Force Lance

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Force Lance
Level	4
School1	Translocation
School2	Conjuration
Source(s)	Book of the Warp
Casting noise	5
Spell noise	5

This spell fires a shaft of concussive force which can send its target hurtling backwards if the impact is not nullified by their defenses.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(6+Power/6)
Max Damage	2d(22.66) ~ 23.66
Max Power	100
Range	4
Targeting	Beam
To-hit	10+Power/7
Special	Can knock back and stun its target

Force Lance is a level 4 Conjurations/Translocations spell which shoots a shaft of force at a single target, dealing damage on par with Iskenderun's Mystic Blast. Its range is short, but it can knock its target back up to two spaces and briefly stun it (4-9 auts); if this movement would push a creature into impassable terrain (walls, deep water, or lava), it will instead deal an additional small amount of impact damage. These additional effects can only occur if the target took damage, and small monsters are easier to knock back than large ones. Force Lance cannot move stationary monsters like statues or oklob plants.

Tips & Tricks

• Although you can simply cast Force Lance directly at the target, aiming your spell beyond it and to the left or right will allow you to direct where your opponent is shoved. If you'd like to force your opponent back when he's got a wall directly behind him, this can be very helpful.
• The push-back and stun effects allow you to kite opponents even if you aren't playing a fast character. However, these effects are not especially reliable (especially against armoured or larger opponents) and the spell can miss; don't think it makes you invincible when fighting melee opponents.
• Be careful before using this spell against ranged attackers; you generally don't want to create space between yourself and a centaur warrior. Only use this against those sorts of enemies if there's a wall or monster behind them to hold them in place.
• While you can do a little extra damage by repeatedly bouncing an enemy off of a wall, this extra damage is fairly negligible; another spell may be more efficient at dealing rapid damage.
• If you create a bank of hazardous clouds (such as with Conjure Flame, Freezing Cloud, or a wand of clouds), you can keep bouncing your enemies back into the clouds until they expire.
• Unfortunately, you can't use this spell to push monsters into lava or deep water.

Monster version

The monster version of Force Lance is functionally identical to the player version. The following enemies cast Force Lance:

• e Deep elf knight (3d14 damage)
• v Polterguardian (3d14 damage)
• R Rakshasa (3d14 damage)
• N Salamander mystic (3d15 damage)
• * Wretched star (3d14 damage)

The following enemies may be able to cast Force Lance, depending on their spell set:

• & Pandemonium lord (3.4% chance)

History

• In 0.25, Force Lance will be removed from the list of spells available to players. A lot of monsters that had the IMB spell will get Force Lance instead.
• Prior to 0.16, Force Lance was strictly a Conjurations spell, and it was less accurate and did not knock enemies back as effectively.
• Prior to 0.14, Force Lance was a level 5 spell.
• Prior to 0.13, Force Lance was a level 2 spell in the book of Conjurations with less range and damage.
• Force Lance was added in 0.12.