Dart Rifle Review

Today we will be taking a look at the Dart Rifle and why it's probably one of the most useful arms you can get your greasy hands on.

Overview

Dart Rifle is a weapon that can be obtained in early Hardmode, straight after defeating the Wall of Flesh. It deals ranged damage and fires a special type of ammunition called Darts. Only 3 weapons can fire this ammunition, other being the Blowpipe, Blowgun and the crimson counterpart of the Dart Rifle, Dart Pistol.

It is dropped by the Corrupt Mimic in the Underground Corruption biome. It has a 20% chance of dropping.

Dart Rifle has 63 base damage, 5.5 base knockback and use time of 38, which is considered very slow.

Dart Rifle's modifiers follow the regular ranged/universal prefixes and the best prefix it can get is Unreal.

Potential

Dart Rifle, as it was already said, can be collected instantly after entering Hardmode. The only handicap that is limiting you from getting it is that you need to defeat at least 1 Corrupt Mimic and Underground Corruption isn't really welcoming for fresh outta Pre-Hardmode players.

Since the Dart Rifle is a very early Hardmode weapon, it doesn't need crazy damage bonuses from ranged accesories to be effective.

The Dart Rifle can fire 5 different types of darts: Seeds, Poison Darts, Crystal Darts, Ichor Darts and Cursed Darts. All darts can be crafted with minimal materials, consuming 1 of the material giving 100 darts in the process.

Seed

Yes, the Dart Rifle can fire seeds. And vice versa, the Blowpipe and Blowgun can fire darts. That doesn't mean it's any good. Seeds offer the least amount of damage for the Dart Rifle and there's no reason to use them.

Poison Dart

Second to worst. Can be acquired in Pre-Hardmode so it's damage is weak, but it's better than the seed's damage. Also inflicts a DoT debuff.

Ichor Dart

This is where the darts start to be on the equal ground, just that each dart is good for different things. Ichor Darts are very good at reliably inflicting Ichor to enemies/bosses when one has no good way of doing so (Melee/Summoner).

Cursed Dart

These darts rain Cursed Flames as they travel which makes them good at crowd control during events. This also makes it good at dealing some good damage to the Destroyer.

Crystal Dart

One of the best darts for crowd control. Very effective in closed spaces. The darts bounce off enemies or surfaces up to 6 times. Also it tries to ricochet towards the closest enemy. This also happens when it hits an enemy. This means that the dart can bounce between 2 enemies if it's close enough. This dart is in fact so powerful that I once ventured into the Jungle Temple and looted it before I had even defeated the 3 mechanical bosses.

Flaws

The Dart Rifle, while having high damage for an early Hardmode weapon, is a very slow weapon, which could leave you defenseless while you panic fire it everywhere as the enemy is speeding towards you.

It is also not a good weapon for bosses with the Stormbow, Uzi, Onyx Blaster and even the Tier 3 Hardmode Ore Repeaters outranking it by a mile, while being avalaible before taking on the first mechanical boss. If we're talking about the effectiveness after beating one mechanical boss, Phantom Phoenix and Megashark also outclass this weapon.

It also cannot recieve the direct damage bonus from the Shroomite helmets, no matter what helmet you wear. It can however recieve the stealth bonus.

You also cannot use the Sniper Scope with the Dart Rifle.

Conclusion and Quick Recap

The Dart Rifle is an excellent choice for navigation around the map and exploring the dangerous areas, being the Hardmode Jungle, Jungle Temple and the post-Plantera Dungeon. This weapon loses it's effectiveness during the Lunar Events, but that's still insane for a weapon that can be collected instantly after defeating WoF. I usually beat the Moon Lord with this weapon in my hotbar, (if playing ranged).

Here is a quick recap of the flaws, strong points and overall stats:

The Dart Rifle
Damage: 63
Knockback: 5.5
Use time: 38
Base velocity: 14.5 mph
Base crit chance: 4%
Ammo used: Darts

Strong points:
+Can be acquired very early in Hardmode
+High damage
+Excellent crowd control tool (if Cursed/Crystal Darts)
+Reliable way to inflict Ichor (if Ichor Darts)
+Doesn't require damage bonuses from the Ranged class accesories/armor in order to be used effectively
+Ammo can be made in bulk with little materials
+Can still be very effective before the Lunatic Cultist

Flaws:
-Slow speed
-Killing a strong enemy required at least once
-Outclassed by many other weapons on the same level in beating bosses
-Unable to recieve Shroomite specific ammo type damage bonuses from the helmets

[Just Another Reaper Leviathan]

"Yes, the Dart Rifle can fire seeds. And vice versa,"
the seeds can fire dart rifles?

[Ace No Spades]

I liked the old reskin better