Lantern of shadows

Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	lantern of shadows
Icon

An unholy device which calls forth flickering shadows to assist its wielder. It shrouds the wielder in unnatural darkness, making them unstealthy and significantly reducing the power of their spells.

The lantern of shadows is a "weapon" which reduces your line of sight, but with a number of penalties.

Useful Info

When wielded in the weapon slot, the lantern of shadows does the following:

• Reduces your LOS by 2 tiles (from 8 to 6). This stacks with other sources of LOS reduction.
• Creates peaceful shadows, who are attracted to the lantern and will flutter around it. They disappear as soon as you take off the weapons. The shadows follow you around levels.
• Greatly reduces your spell power. It acts as a two negative spell enhancers, i.e. it is equal to losing 2 sources of Archmagi.
• Stealth score is reduced to 0.

While wielding the lantern, 1 MP is drained per turn. If you are at 0 MP, all shadows vanish and no more will spawn, though the other effects still apply.

The lantern is not a proper weapon; attacking in melee causes you to "clumsily bash", as if you tried to melee with a scroll, ranged weapon, etc.

Strategy

This item can be useful for escapes. Monsters cannot attack when outside your LOS, so the LOS reduction is helpful when covering your retreat. But it's finnicky, to say the least. With no weapon, no stealth, and reduced spell power, it is a swapout.

Shadows can be used for kiting. They are strong for the early-mid Dungeon, but are weak by late Lair. However, being able to create 'free' shadows by simply pillar dancing remains powerful for a while longer.

History

• The lantern of shadows was removed in 0.18.
• Prior to 0.16, lantern of shadows didn't drain MP while in use, and didn't cease to function once its wielder runs dry.
• Prior to 0.13, the spawn rate of shadows did not scale with Evocations. Also, summoned shadows were friendly instead of neutral.
• Prior 0.9, an unidentified lantern of shadows always appeared as a bone lantern.