Phial of floods

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	phial of floods
Icon

An enchanted vessel of elemental water. Removing the stopper unleashes a torrent of water, smashing the target and flooding the nearby area. If any creatures engulfed by the wave need air to breathe, they'll be unable to cast spells until they recover. The strength of the torrent and the duration of the flooding increase with Evocations skill.

A phial of floods is an evocable item which releases a torrent of water with an effect similar to Primal Wave: an aimed beam of water, range 5, will damage and potentially knock back your target, and the endpoint of the spell will be covered in a temporary pool of shallow water. Your Evocations skill will increase the damage and the duration of this water.

All creatures, both hostile and friendly, covered in water become waterlogged, which silences them. In addition, the center target will always be waterlogged. The waterlog has a duration of 2.1 + (4 * Evocations) / 10 turns,, which is then modified by a random factor (from x1 to x1.5). Note that unbreathing creatures are immune to this effect.

The phial of floods expends itself after one use and can be recharged only by gaining experience while it is in the player's possession. Carrying multiple phials is no more useful than carrying one, since evoking one causes all phials, both carried and stashed, to become temporarily inert.

Strategy

This is a fairly decent evocable item. The shallow water gets in the way of enemies, the beam deals damage, and the waterlogged effect can silence dangerous spellcasters.

It takes some amount of Evocations training in order for the waterlogging to last reasonably long.

Tips & Tricks

• The phial can be used to prevent Sticky Flame from affecting you. Fire at the floor (using . instead of f or Enter to fire) one space in front of you. Conversely, the phial's water will end Sticky Flame for your enemies, too.

History

• Prior to 0.30, the phial had a range of full LOS. The duration of waterlogging was also much higher.
• Prior to 0.25, the phial summoned friendly water elementals instead of waterlogging monsters. Also, the player could use the phial while confused.
• In 0.19, the impact damage was significantly reduced.
• Prior to 0.14, all elemental evokers recharged simultaneously.
• This item was added in 0.13.