Part 39: The Big Boom
#37 - The Big Boom
Hello everyone. Welcome back to Rivershire. Today we return to the dungeon.
Now that Plantera is dead, two very important things have happened here. First is that the curse surrounding our two Hallowed keys is now broken. So when we find the Hallowed chest somewhere down here, we can loot it for a very nice weapon.
Second, and far more importantly, thirteen new types of enemies have started to spawn. Between them, they drop a staggering 20 items. These enemies are also scary as fuck, but it's worth braving the dangers for the weapons.
A very long time ago when we first explored the dungeon, I pointed out these banners. They come into play now. The various banners you see hanging in the dungeon will denote what enemies spawn here after Plantera dies. But that's not all. The different types of background walls also control what enemies can spawn.
There's a handy chart on this page if you're curious.
The Blue Armored bones enemy has a lot of health, and can inflict the broken armor debuff. They also only spawn in areas with brick walls. They also have five drops worth noting...
Armor Polish - (1% chance. We've covered this before. It grants immunity to broken armor. Part of the Ankh Shield mega accessory.)
Wisp in a Bottle - (0.25% chance. A light pet, keeps up with you and illuminates stuff very nicely. The best light pet you can get in normal mode, and the second best in expert mode.)
Magnet Sphere - (0.33% chance. 48 magic damage. It shoots a sphere that deals a shitload of damage to enemies. There's a bunch of rules governing when the sphere disappears, but it's still an amazing magic weapon.)
Keybrand - (0.5% chance. 70 melee damage. It's literally a keyblade. I'm serious. The wiki claims that it has the highest damage of all non projectile based swords, so that's pretty cool.)
Bone Feather - (0.22% chance. Used to make bone wings. For how late in the game you get this item, the wings it makes are mediocre at best.)
Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Fuck. Shit. Shit.
Out of every enemy you can find in the dungeon, Paladins are the one you want to see the least. They're bad news.
Paladins have 5,000 HP, deal 100 contact damage, and the hammers they throw deal 120. They also have 50 defense, so they're shrugging off 25 points of damage from every attack.
They only have two drops, though both are really good.
Paladin's Hammer - (6.67% chance. 90 melee damage. It's a gigantic hammer boomerang, meaning we can potentially have our own version of Mjolnir.)
Paladin's Shield - (10% chance. When above 25% life, you absorb 25% of damage done to your team. If you want to play a tanky character, this is a really useful accessory.)
A new mechanic in the dungeon is that enemies with more than 100 HP will occasionally spawn dungeon spirits. The wiki says it's a 6.67% chance to happen. Anyway, these dungeon spirits don't have a lot of health, and will always drop a couple pieces of ectoplasm when they die.
Ectoplasm is used in the manufacturing of the Spectre Armor, which is the magic equivalent of our Shroomite set. Spectre armor, while not as broken as it once was, is still pretty damn good. If you make the Spectre armor set and use the "hood" helmet, then your magic attacks get 20% lifesteal. Because the devs felt the need to "balance" this effect, you also deal 40% less magic damage.
The Spectre armor has a very long history of being buffed and nerfed. The lifesteal effect used to be so powerful that you were all but invulnerable with the armor equipped.
Anyway, the Paladin takes a really long time to kill. I'm just slowly kiting him backward while firing regular bullets and he's just shrugging them off.
While we're catching our breath from the Paladin fight, a Bone Lee comes by to say hello.
This guy has 1000 life, but mercifully nowhere near as much defense. So we can take him down quickly.
Do you remember a very long time ago when we made the Tiger Climbing Gear accessory? No? It was the accessory that let us cling to walls like Mega Man. We've had it for an incredibly long time, so I don't blame you if you don't remember.
Anyway, when we made the Tiger Climbing Gear, I said that we wouldn't find the last two pieces of its set for a long time. That time is now. Bone Lee here drops both remaining pieces.
Black Belt - (8.33% chance. Grants a flat 10% chance to dodge attacks that would otherwise damage you.)
Tabi - (8.33% chance. These black socks let you dodge by double tapping the left or right movement keys.)
You can combine the Black Belt, the Tabi, and the Tiger Climbing Gear into the Master Ninja Gear accessory. It just combines all four effects, though I can't help but feel it should be placed earlier in the game. Why would you want to wall jump when you can just fly?
This red fellow is a Hell Armored Bone, and he's not where he should be. They only spawn on backwalls that are "tiled" while here he's hanging out in a brick area. Anyway, Hell Armored Bones have the same drops as Blue Armored Bones.
This Rusty Armored Bones shouldn't be here either. We're still in front of brick walls, while he's only supposed to spawn in front of "slab" walls. Like the other armored bones before him, he shares drops with them.
Well, we found the Corruption chest. The weapon inside is called the Scourge of the Corruptor, and it's a giant corruption themed spear. Except you "shoot" it and when it hits a wall or an enemy, the projectile splits apart and bounces around like a shotgun shell on crack. It deals 64 melee damage, though I'm sure it also deals a lot more when it shatters.
Here's the wiki's gif of the weapon in action.
This fellow here is a skeleton sniper. They are also supposed to only spawn in front of slab walls
Double Punctuation clarifies the weird spawning:
Double Punctuation posted:
The reason enemies were spawning in the wrong place is due to Terraria's spawning system. If you destroyed the walls around you, you would find spots where the background doesn't match with the already exposed background. When the game wants to spawn, it picks a random tile that's nearby offscreen, regardless of if that tile is covered. It gets a spawn list from the background of that tile and chooses an enemy based on that list. Then, it checks if the enemy will fit in that space. If the space is obstructed, it picks a nearby space that is open and puts the enemy there. Enemies that don't fly additionally have to be on solid ground.
So, in the dungeon, the game is picking spots to spawn that are covered. These spots happen to have different background walls than what you can see, so when the enemy eventually pops out, it will be in the "wrong" spot. You can also end up with dungeon enemies in the surrounding caverns, which is really annoying if it can shoot through walls.
Rifle Scope - (8.33% chance. If you equip this accessory and have a gun equipped, you can right click to drag the screen around a bit, letting you "look through the scope.")
Sniper Rifle - (7.64% chance. 185 ranged damage. Has a base crit chance of 29%. It's also a sniper rifle, so you can make some educated guesses about how it fires. Has a built in rifle scope accessory.)
Necromancers are dangerous caster enemies. For once, he's spawning where he's supposed to be.
Their magic spell rebounds several times, and they like to teleport instantly after firing their spell off. So fighting them is supremely annoying.
Shadowbeam Staff - (5% chance. 53 magic damage. Lets you fire these guys' magic attack.)
Moving on, we find that skeletons both found and learned to fire rocket launchers. This is the Skeleton Commando, and the only noteworthy thing about him is that he has a rocket launcher you need to watch out for.
Rocket Launcher - (5.56% chance. 50 ranged damage. This is worth getting just for the coolness factor alone. Rocket launchers are awesome.)
Moving on, we find the next biome chest. The weapon inside is the Staff of the Frost Hydra. It summons a stationary icy dragon that spits at nearby enemies like a turret. Except it doesn't count against the minion cap and has a 2 minute duration. It deals 100 summon damage.
While dodging around in a large open area, we finally get our first weapon.
I'm sure it would be more impressive if we had magic boosting armor. Don't get me wrong, though. It's still an awesome weapon.
The tactical skeleton is the enemy I've been hunting for. This guy is dressed like a SWAT officer, which is fitting given his drops.
SWAT Helmet - (8.33% chance. Cosmetic helmet that he's wearing in the screenshot. The wiki page for the helmet then goes on to claim it has a 6.67% chance to drop, so who knows anymore.)
Tactical Shotgun - (7.64% chance. 29 ranged damage. The first shotgun upgrade we've seen since the Onyx Blaster. It's fully automatic
Fish Noise posted:
There's automatic shotguns other than the Pancor, but this thing is literally just the regular shotgun with a generous application of the tacticool meme rubbed all over it.
Thanks for the clarification, Fish Noise!
Oh boy. Diabloists are one of the more rare enemies in the dungeon. They behave like the Necromancer, except their shots actually penetrate through solid blocks.
Their shots also explode. Like the necromancers before them, they can also drop their weapon on death.
Inferno Fork - (5% chance. 65 magic damage. The wiki claims that if properly aimed, it can shred the Destroyer in seconds. I believe it.)
It's suicide to stand around when these guys are around.
After wandering around for a while more, a commando finally coughs up a rocket launcher.
Well that's disappointing. I'd show it off, but I don't have any rocket ammo besides.
One of the many armored bones enemies gives up a Wisp in a Bottle.
Before...
And after! And bear in mind this is still the second best one in the game, but we're unlikely to ever get the actual best one. Because that involves killing the final boss on expert mode and fuck that noise. (I have a spare on my old world, but I won't use it.)
At some point in the chaos of falling stars, an armored bones drops another weapon.
Move over Sora, now Sam is the keyblade master!
Just one more accessory and we can be a ninja master too.
Ah, there's our biome chest!
So, the Rainbow Gun...
So anyway, this magic weapon is also really good. Any enemy that crosses the rainbow beam will take continuous damage while they're in it.
Like that.
He was even carrying the weapon I wanted the most.
Need I say more?
This is one of the last enemies we have yet to meet. This guy is the Ragged Caster, and his attacks inflict super blindness. Unlike the other two casters, they don't immediately teleport after scoring a hit. Though they will rapid fire their attacks.
Spectre Staff - (5% chance. 72 magic damage. Fires a white wisp attack that homes in on nearby enemies.)
This is the biome chest everyone has been waiting for. The crimson chest contains a weapon called the Vampire Knives. They deal only 29 melee damage, but they have 7.5% (rounded up) lifesteal attached. So for every 40 damage you deal, you heal 3 points. While that doesn't sound like a lot...
That's the wiki's gif. These knives are stupidly good and are probably one of the best weapons in the entire game. With these equipped, you don't really need to worry about dodging. You can instead facetank things and for the most part heal through the damage.
While hiding from a Paladin, a Bone Lee drops his other drop. So now Sam can become a master ninja.
All of the weapons you can find in the dungeon are incredibly good.
Also at some point off camera, we found a sniper rifle. I don't know where or when, but...
This thing isn't leaving our inventory.
Anyway, while we were down here, we didn't see the last type of enemy. It's a gigantic floating skull called, appropriately enough, Giant Cursed Skull. It doesn't have any drops and only rarely shows up.
There's also one more biome chest that I couldn't find with the casual looking I was doing while in there. It's the jungle chest and it drops a ranged weapon called the Piranha Gun. The Piranha Gun launches a single piranha that flies around the screen and devours enemies as long as you hold the mouse button down.
I recorded a demonstration a couple of years ago just after 1.2 first came out.
Anyway, that's enough dungeoneering for now. But before we go, let's make the master ninja gear and then promptly throw it back into storage.
NEXT TIME:
We've got a date with the jungle temple boss.