Is the Sanguine Staff the best pre-plantera summon?

[Red Purger]

I've been trying out various summoning staffs in hardmode pre-plantera, like the spider staff, pirate staff, blade staff, optic staff, and sanguine staff. The sanguine staff seems to stand out spectacularly both against bosses and common enemies alike. I really want to like the blade staff, but it seems as thought it just lags behind in damage. Even with whip + ichor flask. Optic Staff also seems good against bosses, but the eyes lag behind a lot while kiting, and they have a tendency to get stuck on things, which is unfortunate.

Can't really find a consensus on this anywhere. I see a lot of mixed opinions online. Some say that the blade staff is better when supported properly, others say the Sanguine staff is just better all around, and then there are some who claim the Optic Staff has the highest DPS due to having double the minions, half of which are ranged.

[thatguyarvin]

I like to switch between that and blade staff depending on the amount of defense the enemy has

[theworld]

No, this is: https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Tempest_Staff

But the long answer is, it depends. Sanguine has the best target tracking, it does not miss. If the target is fast it's the best.

If it's mostly static, like the Plantera, then other options are better.

The blade staff requires whip stacking to be competitive, so that is for strong, experienced players only.

Originally posted by Red Purger:

ichor flask

Cursed is better, as its trivial to apply Ichor with Golden Shower, and it's very obvious when it's gone. Only use Ichor if you are playing under strict self-imposed class restrictions where you can't use non-summon type weapons.

Post-Plantera use the Venom flask.