Terraria – Guide to Expert Duke Fishron as a Ranger

We all know that the big fish in expert mode is MonkaS. The speedhacking shushi-roll’s way too fast to dodge, and it does TriHard damage. This guide will help you go from a bruised and beaten Sadge to catJamming in no time!

Expert Duke Fishron Guide

Please note: all credit goes to PixelFixer!

The Essentials

To defeat the Unagi nigiri sushi, you first need to have a good grasp of the basics of expert mode ranger. Here’s a list of the bare essentials which you should already have by now:

Buff potions

  • Ammo reservation potion (8min, 20% chance not to consume ammo)
  • Archery potion (8min, +20% arrow damage and speed)
  • Wrath potion (4min, +10% damage)
  • Endurance potion (4min, 10% reduced damage)
  • Ironskin potion (8min, +8 defense)
  • Lifeforce potion (8min, +20% life)
  • Regeneration potion (8min, increased life regeneration)
  • Swiftness potion (8min, +25% movement speed)

Other buffs

  • Bewitching table (10min, +1 max minions)
  • Ammo box (10min, 20% chance not to consume ammo)
  • Slice of cake (2min, 20% increased movement speed)

Arena buffs

  • Honey (30s, +300% current healing rate, +1HP/s flat health regen)
  • Campfire (+10% current healing rate, +0.5HP/s flat health regen)
  • Heart lantern (+1HP/s flat health regen)
  • Sunflower (+10% movement speed, -17% enemy spawn rate)
  • Bast statue (+5 defense)

In addition, remember to have one of the food buffs (preferably Exquisitely Stuffed) active at all times for a massive increase in damage and health regen.

The Arena

The arena for Tuna Tartare is pretty simple. We’ll be relying on our vertical speed for this fight, so too many redundant platforms can actually get in the way of things.

Here’s a couple options:

  • A water walking potion will allow you to skip any terrain preparation whatsoever.
  • A row of platforms at water level.
  • A skybridge is risky, because you might stray too far from the ocean biome and trigger the Steckerlfisch’s enraged state. Being too high can also affect your falling speed, and cripple your mobility, so be careful!
  • Asphalt blocks along the water surface is the best option, though it might be a little under-utilized with our setup.

Overall, you shouldn’t stress too much about the arena, so long as you can move freely in the air.

The Equipment

The Unadon’s specialty is how quickly it strafes around you. For this reason, we will focus on mobility in our loadout. The ranger class is a glass cannon, so we will disregard defense, and go for maximum damage and speed!

The weapon

For gun-wielders, these are your options:

  • Megashark
  • Sniper rifle
  • Tactical shotgun

Since the Bakaliaros moves so quickly, the best ammo type is the chlorophyte bullet. If you’re more confident in your aim, opt for crystal bullets instead.

For archers, grab one of these:

  • Daedalus stormbow.
  • Chlorophyte shotbow.
  • Pulse bow (good luck getting it though).

I find holy arrows work best, but any type will do so long as it does sufficient damage.

The armor

Shroomite armor is the best armor set damage-wise, but you can also go for the hallowed armor set bonus if you’re less confident in your dodging.

The accessories

This is where things get interesting. To properly whoop Saba Zushi’s ass, we need to dedicate a whole three accessory slots just for mobility. These accessories are the holy trinity of pre-empress mobility items:

  • Flame wings / Hoverboard / Mothron wings.
  • Master ninja gear.
  • Amphibian boots.

These three wings are the best available at this point in the game, so it should be self-explanatory why I picked them. The other two items might need some clarification though:

The master ninja gear combines the tabi and the black belt’s abilities, and is a total monster when it comes to avoiding damage. It gives you a longer dash than the shield of cthulhu (at the cost of invincibility frames), and a flat 10% chance to dodge any incoming attack. During the fight, you should be constantly dashing around to avoid the Sardinhas assadas.

The amphibian boots is the ugly little brother of the terraspark boots. They’re 13% slower, you can’t fly with them, and they don’t allow you to walk on liquids or swim in lava. That said, they’re practically made for this fight. In exchange for a slightly reduced horizontal speed, you get a massive 48% increase to your wing’s ascent speed. This makes you shoot out like a cannon from the ground, and gives you a much better chance at dodging incoming attacks. Also, they make you look really cool, and girls will compliment you on them.

The rest of the accessories aren’t all that important, but I recommend using at least one of these:

  • Recon scope / Sniper scope for gunslingers
  • Stalker’s quiver / Magic quiver for archers

The last accessory slot is really up to you, but I’d fill it with either the brain of confusion or another damage accessory, like the destroyer emblem or ranger emblem

For modifiers, try to go for menacing, but if your funds run out you can opt for angry or lucky instead. I don’t know the exact math, but critical chance should be mostly equal to damage as long as you don’t go overboard with it.

Victory!

You should now have all you need to reduce the Gravlax to a pile of bones. Here’s a couple closing tips in case you’re struggling:

  • The first and second phases should be a cakewalk with this loadout, but calm your ♥♥♥ once you get to the third phase. Your mobility means ♥♥♥ once the Kibbeling starts teleporting, so focus on its movements and keep a cool head.
  • The gellatinous pillion mount is surprisingly useful for when your wings run out of steam and you need to reach the ground quickly. You’ll feel like Houdini with how quickly you disappear from the sky.
  • Using a summon with the bewitching table can provide some extra damage. Not sure how much of a difference it’ll make, but having friends to fight alongside you is always better!
  • You could always simp for the nurse if things get too hard.
Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 15056 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices.

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