Terraria has a huge variety of summoning weapons, among which there are corresponding staves. When used, they summon a strong and loyal minion to the player’s side. Some of the weapons of this type are Imp staff and Hornet staff, which you can learn more about in this article.
In addition to the main characteristics and parameters of these two staffs, here you can find out about their advantages and disadvantages in relation to each other.
Imp staff
The Imp Staff is a pre-Hardmode summon weapon. It spawns a miniature Flying Imp, similar to an enemy mob.
Like other minions, Flying Imps summoned with the Imp Staff will be invulnerable and immune to enemy attacks. They will disappear only if the minions are called to replace them, the player leaves the world, the character dies, or the corresponding buff disappears. Their presence is not limited in time.
The Imp summoned with this staff attacks enemies with fireballs that fly in a straight trajectory and inflict piercing damage. The number of projectile hits is unlimited, so a fireball can inflict damage to an infinite number of enemies per shot. The Imp attacks with an average rate of fire of once every 1.25 seconds. The delay between attacks can range between 0.75 and 1.5 seconds.
In addition to the usual damage, the Imp staff projectile has an additional effect applied when it hits the enemy – burning. Fireballs always inflict the On Fire! debuff for 3–6 seconds, dealing 4 DPS during this time. When an enemy is Oiled, it will lose 29 health per second instead. While the Imp can fly through the water, its fireball projectiles cannot travel through water. They stop at the water’s surface and will not appear at all when the Imp is submerged in water.
This weapon belongs to the summoning type, so it can have the appropriate modifiers. Its best modifier is Ruthless.
To create Imp staff, the player will need a workplace in the form of an Iron Anvil or Lead Anvil. In addition, 17 Hellstone Bars are required as crafting material.
Hornet staff
The Hornet Staff is a pre-Hardmode summon weapon. It spawns a hornet minion with the texture of the corresponding hostile mob but in a different colour. Upon activation, the user gets a protective flying minion following his character and attacking the enemies at close range to the player.
Like other minions, Hornets summoned with the Hornet Staff will be invulnerable and immune to enemy attacks. They will disappear only if the minions are called to replace them, the player leaves the world, the character dies, or the corresponding buff disappears. Their presence is not limited in time.
The stings fly in a straight trajectory, while they are not of the piercing type. For this reason, one projectile can hit a maximum of one enemy.
In addition to the usual damage, the Hornet staff projectile has an additional effect applied when it hits the enemy – poisoning. Sting inflicts the Poisoned debuff for 4–7 seconds. This debuff prevents health regeneration and causes the afflicted NPC or player to lose 2 health per second. Debuffed entities will also gain a green tint.
This weapon belongs to the summoning type, so it can have the appropriate modifiers. Its best modifier is Ruthless.
To create Hornet Staff, the player will need a workstation in the form of an Iron Anvil or Lead Anvil. In addition, 17 Bee Waxes are required as a material for creation.
Imp staff vs Hornet staff in Terraria
Having understood the main characteristics and properties of Imp staff and Hornet staff, we can compare them with each other, highlighting the common and different features, as well as advantages and disadvantages concerning each other.
First of all, it should be noted that these are two weapons of the same type. In addition, the minions they summon share common behaviour, movement, and attack mechanics. Each of these staves can be obtained by the player during the pre-Hardmode stage of Terraria. The best mod for both is Ruthless.
In terms of damage, Hornet Staff deals up to 12 damage, while Imp staff deals up to 17 damage. The same goes for their projectile effects, since the On Fire! debuff deals a lot more damage compared to poisoning, and is applied every time. Despite receiving a fire rate buff the Imp staff has a significantly slower fire rate than the Hornet Staff. This means that its damage output is only slightly better against a single target. Otherwise, the parameters of these staves converge.
It is worth saying a few words about the behaviour and effects of their projectiles. The shots sent by the minions follow a straight trajectory in both cases, however, the Imp staff has an advantage here as well due to the piercing type of projectile. Thus, one Imp shot can hit an unlimited number of opponents, while the Hornet’s sting can only hit one.
The types of resource extraction for crafting these staves are also different. If for the Imp staff the player only needs to get the ore that can be found in The Underworld. The Hornet Staff requires Bee Waxes dropped by the Queen Bee. Thus, in order to obtain this staff, the player will need to find a beehive, summon the boss, defeat him and after that, from the received materials, create a staff. In some cases, it may take more than one kill of the Queen Bee.
Thus, we can conclude that in comparison with The Hornet Staff, the Imp staff wins him on all points, except for the fire rate. If the player playing as the summoner class cannot decide which of these staves to focus on, then the Imp staff should be preferred.