The Best Gun Ammo In Terraria, Ranked

If you plan on playing a ranger in Terraria, your choice of bullet is very important.

The ranged class is likely the most powerful in Terraria, offering weapons that tear through bosses with little to no downsides. In contrast, melee must get close, magic must deal with mana, and summoners must wrangle their minions. The ranged class can prepare as long as they need to before a fight to ensure that they'll never run out of ammunition.

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But guns need bullets to disgorge, and there's sure to be a diverse set to find under the watch of Cthulu. If you're having trouble progressing through any part of your adventure, your best bet is to learn which bullets give you the most bang for your buck.

In Pre-Hardmode, your options are fairly limited when it comes to ammunition. Regular Musket Balls are generally serviceable, but if you need a bit more punch in battles, you should try to pick up Silver Bullets (or Tungsten Bullets if you're in a Tungsten world).

Though the Meteor Shot offers interesting effects on top of its decent damage, the Silver Bullets are cheap to get when buying from the Gun Dealer during a Blood Moon. There are much better options for damage once you're in Hardmode, but these work great if you're trying to take down the Eye of Cthulu.

While normally, Musket Balls are the last thing you'd want shooting out your guns, the Endless Musket Pouch is still a great utility item that will save you from the most certain of deaths. True to its name, you can use it in your ammo slot to gain an infinite supply of Musket Balls for any firearm in your possession.

This pouch isn't helpful as a primary source of ammunition, instead working well as a backup when you run out of more powerful bullets. It works great as primary ammo when fighting regular enemies, helping you save the best for bosses and events.

If you get easily overwhelmed by the crowds of enemies that early Hardmode tends to send, the High Velocity Bullet might be the best option for you. Able to hit three enemies with a single shot, it can shred through a dense mass of foes when paired with rapid-fire guns.

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The other perk of this bullet is its fast shot speed, which reduces the stress of aiming by a significant degree; where normal bullets sluggishly crawl towards their target (and often miss), you can be sure that the High Velocity Bullet will appear where you shot in a matter of moments.

When it comes to crowd control, the Exploding Bullet is king– thanks to the area-of-effect damage that the ammo outputs, not even large clumps of enemies can challenge the might of your Megashark.

The big sticking point is that you probably don't want to use this type of bullet if fighting a single-target boss: you're wasting a lot of potential damage and utility that other bullets could provide. On the other hand, Don't be afraid of punishing the Destroyer; the explosions can damage multiple segments, which will easily shred the worm with the right gear.

For Corruption worlds, Cursed Bullets are great early-to-midgame ammunition for single targets, quick to craft thanks to how easy Cursed Flames are to obtain. When making contact with most enemies, this ammo will inflict the Cursed Inferno debuff and drain health over time.

When you can obtain this ammo type, there are more plentiful and effective options for dealing with bosses; therefore, you should be using these primarily for more formidable non-boss enemies like evil biome Mimics or Wraiths to save better bullets without losing too much damage.

Ichor Bullets are your prototypical debuff ammunition, shredding enemy defenses whenever landing a hit. Their damage is good enough for you to use them as your primary ammo, especially given the defense reduction that makes them shine.

Rather than keep these as your main damage dealers, it's better to utilize their effect in conjunction with higher-damage bullets to maximize your overall power. This ammo is even good if you're using other class weapons, opening a weak point to capitalize on with a sword or summon. Thankfully, the ichor necessary to make these bullets is easy to obtain, giving you no excuse not to load up.

Nano Bullets have a special effect that allows them to bounce off of walls in the direction of the nearest enemy. While not true homing, this does help when fighting enemies in enclosed areas, as you can shoot in their general direction and get hits where your ammo would typically be wasted.

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This ammo is not a viable alternative to bullets that home when fighting speedy endgame bosses, but its qualities allow for it to be a major asset when dealing with swarm-type events like Martian Madness. Every bullet you shoot will get some value, as even when missing, you'll get damage off the rebounds.

Crystal Bullets are the go-to ammunition to use when killing bosses at the start of Hardmode, doing extra damage with the shards that break off when they hit their targets. This damage is enough to carry you through the Twins and Destroyer without much hassle, especially when paired with an early Hardmode gun like the Uzi or Megashark.

The Crystal Shards that make up this ammo's recipe craft 100 bullets each, meaning that after only a few minutes of grabbing shards in the Underground Hallow, you can have a whole stack to use at your leisure.

It's no surprise that Luminite Bullets would sit near the top of the heap since they're Post-Moon Lord ammunition– standing at the peak of bullet damage and bearing 50 enemies' worth of piercing ability, this ammo makes cleaning up the postgame a breeze.

Though these are the most powerful bullets in the game, there isn't much to use them on once you get them– unless you plan on playing modded content, the only real challenge left would be a daytime Empress of Light fight. Otherwise, these bullets are great for putting the hurt on the bosses who once made you suffer.

Despite the Luminite Bullets' superior stats, the Chlorophyte Bullets' homing ability is a must-have for most late-game boss fights. Sure, they're on the weaker side, but they're well worth it when you can eliminate aiming from the list of things to worry about in a fight.

It's a good idea to mine for Chlorophyte as soon as you get your hands on the Pickaxe Axe, as these bullets will carry you to Moon Lord and beyond. Faster-moving enemies like Plantera and Duke Fishron are especially weak to Chlorophyte's homing effect, allowing you to focus entirely on moving when avoiding projectiles.

Next: Terraria: The Best Guns, Ranked

Ja Vaughn is a lifelong games player who jumps at the opportunity to try a new game whenever they can. They take RPGs, shooters, and platformers alike with the vim and excitement of a dog getting kibble. When they aren't writing about games they're editing videos and making jokes with friends.