Call Imp

Version 0.19: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Call Imp
Level	2
School1	Summoning
Source(s)	Book of Blood Book of Minor Magic
Casting noise	2
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100
Flags	Selfench, Unholy

Calls forth a minor demon from the pits of Hell. The demon will fight alongside the caster for a time depending on spell power.

Call Imp is a level 2 Summoning spell which summons an imp.

Effect

Summons a single friendly imp. Higher spell power can result in a better imp and more duration.

Possible summons:

5 Crimson imp - Blinks, regenerates quickly

5 White imp - Deals melee and ranged cold damage

5 Shadow imp - Casts Pain, sees invisible

5 Iron imp - Strong but slow, multi-resistant

There is always 27.8% chance of a White imp. With increase in spell power the probability of a Crimson imp decreases and the probability of getting Shadow or Iron imp increases. It's only possible to get a Shadow or Iron imp once spell power reaches 47.

Duration class ranges from 2 (around 18 turns) to 6 (around 171 turns). The formula is 2 + (1d<power> - 1) / 4 (capped at 6).

Strategy

Call Imp is a versatile and powerful spell that is also cheap and easy to cast. It can be spammed as early as D:2 to quickly defeat early threats such as uniques, ogres, and worms. You only get one imp per cast, but they can be any of four types with varied and useful abilities.

Standard crimson imps are difficult to kill. White imps are useful for slowing cold-blooded foes, and have strong distance attacks. Shadow imps can see invisible creatures like orc wizards and can hit things with negative energy. Iron imps are slow, but hit as hard as war dogs and are tough to take down.

History

Prior to 0.12, summoned shadow imps could give you permanent undead allies by casting Animate Dead, allowing characters without Necromancy to create undead armies.

Prior to 0.7, was level 3 spell and could not summon Iron imps.