Spellbook of chain lightning
| spellbook of + chain lightning 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 2.5% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 4 |
| Ink to write | 10–19 |
| Spell type | attack |
| Level | 2 |
| Power cost | 10 Pw |
| Direction | non-directional |
In NetHack, the spellbook of chain lightning allows you to learn the spell of chain lightning. It is a level 2 attack spell.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
This is a new spellbook introduced in commit 0d508cc9.Description
Casting the spell shoots lightning bolts for two squares in eight directions, hitting hostile monsters that are in and adjacent to the path of the bolts for 2d6 shock damage, and potentially destroying wands and rings. The chain lightning will also propagate, forking into three more bolts with each monster that is hit and so on, extending up to 100 squares of area and draining 1 additional energy for each monster that the chain lightning travels through. The chain lightning stops if it encounters a monster that is peaceful or has shock resistance.
Strategy
This spell is useful against swarms of weak monsters such as insects, as it does relatively low amounts of damage and also does not miss, unlike force bolt and magic missile. However, it can also destroy valuable loot and may cause a massive energy drain if many monsters are affected by the spell.
