Guide: Single Cast and Instant Recharge
- Please see the Discussion page for reasoning.
The single cast and instant recharge trick allows one to perform a single cast from a wand and instantly recharge with a single key press or mouse click; holding has no additional effect. Uses of this trick include:
- Speeding up a wand, making low-cast-delay, high-recharge-time wands rapidly fire by rapidly pressing the cast-and-instant-recharge control.
- Slowing down a wand that casts too quickly by using the special cast control to require one press/click per cast. This is useful, e.g., if using a rapid-fire wand with explosives; using the regular casting control on extremely rapid-fire wands may produce multiple casts if the control is not released quickly enough, and cause the superimposed explosives to trigger each other at the location the wand was cast.
- Using a wand for two purposes, by holding (first) unlimited-use and (second) limited-use spells on a nonshuffle wand, using the special cast control to repeatedly cast the unlimited-use spell, and regular casts to cast the unlimited use spell followed by the limited use spell. (E.g., Teleport Bolt and Black Hole.)
- Storing backup ammo and fallbacks for trigger spell payloads, by placing a trigger projectile as the first spell, followed by multiple copies of a limited use spell (with no multicast), optionally followed by a backup payload.
- Applying certain item effects while firing, using a particular item arrangement. (E.g., applying electricity immunity from an Ukkoskivi while firing a wand.)
It requires a certain wand configuration and special control bindings.
Setup
Wand reload times are only triggered after the final spell has been cast, and wands can be reset by switching to another item and back to the wand (see Guide To Wand Mechanics). This trick is simply combines casting, switching away, and switching back all into one.
Control setup
For repeated use with any slot, but dangerous when extremely rapid
A key press or mouse button must be configured (in the escape menu > Input tab > Configure controls) as a binding for at least the three below actions:
- "use wand"
- "next item"
- "previous item"
Other actions, such as "throw", can still be bound to the same control. A convenient choice for this control is the middle mouse button or scroll wheel. If using the scroll wheel and scrolling extremely rapidly, there is the risk that you will not return to the original item and instead start using another item. Also note that if "spray from potion" is also mapped to this special control, it will allow you to use the trick to spray at a more controlled rate from potions, but this also increases the risks if you use the control extremely rapidly, as, for example, if you try to extremely rapidly fire your first wand with a potion as your last item, you will accidentally switch to and start spraying from that potion.
For extremely rapid use with one specialized slot, or slow use with any
Alternatively, an input can be mapped to include:
- "use wand"
- "next item"
- "select item in slot 1"
This enables the highest rates of fire on wand 1 when using the scroll wheel, without the risk of accidentally using an unintended wand. However, other wands cannot be fired even semi-rapidly with this setup, as you will have to use the special control then manually select back to them; this can still be useful though. Also note that if "spray from potion" is also mapped to this special control, it will allow you to use the trick to slowly spray from potions, but when you try to extremely rapidly fire wand 1, it will cause you to simultaneously spray from a potion if it's the next item.
Wand configuration
The most basic configuration is to use a nonshuffle wand that will not cast all its spells at once (multicast wands can make this difficult or impossible). For example, on a single-cast nonshuffle wand:
The first cast of this wand will only cast the (Double Spell and) Spitter Bolts, not the Energy Orb. By switching to this wand and casting only using the sequence above, one can repeatedly cast the Spitter Bolts without casting the Energy Orb or encountering recharge time. However, any cast delay will remain, so low cast delay wands and cast delay reductions are valuable.
Shuffle wands can be set up similarly, but if they are multicast and/or have Tuple Spells, there may be a chance or a guarantee of casting the last spell and still triggering the recharge time.
More complicated setups can be used that allow mixing regular casts with the cast-and-instant-recharge control, as long as at least one spell remains on the wand.
Item configuration
Placing certain items in item slot 5 while constantly rapid-firing a wand in slot 4 will keep some or all of the effects of holding the item active. E.g., with an Ukkoskivi in slot 5, this will grant electricity immunity but not send out electric pulses or pacify Ukkos. The wand does not actually need to cast every time (cast delay or mana issues don't break the setup); the effect is simply from switching rapidly back and forth to the item. A Kiuaskivi behaves in a similar manner. However, most (maybe all) other items do not have their on-hold effects triggered.