Kiss of Death

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Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Kiss of death.png Kiss of Death
Level 1
School1 Conjuration
School2 Necromancy
Source(s) Book of Touch
Casting noise 1
Spell noise 0
Power Cap 25
Range 0-1
Hated By Elyvilon
The Shining One
Zin
Flags Dir or target, Not self, Unclean
Conjures forth a fragment of the caster's essence and twists it into a fragment of death, painfully draining the victim. The caster, too, will find their health reduced, until they gain enough experience to recover.
Spell Details
Damage Formula 2d(5.5 + 3*Power/10)
Max Damage 2d13 negative
Max Power 25
Range 1
Targeting Random
To-hit Never misses
Special

Kiss of Death is a level 1 Conjurations/Necromancy spell that deals heavy damage (for a level 1 spell) at the cost of HP drain. This spell can never miss, but it does checks AC. If the spell succeeds, then you are drained for roughly 13.3% maximum HP - equal to that of Ru's Apocalypse. At XL 1-2, this equates to 1-2 max HP.

Reavers start with this spell in their libraries. It can also be gifted by Kikubaaqudgha.

Strategy

Kiss of Death is vital to Reaver starts. It can be your only option to fight dangerous monsters like gnolls on D:1 or adders on D:2. If the choice is to die fighting or at least try casting this spell, the choice is obvious. Keep in mind that, while it can't miss, this spell can miscast or lowroll 2d1. So like with all consumables in Crawl, it's best to use it early. For Reavers, it can be worthwhile to train 1-2 points of Necromancy to lower spell failure.

If you find Kiss of Death past D:1-3 or so, it is of limited use, since the spell deals little damage for the amount of draining it causes. One of the few benefits is that it never misses, so it can technically be used to finish off monsters who'd otherwise have a chance to kill you. In terms of damage, this spell is ultimately weaker than Stone Arrow.

History

  • This spell was added in 0.30.