How to Get the Phantom Spark Legendary Bow

Right click while holding Glyph Parchment, with all other materials in inventory, to begin channelling crafting of the legendary bow

This guide explains where to find, and how best to search for, the elusive materials for crafting the Phantom Spark. Namely: 1Channeling Gemstone, 1Fractured Limbs, 1Energy String and finally Glyph Parchment, which requires its own set of materials to access.

Players will need to find and loot 4 unique locations spread semi-randomly across The Sunken Sea biome. This is an expansive area, but each location can be found reliably when searching along arcs of specific distances from The Core.

The 100Octarine Bar and 20Ancient Gemstone are relatively common and might be collected incidentally, along the way. All ingredients together in inventory:

Material Locations[edit]

Listed in suggested search order:

Location Distance from
The Core
Phantom Spark Material Admin Key Material
Broken Core 1 1250 Channeling Gemstone Shutdown Protocol
Broken Core 2 1550 Fractured Limbs Anomaly Report
Broken Core 3 1750 Energy String Overwrite Transcript
'The Vault'
ShrineMuralScene
1000 Glyph Parchment

Each of the Broken Cores is a unique Scene at the heart of one of the three main Forlorn Metropolis sea dungeons. Details on identifying these further down. Each scene contains both one of the main bow materials, in a glimmering Ancient Chest, and one of the 3 access cards needed to craft the Admin Key. These are extracted from the cores themselves, by using the interact key on them.

Crafting the Access Key and opening The Vault
Crafting the Access Key and opening The Vault

ShrineMuralScene (colloquially referred to as 'The Vault') is a unique small island Scene found in The Sunken Sea. It features a distinctive gilded door with a single item slot as a lock. This will only accept a completed Admin Key.

The Key is crafted with the "Use" key binding (default right mouse button) while holding an Empty Crystal. This is bought for 3,000Ancient Coin from the Caveling Merchant. Cash for this can easily be made by crafting and selling a large number of Conveyor Belts or spare stacks of food, for example. At the back of of The Vault, past all the other loot, is a glimmering Titan's Chest containing the Glyph Parchment.

Searching[edit]

All 4 key locations are pre-spawned at fixed distances. So, dynamic world generation is not really a factor, here. Unlike with the Rune Song search, where previous world exploration can complicate matters.

It is possible to 'eyeball' the distances of these search arcs, by noting that 500 tiles is the straight line distance from The Core to the closest edge of The Sunken Sea. Specifically, the point at which the main map states this biome name at the top right. So, the search space will be between 2 and 3.5 times this distance (1000 to 1750 tiles).

It is also guaranteed to find both Omoroth and Morpha spawn locations within this range. Conversely, using a Omoroth Scanner and/or Morpha Scanner will give another visual cue for comparative distance range, when comparing to the below image.

Annotated map of Sunken Sea POIs rendered using Map Tool.

Recommended strategy[edit]

The most reliable method is to use Map Tool as follows:

  1. Open the URL and read the "Directions" for finding your map save file. These directories are also listed in this guide.
  2. Use the "Monitor Map" button to select your map file (instead of "Chose file"). This will automatically update the webpage image every few seconds.
  3. Open and close the main map in-game to flush mapping data to the save, each time you want to check the website.
  4. Click the "Sea POIs" button to overlay the distance rings as shown in the example image above. The color key is bottom right of webpage.
  5. Travel in a straight line to the Sea biome. Because it covers 1/3 of the outer area, it can always be found by travelling either directly: north, south, east or west. Or running around the outer edge of The Clay Caves and The Forgotten Ruins biomes.
  6. Use a Boat or preferably a Speeder to travel 1.5 times as far again, out to the 1250 tile ring, for Broken Core 1. Check the web page map periodically to be sure when you are at the right distance.
  7. Place a Portal down, so you can quickly return to continue the search in the other direction(s).
  8. Place (and use) a Bed, too, in case you die. Have a stack of these so you can periodically checkpoint your progress around this large area. A bed can be used instead of a Portal, to return from The Core via the door-stuck-to-bed teleporter trick.
  9. Aim to travel along the circles of Map Tool. Checking and correcting deviations periodically.
  10. Many islands will get in the way. Pick a direction and stick to their coast until it looks like you're back on the circle, using the in-game map as a rough guide. Then continue through open water.
  11. Make absolutely sure you've truly reached the edge of the biome before turning to look the other way; the scenes can rarely overhang slightly into the boarder area, right up until the main map no longer states "Sunken Sea" in the top right.
  12. The small island of The Vault is very easy to miss, if accidentally deviating even a small distance away from the circle. But the main Metropolis are very large, a couple of hundred tiles across.
  13. Most of the sea dungeons you find will be the regular, smaller Forlorn Metropolis. So it's best to navigate around their outside first, to gauge their size, before bothering to loot them.
  14. The south (bottom) edge of any main Metropolis will usually have one of the two entrance scenes (shown below). These are the most certain identifiers.

Recommended gear[edit]

  • Octarine armor or better - it's easy to find Octarine boulders to mine along the edge of The Sunken Sea, especially adjacent to the other outer biomes. As well as on random islands.
  • Scholar's Staff is ideal to one-shot, in passing, Sea Tentacles that are found especially on coasts. The Staff is dropped quite commonly from Caveling Scholars in Forlorn Metropolis. These Enemies are generally easier to deal with than the sea creatures - easier to see and dodge their projectiles, while on foot.
  • Consumables: A big stack of Healing Potion or Greater Healing Potion for the expedition. Cooked food including Pewpaya for +22.4% ranged damage, if otherwise unable to one-shot enemies. Players in Hard Mode worlds are have to be a lot more careful to evade enemies, which have double the health. Or use the King Slime set to bypass this issue altogether!

Identifying Locations[edit]

Main Metropolis[edit]

These are about twice the width and height of the regular Forlorn Metropolis that are spawned by players exploring new parts of the world. So players should be able to get a feel for which it is by circling the outside.

Main metropolis should also have one of these two very distinctive Scenes in the middle of their south side (except on rare occasions when the dungeon is misformed):

Main City Entrance (MainCityEntrance)
The Sunken Sea - up to 3, as part of some large Forlorn Metropolis.
One of two possible distinguishing southern entrance scenes of the main cities, which contain Broken Core scenes (see below).
City Harbor (CityHarbor)
The Sunken Sea - up to 3, as part of some large Forlorn Metropolis.
One of two possible distinguishing southern entrance scenes of the main cities, which contain Broken Core scenes (see below). This scene features a functional Vending Machine.

Broken Cores[edit]

The order of finding these isn't important. Just as long as they are each fully looted and the key materials safely stored away for later use.

Broken Core 1 (BrokenCore1)
The Sunken Sea - pre-spawned 1250 tiles from The Core, at the heart of the first large Forlorn Metropolis.
Interact with the Broken Core structure to retrieve the Shutdown Protocol. A glimmering Ancient Chest contains the Channeling Gemstone. Both are materials needed to craft the Phantom Spark.
Broken Core 2 (BrokenCore2)
The Sunken Sea - pre-spawned 1550 tiles from The Core, at the heart of the second large Forlorn Metropolis.
Interact with the Broken Core structure to retrieve the Anomaly Report. A glimmering Ancient Chest contains the Fractured Limbs. Both are materials needed to craft the Phantom Spark.
Broken Core 3 (BrokenCore3)
The Sunken Sea - pre-spawned 1750 tiles from The Core, at the heart of the third large Forlorn Metropolis.
Interact with the Broken Core structure to retrieve the Overwrite Transcript. A glimmering Ancient Chest contains the Energy String. Both are materials needed to craft the Phantom Spark.

The Vault[edit]

The last stop on the quest to craft a Phantom Spark seems to be a monument to someone of great past significance. Note that this whole scene may rarely be hidden inside an island.

The Vault (ShrineMuralScene)
The Sunken Sea - pre-spawned at a fixed distance of 1000 tiles from The Core.
Use the Admin Key to open this shrine's otherwise impenetrable mural door. At the far end is a glimmering Titan's Chest containing the Glyph Parchment - the last material to craft the Phantom Spark legendary Bow. Also, a Golden Whistle, Golden Caveling Mask, Caveling Perfume and a Caveling Medal.
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