Expert Guide: Copy Random Spells
The Copy Random Spells are a series of spells which make copies of other spells. They are unlocked by killing Kolmisilmän koipi, along with other "random spell" type spells. Once unlocked, you can potentially find them in the world, and you also have an 88.1% chance to obtain at least one of them from the Pyramid miniboss.
However, while their effects are very similar to those of Greek Spells or Divide By series, at first it seems there are no ways to copy specific spells, since these copy completely random spells from your wand. For quite some time, they were considered to be significantly less useful than the more widely used Greek Letter spells as a result. However, there are actually ways to control which spells they choose to copy.
Basics
The Copy Random spells will select spells from your wand to copy at random. Copied spells will affect cast delay, recharge time and spread as if they were cast normally, though the copied spells' mana drain is ignored. Spells placed after a Wand Refresh can still be selected for copying.
Despite the spell's description, which says it "Casts a random spell among the spells in your wand", these spells can't copy spells that have already been cast in the current cast block (referred to here as "in the current hand"). This can be used to manipulate which spells it copies.
Copy Random Spell and Copy Random Spell Thrice both copy only a single spell in your wand, but Copy Three Random Spells tries to copy three different spells. Still, Copy Three Random Spells can copy the same spell more than once.
Additionally:
- These spells are in the Other category. As a result, they are not affected by certain Perks such as Concentrated Spells or Boomerang Spells.
- Unlike Greek Letter spells, Copy Random spells cannot ignore limited spells' charges. Both Copy Random Spell and Copy Random Spell Thrice use just one of the copied spell's remaining uses, while Copy Three Random Spells uses a single charge of all three spells it copies (3 total charges used).
- Importantly, Copy Random spells also copy the Draw effect of a spell.
Examples
In this example, Spark Bolt and Spitter Bolt are already in hand (have already been cast) by the time the Copy Random Spell is cast. This forces the Copy Random Spell to always copy Chain Bolt, as it is the only remaining spell in the only spell block on the wand.
Combined with the Instant Recharge (also known as Manual Recharge) trick, you can cast Chain Bolt with only 20 mana.
In this example, because Spark Bolt is not in hand (in the current cast block), Copy Random Spell will copy either the Spark Bolt, the Spitter bolt or the Bubble Spark.
Copying Projectiles 27x
You can potentially copy projectile spells 27 times by using both Copy Random Spells Thrice and Copy Three Random Spells.
In theory, if first Copy Random spell copies the other, and then the copied spell copies itself, it can result 27 copies of the final target spell. 27 Spark Bolts have 5% x 27 = 135% critical hit chance. This also gives it 27 times the cast delay, though.
On average, the expected number of copies is around 14. Using two Copy Random Spells Thrice has the highest chance of getting 27 copies.
Copying Modifiers
Copy Random spells can also copy modifiers. However, because they copy a spell's Draw effect, you cannot copy them as freely as you can projectiles.
Examples
Copy Random Spell copies the Damage Plus, then it draws the Damage Plus, resulting in double the modifier's effect.
Copy Random Spells Thrice copies Damage Plus three times, then it draws the Damage Plus, resulting in 4 times the modifier's effect.
Copy Three Random Spells works a bit differently to the other two. It tries to copy three different spells, so the first copy of Damage Plus draws the remaining Damage Plus after copying it. Since the Damage Plus itself is now already in the current hand (already has been cast in the current cast block), Copy Three Random Spells no longer has any spells to copy; in the end Damage Plus can only be copied once in this instance.
Still, there is a way to copy modifiers more than once with Copy Three Random Spells.
If Copy Three Random Spells copies the Damage Plus, it will then draw the Spark Bolt, but not Damage Plus. Since Damage Plus is not yet in hand, Copy Three Random Spells can copy Damage Plus again. In this way, you have the potential to copy the Damage Plus up to twice, although some of the time it may copy the Spark Bolt directly instead of the Damage Plus.
Because Copy Three Random Spells draws after each modifier it copies, if you want to use multiple Copy Random spells, it is much better to place Copy Random Spell Thrice after Copy Three Random Spells.
Copy Three Random Spells followed by Copy Random Spell Thrice ends up copying Damage Plus five or seven times.
Copy Random Spell Thrice followed by Copy 3 Random Spells ends up copying Damage Plus only three or five times.
Copying Modifiers 27x
Normally, copied modifiers will end up drawing the modifier card itself, making it impossible to copy modifiers the maximum amount of times. However, with a specific build you can work around this limitation.
WAND
Shuffle
Spells/Cast
Cast delay
Rechrg. Time
Mana max
Mana chg. Spd
Capacity
Spread
Speed
When trying to draw a spell, if the wand does not have enough mana, the spell will be skipped. Because this wand only has 100 max mana, this build consumes all of the wand's mana by the time Copy Three Random Spells is drawn.
As a result, all the draws caused by copying the modifier will be skipped, and the Damage Plus itself will never actually be drawn due to insufficient mana, making it possible to copy Damage Plus 27 times.
Example Builds
Makeshift Nightmare build
This basic build is effective enough to beat even Nightmare Mode with only a few added modifiers as you progress.
135% Critical Hit
Cast Delay Remover
Multiplying a single Bouncing Burst can help reduce large amounts of cast delay.
325 Damage Explosive Projectile
Copying Explosive Projectile can quickly and easily result in 325 explosion damage.
Low-Mana Homing
HUILU
Shuffle Spells/Cast Cast delay Rechrg. Time Mana max Mana chg. Spd Capacity Spread Speed
The Huilu (and Kantele) has only 2 max mana, so Homing will always be skipped initially. Then, Copy Random Spell copies Homing and adds it to Bubble Spark.
Remove Perk Effects
Copy Random spells are Other type, and perks that modify your spells (for example, Concentrated Spells or Boomerang Spells) do not affect Other-type spells. This can be exploited to avoid adding implicit modifiers from your perks to the spells you want to cast without those modifiers.
Infinite Uses for Limited Modifiers
Adding modifiers to Other-type spells does not consume the spell's remaining uses, so this can be used to make modifiers like Ground to Sand or Matter Eater infinite.