Shatter

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Shatter
Level	9
School1	Earth
Source(s)	Book of the Tempests Book of the Earth
Casting noise	7
Spell noise	30

Causes an enormous burst of concussive force around the caster. Flying and gelatinous creatures can escape the worst effects, and insubstantial creatures are entirely uneffected, but all others will be gravely injured by the blast. It may also destroy nearby walls.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	Nd(5+Power/3)
Max Damage	Nd72
Max Power	200
Range	7
Targeting	LOS
To-hit
Special	Destroys walls

Shatter is a level 9 Earth Magic spell which attacks all monsters (enemy or allied) in line of sight, dealing unavoidable physical damage. Against particularly vulnerable monsters (those made of stone, metal, crystal, bone, or ice) this spell deals devastating amounts of damage, while resistant opponents will only be lightly injured or remain completely unscathed. The spell also affects many objects in your line of sight:

Chance to destroy walls

The following Dungeon features may be destroyed, but they will only be destroyed if they are in line of fire to the caster:

• Door: 100%, whether they are open or closed
• Iron grate: 100%
• Statue or orcish idol: 50%
• Rock, slimy or crystal wall: 33%
• Tree: 33%
• Stone wall: 25%
• Metal wall: 15%
• Blocks of ice

Shatter does not damage the caster (barring miscast effects).

Number of dice

Monsters

The number of dice (N) that the Nd(5+power/3) damage roll has depends on the target. In the case of monsters, the number of dice is as follows, where the first applicable condition on this list applies, and no other conditions further down the list can then apply.

Target	N
Monsters made from metal, stone or crystal	6
Insubstantial monsters	1
Petrifying/Petrified (reduced later by petrification reduction)	6
Skeletal and icy monsters	6
Slimy monsters	1
Flying monsters	1
All other monsters	3

Players

In the case of players, the number of dice is as follows, where the first applicable condition on this list applies, and no other conditions further down the list can then apply.

Target	N
Wisp Form	1
Petrifying/Petrified (reduced later by petrification reduction)	6
Gargoyles	6
Statue Form or Ice Form	6
Flying	1
All other players	3

After the spell's damage is calculated, AC is applied in the usual way to the final damage. (Reduction by 1d(AC+1)-1)

Strategy

Much like Fire Storm, Glaciate, and Tornado, Shatter lives up to its level 9 spell status, allowing the player to do obscene amounts of damage in a very short amount of time. It effectively targets everything on the screen with each casting. This lets Shatter function as a top-notch crowd control spell under the right circumstances. Better still, because its only spell school is Earth Magic, it takes less training to get it to a reliable casting success rate than its other elemental counterparts.

However, Shatter is also much less versatile than the Storm spells. Flying and insubstantial enemies take much less damage than average, rendering it far less useful against dragons, a large number of demons (including all of the fiends), and orbs of fire being the worst. Even when it does clear the screen, the spell is so loud that it can attract plenty of reinforcements. However, it does shine under certain circumstances; anything you'll encounter in the Tomb can be put to rest by spamming this spell a few times, making it excellent not only for breaking into the place but also for subduing its angry inhabitants if they decide to swarm you (though you may want to be in lich form or worship Kikubaaqudgha to reduce the impact of their death curses). Also, many of the late-game bosses lack flight and take full damage from it, and anything they summon will be pulverized in the process, making it an interesting alternative to Aura of Abjuration:

• Antaeus
• Ereshkigal
• Dispater
• Mnoleg
• Cerebov

For individual targets, however, you will likely get more efficient damage output using Iron Shot or Lehudib's Crystal Spear.

Stealing runes

The fact that this spell quickly removes many walls, including those of stone or metal, actually gives it a surprising second use. Namely, it is useful for stealing ("ninja") runes from certain difficult areas of the game (most notably Pandemonium and Hell) simply by using the spell to open holes in the vaults that hold those runes. Apportation can then very quickly get you the rune, or Haste and Swiftness if for some reason that is not an option. A well-timed teleport can then minimize your exposure to the (likely very angry) guardian of the rune.

Monster version

Jorgrun and some player ghosts can also cast this spell.

Power: 5 + 4.5×HD
Damage: 3d(5+Power/3)

In the case of Jorgrun it usually deals Nd29.

With the exception of gargoyles, flying will reduce the damage you take from shatter by 67% (taking 1 dice instead of 3), therefore you should always fly when fighting an enemy who can cast shatter (most of the time this will be Jorgrun).

Gargoyles should be extremely terrified of monsters casting shatter, because they will take double the normal amount of damage (6 dice instead of 3) and the normal means of reducing damage through flight has no affect on them. Additionally, players should not use statue form or ice form, for the same reason.

History

• Prior to 0.21, icy monsters took 4 or 5 dice of damage, water elementals took 1 dice, insubstantial creatures took 0, and the order that dice were applied was different. Pandemonium lords could cast this spell, and flight reduced the damage taken by player gargoyles and statues from 6 dice to 1.
• Prior to 0.15, the range of shatter was dependent on your Earth Magic skill.
• Prior to 0.14, shatter had a high chance of destroying potions not being carried.
• Prior to 0.10, casting Shatter near permarock walls would damage monsters on the other side. After 0.10, monsters are only damaged if the wall is shattered in the process.