Sandgun

Type	Weapon
Uses ammo	Sands
Damage	30 (Ranged)
Knockback	5 (Average)
Critical chance	4%
Use time	16 (Very fast)
Velocity	24 (not affected by ammo)
Tooltip	'This is a good idea!'
Rarity
Sell	20
Research	1 required
Use

The Sandgun is a ranged weapon that can use Sand, Pearlsand, Ebonsand, or Crimsand as its ammunition. The projectile is affected by gravity.

When regular Sand Blocks are used as ammo, the projectile will disappear upon hitting an enemy, or turn into a Sand Block if it hits any object.

When Pearlsand, Ebonsand, or Crimsand Blocks are used as ammo, the projectile's base damage will be increased by 5, the projectile will be able to pierce enemies, and turn into the respective kind of Sand Block upon hitting an object.

However, all variants Sand Blocks have the default damage value of -1, reducing Sandgun's actual damage by 1.

Its best modifier is Unreal.

Crafting

Recipes

Result	Ingredients	Crafting station
Sandgun	Illegal Gun Parts Antlion Mandible (10) Topaz (5)	Furnace

Notes

The Sandgun in use. Note how when hitting blocks, the projectiles turn into sand, but when hitting entities they don't.

The Sandgun can often create sandy messes, and can also block the player from being able to land another hit on an enemy. Using it to fight enemies can become difficult.
If the sand projectile lands on an already occupied tile, it will disappear, without turning into a Sand Block. If the projectile lands on a mid-air tile, it will turn into falling sand ball. Same as regular falling sand ball, it cannot land on various things, like Saplings and Minecart Tracks. Instead, the Sand Block will turn into its item form / disappear.
- When the projectile lands on a statue, it will turn into a Sand Block and turn the statue into its item form.
- The behavior mentioned above allows for ease of farming should this behavior be exploited.
The Sandgun does not receive the specialized boost from any of the three headpieces of Shroomite armor.

Tips

The Sandgun is incredibly strong for when it can be obtained, outperforming the Phoenix Blaster in raw damage. However, the resulting sand can impede the player. Consider using a Featherfall Potion and shooting downwards to avoid the falling sand.
Because of this, using the Sandgun to fight against the Wall of Flesh can be effective because the boss forces the player to continually move away. However, fallen sand can disrupt placed stairs, meaning a hell bridge made of platforms might have to be repaired after the battle.
- The piercing capability of biome Sand Blocks is also ideal for damaging the Hungry and the Wall of Flesh at the same time.
While regular sand projectile can only hit one enemy, the falling sand ball generated by it will deal considerable damage to enemies it strikes as it falls.
The Sandgun can function as a more reliable (albeit slower to spread) version of Thrown Water due to its ability to shoot sand of all types.
The ability to place sand can be useful in blocking tunnels or filling lava-filled gaps from a distance.
The Gravedigger's Shovel can synergize very well with the Sandgun. Both are obtainable at the start of the game with no prior requirements (other than to craft them). The Gravedigger's Shovel can dig up massive quantities of ammo for the Sandgun and allow for very quick and easy sand clean-up without relying on explosives or higher tier pickaxes. However, it requires a Graveyard mini-biome to be present, which may be difficult to obtain very early on for Hardcore characters.
An effective way to utilize the Sandgun in an arena without creating a mess is to utilize a background object, such as Minecart Tracks or torches, to destroy Sand Blocks or turn them into items, allowing for no sand build up and easy sand recovery.
- This can be done relatively cheaply using the previously mentioned Minecart Tracks and torches, as Minecart Tracks are cheap to craft, meaning a decently sized arena can be set up with just a few Iron/Lead Bars and wood worth of tracks. Even a hellbridge spanning thousands of tiles would not require much.

Sand Farming

The Sandgun is affected by boosts that reduce ammo usage, allowing it to create more sand than what was used as ammo, which translates to "sand farming".

For the actual multiplying of the sand, start with the Ammo Box and/or Ammo Reservation Potion, then add an armor that provides ammo conservation; see Ammo Reservation below for more detail.
Firing that much sand takes time; using a modifier of Rapid or Frenzying can improve speed over Unreal, but even with the better modifiers, it is likely that a second potion, and perhaps another visit to the Ammo Box will be needed.

The player can stand next to a torch with a ceiling or wall handy above, and shoot the sand so that it hits the blocks and then falls onto the torch. The falling sand will be itemized and immediately picked up, and all the player needs to do is to hold down the fire button. (However, firing directly at the torch will simply destroy the sand.)
- With Fossil Armor, an Ammo Box, and no distractions, a player can just create a full stack of sand in the duration of an Ammo Reservation Potion.
Sand farming requires more labor, requiring letting the Sandgun pile up the sand and then mining it. Farming a full stack of sand will fill a large part of the screen, and will take the better part of a day.
- It may be worthwhile to set up a high drop over a flat area, say 30×70, for easier collection.
- For collection, a fast pickaxe is a must. (See also the Mining speed page for details.)
  - In pre-Hardmode, the best is the Bone Pickaxe. Afterwards, use the Hardmode ore pickaxes, then swap to Shroomite Digging Claw post-Plantera.
  - Any of the Legendary, Deadly, Agile, and Nasty, or Light modifiers will give the best mining speed.
  - Any boost to mining speed will speed up the collection of sand, such as the Mining Potion, Mining armor, Sun/Moon/Celestial Stone/Celestial Shell, Food, and the Ancient Chisel.
  - Using Bombs or Dynamite to farm needed Sand can be less time-intensive, but expensive and less precise. Another option is to place Explosives beforehand, wire them to a safely distant switch, then pile the sand up around the explosives for a perfect blast.

Ammo Reservation

Ammo reservation is key to farming sand. The higher the ammo reservation chance is, the better.

For purposes of maximizing ammo reservation, start with the Ammo Box and Ammo Reservation Potion, each of which give 20%, stacking with each other and with armor. The armor options are as follows:

The only option pre-Hardmode is Fossil armor / Necro armor (both 20%).
In Hardmode, Cobalt armor (with Mask) or Mythril armor (with Hat) (both 20%).
Adamantite armor (with Mask) improves that to 25%. The Hallowed armor (with Helmet) also has the same stat.
After defeating Plantera, the Shroomite Breastplate and Chlorophyte Helmet each give 20% as individual pieces, so combining them can beat any set bonus.
After the endgame, the Vortex Breastplate (25% bonus) can replace the Shroomite Breastplate.

Trivia

The Sandgun's sprite resembles the Illegal Gun Parts that are used to craft it.
- This is because when the Sandgun was introduced, it was the only item to use Illegal Gun Parts in its recipe.
The Sandgun is the only weapon crafted at a Furnace.
Despite the large cost to obtain this weapon (20 / 25 for Illegal Gun Parts, and getting 10 Antlion Mandibles can be tedious because of the low drop rate), its sell price is absurdly low (20), reducing the potential cost that a player will need to get a good modifier.
It is the only gun-styled weapon whose ammunition can be retrieved.
The gun works with the same mechanics that the Antlion uses. This is why Antlion Mandibles are used to craft the gun.
Despite Amber being found exclusively in Desert biomes and has a much more close relation to sand, the Sandgun uses Topaz in its crafting recipe. This is likely because the Sandgun was introduced before Amber was.