Tukima's Dance

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

Tukima's Dance
Level	3
School1	Hexes
Source(s)	Great Wizards, Vol. VII Book of Weapons
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100
Range	LOS
Flags	Wl check, Dir or target, Needs tracer, Not self

Animates the weapon of a targeted foe, ripping it from their hands and causing it to attack them relentlessly. Once the target dies, the weapon will fall to the ground shortly thereafter. Certain powerful named artefacts cannot be animated, and any properties that require skill in evocations will not be active.

Tukima's Dance is a level 3 Hexes spell which temporarily animates a melee weapon held by a hostile monster.

Enchanters begin with this spell available.

Useful Info

If the targeted monster fails a willpower check, its melee or ranged weapon will be animated as a dancing weapon. The weapon will only target its former owner and quickly expires after their wielder has been killed, though it may attack other nearby creatures during before the spell expires. Only 1 weapon will be animated at a time.

The weapon's strength is determined by both the caster's spell power and the weapon's base stats, while the duration of the effect is dependent entirely upon spell power. The caster's actual weapon skill has no impact on the dancing weapon's performance.

This spell works on melee and ranged weapons, but not magical staves. Animating a weapon with a brand that your current god hates will trigger piety loss and penance.

Strategy

Tukima's Dance is a somewhat niche, but powerful spell. Monsters with good weapons, preferably with low willpower, are the best targets for this spell. For example, an ogre with a giant spiked club goes from 39 max damage to 17 max damage, and the ensuing weapon is bound to deal some damage. Other good targets include orc warriors, ettins, and more.

Tips & Tricks

• While the animated weapon will initially only target its wielder, it will switch targets if the weapon cannot cannot reach, (e.g. if the player blocks the only path toward the original wielder). Use this technique with a weaker monster with a big weapon to get a few strong hits on a bigger monster.
• The spell is also useful for removing distortion or chaos from your enemies.
• Note that enemies must wield their weapon in order for it to be used. For example, centaurs won't wield their bows while sleeping or in melee range.

History

• Prior to 0.29, worshippers of Gozag would not receive weapons from Tukima's Dance.
• Prior to 0.28, Tukima's Dance had a 1.5x power boost, which made it more likely to succeed.
• Prior to 0.27, Tukima's Dance couldn't be used on monsters wielding ranged weapons. It worked on cursed weapons, but did not remove the curse. Also, dancing weapons attacked slower (as all monsters with a weapon attacked slower).
• Prior to 0.17, Tukima's Dance did not have a power boost. Said boost was nerfed in 0.18.
• Prior to 0.15, it was a level 5 Hexes spell which temporarily animated the user's melee weapon into a friendly dancing weapon (though it did not function on certain artefact weapons).
• In 0.12, the power of this spell was increased, and its level was raised to 5.
• Prior to 0.6, dancing weapons were immune to elemental damage and had flat statistics independent of spell power and weapon weight.