Bullets are an essential part of Terraria for any ranged user. The ranged class setup can deal massive damage from afar, but to optimize its performance, it’s important to know what the best bullets in Terraria are.
There are different bullets suited to different situations, and understanding when to use each type of bullet is crucial to success in Terraria. Some bullets are best for particular bosses or events.
With 16 types of bullets, there are plenty to choose from, and with gameplay experience, you’ll become familiar with which bullets best suit your playstyle. It’s worth noting that 11 of the 16 types of bullets are exclusive to hardmode, so pre-hardmode, your options are pretty limited.
This Terraria bullets guide will walk you through each of the types of bullets, what they’re best for, and how you can get them.
Pre-Hardmode Bullets
Of the 16 types of bullets, only 5 of them are accessible pre-hardmode. This can present a challenge to ranged users, and it’s therefore important to know what the best bullets in Terraria for pre-hardmode are.
Musket Ball
Musket Balls are the basic bullet type in Terraria. With no special abilities or properties, nor particularly high damage or knockback, Musket Balls are only viable early in the game – when there are no other bullet options available. While they can be used against hardmode enemies, getting better bullets is highly recommended. Musket Balls deal 7 damage.
However, it’s worth collecting and keeping Musket Balls as they can be used to craft better and more advanced bullets later in the game.
There are three ways to get Musket Balls, the main method being from the Arms Dealer NPC for 7 copper coins each. Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts (exclusive to the Corruption and Crimson, respectively) also have a chance to drop Musket Balls upon being destroyed.
During the Christmas event in Terraria, presents are obtainable from enemies. There’s a 7.69% chance for an enemy to drop a present when killed and a further 0.64% chance for a present to drop Musket Balls (and a Red Ryder – a gun only acquired during the Christmas event). This is a very inefficient method of getting Musket Balls.
Meteor Shot
Meteor Shot are a type of bullet that deals 8 damage. They have the ability to either pierce through an enemy or bounce off a block. Meteor Shot are incredibly useful for defeating the Blood Moon, Goblin Army, or other events/bosses that spawn many enemies because they are able to hit two enemies with one bullet.
Craftable at an Iron or Lead Anvil, Meteor Shot requires 70 Musket Balls and 1 Meteorite Bar per 70 bullets.
Because they can bounce off of blocks, Meteor Shot can be utilized to help find Floating Islands. You can do this by simply firing a gun using Meteor Shot ammunition directly upwards because the bullet will bounce off the bottom of a Floating Island – back to the ground.
These are arguably the best bullets in Terraria before you have entered hardmode due to their ease of access, high damage output, and special abilities.
Silver Bullet
Similar to Musket Balls, Silver bullets provide no special abilities or properties, though they deal 2 more damage than Musket Balls and are a bit faster.
Despite technically being pre-hardmode, Silver bullets are much easier to obtain in hardmode. Silver bullets are purchasable from the Arms Dealer NPC for 15 copper coins each. However, in pre-hardmode, they are only available during a Blood Moon. They are also only obtainable from the Arms Dealer NPC in worlds that have silver.
Due to Silver Bullets being so difficult to get pre-hardmode, it’s best to stick to other, cheaper, easier-to-get alternatives – even if it means compromising a bit of damage.
70 Musket Balls and 1 Silver bar is enough to craft 70 Silver bullets. This can only be done at an Iron or Lead Anvil.
Tungsten Bullet
Tungsten bullets are very similar to Silver bullets in that they provide no special abilities or properties and deal 2 more damage than Musket Balls, as well as being slightly faster.
They are also unavailable from the Arms Dealer NPC pre-hardmode unless the Blood Moon event is active but become available all the time once you enter hardmode.
An Iron or Lead Anvil is required to craft Tungsten bullets and, similar to Silver bullets, will cost 70 Musket balls and 1 Tungsten bar for 70 Tungsten bullets.
Party Bullet
Party bullets have no special combat abilities or properties; however, they do have a cosmetic property: exploding into confetti upon contact with a block or enemy.
They deal 10 damage and are craftable at a Work Bench using Empty Bullets (purchased from the Arms Dealer NPC) and Confetti (purchased from the Party Girl NPC). 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Confetti will provide 50 Party bullets.
Due to the lack of special abilities or properties, alongside the little damage and costliness, Party bullets are best used solely for cosmetic purposes.
Hardmode Bullets
Upon entering hardmode, a wide variety of new types of bullets will become available to you. Many of these have different special abilities and properties, which make each type good for different purposes.
The best bullets in Terraria are hardmode bullets and can mostly be found in the late game. However, there are some of the best bullets that can be found earlier on – not long after entering hardmode.
Crystal Bullet
Crystal bullets have the special ability to shatter upon contact with a block or enemy. When shattered, they fire two small shards that deal half of the bullet’s initial damage.
Crafted using 100 Musket Balls and 1 Crystal Shard per 100 Crystal bullets (at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil), they are a fantastic choice for fighting bosses such as Skeletron Prime and The Twins – particularly when used alongside guns with a fast fire-rate like the Megashark.
They are a quick and effective way to kill Skeletron Prime and The Twins due to their special shattering ability allowing multiple instances of damage to the bosses from each bullet.
Cursed Bullet
Cursed bullets are a great option for fighting enemies with high defense due to the fact they inflict the Cursed Inferno debuff. The Cursed Inferno debuff deals 24 damage per second to enemies – regardless of their defense.
24 damage doesn’t seem like much; however, when firing many bullets each second, the damage adds up, especially considering that it is all additional damage – the bullets deal impact damage too.
Enemies affected by the Cursed Inferno debuff also take 10% increased knockback, which makes up for the otherwise weak knockback value of Cursed bullets.
They are craftable at a Mythril or Orichalcum in batches of 150, using 150 Musket Balls and 1 Cursed Flame. It’s worth noting that Cursed Flames can only be obtained in the Corruption biome and therefore aren’t available in Crimson worlds.
Ichor Bullet
Ichor bullets are the Crimson counterpart to Cursed Bullets. They inflict the Ichor debuff to enemies upon contact. The Ichor debuff provides a reduction of defense in the afflicted enemy by 15.
Defense reduction is a significant debuff and can be useful when fighting any enemy or boss – particularly those with a high defense.
It’s worth keeping Ichor bullets as a secondary ammo – regularly switching between your main ammo and secondary ammo to apply the Ichor debuff. This is because other ammo such as Crystal bullets can fully utilize the defense reduction, with the massive damage they deal.
These bullets are crafted at a Mythril or Orichalcum anvil and require 150 Musket Balls and 1 Ichor per 150 Ichor Bullets.
Chlorophyte Bullet
Chlorophyte bullets are a late game bullet type with a powerful special property in that they home in on target enemies – even being able to change direction when the initially targeted enemy is killed.
On top of this, their high damage and homing ability make Chlorophyte bullets a worthy candidate for the best bullets in Terraria. These bullets will home in on the closest target.
Chlorophyte is a resource that can only be obtained once all three mechanical bosses have been defeated. It’s found in the underground Jungle biome and is quite a scarce material.
Due to their homing ability, Chlorophyte bullets are very effective against fast enemies with good mobility.
They are crafted at a Mythril or Orichalcum anvil and cost 70 Musket Balls and 1 Chlorophyte bar per 70 Chlorophyte bullets.
High Velocity Bullet
High Velocity bullets are high-damage bullets that have the ability to pierce up to two enemies – stopping at the third. It’s worth noting that the second enemy hit through piercing will only take 85% of the base damage, and the third enemy will take 72.25% of the base damage.
These are the fastest bullets in the game and travel at the same speed as ammunition fired from a Sniper Rifle.
They can be acquired once at least one mechanical boss has been defeated and require 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Cog to craft 50 High Velocity bullets at a Work Bench.
Venom Bullet
With the second-highest base damage in Terraria, as well as a special ability, Venom bullets can be a good choice for most scenarios. Upon contact with an enemy, Venom bullets inflict the Acid Venom debuff for 10 seconds. During these 10 seconds, the debuff will deal 2 damage per second, totaling 50 additional damage.
Despite having the second-highest base damage, Venom Bullets – while being good in most situations – are not the best bullet choice for many circumstances. Crystal bullets and Ichor bullets have higher total damage output and Chlorophyte bullets are more effective against fast-moving enemies.
Venom bullets can be crafted using 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Vial of Venom at a Work Bench.
Nano Bullet
Nano bullets are available after defeating Plantera. They inflict the Confused debuff to enemies upon contact – with a 33.33% chance to inflict Confused for 3 seconds, and a 66.67% chance to inflict Confused for 1 second. The Confused debuff makes the affected entity’s movements reversed. For example, an enemy moving towards you would start moving the other way when the debuff is inflicted.
They also have the ability to bounce off of a block one time in the direction of the nearest enemy; however, the compromise is dealing only 2/3rds of the original bullet’s damage.
Nano bullets are another type of bullet crafted using Empty Bullets. The full recipe is 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Nanites for 50 Nano bullets, and requires a Work Bench. These can be used as a cheaper alternative to Chlorophyte bullets due to their homing effect when bounced off of a solid block – allowing you to save your Chlorophyte bullets for boss fights and similar events.
Exploding Bullet
Exploding bullets have the special property of detonating upon contact with an enemy or block, damaging and knocking back all entities around it – even through blocks. Care should be taken when using Exploding bullets as the explosion on impact will also damage you.
Because of the AoE (Area of Effect) damage that Exploding bullets provide, they can be very useful fighting Worms, including The Destroyer – one of the three mechanical bosses.
This is another bullet type crafted using Empty Bullets, requiring 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Explosive Powder to craft 50 Exploding bullets.
Golden Bullet
Using Golden bullets is an effective way to farm coins because they inflict the Midas debuff to enemies. The Midas debuff makes enemies drop 10%-50% more coins when killed; this effect lasts 2 seconds when inflicted by a Golden bullet.
Golden bullets synergize well with the Sniper Rifle, due to the on-death effect. The incredibly high damage output of the Sniper Rifle allows for high profit – without using too many bullets.
It’s also worth considering guns such as the Shotgun, Tactical Shotgun, or Clockwork Assault Rifle as they fire more than one bullet, while consuming only one. This maximizes profit.
You can craft Golden bullets using Empty Bullets and Gold Dust – requiring 50 Empty Bullets and 1 Gold Dust per 50 Golden bullets. They are craftable at a Work Bench.
Luminite Bullet
Luminite bullets are the hardest bullets to get, but also widely considered the best bullets in Terraria. They have the great base damage of any bullet in the game and have the ability to pierce through many enemies.
It’s worth noting that the piercing ability gets weaker with the more enemies that are hit. The damage of the bullet gets reduced by 4% for each enemy hit by it.
These are end game bullets – requiring Luminite bars to craft. Luminite is a resource dropped by the Moon Lord, the final boss in Terraria. A single Luminite bar is enough to craft 333 Luminite bullets. The crafting station required is an Ancient Manipulator.
Endless Musket Pouch
Despite being an item, the Endless Musket Pouch acts as ammo and can, therefore, be put in an ammunition slot of your inventory. While equipped, the Endless Musket Pouch serves as an infinite source of Musket Balls.
These Musket Balls will also be affected by the special abilities and properties particular guns may have. If you choose to use the Endless Musket Pouch as ammo, you should consider removing equipment dedicated to reducing ammo consuption and replacing it with equipment that gives other benefits, as the effect of the Endless Musket Pouch will render ammo reservation useless.
It is craftable at a Crystal Ball, and requires 4 full stacks of Musket Balls. A stack is 999, totalling the cost of an Endless Musket Pouch at 3996 Musket Balls.
