Wand of light
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | light |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 9.5% |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | non-directional |
| Maximum charges | 15 |
| Spell | light |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of light, when zapped or engraved with, lights an area with radius of 5, or the whole room if on the rogue level. Engraving with it immediately identifies it. Like other wands, applying a wand of light will break it, resulting in an explosion dealing 1 to (4*charges) damage, the hero being blinded for (charges+1)d25 turns (surrounding monsters may also be blinded, and gremlins take damage) and the same area being lit as if zapped.
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There is a 9.5% chance that a randomly-generated wand will be a wand of light, making it the most commonly generated wand.
Strategy
- In the early game, a wand of light may be useful to help mapping the Gnomish Mines, should the level be randomly spawned unlit. Certain quest levels have large unlit sections, where it may be useful to mark where the player has been (though there is an option to make this redundant). In the late game, the maze levels' structure removes what little use it had.
- Some players use a wand of light to mark the location of the Vibrating square. Similarly, some players like to light paths between staircases in Gehennom; this will be a great help if you happen to get amnesia, but is probably not worth the effort in most cases.
- If you are spending a lot of time in a dark area (such as a temple or altar room), it may be useful to light the area so you can see approaching monsters and avoid being surprised.
- You cannot jump in a dark area. If you have jumping but no lamp, a wand of light can allow you to jump and get away from a dangerous situation, provided you have an extra turn to use the wand of light.
- If you get the spell of light, a wand of light becomes practically useless unless you are constantly low on power. See the next point.
- The wand of light is a good target for polypiling, because it isn't all that useful outside of the early game, and is usually generated with a lot of charges.
Sporkhack
In Sporkhack, they blind nearby creatures, even if you're only engraving with it. If you've camped-up in a temple, mind the priest. Grumble grumble grumble...
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