Tukima's Dance
 Tukima's Dance
| |
|---|---|
| Level | 3 |
| School1 | Hexes |
| Source(s) | |
| Casting noise | 3 |
| Spell noise | 0 |
| This spell causes a weapon held in the caster's hand to dance into the air and strike the caster's enemies. It will not function on magical staves and certain willful artefacts; any abilites that require evocation skill won't be used either. |
Tukima's Dance is a level 3 Hexes spell which temporarily turns your wielded non-fixedart melee weapon into a friendly dancing weapon. The weapon's strength is determined by both the caster's spell power and the weapon's weight, while the duration of the effect is dependent entirely upon spell power. The caster's actual weapon skill has no impact on the dancing weapon's performance. The dancing weapon will be hostile if cursed, and will remain cursed when defeated. Temporary brands placed on a weapon before it is affected by Tukima's Dance will end as soon as it is animated.
Strategy
Tukima's Dance is an unusual Hexes spell, allowing a school of magic primarily focused on debilitating others to also provide you with useful allies. The dancing weapons have quick movement, decent defenses, a very wide variety of useful resistances, and can deal any kind of damage you find weapons for, all for a fairly low casting cost. As the dancing weapons are not technically summoned, Abjuration has no affect on them, making them an interesting option for safely taking out dangerous summoners.
Because you must wield a weapon before it can be affected, casting time during combat may be slower than you'd like. It takes 0.5 auts to wield a weapon, essentially increasing your casting time by 50%. If you know what's around the corner, prepare a cloud of dancing weapons outside of the enemy's line of sight before the battle even begins. Also, most species are unable to wield all weapons, restricting your selection significantly (especially if you also carry a shield).
Apart from its combat uses, you can also use Tukima's Dance to unwield cursed weapons without spending a scroll of remove curse. Although the dancing weapon will be hostile, worshipers of Ashenzari in particular may prefer this option. Tukima's Dance does not allow you to bypass the harmful effects of unwielding a distortion weapon, however.
You may wish to refrain from casting Tukima's Dance on non-artifact weapons when dealing with opponents that devour items.
History
Prior to 0.6, dancing weapons were immune to elemental damage and had flat statistics independent of spell power and weapon weight.
