Rainbow Gun

Rainbow Gun

•  

Statistics

Type	Weapon
Damage	45 (Magic)
Knockback	2.5 (Very weak) (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) / 2 (Very weak) (Old-gen console and 3DS versions)
Mana	20
Critical chance	4%
Use time	40 (Very slow)
Velocity	16
Tooltip	Shoots a rainbow that does continuous damage
Rarity	08*
Sell	20 GC
Research	1 required

Projectiles created

• Rainbow Front
  
• Rainbow Back
  

Sounds

Use

• Internal Item ID: 1260
• Internal Projectile ID: 250, 251

Not to be confused with Rainbow Rod.

The Rainbow Gun is a Hardmode, post-Plantera magic weapon that launches a rainbow that travels in a straight line for a short distance before curving downwards. The rainbow persists for (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) 40 / (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) 10 seconds or until another rainbow is fired. Enemies touching the rainbow take damage repeatedly, approximately five times per second. The Rainbow Gun is always found in the Dungeon's Hallowed Chest, which can only be unlocked with a Hallowed Key after Plantera has been defeated.

Its best modifier is Ruthless. The Mythical modifier provides the widest array of stat bonuses, but the only stats that improve damage output are damage and critical chance. Switching to a different magic weapon causes existing projectiles to use that weapon's critical chance instead, meaning that the Rainbow Gun's DPS is optimized with the Ruthless modifier when used in the intended way.

Physics

• Fired horizontally, the rainbow will travel straight for approximately 35 tiles before curving.
• Fired 45° diagonally, the rainbow will travel approximately 4 tiles before curving.
• After a bit, the beam goes faster horizontally when it goes up (+5% per tick) and slows down horizontally when it goes down (−5% per tick).
• The beam travels at about 74.765625 tiles/second and lasts 20 seconds as long as it does not touch a block or shimmer.
• The rainbow usually tries to rotate to go down, but if shot perfectly upwards, it does not have a sense of rotation and goes straight up.
• A rainbow shot straight up or down will travel a total of 1491 tiles.

Notes

• The Rainbow Gun produces minuscule knockback for each of its rapid hits, which tends to freeze enemies within its field. This is similar to the Vilethorn's effect, though the Rainbow Gun does not travel through blocks.
• When fading, the rainbow will not fade all at once; but instead along its length similarly to the way it was formed. Firing another rainbow will cause the first to instantly disappear without the "fading" effect.
• It can be fired through one tile-wide gaps in walls, floors and ceilings, and will fire through solid one-block-thick walls at certain angles, even without standing against the blocks to be penetrated.

Achievement

Rainbows and Unicorns • “Fire a rainbow gun while riding on a unicorn.”

Fire a Rainbow Gun while riding a Unicorn Mount. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

Category: Challenger

Tips

• The Rainbow Gun is a convenient weapon that pierces infinitely and delivers its 45 damage repeatedly and rapidly without having to re-fire for (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) 40 / (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) 10 seconds. Clusters of unlimited enemies, even post-Plantera Dungeon enemies (with the exception of Paladin and bosses), can be defeated all at once with a single firing.
• This weapon will pierce infinitely until it fades. Therefore, it is a great weapon against enemies with multiple segments, especially worm-like enemies such as The Destroyer. It will hit each section simultaneously, inflicting tremendous damage. Because of this, it is potentially possible to defeat the Eater of Worlds or even The Destroyer with a single shot, if the player has appropriate gear and has made other preparations.
• The Rainbow Gun is also exceptionally powerful against walking creatures or teleporting creatures. In the Hardmode post-Plantera Dungeon, while aiming towards the only passage leading into the room, the player can lay down a rainbow that eliminates every enemy that enters beside the occasional Cursed Skull or Paladin.
• For the same reasons, the weapon is exceptionally potent against invasions.
• Because of its high sell price, the Rainbow Gun is very expensive to reforge. It may be wise to settle for a lesser modifier such as Mythical, Godly, Demonic, or Masterful, all of which are equally damaging as long as the Rainbow Gun is not the currently-selected weapon.
• Since the critical strike chance of a projectile is based on the weapon currently held by the player, this weapon pairs well with Stellar Tune and Staff of Earth since it will benefit from their high base critical strike chance.

Trivia

• The Rainbow Gun can be used to bounce a Beach Ball, allowing a high bounce score.
• The rainbow makes a faint light that is synchronized with other rainbow items such as the Disco Ball and Rainbow Bricks.
• The Rainbow Gun is the only Biome Chest weapon that has a specific associated achievement.

Gallery

The Rainbow Gun used to pierce Target Dummies.

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.4:
  • Rainbow duration increased from 20 to 40 seconds.
  • Now uses static immune frames, so its immune frames will no longer conflict with other attacks.

• Desktop 1.4.0.1: Sprite updated.

• Desktop 1.3.4.1: Fixed a glitch that allowed players to obtain the Rainbow Gun Pre-Hardmode on a world with the seed 1423781313 (small, Crimson, Expert Mode). On the right side of the Dungeon, the game tried to place a Hallowed Chest and a wooden Chest in the same place, and the loot from the Hallowed Chest appeared in the Wooden Chest.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1:
  • Rainbow duration increased from 10 to 20 seconds.
  • Knockback increased from 2 to 2.5.

• Desktop 1.2.3: Rainbow duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds.

• Desktop 1.2.1: Damage increased from 40 to 45.

• Desktop 1.2: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console 1.02: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.