Rending Blade

Version 0.33: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Rending Blade
Level	4
School1	Conjuration
School2	Forgecraft
Source(s)	Book of Armaments Book of Weapons
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100
Flags	Utility

Condenses the caster's magical energy into the form of a violently crackling blade. Each time the caster successfully hits with a melee attack while the spell is active, this blade will rend a path back and forth through nearby foes, dealing irresistible damage. Casting this spell temporarily drains *all* of the caster's remaining magical power to constitute the blade, but this energy will be returned to them as soon as the blade ceases to exist. Each point of magical power sequestered this way slightly increases the damage the blade inflicts.

Rending Blade is a level 4 Forgecraft/Conjurations spell that temporarily uses all of your remaining MP to create a magical blade that attacks when you hit with a melee attack.

Reavers start with this spell in their library.

Useful Info

Summons a rending blade, which is initially leashed to the caster. Whenever you hit with a melee attack, the blade attempts to dash through enemies using Rending Slash, dealing irresistible damage to all of them. Hitting multiple enemies in a single attack, such as with an axe, can trigger the blade multiple times at once (max. 3 times per swing).

The blade can dash through up to 4 tiles. It will prioritize the most HD of enemies in can hit in one dash without leaving your line of sight, iterating all possible paths from its current position and all adjacent positions if necessary.

Casting this spell costs a minimum of 4 MP. Any MP beyond the minimum is temporarily lost, although any extra MP increases the effective spellpower of Rending Slash: the bonus is equal to 50 * log2(1 + extra_MP/10)%. When the blade dies or expires, the extra MP used to form it is returned to you. For a Djinni, casting the spell instead costs only 4 HP.

The damage of the blade's Rending Slashes equals 2d(6 + power/12).

Strategy

A spell primarily for melee-focused hybrids. It is less effective in corridors due to it being unable to attack from behind the player, but does not require much space: a corridor intersection is sufficient to let the Rending Blade reposition and then attack.

Losing all your MP is a major downside: even if your character relies entirely on melee, many divine abilities require MP, so watch out before using this spell. It is poorly suited for blaster casters, but Forgecraft users are less hindered as they can summon constructs before casting this spell. Buff up, summon allies, and then cast Rending Blade. You don't actually lose your MP: the blade merely borrows it, and if for any reason the Rending Blade disappears (times out, takes too much damage) then the MP, minus the four MP actually used to cast it, is refunded back to you.

The rending blade attacks once for every monster hit. It has great synergy with Axes and Wu Jian, which allow hitting multiple enemies at once (as a bonus, none of Wu Jian's abilities cost MP). Coglins and Okawaru worshippers under Finesse can attack quickly, and fast weapons like quick blades naturally benefit. Alternatively, Polearms make this spell easier/more flexible to use, as the reaching provides space for the Rending Blade to function.

Coglin's SpellMotor gizmos particularly synergize with the Rending Blade: SpellMotor will make your Coglin attack in melee when casting spells, so if a monster is in melee range when you cast Rending Blade, you: (1) summon the rending blade, (2) attack in melee, possibly hitting up to two times, and (3) thereby trigger the rending blade into actually slashing. Note that reaching weapons will also get triggered by SpellMotor against monsters two tiles away. Increasing your Rev with the SpellMotor will also lower the cost of spells, so natural MP regeneration even while the Rending Blade is out will let you cast up to level 4 spells occasionally, with excellent turn efficiency if any monster is within your melee range: (1) cast any spell, (2) attack in melee, possibly hitting up to two times, and (3) thereby trigger the rending blade.

History

• This spell was added in 0.33.