Water Bolt

The Water Bolt is a Pre-Hardmode 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.

Location
Multiple Water Bolts are hidden amongst the books on shelves of most Dungeons. Despite its red appearance in an inventory slot, the Water Bolt is always the blue book with a yellow 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.

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.

Tips

 * It is not explicitly required to defeat Skeletron to obtain a Water Bolt, as platforms with books can spawn above level 0, sometimes even in the room just past the door into the Dungeon. These can be safely retrieved without causing either Dungeon Guardians or unique Dungeon enemies to spawn. As the Water Bolt remains a powerful weapon up until Hardmode, it can be advantageous to check the Dungeon when starting a new world.
 * Of course, this does not mean Water Bolts will always spawn above Dungeon Guardians, take caution.
 * The durability of the Water Bolt projectile, combined with its ability to ricochet and hit multiple foes, makes it very suitable for fighting groups of enemies, especially in flat valleys and straight passageways. It also has a low enough velocity for it to hit the same enemy more than once even without ricocheting.
 * Because of their long range and ricochet, Water Bolt projectiles can be used to detect Floating Islands by firing upwards and waiting for the projectile to bounce off and return. Their low speed makes this tedious, however.
 * The Water Bolt combined with properly closed arena is very effective way to fight many pre-Hardmode bosses. For example: fighting Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu gets easy, because single Water Bolt projectile can hit multiple parts multiple times. Same goes for other bosses, although more arena optimization is needed.
 * The Water Bolt can be used to clear and illuminate areas while exploring, such as the pre-Hardmode Spider Nests, easily and safely.

Trivia

 * In pre-release footage of the game, both the placed and held Water Bolt sprites were blue. The held Water Bolt sprites were later changed to red, without altering the placed Water Bolt's coloration.
 * Some Bookcase sprites contain Water Bolt, but cannot be looted from.
 * During a Blood Moon, the projectile fired will change to a pink to slight red color.
 * The name of the item could be a reference to a very similar spell from the mmorpg Runescape.

History
Wasserbolzen Carreau d'Eau 워터 볼트