Draining (brand)

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

It sometimes drains living victims (1/2 chance). This deals an additional one-quarter of any damage that pierces defenders' armour as well as a flat 2-4 damage, and also weakens them slightly. A truly terrible weapon...

The draining brand adds a draining effect to weapons.

Each attack from a draining weapon has a 50% chance of doing all of the following:

• Adds an average of roughly +25% negative energy damage (0 - 50%) to attacks, applied after AC and all damage factors (including slaying).
• Deal an additional 2-4 negative energy damage on top of that.
• Inflicts 20-30 turns of the the Drained status. This decreases monster HD, thus reducing their willpower, spell power, and accuracy. Further hits can refresh this status, but won't increase the duration beyond 30 turns.

Against players, the draining status will temporarily reduce your maximum HP. This can be cured by gaining XP.

Monsters with any sort of rN+, including demons and undead, are immune to draining entirely. Players with rN+++ are immune, and players with rN+ resist the effect.

Strategy

Draining is a very useful brand in areas with living or plant opponents. While it usually deals less damage than flaming or freezing, the Drained status is great at debuffing monsters.

However, this brand is of little use in places filled with demons, undead, and non-living foes. By the time you reach Zot or extended, consider rebranding a draining weapon, or using a different weapon entirely.

Tips & Tricks

• Since the drain status lowers HD, higher HD monsters could switch places with drained monsters, pushing them back and wasting turns.

History

• Prior to 0.30, draining could not be obtained on Ranged Weapons.
• Prior to 0.26, drained players had their skills reduced instead of their maximum HP.
• Prior to 0.15, draining weapons would permanently lower monster HD, which also slightly lowered the experience and piety rewards for killing them.
• Prior to 0.13, draining weapons used against the player had no impact on your skills. Instead, it permanently reduced your experience, potentially causing you to lose experience levels.