Flare Gun

The Flare Gun is a ranged weapon that provides a ranged method of illuminating areas. It fires Flares and Blue Flares, which provide light and stick to the blocks they hit. They also deal minimal damage, and inflict the On Fire! debuff. The Flare Gun is found randomly in Gold Chests underground.

Flares travel in a slight arc and stick to blocks (similar to Sticky Glowsticks), but have greater velocity and range. They are waterproof, and can be fired into and out of water. Once fired, Flares emit low-level, flickering, tinted light (red or blue, depending on the type fired) that lasts for 10 minutes. They stick to the blocks they impacted and will function underwater. Flares cannot be recovered once they burn out.

When held, the muzzle of the Flare Gun will continually emit a flare effect, as long as one Flare is in the player's inventory.

Flares
Flares are used as ammunition for the Flare Gun. There are two variants that work identically, but do not stack together: Flares (red) and Blue Flares. They can be purchased from the Merchant for each, while a Flare Gun is in the player's inventory. 25-50 Red Flares are also found in Gold Chests that contain a Flare Gun.

Both types of Flare deal the On Fire! debuff, causing the afflicted NPC or player to lose 4 health per second. There is a 2/3 (66%) chance that the debuff will last 5 seconds, and a 1/3 (33%) chance that it will last 10 seconds.

Tips

 * If playing in multiplayer, a player can use the Flare Gun much like a real-world flare gun, to signal other players for help. Due to its high range, it can shoot relatively far and can fairly easily reach the area of another player (barring obstacles).
 * The Flare Gun's shots will pierce targets. Since it inflicts the On Fire! debuff, it can prove very useful for fighting off pre-hardmode hordes, such as the Blood Moon, as well as keeping track of bosses and monsters in dark environments.
 * The Flare Gun can be especially useful against worm-like monsters (and bosses like the Eater of Worlds), or even the Brain of Cthulhu's Creeper minions.
 * While mining downward, firing a flare where you are mining will allow it to fall with you as you mine.
 * With Flower Boots, farming fishing bait becomes easy; Wearing the boots, shoot the ground under you with the Flare Gun while swinging a Bug Net or auto-swinging a Golden Bug Net. This method is significantly faster than using the Net and Flower Boots combination alone, as the flare will break plants far faster than either Net. On Jungle Grass, expect around 25-40+ Buggy drops per flare duration using this method. Forest or Hallowed grass will instead yield Grasshoppers and (especially if raining) Worms, a few of which will be Golden Critters.

History
Pistolet à fusées 조명탄 총