Blade Staff

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Blade Staff
  • Blade Staff item sprite
Auto-use
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Damage6 (Summon)
Knockback0 (No knockback)
Mana10
Use time36 (Very slow)
Velocity10
TooltipSummons an Enchanted Dagger to fight for you
Ignores a substantial amount of enemy defense
Hits quickly at the expense of 25% tag damage
'Don't let their small size fool you'
RarityRarity level: 5
Sell1 GC
Research1 required
Grants Buff
BuffEnchanted DaggersEnchanted Daggers(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Buff tooltipDeath by a thousand cuts
Projectile created
  • Enchanted Dagger
    Enchanted Dagger
  • Internal Item ID: 4758 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
  • Internal Buff ID: 271 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
  • Internal Projectile ID: 864
Obtained from Obtained from Obtained from
Classic mode icon.png Classic
Expert mode icon.png Expert
Master mode icon.png Master
EntityQty.Rate
Queen Slime(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Queen Slime.pngQueen Slime(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)125%
Treasure Bag(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
(Queen Slime)
Treasure Bag (Queen Slime)Treasure Bag
(Queen Slime)
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
133% (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Summoning an Enchanted Dagger to attack a Skeleton.

The Blade Staff is a Hardmode summon weapon that summons an Enchanted Dagger minion suspended above the player's head, attacking enemies within range by flying toward and through them repeatedly at a fast pace. It has 25 armor penetration, making it more effective against Hardmode enemies than its damage stat would indicate. The Blade Staff is dropped by Queen Slime with a drop rate of 1/4 (25%) / 1/3 (33.33%).

Additionally, Enchanted Daggers only gains 75% damage bonus from summon tag damage bonuses from whips.

Its best modifiers are Demonic, Deadly, Mystic, or Hurtful. Unlike most minions, the Enchanted Dagger deals no knockback, so the weapon cannot obtain the Ruthless modifier. Due to its low base damage, all modifiers which improve damage by 10% or more improve its damage by the same amount.

Notes

  • The Blade Staff's minions attack at an extraordinarily fast rate compared to other summon weapons, hitting around four times per second. Each dagger triggers custom invulnerability frames on the target, maximizing damage output from the minions.
  • Unlike most minions, the daggers will immediately return to the user's side, preventing them from getting stuck behind blocks and blocking the minion's field of vision.

Tips

  • The Enchanted Daggers benefit massively from whips that increase summon tag damage, as most of them can more than double its DPS due to the low base damage but high attack rate.
    • For example, the daggers synergize very well with Dark Harvest due to the "dark energy" it applies, dealing high DPS against multiple targets. However, this also means it has very poor synergy with the Firecracker.
    • The daggers only gain 75% of the damage from whip tags, including the tag applied by Dark Harvest. Despite this, they are still arguably more dependent on tag damage than any other minion.
  • Like the Sanguine Staff and Terraprisma, the Blade Staff's precise movement, tracking and fixed idle position make it an ideal choice for assisting the player with faster bosses and for crowd control.
  • Thanks to its armor penetration, the Blade Staff is a great weapon for summoners in early-to-mid Hardmode. However, considering the Blade Staff's difficulty to obtain as a summoner, the Spider Staff may be a better option to obtain first.
  • The Blade Staff does not benefit much from percentage-based damage bonuses, but it is still useful on dedicated summoner sets because it does not suffer from piercing invincibility frames and benefits greatly from whips. It is also a decent choice for melee users, who can passively increase its damage output with the Sharpened buff and Flask of Ichor. On the other hand, non-summoners will not be impressed with its damage output at all, though it can still be very useful for stun-locking enemies.
  • The Blade Staff's high armor penetration allows it to stay relevant against most Hardmode enemies, but due to its low base damage, its damage per hit will quickly dwindle to almost nothing as soon as enemy defenses start to exceed 25. This can be bypassed to an extent by inflicting Ichor and/or holding a melee weapon while the Sharpened buff is active.
    • Certain bosses have so much defense that the Blade Staff's damage will be reduced to 1 damage per hit even with access to other defense-lowering buffs. Some examples include the Flying Dutchman and Santa-NK1, which feature 100 and 56 defense, respectively.
  • Because of its rapid attack rate, it is an effective summon for killing a Dungeon Guardian. Note that despite its armor penetration, the dagger will still do 1 damage per hit (as the Dungeon Guardian has 9999 defense, while the daggers have only 25 armor penetration).
  • Although the Blade Staff has no base knockback, it can gain knockback from accessories like the Papyrus Scarab or buffs like Well Fed. This drastically increases its effectiveness against enemies that are affected by knockback, as several daggers can lock an enemy in place.

Trivia

  • Despite being a Hardmode drop, the Blade Staff has the second lowest base damage out of all summon weapons, the lowest being the Lightning Aura Rod.
  • Along with the Stardust Dragon Staff, Desert Tiger Staff, and Raven Staff, the Blade Staff is one of four summon weapons whose buff description is not "<name of minion> will fight for you", instead being "Death by a thousand cuts".
    • "Death by a thousand cuts", or Lingchi, was a torture and execution method used in China from roughly 900 CE until it was banned in 1905.
  • The Blade Staff seems to have a similar color scheme to the Hallowed Mimic's drops, most closely resembling the Flying Knife.
  • The internal name for the Blade Staff is Smolstar.

History