Good early spells?

[Kreddi]

Was wondering what i should try and find, alongside how much mana is 'needed' to make it viable for general use

[Spadiel]

I found a wooden wand of sparking in a surface chest, requires 2 mana per use and can set enemies on fire. Made a fresh character on expert mode more tolerable. With only 60 mana I can take care of most of the enemies and not have to worry about running out of mana.

[Jamie A. Rose]

I honestly felt the sparking wand was just too underpowered for expert mode. Good for dealing with slimes and zombies, not for anything else. A wooden bow with fire arrows outdamaged it and was more consistent with applying the fire DoT.

I haven't found anything else yet, which means Gem Staves or Vilethorn until you can make a Space Gun. Any other early game magic weapon comes out of the dungeon or drops off of Queen Bee.

You could always farm slimes and pray one of them drops the Slime Staff.