Wands, Bows & the Glass-Cannon Tradeoff
Ancient wands and bows are PvE-only weapons: they do nothing to other players, but they tear through everything the underworld throws at you. Both are pure ranged damage with a built-in catch — carry one and you take more damage in return.
What they hit
Wands and bows now damage all PvE content at their full rapid-fire rate:
- Shades and wraiths and caravans
- Every boss — Lamia, Echidna, Thanatos, Hephaestus, and the dungeon bosses
- All dungeon mobs and Erebus pit guards
They stay PvE-only, so don't reach for them in PvP — against another player they simply do nothing.
Held fire
Both weapons fire by holding right-click — channel a wand beam or loose arrows by keeping the button down. Each beam or arrow now lands once, with no attack-cooldown throttling. That means cast-speed and fire-rate builds genuinely scale your single-target DPS: faster fire equals more hits on the target.
Holding a bow no longer blocks opening chests and doors — firing only triggers on air, non-interactive blocks, or while sneaking, so you can still loot mid-fight. Arrows also land in Skywars now, complete with knockback.
The glass-cannon tradeoff
The cost is spelled out right on the tooltip. While the weapon is in your main hand, you take more damage from all sources:
| Weapon | Damage taken |
|---|---|
| Wand | +10% |
| Bow | +15% |
So when a fight closes in, swap to a melee weapon or a shield — don't tank a boss's burst with a wand still out. Like the rest of your gear and armour, these weapons are tools you mix and match, not a single loadout.
Bow as a real weapon
Bow base damage is now pinned a little above an axe at every tier, and just under a sword — so a bow is a true damage weapon, not a sidearm. For the full enchant lists that build on top of that base, see Bow Enchants and Wand Enchants. You can also dress either weapon with trims and other cosmetics.
Version history
v2.0.0
- Ancient wands and bows now damage all PvE content — every boss, all dungeon mobs, and Erebus pit guards — while staying PvE-only.
- Both can now be held to fire/channel, with every hit landing once so fire-rate builds scale single-target DPS.
- Added the glass-cannon penalty: +10% damage taken with a wand, +15% with a bow, shown on the tooltip.
- Bow base damage pinned just above an axe at every tier, and holding a bow no longer blocks chests or doors.