Wand Appearance

A wand with many sprite/particle effects.

With some practice, spells in wands held by enemies can sometimes be identified by particle effects emitting from the wand tip.

Tips

• Particle effects from spells stack, both with different spells and identical ones.
  • A wand with both Acid Ball and Poison Trail will emit both Poison Gas and Flammable Gas.
  • A wand with 6 Black Holes will emit twice as many particles as a wand with 3 Black Holes.
• Death trigger, timer and trigger variants of spells are always identical to the base spell's appearance (e.g.: a Black Hole with Trigger emits the same particles as a Black Hole).
• Unless the wand was generated by a Kummitus, Static Projectile and Utility spells will not usually generate on a random wand. Static Projectile spells can generate as an Always Cast spell on a wand, although this is quite rare.
• Wands usually generate with more projectiles than modifiers, so when in doubt between a modifier or projectile with a similar appearance, you can estimate which specific spell it is based on the quantity of particles emitted (combined with knowledge of the fact that longer wands typically have more slots, and wands are typically half- to almost-completely-filled with spells).
• Some spells have an internal flag set that is intended to prevent enemies from firing that spell (although this, too, can have exceptions if the wand would multicast that spell with another spell that does not have that flag set). The spells with this property are Giga Nuke (it is the only Projectile spell with this property, but has a very small chance of generating on a wand), Destruction, Spells to Nukes, The End of Everything, and Nuke Orbit. Note also that, since Nuke Orbit draws a spell, which will typically not have this flag set, this flag effectively does nothing for Nuke Orbit; and furthermore since Nuke Orbit has no cosmetic effects to help identify it, it is probably the most dangerous naturally occurring spell.

Identification

Electricity

Electric spells are very easy to identify, as they will not only emit cosmetic 'spark' particles but will also electrify nearby conductive materials. Almost all electric spells (Ball Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Electric Charge, Lightning Thrower, Thunder Charge, Explosion of Thunder and Personal Lightning Caster) look identical.

Electric Arc has slightly 'longer' particles.

Sprites

Many wands emit, instead of or in addition to normal particles, small sprites, which are generally identifiable as they are more than one pixel large. Path of Dark Flame and Tentacle are easily identified, as they have very large and identifiable sprites that are emitted: a single Path of Dark Flame particle for Path of Dark Flame, and a purple cobweb-shaped sprite for Tentacle.

Freeze Charge uniquely emits square 'snowflake'-like sprites.

Teleport Bolt, Small Teleport Bolt and Return can be identified by the star-shaped white sprite that is emitted. Small Teleport Bolt technically emits at a slightly slower rate than the other two, but this difference is typically difficult to observe in practice.

Many spells emit orange flame-like sprites: Damage Plus, Critical Plus, Mana To Damage, Random Damage, and Heavy Shot. (See the next section for spells that emit both orange sprites and orange particles, which are generally more dangerous.) Random Damage uses a unique sprite which is slightly redder, and Heavy Shot emits sprites at a slightly elevated rate.

Particle color

Orange

Orange particles are perhaps the most meaningful particles that can be observed, as they are emitted only by Nuke, Giga Nuke (also Fire Arc, Fire Trail and Firecrackers, although these are less concerning). Fire Arc and Fire Trail are not accompanied by the circular yellow 'spark' sprite.

Pink

Bright pink particles are emitted by one of All-Seeing Eye, Black Hole, Giga Black Hole, Omega Black Hole, and Matosade. Of these, All-Seeing Eye is typically only ever found in the Mines as part of a pre-generated wand, and Giga Black Hole, Omega Black Hole and Matosade are Static Projectiles and do not typically generate on wands. So a wand emitting these particles is typically carrying Black Holes.

Purple

Bright purple particles are emitted by Giant Firebolt and Giant Magic Missile, which are identical.

Green

Green particles are emitted by one of Accelerating Shot, Concentrated Light, Large Firebolt, Large Magic Missile, Healing Bolt, Reduce Lifetime and Speed Up. Speed Up, Accelerating Shot, Healing Bolt and Reduce Lifetime are relatively low impact, so identification is not as important.

• The particles emitted by Speed Up and Healing Bolt are not affected by gravity. Particles from Speed Up travel much further, while particles from Healing Bolt stay close to the wand tip.
• Concentrated Light emits a large green sprite in addition to single pixels of green sparks.
• Reduce Lifetime emits relatively few particles with a relatively large interval between emissions.
• Large Magic Missile and Large Firebolt are identical in appearance. Compared to Accelerating Shot, the only remaining green-emitting spell, particles remain close to the wand tip.

Blue

Blue particles are emitted by Death Cross, Giga Death Cross, Glowing Lance, Add Mana, Energy Orb, Iceball, Light Shot and Spiral Shot. Glowing Lance emits relatively long-lived particles that typically reach the ground.

Spiral Shot, Death Cross, Giga Death Cross and Iceball emit larger blue sprites in addition to blue particles, and Iceball also emits smoke. Death Cross and Giga Death Cross, which are identical, have a slightly longer interval between emissions.

Light Shot emits dark blue circular sprites.

Add Mana emits relatively few particles.

Particles emitted by Energy Orb move relatively slowly.

Red

Red particles by themselves are actually only emitted by two spells: Increase Lifetime and Decelerating Shot.

Gases/Liquids

Gases

Flammable Gas means Acid Ball, Acid Trail or Slimeball. Slimeball and Acid Ball are identical in appearance, and will additionally emit cosmetic particles of Toxic Sludge which may stain the ground.

Poisonous Gas means Explosion of Poison or Poison Trail (and Explosion of Poison does not typically spawn on wands).

Smoke is emitted by a large number of spells that use a generic "explosive spell" emitter profile. Burning Trail, Meteorisade, Explosion, Magical Explosion, Explosive Projectile, Fireball, Firebomb, Explosion of Brimstone, Flamethrower, Firebolt, Odd Firebolt, and Dropper Bolt are all identical.

Holy Bomb and Giga Holy Bomb are almost completely identical to any of the above; both spells emit slightly longer-lasting smoke particles, and Giga Holy Bomb emits slightly more smoke.

Magic Missile and Explosion of Spirits look very similar to a generic "explosive spell" but do not emit smoke. Magic Missile's 'spark' particles emit at a slightly higher rate than Explosion of Spirits (and notably, Explosion of Spirits does not normally generate on wands).

Liquids

As noted above, Toxic Sludge means Acid Ball or Slimeball. Blood Magic and Blood to Power are identical in appearance, and both emit cosmetic particles of Blood, although both spells are Utility spells and will not typically generate on wands.

Gold?

Finally, Gold To Power emits cosmetic gold particles, although this may be difficult to distinguish from fire-based effects.