How do classes work in Terraria – Class setups and build guide

It’s good to pick a class before you start chopping down trees and slaying slimes in Terraria. In Terraria, world-eating bosses and even lowly zombies are unconquerable without the right gear. Choosing a class early on will give you more time to collect the class-specific gear and accessories you need. There are four main classes in Terraria: Melee, Ranged, Mage, and Summoner. Each of these classes has a unique playstyle, and this guide will help you decide which class to pick while also listing each class’s best gear.

Melee class

Related: Terraria Blood Moon guide – How to trigger, skip, and more

The Melee class is the most basic in Terraria. Melee classes are characterized by their use of swords, spears, yoyos, or boomerangs. You’ll want some decent gear with higher defense since you’re up close with enemies and weapons that deal enough damage to make that closeness worthwhile. With this class, you will want to equip yourself with mobility items such as grappling hooks to allow you to get into melee range of enemies. Melee classes won’t need to focus on Mana, making them an easy beginner class.

Early game

This is the gear recommended before you fight your first major boss.

• Armor – Ancient Shadow
• Weapon – Ball O’ Hurt
• Accessories:
  • Shark Tooth Necklace
  • Feral Claws
  • Band of Regeneration
  • Cloud in a Bottle
  • Hermes Boots

The Ancient Shadow Armor Set boosts melee attack speed, and the Ball O’ Hurt is a very good early-game weapon that gives you lots of options for up-close or ranged attacks.

Mid Game

This is before you fight the Plantera boss. Focus on farming the jungle biomes as they give you great loot.

• Armor – Turtle Set
• Weapon – True Knight’s Edge
• Accessories:
  • Mechanical Glove
  • Avenger Emblem
  • Ankh Shield
  • Frostspark Boots
  • Frozen Wings

The Turtle Armor Set buffs all defense stats, and True Knight’s Edge is the perfect combo weapon with a bit of ranged ability thrown in.

End game

This will be your ideal setup. This gear is acquired from beating the hardest foes in the game. 

• Armor – Solar Flare Set
• Weapon – Zenith
• Accessories:
  • Fire Gauntlet
  • Ankh Shield
  • Solar Wings
  • Celestial Shell
  • Master Ninja Gear

This phenomenal armor reduces all incoming damage, and the Zenith sword is a phenomenal weapon that causes shards to fly out ahead of you and cause damage to anything in their path.

Mage class

A mage relies heavily on Magicka and benefits from any gear that increases magic damage. Be on the lookout for fallen stars, as these can be used to upgrade your maximum Mana Pool. Mages generally can’t take too much damage, which is why they tend to stay back and focus on wearing gear and using weapons that boost their power and the frequency they can attack.

Early game

• Armor – Jungle Set
• Weapon – Space Gun
• Accessories:
  • Magnet Flower
  • Band of Regeneration
  • Band of Mana Regeneration
  • Cloud in a Bottle
  • Shiny Red Balloon

The Jungle Set is a good early-game armor that has some decent defense and buffs magic. The Space Gun is great for the early game with a high damage output and speedy autofire.

Mid game

• Armor – Meteor Set
• Weapon – Space Gun
• Accessories:
  • Magnet Flower
  • Frozen Wings
  • Mana Flower
  • Frostspark Boots
  • Sorcerer Emblem

The Space Gun is good enough to carry you through to this point, and the Meteor Set is a great armor that actually buffs it in a couple of ways to help you push forward.

Late Game

• Armor – Nebula Set
• Weapon – Lunar Flare
• Accessories:
  • Crystal Ball
  • Sorcerer Emblem
  • Ankh Shield
  • Master Ninja Gear
  • Stardust Wings

The biggest upgrade from the midgame setup is the Nebula armor. This armor increases your mana, magic damage, and magic critical strike.

Ranger class

Related: How to unlock the Zoologist in Terraria – Zoologist guide

Rangers like to keep their distance and do not pump out as much burst damage as melee or magic builds. However, what they do have is consistent damage that is useful in every boss fight. Be sure to collect bullets everywhere you can, as you don’t want to run out of ammo during a heated battle. Most of their endgame weapons don’t rely on ammunition, which is a blessing when you’re hitting the hardest bosses.

Early game

• Armor – Fossil Set
• Weapon – Demon Bow
• Accessories:
  • Shark Tooth Necklace
  • Flying Carpet
  • Band of Regeneration
  • Cloud in a Bottle
  • Hermes Boots

The Fossil Armor Set buffs all ammo damage, and the Demon Bow is a big upgrade over the Gold or Platinum Bows both in power and range.

Mid game

• Armor – Huntress’ Jerkin
• Weapon – Minishark
• Accessories:
  • Magic Quiver
  • Avenger Emblem
  • Shield of Cthulhu
  • Frozen Wings
  • Frostspark boots

Huntress’ Jerkin gives all of your ammo even more of a boost, and Minishark fires bullets with a small chance that on some shots, you won’t consume ammo.

Late game

• Armor -Vortex Armor
• Weapon – S.D.M.G.
• Accessories:
  • Molten Quiver
  • Recon Scope
  • Celestial Shell
  • Master Ninja Gear
  • Ranger Emblem

Vortex Armor is great because it boosts ranged weapons and attacks when in stealth mode. S.D.M.G., on the other hand, fires with a 50% chance of no ammo being consumed.

Summoner Class

Summoner is technically a secondary class, so not that many people are aware of it or bother with it. However, summoning minions is a perfectly legitimate way of defeating bosses and enemies. Minions can do a lot for you, as these builds demonstrate. A summoner’s main weapon will be a whip or staff, but the danger of using this class is the damage you can receive. Summoners can’t take many hits before being downed so you need to know how to play as to this class’ strengths.

Early game

• Armor – Flinx Fur Coat
• Weapon – Slime Staff
• Accessories:
  • Hermes Boots
  • Cloud in a Bottle
  • Spectacle Boots

The Flinx Fur Coat buffs minion damage, while the Slime Staff summons a Baby Slime that will chase enemies and deal contact damage over time.

Mid game

• Armor -Obsidian Set
• Weapon – Imp Staff
• Accessories:
  • Pygmy Necklace
  • Feral Claws
  • Summoner Emblem

The Obsidian Armor Set is, at this point, the best set for minion damage, and the Imp Staff summons Imps that shoot fire at enemies that also apply a debuff. The Pygmy Necklace is incredible because it has a +1 minion effect, buffing everything about your minion.

Late game

• Armor – Stardust Set
• Weapon – Stardust Dragon Staff
• Accessories:
  • Celestial Shell
  • Papyrus Scarab
  • Summoner Emblem

The Stardust Armor Set has a colossal minion buff on it, and the Stardust Dragon Staff summons a Stardust Dragon to the field to attack your foes. It can fly through blocks and deal damage over time to every enemy you’re up against. The Celestial Shell Accessory buffs all stats plus minion knockback and speed.

Terraria offers over 4,000 different items, so any build can be tweaked to fit your specific needs. Try not to stray too far from this list, as the late-game bosses can be insanely difficult on higher difficulties. If you’re hoping to find a build to carry you through Hardmode, we recommend any of the mid-game builds outlined in this guide.