Death yak

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Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
death yak YDeath yak.png
HP 50-103
HD 14
XP 872
Speed 10
AC 9
EV 5
Will 100
Attack1 30 (gore: plain)


Resistances None
Vulnerabilities None
Habitat Land
Intelligence Animal
Uses Uses nothing
Holiness Natural
Size Large
Type yak, death yak
Flags Warm-blooded
Herd
A larger and beefier relative of the common dungeon yak. Its little red eyes gleam with hunger for living flesh.

Useful Info

Death yaks are far tougher than their yak brethren. They are some of the strongest monsters in the Lair, appearing in packs and hitting hard enough to quickly wipe out players.

Tips & Tricks

  • Most tricks to take out dangerous monsters won't work well on death yaks; they have high willpower and hit dice to shake off most status effects, and their melee strength makes it unwise to brute force. The following do work, though:
    • Poison. Curare darts slow as usual, allowing you to run away from the yak or fight. While Mephitic Cloud checks HD, a cloud can attempt to confuse multiple times, which can eventually work.
      • Death yaks will happily charge into a scroll of poison's clouds, but they'll take lots of damage in the process. If you have poison resistance (or use a potion of resistance, or worship Qazlal), kiting death yaks through the poison clouds is brutally effective. Even if you don't have rPois, they'll be weakened significantly - just make sure you can fight and/or escape afterwards.
    • Throwing nets and damaging evocable items function normally. Their usefulness depends on the item; a net can't be thrown at every yak, but it can help you win against a single one. A tin of tremorstones or lightning rod is unlikely to kill outright, but it can help soften them up.
    • Kiting. Death yaks are 10 speed enemies, so fast species (Spriggans and Felids) can kite in an explored area with relative safety.
  • Don't try to melee multiple death yaks at once. For melee characters, the usual tactic of stair dancing works well. Just don't bring more mutton than you can chew. Ranged attacks can work, since death yaks don't have any of their own.
  • If you encounter a pack of death yaks in the Dungeon, they are almost certainly part of a vault guarding the Lair. They are very nasty foes for this part of the game, don't attempt to fight one. But remember that death yaks are 10 speed enemies, so you can walk away.
    • If you're trying to sneak past death yaks, keep note of their "herd" behavior; yaks tend to follow each other. If you find a yak in one area, it's unlikely for there to be any yaks in another area (say, the entrance to the Lair).