Scroll of blinking

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Scroll
Name	Scroll of blinking
Icon

A scroll that allows its reader to teleport a short distance, with precise control.

Reading a scroll of blinking causes you to blink to a square of your choosing within your line of sight with perfect accuracy. The selected square must be visible, monster-free, and cannot be behind a translucent wall. You must be able to stand on the tile, though you can blink into dangerous clouds if you want. The scroll is consumed when read, though it can be canceled if already identified.

Strategy

Scrolls of blinking are one of, if not the, strongest escape tools in the game. Using 1 scroll can get you out of attack range, allowing you to make a quick escape. Using 1-2 scrolls, when combined with other consumables, will bail you out of almost any situation.

Due to their strength and reliability, these scrolls should be conserved whenever possible. If you can use another consumable earlier in a fight, then you won't have to waste a precious scroll. At the same time, don't hesitate to burn a blink scroll if it's your only reliable way to survive.

Note that scrolls of blinking are not infallible. The following things will interfere with their use:

• Being unable to read scrolls: being silenced, confused, berserk, brainless (0 Int), or having No Unsafe Scrolls.
• Being unable to translocate: -Tele, Tree Form. Note that -Blink does not prevent this scroll from working (it only stops the Blink spell).
• Attempting to blink while constricted may fail. Blinking treats the number of escape attempts as 1 higher, so it has better odds than simply moving, but it's not guaranteed.
• Not having LOS to a proper escape route. Using fog can interfere with sight. Being in a dangerous area, like the Tomb, may not have a safe area to begin with.
• Try not to blink into an unexplored area. A squad of yaktaurs waiting behind an unexplored corner will have a free turn to shoot at you if you land right next to them.

History

• Prior to 0.26, scrolls of blinking induced magical contamination. In addition, using one in Zot or while holding the orb of Zot caused an uncontrolled blink instead.
• Prior to 0.20, scrolls of blinking functioned normally while in Zot.
• Prior to 0.11, reading a scroll of blinking caused no magic contamination and would always escape from constriction.