Flare Gun

Flare Gun

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Statistics

Type	Weapon
Uses ammo	Flares
Damage	2
Knockback	0 (No knockback)
Use time	18 (Very fast)
Velocity	6
Rarity	01*
Sell	1
Research	1 required

Sounds

Use

• Internal Item ID: 930

The Flare Gun is a ranged weapon that provides a ranged method of illuminating areas. It fires Flares and Blue Flares, which provide light and stick to the blocks they hit. They also deal minimal damage, and inflict the On Fire! debuff. The Flare Gun is found randomly in Gold Chests underground.

Flares travel in a slight arc and stick to blocks (similar to Sticky Glowsticks), but have greater velocity and range. They are waterproof, and can be fired into and out of water. Once fired, Flares emit low-level, flickering, tinted light (red or blue, depending on the type fired) that lasts for 10 minutes. They stick to the blocks they impacted and will function underwater. Flares cannot be recovered once they burn out.

When held, the muzzle of the Flare Gun will continually emit a flare effect, as long as one Flare is in the player's inventory.

The Flare Gun cannot be reforged, and therefore cannot have modifiers.

Flares

Flare

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Statistics

Type	AmmunitionCrafting material
Damage	1 (Ranged)
Knockback	1.5 (Extremely weak)
Velocity	6
Rarity	00*
Buy	7
Sell	1
Research	99 required

Inflicts Debuff

Debuff	On Fire!
Debuff tooltip	Slowly losing life
Duration	5-10 seconds

Projectile created

• Flare
  

• Internal Item ID: 931
• Internal Buff ID: 24
• Internal Projectile ID: 163

Blue Flare

•  

Statistics

Type	AmmunitionCrafting material
Damage	1 (Ranged)
Knockback	1.5 (Extremely weak)
Velocity	6
Rarity	00*
Buy	7
Sell	1
Research	99 required

Inflicts Debuff

Debuff	On Fire!
Debuff tooltip	Slowly losing life
Duration	5-10 seconds

Projectile created

• Blue Flare
  

• Internal Item ID: 1614
• Internal Buff ID: 24
• Internal Projectile ID: 310

Flares are used as ammunition for the Flare Gun. There are two variants that work identically, but do not stack together: Flares (red) and Blue Flares. They can be purchased from the Merchant for 7 each, while a Flare Gun is in the player's inventory. 25-50 Red Flares are also found in Gold Chests that contain a Flare Gun.

Both types of Flare deal the On Fire! debuff, causing the afflicted NPC or player to lose 4 health per second. There is a 2/3 (66%) chance that the debuff will last 5 seconds, and a 1/3 (33%) chance that it will last 10 seconds.

Notes

• The Flare Gun will equip when the player holds ⇧ Shift with the Flare Gun and at least one Flare in their inventory, while also having their cursor out of torch placement range, or when the player has no torches or glowsticks in their inventory.
• Similar to Glowsticks, Flares do not actually become placed as blocks, and are not saved with the world.
• The Flare Gun will not fulfill the spawn criteria for the Arms Dealer.

  

  The Flare Gun in use, firing both normal flares and blue flares. Note how the flares fired light up the surrounding environment.

• The damage type of the Flare Gun does not belong to any one, and will not be affected by any factors, including those for all types of damage (like Avenger Emblem or Wrath buff). However, the Flare and Blue Flare deal Ranged damage.

Tips

• If playing in multiplayer, a player can use the Flare Gun much like a real-world flare gun, to signal other players for help. Due to its high range, it can shoot relatively far and can fairly easily reach the area of another player (barring obstacles).
• The Flare Gun's shots will pierce targets. Since it inflicts the On Fire! debuff, it can prove very useful for fighting off pre-hardmode hordes, such as the Blood Moon, as well as keeping track of bosses and monsters in dark environments.
• The Flare Gun can be especially useful against worm-like monsters (and bosses like the Eater of Worlds), or even the Brain of Cthulhu's Creeper minions.
• While mining downward, firing a flare where you are mining will allow it to fall with you as you mine.
• On the  Old Chinese version and  tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, with Flower Boots, farming fishing bait becomes easy; Wearing the boots, shoot the ground under you with the Flare Gun while swinging a Bug Net or auto-swinging a Golden Bug Net. This method is significantly faster than using the Net and Flower Boots combination alone, as the flare will break plants far faster than either Net. On Jungle Grass, expect around 25-40+ Buggy drops per flare duration using this method. Forest or Hallowed grass will instead yield Grasshoppers and (especially if raining) Worms, a few of which will be Golden Critters.

Trivia

• Players commonly joke that the Flare Gun is one of the worst weapons in the game—especially when they receive it repeatedly from Gold Chests.

History

 PC version

• Desktop 1.3.2: Flare Gun and Flare sprites updated.

• Desktop 1.2.0.2:
  • Introduced Blue Flares.
  • The flare gun will no longer light up when the player has no Flares.

• Desktop 1.2: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console 1.17: Sprites updated to match Desktop 1.3.2.

• Console 1.02: Introduced with mechanics from Desktop 1.2.0.2 and the Blue Flare.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Introduced with mechanics from Desktop 1.2.0.2 and the Blue Flare.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced with mechanics from Desktop 1.2.0.2 and the Blue Flare.