Finch Staff

A Living Wood Chest inside a Living Tree can hand you a working minion before you have fought anything at all, which is what makes summoner a viable opening class. Journey Mode characters begin with a bird already out. Against the other pre-Hardmode options it is far less painful to obtain than a Slime Staff, and unlike the Flinx Staff the birds pierce.

Each finch spawns at your cursor and flies back to a nest that sits on your head, launching from there whenever something comes into range. They need a clear line to a target, so a bird will sit and do nothing while an enemy shoots you through a wall. They also give up and come home when a target drifts too far from you, which means kiting something across a long arena pulls your damage off it.

The minion uses its own hit timer rather than the shared one most early summons use. That is why a second and third bird multiply your output instead of stepping on each other, and it is the main argument for pushing minion slots on this weapon rather than waiting for a better staff.

Two habits pay off. Corner an enemy so every bird connects on each pass, since a penned in target takes far more than it would in the open. And resummon the birds directly onto something you are standing next to, because a fresh spawn attacks straight away instead of flying home first.

Once you have summoned a finch, the game brings one back automatically the next time you join the world, so you rarely have to think about it. It costs no mana any more either. Fabled is the modifier worth reforging for.