Wand of digging

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Wand
Name	Wand of digging
Icon

A magical device which drills tunnels through unworked rock.

A wand of digging will remove a straight line of rock walls in the direction zapped; a targeter allows you to determine the exact path the line will take.

It is effective on rock walls (normal or transparent), and certain strange types of walls (such as the walls of the Slime Pits, Pandemonium, or the translucent membranes in Cigotuvi's Fleshworks). It also affects inanimate statues, iron grates, and all things petrified (whether tree, plant, or monster). Digging has no effect on non-rock walls, such as stone walls, metal walls, crystal walls, "unnaturally hard" walls, nor non-rock impediments such as trees, mangroves, bushes, or briar patches. In any case, you can't dig past the edge of the map. This wand does not benefit from Evocations skill.

Strategy

Wands of digging let you create corridors and killholes virtually anywhere with rock walls. Fighting enemies one-at-a-time is a vital tactic in Crawl - it'll turn unwinnable fights into something you can manage. It also be used to dig escape routes, create a path to otherwise inaccessible areas, or (if you have spare charges) create routes to enemies.

Wands of digging are rare and come with few charges, so use them wisely. Also, beware: digging into a wall may reveal new monsters on the other side, perhaps making your situation worse.

Corridors and Killholes

The code block below illustrates what corridors and killholes look like when dug with the wand. A corridor only costs 1 charge and allows you to melee enemies 1 at a time, while piercing attacks can hit multiple monsters. A killhole costs 1-2 charges and has the advantage of preventing distant enemies from using smite-targeted attacks.

Corridor:    Killhole:
..####.#     ..####.#
..###@##     ..###.##
..##.###     ...#@###
..#.####     ..#.####
...#####     ..##.###

Tips & Tricks

• Certain levels contain only stone or crystal walls, so it can be valuable to take account of that fact upon entering such levels.
• Even Formicids can benefit from a wand of digging, as it digs tunnels without draining you.
• A wand of digging reliably destroys a petrified monster (very useful when wrangling with a mob that includes a catoblepas!)

History

• Prior to 0.23, wands of digging had significantly more charges.
• Prior to 0.22, the wand could not be aimed past existing walls, reducing its precision.
• Prior to 0.20, this wand could not destroy inanimate statues.
• Prior to 0.14, this effect was also available through use of the level 4 Earth Magic spell Dig.
• Prior to 0.12, monsters would never use wands of digging.