Freezing Cloud

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Freezing Cloud
Level	5
School1	Air
School2	Conjuration
School3	Ice
Source(s)	Trismegistus Codex Book of Vapours
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	2
Power Cap	200
Range	5
Flags	Area, Cloud, Needs tracer, Target

Conjures up a large cloud of lethally cold vapour.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	0
Max Damage	0
Max Power	200
Range	6
Targeting	Smite
To-hit
Special	Cloud damage: 2d(16)/2 + 6 (cold) Cloud duration: 3d(Power/4)

Freezing Cloud is a level 5 Conjurations/Air Magic/Ice Magic spell which creates a mass of damaging freezing vapours.

Useful Info

Creates 8 to 10 clouds of freezing vapour around a smite-targeted tile. This spell uses "flood fill": casting it on an open space will create a perfect 3x3 square (if you get 9 clouds), but using it in a corridor will spread the same 9 clouds throughout the corridor. Clouds can spill out of line of sight, but they will dissipate instantly.

Freezing vapours deal 2d(16)/2 + 6 cold damage per turn, ignoring EV but not AC. Spellpower does not increase damage of clouds, it only increases the duration.

Although you can target any tile within its range and your line of sight, be aware that you cannot target a tile that already contains a cloud of any sort. Creatures inside another cloud will not be affected by Freezing Cloud (until they step into it).

Strategy

A powerful and MP-efficient spell if you can get it by the Lair and/or its branches. Many enemies in the Lair itself, Snake, and Swamp are cold-blooded, while clouds ignore the high EV of many enemies in Spider. It is also smite-targeted, meaning you can use it to snipe pesky boggarts and the like.

Knowledge of enemy AI can be useful with this spell. Enemies with high HP and high HD will walk right through the clouds (if you place clouds in the shortest path). Enemies with low HP will tend to avoid entering clouds. However, if an enemy is already in a harmful cloud, it won't try to avoid stepping into another cloud.

Tips & Tricks

• Be careful using it in hallways, as it can easily hit you and your allies if you cast it at too short a range.
• Summoners should use this spell with caution unless they have the Summon Ice Beast spell. While summoned living creatures will avoid the clouds and undead will march through it taking a severe beating, ice beasts will ignore the effect entirely and attack whatever happens to be currently freezing to death inside.
• The mass of icy mist around an enemy can prevent them from hitting you with fire-based magic and attacks. Fire dragons and orbs of fire, for instance, will waste their attacks dispersing the clouds in front of them, saving you from taking the hit.
• All clouds prevent other clouds from being placed on their tile. Assuming you have rC++ or so, spawning ice clouds on your own tile is a good defensive mechanism against a number of cloud-spawning enemies, like red draconians or apocalypse crabs.
• Clouds can be used to block some enemies' movement, but this isn't always a good thing. Orc priests and hellions, for example, will be forced to use their irresistible ranged attacks instead of going into melee. Thankfully, the former tends to die in around 2 turns of the cloud.
• If you happen to know a sleeping enemy is around a corner, you can hit them before they enter your line of sight by casting the spell at a tile adjacent to the foe. The enemy will take damage and wake up, but won't automatically know you're there. They will instead wander around, potentially giving you a chance at another attack before they start retaliating.
• All worshippers of Qazlal are immune to their own clouds, making this spell much more safe and versatile.

History

• Prior to 0.27, this spell was a level 6 Conjurations/Air Magic/Ice Magic spell.
• Prior to 0.20, freezing vapours would dissipate faster when over lava.
• Prior to 0.19, player-created clouds did not dissipate instantly when out of LOS, only *4 faster.
• Prior to 0.14, cloud durations were not affected by being out of LOS.