Amethyst Staff

Gem staffs are one weapon rebuilt at five power levels, and this is the bottom rung. Amethyst is the gem you trip over first while digging down, so the staff is usually the first real magic weapon a mage owns after the starting wand.

The bolt stops at whatever it touches first, and that hurts against packed slimes or a worm, but it flies flat and lands reliably on single targets across a room. Swap the moment a better gem turns up. The recipe is the same shape with a nicer stone in it, so the upgrade costs you nothing you were saving.