Infestation

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

Infestation
Level	8
School1	Necromancy
Source(s)	Book of Death
Casting noise	8
Spell noise	4
Power Cap	200
Range	LOS
Hated By	Elyvilon The Shining One Zin
Flags	Target, Unclean

Calls forth a plague of scarabs, infesting affected creatures for a duration depending on power and causing death scarabs to grow and burst from them upon death.

Infestation is a level 8 Necromancy spell that applies the 'Infested' status to monsters in a 5x5 area. A friendly death scarab erupts out of each victim that dies.

Infestation can be obtained as part of Kikubaaqudgha's 6* piety gift.

Useful Info

Applies the Infested status to monsters within a smite-targeted 5x5 area. You can infest monsters from outside line of sight. Any infested monster (that's worth XP) which dies will turn into a death scarab. Monster holiness does not matter; undead, demonic, and non-living monsters can all be infested.

Scarabs last for around 81 turns.

Infestation takes priority over all other undead-creating Necromancy spells. It can work alongside Death Channel, but overrides other effects. It even takes priority over Gozag's gold touch and Yredelemnul's reaping (scarabs replace gold / zombies, respectively).

Strategy

Death scarabs are great allies; they are very fast, slow down enemies, are undead, and deal great damage. They also last for a fairly long time, letting you Infest new monsters you encounter. Compared to other undead-creating spells, Infestation has the advantage of working on undead, demonic, and non-living monsters.

Infest the weaker monsters in a crowd and kill them quickly in order to spawn a bunch of scarabs. Use spells like Borgnjor's Vile Clutch, Haunt, and Anguish (when combined with other, existing undead) to start the horde.

Tips & Tricks

• Kiku's Unearth Wretches places necromantic fodder in a 5x5 area, which corresponds perfectly to Infestation's radius. You can use Unearth Wretches twice, then Infestation on top of the player character. This is bound to create a large swarm, capable of tackling the game's most dangerous encounters.
• Death scarabs cannot see invisible - a notable weakness considering the prevalence of Invisibility-casting liches in the late game.

History

• Prior to 0.29, scarabs worked alongside all other undead-creating spells.
• Prior to 0.26, scarabs had a duration class of 6 (~171 turns).
• This spell was added in 0.19.