Plasma Beam

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Plasma Beam
Level	6
School1	Air
School2	Fire
Source(s)	Book of Fire Book of Lightning
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	20
Power Cap	200
Range	LOS
Flags	Needs tracer

Fires a penetrating beam of plasma at one of the caster's most distant foes. The ionized beam bypasses half of defenders' armour, and a second beam of fire follows in its wake.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2 x 1d(11+(3*Power)/5)
Max Damage	2 x 1d131 electricity + fire
Max Power	200
Range	3-10
Targeting	Bolt
To-hit	7+Power/40
Special	Two bolts Elec ignores 1/2 AC

Plasma Beam is a level 6 Fire Magic/Air Magic spell. This spell fires two inaccurate bolts - a fire bolt, and an electricity bolt, directed at the furthest enemy in range.

Useful Info

Fires two penetrating bolts at the furthest enemy in line of sight. If there are multiple enemies at the same distance, the target is randomly chosen. Both bolts will always be aimed at the same target.

Bolts follow the same trajectory as any regular projectile. It's treated as if you aimed directly at the intended target, so there will always be one (and only one) possible path per target. You can view possible paths by targeting this spell.

The electric bolt will ignore 1/2 of the target's AC, as a property of BEAM_ELEC damage. The fire bolt is fully affected by AC. This means that Plasma Beam is impacted x1.5 by AC than usual.

Strategy

Awkward schooling, but a powerful spell. At 50 spellpower, this spell deals 2 x 1d41 damage (avg. 42). Bombard, another level 6 spell, would deal 9d5 (avg. 27) to a single target. While Bombard has multiple advantages (more accurate, quieter, can be aimed, irresistible damage, checks AC only once), this spell isn't weak by any means. As this spell is loud, beware of enemies you'll attract.

Gallery

• 

  Plasma Beam will always take the leftmost path.
  (It is always aimed directly at the target)

History

• Plasma Beam was added in 0.30.