Summon Blazeheart Golem

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Summon Blazeheart Golem
Level	4
School1	Fire
School2	Summoning
Source(s)	Book of Callings Book of Dangerous Friends
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100

Summons a volatile elemental spark encased in a shell of slag iron. It is capable of raining down powerful blows on its summoner's adversaries - so powerful that the golem itself is often damaged by their impact. Only tenuously bound to this world, the flames within it will rapidly go dormant whenever its summoner leaves its side. If its shell is ever destroyed while still active, the exposed core will violently detonate a moment later.

Summon Blazeheart Golem is a level 4 Summonings/Fire spell which summons an explosive golem.

Useful Info

Summons a single blazeheart golem. It must be adjacent to the caster to do most things. If the blazeheart golem is not adjacent for more than 1 turn, it becomes dormant: it will no longer move, attack, or create a fiery core on death. Standing next to the golem afterwards will end dormancy.

Whenever the blazeheart golem attacks, it loses 1/3rd of its max HP, rounded up.

When a non-dormant blazeheart golem is killed, it will create a fiery core. After exactly 1 player action (no matter how fast or slow), the fiery core will explode. Similar to Inner Flame, this explosion hits 3x3 area, deals 3d(12 + power/10) damage (min. 3d12), and creates flame clouds on the blast. The explosion is considered your attack, so it will anger good gods if it hits an ally.

Higher spell power increases the golem's HD, which in turn increases golem HP and explosion damage. The golem's HD equals 6 + pow/10.

There is a summon limit of 1 golem; casting the spell again will cause the old summon to very quickly time out. The fiery core cannot be destroyed by recasting this spell; it explodes immediately.

Strategy

First off, in order for the golem to be anything more than a meatshield, you must be adjacent to it.

The golem's explosion is powerful, able to one- or two-shot most things you'll find in the Dungeon and Lair. The flame clouds deal 6-21 damage per turn, so it's stronger than the base damage would suggest. Its melee damage is also quite decent.

Don't let yourself get damaged by an explosion, at least without fire resistance:

• Avoid using this spell when you're around users of Ensnare, Mesmerise, Harpoon Shot, Grasping Roots, those with throwing nets or a wand of roots, or any ability that prevents you from moving backwards.
• Watch out for wall layouts! If you're stuck between the golem and a wall, you might not be able to retreat away from the explosion.
• Also, don't let your retreat path get blocked by monsters. For example, blinking enemies can appear behind you and ruin your day.

A risk adverse player may want to avoid using this spell in unexplored areas. In the worst case scenario, a dangerous monster like Jorgrun could show up mid-combat, prevent you from moving, and now you're in deep trouble. Not only will you have taken upwards of 60 fire damage from the explosion, plus 20 from the flame cloud, but you'll have to contend with said dangerous monster.

In any case, this spell falls off once you get some stronger Summoning spells, since explosions hurt your allies too. That isn't a big deal when your best summon is Call Canine Familiar, but it's more dubious if it'd remove your Summon Forest and cactus giant.

Tips & Tricks

• The explosion happens before monsters get a turn to move.
• If you're trying to take out a dangerous melee monster, you can use this type of position to block hits:

.....
.@9m.
.....

Where @ is the player, "9" is the golem, and "m" is a monster. The monster will not walk diagonally towards you, and will hit the golem until the explosion ensues.

• The explosion is very loud, so watch out for the monsters you'll attract.
• While summons will likely be destroyed by the explosion, you might want to create them anyways. Having a summon behind you will allow you to step backwards, without facing an attack of opportunity.
• Watch out for foes with reaching attacks or polearms while using this spell, as they will usually ignore the golem and attack you while you stand behind it.

History

• In 0.33, this spell will be renamed Forge Blazeheart Golem and become a Forgecraft/Fire spell.
• Prior to 0.32, the golem had 6 + pow/12 HD, and its explosion did 3d(11 + power/12) damage.
• Summon Blazeheart Golem was introduced in 0.31, replacing the explosive side of Summon Guardian Golem.