A ranged weapon is, by definition, any weapon that can be thrown or consumes Ammunition to attack at a range. They are, usually, used to attack Monsters across longer distances.

Ranged Weapons deal ranged damage to enemies, which is determined both by their own damage stat and the used ammo's damage (if any). For example, an arrow with 6 Damage fired with a bow with 10 damage will result in a base damage of 16. Also, attack speed bonuses for ranged weapons increases the speed of the projectile, not the rate at which projectiles are fired.

Ammunition will be automatically used when attacking, and when one stack is depleted, the next one will be used, if available. If more than one stack of ammunition is in the inventory, the ammunition will be used in the following order:

• Ammunition in the "Ammo" slots of the inventory will take precedence, top to bottom
• If there is no suitable ammunition in the Ammo slots, ammunition in the inventory will be used, left to right and top to bottom (including those in the Hotbar)

The total number of ammunition for a weapon can be seen in the corner of the weapon's icon on the Hotbar.

Bows Edit

Main article: Bows

Bows are ranged weapons that fire Arrows. Arrows fired from bows are affected by gravity and travel in an arc, so it is necessary to aim slightly above the target when firing from afar. All arrows, except for Jester's Arrows and Hellfire Arrows have a chance to drop themselves after hitting a target or a surface, allowing them to be collected and reused. They make good weapons for starters, since arrows can be easily found in chests or pots, or crafted with wood and stone.

Repeaters Edit

Main article: Repeaters

Repeaters are an improvement over bows introduced in 1.1, crafted with minerals found in hardmode. They fire at a better rate, range and projectile speed when compared with bows, and are capable of auto-fire by holding down the mouse button.

Guns & Bullets Edit

Guns are generally fast-firing weapons that use Bullets for firing. Most guns (or their components) can be bought from the Arms Dealer, as well as all kinds of bullets. Unlike arrows, bullets fired cannot be recovered, although some guns like the Shotgun fire several shots with only one bullet, and some like the Minishark have a chance to fire without using a bullet.

Throwable Items Edit

Throwable items are weapons that, as the name suggests, are thrown by hand. Though weak, they are easily accessible and have a better chance to be reusable compared to arrows, with the exception of Grenades, that explode on impact damaging an area.Most can pierce multiple enemies, making them useful against crowds at middle range. Spiky Balls roll for a while and stop, but they cannot be picked back up, damaging and slowing enemies that walk over them instead.

Others Edit

• The Sandgun uses Sand as ammo, and its shots drop down and turn into blocks that can be mined back upon collision with blocks and enemies.
• The Blowpipe is a slow, weak ranged weapon that fires Seeds, which can only be obtained by cutting grass while the blowpipe is in the inventory.
• The Harpoon is the only ranged weapon with effectively infinite ammo. It travels in an arc similarly to arrows, but is more influenced by gravity, and cannot be fired again until it retracts back to the user.
• The Flamethrower is a gun that uses Gel as ammo and shoots a continuous short-ranged burst of fire.
• The Star Cannon fires Fallen Stars, which have a large hit box, a quick rate of fire and pierce multiple enemies.

Notes Edit

• Although Flails and Boomerangs allow to attack enemies from afar, they deal melee damage.
• The Space Gun and Laser Rifle are guns that are treated as Magic weapons, as they use mana and deal Magic damage.
• Even though the Magic Dagger is used just like a thrown weapon, it uses mana rather than being consumed on use, and is thus a Magic weapon.