Lehudib's Crystal Spear

Version 0.34: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

For the obsolete artefact, see Lehudib's crystal spear (unrand).

Lehudib's Crystal Spear
Level	8
School1	Conjuration
School2	Earth
Source(s)	Book of Armaments Book of the Moon
Casting noise	8
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Range	3
Flags	Dir or target, Needs tracer

Hurls a lethally sharp shard of crystal.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	10d(2.3+Power/10)
Max Damage	10d23
Max Power	200
Range	3
Targeting	Beam
To-hit	10+Power/15
Special	N/A

Lehudib's Crystal Spear (or LCS) is a level 8 Conjurations/Earth Magic spell that launches a powerful, irresistible projectile at a single target.

Strategy

LCS is an entirely flexible attacking spell, a rarity in modern Crawl. It deals high damage that no monster can resist, can be targeted at any enemy, and does not have the involuntary recoil of Bombard. However, LCS has a high MP cost, short range, and relatively poor accuracy. When fighting a group of monsters, save it for taking out dangerous foes (orbs of fire, Pandemonium lords, fiends, hell sentinels, etc.) quickly, then switch to a lesser spell for the rest.

While LCS is a powerful spell, it may not be worth training for. Bombard takes less XP investment, and its damage is often sufficient to win a 3-rune game. Bombard also has 1 higher range and the recoil is sometimes useful. Learning LCS can still be worthwhile if you have spare XP and spell levels. It can also upgrade Spellspark Servitor.

Tips & Tricks

• Borgnjor's Vile Clutch combos well with Lehudib's Crystal Spear -- pinning enemies in place reduces their evasion, allowing you to set up a lethal one-two punch.

Monster Version

Certain fearsome monsters can also cast Lehudib's Crystal Spear, often with the ability to one- or two-shot unprepared or fragile adventurers. Even the weakest casters can inflict up to 69 damage with it, while the most powerful (ancient liches) can deal up to 144. It is entirely possible for a monster to cast this multiple times in a row, so make these enemies a very high priority in combat.

The monster version of this spell functions identically to the player version, except with a much more variable damage output:

monster_spell_damge = 3d(16 + power / 10)
  where power = 12 * monster_hit_dice

The following enemies cast Lehudib's Crystal Spear:

• L Ancient lich (3d48 damage)
• e Deep elf annihilator (3d34 damage)
• & Dispater (3d35 damage)
• q Draconian annihilator (3d35 damage)
• V Jory (3d37 damage)
• 8 Roxanne (3d32 damage)
• D Serpent of Hell (Dis) (3d36 damage)

The following enemies may be able to cast Lehudib's Crystal Spear, depending on their spell set:

• & Pandemonium lord (5.2% chance)

The following enemy "casts" crystal spear via Conjure Living Spells:

• ; Walking crystal tome (2x 3d34)

History

• Prior to 0.27, this spell could only be found in the Book of Annihilations.
• Prior to 0.14, there was also an unrand spear known as Lehudib's Crystal Spear. This was removed when spears were removed as viable throwing weapons.