Distortion

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

It warps and distorts space around it. Unwielding it can cause banishment or high damage.

Distortion is a brand that any melee weapon may have. Distortion weapons bend and tear the fabric of space-time, and generate a variety of effects when they hit:

Chance	Effect
35%	The target takes an additional 1-7 damage
25%	The target takes an additional 3-26 damage (14.5 on average, low variation)
20%	The target blinks
5%	The target is banished to the Abyss
15%	Nothing happens

Distortion as an attack of opportunity is unable to blink or banish the target. The chance for additional damage rises as a result (47% for the smaller effect, 33% for the larger one).

Conversely, unwielding a weapon branded with distortion or casting Excruciating Wounds on it also causes dangerous effects to the player:

• 50% chance: teleport to random monsters on the floor
• 25% chance: inflict significant magical contamination
• 25% chance: banished to the Abyss

Followers of Lugonu are protected from these effects. Pious followers of Lugonu can have a weapon branded with distortion once per game, guaranteeing them access to the brand's effects.

Strategy

Distortion deals irresistible damage independent from your weapon, working best on fast weapons (with low base delay). However, this brand isn't perfect; it might blink ranged enemies away, or banish foes with your equipment. Note that blinking gives you no message when it occurs, which can suddenly leave you with empty space where that monster used to be. You may move into an unintended spot very quickly. Regardless, the 5% chance for a practical OHKO is extremely strong; it can even banish otherwise hex-immune foes like the Hell lords. Note that distortion is quite rare to come by without Lugonu, and has very dangerous unwield effects.

Tips and Tricks

• When facing another creature wielding a weapon of distortion (or one with a naturally distortion-branded attack, like spatial vortices), do your best not to let them into melee range if you can at all help it.
  • Certain uniques are likely to possess distortion weapons: Psyche, Sonja, and The Enchantress.
• Any banished enemy might appear in the Abyss later on.
• If you intend to switch between weapons without Lugonu, you almost certainly don't want to deal with a distortion weapon's guaranteed backlash.
  • Positive effects of unwielding include a very last-ditch teleport (when confused, for instance) and Abyss access (when other areas are much, much harder). Beware that getting sent to the Abyss this way may cause you to enter a deeper floor.
• Casters that like to keep enemies away from them may find a distortion branded polearm quite useful, since its blink effect creates space between you and monsters. It's wise to train at least a little skill so you can hit at a reasonable (1.0) delay.
• Despite giving full experience, Banish does not count as a kill; most gods won't reward you, and effects like Powered By Death won't activate. If you can't break stone walls, beware of banishing the Royal Jelly - the walls won't open unless you dive to the Abyss to kill it.

History

• Prior to 0.27, Distortion was an extremely punishing brand for those who wield-ID'd items.
• Prior to 0.26, Distortion had a 10% chance to banish on attack, but banishment gave half experience.
• Prior to 0.25, distortion weapons had a chance of teleporting monsters away from you when attacking. They also caused Translocations miscast effects when unwielded.
• Prior to 0.19, distortion weapons could sometimes heal blink frogs (including the unique blink frog Prince Ribbit), who were immune to all of the effects of the distortion brand. Additionally, the spell Warp Weapon existed, which could apply a temporary distortion brand to your weapon.
• Prior to 0.15, rebranding a distortion weapon (e.g. by a Scroll of brand weapon) caused a distortion effect.
• Prior to 0.14, followers of Lugonu were not protected from the effects of unwielding a distortion weapon.
• Prior to 0.12, this brand was safer when found on sharp weapons, since blunt weapons didn't allow butchering corpses.