Mesmerism

Version 0.34: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

For the status effect, see Mesmerize.

When you are struck in melee, it briefly dazes all nearby enemies, then must recharged by standing still for a while. Its duration, radius, and recharge speed are improved by Evocations skill.

Mesmerism is an ego exclusive to orbs. It inflicts the daze status when attacked in melee.

Area of effect radius is equal to 2 + (Evocations / 7) with maximum of 4, reached at 14 Evocations for the player and 3 if a monster wears the orb. So for the player, it's basically 3x3 area if their Evocations is less than 7, 5x5 if Evocations is from 7 up to 14, and 7x7 for Evocations 14+, centered on the player's tile in all cases.

Length of the daze status equals to a random number of turns between minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 + Evocations / 5 when player wears the orb. When monster wears the orb, maximum daze length is 3 + HD / 4.

Cooldown of the orb's effect is Random(15, 20) - Evocations / 5 turns if player is wearing the orb and Random(12, 20) in case of a monster. . However, the orb recharges only when one does actions other than moving e.g. resting, casting spells or attacking.

Strategy

Orb with this defensive ego could partially replace shield for some playstyles, for example if you have high evasion and rarely getting hit. But it can be unreliable if you need to stay long in monsters' melee range or have to endure a lot of ranged attacks.

History

• In 0.35, the Orb will have a cooldown when entering a new floor, removing much of its stairdancing power.
• Mesmerism was added in 0.34.