this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2024
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Modifiers (generally) cost mana too, so you have to add that mana cost to each cast of the wand. If you have a 5 mana cost spell and a 30 mana modifier, you end up with 35 mana per cast. If your wand has a total capacity of 100 mana and a recharge rate of 100MPS, you'll get 2 casts with the modifier (70 total mana) and one cast without until you regen to a capacity total of 35 mana (or greater) to cast with the modifier again. If you have a dual or tri cast spell and put the modifier before that, it will apply the modifier to the whole cast block adding the modifier mana requirement to each spell in that block. If at any point that exceeds your capacity, it won't add the modifier at all.
Right, so if you have 3 spells on a shuffle wand, and 1 modifier in front of one, than the modifier will only affect the cast "block" of that one spell. Since it is a shuffle wand it can choose to cast any of those three which gives you a 30% chance of casting a modified spell. This is why non-shuffle is so important. You can always tell if its a shuffle or non-shuffle wand by whether it has a gemstone on the wand. If it does have one, it will be NON-shuffle, if it does NOT have a gem, it will be shuffle.
A non-shuffle gives you consistency and the ability to make those spell "blocks"
That's part of what makes the game tough is how you only get to tinker with the wands in those mid-way points, unless you get a perk that says otherwise. But a pro-tip, your second wand, the bomb wand, you can switch your main wand's spell to that and it will usually work in a pinch to give you a rapid fire shot with low mana regent. Not optimal, bit functional when no other options exist.
The pentagon one, IIRC, if used with a single spell will just shoot around you in 5 directions. But if you have a trigger spell you place it like so [Trigger spell] [Pentagon] [damage spell]. I believe pentagon has a pretty high mana consumption so that may have prevented you from having the total capacity needed to successfully cast it. Therefore you would have just casted an unmodified spell.
LMK if you need more info!
I was not counting mana cost, no. So it'll just drop modifiers if it doesn't have enough mana, and still cast the base spell? That does explain some of the behavior I was seeing. I figured it would fail to cast entirely if I didn't have enough mana for the full block.
One theory I had, if you can confirm, is that shuffle doesn't just shuffle spells, it shuffles all spell nodes.
So if I have a 4-slot shuffle wand with: PPMP (P = Projectile Spell, M = Modifier)
I was thinking the cast table could either be:
P1 - 33%
P2 - 33%
MP3 - 33%
Or
P1 - 25%
P2 - 25%
MP3 - 25%
P3 - 25%
Depending on whether the modifier block was a valid place for the shuffle to land.
I was planning to try to build some wand experiments to differentiate which of these scenarios is true. Good to know that mana can be a confounding variable.
Edit: Also, is shuffle fully random or does it draw without replacement like a deck of cards until all stored spells are cast and it can recharge? Just thought of this and realized I hadn't tested for it.
You know, I'm not actually entirely sure if it sees the modifier as a valid selection, but yes, it will kill a modifier and cast a non-modified spell if it does not have the capacity. The only time it will not fire at all is when 1) the base spell has a greater cost than total capacity. Or 2) you are out of casts for spells that have a cast limit (donated by a number within the spell's block).
A shuffle wand will always cast all spells available in the selection before hitting the recharge, I can say that for sure. So if you have 5 spells each at 20% chance, then you cast one, you have a 25% for each of the remaining four, then 33%, then 50% then you will 100% cast the spell you haven't cast yet before the wand goes through recharge and all spells become available again.
When talking about dual casts and tri-casts I'm not entirely sure how it resolves what to cast when mana capacity is an issue, but I believe it goes left to right, and checks the validity against your capacity, yes=cast no=not cast which would be why someone would end up casting a couple, but not all of, a block's spells.
Spells and modifiers all can add (or remove) mana, modify cast delay/recharge delay. So do keep an eye on how that all gets changed based on what spells you use. One spell selection could be the difference between chaingun or a slow firing one shot. Some spells have 1 second delays built in (which technically can be overcome)
That makes a lot more sense now. Thank you. I know where to look for troubleshooting next time I play.