Hellfire Mortar

Version 0.33: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Hellfire Mortar
Level	7
School1	Earth
School2	Fire
School3	Forgecraft
Source(s)	Compendium of Siegecraft Trismegistus Codex
Casting noise	7
Spell noise	20
Power Cap	200
Range	8
Flags	Destructive, Dir or target

Splits apart the ground in front of the caster and sculpts a terrifying weapon out of molten rock. This mortar will move slowly along the lava-filled chasm, autonomously launching gouts of magma at the caster's enemies as it does so. When it reaches the end of its path, or is obstructed in its movement by another creature, it will sink back into the lava, and the chasm will seal itself shut shortly thereafter.

Hellfire Mortar is a level 7 Fire/Earth/Forgecraft spell that creates a creates a line of temporary lava in a chosen direction. Afterwards, it immediately spawns a hellfire mortar that moves along that line of lava, firing autonomously at nearby targets while it does so.

Useful Info

Creates a beam of lava in any specified path and a hellfire mortar adjacent to the caster. In order to cast the spell, the space where the mortar would spawn must be clear of any monster. Also, the spell cannot be cast if a mortar is alive, though the lava doesn't have to recede all the way to recast.

The lava river can temporarily replace rock walls and liquids, and can be placed through monsters that can occupy a lava tile, but stops if there's a monster in the way that can't do so. Every 10 aut after the mortar dies, the temporary lava river will recede back a tile from its end back to its start, bringing back whatever terrain it temporarily replaced with lava.

The mortar fires Bolts of Magma at up to 2 different random enemy targets each turn, then moves 1 tile further along the path that was carved out for it. It will attempt to push monsters in its path 1 tile backward, and fail if that tile is occupied. When it reaches the end of this path, or if a monster blocking its path cannot be pushed, it will disappear.

The mortar's HD is 3 + pow / 28. The mortar itself is fairly sturdy and has rF+++, so other fire spells can be cast alongside it. As with nearly all allies, it can only fire when in sight of the caster.

Strategy

Hellfire Mortar is an expensive triple school spell, but it offers a number of strong perks.

• It is significantly more MP efficient than comparable Fire/Earth options.
• It is very effective at blocking attacks. The lava can prevent landbound enemies from approaching entirely. Flying enemies are knocked back. The mortar itself can block line of fire if an enemy is in a straight line from you; this is easy to set up, although monsters will move out of the way if the lava blocks their movement path.
• It is versatile. It deals with single targets and groups well. It functions in corridors (as the mortar blocks the way) or out in the open (for max. damage).

Fire Magic users can benefit from partially-irresistable damage, Earth Magic users benefit from AOE, and Forgecraft users benefit from having range and AOE.

Tips & Tricks

• When fighting monsters in corridors, a possible tactic is to place the lava river adjacent to the corridor - this can give the lava river some more space. This often requires you to be in a corner or in front of the corridor's entrance.
• If the player is Marked and is far away from stairs to escape to, or needs to escape monsters who can't cross lava, they can dig out a safe closet by using Hellfire Mortar, flight, and a wand of digging to create and seal up a corridor to hide in. This will need teleport or more flight to escape, however.

Monster Version

Monster Hellfire Mortar casts will always be to the side of the character and only be cast if you'll be in the range of multiple points of the beam. Like player mortars, they can be prematurely sunk if an unpushable creature gets in its path. Unlike player mortars, it can fire out of sight of the caster.

The following enemies cast Hellfire Mortar:

• g Wiglaf (3d15 damage)
• o Orc wizard apostles (varies)

History

• Prior to 0.33 and the introduction of Forgecraft, Hellfire Mortar was a Fire/Earth spell. Also, it could not push monsters out of the way, disappearing if it hit a monster.
• Added in 0.32.