Fire Storm

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

Fire Storm
Level	9
School1	Conjuration
School2	Fire
Source(s)	Book of Annihilations
Casting noise	9
Spell noise	25
Power Cap	200
Range	5
Flags	Area, Needs tracer, Target

Calls forth a mighty storm of roaring flame directly onto the target, dealing damage in a large area and leaving behind short-lived fire vortices. A portion of its damage bypasses fire resistance. “Some have said there is no subtlety to destruction. You know what? They're dead.” -Jaya Ballard, task mage (Magic: the Gathering).

Spell Details
Damage Formula	8d(0.625+Power/8)
Max Damage	8d26
Max Power	200
Range	5
Targeting	Smite
To-hit
Special	50% resistible clouds of fire, fire vortices

Fire Storm is a level 9 Fire Magic/Conjurations spell that deals 50% resistible fire damage centered on a visible, open square (occupied or not) in a 5-tile range. It creates a fiery explosion of 3-4 tile radius (including the center tile), fills it with flame clouds, and summons a handful of fire vortices. Higher spellpower increases damage, and the chance of a 4-tile explosion.

The vortices Fire Storm creates are weak and confused friendly monsters that wander around, meleeing enemies for a bit of additional damage. They have low HP and die after scoring a single hit, but can serve as a distraction and even get in the way of projectiles or spells. They will be hostile if you worship Okawaru or have Sacrificed Love.

Strategy

Fire Storm is one of the strongest spells in the game, smite-targeted, and only 50% resistible. Even monsters immune to fire, such as orbs of fire, can be destroyed in a few casts. However, as a level 9 dual-school spell, it's very difficult to learn in a 3-rune game. Both Ashenzari and Vehumet can expedite the process, but even with these gods, Fire Storm is a hefty investment.

This spell has minor downsides:

• It causes a real ruckus, akin to shouting at the targeted location. You could get swarmed when you really don't want to.
• It has a random radius, which makes it difficult to target adjacent monsters without hitting yourself. Even with rF+++, a player takes around 8d8 damage, and that's before power boosts. Blink, Dispersal, or Disjunction can create a distance from enemies.

Keep some single-target damage spells in your repertoire for monsters that don't deserve 9 MP worth of fiery death.

Tips & Tricks

• Fire Storm can be used to attack targets from outside LOS. Under normal circumstances, this requires a 4-tile radius explosion.

You can consistently attack outside LOS with Vehumet's range increase, a scarf of shadows, or the innate LOS radius of Kobolds. You can also attack monsters around corners, no matter the character.

Gallery

Casting Fire Storm. Notice the friendly fire vortices.

History

• Prior to 0.30, Fire Storm was 55% resistible.
• Prior to 0.17, Fire Storm's blast was circular rather than square. The chance for a radius-4 blast was slightly lower as a result, and not possible if power was less than 76.