Terraria has a huge variety of ranged weapons of various types. These include bows and firearms. Some of them can be found in treasures, some are obtained by crafting, while others are obtained as a reward for defeating bosses. Phantasm and Vortex beater are two ranged weapons of the second type.
In this article, you can familiarize yourself with their main parameters and characteristics, as well as the advantages and disadvantages in relation to each other.
Phantasm in Terraria
The Phantasm is a Hardmode, post-Lunatic Cultist craftable bow, the key feature of which is auto-fire four arrows at a time, using only a single arrow from the player’s inventory. Phantasm also has a 60% chance of not spending an arrow when fired. An interesting feature is that Phantasm is the only arrow-consuming weapon in Terraria that has a chance to not consume ammo. However, it should be borne in mind that due to its rate of fire, having a chance not to spend an arrow does not help to avoid the high expenditure of shells. In addition, each successful hit on an enemy causes 3 magical arrow projectiles to fire and home in on the target that was hit initially, each one dealing 30% of the original projectile’s damage.
Arrow flight mechanics are significantly different from standard ones. First of all, a significant scatter should be noted, in which only the main arrow flies along the standard trajectory, while the other 3 are shifted higher or lower.
In addition, depending on the duration of use, constantly shooting with the Phantasm will gradually increase its fire rate from once per 24 frames, up to once per 18 frames. Stopping the attack or switching to another item will reset this effect immediately.
The weapon is a ranged weapon, so modifiers of the corresponding category are applicable to it. The best modifier possible is Unreal.
Phantasm is created on Ancient Manipulator. Requires 18 Vortex Fragments as materials for crafting.
Phantasm has a red rarity and costs 10 gold coins when sold. The damage of the standard version without modifiers is 50, there is also a knockback with an indicator of 2. The weapon has a high speed, as well as a 4% chance to inflict critical damage.
Vortex beater in Terraria
The Vortex Beater is a Hardmode, post-Lunatic Cultist gun that fires bullets at a very high rate and in an inaccurate manner, similar to the Gatligator. The assault rifle has a very high spread and recoil, which makes it quite problematic to hit moving and small targets.
Since the Vortex Beater is a firearm, it uses bullets as projectiles. In addition to its high spread, it has another feature – a 66.67% chance not to consume ammo.
It is noteworthy that the rocket does not consume ammo. These projectiles also have increased damage compared to the used bullets (20 points more damage for the unmodified Vortex Beater).
The weapon is a ranged weapon, so modifiers of the corresponding category are applicable to it. The best modifier possible is Unreal.
Vortex beater creation takes place on Ancient Manipulator. Requires 18 Vortex Fragments as materials for crafting.
The Vortex beater has a red rarity and costs 10 gold coins when sold. The damage of the standard version without modifiers is 50 (damage from rockets is 70), there is also a knockback with an indicator of 2 (2.5 for rockets). The weapon has a high speed, as well as a 4% chance to inflict critical damage.
Phantasm vs Vortex beater in Terraria
Having dealt with the main parameters and characteristics of these two weapons, we can compare them with each other, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages at specific points.
First of all, it should be noted that Phantasm and Vortex beater are analogue weapons. Each of them requires the same number of Vortex Fragments to create, they have the same cost and rarity, and their knockback, use time, and damage stats have the same values. Since these types of weapons are ranged, they have a common category of modifiers. For this reason, for both Phantasm and Vortex beater, taking into account the characteristics of these types of weapons, Unreal is the best option. However, these are two different ranged items that primarily use different projectiles. If Phantasm uses arrows, then the Vortex beater needs bullets to fire. The creation of bullets will be more resource-intensive for the player, in contrast to the first option.
Their mechanics of shooting behaviour should be compared. Both Phantasm and Vortex beater have high spread and imprecision. However, compared to each other, the Vortex beater’s spread is much higher than that of an analogue bow. Due to the inaccuracy of the bullets, the Vortex Beater is somewhat better suited against larger enemies and bosses. A better-ranged weapon for single target damage would be the Phantasm. The spreading problem is however solved by using Chlorophyte Bullets.
When fired, Phantasm fires 3 additional arrows, dealing reduced damage. With a non-stop attack, the rate of fire is greatly increased. Vortex beater initially has a rate of fire, to which the bow must be charged. However, this is offset by a higher inaccuracy. In addition, like the Phantasm, the Vortex beater fires a unique projectile that does not consume ammo – vortex rocket. Unlike its counterpart, this projectile deals increased damage from bullets in comparison with the standard one. Due to this feature, despite the identical indicators of standard damage, Vortex beater outperforms Phantasm.
Both weapons have a significant chance of not wasting ammo (66% chance for Phantasm and 66.67% chance for Vortex beater). Vortex beater slightly outperforms in performance, but the difference is not noticeable. It should also be borne in mind that due to their rate of fire, this feature does not save the player from high ammo consumption when shooting.
Summing up, it should be concluded that these two weapons are largely similar and the priority of one over the other is largely situational and depends on the preferences of the player. Vortex beater wins in terms of damage, rate of fire, but loses in terms of resource consumption and dispersion when firing. Due to the difficulty of shooting control, both weapons, regardless of their type, are recommended for close-range battles. Since neither the Phantasm nor the Vortex beater have piercing behaviour, it is recommended that they be used strictly for single targets. Phantasm is great for fighting regular mobs. The Vortex beater shooting model assumes that the player will use it for large targets, i.e. against bosses. Otherwise, the choice of one or another weapon depends on the user’s playing style, as well as with which of these two types of weapons he feels most comfortable.