Whips

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Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
This article is about the group of summon weapons. For the hook, see Ivy Whip.

Whips are summon weapons that instead of summoning a secondary character swing in an arcing motion and produce a unique sound. Like all summoning weapons, whips receive damage bonuses from summon damage and cannot normally deal critical hits. They do not require mana to be used and behave much like melee weapons.

Most whips inflict a special debuff on struck enemies for 4 seconds,[1] "tagging" them. Minions and sentries deal increased damage to tagged enemies and may have additional effects, depending on the whip. For instance, enemies tagged by the Firecracker whip cause a small explosion when taking damage from minions or sentries.

Whips pierce an unlimited number of enemies, but will deal progressively less damage to each additional enemy they hit per swing. The damage dealt will be reduced by a fixed percentage on each consecutive hit. This stat for each whip is listed as "Multihit penalty" in the table below.

The last enemy hit by the swing of a whip will be targeted by the player's minions and sentries, just as though the player had pressed ⚷ Open / Activate on the enemy with a minion/sentry-summoning weapon.

Whips can have the same modifiers as swords, including Legendary. Their best modifier is Legendary.

Types

There are 9 different types of whips, 6 of which are Hardmode-exclusive.

Name Damage Velocity Use time Knockback Range
(tiles) 		On-hit effect Multihit penalty HM Rarity Sell Source
Leather Whip Leather Whip(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4672 14 8 30
(Average)
 1
(Extremely weak)
 11 4 summon tag damage 50% ❌ Blue (Rarity level: 1) 2 GC Purchased from the Zoologist (10 GC).
Snapthorn Snapthorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4913 18 8 30
(Average)
 1.5
(Extremely weak)
 15 6 summon tag damage,
attack speed bonus,
Poisoned 		40% ❌ Orange (Rarity level: 3) 1 GC Crafted: 15 Stinger + 3 Vine + 12 Jungle Spores ( @ Iron Anvil / Lead Anvil )
Spinal Tap Spinal Tap(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 5074 27 10 30
(Average)
 2
(Very weak)
 18 7 summon tag damage 10% ❌ Green (Rarity level: 2) 1 GC50 SC Crafted: 90 Bone + 55 Cobweb ( @ Work Bench )
Firecracker Firecracker(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4912 37 8 30
(Average)
 2
(Very weak)
 21 Blazing energy,
Hellfire 		33% ✔️ Light Red (Rarity level: 4) 3 GC Dropped by Wall of Flesh.
Cool Whip Cool Whip(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4911 45 8 30
(Average)
 1.5
(Extremely weak)
 23 6 summon tag damage,
snowflake minion, Frostbite 		30% ✔️ Light Red (Rarity level: 4) 4 GC Crafted: 8 Soul of Light + 8 Soul of Night + Frost Core ( @ Mythril Anvil / Orichalcum Anvil )
Durendal Durendal(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4678 55 12 28
(Average)
 2
(Very weak)
 24 9 summon tag damage,
attack speed bonus 		20% ✔️ Pink (Rarity level: 5) 4 GC60 SC Crafted: 12 Hallowed Bar ( @ Mythril Anvil / Orichalcum Anvil )
Dark Harvest Dark Harvest(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4680 100 12 27
(Average)
 3
(Very weak)
 28 Dark energy,
attack speed bonus 		10% ✔️ Yellow (Rarity level: 8) 10 GC Dropped by Pumpking.
Morning Star Morning Star(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4679 165 8 35
(Slow)
 11
(Extremely strong)
 28 8 summon tag damage
and 12% critical chance 		5% ✔️ Yellow (Rarity level: 8) 6 GC Dropped by Blue Armored Bones, Hell Armored Bones, and Rusty Armored Bones.
Kaleidoscope Kaleidoscope(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4914 180 12 30
(Average)
 4
(Weak)
 33 20 summon tag damage
and 10% critical chance 		10% ✔️ Yellow (Rarity level: 8) 5 GC Dropped by Empress of Light.

Notes

  • All whips are affected by melee attack speed bonuses, the autoswing effect from the Feral Claws and its upgrades, and bonuses from flasks. Any other melee bonuses do not affect whips.
  • Each whip inflicts its own special "tag" debuff, and the summon tag damage and critical strike chance can be stacked with the use of multiple different whips.[2]

Tips

  • Whips can be excellent weapons for an early-game head start, as they have significant damage and are easy to obtain early on.
  • Whips are exceptionally useful for clearing foliage due to their range and broad area of effect. Combined with the ability to break plants behind solid walls, a whip can erase an entire thorny bush in a single swing, quickly bring down vines, and can safely trigger Rolling Cacti to roll away.
  • Because the primary hit of a whip operates similarly to a piercing melee weapon, they are effective against enemies that pass through blocks, such as worms, Cursed Skulls, and casters with destructible projectiles.
    • However, all whips will deal less damage to each successive enemy hit close together in a single swing, all the way down to 1 damage. This penalty is heavier on earlier whips, and lighter on later whips.
      • This does not stop whips with debuff effects such as the Snapthorn from applying their respective debuff. However, the Firecracker's explosive burst effect will only be applied to the first enemy hit, even if the whip causes a different enemy to be targeted instead.
  • The Kaleidoscope can prove to be more useful than the Morning Star, as the Kaleidoscope has higher drop rates from a specific boss than the Morning Star, the summon tag damage is higher and it is faster with more critical strike chance, which is better than simply a slightly longer range and more damage. The Morning Star, however, has high knockback and can be useful in events to keep enemies back.
  • Melee-oriented armor sets and equipment, such as the Feral Claws, can greatly increase whips' effectiveness, since they benefit from melee attack speed bonuses.
    • This includes melee speed bonuses from the Snapthorn, Durendal, and Dark Harvest. If the player is fast enough, they can strike once with a speed-increasing whip, then switch to a higher-damage whip to gain immense damage bonuses. The autoswing effect of the Feral Claws makes this much easier, as the player can simply hold the attack button down and use the numbers on the keyboard to switch between whips in the hotbar.
  • The summon tag damage gives significant bonuses to minions. For instance, the pre-Hardmode whips can more than triple the DPS of the Baby Slime minion against the Eye of Cthulhu, and Kaleidoscope increases the damage of the UFO minion, an already-powerful summon, by more than 50%.
    • Using multiple different whips has an even greater effect on minion DPS compared to using only one whip, as whips' summon tag bonuses can be stacked.
  • Whips have excellent synergy with the Valhalla Knight armor, which has a +60% summon damage bonus, high defense and regeneration, and several sentry slots, but few bonuses to other types of weapons. For more risk/reward, the Shinobi Infiltrator armor has a +60% damage bonus and a +20% speed bonus (which affects whips more than most melee late-game weapons), but less defense and no healing.

Trivia

  • Whips were added as a homage to summoners with whips from the Japanese science fantasy media franchise Final Fantasy, notably Rydia from the video game Final Fantasy IV. They also reference the monster-catching and summoning Beastmaster class from the video game Final Fantasy V.
  • In real life, whips are generally used on animals, for training and performance purposes. This is potentially why the Zoologist sells the Leather Whip.
  • Despite their great similarities with melee weapons, whips are classified as summon weapons.
  • Despite its name, the Ivy Whip is not a weapon. It is a hook, present before whips were added to the game.

See also

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4: Whip tags and effects now apply to sentry damage (the same way they apply to minions).
  • Desktop 1.4.1:
    • Added Spinal Tap.
    • Whips now benefit from the effects of flasks.
    • Every whip (except for Leather Whip) got a range increase.
      • Speed modifiers no longer have an inverse effect on range.
    • Whip damage penalty is now heavier on early whips and lighter on later whips.

References

  1. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.3.6 source code, method StatusNPC() in Terraria.Projectile.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
  2. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method Damage() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
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