Of all the pre-Mech armors, Crystal Assassin
is definitely one of the lesser used. The vast majority of Terraria players seem
to prefer to use Adamantite or Titanium armor during early Hardmode, with only 6% of players
choosing Crystal Assassin armor as their favorite. However, the small minority who do choose
it seem to be rather vocal about it, lauding it as an underrated armor set amidst the sea
of choices you have during this stage in the game. So, is it worth using? Let's see. The most outstanding feature of Crystal Assassin
is its set bonus, which grants you the ability to dash. This makes it one of only three items that
grant dashes in all of Terraria, the others being the Shield of Cthulhu and the Tabi. This dash is much more like the latter, however. It has the same dash distance like the Tabi,
which is around 10 blocks longer than the Shield of Cthulhu, and unlike the Shield,
it will not knock you back if you dash into an enemy. With a 60% longer dash distance and no knocking
issues, this "crystal dash" is definitely the focal point of the armor. This is supported by the fact that the vast
majority of Terrarians - around 80% - prefer using dashes, with 60% of them saying that
it is "mandatory" for their playstyle, a group that includes myself. For these people, this point is likely the
most important. After all, not only does this armor offer
a better dash, it simultaneously saves you an accessory slot that would be spent on the
Shield of Cthulhu. Depending on your difficulty, this free dash
can range from convenient to lifesaving, especially on Normal mode, where this is literally your
only dash until post-Plantera. So, given how great its bonus is, what reasons
are there not to use the armor? Well, the largest downside of the armor is
its lesser numerical stats. Compared to basically every other armor set,
it has worse stats, including damage, crit chance, and defense. It's just simply worse, especially for mage,
since it gives no extra mana capacity. However, the armor set has a trick up its
sleeve - that extra accessory slot I mentioned earlier. That spare accessory slot can be used to put
in survivability accessories, like the Charm of Myths, Cross Necklace, or Brain of Confusion,
which can many times be more valuable than a few percentage points of extra damage. You could, also, use that slot to remedy the
damage problem. For example, the Putrid Scent offers +5% damage
and +5% crit chance. Sure, this might not be the best damage accessory,
but even this extremely generalist accessory can boost the Crystal Assassin armor ahead
of some of its counterparts. Its stats are not nearly that bad. Also, there's a lot more to the game than
stats sometimes. For example, multi-class. Crystal Assassin is the only true multi-class
armor in early Hardmode, multi-class in that it boosts multiple classes equally and simultaneously. If you plan to use multiple class weapons
in a boss fight, or run some kind of hybrid summoner, this armor can make it easier. The extra accessory slot you get is really
nice if you want to slot in multiple class emblems or accessories while maintaining mobility
and survivability, and the global boost is amazing as well. For example, I'm running a ranger/summoner
gun hybrid. Ranger actually only has one gun damage accessory,
the Ranger Emblem, so I have my seventh slot filled in with Putrid Scent - but you could
fill that with anything. Note, though, how I have enough space for
both Ranger, Summoner, and mobility accessories. Even if you remove my seventh slot for Expert
Mode, it'd still be this way. If I needed to use the Shield of Cthulhu,
it would require me to compromise on one of these accessories. Perhaps that's removing the Berserker's glove
in a melee hybrid, losing a Minion slot, or something else. Either way, Crystal Assassin prevents that,
especially on Expert Mode, where you have less flexibility with accessories. And, yes, mixing is important, and also effective. This kind of mixed setup is obviously going
to kill bosses much faster than a pure class setup. Sometimes we play so many class playthroughs
that we forget that class restrictions are not optimizations, but handicaps. And, for that, Crystal Assassin definitely
exists as a great option for that. It may have mediocre stats, but its extra
dash mobility, accessory flexibility, and multi-class potential make it a great armor
to use pre-Mech. It's great for pre-Mech duke especially, where
mobility and single target damage is extra important. I was able to melt pre-Mech duke with a ranger/summoner
hybrid, and the longer dash means you can actually outrun Duke in 2nd phase without
using Pillion. It's great for that. Still though, I don't know if dashing is your
playstyle, and I don't know how many of you simply avoid Queen Slime before mechs. Everyone plays differently. This set, despite being multiclass, is definitely
more suited to a ranger or melee hybrid than mage. But you should definitely consider giving
this one a try if you're up for it. It certainly is at least an A class armor,
and it definitely has many unique things to bring to the table. Hello! If you enjoy my content I ask you to subscribe,
as only 20% of my viewers are. A few other comparisons like this can be seen
here and here. Either way, thank you for watching, and good
day and good bye.
