Gray Zapinator

The Gray Zapinator is a pre-Hardmode-only magic weapon purchased from the Traveling Merchant for . It is only available once the Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu, Queen Bee, or Skeletron has been defeated. Unlike the Zapinator, the Gray Zapinator does not autofire. Meteor armor's set bonus will reduce the mana cost of the Gray Zapinator (and Orange Zapinator) to 0, although the stated mana cost will not change.
The weapon fires a laser beam which 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.
== Special effects ==
Upon hitting an enemy, the beam can do any (and perhaps more than one) of the following things:
Effect 	Chance
Disable tile collision (i.e., gain the ability to move through blocks)Teleport up to 16 tiles left or right 	
Disable tile collisionTeleport up to 16 tiles up or down 	
Disable tile collision 	
Move the projectile backwards along the current trajectory up to 39 ticksThe teleportations will not take effect if the new location is within blocks and the projectile is incapable of moving through blocks.(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)	
Shift direction slightly to the right of the screen 	
Shift direction slightly to the bottom of the screen 	
Multiply current knockback by 10 	
Multiply current damage by 10 	
Teleport up to 4 tiles left or right 	
Teleport up to 4 tiles up or down 	
Mirror trajectory vertically 	
Mirror trajectory horizontally 	
Slow down to between 0.05% and 10% of the current velocity(applied after the general 40% velocity decrease per hit) 	
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 ==
* The damage increase effect can also apply to critical hits.
* Because the Gray Zapinator gains effects on hit, following hits can give the same beam new effects, which can lead to stacked damage modifiers. This is why some beams can hit over 30000 damage.
* An enemy is only capable of being hit by the front of a fired beam, meaning if an enemy were to collide with the center or tail end of a slow moving beam, it would take no damage.
* The Gray Zapinator cannot be purchased after entering Hardmode, as the Traveling Merchant sells the Orange Zapinator instead.
== Tips ==
* The player should use caution when using the Gray Zapinator near the post-Golem Dungeon. The erratic nature of the shots may hit a Cultist, unintentionally summoning the Lunatic Cultist.
* The Gray Zapinator is extremely risky for use in the Underground Jungle, as its teleporting shots may break off-screen Larva and spawn the Queen Bee even when not inside a Bee Hive.
* It can be ideal for the Eater of Worlds boss fight because the projectiles do not disappear after hitting an enemy, allowing it to pierce multiple segments.
*The Gray Zapinator can be used together with the Meteor Armor's set bonus to make it require 0 mana per shot.
== Trivia ==
* The Zapinator's name and sprite resemble the , an electronic light gun accessory for the (NES).
** The erratic behavior of the projectiles along with the tooltip, , are most likely references to the fact that NES Zappers were inconsistent when used in their respective light gun games on the NES.
**Like the Zapper, the Zapinator has both gray and orange variants.
* Despite its low rarity, it can be a very effective weapon throughout pre-Hardmode, given the luck required to benefit from the projectiles' behavior.
* The Zapinator was first introduced on the Desktop-Release 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 . The Zapinator was re-introduced to the as Gray Zapinator and Orange Zapinator in 1.4.0.1.
== History ==
== References ==