Is Terraria’s Ranger Class Boring?
Of the four main classes in Terraria, I think it’s fair to say that ranger is often considered the least interesting. There are many threads across the internet where people talk about how they don’t really like the ranger class and they think it’s boring in comparison to the rest. But how much truth is there really to this and is the ranger class boring? Let’s talk about it. Before getting into the fun of the gameplay itself, it’s important to mention the benefits of the ranger class. Ranger is possibly the most consistent class within Terraria’s progression. There’s not a single stage in the game where you’ll struggle using a ranged weapon. It’s good throughout the early game, late preh hard mode, early hard mode, the middle of the game, and the endgame. Every other class in the game is still viable at any stage, but ranger constantly has multiple powerful weapons at your disposal. This can make the ranger class a really good option for new Terraria players who want a simple and easy class to get through every stage of progression. It can also make the class a great choice for somebody going into a harder difficulty where consistency matters a lot more. The gameplay of the ranger class is also the safest of any class in the game. During most boss fights, you can simply run away while firing off bullets or arrows from a very far distance, and you won’t need to take big risks that could cause you to take a lot of damage. This makes ranger a lot more accessible because you don’t need to worry as much about dodging attacks. If you’re fighting a boss with a full summoner build, for example, you are forced to come decently close to whichever boss you want to fight since most whips don’t have great range. This challenge is also present with most melee weapons throughout the early stages of the game and even a lot of magic weapons. With most classes, you need to approach enemies at a close distance to get a lot of damage, but with ranger, you’re actually incentivized to stay far away. By no means is the ranger class bad, and that’s very clear from these benefits. But I think there is good reason that people find the class underwhelming or boring. So, let’s talk about that. While the ranger class has quite a few flashy, unique weapons, it doesn’t really seem to have as much variety in comparison to the other classes in the game. The Ranger class is made up entirely of bows, guns, and rocket launchers. While there is a lot of difference between these weapon types, it’s nothing in comparison to every other class in the game. The melee class isn’t just swords. It’s also yo-yos and flails and boomerangs and spears. The mage class has wands, magic guns, spell books, and dozens of uncatategorized weapons. The summoner class has whips, minions, and sentries. On the surface, it would look like summoner has about as much variety as ranger, but the more I play summoner, the more I realize how many different play styles are possible with the class. The more I play Ranger, on the other hand, the more bored I become and the less I want to use it in the future. The same consistency that makes the Ranger class so reliable in the first place also makes it less exciting. The gameplay just ends up being pretty repetitive. The one factor that can kind of make up for this is the different ammunition types. There are plenty of different kinds of arrows, bullets, and even rockets, which can make the game play a little bit more fresh. The issue is that for the most part, only a few kinds of ammo are actually worth using, and others are just straight up useless. If you’re using a gun in hard mode, for example, it’s almost always recommended that you use Icore bullets, and if you can’t, you use crystal bullets. There are niche uses for other bullets in the game for sure, but you probably won’t be using them in a normal playthrough. As a whole, I think the ranger class is reliable, but underwhelming. I don’t usually opt for it in my playthroughs anymore because the gameplay loop is so repetitive. If I want to go for pure DPS and strength, I’ll go with the melee class, but if I want to go for something unique or fun, I’ll go with ranger or even summoner. The ranger class doesn’t offer special enough gameplay to make it stand out from the other classes in the game. Or at least that’s how I see it. Do you think the ranger class is underwhelming as well, or is it one of your favorites? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. And if you enjoy Terraria discussions just like this, make sure to subscribe because we are on our way to 3,000. See you next time. Bye-bye.
Is Terraria’s ranger class boring? Let’s talk about it.
36 Comments
Its boring until I have to fight Plantera, Golem and the mech bosses
No but melee is.
Every class has its "fun part" pros and cons. Melee has lots of weapon variety but puts so many good weapons in your immediate path that there's barely any incentive to use the more interesting ones. Ranger has ammo/weapon mixing and matching but the mechanical side of it isn't very interesting. Mage is quite unique but a lot of its weapons are really niche and it's a very obtuse class to engage with. Summoner has a fun gameplay loop but zero weapon variety. Though ultimately in the end the fact that there's pros and cons across the board is maybe okay. It means you get a variety of perspectives from people regarding a favorite class. And I think that's neat.
yknow, the crossbows and flamethrowers exist too, and they are pretty cool as well
Ranger is boring if you use guns.
But rockets, bows and others feels way more unique.
This is a very well put explanation on why I personally don't like the ranger class. Every other class gets to vary in the ranges they fight at and have more variance in their weapons, and the one way Ranger could have this in ammo, doesn't really work because there's always one best ammo type and since it's kind of a pain to have to switch them or to maintain a supply of multiple ammo types there's rarely a reason outside of player-induced challenge to do so. It would be interesting to see them given either a hot swap mechanic where they're able to switch their ammo type without even opening their inventory, or to be able to mix ammo types so that you could use icor bullets and nano bullets while still being roughly optimal by having the gun swap between the two types every "x" shots. All Ranger weapons have a version of them that show up before the first boss except shotbows and rocket launchers. Bow, gun, mini gun, shotgun, thrown item, grenade, and the Daedalus bow having a knock off in the form of blood rain bow means that aside from ammotypes you've already explored almost all ranger firing types. (I'm not counting the bee's knees or the hell bat bow because those are effectively just creating their own unique ammo types and not firing in a unique manner.) I also think it would be a good idea to move homing bullets further away in progression, unless you're specifically trying to challenge yourself there's almost no reason to not use the homing bullets, and it totally steals the thunder of any other bullet gotten at the post mechboss stage.
Yes.
I dont like ranger because its just too safe as a class
You have the second highest defense with decent DPS from a distance.
I like playing aggressive so it doesnt fit my playstyle at all
I think that ranger is the best designed class in terraria compared to others. Melee ends up using ranged attack in the beginning of hardmode, because he usually doesn't have options to tank much in close range. Mage is literally ranger, but with mana bar instead of ammo and the most different gameplay from ranger is just releasing lmb to restore mana if you don't want to use mana potions that for the cost of some damage erases all difference between mage and ranger. Before 1.4 sumonner was just mage that summons "projectiles" that either ram enemies or shoot another projectiles. In 1.4 sumonner got whips and now he's the same, but on closer range. All this variety of weapon subclasses doesn't do much, especially on mage. Let's say I changed all weapon sprites to one group and said that there's no subclasses. Ok, actually this example only applies to mage. But the whole problem stays here and different subclasses don't have unipue gameplay compared to each other. Every class in terraria is ranger.
I'm a ranger main, and I've always thought Ranger is too consistent. Sure they have multiple types of ammunition with different effects, bouncing shots, homing shots, splinter shot, AOE shots, but it's almost too one-note. Let alone almost all classes finding that range in at least some sense later on.
The ammo system is already fun, bullets, rockets, arrows, but I think Ranger could definitely do with more gameplay variety, like increased attack-speed or crit-rate when using multiple weapon types during combat. It'd give Ranger's different weapons more time to shine during combat, as I always find myself gravitating towards guns over bows or launchers. Ranger is a Ranger, not a gunner or archer or rocketeer. Let them capitalize on what little variety they have and let them build their little arsenal.
All classes would definitely benefit from it, but *I feel* Melee's weapons are very meta-defined and difficult to effectively deviate from, Mage's weapons are highly varied and it'd be hard to pin down certain types of weapons with how unique a lot of them are, and Summoner more supports seven of one summon and one whip better than six summons and two whips.
Alternatively different weapons could specialize for certain situations. Fleshy enemies could take increased damage from bullets. Evil enemies could take more from arrows. Armored enemies more from rockets, et cetera et cetera. It would still encourage multiple weapons per fight, The Twins per example, fleshy first phase, armored second phase. But I feel like this would be much more difficult to define and learn, the solar event enemies are armored but have a lot of exposed flesh, would it be both they take more damage from, or neither? Would they need a new special ammo material?
Food for thought.
I love ranger so much, never felt boring to me. Did a master mode playthrough with ranger. Switching between arrow types and getting sick ass bows was something I loved. If you stuck to guns for the whole playthrough I could see it getting boring tho
Yeah other than celebration mk2 ranger doesn't have anything flashy to offer, and ironically melee become a better "ranger" Than ranger itself in post golem :v
i wish bows were more viable later in the game, seems like hardmode ranger is very gun-centric and people don't care about the bows (besides maybe daedalus stormbow)
also: why does the game give you Literal Homing Bullets after the mechs. why is aiming as the ranger class optional for over half of hardmode
i just dislike range because of the guns.
ranger is the one class where the meta feels like the only way to play.
like when i'm playing mage i use the stellar tune not because i think it's the best but because i think the stellar tune is fun to use. i use the gray zapinator over the demon scythe for the wall of flesh because i hate using the demon scythe and think the gray zapinator is more fun to use.
when i'm playing melee i generally use yoyos because i think they're the most fun to use and yoyos have enough unique accessories that it feels like the player is actually getting stronger in that specific subclass. i don't really care that swords are usually better because i like yoyos.
when i'm playing ranger… i dunno the uzi and megashark don't feel that different from each other so i just choose the one with the higher DPS. rocket launchers just feel like clunkier vortex beaters so i go with the one that has the most DPS. every single bow feels the exact same so i go with the one that has the most DPS. the ammos all have barely noticeable effects so i just use whatever one has the most DPS. it's all the meta picks because none of the off-meta weapons make for a fun or interesting playthrough, they're just normal ranger but slower.
yes
ranger is boring
mainly because using the weapons feels like you're using the same weapons from start to finish
every class is ranged after 4 bosses but the ammunition just changed( melee has inf ammo, mage has mana, range has bullets ect.)
Ranger is by far the best class but it's boring for everyone except for the people that enjoy absolutely shredding everything.
Ranger is super fun. The choice of ammo gives it can extra layer of depth compared to all of the other classes imo.
Its BOORIIING
Haven't watched the video yet, and the answer is no :>
Terraria ranger, but calamity ranger.
Counter argument: minishark
The one interesting thing ranger has is the different varieties of ammo, but most of them aren't really worth going out of your way to use, so you just sorta stick to the easy to make ammo (especially when some ranged weapons turn said basic into special attacks like the hellwing bow) or the really stand-out strong ammo (e.g. jester or holy arrows) and nothing in-between
I really think that the ammo system needs a total rework. Some of the weaker bullets need to be buffed or changed bc there's often no reason to use them. Chlorophyte bullets should probably deal the same damage as meteor shot bc they're far too strong. You should also be able to hot key your active bullet type. Could be a button on your keyboard that cycles your active bullet type to the next one. Probably don't need more than 1 button bc there's only 4 slots
🧢
As a mage main i just cant play ranged for too long.
You just shoot stuff.
Open world pvp vs ranger lategame is hell.
And most mage weapons are complitely unic.
Ranger on top, other classes are cool but Ranger? It’s the only class I tell myself not to play because I’ve played it too many times
melee is also a simple easy class for every stage of the game
plus normal enemies are easier with true melee like how without true melee do you kill bees that are stuck on you and you can face tank with a couple (6) accesories for defence and use a mount to replace your wings if you want to doge also melee has a variety of ranges to play at like face tank with psycho knife almost facetank whith yoyos and range with many swords
Mage is better
My least favorite has always been mage
i find the fact that ranger is consistent through the entire game makes it less challenging than other classes like mage overall
Me when someone says Rangers are bad: "W*F DID YOU SAY TO ME!?"
More variety with weapons, as in weapons with different ways for use etc. The sniper rifle having that one zoom mechanic for example.
Imagine if we got bows that you gotta charge and shoot at a a right time for a crit, or like some other mechanic that requires some more effort than holding left click on an enemy.
Summoner has many different playstyles and also mechanics like whipstacking.
Melee has true melee for more dps kinda.
Mage has utility weapons such as rainbow gun that can be used for zone control.
Ranger has just guns and bows that all (apart from some unique weapons) essentially do the same thing. No different playstyles or anything. Its a consistant but average class. It does well but doesn't actually have any drawbacks or different playstyles.