I was the first one to be a bit low on this... until I really decided to check it seriously.

Let's compare it to its obvious rivals: Rite of Seeking and Clairvoyance:

• Cost: Tie

• Icons: Tie

• Trait: Dowsing Rod << Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking

  • Item is interesting with Backpack and shenanigans like Scavenging, Schoffner's Catalogue, Salvage, "I'll take that!", etc..

  • Charm is interesting with Sleuth though this is probably one of the weaker one of the series

  • Spell, on the other hand, benefits from cards like Uncage the Soul, Word of Command, Recharge, Prophetic, Words of Power and Grounded (3).

• Slot: Dowsing Rod >> Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking

  • Hand slot is known to be quite uncompetitive for . Sword Cane and Sign Magick (3) are some of the best uses for that slot, and I personally enjoy Scrying Mirror. You will want 2 tabooed Ritual Candles in a deck.

  • Arcane is the core slot of . It is highly disputed, and most mystics even consider using other important slots, pay, use deck slots and experience to increase their arcane slots with cards like Sign Magick, The Hierophant • V, Familiar Spirit, etc... One thing to mention also is cards that mind your Arcane slots like Meditative Trance, Dragon Pole, Explosive Ward and Eldritch Initiation.

• Action compression: Tie

  • Dowsing Rod gives you 2 actions for 1 activation: move and investigate. This is interesting as it allows you to move to a location with an enemy and investigate at that new location without generating an Attack of Opportunity (AoO).

  • Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance gives you 2 actions for 1 activation: 2 clues instead of 1.

• Flexibility: Dowsing Rod >> Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance

  • Not only the Dowsing Rod allows you to also use your , it gives you a +1 skill value. This makes it interesting for investigators with access and high intellect like Daisy Walker, Luke Robinson, Marie Lambeau.

• Drawback: Dowsing Rod >> Clairvoyance >> Rite of Seeking

  • Dowsing Rod adds a doom which can be extremely rough if you are not able to get rid of it fast. You can pack Elle Rubash and potentially Sin-Eater to mitigate this. In 1 player, it will be difficult to use it as the action that adds the doom also empties the location. In 2 player counts, you will get the best out of the Rod by moving, investigating and emptying a 2-clue location in 2 actions without any drawback. If there are 3 clues on your location, you will spend 3 actions to move and investigate 3 times, which is still on par with Rite of Seeking and Clairvoyance. In a location with 4 and more clues, the best is to combine it with an event like Read the Signs or Drawn to the Flame or even Clairvoyance.

  • Clairvoyance will deal you horror, which is fine in almost every as they tend to have a lot of sanity and their assets tend to offer even more. It can end up being a lot with Shrivelling and Ward of Protection.

  • Rite of Seeking is by far the most punishing, always requiring you to investigate during your last action.

• Uses: Dowsing Rod >> Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance

  • The Dowsing Rod exhausts and adds a doom to move. Since you probably will not want to move to another location before you empty it, we can consider that there is almost no limit to its uses.

  • Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking will have to be renewed and paid for every 3 uses unless you dedicate efforts to recharge them.

Conclusion:
Some will argue otherwise, but it seems to me that when looking at it from a bit closer, Dowsing Rod could be a solid contender for the investigation tool for future mystics, even without any doom management tools like Elle Rubash and Moonlight Ritual.
It is especially good in 2 and 3 player counts when it is as efficient as Clairvoyance without ever running out of charge. It also works especially well combined with Clairvoyance or with events like Read the Signs and Drawn to the Flame to get rid of the doom faster.