Bolt



The Bolt spell is a powerful offensive pickup in Catacomb 3D. It deals massive, concentrated damage to a single enemy (or group), far in excess of the player's ordinary firepower. The pickup resembles a glass sphere filled with crackling yellow energy.

It is called the Zapper spell in the later Catacomb titles, but it has the same functionality. In these games it resembles a crystal orb with a trio of vertical lights inside.

In Catacomb 3D


This spell fires a 12-round burst of Fireballs, each of which does 3 Hit Points of damage. If all hit the same target, the spell will do an impressive 36 Hit Points of damage.

The hotkey for Bolts in Catacomb 3D is B. While you can carry up to 99 Bolts, only 10 will be shown in your status screen.

Because the spell fires a continuous flurry of shots, the player can aim left or right to fire in that direction, allowing the spell to sweep in that direction to hit multiple foes, which also gives the spell impressive potential as not only a means of wearing down a single tough target, but of clearing out multiple weaker hostiles. Correctly managing them can give you a massive advantage in the Dungeons of the game, and they should be used with care.

Bolt Spells are are rather hard to find - rare enough that each one should be saved for when you really need them. Several caches of them can be found throughout the early levels, with a particularly large number in Tower Two in a hidden storeroom. They all but stop appearing by Access Floor, with a trickle of them appearing in later levels. They should usually used sparingly, so you can have them for tough fights - like accidentally opening one of the Troll doors in Lower Reaches or against the many Demons you will face on the way to Nemesis's Lair.

In the Catacomb Trilogy Games


Now known as the Zapper spell, the version in Catacomb Abyss, Catacomb Apocalypse, and Catacomb Armageddon have undergone a bit of an overhaul. The spell now fires fifteen shots, each of which has roughly the same damage as a Magick Missile, which they also resemble. They also have a distinctive explosion on impact. While the Zapper is, at first glance, a pale shadow of its predecessor, it's much easier to come by and is still extremely handy because of its ability to do 15 damage to an enemy in under a second. They can often be found in Treasure Chests, as well as randomly scattered about in a level. Because they're so common, a player can have much less compunctions about using a few.

The hotkey for Zappers in the Catacomb Trilogy is Z. You can carry up to 99 Zappers.

The glass spheres that contain the Zapper's energy are rather fragile in these games, and will be destroyed if shot, so it's important to watch your fire, lest you lose out on them.

Trivia

 * The weapon broadly serves the same purpose as the Plasma Gun in Doom, rapidly directing heavy damage at opponents.