As well as checking out the PvP Manager and Armor Spreadsheet for weapon and armor differences.
Introduction
You may wonder why mid-high level PvPers fill their entire hotbar with weapons, and why they use all of them (with varying degrees of usage, of course).
This is because each weapon fills a specific role, from common situations like being close to your opponent to rare scenarios like when your opponent is camping behind a wall far away.
Weapon Archetypes are what roles these weapons fit. There are 5 Archetypes in total:
Pokes, Mid-Range, Close Range, Area Coverage, Anti-Rush and Wall Pierce.
Understanding Weapon Archetypes is important for making a good loadout, so consider this guide a precursor to my loadout making guide.
Pokes
Pokes, also known as Long-Range weapons, are weapons that are best suited for when your opponent is more than ½ a screen away, or off your screen.
Pokes are typically high damage, very high velocity, single-hit weapons that serve an obvious purpose: hit opponents when they are out of range from your mid-range weapons.
Pokes don’t necessarily have to be single-hit weapons, you can technically use certain mid-range weapons like Laser Rifle or Stake Launcher at long range, however, it’s best to use weapons that aren’t difficult to constantly aim with, like slow, single-hit weapons.
The best Poke is undoubtedly the Sniper Rifle, due to its reliability and extra utility with the built-in scope it has, which effectively increases your visible range.
Melee has two good pokes, being Combat Wrench and Sargeant United Shield. Sergeant United Shield has less range compared to Combat Wrench, just barely enough to be a good poke, but it has high velocity and it can be used more often due to how fast it returns.
Daybreak has good range and can be used often, but the velocity is low enough so that it can be dodged more easily than other pokes.
Sniper Rifle and Tsunami are the best Ranger pokes. Tsunami is fast and spammable with good range, but it’s not as good as a poke as Sniper Rifle due to arrow gravity.
Mage doesn’t have much in terms of pokes, except for the Orange Zapinator, but even that is unreliable due to how ping-dependent the shot is.
Mid-Range
Mid-Ranges are for when your opponent is too far away for close-range weapons, but close enough so that you can constantly aim, making pokes a less damaging option.
Mid-Range is the range you are at most often in PvP, meaning your mid-range should be your most reliable tool. Mid-Ranges have the most balanced stats, having average speed, damage, velocity, etc. Again, they are typically reliable tools.
True Excalibur’s projectiles fit within this criteria, however, if you have a melee focused kit, with enough melee speed, your close-range weapons can become mid-ranges. With enough melee speed, you can hit someone with Paladin’s Hammer or Light Disc, while not having to worry about the weakness of close-range weapons, that being susceptibility to anti-rush.
Ranger’s two most reliable mid-ranges are Clockwork Assault Rifle and Stake Launcher. Both of these have advantages and disadvantages over each other. Clockwork Assault Rifle is hitscan, but it hits less often, while Stake Launcher fires faster, but has less base damage.
Aside from these tools, Ranger has some more niche mid-range tools, like Chlorophyte Shotbow, Onyx Blaster, Tactical Shotgun, and the single-hit bows (Marrow, Hallowed Repeater, etc.).
Mage’s two most reliable mid-ranges are Heat Ray and Laser Rifle. Heat Ray fires faster and has higher velocity, while Laser Rifle has higher damage.
Like Ranger, Mage has a lot of other niche mid-range weapons, like Venom Staff, Nebula Blaze, and sometimes Aqua Scepter, depending on where your opponent is positioned.
Close-Range
Close-Range weapons, also known as Rush weapons, are the most straightforward and easiest to understand weapon archetype. Close Range weapons are used when your opponent is < 15 blocks away from you.
Close-Range weapons tend to have the highest DPS out of all weapon categories, but are limited by range.
As I alluded to before, all close-range weapons have the weakness of leaving you vulnerable to anti-rush, however, some close-range weapons can out-range some anti-rush weapons, which doesn’t make this a bad category of weapons.
Paladin’s Hammer is the go-to meta close-range weapon, mostly due to its reliability, velocity and DPS. Melee does have some other decent close-range tools, like Possessed Hatchet and Light Disc.
Ranger has the weakest close-range tools, which is compensation for having the best mid-long range tools. Flamethrower and Elf Melter are the best tools Ranger has, with Flamethrower having slightly higher DPS but slightly less range than Elf Melter.
Mage’s best close-range weapons are Aqua Scepter and Shadowflame Hex Doll. Hex Doll has insane damage but semi-inconsistent range, while Aqua Scepter has better range but less damage.
The most viable Summoner weapon, Dark Harvest, is a close-range weapon, as well as all the other viable whips.
Subcategory: Point-Blank
Point-Blank weapons trade off even more range for even higher damage. They are typically used when you are right next to your opponent, and they have very high DPS.
While the range of Point-Blank weapons are similar to Anti-Rush weapons, the difference between the two archetypes is that Point-Blanks are used offensively, while Anti-Rush weapons are defensive tools.
This category is reserved for DG PvP’s most viable broadsword and spear-like weapons. Breaker Blade, Chlorophyte Claymore, and True Night’s Edge are some of the best broadswords, while Starlight, Mushroom Spear and Ghastly Glaive are some of the best spear-like weapons.
Area Coverage
Area Coverage weapons aren’t the most straightforward weapons, but they are still useful tools.
Area Coverage weapons are weapons that fire projectiles that can fill a certain area, sometimes areas that don’t allow you to hit your opponent with a close-mid range weapon reliably, like partially behind a wall or at a far distance. Area Coverage weapons are also used as area denial weapons, forcing your opponent to dodge them by going to a specific location.
The thing that most area coverage weapons have in common is that they can fire a lot of projectiles and cover a lot of area with projectiles. Damage can vary, but it’s typically similar to mid-range weapons, depending on how much area the weapon covers.
Melee does not have a lot of area coverage weapons, the two most used ones are True Night’s Edge and Drippler Crippler. TNE has large, spammable projectiles, while Drippler Crippler has spammable projectiles with high gravity.
Ranger’s best area coverage weapon is Aerial Bane, due to the high damage, gravity, as well as covering a lot of space. Some other viable area coverage weapons include Chlorophyte Shotbow for its spammability, Tactical Shotgun for its spread, and Toxikarp for its very low velocity and insane spammability.
Mage has some of the best area coverage tools. Betsy’s wrath has high velocity and gravity, and although it doesn’t cover a lot of area, it can hit multiple times in one shot, giving it very high DPS. Razorpine is similar to Betsy’s Wrath, but with less damage and more projectiles.
Bat Scepter fires a large amount of slow bats which travel very far, making it an area coverage weapon that can be used at long-range. Blizzard Staff fires a lot of projectiles at the cursor, and Nebula Blaze fires a lot of high velocity, high spread, large projectiles.
Anti-Rush
Anti-Rush is the most niche archetype of weapons, serving the most specific purpose. As the name implies, Anti-Rush weapons are used as a defensive tool when someone is being aggressive towards you, staying at close range.
Anti-Rush weapons typically fire slow, high damage, and most importantly, long-lasting projectiles, making them poor offensive tools, but great defensive utility weapons.
Ice Sickle is the premiere melee anti-rush weapon, firing a single, long lasting, high damage projectile. Light Disc and Possessed Hatchet and their slow moving projectiles can also be used as an anti-rush.
Because of Ranger’s lack of good close-range tools, Ranger’s best anti-rush is Toxikarp, which fires slow, long lasting, high damage projectiles, but it’s unreliable due to the projectile’s properties.
Mage’s premiere anti-rush is Bubble Gun, with its above average DPS compared to other anti-rush weapons.
Crystal Vile Shard also has high DPS, but it covers a less reliable range, making it more easily dodgeable.
Wall Pierce
Wall Pierce weapons are the rarest type of weapon archetype, as not many weapons have wall piercing properties. Because of its rarity, there are not a lot of good options, but it’s recommended that you have one in your loadout.
Wall Pierce weapons are weapons that can hit people behind walls, either directly or indirectly. The type of projectile can vary, the only thing that these weapons have in common is that they can wall pierce.
Solar Eruption and Flying Dragon are pretty much the only melee wall piercing weapons, but they are both very reliable for wall piercing, although Solar Eruption has a limited range.
Ranger’s best wall pierce option is Pulse Bow, as its bouncing projectiles can be fired at trajectories where they will end up behind walls. Nano Bullets have a similar effect, however, they are not recommended due to their slower velocity than Luminite and High-Velocity Bullets.
Mage has the most wall pierce options, with Stellar Tune, the best wall pierce weapon, Blizzard Staff, Rainbow Rod and Magic Missile to name a few.
Summoner has the most of one specific type of wall pierce, that being sentries. Sentries deal contact damage, meaning you can place them anywhere on screen, typically directly on someone. Rainbow Crystal Staff is the best for this, with its good damage and ability to float. Staff Of The Frost Hydra and Ballista Staff are the best grounded sentries.
Also, despite seeming like it, whips do not hit opponents through walls.
Conclusion
As I mentioned before, this guide is a precursor to my making loadouts guide. It is recommended that you have at least one weapon from each category in your loadout.
I am willing to answer any questions regarding what archetype certain weapons fall under.