Song of Shielding

Version 0.13: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Song of Shielding
Level	4
School1	Charms
Source(s)	Book of Battle
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0

This spell draws from your magical essence to create a temporary protective barrier. Incoming damage will be absorbed by the shield, decreasing the caster's available magic in the process.

Song of Shielding is a level 4 Charms spell which temporarily causes all damage dealt to you to reduce your MP, not your HP. Once you run out of MP, the spell ceases to protect you. This is different than the effect of an amulet of guardian spirit, which causes the damage to be split between the two.

Be aware that Song of Shielding will end immediately if you are affected by silence. Leaving the affected area does not cause it to restart for free.

Strategy

• Characters that focus on magic to deal damage will likely wish to avoid this spell. It essentially turns any powerful monster into an eye of draining, and suddenly finding yourself with 0 MP is a much worse fate than taking a heavy hit or two. Unless you really need a quick block of HP while waiting for a teleport to kick in and save you, don't bother with it.
• Although it may be tempting to couple this with Sif Muna's channeling ability, most characters who can safely use it will likely want a different god. It does couple well with other sources of MP regeneration, such as Sublimation of Blood, a staff of energy, a crystal ball of energy, the Shining One's MP-on-kills, a stack of potions of magic, or ambrosia (if you can manage the confusion effect).
• As it only requires training in Charms to cast effectively, Song of Shielding works well for melee characters who intend to master the Haste spell in the late game. Just remember that even brutes occasionally have a need for MP.

History

Song of Shielding was added in 0.13 and it will be removed in 0.14.