Gray Zapinator

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Desktop version Console version Mobile version
Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
Gray Zapinator
  • Gray Zapinator item sprite
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Weapon
Damage42 (Magic)
Knockback6 (Average)
Mana16
Critical chance4%
Use time36 (Very slow)
Velocity60 (effective)
Tooltip'It might be broken'
RarityRarity level: 2
Buy17 GC
Sell3 GC40 SC
Research1 required
Projectile created
  • Zapinator
    Zapinator
Sounds
Use
This article is about the pre-Hardmode magic weapon. For the Hardmode variant, see Orange Zapinator. For the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version-exclusive magic weapon, see Zapinator.
The Gray Zapinator in use.

The Gray Zapinator is a pre-Hardmode-only magic gun that can be purchased from the Traveling Merchant for 17 GC. It is only available once the Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds, Brain of Cthulhu, Queen Bee, or Skeletron has been defeated. Once Hardmode begins, it is replaced with the Orange Zapinator. Meteor armor's set bonus will reduce its mana cost to 0, although the stated mana cost will not visually change.

The weapon fires a blue laser beam that behaves very erratically. Upon striking an enemy, the projectile slows down by 40%, decreases its current damage and knockback by 10%, and can choose from an assortment of special effects as described below. The laser beam will disappear after hitting eight enemies or after 60 seconds.

Its best modifier is Mythical.

Special effects

Upon hitting an enemy, the beam can do any (and perhaps more than one) of the following things:[1]

Effect Chance
Disable tile collision (i.e., gain the ability to move through blocks)
Teleport up to 16 tiles left or right		 1/20 (5%)
Disable tile collision
Teleport up to 16 tiles up or down		 1/20 (5%)
Disable tile collision 1/2 (50%)
Move the projectile backwards along the current trajectory up to 39 ticks[2][3]
(i.e., teleport to the location that would normally only be reached after reversing direction and waiting up to 39 ticks, or 0.65 seconds)
(applied before the general 40% velocity decrease per hit)		 2/3 (66.67%)
Shift direction slightly to the right of the screen 1/7 (14.29%)
Shift direction slightly to the bottom of the screen 1/7 (14.29%)
Multiply current knockback by 10
(applied after the general 10% knockback decrease per hit)		 1/20 (5%)
Multiply current damage by 10
(applied after the general 10% damage decrease per hit)		 1/50 (2%)
Teleport up to 4 tiles left or right[3] 1/7 (14.29%)
Teleport up to 4 tiles up or down[3] 1/7 (14.29%)
Mirror trajectory vertically 1/14 (7.14%)
Mirror trajectory horizontally 1/14 (7.14%)
Slow down to between 0.05% and 10% of the current velocity
(applied after the general 40% velocity decrease per hit)		 1/10 (10%)

These effects are applied in the given order. While it is possible for a projectile to trigger all of them at once upon hitting an enemy, it is also possible that none of them are triggered.

Notes

  • Because the Gray Zapinator gains effects on hit, following hits can give the same beam new effects, causing some beams to deal extreme damage and/or knockback.
  • Only the front of the beam deals damage.

Tips

  • The Gray Zapinator is extremely powerful for the entirety of pre-Hardmode, despite somewhat relying on chance.
  • The Gray Zapinator is risky to use Underground Jungle, as its teleporting shots may break off-screen Larvae and spawn the Queen Bee.

Trivia

  • There is a 5.87% chance that none of the special effects occur upon hit. The general 40% velocity and 10% damage and knockback decrease is still applied in this case.
  • The odds of triggering all possible effects at once are 1 in 5,647,152,000,000.
  • It is one of the only weapons that becomes completely unobtainable in Hardmode, the other being the Cascade.
  • The Gray Zapinator's name and sprite resemble the Famicom Zapper, an electronic light gun accessory for the Famicom (known as the Family Computer in Japan, and the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES in North America and internationally). The Gray Zapinator in particular appears similar to the Famicom light gun that was first released in Japan in 1984, with its gray coloration and red trigger.
    • The erratic behavior of its projectiles along with its tooltip, 'It might be broken', are most likely references to the fact that NES Zappers were inconsistent when used in their respective light gun games on the NES.
  • The Zapinator was first introduced in the original desktop release by the developers to instantly kill enemies for testing purposes, and it was removed with the 1.0.1 version. Later on, the item was added to the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version. The Zapinator was eventually re-introduced to the Desktop version Desktop version, Console version Console version, and Mobile version Mobile version as the Gray Zapinator and Orange Zapinator in 1.4.0.1.

History

References

  1. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method Damage() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
  2. ↑ A tick is a time unit countable by the software. Most of Terraria's updating logic happens every tick. A tick has the length of 1/60th of a second, hence there are 60 ticks in a second and 3600 ticks in a minute.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The teleportations will not take effect if the new location is within blocks and the projectile is incapable of moving through blocks.
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