What is the best class in terraria?

[Heather]

What do you think is the best, from start to finish and least likely to die?

The melee has the most defense and has some fairly powerful weapons. But he lacks against the mechanical bosses.

Ranged seems to be the most balanced. He has the 2nd highest defense, very good damage, and good against all bosses.

Magic seems to be... Different. It can be very effective, but is slightly lacking against hardmode
bosses, and has the 2nd lowest defense, but overall a great class.

Summoner, in my opinion, is the worst class. He has the lowest defense and has good damage against enemies, but his defense is so low he dies extremely easily. He can't do much against bosses of any kind if he doesn't have endgame gear.

[Seraphita]

So far, I tested all of them in end gear except maybe summoner which I am slowly building and I can say they all have their strength and weakness. Which is obvious. The melee can take more hits and hits strong. The mechanical bosses will die if we use a melee/aoe weapon but the good ones won't come until later.

The ranged is the obvious "don't fight close" character type. Stay away, avoid things and shoot everything dead. It's mid defensive so it can take hits except it won't last long in a closed area unless well protected by all enemy attacks. Good otherwise if fast and keeping distance.

The mage is OP but lacks defense in earlier parts of the games so it's very hard to use. Especially when we think about how much MPs it requires to be efficient. Good class but very hard to start with. Only really amazing later.

The summoner, didn't test so far but same as mage. Won't do too well as a starter but looks very great endgame as long as you do everything to protect the caster and leave the summons to do the battles for you.

[Pixel Peeper]

They have different strong points.

Warriors have the most Defense, respectable attack power and zero resource management. It's a well-rounded no-hassle class.

Rangers have less Defense and require minor resource management, but they do potentially have much more attack power. The skill level needed is mostly linked to your willingness to farm Chlorophyte bullets.

Sorcerers have excellent DPS and, with Nebula, are the only real support class available in Terraria. However the resource management is a pain and Defense is very low. So it does require moderate skill as well, especially since many of the weapons are awkward to use.

Summoners are... something. Maybe. I don't know. Potentially good damage, garbage survivability. I'll agree, definitely the worst class.

There's something positive to say about all three real classes. They're different, hard to say a particular one is "the best".

[skippleshd]

From start to finish is an odd way to rank them. I usually use a hybrid as I'm sure most people do. Also unless you are super stuck on the novelty of sticking with a single class, endgame is where people generally concern themselves with "best" anything.

While progressing I got the most mileage out of ranged weaponary if I had to pick. However as I progressed I found myself leaning more towards melee because I really like the survivability and late game weapons they get.

Summoner really isn't a thing til well into hardmode so its hard to throw in there. Also they seem terribly underwhelming. IMHO summoners need a way to justify their super low defense, maybe with added mobility options or at least a way to have your minions target things you want.

Other than that Tripoteur pretty much has it right, they have their quirks, none of them are really better than the others. Your playstyle will dictate most effective class.

[Heather]

Which one would be the most effective in an expert hardcore mode playthrough?

[zomeese]

Start with ranger, then mid game go with tank, then end game go with mage.
That works out best for me

[Seraphita]

I'd agree that ranger can be a good start since things are not all quite hard first and you can play safe by shooting from afar. Later on, none are really best. It depends on the weapons you find, the armors you use and the accessories you have. Then your own playstyle.

[Bamblok]

Is it just me, or is mage the worst class?

Magic weapons that are praised like the Shadowbeam Staff, Heat Ray, Rainbow Rod, and Rainbow Gun don't seem to do all that much.

For example, the first two and the last one seem to only be effective against The Destroyer, and you get those weapons AFTER defeating The Destroyer.

I guess I wouldn't know because I've never played as a mage before, but still.

It seems like until you get past Golem, most of the magic weapons just do little damage per hit while draining all off your mana.

[zomeese]

Last prism will ♥♥♥♥ on you rlreid44

[Bamblok]

Originally posted by Zomeese:

Last prism will ♥♥♥♥ on you rlreid44

"Until you get past Golem"

The post-Golem magic weapons are awesome, like the Lunar weapons, Razorblade Typhoon, bubble gun, and Razorpine. but Golem/pre-Golem, they kind of suck.

I feel like Waterbolt, Magical Harp, and Magnet Sphere are the only good pre-Golem magic weapons. Unless I'm missing something.

[VagueCryptid]

They have added in 1.3 the Meteor Staff, which is basically the Daedalus Stormbow, except for mages. Rains powerful meteors on your foes. I used it against Destroyer once, worked out ok. Maybe combine that with a Demon Scythe or something for more direct damage, until you get better stuff.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by rlreid44:

Is it just me, or is mage the worst class?

Magic weapons that are praised like the Shadowbeam Staff, Heat Ray, Rainbow Rod, and Rainbow Gun don't seem to do all that much.

For example, the first two and the last one seem to only be effective against The Destroyer, and you get those weapons AFTER defeating The Destroyer.

I guess I wouldn't know because I've never played as a mage before, but still.

It seems like until you get past Golem, most of the magic weapons just do little damage per hit while draining all off your mana.

People have been giving huge credit to things like Shadowbeam Staff and Terra Blade, presumably because they have cool factor or high status. Those weapons are bad, however, and so they should not be used as reference points for how well a class performs.

It's true that there are few decent Magic weapons before Plantera, which is probably why they added things like the Shadowflame Hex Dolls and Crystal Serpent which are quite good considering you can get them right away in Hardmode.

[Bamblok]

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

Originally posted by rlreid44:

Is it just me, or is mage the worst class?

Magic weapons that are praised like the Shadowbeam Staff, Heat Ray, Rainbow Rod, and Rainbow Gun don't seem to do all that much.

For example, the first two and the last one seem to only be effective against The Destroyer, and you get those weapons AFTER defeating The Destroyer.

I guess I wouldn't know because I've never played as a mage before, but still.

It seems like until you get past Golem, most of the magic weapons just do little damage per hit while draining all off your mana.

People have been giving huge credit to things like Shadowbeam Staff and Terra Blade, presumably because they have cool factor or high status. Those weapons are bad, however, and so they should not be used as reference points for how well a class performs.

It's true that there are few decent Magic weapons before Plantera, which is probably why they added things like the Shadowflame Hex Dolls and Crystal Serpent which are quite good considering you can get them right away in Hardmode.

Not sure how Terra Blade is a bad weapon, but ok.

[skippleshd]

Originally posted by rlreid44:

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

People have been giving huge credit to things like Shadowbeam Staff and Terra Blade, presumably because they have cool factor or high status. Those weapons are bad, however, and so they should not be used as reference points for how well a class performs.

It's true that there are few decent Magic weapons before Plantera, which is probably why they added things like the Shadowflame Hex Dolls and Crystal Serpent which are quite good considering you can get them right away in Hardmode.

Not sure how Terra Blade is a bad weapon, but ok.

For the effort it takes to get it and the other options available Terra blade isn't anything to write home about.

[ijones72(ninja08)]

Originally posted by skippleshd:

Originally posted by rlreid44:

Not sure how Terra Blade is a bad weapon, but ok.

For the effort it takes to get it and the other options available Terra blade isn't anything to write home about.

it doesnt take that much effort to get
summon a solar eclipse,kill a mothron or 2 combine and boom tera blade.
pretty easy to get imo

[Celator]

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

Summoners are... something. Maybe. I don't know. Potentially good damage, garbage survivability. I'll agree, definitely the worst class.

I take quite a bit of exception to this. As I've said before, of course summoners fall behind when it comes to bosses, mainly because of their low survivability, but for the 99% of the game that is exploring, mining, and building, they are far and away the best class. The other classes can't even compare.

So, yes, if all that you care about in Terraria is fighting bosses and endgame events, then summoner is not the class for you. However, there's a lot more to Terraria than just that, so you can't make blanket statements like that without taking everything into account.