The Horseman's Blade

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The Horseman's Blade
  • The Horseman's Blade item sprite
Autoswing
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Damage150 (Melee)
Knockback7.5 (Very strong)
Critical chance4%
Use time26 (Average)
TooltipSummons Pumpkin heads to attack your enemies
RarityRarity level: 8
Sell10 GC
Research1 required
Projectiles created
  • Flaming Jack
    Flaming Jack
  • The Horseman's Blade
    The Horseman's Blade
Obtained from Obtained from
Classic Mode.png Classic
Expert Mode.png Expert
Master Mode.png Master
EntityQty.Rate
PumpkingPumpking head.gifPumpking12.5–12.5%6.25–12.5%
Using The Horseman's Blade to attack Target Dummies, Zombies, and a Mimic. Note how the projectiles home onto targets, and how only three enemies can be hit at once.

The Horseman's Blade is a Hardmode, post-Plantera sword that can be dropped by the Pumpking during the Pumpkin Moon event with a 2.5–12.5% (6.25–12.5%) chance depending on the current wave.[1] When swung, an orange aura follows the swing, reaching farther than the sword itself. The aura can hit up to three enemies. Upon striking an enemy, the Horseman's Blade summons a Flaming Jack, a homing pumpkin head projectile that can pass through blocks.

Its best modifier is Legendary.

Crafting

Used in

ResultIngredientsCrafting station
ZenithZenith(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Mythril AnvilMythril Anvil
or
Orichalcum AnvilOrichalcum Anvil

Notes

  • A Flaming Jack is summoned at a random location off-screen and flies at 41 mph in a straight line. It targets and homes in on the enemy from which it was spawned, although it might hit a different enemy in its path. If the target enemy dies before the Flaming Jack reaches it, it targets the nearest enemy within 62.5 tiles (measured from the center of the enemy's hitbox) instead. If that target also dies, the Flaming Jack selects the next nearest target again, and so on. If no targets are present, it continues on its current trajectory until despawning off-screen.[2]
  • Flaming Jacks cannot be summoned from hitting critters or statue-spawned enemies with The Horseman's Blade.
  • The Horseman's Blade will always knock enemies away from the player, regardless of the direction it is swung.
  • The sword can be seen in darkness but does not give off light.
  • Flaming Jacks may spawn and follow Spike Balls, projectile enemies such as Chaos Balls or Vile Spit, and even bound NPCs.
  • Flaming Jacks will not spawn or home in on other players in PvP but can damage other players if they have already spawned and happen to make contact.

Tips

  • Despite being called The Horseman's Blade, it drops from the Pumpking instead of Headless Horsemen.
  • Attacking large segmented enemies such as The Destroyer or Wyverns with The Horseman's Blade will cause many Flaming Jacks to spawn and attack, as each segment can be attacked, therefore counting them as different targets.
  • When comparing to the Terra Blade, The Horseman's Blade's very strong knockback and homing projectiles compensate for its slower, less-damaging swing.

Trivia

  • The Horseman's Blade appears unusually larger than other swords when placed on a Weapon Rack.
  • Modifier prefixes are added in front of the "The" in its name, which can result in a grammatically incorrect name such as "Keen The Horseman's Blade". It shares this trait with all other items that can obtain modifiers and whose names begin with "The".
  • Flaming Jacks can still gather at the Moon Lord's hands and head despite them being taken out.
  • Jack in the pumpkin projectiles' name (Flaming Jack) is likely short for jack-o'-lantern, which is the name for a carved lantern most commonly made from a pumpkin.
  • The Horseman's Blade (and the Headless Horseman enemy) is a reference to the Headless Horseman featured in the 1820 gothic story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by American author Washington Irving. During the story's climax, the main character is chased by the Headless Horseman who ultimately throws his head at him. The head is afterward revealed to actually have been a pumpkin. The story has since been referenced many times, as well as linked to Halloween due to jack-o'-lanterns. In Disney's 1949 film adaptation The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, it appears as a jack-o'-lantern on fire similar to this item's projectiles.

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4.6: Fixed an issue where the projectiles would sometimes decide to target critters, even though they are not meant to do so.
  • Desktop 1.4.4:
    • Flaming Jacks are no longer summoned when striking enemies spawned from statues.
    • Flaming Jacks only deal 100% of the weapon damage instead of 150%.
    • When the Horseman's Blade triggers the Striking Moment buff, the summoned Flaming Jacks no longer inherit the damage increase.
    • The Horseman's Blade now has an area of damaging energy around the blade, dealing damage in a larger, wider area of effect, including better coverage behind the player.
    • Now only hits up to three targets per swing.
    • Damage increased from 75 to 150.
  • Desktop 1.4.0.1:
    • Now used to craft the Zenith.
    • Prevented Flaming Jacks' damage being increased by the Striking Moment buff twice by making them unable to trigger the buff.

References

  1. Detailed drop rates in each wave:
    W10:2.5%6.25%
    W11:2.5%6.25%
    W12:3.13%12.5%
    W13:3.13%12.5%
    W14:3.13%12.5%
    W15:4.17%12.5%
    W16:4.17%12.5%
    W17:6.25%12.5%
    W18:6.25%12.5%
    W19:6.25%12.5%
    W20:12.5%12.5%
    See Pumpkin Moon § Loot for more information.
  2. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods HorsemansBlade_SpawnPumpkin() in Terraria.Player.cs and AI() in Terraria.Projectile.cs. The relevant block in Terraria.Projectile.AI is aiStyle == 55.