harpy. And yes, it can jump very, very high.

The Finch Staff is a new face in the minion family, added with the Journey’s End update. It can be found inside Living Wood Chests under Living Trees, which may or may not spawn in the world depending on your worldgen RNG. Alternatively, a Finch Staff always spawns as a starting weapon on a fresh Journey Mode character. When used, a little bird’s nest will spawn on your head, along with the Finch minion itself. It will remain nesting on your head until it’s shaken off (such as going up on a minecart rail) or if it detects nearby enemies, in which case it will fly at them somewhat clumsily, even through walls if it has to, dealing 7 summon damage. This makes it the weakest of the summons, but most definitely the easiest one to reasonably obtain.
This little bird will be the start of many gestating Summoners for years to come, before they’re ready to leave the nest.

On the contrary, the Vampire Frog Staff is rather shy around many people, as one must go through a lot of effort to obtain it earlygame. It is dropped by Wandering Eye Fish or Zombie Mermen, at an approximate 4.17% chance. The aforementioned monsters can only be found while fishing during a Blood Moon, where they may jump out and ambush whoever brought them out of the bloody depths. Due to the toughness of these monsters (especially at higher difficulties), as well as how much the stars need to align, coming across this staff is seldom an easy task. The Vampire Frog itself deals 11 summon damage, via hopping towards an enemy and performing a short-range piercing attack with its tongue, licking everything in its path. Being amphibious, it’s also capable of swimming through water or even launching itself sky high in pursuit of its prey. An adorable companion, though one might be able to obtain any other Pre-Hardmode staff in much less time…

The Hornet Staff is crafted with 14 Bee Wax at an Anvil, and is often a player’s first step into the world of summoning. The Bee Wax needed is dropped by the Queen Bee, meaning you would likely have mid-tier Pre-Hardmode equipment by the time you obtain it. Its summon damage is 9, only one more than the Slime Staff, but the Hornet it summons fires projectiles just like the enemy Hornet would. As well, the stingers can inflict the Poisoned debuff to enemies, making this flying critter a very nifty partner to have by your side. Ironically, just like many other of the Queen’s drops, the Hornets are also good for farming the Queen Bee, as they chase her down and even go right next to her when she’s above you. The Queen is also affected by the Poisoned debuff.

The Imp Staff is obtained by taking 17 Heckstone Bars to an Anvil (Yes, I just said that). It is technically obtainable as soon as you have a Nightmare or Deathbringer Pickaxe or better, but the Underworld’s enemies will be sure to give you a hard time until you have sufficient gear to survive its dangers. This staff summons a Fire Imp to shoot a straight line of fireballs at mobs. Yes, a Fire Imp. Those annoying little dutchnuggets can finally be on your side for once. The main differences being, the summoned Imp cannot fire through walls, but it can fly. Their projectiles fly faster than the Hornet’s stingers, and can set enemies on fire, which can help light up dark areas while beating the snot out of your enemies. The Imps are also a beast at farming bosses like the Eater of Worlds or the Brain of Cthulhu, as their multiple parts can easily be set ablaze by the Imps’ fireballs. Plus, its summon damage of 17 makes it almost twice as powerful as the Hornet Staff.

The Spider Staff is likely the first summoning weapon a player will obtain in Hardmode. It can be crafted from 16 Spider Fangs, which are a common drop from Black Recluses. Its summon damage is 26, and the Spider’s attacks can inflict the Venom debuff on enemies, a much stronger poison. The Spider can climb background walls as mentioned earlier; if there are no background walls, the Spider will trail behind the player on the floor. Its attacks are melee compared to the Hornet’s ranged stingers, but overall the Spider is better (the increase in damage should be obvious enough) as it chases its enemies much faster. It jumps incredibly high and latches onto foes when it attacks, even when they’re airborne. The Spider works wonders when in the Underground Jungle, as its abundance of walls allow it to take down Moss Hornets, Jungle Creepers and Angry Trappers with ease. It has several different visual appearances upon summoning.
Spiders take up 3/4ths of one minion slot, meaning you could summon 5 Spiders if you only have 4 minion slots, for example. Wearing Stardust Armor or having other items that increase minion slots will subsequently increase the number of Spiders you can have more than normal; though it’s not entirely recommended to mostly use Spiders, since Spider attacks count as piercing, meaning only so many of them can affect an enemy at once before the extra Spiders become obsolete.

The Pirate Staff is a rare drop from any pirate enemy during the Pirate Invasion. Its drop rate is rather low, being 1 in 2,000, or 0.05%. Luckily, however, the Flying Dutchman, a boss that appears during the Pirate Invasion, has a 1% chance of dropping this staff, and the Pirate Captain has a 0.2% chance. It summons a miniature Pirate similar to the ones from Pixel Piracy to fight enemies by swinging a tiny sword at them. It deals 40 summon damage and the Pirate is a grounded summon, making it essentially an upgraded version of the Slime Staff. The summoned Pirate will often drop a tiny pile of poop behind it, also similar to Pixel Piracy, but this is purely visual. It also has different visual appearances upon summoning.

The Optic Staff is crafted at a Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil with 2 Lenses, 1 Black Lens, 12 Hallowed Bars and 20 Souls of Sight, meaning you must defeat the Twins in order to access this weapon. This is a personal favorite of mine, as it summons the freakin’ Twins to fight for you. Of course, they’re not as big as their boss counterparts. They deal 30 summon damage at base. This would make it seem weaker than the Pirate Staff, but the Twins are essentially two minions in one. Retinazer shoots lasers at the enemy from afar, while Spazmatism launches back and forth, tearing up anything in his path, much like the actual Twins bosses. Technically it would be considered a 60-damage summoning weapon, as the Twins have a high attack speed and can reach a high amount of DPS when you summon more than one; however this is not the case, since they can only hit the same enemy about six times per second like other piercing weapons. Regardless, this item is definitely worth the expensive materials.

The Pygmy Staff drops from Plantera at a 25% chance (and is obtained from her Treasure Bag at a 50% chance). It summons a little tiki dude to throw spears at your enemies. Its summon damage is 34, which doesn’t exactly seem like the best increase in damage at this point of the game, considering you had to have beaten the three mechanical bosses and an angry flower in order to get to this point. However, when stacked, a cluster of Pygmies will become a very devastating force, throwing their spears rapidly like a machine gun. This, combined with their excellent accuracy, is enough to keep most enemies at bay, as well as help bring down bosses easily. Because the spears don’t pierce, they can’t interrupt each other, unlike the Twin minions. With this in mind, the Pygmy Staff outclasses the Optic Staff in terms of single-target DPS. Plus, their spears can afflict enemies with the Poisoned and Venom debuffs. Sometimes they will fire at an enemy just barely out of their field of vision due to blocks being in the way, and their spears will literally cut corners, flying through some blocks to hit the intended target.
The Pygmy Staff is arguably the most important summoning weapon in Hardmode, as having it in your inventory allows the Witch Doctor NPC to sell you numerous summon-related items such as accessories and the Tiki Armor set. The Pygmy minions have variant skins.

The Deadly Sphere Staff is an extremely powerful weapon that drops from Deadly Spheres at a 2.5% chance (3.75% on Expert), which spawn during a Solar Eclipse after Plantera has been defeated. These are large metal Spheres which float around the player, and rapidly charge at enemies doing an insane amount of damage. Its summon damage of 50 makes it an incredible melee alternative to the Tempest Staff, especially if you can get it before challenging the Pumpkin Moon. Unlike the Sharknadoes though, the Spheres don’t phase through blocks unless they need to catch up with the player. Unfortunately this only makes them truly effective in outdoor settings, because of their large tendency to get stuck around corners and walls. They also have a somewhat shorter field of vision, making the Sharknadoes a better choice for attacking enemies offscreen, such as while farming. The Spheres also require further distance from you than normal before they go into catch-up mode, but this can be used to have the Sphere target an enemy while you fly further away to dodge. The Spheres periodically change form when attacking, but these are purely a visual change.

The Raven Staff is an uncommon drop from Pumpking, the most powerful enemy in the Pumpkin Moon event. The drop rate increases as you approach Wave 15, and the highest drop percentage the Raven Staff can get is 14.29%. This staff summons Ravens that fly around you, and chase enemies by flying into their hitbox and dealing 55 summon damage. When summoning multiple Ravens, it looks as if a spooky flock is roaming over you, and when they swarm enemies, the results are murderous.The Tempest Staff is one of the most efficient killing machines in the world of summoning, clocking in at 50 summon damage. It drops from the dreaded Duke Fishron at a 1/5 chance. The Tempest Staff summons a freaking Sharknado to follow you around, and it can phase through walls. When it spots an enemy, it fires purple and blue Sharkrons from its watery tornado, which splatter upon hitting a target. The tornado itself also causes damage when touching an enemy, and it even damages critters, so be wary of this when you’re searching for critters or Truffle Worms with your Bug Net. Six or more Sharknadoes can easily tear up almost any boss all on their own, although you would have to dodge the boss’s attacks or heal accordingly to make sure you don’t die. It has high DPS when used in great numbers and is greatly useful when taking on the Pumpkin and Frost Moons.

We all thought the Tempest Staff was top dog. We’re only just getting into the monsters.

The Xeno Staff is an 11.11% drop from a Martian Saucer, the strongest enemy in the Martian Madness event. It summons a small UFO to fly around you in a similar manner to the Hornet, only it flies faster and can teleport to enemies when attacking with its lasers. Its summon damage of 36 makes it appear weaker than the Tempest Staff, but its rate of fire is nearly twice as fast as the Sharknadoes, and its attack is extremely accurate. A decent few blocks of headroom must be above the enemy for the UFO to properly attack, since it always strikes from above. A fleet of these can absolutely melt many enemies within seconds.

The Stardust Cell Staff is crafted with 18 Stardust Fragments at the Ancient Manipulator, which is only dropped by the Lunatic Cultist. It summons a little blue and yellow Star Cell to follow you around. It deals 60 summon damage, making it stronger than the Tempest Staff. The Cells can teleport to faraway enemies, and their primary form of attack is by launching smaller versions of themselves that latch onto enemies, dealing the same amount of damage as the staff itself at the moment of impact. However, the smaller Cells cause the Celled debuff, which damages enemies over time for 10 damage per tick. Up to 10 smaller Cells can be attached to a single enemy, effectively draining their health away to nothing. Additionally, when you are attacking an enemy, the Cells can fire their own shots at the enemy you’re striking without interrupting their regular attack pattern, essentially helping both of you take down strong foes and encouraging teamwork, if you want to see it that way.

Lastly, the Stardust Dragon Staff is a true behemoth of a summoning weapon that’s crafted at the Ancient Manipulator with 18 Stardust Fragments, just like the Stardust Cell Staff. As a matter of fact, it’s so unique and wondrous that it can hardly be considered your state-of-the-art minion. When initially summoned, a medium-sized Chinese/serpent-like Dragon will begin to circle around you, occasionally hovering over you. But using the Staff again does not summon another Dragon; instead, each use increases the length of the Dragon’s body, making it larger and able to hit a larger group of enemies, which it attacks by charging and circling into their hitbox like a super fast worm. Thus, a larger Dragon deals far more DPS than a smaller one, especially since its damage increases as it lengthens. Each segment is able to deal its own damage, allowing the Dragon to either hit multiple enemies, or totally shred larger enemies with more health. However, summoning a max-size Dragon would allow you to summon no more minions, leaving the Dragon as your only buddy. It targets enemies through tiles as well, as it passes through all walls effortlessly.
Having lower damage than the Stardust Cell Staff, 40, one would wonder which of the two would be better. I have found that the Dragon can only focus on one enemy at a time, making it especially useful on bosses. On the other hand, the Cells can only attach up to 10 smaller replicas of themselves to one enemy, and therefore are better against crowds since multiple enemies can be taken on at once. The DPS of the Cells increases nicely when you’re all focused on one target. With the right buffs, however, a Dragon with 9 or 10 stages can easily dish out 400 to 1,000 damage per hit, and at a very fast rate. Also, the Dragon looks somewhat like a souped-up version of the Frost Hydra, so that’s always cool.

There’s a large handful of summoning weapons that summon “sentry” minions. These types of minions stay placed at the mouse’s pointer location upon summoning, and fire at any enemies that come within range. They remain there for two minutes before disappearing, and do not count towards your current minion capacity, while still inflicting summon damage.
As of 1.3.4, sentry minions have a cap of 1, so you cannot have multiple sentries in play by default. There are accessories and armor sets to supplement this and increase the cap, however. If you have a bonus to the sentry cap, you can summon more than one of the same kind or different kinds at once.
Ground sentries will be summoned at the ground or platforms below your pointer; when the blocks below them are broken, they will fall down until they land on another surface.
Since turrets, like other minions, are summoned at the mouse’s pointer, you can summon them on the other side of walls and they can clear out rooms in places such as caves, while you hide in safety. They can also be used for area control, such as during invasions. These minions will stay stationary and will not follow you, regardless of how far you stray from them.

The Queen Spider Staff can be crafted with 24 Spider Fangs at an Anvil. It has 21 summon damage, less than the normal Spider Staff’s, but it spits lobbed eggs at enemies that crack open into two to three baby spiders that dive into enemies, each dealing their own instance of damage. It can also inflict Venom and has higher knockback than the normal Spider Staff, making this minion an overall good bodyguard for quite a long while into Hardmode.

The Staff of the Frost Hydra deals a powerful 100 summon damage at base, twice that of the Tempest Staff’s. However, because it is a “turret” minion, it remains stationary and has a less rapid rate of fire. This weapon summons a Frost Hydra that spits icy bolts at enemies for very high damage and decent knockback. It is definitely a huge help when dealing with the Pumpkin and Frost Moons, or Solar Eclipses. With good modifiers, accessories, and summoning armor with high damage, the Frost Hydra can easily deal 200 damage per hit. This staff is very difficult to obtain if you’re not lucky, as it is found in the locked Frozen Chest within the Dungeon. You will need a Frozen Key, which drops from enemies in the Hardmode Tundra biome at a 1/2,500 chance. Additionally, the chest cannot be opened until Plantera is defeated.The Lunar Portal Staff has an 11.11% chance of being dropped by the final boss of the game, the Moon Lord. This weapon summons a void of sorts that fires a very long sweeping laser at any enemy within its 60-tile range, similar to the Moon Lord’s deathray attack and the skill the Vortex Pillar uses to defend itself. It deals 50 summon damage, which would make it seem weaker than the Frost Hydra, but its laser hits multiple enemies, and because it knocks them back a little, this allows the enemes to be hit multiple times with each laser. It can be summoned in the air, making it excellent against just about every kind of enemy, including bosses. Only problem is, it doesn’t detect enemies through blocks, and its laser doesn’t fire through blocks either. Regardless, this is one of the best minion staves you can get.

Finally, the Rainbow Crystal Staff is also dropped by the Moon Lord at the same percentage as the Lunar Portal Staff. When used, it summons a floating Rainbow Crystal that looks somewhat similar to the Last Prism which glows in different colors slightly. When an enemy comes within its range, it will begin shimmering extremely radiant, fabulous beams of light in many colors. The beams themselves don’t attack enemies, but rather the star-shaped points at the end. They will spin and glow before bursting, which deals 80 summon damage to enemies in the blast, knocking them back strongly. The Crystal can easily hit large targets and it shreds through crowds, and sometimes the lights can go through walls.

Many of the sentry-style minions are earned through playing the Old One’s Army event. These sentries, however, work differently from the others. When bought, they cannot be used normally until the Old One’s Army has been defeated. But while fighting the Old One’s Army, the tower defense sentries ignore the sentry capacity and can be placed as many times as desired. However, they cost 10 Etherian Mana to place down (Etherian Mana is dropped by enemies during the invasion).

Perhaps the most peculiar thing about the tower defense sentries is that they come in three tiers according to the currently-unlocked tier of the Old One’s Army. These tiers are: Rod, Cane, and Staff, in that order. When you’re first able to fight the invasion, at Tier 1, only the Rods will be available. Subsequently, the Canes and Staves will unlock at Tier 2 and Tier 3 respectively. Tiers will become unlocked according to game progression in the current world; Tier 1 is always available, Tier 2 is unlocked after defeating a mechanical boss, and Tier 3 is unlocked after defeating the Golem.
Obviously, Rods are the weakest of the lot, Canes are stronger than Rods, and Staves are stronger than Canes. Rods can be bought from the Tavernkeep for 5 Defender Medals; Canes are worth 25, and Staves are worth 100. Rods use 5 Mana, Canes use 10, and Staves use 15.

Below I will list all of these weapons alongside their base summon damage values.

Ballista:
Rod: 27
Cane: 67
Staff: 140

Ballistas are massive, powerful crossbows that fire large bolts that pierce through enemies, dealing high damage. These bolts are affected by gravity after a certain distance and are slow to reload. The Ballistas can aim in almost any direction to fire at enemies, similar to the Frost Hydra. The projectiles’ piercing ignores enemy invincibility frames, and the Ballistas fire immediately after being summoned if there’s an enemy in range. These are great crowd-control weapons that will prove valuable during invasions, especially Old One’s Army.

Flameburst:
Rod: 17
Cane: 42
Staff: 88

The Flameburst staves summon a turret that shoots fireballs that fly at a decently high velocity. They launch slightly faster than Ballistas, and explode upon impact with an enemy, dealing damage in an area and setting enemies ablaze. This tower works well alongside a player with the Huntress set effect. However, Flameburst turrets mostly fire in a straight line, and have trouble shooting at enemies directly above them.

Explosive Trap:
Rod: 24
Cane: 59
Staff: 126

Not to be confused with the Explosives item that can be uncommonly found underground. When summoned, Explosive Traps appear as an orange landmine on the ground. When enemies draw close, the mine explodes, dealing high damage in an area. The cool part is that the mine stays there and continues to detonate for the duration of its lifetime. Its recharge time is similar to the Flameburst, but can be shortened with full Huntress-type Armor. This sentry works best with ground enemies, though its explosion can reach high enough to hit a flying foe if it’s low enough.

Lightning Aura:
Rod: 4
Cane: 11
Staff: 34

Lightning Aura staves summon a device at the ground with two components; one sitting on the ground and one in the air, producing an electrical field in a circle shape. This creates a field of electricity that damages enemies as they walk through, making it a bit of a support/defensive weapon that isn’t for direct combat. Summoning it over key areas or around yourself can prove to be useful. The damage is generally low, but it’s the fastest-hitting turret in the game, if you don’t count the Lunar Portal’s multiple hits per laser. It also has the capability to ignore enemy defense, by adding half of an enemy’s defense to its damage. The damage listed in the in-game tooltip tends to be around triple the actual damage due to this strange mechanic, for some reason. The electrical field stops when the rim hits a block, making it a better idea to set it on an open surface (Or better yet, on a small platform in the air so it generates a full circle). The floating orb will need to have sight of the enemy in order to deal damage to it. When summoned in a tight space that’s below the field’s maximum height of 10 blocks, the floating component will be limited to the ceiling, creating a much smaller field that’s nearly useless.

The Summoner class allows for great versatility in weapon choice, as your minions will be doing most of the work. It is wise to carry some sort of sidearm or backup weapon, in case something gets too close or if you need extra damage. As of 1.4, Summoners get their own weapon type, the Whip, which will scale off summon damage.

Whips are a type of weapon subclass, added in the Journey’s End update. This is a special type of weapon that acts like a melee weapon, lashing out a large whip that deals damage to enemies in its line of sight. Whips can pierce multiple enemies per swing, with the damage output lessening with each additional enemy hit. These weapons inherit specific melee-weapon effects such as attack speed, among other things. For example, the Titan Glove and its upgrades are capable of making whips autoswing, like other melee weapons.
Attacking an enemy with a whip will mark that enemy as if you right-clicked with a summon staff, causing your minions to focus their attacks on it. Perhaps the most interesting feature about whips is the tooltip that lists “summon tag damage”. This means that, for a short period after being struck, an enemy will take additional damage from the minions attacking it. This allows for some epic damage combos when you and your minions are working together.
This section will be updated further after we have some time exploring the new additions.

Leather Whip:
14 Summon damage
4 Summon tag damage

The first of the whip family, the Leather Whip is sold by the Zoologist NPC for 15 gold, after completing 15% of the Bestiary. This is a basic whip with not many special effects other than the targeting ability and tag damage addon that all whips share. Regardless, a weapon of this range, especially if earned early enough, can prove especially helpful. Those who play “pure” Summoner might appreciate this. But if you’ve filled out 15% of the Bestiary, you’re probably capable of getting the next whip in progression.

Snapthorn:
18 Summon damage
6 Summon tag damage

The Snapthorn is crafted at an Anvil using 12 Stingers, 3 Vines, and 3 Jungle Spores. This is the only other whip available in Pre-Hardmode, but it definitely pulls its weight when used correctly. On top of the other features of a whip, the Snapthorn also inflicts Poisoned onto its targets; in addition, each strike briefly increases your melee attack speed, allowing subsequent uses of this weapon to hit faster. This whip is particularly good at focusing down a single target with high HP, despite the AoE capability.

A select few mounts are actually summon weapons in disguise. The damage values on these mounts actually increase as you wear equipment that grants additional summon damage. If you decide to play a ‘pure Summoner’ that doesn’t use weapons, these mounts may prove beneficial to your means of protecting yourself in combat.

The Slimy Saddle has a 25% chance to be dropped from King Slime (and has a 50% chance of being obtained from his Expert Mode Treasure Bag). This is a mount item that lets you ride on a large Blue Slime. It’s able to jump much higher and faster than you, allowing it to scale cliffs with ease. It falls at a very fast speed, can lessen fall damage, and float on the surface of water. When you jump on an enemy with the Slime mount, they take 40 damage by default, though this damage is usually a bit less depending on the enemy’s defense. This is much easier to obtain than the Slime Staff, making it usually the first minion a player will encounter. Since this mount’s jump speed is so fast, its falling speed is faster than normal, making this mount a surprisingly good tool for falling downward quickly to avoid certain boss attacks, even in the lategame.

The Blessed Apple has a 2.5% chance (3.33% in Expert) of dropping from a Unicorn, a Hallow enemy. It summons a rideable Unicorn that can double jump, and it runs faster than most running boots. The Unicorn takes a couple seconds to build up speed without any interruptions; after a certain point, it will create a cloud of sparkles and begin sprinting, allowing it to impale any enemies it touches for 80 base damage. While dashing, the Unicorn reaches a top speed of 61 MPH, and gains a 1/10-second invulnerability when touching enemies, allowing you to ram through many enemies unscathed, but usually if the enemy dies in the process. This mount is ideal for those who use a long skybridge for travel or for charging through weak enemies; although Asphalt Blocks don’t affect the Unicorn’s speed.

The Ancient Horn is a 2% drop from Basilisks, which are dangerous Hardmode enemies in the Underground Desert. It allows you to ride a Basilisk that can double jump and deals 90 base damage, making it stronger than the Unicorn. Despite that the Basilisk can only run at 41 MPH, it needs to be traveling at least 10 MPH in order to deal damage, a much lesser windup time than the Unicorn. The Basilisk mount is much better suited for battle than the Unicorn because of how easy it is to hit enemies during the ride. The Unicorn takes too much time charging in order to be effective.
Just like the Unicorn, when the Basilisk lands a hit on an enemy, you gain 1/10th of a second of invulnerability. This allows you to knock down weak enemies without being touched, or, if you like having fun, bully worm enemies.
Additionally, when at least 27 feet underground, the Basilisk gives off a faint red glow.

At a few points in the game, you’ll have access to armor that benefits the Summoner, increasing your max number of minions and your minions’ damage. Summoning armor generally doesn’t have a whole lot of defense, but the fact that you can safely take out enemies from a distance with your minions’ DPS makes up for that.
Along the course of the game, most of the main Summoner armors are few and far between, so you would have to play large portions of the game without upgrading your armor.

Bee Armor:

• 13 Defense
• +2 Minion capacity
• +23% Minion damage

Bee Armor is the first summoning armor set, and is the only one obtainable before Hardmode. It requires a total of 30 Bee Wax to be crafted at an Anvil (8 for the headgear, 12 for the chestplate, and 10 for the greaves). Because this is the first summoning armor, you would be playing the game for a good while until finally reaching the Queen Bee, who drops the aforementioned Bee Wax. As well, you would be playing another good while until obtaining the next armor set up on the list.

Spider Armor:

• 20 Defense
• +3 Minion capacity
• +30% Minion damage

The Spider Armor can be obtained immediately after activating Hardmode. The full set requires 36 Spider Fangs (8 for the mask, 16 for the chestplate and 12 for the greaves), crafted at an Anvil. As it gives a bonus to both the minion cap and damage, it can go a long way in Hardmode. There are four appendages extending from behind the chestplate. If you’re wearing wings, the extra legs will likely cover it until you start flying, at which point the wings replace the appendages and show its flying animation.

Forbidden Armor:

• 26 Defense
• +2 Minion capacity
• +15% Minion damage
• +15% Magic damage
• +80 Mana
• Grants the ability to summon sand tornadoes by double-tapping Down

Perhaps one of the most peculiar Hardmode armors, the Forbidden Armor acts as a hybrid armor for both Mages and Summoners. The set is fully crafted with 3 Forbidden Fragments and 46 Adamantite or Titanium Bars (1/16 for the mask, 1/20 for the robes, 1/10 for the treads). Forbidden Fragments are dropped by Sand Elementals, rare Hardmode enemies that only spawn during a sandstorm. This essentially makes the Forbidden Armor a counterpart to the Frost Armor, which is a hybrid melee/ranged armor exclusive to the Hardmode blizzard. Forbidden Armor is an excellent choice if you don’t rely on your minions too much and prefer to use a wide arsenal of magic weapons.
When the full set is worn, a gold relic called the Forbidden Sign will float behind you, similar to the Stardust Guardian. When you double-tap your Down key, an Ancient Storm will be conjured on the ground below your cursor if it’s within your line of sight, at the cost of 20 Mana. The sandnado deals a rapid base damage of 25 to any enemies that pass through it, and lasts for around 15 seconds. Summoning another tornado or hitting enemies enough times with it will also cause it to despawn more quickly. The sandnado deals summon damage and is interestingly one of the only sources of summon damage capable of achieving critical hits.

Tiki Armor:

• 35 Defense
• +4 Minion capacity
• +30% Minion damage

Each piece of the Tiki Armor can be bought from the Witch Doctor, but only if you have the Pygmy Staff in your inventory. That means that Plantera has to be defeated. Each piece is worth 50 gold coins, totalling a hefty 1 platinum and 50 gold. It is very much worth it though, as the boost in defense and the extra minion is definitely helpful in the long run, as it keeps you alive much longer. It has the same damage percentage as the Spider Armor, but with the extra minion, that damage is technically indirectly boosted.

Spooky Armor:

• 30 Defense
• +4 Minion capacity
• +58% Minion damage
• +20% Movement speed

Spooky Armor is currently the strongest wood-based armor in the game, and can only be obtained from the Spooky Wood in the Pumpkin Moon event. Crafted at a Work Bench, the helmet requires 200 Spooky Wood, the chestplate requires 300 and the leggings require 250. In total, a whopping 750 Spooky Wood is needed, but that’s honestly not a whole lot, as Pumpkin Moon enemies drop it in large quantities. A successful run can net you well over a thousand.

Stardust Armor:

• 38 Defense
• +5 Minion capacity
• +66% Minion damage
• Summons a Stardust Guardian to fight alongside you

The legendary Stardust Armor is the ultimate summoning armor, being only obtainable after you have defeated the Moon Lord several times. Basically you have to beat the game. The full set requires an expensive 36 Luminite Bars and 45 Stardust Fragments (8/10 for the helmet, 16/20 for the plate, and 12/15 for the leggings) using the Ancient Manipulator. Upon wearing the full set with no vanity items covering the armor, you will shimmer brightly with an effect that’s much nicer than the Spooky Armor’s pulsing effect. This effect remains even when the armor is dyed, allowing for many epic looking combinations. Regardless of whether or not you’re wearing vanity items, this armor also glows white, almost like an infinite Shine Potion. Although it is not directly stated, the leggings and plate increase your minion cap by 2, while the helmet increases the cap by 1.
This armor’s set effect calls forth the Stardust Guardian, which doesn’t count towards your minion cap, to have your back at all times. However, it doesn’t attack on its own, unlike all the other minions; instead, you can direct it to a location by pointing your cursor somewhere over a block and double-tapping your Down key. The Guardian will move to that location and remain stationary there until you hold Down or move far away. When enemies come near the Guardian, he will activate an explosion of a small radius, damaging every enemy inside it. This will cause the enemies to go after him instead of you. Since minions can’t be damaged by anything, this is a great help, especially during invasions. Unfortunately, the Guardian’s damage is only about 20 at base, which is abysmal. The Guardian is also affected by pet dyes, so you might have some fun with that.

From what I have learned from a commenter as well as running my own tests, minions summoned with the Spooky Armor will keep their respective damage upon the initial summon. Meaning, if you were to quickly swap each piece with the Tiki Armor, such as by right-clicking it, you would be able to keep the first few minions’ damage, while still being allowed to summon the extra dude with the Tiki Armor’s slightly lower damage. In this way, you are able to keep all the damage boosts from the Spooky Armor while having the increased defense and extra minion of the Tiki Armor (more information on that in the ‘Prefixes’ section).

With the 1.3.4 update, Summoners now have a massive arsenal at their disposal. With the Dungeon Defenders 2 crossover event, many new items have become available. To access most of this content, you must buy them from the Tavernkeep, an NPC who specializes in trading through a specific currency called Defender Medals.
There are a total of eight Dungeon Defenders-themed armor sets… and they’re all for Summoners. The catch is that they mostly specialize in sentry minions, which aren’t the traditional minions that follow you.
Additionally, the armors are not specifically built only around minions, unlike the Spider and Tiki armors for example. They also include a vast array of other stats that players may find useful. These sets could be helpful for those who seek a balance between different classes of damage, or are curious about the world of summoning but aren’t quite ready to give up all of their other power. This also encourages players to fight alongside their minions just like the Forbidden Armor, though these are most useful during the Old One’s Army invasion.The following four armor sets cost 75 Defender Medals each, so 25 per piece. Medals are earned from fighting the Old One’s Army. The armor sets in this section must be bought from the Tavernkeep who sells everything you need to get the invasion started. He will start selling the armors after one mechanical boss has been defeated.

Squire Armor:

• 58 Defense
• +2 Sentry capacity
• Increased life regeneration
• +30% Minion damage
• +15% Melee damage
• +20% Melee critical strike chance
• +20% Movement speed
• Ballistas pierce more enemies and shoot faster when you take damage

A summoning armor with a lot of melee benefits. This set encourages you to use the Ballista weapons during invasions. When you take damage, you gain the Ballista Panic buff for 5 seconds; your currently-placed Ballistas will fire faster at enemies in a brief panic.

Apprentice Armor:

• 32 Defense
• +2 Sentry capacity
• +30% Minion damage
• +10% Magic damage
• -10% Mana usage
• +20% Movement speed (Incorrect in-game, it actually provides +20% magic crit chance)
• Additional Flameburst field of view and range

Apprentice Armor is similar to Forbidden Armor in that they are magic/summoning armor sets. However, they key differences are that: Apprentice Armor provides more defense, more minion damage, and reduced Mana costs, compared to Forbidden’s additional Mana and evenly-split magic and summon damage. The set specializes in Flameburst-type weapons which ought to be handy for enemy clusters.

Huntress Armor:

• 36 Defense
• +30% Minion damage
• +20% Ranged damage
• +10% Ranged critical strike chance
• +20% Movement Speed
• Explosive Traps recharge faster and oil enemies

This set is a blend of Summoner and Ranger armor, and it’s viable for Rangers who control areas with sentries. Huntress Armor can work well in situations where you need reliable crowd control while you go for a bigger enemy like a boss during an event. Since Explosive Trap sentries aren’t effective unless an enemy walks near them, the set effect makes them much more valuable and makes up for their slow recharge. When oiled, enemies will take more damage over time from fire-based debuffs such as On Fire, Frostburn, and Shadowflame.

Monk Armor:

• 46 Defense
• +2 Sentry capacity
• +30% Minion damage
• +20% Melee damage
• +20% Melee speed
• +10% Melee critical strike chance
• +20% Movement speed
• Lightning Auras can now deal criticals and attack faster

Monk Armor is a nifty set that works as a fast, hard-hitting attacker. It’s a melee set that relies on swift strikes, which works well with the new spears in 1.3.4. The Monk specializes in Lightning Auras; since each Lightning Aura can cover a wide area with a fast hitting, critically-damaging field, the Monk can become a formidable force on the battlefield.

The next four armors are unlocked after defeating the Golem, and can be bought for 225 Defender Medals per set; 75 per piece. Very expensive, but they can prove highly useful since they’re optimized to tackle invasions.

Valhalla Knight Armor:

• 68 Defense
• +3 Sentry capacity
• +60% Minion damage
• Greatly increased life regeneration
• +20% Melee critical strike chance
• +30% Movement speed
• Ballistas pierce more enemies and shoot faster when you take damage

Valhalla Knight Armor is an upgrade to Squire Armor, with the exception of the missing attack bonus. This is currently the highest summoning armor in terms of defense and it also makes a great armor for tanks. Upon taking damage, you’ll gain the Ballista Panic buff for 5 seconds, just like the Squire Armor, allowing your increased number of Ballistas to knock down everything in their way.

Dark Artist Armor:

• 42 Defense
• +3 Sentry Capacity
• +60% Minion damage
• +25% Magic damage
• +25% Magic critical strike chance
• Additional Flameburst field of view and range

The Dark Artist set specializes in high magic damage and critical hits, along with powerful Flamebursts. A player as a Dark Artist can keep safe with a group of Flamebursts that fire at enemies with fast shots from long distances, while the player utilizes their own enhanced magic abilities to blow everything down. The set provides no additional Mana or reduced Mana costs however, so you’ll probably have to make up for that with accessories, Mana potions, Mana regeneration, or weapon reforges that reduce Mana costs.

Red Riding Armor:

• 48 Defense
• +3 Sentry capacity
• +60% Minion damage
• +25% Ranged damage
• +10% Ranged critical strike chance
• +20% Movement speed
• Explosive Traps recharge faster and oil enemies

A direct upgrade to Huntress Armor, Red Riding Armor is an excellent choice for defensive Rangers. Since Rangers are supposed to hit fast and hard, the increased damage and crit chance are much appreciated. As usual, the respective sentry, the Explosive Trap, is enhanced to be more viable. Explosive Traps work well with this setup too; most Rangers will find themselves in the air, shooting at bosses, while the Explosive Traps take care of lesser enemies on the ground.

Shinobi Infiltrator Armor:

• 54 Defense
• +3 Sentry capacity
• +60% Minion damage
• +20% Melee damage
• +20% Melee speed
• +20% Melee critical strike chance
• +20% Movement speed
• Lightning Aura can now deal criticals and attacks faster

Shinobi Infiltrator Armor doesn’t have too many differences from the Monk set, except for more minion damage, sentry capacity, critical strike chance, and defense. They’re all relatively even, allowing for fairly high stats across the board. This armor set is meant for swift, up-front attackers, and is good enough to rival both Hallowed and Spooky Armor at the same time (despite the set applying to sentries instead of traditional minions). Like the Monk, Shinobi Infiltrator specializes in Lightning Auras, allowing them to potentially create an arena out of Lightning Auras that they can fight inside or use as a defense, leaving no enemy safe.

Well let’s be honest, every summoning item is useful in its own right. So I’ll just be throwing in all the items that benefit a Summoner that don’t belong in the weapons, armor, or accessories category.

The Summoning Potion allows you to summon an extra minion for 6 minutes, which can be very useful for boss fight preparations. To brew one, you need a Bottled Water, one Moonglow and one Variegated Lardfish at an alchemy station, meaning you would have to take up fishing to make a steady supply of these. The fish can be caught in the Underground Jungle’s lakes.

The Bewitching Table is an essential item released with the 1.3 update. When placed, you may right-click it to receive a buff that increases your minion cap by one for 10 minutes. It functions much like the Crystal Ball and Ammo Box. The Table is found in the Dungeon and functions as a table for valid housing. It’s also sold by the Witch Doctor for 10 gold when the Wizard is present. I recommend always having a Bewitching Table in your inventory if you’re a Summoner. It’s good for non-Summoners too, as having a little extra DPS is good for just about everyone; unless it’s a quick piercing minion that may interrupt your attacks. The Bewitching Table is like a free Summoning Potion, and the two stack as well.

Any item with the Well Fed buff slightly increases all your stats, on top of providing additional health regeneration in Expert Mode. Among these stats are a 5% overall damage increase, which affects minions as well, and an additional 50% minion knockback. The best of these items is the Pumpkin Pie, which lasts for 45 minutes and is made with 10 Pumpkins at a Furnace. Pumpkin Seeds can be bought from the Dryad for 2 and a half silver coins each, and planted on grass to eventually grow pumpkins. Each fully grown seed can yield far more than one pumpkin when harvested, though. Other items with this buff include Cooked Fish, Bowl of Soup, Bacon and many other consumables.
I recommend the Well Fed buff for any and/or all boss encounters.

The Wrath Potion is brewed with one Bottled Water, Ebonkoi, and Deathweed. Because the Ebonkoi is a fish exclusive to the Corruption biome, it normally cannot be caught in Crimson worlds unless you were to build your own Corruption using materials brought in from a Corruption world. The Wrath Potion increases all damage by 10% for 4 minutes; because this also applies to minions, it is recommended to use this just before the start of a major battle, and then summon your minions so that they receive this damage boost. Even after the potion wears off, the minions keep the extra damage indefinitely, until they are despawned.

A wide number of accessories in Terraria can provide a good help to Summoners, some of which are made purely for them. It’s always been difficult for me to choose a correct loadout of accessories, which is why I always keep some in my inventory in case I need to switch them out.
I usually find myself always having my Wings equipped at all times (with the exception of performing the ultimate loadout), since I often have to travel across my world for whatever reason. I used to have Frostspark Boots equipped, but eventually I replaced them with another accessory that benefits summoning.

First and foremost, the Summoner Emblem is one of the most important accessories for the Summoner. Introduced in 1.3, this Emblem is dropped by the Wall of Flesh at a 12.5% chance (25% chance on Expert Mode). Similar to the other Emblems, this increases your minion damage by 15%, which is a huge help for just about any stage in the game. Make sure to re-summon your minions after equipping it.

 These items are dropped uncommonly by Ogres during the Old One’s Army event. They are the Squire’s Shield, Apprentice’s Scarf, Huntress’s Buckler, and Monk’s Belt respectively. Their drop chances are about 8.33% on Tier 2, and 4.16% on Tier 3, with the drop chances being higher on Expert Mode. Each item increases your max number of sentry minions by 1, and your minion damage by 10%. These accessories’ effects don’t stack with one another, however.
The Squire Shield (and any other shield for that matter) can be used with the Brand of the Inferno (also dropped by Ogres) to parry attacks and grant you the Striking Moment buff for a couple of seconds, which powers up your next melee attack by 500%.

The Hercules Beetle is obtained by buying it from the Witch Doctor with a Pygmy Staff in your inventory, while he is living in a Jungle biome, for 40 gold. It increases the damage of your minions by 15% and increases their knockback. It can be combined with a Necromantic Scroll at a Tinkerer’s Workshop to create the Papyrus Scarab.

The Pygmy Necklace is an accessory that increases your max number of minions by one. It is bought from the Witch Doctor at night, while the Pygmy Staff is in your inventory, for another 40 gold. It serves no other purpose, so some players may want to replace it with a more useful accessory. I still prefer to keep mine on, however.

The Necromantic Scroll can be dropped from the Mourning Wood during the Pumpkin Moon. Its drop rate increases as you advance in the Pumpkin Moon, the highest being 20%. It increases your max number of minions by one and increases minion damage by 10%. It can be combined with the Hercules Beetle at the Tinkerer’s Workshop to create the Papyrus Scarab.

After being crafted, the Papyrus Scarab gives a bonus of one extra minion, 15% more minion damage and increases minion knockback. Essentially, this is a Hercules Beetle with an added space to the minion cap. It is possible to have a Hercules Beetle, Necromantic Scroll and Papyrus Scarab equipped all at once, increasing your max minions by 2, damage by 40% and knockback by, well, a lot. This item is a must-have for any dedicated Summoner.

And now, I shall mention a few accessories that can also help Summoners, but are not necessarily exclusive to minion bonuses.

The Avenger Emblem increases your total damage by 12%. It can be made by taking any Emblem and combining it with 5 Souls of Sight, Might and Fright. The Avenger Emblem gives a pure damage boost overall, meaning minions can also benefit from this. While the Destroyer Emblem is considered better with its 10% damage increase and +8% critical strike chance, it would mostly affect your own attacks. Minions cannot deal critical hits.

The Sun Stone and Moon Stone are essentially equal to the Celestial Stone in terms of stat increases; however, they only function during the day or night, respectfully. The Celestial Stone keeps those stat increases regardless of the time of day. The Moon Stone is an uncommon drop from Vampires during a Solar Eclipse, with a 1% drop rate, while the Sun Stone drops from the Golem at a 12.5% chance.

The Celestial Stone is created by combining a Sun Stone and a Moon Stone at the Tinkerer’s Workshop. It increases all your stats, including +10% melee speed, 2% critical strike chance, +1 HP per second of life regeneration, 4 defense, 15% mining speed, 50% minion knockback and 10% damage. As this is a pure damage increase, this also applies to minions. Many late-game characters prefer to use this item, as its overall stat increase helps in almost every situation. It can also be combined with the Moon Shell to create the Celestial Shell.

The Celestial Shell is an item that is made by combining the Celestial Stone and Moon Shell at the Tinkerer’s Workshop, and it retains the abilities of both items. This requires you to have obtained the Sun Stone, Moon Stone, Neptune’s Shell, and Moon Charm. The Neptune’s Shell is no longer craftable, and instead is dropped from the Creature from the Deep, an enemy from the Solar Eclipse, at a 2% chance (3% on Expert). Moon Charms are dropped from Werewolves, which only spawn at night during a full moon in Hardmode, at a 1.67% chance. The Celestial Shell is a highly helpful item when fighting in the ocean, since you’ll be able to transform into a merfolk when entering water, and swim very quickly.

I also give a special shoutout to the Demon Heart. While not an accessory on its own, consuming it allows you to gain a sixth accessory slot. This allows for a lot of powerful accessory combinations, and is a huge help to all characters, not just Summoners. This item can only be obtained from the Wall of Flesh’s Treasure Bag on Expert Mode. You won’t gain any more Demon Hearts after you’ve used it, and you can’t use more than one. You also can’t use your sixth accessory slot on normal mode worlds. The Demon Heart is required in order to perform the ultimate summoning loadout, so if you plan to make a Summoner, perhaps you wanna try Expert Mode while you’re at it.

Not all loadouts are going to work for everyone, so feel free to switch these around as you progress through the game. Like I said earlier, I had Frostspark Boots only temporarily, and the Butterfly Wings never even moved from its spot until I obtained the Fishron Wings much, much later. But if you were to fill up your five/six slots with nothing but summoning accessories, you’d be a nearly unstoppable minion master.

A very important tip when it comes to Summoner items: the Witch Doctor is your best friend! (And the Goblin Tinkerer if you wanna perfect your setup)
(Has anyone else noticed he’s holding a Pygmy Staff?)