Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling

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

Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling
Level	8
School1	Air
Source(s)	Maxwell's Memoranda Book of Spectacle
Casting noise	7
Spell noise	25
Power Cap	200
Range	LOS
Flags	No ghost

Gradually builds up electric charge in the caster, so long as they maintain focus (by waiting in place and not taking any other actions). When a threshold is reached, the charge couples with the nearest foe, vaporising them instantly. Higher spell power will allow the caster to accumulate charge more rapidly.

Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling (MCC) is a Level 8 Air Magic spell that always kills the closest enemy, regardless of its current health, resistances, or defenses, after a few turns.

It takes 30 + (1d(200 - spellpower) - 1) / 50 aut for the spell to complete, or 3-7 normal speed turns. The spell will be interrupted if you do any action other than waiting, or if you become silenced. If two or more creatures are equally close, the target is chosen at random.

While charging, the status light Charge- cycles counterclockwise. However, the cycle starts and ends at random positions, meaning you can't tell when the spell will activate.

Strategy

Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling is an immensely powerful spell. It can instantly kill any enemy in 3-7 turns. For a matter of perspective, Lehudib's Crystal Spear may kill a tough enemy in 3 casts - that's 3 turns, but it costs 24 MP instead of 8, and crystal spears can miss. Great spell for Air Magic specialists, since it ignores enemy resistances.

The downside of this spell is that you can't aim it. Summoners can surround you with misleading targets, causing you to waste the charge. You can fight important summoners in corridors or kill holes to reduce the chance of a misfire.

Tips & Tricks

• You can use autofight to automatically charge this spell. (If MCC is currently charging, autofight will input a wait command for you.)
• The effect will fire straight through your own allies. You can hide behind summons, who will fight for you as you charge up this spell.
• You can start charging this spell when enemies are out of LOS. Enemies only need to be in LOS on the turn it fires.

History

• Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling was added in 0.27, replacing Absolute Zero.