Desert Tiger Staff
Type | |
---|---|
Damage | 41 (Summon) |
Knockback | 4 (Weak) |
Mana | 10 |
Use time | 36 (Very slow) |
Velocity | 40 (effective) |
Tooltip | Summons a white tiger to fight for you |
Rarity | ![]() |
Sell | 20 |
Research | 1 required |
Buff | ![]() |
---|---|
Buff tooltip | The desert tiger will fight beside you |
- Desert Tiger
- Desert Tiger
- Desert Tiger (tier 1)
- Desert Tiger (tier 2)
- Desert Tiger (tier 3)
Use | |
---|---|
- Internal Item ID: 4607
- Internal Buff ID: 263
- Internal Projectile ID: 818, 831, 833, 834, 835
The Desert Tiger Staff is a Hardmode, post-Plantera summon weapon. It summons a Desert Tiger that deals contact damage to enemies. Every six seconds,[1] the tiger can curl up and perform a pounce attack at nearby enemies, dealing 61 damage (1.5× the base damage),[2] and passing through blocks to reach them.
The Desert Tiger Staff is special in that if used more than once, multiple tigers do not spawn – instead, the spawned tiger becomes stronger (+16/+17 damage; 40% of the base damage[2]) and faster for each additional summon. The tiger will appear as a baby if summoned 1 to 3 times, an adult if summoned 4 to 6 times, and an armored adult if summoned 7 or more times. Other minions may be used in addition to the Desert Tiger.
# | Contact | Pounce | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Tier 1 |
1 | 41 | 61 |
2 | 57 | 77 | |
3 | 73 | 94 | |
![]() Tier 2 |
4 | 90 | 110 |
5 | 106 | 127 | |
6 | 123 | 143 | |
![]() Tier 3 |
7 | 139 | 159 |
8 | 155 | 176 | |
9 | 172 | 192 | |
... |

The Desert Tiger Staff can always be found inside the Dungeon's Desert Chest, which can only be unlocked by a Desert Key after Plantera has been defeated.
Its best modifier is Ruthless. The Mythical modifier provides the widest array of stat bonuses, but these primarily affect the initial summon rather than the resulting minion. Additionally, minions cannot deal critical hits. The only lasting advantage a Mythical Desert Tiger Staff has over a Ruthless one is knockback.
Notes
- Although classified as a ground melee minion, it can still attack aerial enemies because of its pouncing ability.
- The cooldown of the pounce attack is reduced to five seconds for a tiger of tier 2, and to four seconds for a tiger of tier 3.[1]
- The tiger can only pounce at enemies that are within a 100×50-tile rectangle centered on the player.[3]
Tips
- The reforge cost of this weapon is disproportionately high compared to other summon weapons.
- The tiger kills any critters it comes in contact with. This may lead to a very surprising and unwanted Empress of Light summon, should the Prismatic Lacewing get pounced on by the tiger while it is engaging other enemies; this can be avoided by keeping a Guide to Critter Companionship in the inventory.
- It is better suited for singular targets rather than crowds. This is because, unlike most other summon weapons, additional summons only strengthens the initial summon, rather than summon additional minions. As such, for events or farming, the player may wish to use a different summon weapon instead of, or alongside the Desert Tiger, such as the Pygmy Staff.
Trivia
- The Stardust Dragon Staff and Abigail's Flower are the only other summon weapons that do not spawn a new minion but rather enhance the existing one.
- The Desert Tiger bears resemblance to real-life white tigers.
History
- Desktop 1.4.4: Now runs 25% faster when chasing enemies on foot.
- Desktop 1.4.3.3: Fixed an issue where Desert Tiger did not bounce on enemies correctly if the Journey Mode's time settings were set to paused or sped up.
- Desktop 1.4.1.2:
- Now "bounces on" its current target if that target is in the air, staying more firmly latched on and dealing damage
- Increased scaling damage per "minion slot" expended slightly (from 33% of base damage to 40% of base damage).
- Desktop 1.4.1:
- Base damage increased from 33 to 41.
- Hitbox size while using the pouncing attack increased.
- Can no longer deal critical hits while pouncing.
- Desktop 1.4.0.1: Introduced.
- Console 1.4.0.5.4.1: Introduced.
- Switch 1.4.0.5.5: Introduced.
- Mobile 1.4.0.5.0: Introduced.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information taken from the
Desktop 1.4.1.2 source code, method
AI_067_FreakingPirates()
inTerraria.Projectile.cs
. There may be inaccuracies, as the currentDesktop version is 1.4.4.9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Information taken from the
Desktop 1.4.1.2 source code, method
Damage()
inTerraria.Projectile.cs
. There may be inaccuracies, as the currentDesktop version is 1.4.4.9.
- ↑ Information taken from the
Desktop 1.4.1.2 source code, method
AI_067_TigerSpecialAttack()
inTerraria.Projectile.cs
. There may be inaccuracies, as the currentDesktop version is 1.4.4.9.