The Sewers

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

Every inhabited place needs to dispose of its waste products. The Dungeon too has its stinking sewers and drains, full of filthy water and ignored by most but used as hideaways by the disgusting and the desperate. Old tales speak of dangerous creatures stalking through the foul-smelling green water, preying on each other without mercy. The tales also allude to valuable items accidentally washed into the drainage tunnels, forgotten and left to grow mouldy in the damp caverns.

The Sewers are a temporary portal level that shows up in the early game. Sewers are usually filled with regions of shallow and deep water, a variety of (mostly) weak early game opponents, and some useful potions and scrolls.

Sewers may appear on Dungeon: 3-6. The portal is signaled by "the sound of rushing water"; if you take too long, the sewer will collapse. Sewer entrances are often filled with patches of green and blue water, and a large number of vermin (rats, snakes, etc.).

Monsters

The exact inhabitants of the sewers vary from layout to layout, but many monsters are common to most possible layouts:

b Bat	r Rat	r River rat	h Jackal
l Frilled lizard	w Worm	S Ball python	S Adder
B Giant cockroach	K Kobold	J Endoplasm

Other monsters only appear in specific layouts, usually as the "boss" defending the loot at the end:

F Bullfrog - These can be found at the end of certain vaults. Surprisingly dangerous in melee at the point when the Sewer appears.

S Water moccasin - Venomous, faster and hardier than an adder, this snake sometimes appears as the final boss instead of Pargi.

r Hell rat - Another fast and surprisingly dangerous foe -- though initially locked behind a door.

K Kobold brigand - Dangerous, and often armed with curare darts or a crossbow.

m Siren - Sickly or malarious merfolk capable of mesmerizing you. A lot weaker than their counterparts in the Shoals, but still extremely dangerous. Found in one particular layout.

T Pargi - Even though he's weaker than regular trolls, he's very dangerous at this point of the dungeon.

5 Grinder - Can appear in a certain layout along with shadow imps, quasits, and zombies. Extremely dangerous if you're lacking willpower.

Loot

Loot will usually appear at the ending, in small chambers along the path, or in kobold rooms. Most of the time you can expect to find potions and scrolls, sometimes armour.

There are always readily accessible exit gates near the entrance in case you're quickly overwhelmed, but once you leave the Sewers, you can never return.

Tips & Tricks

• Remember that enemies that aren't amphibious are easier to defeat when they are standing in water. This can help take out kobold brigands (assuming they don't simply kill you at range with darts).
• When Fire Magic or a wand of flame passes over a water tile, it will create damaging steam clouds. Steam damage alone can take out most enemies you'll find in a Sewer.

History

• In 0.28, two Sewers layouts were added, and many layouts were rebalanced.