Confuse

Curses a monster to force it to attack random targets.

Confuse is a level 18 Necromancer curse (Curses tree, requires Dim Vision; it unlocks Attract). Every normal or minion monster in its radius loses its mind and attacks whatever is nearest, friend or foe, for the duration: 10 seconds at level 1 and 48 at level 20 in Normal, far less in Hell. The radius grows from 4 yards to 16.67. Mana is a flat 13.

The numbers

• Radius is Param1 6 plus Param2 1 a level, converted to yards at ×2 ÷ 3: 4 yards at level 1, 16.67 at level 20, 23.33 at level 30. It reads the full skill level (ln12), so +skills count.
• Duration is Param3 250 frames at level 1 plus Param4 50 frames a level, at 25 frames a second: 10 seconds at level 1, +2 a level, 48 seconds at level 20. That is the Normal figure. The tooltip's duration line is the difficulty-dependent kind, which the site's evaluator does not compute, so it is not in the table above. The Basin's page gives the same Normal rule (8 + 2 × level) and prints the Nightmare and Hell columns at a half and a quarter: at level 20, 24 seconds in Nightmare and 12 in Hell.
• calc1 is a fixed 100 ("Chance to confuse ai" in skills.txt): every eligible monster in the radius is confused.

Hell quarters the duration. Level 20 is 12 seconds there, and level 1 is 2.48.

How it works

Confuse is a cast curse: no attack roll, no damage. It puts the confuse state on the eligible monsters inside its radius around the targeted point. The Basin's rules for the state:

• It can only be cast on normal and minion monsters (with a few AI exceptions). Champions, Uniques, Super Uniques and bosses cannot be confused, but they will attack a confused monster.
• A monster finishes its current action and becomes confused at its next AI check; it may stay confused after the curse expires until the check after that.
• A confused monster attacks anything, including other confused monsters, normally the nearest target.
• You gain Experience from monsters killed by a confused monster, but not from a monster killed while it is confused.
• Friendly auras and buffs from players and allies do not apply to a confused monster; hostile auras and debuffs do. Auras and buffs from a friendly Aura Enchanted Unique that have not expired still apply, and so now do hostile monster auras and buffs, so a confused monster can be cursed, which may overwrite Confuse.

The Basin lists what cannot overwrite Confuse: Dim Vision, Terror, Attract, Taunt, Grim Ward and Hit Blinds Target. It also cannot overwrite itself: once a monster is confused the curse must expire before it can be confused again.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Confuse has no synergy lines in skilldesc.txt and feeds none. Both lines read lvl, so a +1 from items is worth one hard point: +0.67 yards and +2 seconds in Normal (+0.5 in Hell).

Against players

Confuse is a monster-AI effect and does nothing to a player. See Player versus Player.

Build notes

• Level 20 covers 16.67 yards for 12 Hell seconds at 13 mana; level 1 covers 4 yards for 2.48. Both numbers rise with +skills exactly as with hard points.
• Kills made by confused monsters still give experience; kills of confused monsters do not, so it is a curse for letting a pack thin itself, not for farming it.
• It does not take a Unique or a boss, and it cannot be refreshed while it is on: wait for it to expire, or cast a different curse.