Scorch

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

Scorch
Level	2
School1	Fire
Source(s)	Book of Scorching
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	8
Power Cap	50
Range	3
Flags	No ghost

Scorches a random foe. Those injured by this have their resistance to fire burned away for a short time.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(5 + power/10)
Max Damage	2d10 fire
Max Power	50
Range	3
Targeting	Random
To-hit	Never misses
Special	Inflicts temporary rF- when dealing damage

Scorch is a Level 2 Fire Magic spell that blasts a random monster within 3 tiles of you with fire damage. The spell is unevadable, and enemies that are damaged will lose one rank of fire resistance for several turns (becoming vulnerable to fire if they had no resistance to begin with).

Cinder Acolytes and Fire Elementalists start with this spell in their library.

Strategy

As it targets random creatures within range, Scorch often functions best in one-on-one fights. It deals good damage, and unlike Foxfire, can be used in hallways without penalty. Note that it makes significant noise and will draw attention from nearby monsters.

Scorch reduces your target's fire resistance, so stacking it with itself or other forms of Fire Magic like Foxfire or Conjure Flame can help you pile on the damage.

Tips & Tricks

• Like many other Fire Magic spells, Scorch will create steam clouds when used on targets in water. This combos particularly well with its fire resistance reduction, as fire vulnerability also affects damage from steam.
• Scorch must deal damage to reduce fire resistance. It has no effect on enemies that are completely immune to fire, and may struggle to affect enemies with high AC.

History

• In 0.30, the damage will be nerfed from 2d(5 + power/10) to 2d(5 + power/12).
• This spell was added in 0.28.