Conjure Flame

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Conjure Flame
Level	3
School1	Conjuration
School2	Fire
Source(s)	Book of Minor Magic Book of Flames Book of Clouds
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	2

This spell creates a column of roaring flame.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	0
Max Damage	0
Max Power	100
Range	4
Targeting	Smite
To-hit
Special	Cloud damage: 6 + (3d16)/3 (fire) Cloud duration: 3 + (1dPower)/2 + (1dPower)/2, but no more than 23 turns; divided by 4 if the cloud is over water

Conjure Flame is a level 3 Conjurations/Fire Magic spell which creates a smite-targeted cloud of flame in a single empty tile. This will keep many weaker monsters at bay, but mindless, strong, or fire resistant monsters will march on through. The duration of the cloud is dependent on spellpower.

Slow monsters (slugs, beetles) do not take more damage from clouds; they burn on their own subjective turn.

Tips & Tricks

• If you attempt to cast the spell on an empty tile and receive the message, "You see a ghostly outline there, and the spell fizzles," that indicates an invisible monster.
• If you cast the spell on or adjacent to a tile with water in it, clouds of steam will generate around it. The fire cloud will not last long, however.
• Ice Magic spells and effects (wand of frost, wand of cold, etc.) will extinguish any flame clouds they strike, but are consumed in doing so. You can use Conjure Flame to block enemy ice attacks this way.
• It's possible to reinforce existing clouds of flame, but creating a new cloud is more efficient: the duration of a reinforced cloud is only 1+1d(Power/2).
• If you are retreating in a corridor with more than one monster pursuing, and a weaker monster is closest to you, attempt to set up a flame cloud behind the weaker monster and let the stronger monster walk into it. Then simply wait there (or cast protective spells). The stronger monster will suffer fire damage every turn and all you have to do is weather the weaker monster's trifling attacks.
• If you have the ability to confuse (eg, Mephitic Cloud) and are battling a very powerful monster, dot the areas around this monster with flame clouds after it becomes confused. This extra fire damage can help considerably.

Strategy

Conjure Flame is quite useful for blocking off narrow hallways and creating bottlenecks. Note that mindless monsters, many beasts, or particularly strong monsters will choose to walk through the flame to reach you anyway. You can exploit this by laying several Conjure Flames in a straight line between yourself and your target: the latter will happily tread through the flames, taking severe damage, until they're severely wounded. If they're monsters who flee when injured (or who you've just subjected to a scroll of fear or Cause Fear spell), they'll attempt to escape... right back into the flames behind them.

Monsters standing in a harmful cloud -- even a minor one like steam, or a mephitic cloud that they're immune to -- will always be willing to step from it into another harmful cloud, even if it's worse.

If the monster is adjacent and on a flame cloud, your best bet can often be to equip yourself with a protection-branded weapon, and weather the 1-2 turns it generally takes the monster to burn up. To do anything else (eg, retreat) would cause it to stop receiving the massive flame damage. This strategy fails with trampling monsters who can knock you off your tile on the first melee and potentially only spend 1 turn in your flame.

If the monster refuses to cross your flame, use your reaching-branded weapon with impunity (unless it also has one). Otherwise, this gives you breathing room to retreat and pummel it from afar with ranged weapons and magic. (Remember not to fire neutralizing Ice Magic or freezing-branded projectiles across the flame.)

History

Prior to version 0.15, Conjure Flame could set nearby trees ablaze.