Leda's Liquefaction

Version 0.12: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Leda's Liquefaction
Level	4
School1	Earth
School2	Hexes
Source(s)	Book of Debilitation Book of Earth Book of Hinderance
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0

This spell liquefies the ground around the caster by shaking it rapidly, making it difficult to move through. Any attempt to move through the liquefied ground will be a very slow one.

Leda's Liquefaction is a level 4 Earth Magic/Hexes spell which creates a circle of difficult terrain around you. Anything crossing this terrain (including you) is obstructed, unless they are:

• Insubstantial
• Clinging
• Levitating
• Flying

This spell functions slightly differently depending on the victim: players receive a +3 penalty to movement delay, while monsters receive the same penalty they would if they were slowed. Anything (including the player) attacking from this terrain may lose their footing and waste their melee attacks, as though they were fighting from shallow water. Ranged attacks and spellcasting are unaffected by this. It affects any dungeon feature with a solid floor.

The spell cannot be cast if the caster is not on solid ground, or starts to fly, levitate, cling, or become insubstantial. Becoming so after the spell is cast ends the spell immediately.

Strategy

• While melee characters will find this spell far more frustrating than handy, characters who rely on ranged attacks to deal damage can benefit greatly from the extra turns it takes melee-based opponents to reach you, coupled with the added failure rate their attacks suffer.
• Blink (or preferably Controlled Blink) will allow you to put some distance between yourself and an opponent who manages to finally reach you, giving you several more turns to snipe it in safety.

History

Prior to 0.12 this was an Earth/Transmutations spell.

Pre-0.8, casting the spell did not require you to stand on solid ground.