Dragon Veins

This page is a stub. You could probably expand this page should you wish to do so.

Trunk-only: This article pertains to a feature of Crawl which is being tested. It will likely change before the next release, and may even be removed entirely.

Dragon Veins
Level	3
School1	Air
School2	Earth
School3	Fire
Source(s)	Book of the Dragon
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	75
Range	LOS
Flags	Destructive

Allows the caster to tap into ley lines of elemental energy which pervade the dungeon and channel their destructive power against enemies. Casting it exposes up to four dragon veins on adjacent floor tiles - one corresponding to each of fire, ice, air, and earth magic. Stepping onto any of them will trigger an immediate destructive spellcast at the cost of 1 MP, targeting up to 3 random enemies with an additional property that depends on the element tapped into: Fire (West): Prioritises enemies with the least health. Leaves behind brief fire clouds when it kills something. Ice (East): Prioritises enemies with the most health. Briefly freezes them, slowing their movement. Air (North): Prioritises the most distant enemies. Unlike the other 3 elements, does full damage even to distant targets. Earth (South): Prioritises the closest enemies. Strikes one fewer target and does greatly reduced damage to flying creatures, but enemies hit at close range may be staggered. You may channel from up to two of these dragon veins before the spell expires.

Dragon Veins is a level 3 Air/Earth/Fire/Ice spell that creates 4 tiles adjacent to the player, each of which corresponds to a specific element. These overlaid tiles are always in the same orientation, and other than the Air vein, do reduced damage when targets are more than 3 tiles away.

All 4 elemental veins have their own unique targeting properties, damage types, and secondary effects:

• Fire: Inflicts fire damage on the 3 monsters with the least health. Leaves behind brief fire clouds on any it kills.
• Ice: Inflicts cold damage on the 3 monsters with the most health. Briefly freezes them, slowing their movement.
• Air: Inflicts irresistible damage on the 3 most distant monsters. Does less damage, but suffers no falloff with distance.
• Earth: Inflicts seismic damage on the 2 closest monsters. Stuns those within 2 tiles of the player for a turn.

Dragon Veins can only be created on dry tiles that are not occupied by fixed dungeon features such as doors and stairs. They can be overlaid on enemies and other temporary objects such as allies.

Stepping onto a vein will cast the corresponding spell, costing 1 additional mana, and triggering "on cast" effects such as Vision talisman, Jade talisman, and Iskenderun's Battlesphere. You may activate at most 2 veins per cast of the Dragon Veins spell.

Strategy

Dragon Veins is a very strong spell with great damage scaling and a full spread of elemental damage types to help you deal with enemies immune to some damage types. In addition, it pairs well with other tools that come in the Mystic background, making for a very efficient, early AOE spell.

You should play light on your feet with this spell, ready to move to the most appropriate damage type in each fight. Opening with Air for long-distance targets, followed by Ice for the slow is a great opener on both packs and single targets - this will give you time to either cast again, retreat, or set up other solutions.

Although this spell is strong, it has notable downsides related to positioning and specific zones. In particular, an early Sewer portal is a hard counter to this spell, given the abundance of water tiles where Dragon Veins is unusable, and should be approached with great caution. In general, hallways and other tight spaces may limit your access to the specific vein you want in any particular fight, and more consideration should be taken for your approach to any engagement with this spell.

History

• In 0.35, Dragon Veins will be added into the game