Yara's Violent Unravelling

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Yara's Violent Unravelling
Level	5
School1	Alchemy
School2	Hexes
Source(s)	Great Wizards, Vol. VII Book of Misfortune
Casting noise	5
Spell noise	15
Power Cap	200
Range	LOS
Flags	Chaotic, No ghost, Target

If cast upon a creature already blessed (or cursed) with magical enchantments, those enchantments will be torn apart, transforming into a spray of destructive mutagenic radiation. The victim and anyone adjacent will be blasted and heavily deformed, weakening them and reducing their armour. Summoned creatures are particularly vulnerable, as the enchantments binding them to this plane will unravel and cause them to be dismissed immediately.

Yara's Violent Unravelling is a level 5 Hexes/Transmutation spell which dispels status effects from an enemy and dismisses summons.

Useful Info

Yara's is a smite-targeted spell, able to target any creature in line of sight. All cancellable effects on a target are dispelled. If the target was a summon and not durable, then it is instantly dismissed, regardless of current duration.

If a status was dispelled (or summon dismissed), it creates a 3x3 explosion. This explosion deals 3d(3 + power / 6) damage and causes the malmutate status to any enemy caught in it. Damage does not scale with number of statuses dispelled.

For a full list of cancellable effects, see the appropriate section of the potion of cancellation page.

Strategy

Yara's Violent Unravelling has two main purposes:

1. To get rid of buffs. Monsters become a lot less threatening when they're no longer hasted. Yara's can get rid of a large number of statuses, including monster-only spells like Bind Souls, Repel Missiles, and Word of Recall. Enemies will often waste turns recasting their buffs, giving yourself another combat advantage.
2. To get rid of summons. Not only do you get rid of the summon, but you also damage (and malmutate) the caster.

Malmutate lowers the HD of monsters, which also lowers their willpower and spell damage. Therefore, monsters hit by Yara's become easier to disable with other Hexes.

Even if you don't use Yara's all the time, it can be great against enemies that buff themselves or summon enemies. Generally worth the spell levels.

Tips & Tricks

• You can inflict statuses on monsters in order to unravel them. Note that Yara's isn't a particularly high-damage spell; if you wanted pure damage, virtually any Conjurations spell will be better.
  • Hexers can use enchantments, like Slow or Inner Flame. Evocations experts can use a wand of paralysis or light. Other dispellable spells include the likes of Mephitic Cloud, Petrify, and Teleport Other.
  • Curare and atropa darts also inflict status effects. Curare always works against any non-resistant foe, regardless of willpower.
• Unravelling your own summons is a safe, albeit somewhat disappointing, way to deal damage (so long as you're not standing next to them, at least) -- creatures that are almost dead might as well go out in a blaze of glory and mutagenic radiation. However, be aware that some gods forbid this kind of betrayal of allies, and that any other summons caught in the blast will immediately leave.
• In a pinch, casting Yara's Violent Unravelling on yourself can work as a poor man's potion of cancellation. However, this makes a lot of noise, inflicts heavy irresistible damage, and malmutates you, so this is best reserved for true emergencies.

History

• Prior to 0.28, Yara's Violent Unravelling was not smite-targeted and could not affect summons.
• In 0.27, more monster enchantments were made dispellable.
• Prior to 0.19, this spell was not considered destructive by Vehumet.
• This spell was introduced in 0.18.