Lightning Aura sentry summons

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Lightning Aura sentry summons
  • Lightning Aura Rod.png Lightning Aura Cane.png Lightning Aura Staff.png
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Weapon
Damage(Varies each tier) (Summon)
Knockback0.25 (Extremely weak)
Use time30 (Average)
Velocity1
TooltipSummons a sentry
An aura that repeatedly zaps enemies that go inside
Aura damage penetrates enemy defense
Hits quickly at the expense of 50% tag damage
Costs 10 Etherian Mana per use while defending an Eternia Crystal
Research1 required

The Lightning Aura Rod, Cane, and Staff are special sentry summon weapons. They can summon the Lightning Aura sentry, which lasts for 10 minutes, remains stationary, and does not count against the player's minion capacity. Each Lightning Aura sentry consists of a circle with a radius of 9 tiles, centered on the base, that damages enemies repeatedly as they move through it. The Rod is sold by the Tavernkeep for 50000*5 Defender Medal, the Cane for 150000*15 Defender Medal, and the Staff for 600000*60 Defender Medal.

Lightning Aura weapons completely ignore enemy defenses by adding half the enemy's original defense (i.e. before defense is reduced by certain debuffs) to the weapon's damage[1]. The Lightning Aura Staff, for example, always inflicts around 34 damage on any enemy, regardless of its defense stat. This is separate from and applied before armor penetration, which potentially increases the damage even further. Additionally, Lightning Aura sentries can only gain 50% damage bonus from summon tag damage bonuses from whips.

The Rod is always available. The Cane becomes available after defeating one mechanical boss, and the Staff becomes available after defeating Golem. The three different versions cause an identical effect, but with varying statistics, with the Staff being the most expensive and the most powerful.

These weapons cannot be used outside of the Old One's Army event until the event has been successfully completed. Completing the event on any difficulty allows Rods, Canes, and Staves alike to be used outside of the event.

During the Old One's Army event, Etherian Mana can be collected, which allows the placement of multiple Lightning Auras that remain permanently until the event is over. Etherian Mana cannot be used outside the event.

Lightning Aura sentries are boosted by the Monk armor and Shinobi Infiltrator armor set bonuses, which increase their attack rate and allow them to deal critical hits. These weapons will have a fixed 1/6 (16.67%) (Monk armor) or 1/4 (25%) (Shinobi Infiltrator armor) chance to deal critical strike. This critical strike is determined separately from the summon tag critical chance (from Morning Star or Kaleidoscope), meaning that these two critical strike chances are two independent events instead of additive values.[2] The Shinobi Infiltrator armor also increases the size of the Lightning Aura's circle.

For the rod and cane, their best modifiers are Mythical, Furious, or Godly.

For the staff, 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 Lightning Aura sentry summons has over a Ruthless one is knockback.

Tiers

Lightning Aura RodTier 1
  • Lightning Aura Rod item sprite
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
WeaponCrafting material
Damage4 (Summon)
Knockback0.25 (Extremely weak)
Mana5
Use time30 (Average)
Velocity1
TooltipSummons a sentry
An aura that repeatedly zaps enemies that go inside
Aura damage penetrates enemy defense
Hits quickly at the expense of 50% tag damage
Costs 10 Etherian Mana per use while defending an Eternia Crystal
RarityRarity level: 3
Buy50000*5 Defender Medal
Sell1 GC
Research1 required
Projectile created
  • Lightning Aura (tier 1)
    Lightning Aura (tier 1)
Sounds
Use
Aura zap
Lightning Aura CaneTier 2
  • Lightning Aura Cane item sprite
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
WeaponCrafting material
Damage11 (Summon)
Knockback0.25 (Extremely weak)
Mana10
Use time30 (Average)
Velocity1
TooltipSummons a sentry
An aura that repeatedly zaps enemies that go inside
Aura damage penetrates enemy defense
Hits quickly at the expense of 50% tag damage
Costs 10 Etherian Mana per use while defending an Eternia Crystal
RarityRarity level: 5
Buy150000*15 Defender Medal
Sell5 GC
Research1 required
Projectile created
  • Lightning Aura (tier 2)
    Lightning Aura (tier 2)
Sounds
Use
Aura zap
Lightning Aura StaffTier 3
  • Lightning Aura Staff item sprite
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
WeaponCrafting material
Damage34 (Summon)
Knockback0.25 (Extremely weak)
Mana15
Use time30 (Average)
Velocity1
TooltipSummons a sentry
An aura that repeatedly zaps enemies that go inside
Aura damage penetrates enemy defense
Hits quickly at the expense of 50% tag damage
Costs 10 Etherian Mana per use while defending an Eternia Crystal
RarityRarity level: 8
Buy600000*60 Defender Medal
Sell15 GC
Research1 required
Projectile created
  • Lightning Aura (tier 3)
    Lightning Aura (tier 3)
Sounds
Use
Aura zap

Crafting

Recipes

ResultIngredientsCrafting station
Lightning Aura CaneLightning Aura Cane(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)ShimmerShimmer Transmutation(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Lightning Aura RodLightning Aura Rod(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Lightning Aura StaffLightning Aura Staff(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

Used in

ResultIngredientsCrafting station
Flameburst CaneFlameburst Cane(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)ShimmerShimmer Transmutation(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Flameburst RodFlameburst Rod(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Flameburst StaffFlameburst Staff(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

Notes

  • Completing the Old One's Army event on any difficulty sets a hidden attribute for both the world it was completed on and the character who completed it. Any characters, including newly made ones, who visit that world may then use Rods, Canes, and Staves on that world. The character who completed the event may also use Rods, Canes, and Staves on any world.
  • While Lightning Auras can be placed next to other Tavernkeep's sentries, it is not possible to place another Tavernkeep's sentry inside the radius of an existing Lightning Aura. Therefore, Lightning Auras should be placed last when clustering various sentries together.
  • The Lightning Aura's maximum radius is 9 tiles, with the top "orb" being in the 10th tile up from the base. If summoned in a space shorter than 10 tiles (blocked by either blocks or platforms), the Lightning Aura shrinks, down to a minimum radius of three tiles, with the orb inhabiting the fourth tile above.[3]
  • The Lightning Aura requires a line of sight from the orb to any enemy inside its radius in order to damage them. Summoning a Lightning Aura in a space shorter than 10 tiles places the orb inside a block, rendering most of its attack range moot; though it will still damage enemies directly beneath it. While platforms will decrease the range of a Lightning Aura, they will not block line of sight, allowing the aura to function normally.
  • Dungeon Guardians and any other enemy that happens to have over 999 defense are excluded from the Lightning Aura's defense compensation ability, and will cause the Aura's damage to be reduced as normal.[1]
  • The Lightning Aura has a cooldown of 0.5 seconds after attacking. If the player is wearing the Monk armor or Shinobi Infiltrator armor, this cooldown is reduced to 0.42 seconds.[3]
  • Since some hostile projectiles are technically enemies with 1 health (e.g. the Chaos Ball), the Lightning Aura can destroy them if they happens to fly into its radius.

Tips

  • The Lightning Aura's area of effect and frequent attacks are effective against segmented enemies like worms.
  • A Lightning Aura sentry placed close to one of the Mysterious Portals in the Old One's Army event will kill or severely weaken most of the tier 1 enemies before they can get anywhere close to the Eternia Crystal, making tier 1 much easier.
  • A Lightning Aura sentry emits light, therefore it can be useful when exploring caves to locate undiscovered sections. Attempting to place it in a solid area will not consume mana, so it can be freely used to probe "blank" areas for possible caverns. Binoculars or similar items can be helpful to extend the area mapped by the light.
  • Lightning Auras can be displaced. This behavior can lead to some interesting movement of the sentry when placed in narrow sloped tunnels, like those of the Underground Desert, and it can end up some distance away from its intended placement, inside walls, or even completely off-screen.

Trivia

  • The Lightning Aura Rod has the lowest base damage of all summon weapons. Prior to its introduction, the Slime Staff had the lowest base damage.

Gallery

The Lightning Aura Rod in action.
The Lightning Aura Cane in action.
The Lightning Aura Staff in action.
A Lightning Aura sentry being displaced.

See also

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4:
    • Reduced Cane and Staff costs from 25 to 15 and 100 to 60 Defender Medals, respectively.
    • Only gains 50% of the damage from whip tags, due to its high hit rate and armor piercing capabilities.
    • Now has a token knockback value, allowing access to better modifiers.
    • Staves now have a more informative tooltip explaining how their damage works (it basically ignores defense).
    • Lightning Aura sentry summons are now used to craft Flameburst sentry summons of their respective tier via shimmer.
  • Desktop 1.3.4.4:
    • Fixed emitting sounds for enemies it cannot reach underneath it.
    • Fixed turrets falling through platforms after spawning on them.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.3.6 source code, method Damage() in Terraria.Projectile.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
  2. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method Damage() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.3.6 source code, method AI_137_LightningAura() in Terraria.Projectile.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
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