Irradiate

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Irradiate
Level	5
School1	Alchemy
School2	Conjuration
Source(s)	Book of Spontaneous Combustion Book of Transmutation
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Range	1
Flags	Area, Chaotic

Transmutes an ultra-thin layer of the caster's skin (or equivalent) directly into pure magical energy, blasting adjacent creatures. It heavily deforms its targets, weakening them and reducing their armour. The caster is not left entirely unaffected; some of the magic lingers, enough to leave them dangerously contaminated after a few castings. “Reflex in the sky warn you you're gonna die Storm coming, you'd better hide from the atomic tide Flashes in the sky turns houses into sties Turns people into clay, radiation minds decay” -Black Sabbath, “Electric Funeral”. 1970.

Irradiate is a level 5 Conjurations/Alchemy spell that blasts all tiles adjacent to you with pure magical energy.

Useful Info

Irradiate deals 3d(11.66 + power/6) damage to adjacent targets. Monsters hit by this spell have a 50% chance to receive the malmutate status (-8 AC and -25% HD), unless immune. Damage from this spell is irresistible and unavoidable, but it's still reduced by AC.

Each casting of Irradiate afflicts the caster with 1250 - 2000 points of magical contamination.

Strategy

Irradiate is irresistible, never misses, deals high damage, and inflicts a strong debuff on enemies. For casters and hybrids who can afford the somewhat awkward spell schooling, this is a good spell to have. Sometimes you'll be forced to fight enemies in melee range, where this spell can really shine.

Hexers have a special synergy with Irradiate. While it isn't a hex, the malmutated status lowers HD, which also lowers willpower. The AC reduction also helps with using Short Blades or other quick weapons.

Tips & Tricks

• Irradiate can be cast 2-3 times in a row safely, assuming you don't miscast and have no contamination to begin with. Having a light grey Contam means that the next successful cast could bring you to a dangerous level of glow.
  • If you accidentally cast Irradiate one time too many, quaffing a potion of cancellation should drop you back into the safe zone. Whether it's worth using up the potion to do so, however, is questionable.

Monster Version

The monster version of this spell inflicts heavy magic contamination, 2000 - 3000 points, on the player instead of direct malmutation. It also has no ill effect on the caster. It is otherwise similar to the player version, including the effect on other monsters.

The following enemies cast Irradiate:

• C Protean progenitor (3d25 damage)
• B Radroach (3d26 damage)

History

• Prior to 0.31, Irradiate was a level 5 Conjuration/Transmutation spell. Notably, Transmutations miscasts would double your magic contamination, so it was more dangerous to miscast.
• Prior to 0.30, Irradiate had a 100% chance to malmutate targets.
• Prior to 0.29, the spell dealt more damage (3d(13.33 + power/6)), and the caster only recieved 1000 - 1500 points of contamination.
• Prior to 0.26, the spell ignored AC and had an explosion noise, but dealt slightly less damage (6d(5 + power/12)). Contamination in general also decayed slower.
• Prior to 0.19, the contamination caused was significantly higher (1500 to 3000 points).
• Irradiate was added in 0.16.