Harm
| It increases damage dealt and taken. |
Harm is an ego that can appear on scarves and artefacts. It amplifies the damage dealt by the player by 30%, but also amplifies the damage received by 20%. This effect applies to all forms of damage, including torment. The damage is increased after AC and resistances are applied.
Up to 2 sources of Harm can stack. With 2 sources of harm, you'll deal 45% extra damage, but take 30% more damage.
Sources
Strategy
Harm is an extreme double-edged sword. It does let you deal more damage than you take. But that assumes you're dealing damage - there are many cases where you won't be attacking. When repositioning, using items, trying to teleport, etc., Harm is purely a negative. For most dangerous situations in Crawl, you want to escape, which means not attacking. Also, when fighting multiple enemies, Harm can hurt - you may hit one enemy, but multiple enemies hit you.
It also introduces a player-side risk. Since you'll take more damage, Harm demands you start thinking earlier. If you mindlessly tab, and don't realize you should disengage, you'll put yourself in danger at an alarming rate. You might kill thousands of monsters, but it only takes one particularly bad situation in order to kill you - or, at least, force item usage.
With all that being said, the damage boost can not be denied. If your character is weak or middling - i.e. they have trouble with standard monsters - Harm can be very valuable. For example, Harm can let a caster take out cane toads before the toad gets into melee. It is best for casters and ranged fighters, who (as mentioned) struggle in regular encounters. For characters that are already strong, Harm introduces more risks than its worth.
History
- Prior to 0.30, Harm couldn't stack.
- Prior to 0.25, Harm appeared on amulets of harm, which would drain the wearer upon removal.
