Warper

Version 0.32: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Warpers specialise in translocation magic, and are experts in travelling long distances and positioning themselves precisely and use this to their advantage in melee or missile combat. They start with a scroll of blinking, a selection of translocation spells, some dispersal boomerangs, a simple weapon of their choice, and leather armour.

Warpers specialize in Translocations. While their school of magic lacks destructive power, they enter the Dungeon with a bit more combat training than most mages.

Preferred Species

Draconian, Armataur, Spriggan, Coglin, and Felid are the recommended species if you pick a Warper background.

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• +0 weapon of choice (hand axe, spear, short sword, falchion or mace, or unarmed)
• 7 darts of dispersal
• +0 leather armour
• Scroll of blinking

Available Spells:

• Blink
• Lesser Beckoning
• Teleport Other
• Maxwell's Portable Piledriver
• Vhi's Electric Charge

Warpers do not start with a spell memorised.

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Fighting: 2
• Chosen Weapon's Skill: 2
• Throwing: 1
• Armour: 1
• Dodging: 2
• Spellcasting: 2
• Translocations: 3

Choosing Warper adds 3 to your starting Strength, 5 to your starting Intelligence and 4 to your starting Dexterity.

Strategy

Warpers lack the focus of a Fighter or Conjurer - they are a melee start with a few utility (Translocations) spells. While none of their spells are usable at XL 1, having these spells available can be helpful in the long run.

At first, focus on being able to kill foes reliably, as beginner Translocations won't help you kill enemies. This usually means Warpers should start training melee skills, although Ranged Weapons and other types of spells are not out of the question. Warpers should be comfortable with foregoing their mage half until they can comfortably fight things; wearing heavy armour can be good. Warpers don't start with particularly good gear in any one offensive category, but are compensated with a really strong escape item, a scroll of blinking.

After you have established a reliable method to "killdudes", Warper's spells can prove useful.

Starting as a Warper is a good choice for players who wish to worship Cheibriados later, since you'll likely have an alternate means of escape online by the time Cheibriados starts slowing you down. Being a Warper also works well for characters who wanted to use medium or heavy armour, since most of their spells are simple enough that even big dumb bruisers can cast them well if they work at it.

Spell Details

Warper's starting spells are useful to have, but not essential to start training for immediately.

Blink remains useful for the entire game. It teleports you to a random location in line of sight, meaning it most likely will create space from your opponent or help you escape being surrounded. Its random nature means it isn't a reliable escape, so use it before things get hairy. One common tactic is to use a scroll of fog, then step back 1-2 spaces - this limits your line of sight so that you are likely to be blinked in the direction you moved.

Lesser Beckoning is another spell like Blink. With enough Translocations investment, you can drag enemies back into melee range. This can be especially useful against ranged enemies such as orc priests and centaurs.

Maxwell's Portable Piledriver pushes yourself and enemies into a straight line until impacting a solid feature, and for every tile moved, the impact damage increases. The repositioning potential is good, and the damage is ok, but due to the spell's many limitations and risky nature, it is not an immediate priortiy.

Teleport Other can help you avoid or delay dangerous fights. Like Hexes, it checks willpower, so it is best used pre-emptively.

Vhi's Electric Charge allows you to charge up to enemies and attack. For every tile you travel (up to 4), you'll get an attack boost. Because this spell relies entirely on melee, it is recommended to be competent at melee before aiming for it.

History

• Prior to 0.32, Warpers started with Manifold Assault, which was level 4, instead of Maxwell's Portable Piledriver. Also, Gell's Gravitas has been removed and transformed into Gell's gravitambourine.
• In 0.31, boomerangs of dispersal became darts of dispersal.
• Prior to 0.30, Warpers had Gell's Gravitas rather than Vhi's Electric Charge.
• In 0.29, Warpers gained 2 more boomerangs of dispersal.
• Prior to 0.27, Warpers started with the book of Spatial Translocations, which had Passage of Golubria instead of Manifold Assault.
• Prior to 0.19, the book of Spatial Translocations had Apportation, a level 1 spell that Warpers would start with memorised.
• Prior to 0.15, warpers started with a stack of darts, a stack of darts of dispersal, and 50 gold.