Leda's Liquefaction

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

Leda's Liquefaction
Level	4
School1	Alchemy
School2	Earth
Source(s)	Book of the Earth Book of Sloth
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Flags	Area

Liquefies the ground around the caster, making it difficult to move through. Any movement through liquefied ground will be slowed, and creatures stuck in the liquefied ground will be unable to fly. Attempts to attack the caster in melee may fail. The effect starts out with a radius depending on power, which will then shrink, eventually covering only the caster, before it times out. Maintaining the connection to the ground slows the caster's movement, even if they are flying.

Leda's Liquefaction is a level 4 Earth/Hexes spell which creates an area of difficult terrain around the caster.

Effect

Casting Leda's Liquefaction liquefies the ground around the caster, including the square occupied by the caster. The size of this area is based on the remaining duration of the spell (similar to Silence), with a maximum radius of 5. The liquefied area moves with the caster and affects any dungeon feature with a solid floor.

Liquefied ground causes an extra movement delay of 3 for players and 6 for monsters. A monster's melee attacks are fumbled just like in shallow water, even if amphibious or aquatic. Players are immune to the melee penalty, but move slowly regardless of flight. Monsters that are flying, stationary or insubstantial are immune to any penalties.

The spell cannot be recast until its effects have completely worn off. This leaves a brief period of vulnerability, when the radius shrinks down to one tile, where the only effect is to slow the caster.

Strategy

• The chance of enemies fumbling melee attacks makes this spell useful for anyone, but those who rely on ranged attacks to deal damage can especially benefit from the extra turns it takes melee-based opponents to reach you.
• Blink or Iskenderun's Mystic Blast will allow you to put some distance between yourself and an opponent who manages to finally reach you, giving you several more turns to snipe it in safety.

History

• Prior to 0.27, Arcane Marksmen started with this spell.
• Prior to 0.25, the caster was also affected by the fumble penalty. They were unable to fly while the spell was active, but the spell did not affect flying things. Also, player ghosts could cast this spell.
• Prior to 0.14, this spell applied the slow status effect to monsters.
• Prior to 0.12, this was an Earth/Transmutation spell.
• Leda's Liquefaction was added in 0.8.