Sandblast

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

Sandblast
Level	1
School1	Earth
Source(s)	Book of Geomancy
Casting noise	1
Spell noise	2
Power Cap	50
Range	4
Flags	Dir or target, Needs tracer, Not self

Blasts a target with high-velocity rock shards. Gathering the rock from ambient grit is slow, making this spell take half again as long to cast as most. Its damage is strongly reduced by armour.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(4+Power/3)
Max Damage	2d(20.67)
Max Power	50
Range	4
Targeting	Beam
To-hit	13+Power/10
Special	AC applied thrice Takes 1.5 turn to cast

Sandblast is a level 1 Earth Magic spell which fires shrapnel with a range of 4, though it takes 1.5 turns to fire. Sandblast maxes out at 2d20 damage, which is impressive for a level 1 spell. However, damage reduction from enemy AC is applied thrice instead of once, and the slow firing means that enemies will often get more attacks in. Miscasting this spell will still take a normal turn.

Earth Elementalists begin with this spell memorized.

Strategy

Sandblast is noticeably more MP-efficent than Stone Arrow, dealing the same and even more damage against low-AC foes, but at a 50% slower speed. But as you gain maximum MP, Stone Arrow's damage/turn becomes more noticable than Sandblast's damage/MP, and the former is not heavily reduced by AC.

History

• Prior to 0.29, Sandblast was a range-3 spell that took only 1 turn to fire, but consumed a stone per use.
• Prior to 0.20, Sandblast could be used without stones, with reduced damage. To use the stronger version, the stone had to be wielded. Ogres and trolls could also use large rocks, for even bigger damage.
• Prior to 0.9, AC was only applied twice instead of thrice, making the spell a little more viable against armoured targets.
• Prior to 0.8, Sandblast had a range of 1, but using stones changed it to range 2. Using large rocks did not increase damage.