User:MentalMouse42/Thaumcraft pages/Wands

../Wands/ are the most basic magical tool of Thaumcraft, which gather and store vis, and use it for various purposes, primarily crafting at the Arcane Crafting table, producing magical builds, and certain invocations such as triggering an Arcane Infusion. The most basic way to gather vis is to drain it from a node, but with basic (wooden or iron) wands, or without having mastered key research topics, the player must take care not to drain nodes completely lest they be damaged or destroyed.

Each wand is composed of a wand core, and two metallic caps; they can also be equipped with various foci providing "spells" to cast. The "usual" progression is from an iron-capped wooden wand ("your first wand", requiring only a vanilla crafting table), to a gold-capped greatwood wand (requiring the Arcane Crafting Table), and on to a thaumium-capped silverwood wand (requiring the Infusion Altar and scarce essentia). There are also several "elemental" cores, available each providing regeneration of one aspect.

A special note: The final binding of charged thaumium caps to a silverwood core is done at the Arcane Crafting Table, but the this takes somewhat more vis than a gold-capped greatwood wand can hold. To accomplish this crafting for the first time, there are two main options: Traditionally, you can get vis discounts by wearing appropriate equipment (Goggles of Revealing and Thaumaturge's clothing made from Enchanted Fabric), which will bring you below the limit. The newer alternative is to craft a greatwood/gold scepter (see below), which holds enough vis to handle the binding.

Advanced thaumaturges can also produce scepters and staves. A scepter can only be used for crafting, but holds 150% as much vis as a wand with the same core, and gives an additional 5% discount for costs, beyond any discounts from its caps or the user's worn equipment. Conversely, a staff cannot be used for crafting, but holds 250% as much as a corresponding wand, and can also serve as a backup weapon for melee (however, it cannot receive weapon enchantments). Elemental staves and scepters can also be created.

Wand Cores
The various wand cores provide differing storage abilities:
 * The most basic wand core is simply a wooden stick. Wooden wands have very limited vis storage, and weak control of node draining.  They can be crafted on the vanilla crafting table.
 * The mid-tier core is greatwood. These have more storage capacity, and it is possible to learn ways to drain nodes more quickly, while avoiding draining them into oblivion.  Creating them requires use of the Arcane Crafting Table.
 * The advanced core is silverwood, with the greatest storage capacity. These must be produced at the Infusion Altar, requiring Salis Mundus.
 * There are also specialized cores corresponding to the six Primal Aspects: Reed (air), Blaze Rod (fire), Obsidian (earth), Icy (water), Bone (entropy), and Quartz (order)  Each of these can regenerate a fraction of its capacity in that aspect, even without draining a node.  All are created at the Infusion Altar.  In 4.2, the bone core and its corresponding staff core are forbidden knowledge.
 * The ultimate core is the Staff Core of the Primal. As of 4.2, gaining the research requires having researched all the lesser wand and staff cores, gaining the Eldritch Epiphany (requires warp) and also scanning a Primal Focus.  It cannot be used for a wand, but the staff holds 250 of each aspect, and regenerates up to 10% (25 vis) for each of them.  Furthermore, it adds a level of Potency to all foci.  It can be used to make a sort of sceptre, but the resulting item can neither hold a focus nor be placed in a crafting table.  That said, the "Primal Scepter" can serve as a massive battery for Runic Shielding and Repair, and it can jar several nodes between recharges.

Wand Caps
Similarly, there are several metals which can be used for wand caps, each providing different bonuses or penalties for the cost of magical powers:
 * Iron caps are the most basic, and inflict both cost penalty, and the risk of overdraining nodes regardless of skill. They can be crafted on the vanilla crafting table.
 * Gold caps are the mid-tier, giving no bonus or penalty to costs. Creating them requires use of the Arcane Crafting Table.
 * Thaumium Caps are the high-end, providing a discount to magical costs. These must be first crafted at the Arcane Crafting Table, then "charged" at the Infusion Altar.  Note that the charging process requires Salis Mundus and the scarce Aurum essentia, both of which require ample supplies of the rare drop 'ethereal essence".
 * If other mods provide copper and silver metal, caps can be made of these as well. Copper caps have effects between iron and silver, and can be crafted at the Arcane Crafting Table.  Silver caps rank between gold and thaumium, and require infusion.
 * As of version 4.2, delving into forbidden magic can give access to Voidmetal caps, providing an even greater discount.

Wand Foci
The beginning player may be frustrated with the few uses for wands. Using them for crafting and building is all very well, but where are the wands that go zap? For that, you need to get hold of some Nether Quartz and craft wand foci. The several types produce a variety of offensive or utility effects, powered by the vis within the wand.

Wand Foci can also be enchanted with a number of focus-specific enchantments to improve their performance: Potency increases effect (and vis usage), Frugal reduces vis usage, Treasure increases the drop rate for appropriate ores. Foci can be enchanted on the vanilla enchanting table, but note a bug: High-level enchantments will frequently give them Unbreakable, which is useless for foci and makes infusion enchanting them afterwards that much harder. You can also craft a Focus Pouch which stores all of your wand foci in one inventory space, and allows easily switching among them. Available wand foci include:
 * Fire: Shoots flame and sets mobs afire.  Note that it does not set blocks afire.  (In particular, it can't be used to light a Nether Portal.)
 * Lightning: "Target-seeking" attack with considerable damage.  It can charge creepers and transform pigs into zombie pigmen, and will often set targets afire.
 * Frost: Missile attack, does the most damage per hit, and can freeze water.  Does not affect lava.
 * Nine Hells: Summons firebats to harass and eventually blast your target.  (Scan a firebat to get the research.)
 * Primal: Glowing projectile with erratic path, explodes when hit to damage creatures and surroundings.  May have other effects: It is known to rarely create fibrous taint or small nodes.  (Scan a primal charm to get the research -- as of 4.2, you also need to have gained the Eldritch Epiphany by accumulating warp.)
 * Pech's Curse: Glowing energy inflicts damage and status effects on targets.  This rare focus is not craftable, and can only be purchased from a Pech Thaumaturge (or they may drop it if slain).
 * Equal Exchange: Needs to be "primed" with a result block before use, by shift-right-clicking.  Clicking on a target block will trade that block for the result block, taken from your inventory (right click to do a bunch of similar blocks at once).  Caveats:
 * You must have a supply of the correct block in your inventory. (In particular, dirt is not grass.)  However, you can place some non-obvious "blocks", such as saplings.
 * Blocks which don't drop themselves (such as smooth stone or grass) will be returned as their drops; glass will be destroyed. The focus does not accept the Silk Touch enchantment, but Treasure works as expected.
 * The focus cannot handle top slabs, and will always place slabs as bottom slabs (as a warning, when you prime it on a top slab, that will immediately be converted to a bottom slab).
 * Similarly, logs will always be placed vertically.
 * Using it against or under water will have peculiar results, beware!
 * Portable hole: Produces a short-lived tunnel reaching into the surface you zap it at.  Despite appearances, you can walk on the hole edges... but be warned, if you are inside when the effect expires, you will be buried!
 * Excavation: Digs away any minable block, yielding ores or ore drops as appropriate.  The Treasure enchantment has the effect of Fortune.
 * Warding: Makes blocks (solid, opaque, blocks only) unbreakable and indestructable to anyone by the player who warded them.  (Scan warded glass or other Warded Arcana to get the research.)