Charmed

Charmed is an allegiance-altering debuff that causes the afflicted unit to fight for the charming team's side. While charmed, the unit attacks its former allies and can be targeted by its original team. Stacks reduce by 1 per turn, so the effect is temporary unless reapplied. Charming is one of the strongest control effects in the game because it simultaneously removes a threat from the enemy side and adds a combatant to yours.

Charmed has some important edge cases. If a unit charms itself, it becomes uncontrollable and acts independently, attacking whatever it considers appropriate. Bosses that are charmed will not actively attack the player's team, but they still take damage normally. This makes Charm less effective as a pure damage redirect against bosses, but still valuable for disrupting their AI patterns. The Permanent Charm variant (used by abilities like Captured Familiar) lasts indefinitely, converting an enemy unit into a lasting ally that persists into future battles if it survives.

Charmed is applied by various Charisma-based abilities, certain spells, and specific items. Builds focused on high Charisma and Charm effects can turn entire encounters on their head by converting key enemies. However, Charmed units retain their original stats and abilities, so charming a powerful enemy means it now uses those abilities against its former allies at full strength. Counter-strategies include killing charmed allies quickly before they cause too much damage, or using abilities that break Charm effects. The Madness debuff functions similarly but more chaotically, making the unit attack everything indiscriminately.