It’s good to choose a class before you start chopping down trees and killing slimes in Terraria. In Terraria, world-eating bosses and even lowly zombies are invincible without the right gear. So picking a class early will give you more time to pick up the class-specific gear and accessories you need. There are four main classes in Terraria: melee, ranged, mage, and summoner. Each of these classes has a unique playstyle. This guide will help you decide which class to choose while listing the best gear for each class.
melee class
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The Melee class is the most basic in Terraria. Melee classes are characterized by the use of swords, spears, yoyos or boomerangs. You’ll need decent gear for increased defense since you’re close to enemies and weapons that deal enough damage to make that closeness worthwhile. With this class, you’ll want to equip mobility items like grappling hooks that allow you to get within melee range of enemies. Melee classes won’t need to focus on mana, making them an easy class for beginners.
game start
This is the recommended gear before facing your first big boss.
- Armor – Ancient Shadow
- Weapon – Ball O’ Hurt
- Accessories:
- shark tooth necklace
- wild claws
- regeneration ring
- cloud in a bottle
- Hermes Boots
The old Shadow Armor set increases melee attack speed, and the Ball O’ Hurt is a great early game weapon that gives you plenty of options for melee or ranged attacks.
half the game
This is before fighting the Plantera boss. Focus on farming the jungle biomes as they give you great loot.
- Armor – Turtle game
- Weapon – True Knight’s Edge
- Accessories:
- mechanic’s glove
- avenger emblem
- Ankh Shield
- Boots of Icy Sparks
- frozen wings
The Turtle Armor set boosts all defense stats and True Knight’s Edge is the perfect combo weapon with a bit of ranged ability.
End of Game
This will be your ideal setup. This gear is acquired by defeating the toughest enemies in the game.
- Armor – Solar Flare Set
- Weapon – Zenith
- Accessories:
- glove of fire
- Ankh Shield
- solar wings
- celestial shell
- ninja master team
This phenomenal armor reduces all incoming damage, and the Zenith Sword is a phenomenal weapon that sends shards flying in front of you, dealing damage to anything in its path.
wizard class
A mage relies heavily on Magicka and benefits from any equipment that increases magic damage. Keep an eye out for lost stars as they can be used to upgrade your maximum mana pool. Mages generally can’t take too much damage, so they tend to hang back and focus on equipping and using weapons that increase their power and how often they can attack.
game start
- Armor – Jungle game
- Weapon – Space Weapon
- Accessories:
- magnet flower
- regeneration ring
- Mana Regeneration Band
- cloud in a bottle
- shiny red balloon
The Jungle Set is a good early game armor that has decent defense and magic buffs. The Space Gun is great for the early game with high damage and fast auto-fire.
half the game
- Armor – Meteor Set
- Weapon – Space Weapon
- Accessories:
- magnet flower
- frozen wings
- mana flower
- Boots of Icy Sparks
- wizard’s emblem
The Space Gun is good enough to get you this far, and the Meteor Set is great armor that actually buffs you in a variety of ways to help keep you going.
game over
- Armor – Nebula Set
- Weapon – Lunar Flare
- Accessories:
- Crystal ball
- wizard’s emblem
- Ankh Shield
- ninja master team
- stardust wings
The biggest mid-game build upgrade is the Nebula armor. This armor increases your mana, magic damage, and magic critical strike.
ranger class
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Rangers like to keep their distance and don’t deal as much burst damage as melee or magic builds. What they do have, however, is consistent damage that comes in handy in every boss fight. Make sure to collect bullets where you can because you don’t want to run out of ammo during a heated battle. Most of his ultimate weapons aren’t ammo dependent, which is a blessing when hitting the toughest bosses.
game start
- Armor – Set of fossils
- Weapon – Demonic Bow
- Accessories:
- shark tooth necklace
- Flying Carpet
- regeneration ring
- cloud in a bottle
- Hermes Boots
The Fossil Armor set improves all ammo damage, and the Demon Bow is a huge improvement over gold or platinum bows, both in power and range.
half the game
- Armor – Huntress Vest
- Weapon – Minitburon
- Accessories:
- magic quiver
- avenger emblem
- shield of cthulhu
- frozen wings
- boots of icy sparks
Huntress’ Jerkin gives all your ammo an even bigger boost, and Minishark fires bullets with a small chance to consume no ammo on certain hits.
game over
- Armor – Vortex Armor
- Weapon – SDMG
- Accessories:
- sunk quiver
- Scope of recognition
- celestial shell
- ninja master team
- rangers emblem
Vortex Armor is great because it boosts ranged weapons and stealth mode attacks. SDMG, on the other hand, fires with a 50% chance that no ammo will be consumed.
summoner class
Summoner is technically a secondary class, so it’s not like many people know or care about him. However, summoning minions is a perfectly legitimate way to defeat bosses and enemies. Minions can do a lot for you, as these builds demonstrate. A summoner’s weapon will be either a whip or a staff, but the danger of using this class lies in the damage you can take. Summoners can’t take many hits before being knocked down, so you need to know how to play with the strengths of this class.
game start
- Armor – Flinx fur coat
- Weapon – Slime stick
- Accessories:
- Hermes boots
- cloud in a bottle
The Flinx Fur Coat buffs minion damage, while the Slime Staff summons a Baby Slime that will hunt enemies, dealing touch damage over time.
half the game
- Armor -Obsidian Set
- Weapon – Leprechaun Staff
- Accessories:
The Obsidian Armor set is, at this point, the best set for minion damage, and the Imp Staff summons imps that shoot enemies also applying a debuff. The Pygmy Necklace is great because it has a +1 minion effect, improving everything about your minion.
game over
- Armor – Stardust game
- Weapon – Stardust Dragon Staff
- Accessories:
- celestial shell
- papyrus beetle
- Summoner’s Emblem
The Stardust Armor set has a colossal minion buff, and the Stardust Dragon Staff summons a Stardust Dragon to the field to attack your enemies. It can fly through blocks and deal damage over time to any enemies you encounter. The Celestial Shell accessory boosts all stats, as well as minion recoil and speed.
Terraria offers over 4,000 different items, so any build can be adjusted to meet your specific needs. Try not to stray too far from this list, as the later bosses in the game can be incredibly difficult on higher settings. If you’re hoping to find a build that will get you through hard mode, we recommend one of the midgame builds outlined in this guide.
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