Yoyo Terraria Guide - Indie Game Culture (2024)

The yoyo is a weapon in Terraria that deals melee damage at a varying range, depending on the type of yoyo and accessories equipped.

It’s one of the few weapons in the game that has accessories directly connected to its effectiveness.

In this Yoyo Terraria Guide, we’ll explore several types of yoyos. Though their attacks may be similar, a few individual ones stand out for their damage and additional effects.

Getting Your First Yoyo

To acquire the basic yoyo in Terraria, you need to put down a workbench and have Cobweb x20 and Wood(any) x10. Doing so crafts the ‘Wooden Yoyo’ and is the earliest on the tree of the yoyo in-game.

This yoyo is used to craft a Chik in early Hardmode for a quick, good early Hardmode weapon, so don’t forget to make one.

Yoyo Accessories

Three essential accessories can be combined into the ultimate yoyo assist tool, the Yoyo Bag. That does not mean you don’t benefit from the usual boosts of melee damage, critical percentage increase, and melee speed other equipment gives you.

Having equipment that increases your knockback to high may not be beneficial when using a yoyo. The yoyo can do more damage per second(DPS) to enemies kept within range.

Strings

• Cobweb x30 next to any placed Loom.
• Increases the range of a yoyo by 4 to 5 blocks.
• The Goblin Tinkerer can reforge it.
• Can change its base color by crafting with a dye. No Crafting station is needed.
• Upon changing the color, the item will get reforged.
• Suggested Modifier: Warding for +4 defense.

Counterweights

• Randomly sold by the Traveling Merchant or the Skeleton Merchant for five gold.
• Fires a secondary yoyo upon striking an enemy of equal damage.
• The Goblin Tinkerer can reforge it.
• They do not stack with one another nor a Yoyo Bag.
• The different colors are identical in use.
• Suggested Modifier: Warding for +4 defense.

Yoyo Glove

• Purchased from the Skeleton Merchant in Hardmode for 50 gold.
• Creates a duplicate of the yoyo you’re using when it strikes an enemy.
• The duplicate will also gain a counterweight if you have one equipped.
• Doesn’t stack with another Yoyo Glove or a Yoyo Bag.
• The Goblin Tinkerer can reforge it.
• Suggested Modifier: Menacing for +4% melee damage.

Yoyo Bag

• They are crafted with Strings, any Counterweight, and a Yoyo Glove using the Tinkerer’s Workshop.
• Has all the effects of all previous accessories combined into this one.
• Longer range, an extra yoyo upon striking, and TWO counterweights.
• This accessory makes any yoyo far more effective.
• It is useless to equip the other yoyo accessories upon using this.
• The Goblin Tinkerer can reforge it.
• Suggested Modifier: Lucky for +4% Critical chance.

Defense can become less important in early Hardmode as everything kills you quite quickly, so it’s often better to stay mobile and kill them first.

Applying Luck to the Yoyo Bag and stacking critical chance with the Yoyo modifier and other equipment gives EACH of the four yoyo’s created from its attack a high probability of causing a critical hit. That being said, Warding is always a suitable modifier for any accessory.

The Many Yoyo’s in Terraria

Here are all of the current yoyo’s in Terraria and a quick look at their stats. Reach refers to the number of tiles it can hit away from the player.

All yoyos have a fast attack speed and a 4% Critical chance except for two.

The letters KB stand for knockback. That refers to both the chance and distance it knockbacks an enemy it strikes.

Time refers to how many seconds you can hold the yoyo out attacking before coming back to you.

Pre-Hardmode

• Wooden Yoyo: Damage-9 Reach-9 KB-Poor Time-4 Rarity-White Craft: Wood(10) + Cobweb(20) by a workbench.
• Rally:Damage-14 Reach-10 KB-Weak Time-5 Rarity-Blue Dropped by a Crawdad, Giant Shelley, or a Salamander.
• Malaise: Damage-16 Reach-14 KB-Average Time-7 Rarity-Blue Craft: Demonite Bar(12) by any anvil.
• Artery: Damage-17 Reach-12.5 KB-Weak Time-6 Rarity-Blue Craft: Crimtane Bar(12) by any anvil.
• Amazon: Damage-18 Reach-13 KB-Weak Time-8 Rarity-Orange Craft: Mahogany(8)+ Stinger(12)+ Vine + Jungle Spores(9) by any anvil.
• Code 1: Damage-21 Reach-13.5 KB-Weak Time-9 Rarity-Green Purchase: Traveling Merchant for five gold.
• Valor: Damage-22 Reach-14 KB-Weak Time-11 Rarity-Orange Found: In locked Gold Chests in the Dungeon.
• Cascade: Damage-27 Reach-15.5 KB-Average Time-16 Rarity-Orange Dropped by any Underworld(Hell) enemies after Skeletron is defeated. Inflicts the ON FIRE! Debuff to enemies.
  

  

Hardmode

• Chik: Damage-39 Reach-17 KB-Weak Time-16 Rarity-Light Red Craft: Wooden Yoyo + Crystal Shard(15)+ Soul of Light(10) by a Mythril or higher Anvil.
• Format C: Damage-39 Reach-16 KB-Weak Time-8 Rarity-Orange Purchase: Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold
• Hel-Fire: Damage-41 Reach-17 KB-Average Time-12 Rarity-Light Red Dropped by Enemies in the Cavern or Underworld(Hell) in Hardmode. Inflicts the ON FIRE! Debuff to enemies.
• Amarok: Damage-43 Reach-16.5 KB-Poor Time-15 Rarity-Light Red Dropped by any enemy in a Snow Biome in Hardmode. Inflicts the Frostburn Debuff to enemies.
• Gradient: Damage-49 Reach-15.5 KB-Weak Time-10 Rarity-Orange Purchase: Skeleton Merchant for 20 gold.
• Code 2: Damage-54 Reach-18 KB-Weak Time-INFINITE Rarity-Pink Purchase: Traveling Merchant for 25 gold after defeating a Mechanical Boss.
• Yelets:Damage-60 Reach-18 KB-Average Time-14 Rarity-Lime Dropped by Enemies in the Jungle Biome after defeating a Mechanical Boss.
• Red’s Throw: Damage-70 Reach-23 KB-Average Time-INFINITE Rarity-Cyan Expert Mode Treasure Bag’s, part of Red’s Set.
• Valkyrie Yoyo: Damage-70 Reach-23 KB-Average Time-INFINITE Rarity-Cyan Expert Mode Treasure Bag’s, part of Lazure’s Set.
• Kraken:Damage-95 Reach-21 KB-Average Time-INFINITE Rarity-Yellow CritChance-14% Dropped Post-Plantera by Dungeon Enemies.
• Eye of Cthulhu: Damage-115 Reach-23 KB-Weak Time-INFINITE Rarity-Yellow Dropped by Mothron.
• Terrarian: Damage-190 Reach-25 KB-Strong Time-INFINITE Rarity-Red CritChance-14% Dropped by Moon Lord or in the Moon Lord Treasure Bag. Fires auto-aiming projectiles that bounce off walls.

The Terrarian

Killing the Moon Lord is an achievement that usually means you need no help at all in Terraria. Still, let’s talk about the most powerful yoyo.

• Equipping a Yoyo Bag or Yoyo Glove will allow the second yoyo created to ALSO fire projectiles!
• In addition, it is the only yoyo that can gain the LEGENDARY modifier when reforged.
• Legendary is the best modifier for this yoyo because it also increases its size.
• The melee speed boost provided by Legendary affects the projectiles.
• The projectiles don’t have a long life, but the infinite time you can hold out the Terrarian means they too will keep spawning.
• This weapon can hit a target six times a second.
• It has one of the highest DPS in the entire game.

Quickest Route for a Good Yoyo

Pre-Hardmode

Make a Wooden Yoyo and dig until you’re able to mine at least silver-level armor.

Once you’ve crafted this, go ahead into the jungle and hunt the items needed to craft the Amazon. The Amazon can be useful against Skeletron.

Upon defeating Skeletron go right to Hell to build a lava bridge for fighting the Wall of Flesh, and you’ll kill enough enemies one will surely drop a Cascade.

Hardmode

If you’ve followed the previous directions, take note of this. Enemies in the Underworld(Hell) don’t get the same upgrade as every other enemy when Hardmode first starts. So hunt them down and get a Hel-fire as quickly as you can. You now have a great early Hardmode weapon.

Go ahead and use it to get an Amarok in the Snow Biome of your map. Because an Amarok causes Frostburn, it ends up being more capable of dealing with enemies than the Gradient or the Code 2.

Modifying My Yoyo

Demonic and Godly modifiers give the yoyo a +15% damage boost and +5% critical chance. Godly, however, also provides a boost to knockback, so while good in some sense, it can send enemies a little out of the range of good DPS.

I Suggest Godly on Yoyo’s of Weak or lower knockback(KB) and Demonic on any with Average or Higher KB.

Note that a yoyos melee speed is unchangeable, so no modifier adding to melee speed will help it.

Using a Yoyo

A yoyo is launched like a fishing pole and stops upon hitting an object or reaching its maximum range. Every time it hits something, its TIME out is reduced by one second. Due to this, it can strike enemies multiple times and keep the player out of many of the common enemy’s attack range.

It is possible to attack with a Yoyo from inside a safe enclosure, such as a makeshift room with two open spaces to launch it through and hit enemies without the risk of any damage. The game mechanics let it notice it is attacking from around a block and not directly. So, this safer tactic does lower the overall damage output of the yoyo.

Because of how the physics of the in-game yoyo work, you can move it around once it’s sent out in a 360 arc. In this way, it can hit enemies below the player’s platform or above it.

The versatility of the yoyo can make it very effective for dealing with swarms from a safe space in early Hardmode, during a Blood Moon or a Solar Eclipse.

Real-World Connections

Many of the yoyos in Terraria can be purchased as real-life yoyos for your collection or to practice your yoyo skills in real life. Do make sure not to try and challenge any dangerous creatures with them.

They have a significant damage drop in real life. Not that you should be challenging real-life creatures anyways.

Any Tips?

Is ‘Walking the Dog’ still a cool yoyo trick?

-Build a sky bridge with hay and get some good running shoes. Use this and The Amazon to hit pre-Hardmode bosses while running the map constantly. Easy wins.

-Collecting the Hel-Fire yoyo at the start of Hardmode and building a safe house above ground using this yoyo can help you farm during a Solar Eclipse.

-Because of often hitting walls, early game yoyos are not very useful underground.

-If you like yoyos, put as much work into getting a Yoyo Bag as you do getting a good yoyo.

-The weapon takes more practice than others, so start using it as soon as you can to get good.

FAQs

Ultimately

The yoyo in Terraria is a fun and valuable addition to the many weapon choices. It can provide protection in addition to damage when combined with the Yoyo Bag, as you can move it all around you with a good range and four swing cylinders that batter your foes.

I would never overlook picking up and utilizing this weapon when playing one of the most popular and challenging indie games ever to hit the market.