Terraria whips guide: How to get the new summoner whips
There's a whole new weapon class in Terraria 1.4: Journey's End, but it takes some work to get them.
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Terraria had hundreds of weapons before its final update, Journey's End. But what it didn't have is whips. Which is a bit off, when you think about it. This is a game about exploring caverns and ancient ruins. There's a fedora and an archaeologist's outfit that makes you the spitting image of Indiana Jones. So why no whips? Finally that oversight's been corrected, and in Journey's End there are now a set of whips to craft, if you can get ahold of the resources needed to make them.
The first few whips are relatively easy to make, but the more powerful variants require playing in Hardmode and defeating some powerful bosses. Here's the basic lowdown on Terraria's whips, and how to unlock them.
Terraria's whips: what you need to know
Whips are a weapon for Terraria's Summoner class. Terraria doesn't have a strict class system, but its weapons and armor are categorized into classes (Melee, Ranger, Summoner, Mage) and the armor, accessories, and potions for those classes have specific buffs that complement them.
Primary summoning weapons like staves spawn creatures that attack for you, while whips give you a backup source of damage and can also buff the damage of your summon friends. Hitting an enemy with a whip will make your summon target it. They're considered melee weapons, so stack some attack speed buffs to swing them much faster.
One important note: Whips can't deal crit damage.
How to unlock Terraria's whips
As far as we know, there are eight whips in Terraria, and all but the first two are exclusive to Hardmode. Get ready to work for them.
Whip name | Dmg | Knockback | Special | Difficulty | How to get |
Leather Whip | 14 | .5 | Row 1 - Cell 3 | Any | Buy from the Zoologist NPC |
Snapthorn | 18 | 1 | Hitting enemies increases attack speed | Any | Craft: 3 vines, 3 jungle spores, 12 stingers (Iron/Lead Anvil) |
Firecracker | 40 | 2 | "Blazing energy explodes from enemies hit by summons" | Hardmode | Dropped by Wall of Flesh boss |
Cool Whip | 50 | 1.5 | "Strike enemies to summon a friendly snowflake" | Hardmode | Craft: 1 Frost Core, 8 Soul of Light, 8 Soul of Night (Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil) |
Durendal | 55 | 2 | Hitting enemies increases attack speed | Hardmode | Craft: 12 Hallowed Bar (Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil) |
Dark Harvest | 100 | 3 | "Dark energy jumps from enemies hit by summons" | Hardmode | Dropped by Pumpking boss, Mourning Wood mini-boss |
Kaleidoscope | 165 | 4 | "10% summon tag critical strike chance" | Hardmode | Dropped by Empress of Light boss |
Morning Star | 180 | 11 | "5% summon tag critical strike chance" | Hardmode | Dropped by Armored Bones in Hardmode Dungeon (after defeating Plantera boss) |
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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.
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