Lightning rod

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

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	lightning rod
Icon

A rod that allows its wielder to fire unavoidable blasts of lightning. Consecutive evocations cause the discharge to be sustained, which increases the power level up to four times and allows the blast to be redirected to affect an area.

The lightning rod is a powerful source of area-of-effect electricity damage, though it requires multiple turns to use properly.

When first used, it fires a weak, range-5, unavoidable Thunderbolt. If your next action is to evoke it again, the rod becomes stronger. Targeting the same tile will create a stronger Lightning Bolt. Targeting a different tile will create a wide arc of lightning, created in-between the 1st and 2nd bolt. The more tiles you cover, the weaker the bolt. Each successive use makes the attack stronger. Doing anything except for evoking the rod again will reset the rod, causing the next bolt you fire to be another low-power bolt.

It comes with 4 charges, which, once used, will be replenished one-by-one as you gain experience while the rod is in your inventory.

Damage is calculated based on Evocations skill, how many turns the rod was used consecutively, and the length of the current arc. The damage of this item is inversely proportional to the area covered; the larger the area you spray, the less damage dealt to each target. It is calculated as follows:

• Damage = Calculated in dice notation, NdM, using the following variables:
• N = 2 + (# Previous Uses)spl-data.h:L2072 (0.30.0)</ref>
• M = (pow/4 + 45) / (arc + 2)
  • pow = 5 + (3 * Evocations)
  • arc = Aperture of the beam, in tiles, at the given radius. Its value is always at least 1.

Strategy

• Lightning rods can deal heavy unavoidable damage to single targets, but are also excellent for wiping out large packs of enemies, such as ugly things and slime creatures. To maximize damage, try to minimize the area you affect. Ignoring one monster that's several tiles away from the body of the pack may leave it unharmed, but you'll do much more damage to all the other monsters.

History

• In 0.30, its damage was increased by 50%.
• Prior to 0.20, this item was a rod, cost MP to use and had to be wielded prior to use.
• Lightning rod was added in 0.11.