To preface, not all of these ideas are meant to be entirely serious, but suggestions to stir-up and change the PvP scene. I feel like too many weapons have either been nerfed, banned, or inconsequentially changed. So much precautionary deliberation is taken to prevent the introduction of an overtuned or spammy weapon, which in my opinion, only pidgeon holes the weapon meta to the same few weapons that have been used for years.
I’d rather there be some overtuned and even annoyingly spammy or gimmicky weapons. If some players complain, so be it. Uneven gameplay makes for a more dynamic and interesting experience, and besides, I think it’s best to deliberately experiment with overtuned weapons to do a temperature check before finetuning or banning them.
At the request of Beetle, here is a list of some general weapon ideas I have for PvP.
Unique Weapon Ideas
Trimarang
Make each boomerang deal 60-70 base damage and buff their velocity. The idea is to have a weapon with similar functionality to the Combat Wrench but with multi-hit potential
- Because there’s only three projectiles and the return speed of the boomerang projectile is rather slow, it’s possible to fine tune the Trimarang to be not as spammy as the Light Discs.
- Moreover, I’m not sure if buffing velocity will improve its slow return speed to make it viable, so sitem testing is necessary.
Space Gun
Buff the Space Gun to be a slower shooting but harder hitting alternative to the Laser Rifle that deals somewhere around 70-90 base damage – I think 80 would be about right.
- Unlike the Laser Rifle or Heat Ray, the Space Gun has an extremely low mana cost of 6, giving it more spam potential.
- Were Meteor Armor to be buffed, there is spam synergy; though I don’t imagine anything like this ever being implemented.
Flintlock Pistol
Can be buffed to be a weaker version of old Revolver, what was once a powerful and spammy alternative to the Sniper Rifle. To this end, it can be buffed to have a cap of 100-130 damage.
- Its velocity is 5 compared to the Revolver’s 16, so it will be harder to aim with bullets besides High Velocity.
- Has a UT of 16 which is quicker than the Revolver’s UT of 22.
- A similar weapon to consider is The Undertaker with a UT of 20 and velocity of 6
- Another interesting contender is the Snowball Cannon with a UT of 19 and velocity of 11 with drastically different projectile ballistics and shorter overall range.
Bouncy Grenade
If buffed to deal around 70–90 base damage, it will have similar functionality to the Jack 'O Lantern Launcher or Cursed Flames without as much horizontal spread in comparison.
- This suggestion is a bit out there, but I’d like to see more experimentation with thrown ranger weapons to expand weapon variety.
Gimmicky Weapon Ideas
Harpoon
Buff its velocity and increase its base damage to around 200-250 (yes, it may have one- or two-shot potential with Orichalcum Armor).
- Once fired, the player cannot switch to any other weapon
- It’s essentially a high risk / high reward ranger weapon the has short range antithetical to the ranger playstyle – keeping distance.
- Depending on how its velocity is scaled, it can function similarly to the 1.3 Piranha Gun, pre-nerf Flower Pow, Anchor, or something else entirely.
Piranha Gun
With a damage cap somewhere around 100-150 and tremendously boosted velocity, it will resemble its old 1.3 counterpart with its blazingly fast and buggy hit/miss projectile with a new shotgun-like effect.
- Once this weapon is fired, the player cannot switch weapons.
- This suggestion in particular is intentionally pushing the envelope, but whether or not these buffs are implemented, I’d like to see more weapon experimentation to this extent.
Chlorophyte Claymore
Redesign the weapon by nerfing the blade damage and buffing the projectile velocity and damage cap to create something similar to a melee Ale Tosser.
- Due to the idiosyncratic ballistics of this weapon’s projectile, it will be significantly more difficult to aim than the Sergeant United Shield and the Combat Wrench
Less Unique / Rebalancing Ideas
Late Hardmode Yoyos
Buff the Kraken to deal around 130-150 base damage with a damage cap of 180 or even 200, and make The Eye of Cthulhu have a lower but more attainable damage cap than the Kraken to cater to hybrid builds.
- The Terrarian has been the penultimate yoyo without any competitor for years, so I think it’s about time to experiment pulling back its two other counterparts out of irrelevancy by giving them a massive boost.
Gem Staves
Gem staves of lower rarity can have a lower UT and deal less damage while their higher rarity counterparts can have a higher UT and better base damage values.
- The Diamond Staff will replace the Sapphire Staff as the preeminent heavy-hitter under this scaling system.
- Perhaps a similar scaling system can be applied to other weapon groups of ascending rarity such as the Phaseblades, Wood Bows, Repeaters, etc.
Beam Sword
By buffing its projectile velocity, it can be made to resemble the 1.3 True Excalibur.
KO Cannon
Buff it to be an alternative to the Golem Fist, keeping its higher UT and lower velocity but giving it significantly more damage.
Other Ideas
Ham Bat
The Ham Bat with its Hearty Meal buff can be designed into PvP, though I’m not sure how exactly it should be designed.