Camera (2)

Function:	Stuns enemies
Source:	Shops Crates (1.15% chance) Dropped by Great Humphead
Cost:	$4500 + $500
Damage:	0 + Stun
Notes:	Instantly kills most undead and flying enemies

Cameras are a type of Weapon in Spelunky 2.

It is usually found inside shops, but can also be found inside of crates with a 1.15% chance of appearing. A Camera is a guaranteed drop from Great Humphead.

Functionality

The Camera's area of effect.

When used, Cameras cause a bright flash and affects a large square about 1 and a half tiles in front of the player with a 3x3 tile area of effect.

Cameras do not normally deal damage to enemies, instead stunning them if in its radius. Using a camera on an already stunned enemy refreshes their stun timer. The flash works even through walls, and can be used to see in dark levels and in background sections due to it briefly illuminating the area.

It also has a variety of unique interactions with different enemies and objects:

Monsters

• Instantly kills most flying/undead enemies. The full list of enemies killed by the camera are the following:
  • Bats, Skeletons, Mosquitoes, Robots, Imps, Vampires, Vlad, Jiangshi, Jiangshi Assassins, Flying Fish, Mummies, Cat Mummies, UFOs, Tadpoles, Fire Frogs, Grubs, Scarabs, and Ghists.
    • Also instantly kills Ghist Shopkeepers as well.
    • The Witch Doctor's floating skull can be killed with the camera, returning after 30 seconds
    • Scarabs will be collected when flashed.
    • Despite having wings, Bees and Giant Flies are immune to the camera's affects.
• The majority of the rest of the monsters are stunned by the camera's flash. The list is as follows:
  • Snakes*, Cavemen, Horned Lizards, Cave Moles, Quillback*, Mantraps, Tiki Men, Witch Doctors, Fire bugs*, Octopy, Hermit Crabs**, Croc Men, Cobras*, Sorceresses, Necromancers, Yetis, Proto Shopkeepers, Olmites**, Lamassu*, Scorpions, Leprechauns, Pets, Cave Turkeys, Rock Dogs, Axolotls, and Qilin,
    • Though they do not have a stun animation, they will be held in place after the flash, though can still attack with contact damage
      • Will be knocked out of their hiding spot/toppled from their towers
    • Olmites have the exception that camera wont work if they are still wearing armor.
• Very few, but still some have unique interactions with the camera or none at all. For example:
  • Monkeys, Magmars, Lavamanders, Olmec, Pangxies, Kingu, Anubis, Ammits, Apep, Anubis II, Osiris, Aliens, Yeti King, Yeti Queen, Lahamu, Tiamat, Goliath Frogs, Giant Flies, Hundun, Eggplant Ministers, Eggplups, Celestial Jellies, Bees, Queen Bees, and Golden Monkeys are all not affected by the flash.
  • Spiders, Hang Spiders, and Giant Spiders, will fall to the ground, with only the normal spider having a 'stun' time
  • Great Humphead and Frogs will turn the other direction when flashed
  • the pilot of the Mech will be knocked out
• Player Ghists and the Ghost and its split variants Will be 'stunned' for a second with a unique sprite

Traps

The Camera can disarm a small number of the traps in the game, only including

• Triggers Arrow Traps, Bear Traps, and Egg Sacs.
  • Despite being a subset of Arrow Traps, Laser Traps are unaffected by Cameras

After being used, there is a delay of 49 frames (.82 seconds), or 24 frames (.4 seconds) with a Powerpack equipped, before the Camera can be used again.

Freezing the Ghost in place with a Camera.

Killing a Ghist with the camera.

All special poses done by Spelunker Ghosts when a picture of them is taken by the Camera.

Strategy

• As Cameras can stun enemies without dealing damage to them, it can be used to bring live enemies to Kali Altars more easily.
  • Crocmen can be stunned by Cameras without causing them to teleport.
• Ghosting gems into substantially more valuable diamonds becomes much safer and easier with the help of the Camera's ability to freeze the Ghost, especially during her second and third phases where she splits into two and four ghosts respectively.
• NPCs can be easily dealt with the help of the Camera, stunning them long enough for the player to throw them into deadly Traps or onto an Altar.
  • Notably, throwing stunned Shopkeepers into Altars, Spikes, Totem/Spear/Lion Traps, or similar hazards does not hold the player accountable for murdering them, and only for initially attacking them with the Camera. This makes it much easier to attain Forgiveness while also no longer having to worry about the threat of an angry Shopkeeper.
• A Camera is perhaps most valuable in Tide Pool, due to its ability to quickly eliminate Jiangshi, Jiangshi Assassins, and Flying Fish from a safe distance. One can be obtained from killing Great Humphead, making it an item that is guaranteed to be obtained in every run.

Notes

• The bright flash of the camera may be lowered in intensity or removed entirely by the player if they desire, by visiting the "Graphics and Audio" section of the options menu and setting "Bright Flashes" to either "Low" or "Off".
  • This is only a visual change that does not affect gameplay; the Camera will still function normally by stunning/killing enemies and illuminating dark areas.
    

Other games

Appearances in other Spelunky games:

• Spelunky HD: Camera