By far one of the most useful
wands in
NetHack. It is almost as useful as the
wand of teleportation, sometimes more so due to its versatility.
Zapping the wand sideways emits a ray whose range is about 8 to 25 squares, less if the ray encounters obstacles. Closed doors will be destroyed, secret doors and diggable walls will be opened up.
Zapping at the floor creates a hole that can be used for escape. This is extremely handy when you have the wand; it is extremely annoying when the nymph has it.
The wand of digging can also be used to dig your way out of monsters that have the distasteful habit of engulfing you, such as gelatinous cubes, the various vortices, and air elementals. This action leaves the monster with 1 hit point and gets you out immediately.
Zapping a wand of digging at the ceiling causes a rock to fall on your head, doing 1d2 points of damage if you are wearing a helmet, otherwise 1d6.
Zapping the wand at the floor while standing on the drawbridge of a castle or its portcullis results in a lot of shrapnel and probable user death. Not Recommended.
Zapping at a sink will turn it into a fountain. Zapping at a fountain blows it up and (possibly) creates several pools around you. Zapping at graves will excavate them, resulting in a corpse or an undead creature. Zapping at a boulder destroys it (resulting in a pile of rocks); zapping at a pit fills it with a boulder (usually).