Terraria has a plethora of ranged weapons that use different types of ammunition. Finding the best ammunition in Terraria is a bit difficult since the best of the best are locked via progression. We are ranking each of the different ammunition with their categories to make sure that all of them are compared fairly.
Ammunition in Terraria – Best to Worst
There are 6 different ammo in the game, one for each weapon type, except the final category which contains all miscellaneous ammo. That said, each ammunition shows different levels of promise regarding its versatility. Bullets are more accurate and have higher velocity, arrows do more status effects, and rockets are outright destroyers of your world.
1
Bullets and Pouches
- Not affected by gravity
- Has faster velocity, making them the more accurate choice
- Most endgame guns have higher fire rates for better DPS
| Name | Damage | Hardmode? | Notes |
| Luminite Bullet | 20 | Yes | Pierces until it does no more damage (falls off at 4% per enemy pierced) |
| Venom Bullet | 15 | Yes | Inflicts Acid Venom debuff |
| Nano Bullet | 15 | Yes | Does a bounce that tracks the nearest target. Inflicts Confusion on hit |
| Ichor Bullet | 13 | Yes | Inflicts Ichor on enemies |
| Cursed Bullet | 12 | Yes | Inflicts Cursed Inferno on enemies |
| High Velocity Bullet | 11 | Yes | Fastest bullet velocity in the game |
| Party Bullet | 10 | No | Releases confetti on impact. Purely cosmetic |
| Exploding Bullet | 10 | Yes | Explodes on impact. Explosions can deal damage through walls |
| Golden Bullet | 10 | Yes | Inflicts Midas debuff on hit enemies (Enemies drop more coins on kill) |
| Silver Bullet | 9 | No | Acts like an upgraded Musket Ball. Deals 3x damage to Werewolves |
| Crystal Bullet | 9 | Yes | Shatters into two pieces that each deal 50% bullet damage on impact. |
| Chlorophyte Bullet | 9 | Yes | Shots home in on enemies. |
| Tungsten Bullet | 9 | No | Similar to the Silver Bullet but without the Werewolf bonus. |
| Meteor Shot | 8 | No | Pierces or bounces once but not both. |
| Endless Musket Pouch | 7 | Yes | A pouch with infinite Musket balls |
| Musket Ball | 7 | No | Your very first bullet type |
Bullets are the best ammunition in Terraria when it comes to overall accuracy due to the bullets traveling fast while not being affected by gravity.
2
Arrows and Quivers
- More arrows inflict debuffs
- Slightly cheaper to craft than bullets
- More bows have unique “shots” that make them better with the Endless Quiver
| Name | Damage | Hardmode? | Notes |
| Venom Arrow | 19 | Yes | Inflicts Acid Venom for 10 seconds (30 damage per second) |
| Cursed Arrow | 17 | Yes | Inflicts Cursed Inferno for 7 seconds (24 damage per second) |
| Ichor Arrow | 16 | Yes | Inflicts Ichor for 10 seconds (adds 15 armor penetration for mobs) |
| Chlorophyte Arrow | 16 | Yes | Arrows bounce four times. Bounces toward a nearby target when available. |
| Luminite Arrow | 15 | Yes | Pierces 4x and fires a secondary bolt that does the same from the same position. |
| Holy Arrow | 13 | Yes | Two Hallow Stars will fall on the arrow impact point. |
| Hellfire Arrow | 13 | No | Explodes on impact, damaging nearby enemies. |
| Shimmer Arrow | 12 | No | Arrows fly in reverse gravity (goes up instead of down) |
| Unholy Arrow | 12 | No | Pierces 4 targets, hitting for a total of 5 enemies. |
| Jester’s Arrow | 10 | No | Arrows fly straight and pierce infinitely. |
| Bone Arrow | 8 | No | Pierces one enemy but can’t be recovered. |
| Frostburn Arrow | 7 | No | 33% chance of inflicting Frostburn (8 damage per second for 3 seconds) |
| Flaming Arrow | 7 | No | 33% chance of catching enemies On Fire! (4 damage per second for 3 seconds) |
| Endless Quiver | 5 | Yes | A quiver containing infinite Wooden Arrows |
| Wooden Arrow | 5 | No | Your plain old arrow |
Notable arrows include the Jester’s Arrow, Holy Arrow, and Venom Arrows for their great balance of versatility, damage, and overall utility.
3
Rockets
- Excellent for crowd control
- Several types can destroy blocks
- By far the easiest way to clear and add liquids into your world
| Name | Damage | Breaks Tiles? | Notes |
| Mini Nuke I | 75 | No | Largest blast radius |
| Mini Nuke II | 75 | Yes | Largest blast radius |
| Rocket III | 65 | No | Large blast radius |
| Rocket IV | 65 | Yes | Large blast radius |
| Cluster Rocket I | 50 | No | Spread blast areas |
| Cluster Rocket II | 50 | Yes | Spread blast areas |
| Rocket I | 40 | No | Small blast radius |
| Rocket II | 40 | Yes | Small blast radius |
| Dry Rocket | 40 | Yes | Destroys Liquid Tiles. Smallest blast radius |
| Wet Rocket | 40 | No | Spreads water. Smallest blast radius |
| Lava Rocket | 40 | No | Spreads lava. Smallest blast radius |
| Honey Rocket | 40 | No | Spreads honey. Smallest blast radius |
Rockets have one of the best ammunition in Terraria for crowd control. It allows you to clear out large groups of enemies with absolute ease. Rockets are also great for filling up or clearing out ponds of either water, lava, or honey.
4
Darts
- Cheap and effective ammunition
- There are only 4 weapons that utilize darts, making them only viable until around Golem
| Name | Damage | Hardmode? | Notes |
| Crystal Dart | 14 | Yes | Not affected by gravity. Has the same bounce tracking as the Chlorophyte Arrows. |
| Ichor Dart | 10 | Yes | Inflicts Ichor. Breaks into 2-5 shrapnel mid-flight |
| Cursed Dart | 9 | Yes | Inflicts Cursed Inferno. Drips Cursed Flames below its flight path |
| Poison Dart | 10 | No | Inflicts Poison. |
While the Poison Dart has higher base damage than the Cursed Dart, it does less DPS due to the Cursed Debuff doing more damage over time. The effective use of darts drops down as soon as you hit Golem. This is when the Chain Gun and Bullets become the better option in terms of overall damage.
5
Others
- Are only used with specific weaponry
- These ammo are used in niche weapons
Here are the ammo types that are not included in any of the above listings. These are ammo that are only used by specific weapons and do not appear as ammo for any other ranged arsenals.
| Name | Bullet Type (for Shroomite Set) | Variants | Weapons That Use It |
| Gel | Specialist | n/a | Flamethrower, Elf Melter |
| Sand | Specialist | Sand, Ebonsand, Crimsand, Pearlsand Blocks | Sandgun |
| Seed | Specialist | Seed, Darts | Anything that fires Darts |
| Fallen Star | Specialist | n/a | Star Cannon, Super Star Shooter |
| Snowball | Specialist | n/a | Snowball Cannon, Snowball Launcher (furniture) |
| Ale | Specialist | n/a | Ale Tosser |
| Bone | n/a | n/a | Bone Glove |
| Coin | n/a | Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Coin | Coin Gun |
| Stynger Bolt | Specialist | n/a | Stynger |
| Candy Corn | Bullet | n/a | Candy Corn Rifle |
| Stake | Arrow | n/a | Stake Launcher |
| Nail | Specialist | n/a | Nail Gun |
| Explosive Jack ‘O Lantern | Specialist | n/a | Jack ‘O Lantern Launcher |
| Flare | n/a | Blue, Spelunker, Cursed, Rainbow, Shimmer, and common Flare | Flare Gun |
These are all the other bullets that the game considers ammunition. Although uncategorized, the game makes most of them fall under the Specialist category with the Shroomite Armor set, which initially only applied to rockets.
So that’s all there is to know about the best ammunition in Terraria. If you think we missed anything, let us know in the comments below!
If you want to make use of these ammunition types with the best ranger loadouts, click here!
