Air Elementalist

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Air Elementalists have learned the Shock spell. Later on, their selection of Air Magic spells provides them with the flexibility to survive.

Air Elementalists are mages who have chosen Air Magic for their specialization. Air Magic is not as purely destructive as Fire Magic, but offers a variety of other useful effects for Dungeon-delvers.

Preferred Species

Deep Elf, Naga, Tengu, Draconian, Djinni, and Vine Stalker are the recommended species if you pick an Air Elementalist Background.

Starting Equipment

• +0 robe
• Potion of magic

Available Spells

• Shock
• Static Discharge
• Swiftness
• Airstrike

Air Elementalists start with the Shock spell memorised.

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Dodging: 2
• Stealth: 2
• Spellcasting: 2
• Conjurations: 1
• Air Magic: 3

Choosing Air Elementalist adds 7 to your starting Intelligence and 5 to your starting Dexterity.

Strategy

Air Elementalists start with three offensive spells, with three unqiue means of targeting. Along with a great utility spell in Swiftness, AE provides clever players with lots of options, though not all of them are reliable.

Spell Details

Shock is inaccurate, but hits twice as hard thanks to its ability to bounce and doublezap in walls. It'll also pierce through enemies with no range reduction. The targeter will try to attempt to calculate a good angle, though perhaps not always the best angle available. Read the doublezap article for more details. Lightning Bolt, should you find it, shares the same mechanic.

Static Discharge creates an arc that travels through adjacent targets. Spreading to multiple monsters, discharges are a somewhat effective way to control crowds. These arcs can harm you, but at a heavily reduced rate. When monsters happen to get in melee range to you, it's a good spell for general damage.

Airstrike increases in effectiveness when its target has open space around it; you, other monsters, and walls count as obstructions. It's a bit too MP expensive to cast at first, while Shock is sufficient for a while. Once you can afford multiple castings, Airstrike remains useful for its perfect accuracy and smite-targeting, able to hit pesky enemies no matter the circumstance.

Swiftness, by increasing your movement speed, can be a lifesaver -- but only if you have enough MP to cast it! Always keep an eye out on your MP; even more so than other casters. And try to keep an escape route somewhat close by; once the enchantment runs out, your movement speed will be slowed, instead.

Tips & Tricks

• In Tiles, the aiming tracer will be bright yellow if the square will be affected by a doublezap.
• Like most mage starts, Sif Muna or Vehumet are gods that offer help with magic, but you are by no means limited to worshiping either of them.

History

• In 0.29, most backgrounds were buffed; all Mage backgrounds gained a potion of magic. Both Static Discharge and Airstrike gained buffs this version.
• Prior to 0.27, Air Elementalists started with the book of Air, and had Lightning Bolt.
• Prior to 0.20, the book of Air contained Repel Missiles instead of Airstrike.
• Prior to 0.19, targeters did not attempt to calculate angles for a multizap.
• Prior to 0.17, the starting book, Book of Air contained the flight spell.
• It used to be possible to triplezap and even quadrizap, but zapping was limited to twice in some earlier version of the game.
• Prior to 0.14, Air Elementalists started with only 1 level of Spellcasting and 20 gold.