Heat Needle

In Misery of Magic, the Heat Needle is a difficult-to-obtain red weapon.

Effect
If charged sufficiently -- more than one-third of the maximum -- casting the Heat Needle will fire a sharp red shot either orthogonally or diagonally, closest to the angle to the target. Three different sizes of bullet are possible, depending on the extent of the charge. It pierces through enemies, and can pass through an unlimited number of Demons. Like the basic Needle and the Fire Boom, it can be fired continuously by holding down the mouse button.

Obtaining
Out of all the weapons in the game, the Heat Needle may have one of the most convoluted processes for acquiring it. It is obtained by Awakening the regular Needle to upgrade it. The Needle is one of Breeze Arkaia's starting Weapons -- the only way to obtain it is to recruit him into your party. While Breeze has no special requirements for adding him to your party, in order to get the Heat Needle he needs to be reached before Emerald is awakened. This means that the Underpath needs to be crossed -- this can be done either with no red weapons at all, meaning an enormous penalty will be appied to all damage against the red Demons, or with a Time Transformation such as Meteom which allows access to red magic much earlier than would normally be possible. Then, once Breeze is recruited in Sorrow Peak, the Needle must be removed from Breeze and given to Emerald. Then, the Underpath must be crossed a second time to return to Western Top Level. Finally, with Emerald holding the Needle, the Awakening must be undertaken. Defeating the Inner Demon will transform the Needle into the Heat Needle.

Trivia

 * At low Tiers, the Heat Needle is the fastest-charging weapon in the game, with a base Charge Speed of 2. However, unlike most weapons, it does not gain speed as Tier increases, and at Tier 5, Throw Sparkles overtakes Heat Needle as the fastest weapon, with a base speed of 1.6 and an ultimate limit (as tier goes to infinity) of twice that.
 * The "overflow charge" mechanic was added to Heat Needle in 1.0.2. Prior to this, the mouse needed to be released to fire it every time.