Wand of mindburst

Version 0.27: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Wand
Name	Wand of mindburst
Icon

A magical device which launches a psychic attack on a target creature. If it overcomes their willpower, it 'blows their mind' in a violently literal fashion, dealing damage that bypasses their armour entirely. It is useless against mindless creatures.

The most obvious use for a wand of mindburst is to deal a significant chunk of untyped damage to a single monster. This effect cannot be dodged or blocked, but it does have to overcome the target's willpower. This effect is significantly harder to resist than most other will-related wand effects, making it useful against a large variety of early- and mid-game opponents. A monster killed in this manner will explode, spraying blood splatters around the area without leaving a corpse (dragons are immune to this effect, and may or may not leave a corpse as normal). Followers of Gozag Ym Sagoz will receive a spray of single gold coins on several nearby tiles instead of a shower of blood.

A wand of mindburst can be particularly effective at taking out low-HD, high-threat monsters such as boggarts and Sonja. It is also extremely effective at killing low-level players. If an early opponent happens to have one on hand, you'll likely want to escape immediately; multiple zaps of a wand of mindburst can very quickly become lethal.

History

• In 0.28, the wand's damage will be reduced by 1/3 when used by monsters. It was supposed to work this way since 0.4, but was broken due to a bug.
• Prior to 0.27, this wand was called the wand of disintegration. Also, it could affect mindless creatures.
• Prior to 0.20, it could disintegrate rock walls and obstacles in the dungeon (doors, iron grates, trees, orcish idols, and most kinds of statues).
• Prior to 0.15, orange crystal statues and silver statues could be destroyed instantly through use of a wand of disintegration.
• Prior to 0.6, zapped creatures were simply reduced to nothingness.