Dim Vision

Curses a group of monsters, reducing their vision radius.

Dim Vision is a level 6 Necromancer curse (Curses tree, no prerequisite; it unlocks Confuse). It blinds every eligible monster in its radius: a blinded monster only notices what is already within its melee reach and does nothing but swing at that. Two numbers decide it: the radius, 2.67 yards at level 1 growing to 15.33 at level 20, and the duration, which is long in Normal and sharply shorter in Nightmare and Hell. Mana is a flat 9.

The numbers

• Radius is Param1 4 plus Param2 1 a level, converted to yards at ×2 ÷ 3: 2.67 yards at level 1, 15.33 at level 20, 22 at level 30. It reads the skill's full level (ln12), so +skills count.
• Duration is Param3 175 frames at level 1 plus Param4 50 frames a level, at 25 frames a second: 7 seconds at level 1, +2 a level, 45 seconds at level 20. That is the Normal-difficulty figure. The tooltip line for the duration 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 (5 + 2 × level) and prints the Nightmare and Hell columns at a half and a quarter of it: at level 20, 22.48 seconds in Nightmare and 11.24 in Hell.

Hell cuts the duration to a quarter. A level 20 curse that holds a pack for 45 seconds in Normal holds it for about 11 in Hell; a level 1 curse lasts under two seconds there.

How it works

Dim Vision is a cast curse: no attack roll, no damage. It puts the dimvision state on every monster the curse can affect inside the radius around the targeted point. The Basin's description of the state:

• Only normal and minion monsters are blinded. Champions, Uniques, Super Uniques and bosses ignore it, with a few AI exceptions.
• A monster keeps doing whatever it was doing until its next AI check. If it was walking toward you, it walks to where you stood when the curse landed, or until something stops it.
• While blinded its awareness radius is its melee range: it attacks only what is standing next to it, and only with its default attack, not with skills or special abilities such as raising the dead.

Ranged monsters therefore stop shooting entirely, which is what the curse is for. Monsters that walk into you still hit you. Like every curse it is overwritten by the next curse cast on the monster, and the Basin lists it among the curses that cannot overwrite Confuse. The item property Hit Blinds Target casts Dim Vision at the item's level on the single monster hit, with no radius.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Dim Vision has no synergy lines in skilldesc.txt and feeds none. Both of its lines read the full level, so a +1 from items is worth one hard point: +0.67 yards and +2 seconds in Normal (+1 in Nightmare, +0.5 in Hell).

Against players

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

Build notes

• At level 20 the curse covers a 15.33-yard circle and, in Hell, holds for 11.24 seconds for 9 mana. At level 1 it is 2.67 yards and 1.72 Hell seconds, which is a different skill in practice.
• A point here is worth as much as a +skill: nothing reads hard points only, so Curses tab bonuses and +all skills are the cheapest way to reach a usable Hell duration.
• The curse is a shooter's answer to archers and casters, not to melee packs; a blinded melee monster that reaches you still attacks.