Wall

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

"I know not whether Laws be right, Or whether Laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol Is that the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year, A year whose days are long." -Oscar Wilde, "Ballad of Reading Gaol"

The most prominent features of the dungeon, walls block movement and often line of sight. In general, destroying or bypassing them requires one of a few specific abilities.

Wall Varieties

Rock

This wall consists of simple rock.

Very common walls made from unworked stone which block LOS, but relatively easy to remove. Rock is the only material for which the Passwall spell functions, allowing you to slip through it. Destroyed by:

• Formicids' digging ability
• Dig (or a wand of digging)
• Shatter
• Fedhas' Overgrowth
• Lugonu's Corruption
• Dissolution

Translucent Rock

The mineral this rock consists of is as translucent as good quality glass. Whether it is natural or magical, you can't tell.

Identical to rock walls, except they don't block sight.

For the purposes of attacking and other abilities, translucent walls are treated as solid walls. You can't attack or blink through these walls, even with piercing or smite-targeted attacks.

Stone

A harder obstacle than rock walls. Only the mightiest magic can shatter stone walls.

More durable than rock walls, these require stronger magic to remove. Destroyed by:

• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption

Translucent Stone

It has been imbued with arcane magics which render it translucent.

The stone analog to transparent rock.

Metal

A wall of bluish-grey metal. As every dungeon electrician knows, this stuff will ground even magical bolts of lightning.

Metal walls are similar to stone walls. The metal prevents Shock and Lightning Bolt from bouncing off it. Lee's Rapid Deconstruction is stronger when used on a metal wall. Destroyed by:

• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption

Crystal

A wall made from polished crystal and imbued with arcane magics. They prevent its easy destruction, and make it reflect heat and cold.

Crystal walls are also similar to stone walls. They will reflect fire and cold, the same way stone walls reflect Shock. Lee's Rapid Deconstruction is stronger when used on a crystal wall. Destroyed by:

• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption

Trees

While the dungeon is filled with dim magic light, in most places it is not bright enough to sustain any larger plants. It is uneven, though, and there are spots where, with the grace of Fedhas, trees as big as those on the surface can grow underground.

"Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"
-Smokey the Bear

Functionally walls, these block movement and LOS. Despite having the ability to walk through plants, followers of Fedhas Madash cannot pass through trees. If lit ablaze, they cause forest fires that spread fire to the spaces (and other trees) around them. Unlike walls, they cannot be affected by Lee's Rapid Deconstruction or Frozen Ramparts. Destroyed by:

• Player-castable fire spells:
  • Inner Flame explosions (including from scroll of immolation)
  • Flame Wave
  • Fireball
  • Starburst
  • Ignition
  • Fire Storm
• Monster-only fire spells:
  • Bolt of Magma
  • Bolt of Fire
  • Lightning Bolt
• Nearby spreading flames
• Polar Vortex
• The Lernaean hydra
• Shatter
• Overgrow
• Corruption

If you are worshipping Fedhas, none of your spells are able to destroy trees (Fedhas actively protects them). Overgrow still works, however. Trees created by Summon Forest cannot be destroyed as easily; only Shatter / Overgrow / Corruption work.

Demonic Trees

A tree hideously warped by the demonic forces of chaos. Despite its bizarre appearance and occasional, unsettling movement, it seems harmless.

Burning a demonic tree produces a cloud of seething chaos instead of fire.

Petrified Trees

An ancient tree, long ago passed from biology into geology. While no longer wooden in a material sense, it retains the spiritual qualities of a tree.

Unlike other trees, petrified trees can be dug through.

Mangroves

This tree is specially adapted for growing in swampy conditions. Its vines are too thick to see through.

These function identically to trees, save that they grow in shallow water.

Slime Covered Rock

This wall is thickly coated with bright green slime. Ewwwwww.

Found only in the Slime Pits, these inflict corrosion to any adventurer adjacent to one. Every slime wall currently adjacent to you inflicts 1 stack of corrosion (-4 damage and AC). Otherwise the same as rock wall.

Followers of Jiyva are immune to the effects of slime walls, and at 3* piety, can temporarily turn walls into slime. Jiyva-created walls deal acid damage to every enemy adjacent to them.

Destroyed by:

• Formicid's digging ability
• Dig
• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption
• Dissolution

Rune-Carved Stone

A strangely slime-free wall, carved all over with countless protective runes. One often repeated set of runes seems to refer to 'the royal jelly.'

These walls make up the outside portions of the central chamber of the bottom of the Slime Pits. They are otherwise identical to stone walls. Destroyed by:

• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption

Rune-Carved Clear Stone

A strangely slime-free stone wall, with strange lights twinkling within its airy confines. Mystical runes are scattered across its surface, seemingly referring to a 'Royal Jelly'.

These transparent walls make up the interior of the central chamber of Slime:5. If the Royal Jelly is dead (or if you have high piety with Jiyva), these walls will vanish, allowing easy access to the Slimy Rune of Zot. Without these methods, these walls can only be destroyed with:

• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption

Iron Grate

A rusted iron grate, brittle enough to be disrupted with a spell or a wand quite easily. It's too strong to be breakable by hand, though.

These block movement and line of fire, but they do not block LOS or line of effect, so smite-targeted attacks can get through. They are usually found in special vaults, often sealing away monsters with smite-targeted attacks. Destroyed by:

• Formicid's digging ability
• Dig
• Shatter
• Overgrowth
• Corruption
• Dissolution

You can use Blink, Passage of Golubria, or dispersal traps to pass in or out of grates. You can also use Dispersal or Disjunction to bring enemies out of grates.

Large Window

A window embedded in the side of an enormous metal pipe, allowing observation of the water flowing inside.

Large windows are found in certain Sewers maps, and function identically to transparent rock walls.

Unnaturally Hard Wall

You cannot affect this wall by any means.

Walls which are described as unnaturally hard are completely indestructible. The only way past them is to go around.

Translucent Unnaturally Hard Wall

This wall is imbued with magic that not only makes it indestructible but also makes it translucent like glass.

The indestructible variant of translucent rock.

Map boundaries

The following "walls" are found on the edges of certain floors.

Open Sea

Nothing but endless wind and waves, and not a lighthouse in sight. You'd be lost beyond all hope in short order - better not risk it.
The ferocious winds and tides of the open sea thwart your progress.

While not walls in the traditional sense, these impassable tiles mark the outer borders of the Shoals and certain Sewers layouts.

Endless Lava

A sea of fire and brimstone that goes as far as you can see. Which is not far because of the thick smoke.
Unlike small pools of lava where flight or levitation may allow short trips, floating above this inferno would cook you in no time thanks to runaway convection.
The endless sea of lava is not a nice place.

The fiery equivalent of the open sea tiles, these mark the outer borders of a floor across lava pools.

Endless Salt

A seemingly endless, flat plain, wracked by blinding salt storms. Anyone venturing across it would be lost beyond all hope in short order.

Much like open sea and endless lava, these mark the outer borders of the Desolation of Salt.

Dimension's Edge

The edge of this tiny, isolated plane, where space itself dissolves into oblivion. Entering or affecting this black void is impossible.

Yet another impenetrable level border, this time bordering the Roulette of Golubria.

History

• In 0.32, new decorative walls will be added.
• Prior to 0.30, slime-covered walls would damage players and monsters with acid damage.
• In 0.27, demonic and petrified trees were added. Initially, burned demonic trees released durably summoned demons in addition to chaos clouds, but this was removed before the release.
• Prior to 0.22, Lee's Rapid Deconstruction could destroy walls, doors, iron grates and statues.
• Prior to 0.20, wands of disintegration could destroy rock walls and some other obstacles in the dungeon (doors, iron grates, trees, orcish idols, and most kinds of statues). Also, eyes of devastation could disintegrate rock walls with their Energy Bolt spell.
• Prior to 0.17, you could find boring beetles, arthropods capable of digging rock walls.
• Prior to 0.11, you could find walls of solid wax:

These walls are built by bees. Occasionally a dungeon architect will manipulate bees into building wax walls for aesthetic reasons. (Theirs, not the bees'.) They are susceptible to fire and will melt and burn, given sufficient heat.

Wax walls were frequently found in killer bee vaults, though they could also appear near altars to Xom or in the Abyss. They often hid treasure, in particular royal jelly and honeycombs.