Water Bolt

The Water Bolt is a Magic Weapon that auto-fires a slow blue ricocheting water-ball that travels in straight lines, emits a dim light, is unaffected by gravity, and pierces multiple enemies. The projectile can last up to 30 seconds, but will die when it ricochets 5 times or damages 10 enemies. The Water Bolt is uniquely found only in Dungeons, hidden as one of the many books on the shelves within the Dungeon, and cannot be crafted, purchased, or found in Chests.

Its best modifier is Mythical.

Locating
Multiple Water Bolts are hidden amongst the books on shelves of most Dungeons. Despite its red/yellow appearance in an Inventory slot, the Water Bolt is always the blue book with a white band on it when on shelves. Since a careful visual inspection isn't always practical in the Dungeon due to frequent enemy attacks, any of the following methods can also be used to locate the Water Bolt:


 * Hover the cursor over all books on the shelves of the Dungeon. When located, the Water Bolt shows as a tooltip beside the cursor. No other books show a tooltip.
 * Right-click on all books seen. The only book that will drop from a right-click is the Water Bolt, as regular Books require the Pickaxe to free them (though the Pickaxe will also free the Water Bolt).
 * Use the Pickaxe to free and pick up all books seen. One or more Water Bolts will eventually be picked up.

You will need to be standing near any books to be tested using the above methods. Tooltips will not show, nor will right-clicks cause the Water Bolt to drop, if the player is standing too far away. The proximity required is the same as for looking inside Chests or speaking to NPCs.

You don't always have to kill Skeletron to find one of these, as there may be one available just beyond the door. If you're very daring, you can go a little deeper without incurring immediate death by Dungeon Guardians. It's worth getting early, as it is pretty powerful.

Tips

 * The durability of the Water Bolt projectile, combined with its ability to ricochet and hit multiple foes, makes it very suitable for fighting enemies in flat valleys and straight passageways. It also has a low enough velocity for it to hit the same enemy more than once, not factoring in bouncing.
 * It is very useful within the walls of the Dungeon in pre-Hardmode as the bolts ricochet to hit the targets multiple times, especially spawns that appear around a bend. Monsters in Dungeon also drop mana stars.
 * It can also be used to detect Floating Islands, although Meteor Shots are preferable due to their higher speed.
 * When the projectile finally dissipates, the glowing embers it releases will fall through solid blocks and momentarily illuminate the area below.
 * Because of the Water Bolt's ricochet on walls and ability to pass through enemies, it is great for use against bosses or large groups of enemies when in small spaces, or in open fields like the Wall of Flesh as it does relatively good damage and its range is good.
 * The relatively high knockback on a piercing ability make it extremely useful in situations where you will be facing multiple melee enemies, such as Goblin Armies or Blood Moons. By waiting for a half second after each shot, the relatively low mana cost can be easily recovered between shots, and the enemies will keep bouncing off the knockback, especially if you have a high-knockback modifier.
 * If you can manage to get to the dungeon, the water bolt may be on the upper level of the dungeon before the dungeon guardian spawns, and the ability of getting this so early on makes the gem staffs not needed and obsolete.
 * The water bolt can be utilized in speedruns for the easy finding of Floating Islands.
 * Since it can be available before ever fighting any boss, it can help greatly in the initial boss fights.

History

 * Projectile sprite changed.
 * Base mana cost reduced from 14 to 10.
 * Number of bounces reduced to 5.

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