Elemental wellspring

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

elemental wellspring E
HP	40-83
HD	18
XP	1045
Speed	10
AC	8
EV	8
Will	Immune
Resistances	rElec rPois+++ rDrown rMiasma rN+++ rTorm
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Water
Intelligence	Brainless
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Non-living
Size	Large
Type	elemental, elemental wellspring
Flags	Unbreathing Amorphous

A swirling conflux of elemental water streaming from the elemental plane into this one. Floods and the spirits who dwell within them seem to issue from it, at the expense of the gateway's stability itself.

Useful Info

Elemental wellsprings are obnoxious aquatic monsters which batter you with Primal Waves, all the while summoning many hostile water elementals. They can be found mainly in Cocytus and Cocytus-themed Ziggurats, but also rarely in Shoals and the Depths.

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1	Primal Wave (3d27)	Magical flag

Tips & Tricks

• Primal Wave is a fairly powerful spell, dealing significant damage and pushing you around the battlefield. Resisting it is tricky: unless you're an amphibious character (octopodes, merfolk, barachim and grey draconians) or non-breathing (the undead, djinn, gargoyles and Statue Form), you'll take full damage. Flight will help you navigate the suddenly flooded battlefield. A side-effect of the primal flood is a 3x3 square of shallow water that renders useful terrain features (like stairways!) temporarily inaccessible.
• The water elementals an elemental wellspring summons function like any other summoned unit: if you kill the summoner, the summons die with it. However, ignoring them might be risky for spellcasters, as their attacks can effectively silence you. Moving away from the elemental will break its hold on you and end the silence... at least until it hits you again.
• Wellsprings can't see invisible, and are much less likely to cast magic against an invisible character. Just be aware that invisibility is negated by being in water if you aren't flying.
• Wellsprings themselves aren't particularly vulnerable to fire damage, but Ignition works very well against their densely packed summons. This will also create large numbers of sightline-blocking steam clouds if the wellspring is over a large body of water (which is common in Cocytus).

History

• In 0.33, water elementals and jellies will get a new M_AMORPHOUS flag, which grants monsters web, net, constriction immunity, and Shatter resistance.
• Prior to 0.28, elemental wellsprings had fast regeneration. Wellsprings took damage when using Primal Wave (5-19 HP), and water elementals were summoned through the use of the spell. Also, wellsprings only created shallow water directly underneath themselves.
• Elemental wellsprings were originally used in Depths and Forest during 0.13 and 0.14 development, with an initial version directly and relentlessly casting an uncapped Summon Water Elementals alongside Primal Waves. They were considered excessive for their depth in their spam, and removed before the stable releases. Though retired, they were brought back in 0.16 for use in post-game.