CrawlWiki - User contributions [en]

Sticks to Snakes

2015-03-21T19:29:33Z

Furrykef: /* History */ sp

{{version014}}
{{Spell
|name=Sticks to Snakes
|level=2
|school1={{Transmutations}}
|school2=
|school3=
|sources=<div>
*[[Book of Changes]]
</div>
|castingnoise=2
|spellnoise=0
}}
{{Flavour|This spell uses wooden missiles (arrows or javelins) in the caster's grasp as raw material for a powerful transmutation.}}

'''Sticks to Snakes''' is a level 2 [[Transmutations]] spell which turns a wielded (w '''or''' Ctrl + Left mouse click) wooden item into a poisonous [[list of snakes|snake]]. [[Transmuter]]s begin with this spell in their starting [[spellbook]] and can use it to turn [[arrow]]s and [[javelin]]s into useful [[poison]]ous allies early on.

This spell can create one or more of the following monsters:

{{monsterlink|Ball python}}
{{monsterlink|Adder}}
{{monsterlink|Water moccasin}}

These summons can attack outside of the player's [[line of sight]], and follow him up or down [[stairs]].

Certain [[brand]]s can affect the outcome of this spell: [[silver]] or [[steel]] items are entirely unusable. Using a stack of ammunition will often give you multiple snakes (up to [[Transmutations]]/4), sometimes more than the number of missiles used. Items that you've placed a {!D} [[Inscriptions|inscription]] on will also not work until you've removed the inscription (though this is an excellent way to ensure you don't destroy a useful item).

While [[felid]]s can't normally wield weapons, they can wield arrows as a special case specifically for this spell. However, they need to use the [[wield|'w' command]] to do this; as of version [[0.12.0]], neither the "swap weapons" (`) command nor Tiles' point-and-click will handle arrows properly for felids.

==Tips & Tricks==
* Inscribe wanted ammo with !D to prevent accidentally turning it into a snake.

==History==
Prior [[0.14]], this spell worked on melee weapons, like [[club]]s and [[polearm]]s and could create [[black mamba]]s or even [[anaconda]]s, making it much more useful for non-felids.

Abyssal Knight

2015-03-21T19:26:43Z

Furrykef: doubled "the"

{{version015}}
{{flavour|The Abyssal Knight is a fighter serving Lugonu the Unformed, ruler of the Abyss. They are granted some power over the Abyss, and must spread death and disorder in return.}}
'''Abyssal Knights''' are warriors sent from [[the Abyss]] by [[Lugonu]], the god of corruption and chaos. Their purpose is to spread bloodshed and disorder in the [[Dungeon]], and must do so unflaggingly to earn Lugonu's favour.

Abyssal Knights start with 38 [[piety]].

==Preferred Races==
[[Hill Orc]], [[Spriggan]], [[Troll]], [[Merfolk]], [[Draconian]] and [[Demonspawn]] are the recommended races if you pick an Abyssal Knight Background.

==Racial Restrictions==
[[Demigod]]s cannot be Abyssal Knights, as they cannot worship Lugonu (or any other god).

==Starting Equipment==
Some [[species]] may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.
*+1 [[weapon of choice]] ([[hand axe]], [[spear]], [[short sword]], [[falchion]], or [[mace]])
*+0 [[leather armour]]
*[[Bread ration]]
*20 [[gold]]

==Starting Skills and Stats==
These are adjusted by your species' [[aptitude]]s.
*[[Fighting]]: 3
*Chosen Weapon's Skill: 2
*[[Armour]]: 1 (+1 if Armour Apt. >= Dodging Apt.)
*[[Dodging]]: 1 (+1 if Dodging Apt. > Armour Apt.)
*[[Invocations]]: 2

Choosing Abyssal Knight adds 4 to your starting [[Strength]], [[Intelligence]] and [[Dexterity]].

==Strategy==
Abyssal Knights start their game in the the Abyss with enough [[piety]] to use Lugonu's Depart the Abyss ability. There is little benefit to wandering the Abyss before leaving, as the items generated for you are of the same value and rarity as you will find on [[Dungeon]]:1, while the monsters are far, far worse. That being said, the piety cost of this ability is somewhat high. There is usually an exit located near your starting area, but don't risk fighting anything found here at level 1.

Abyssal Knights begin with melee-oriented skills, supplemented by Lugonu's invocations (as they are earned). These powers include a [[blink]]-like ability, [[banishment]] of enemies, corruption of levels, and easy travel to and from the Abyss. These are mainly defensive abilities, and help an otherwise melee character out of tight spots. Of course, your Abyssal Knight is free to branch into ranged combat or magic should you wish to, and doing so eventually is strongly advised. Lugonu does not have any stringent requirements, and awards piety for both killing and corpse sacrifices, making it easy to play an Abyssal Knight in any way you like.

Serving Lugonu has the advantage of making the [[abyssal rune]] easier to acquire; the rune is generated earlier for Lugonu worshippers and they can escape the Abyss ''much'' more easily than anyone else. Getting ''banished'' to the Abyss is also not the death sentence for Abyssal Knights that it is for low-level characters of other backgrounds. Also, the corruption ability makes it easy to disrupt well-guarded vaults, making it very useful when coupled with [[Apportation]] for grabbing runes without actually fighting its guardians.

See also [[IonFrigate's guide to Abyssal Knights]] and [http://pastebin.com/QnHCvEVv Pacra's Abyssal Knight guide].

==History==
Prior to [[0.15]], abyssal knights started with +2, +2 weapons instead of +1.

This background was added in [[0.8]], but it was essentially available in earlier versions by selecting a [[Chaos Knight]] of Lugonu. Now Chaos Knights can only be of [[Xom]].

{{backgrounds}}
[[Category:Backgrounds]]

Saprovore

2015-03-21T19:25:39Z

Furrykef: changing to past tense, since 0.16 is out

{{version015}}
The '''Saprovore''' [[mutation]] allows your character to consume meat [[chunk]]s that other characters would find inedible. This includes rotten, [[mutation]]-inducing, and [[rot]]-inducing chunks, all of which are treated as clean. [[Ghoul]]s begin play with this mutation.

==History==
The exact effects of saprovore have changed dramatically over the course of ''DCSS''' development. Prior to [[0.10]], eating contaminated chunks would occasionally inflict [[sickness]], and rotten chunks were completely inedible. Having ranks of saprovore would make rotten chunks edible (though still potentially sickening) and would reduce the odds of getting sick from contaminated flesh. Any chunk could be eaten safely at rank 3, but only ghouls were able to reach that rank.

In [[0.13]], the [[nausea]] status effect was introduced. This was an intermediate status effect that would kick in before sickness, preventing the character from eating further until the status effect ended (though starving or near starving characters could force themselves to eat at a significant penalty and with a chance of advancing their status to sick). Saprovore functioned as before, except that it helped prevent nausea rather than sickness.

In [[0.15]], in an attempt to simplify ''DCSS''' food system, all characters with Saprovore except for [[ghoul]]s and [[troll]]s had the trait removed. This included [[hill orc]]s (rank 1), [[ogre]]s (rank 1), [[demonspawn]] with the [[Foul Stench]] [[demonspawn mutation]] (rank 1), and [[kobold]]s (rank 2). It also removed the concept of contaminated chunks.

In [[0.16]], rotten chunks were removed entirely.

[[Category:Crystal Ball Articles]]

Shadow trap

2015-03-21T03:05:30Z

Furrykef: no longer in the future

{{version016}}
{{flavour|This magical trap creates replicas of creatures native to its location, weaving them from shadows and threads of Abyssal matter. Its magics are sensitive enough that any non-summoned creature entering it will set it off, as long as you are in sight.}}

[[File:Shadow trap.png]] Stepping on a '''shadow trap''' will immediately result in you being the target of a long-duration [[Shadow Creatures]] spell; essentially, you will be assaulted by a summoned band of monsters appropriate for the floor you are currently on. The strength of this band can vary significantly, but they will always be summoned hostile. Much like a [[Zot trap]], if this [[trap]] is triggered by a monster, the effects will still target you so long as you're within [[line of sight]].

In order to avoid [[batty]] opponents from triggering shadow traps multiple times in a single turn, activating a shadow trap turns it into a '''dormant shadow trap''' for 2-4 turns.

==Tips & Tricks==
*The creatures summoned by this trap will time out after enough time has passed. If you don't want to deal with the results, feel free to [[teleport]] away and let them naturally unsummon. Just be aware that they're rather long-lived for summons.
*Stepping on a shadow trap will not disarm it, only disable it for a few turns. Make sure to avoid luring large groups of enemies into an area with a known shadow trap in order to avoid complicating already difficult battles.

==History==
Shadow traps were added in [[0.16]].

[[Category:Traps]]
[[Category:Crystal Ball Articles]]

Needle

2015-02-20T21:17:33Z

Furrykef: no longer relevant, since monsters no longer pick up items you have seen

{{version015}}

{{missile
|name = Needle
|cost = 2
|weight = 0.1
|launcher = blowgun
|damage = 0
}}

{{flavour|A thin piece of metal, typically coated in some harmful substance. When launched from a blowgun it can deliver its toxins into the bloodstream of a living or demonic being.

----

"I pray that, risen from the dead, I may in glory stand- A crown, perhaps, upon my head, But a needle in my hand.

-Eugene Field, "Grandma's Prayer". late 19th cent.}}

'''Needles''' are a form of ammunition fired from [[blowgun]]s that do no direct damage, but may be coated with a variety of toxins, which act as needle-specific [[brand]]s. Randomly-generated needles always have a brand, with [[poison]] being the default (and the only needle brand which occurs on other kinds of missiles).

Undead and non-living creatures are immune to the effects of any kind of needle, but demons can still be affected.

Special needle brands are:
*'''Sleeping''': Puts creatures to [[sleep]].
*'''Slowing''': [[Slow]]s creatures.
*'''Confusion''': [[Confusion|confuses]] creatures.
*'''Paralysis''': [[Paralyze]]s creatures.
*'''Frenzy''': Causes living creatures to turn neutral and [[berserk]], meaning they will attack other monsters (use it from afar against groups of enemies).
*'''Curare''': Poisons, asphyxiates, and slows creatures. Unlike the previous brands, this brand doesn't check your blowgun's enchantment or your throwing skill. Instead, the only requisites are that the inflicted damage must be greater than 0, and the monster must not have any level of poison resistance. Creatures that need to breathe take 2d6 extra damage from [[asphyxiation]].

The chance of affecting creatures with these brands (except Poison and Curare) depends on your throwing skill, the blowgun's enchantment, and the monster's hit dice; see [[Brand#Needle brands|Brand]] for details. The duration of the effect depends on your [[Throwing]] skill and the blowgun's enchantment.

==Tips & Tricks==
*Poison and curare needles are very helpful in the early game; so long as your target isn't poison resistant, any needle you manage to hit with will affect it. Stacks of poison needles can be used to soften up or defeat powerful enemies (so long as you have a cleared out portion of the map to [[kite]] them around), while curare's guaranteed slow effect and significant damage will handicap them even further.
*The other needles are hard to come by, but can be extraordinarily useful if you've trained your Throwing skill. Paralysis in particular is a godsend to characters with powerful stabbing attacks. With a decent amount of Throwing skill and a well-enchanted blowgun, it's not too difficult to completely disable nearly anything (except for plants, non-living targets, and the undead).

{| class="prettytable" style="border:none; margin:auto; padding:0; text-align: center"
! Needle || Poison || Curare
|-
| [[File:Needle 1.png]] || [[File:Needle poison.png]] || [[File:Needle 2.png]]
|}

==History==
In [[0.13]] needles of sickness were removed.

{{weapons}}
[[Category:015 Tiles]]

Ranged weapon

2015-02-20T18:29:32Z

Furrykef: /* Weapon attributes */

{{version015}}

'''Ranged weapons''' include all [[weapon]]s capable of attacking any target within your [[line of sight]]. All of these require ammo to function, and most of them require you to wield a launcher. The ability to attack distant foes is very helpful, particularly for characters with fast [[movement]] speed (see [[kiting]]). However, ranged weapons are not without their drawbacks. Running out of ammo renders a ranged weapon nearly useless, and [[melee weapon]]s tend to have better overall stats.

==Weapon attributes==
The following is a table of all ranged weapons in ''Crawl''. Below is a short explanation of each field:

{| class="wikitable"
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Name
| The name of the item as it appears in Crawl.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Damage
| The base amount of damage the weapon does, before various bonuses and adjustments.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Hit
| To hit modifier for the weapon, before any other adjustments.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | [[Weapon Speed|Speed]]
| This is actually the attack delay, which is multiplied by 10 to get the "percentages" you see in-game. (That is, attack delay 10 shows as 100%.) Every 2 levels of weapon skill lowers the delay by 1 unit. A weapon's minimum delay is half of its base delay (rounded down) or 7 (5 for [[cutlass]], 10 for [[hand crossbow]]s, [[arbalest]]s and [[triple crossbow]]s), whichever is lower. Speed brand and haste cut delay by one third (round randomly up or down). These effects stack, ''after'' the base cap, but there's an absolute cap of 2 for attack delay.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Mass
| How heavy a weapon is. Note that this is used for game calculations and is '''not''' the same as the weight as it appears in your inventory.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;" | Str weight
| A bigger [[strength weight|strength weighting]] is better for strong characters, while a low strength weighting is better for dexterous characters.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Skill
| Which skill is required to effectively use this weapon.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | [[Handedness|One-handed min. size]]
| Minimum size required to be able to use the weapon with one hand. The order is little, small, medium, large, big.
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | [[Handedness|Two-handed min. size]]
| Minimum size required to be able to use the weapon with two hands. When the player's size is equal or greater than 'Two-handed min. size', but less than 'One-handed min. size', the weapon cannot be used with a [[shield]].
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;" | Missile
| The sort of ammo needed to use this weapon
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left; white-space: nowrap;" | Dam Type
| What category of damage does the weapon deal?
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
!style="text-align: left;" | Prob
| A larger number indicates higher probability of acquiring through scrolls of [[acquirement]].
|}

==Throwing==
[[Throwing]] weapons can be further divided into two categories: thrown weapons and blowguns.

Thrown weapons are unique among ranged weapons in that they do not require you to wield anything to use them; you simply hurl them without needing a free hand (Don't ask). This means you don't have to waste time in combat swapping weapons, saving turns and reducing frustration, you can wear [[shield]]s, and you can save many [[scrolls of enchant weapon]]. Thrown weapons need 27 skill levels to reach minimum delay, but despite this the average damage per turn of tomahawks, javelins, and large rocks is better than any other ranged weapon at the same skill level.
*[[Stone]]
*[[Tomahawk]]
*[[Javelin]]
*[[Throwing net]]
*[[Large rock]] ([[troll]]s and [[ogre]]s only)

Blowguns are very unusual ranged weapons. In spite of the fact that they are affected by your Throwing skill, they require you to wield a blowgun and fire [[needle]]s at the enemy. These deal no damage, but inflict devastating [[status effect]]s.

{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Dam || Hit || Speed || Mass || Str weight || Skill || One-handed min. size || Two-handed min. size || Missile || Dam Type || Prob || Notes
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Blowgun]] || 0 || +2 || 10 || 20 || 0% || Throwing || Little || Little || [[Needle]] || None || 0 || Deals no damage, but inflicts [[status effects]]
|}

==Slings==
[[Slings]] are ranged weapons which hurl [[sling bullet]]s (or [[stone]]s in a pinch) with great force. They are one-handed weapons for all but the [[spriggan|tiniest characters]] and require much less skill than most other weapons to reach min delay, but they are significantly less powerful than their slower, more cumbersome alternatives.

{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Dam || Hit || Speed || Mass || Str weight || Skill || One-handed min. size || Two-handed min. size || Missile || Dam Type || Prob || Notes
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Hunting sling]] || 5 || +2 || 12 || 20 || 10% || Slings || Little || Little || [[Stone]] / [[Sling bullet]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Greatsling]] || 8 || -1 || 14 || 30 || 10% || Slings || Small || Little || [[Stone]] / [[Sling bullet]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|}

==Bows==
[[Bows]] are a moderate player's choice of ranged weapon, firing [[arrow]]s at your opponents to deadly effect. They are universally more powerful than slings, and require only a reasonable skill investment to fire quickly. However, both kinds of bow require two hands to wield.

{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Dam || Hit || Speed || Mass || Str weight || Skill || One-handed min. size || Two-handed min. size || Missile || Dam Type || Prob || Notes
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Shortbow]] || 9 || +2 || 13 || 90 || 20% || Bows || - || Little || [[Arrow]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Longbow]] || 15 || 0 || 17 || 120 || 30% || Bows || - || Medium || [[Arrow]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|}

==Crossbows==
If you want a ranged weapon that tears into foes with the strength of a melee weapon, consider getting into [[crossbows]]. These contraptions are the largest, slowest ranged weapons available, but they launch their [[bolt]]s with unparalleled force. Unfortunately, they require the most skill of all ranged weapons to attack quickly, particularly in the case of the super-heavy [[triple crossbow]]. With the exception of the tiny [[hand crossbow]], crossbows are two-handed weapons and benefit much more from high [[strength]] than from [[dexterity]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Name || Dam || Hit || Speed || Mass || Str weight || Skill || One-handed min. size || Two-handed min. size || Missile || Dam Type || Prob || Notes
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Hand crossbow]] || 12 || +5 || 15 || 50 || 50% || Crossbows || Little || Little || [[Bolt]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Arbalest]] || 18 || +2 || 19 || 150 || 80% || Crossbows || - || Little || [[Bolt]] || Non-melee || 10 ||
|-style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Triple crossbow]] || 22 || 0 || 23 || 250 || 90% || Crossbows || - || Small || [[Bolt]] || Non-melee || 2 ||
|}

==Brands==
Ranged weapons and their associated ammunition are capable of carrying a wide variety of [[brand]]s which can greatly increase your lethality when used correctly:

===Ranged Weapon Brands===
*[[Electrocution]] - Deals additional [[electricity]] damage
*[[Evasion (brand)|Evasion]] - Increases [[EV]]
*[[Flame]] - Converts all damage to [[fire]], increases damage by 0-40%
*[[Frost]] - Converts all damage to [[cold]], increases damage by 0-40%
*[[Penetration]] - Projectiles can pierce through enemies, hitting everything along its trajectory
*[[Speed (brand)|Speed]] - Attacks take 66.6% normal time
*[[Venom]] - Poisons target
*[[Vorpal]] - Increases damage by 0-40%

===Ammunition Brands===
*[[Needle|Confusion]] - [[Confuse]]s target
*[[Curare]] - [[Poison]]s, [[slow]]s, and [[asphyxiate]]s target
*[[Dispersal]] - Forces target to [[blink]] randomly
*[[Exploding]] - Hits target and all adjacent tiles with a small unavoidable explosion
*[[Flame]] - Converts all damage to [[fire]], increases damage by 0-40%
*[[Frenzy]] - [[Berserk]]s target and temporarily turns it hostile to everything
*[[Frost]] - Converts all damage to [[cold]], increases damage by 0-40%
*[[Needle|Paralysis]] - [[Paralyse]]s target
*[[Penetration]] - Projectiles can pierce through enemies, hitting everything along its trajectory
*[[Poisoned]] - [[Poison]]s target
*[[Returning]] - Ammo may return to the attacker, with chance based on player skill or monster [[HD]]
*[[Silver]] - Deals massive damage to [[chaotic]] targets
*[[Needle|Sleep]] - Puts target back to sleep
*[[Needle|Slowing]] - [[Slow]]s target
*[[Steel]] - Increases damage by 30%, [[mulch]]es much less often

If both your launcher and your ammo have brands, the brand of the missile usually overrides that of the launcher. Exceptions include the vorpal and speed brands, which stack with any ammo, and the fire/cold damage brands, which cancel out each other when paired together.

==Retired Weapons==
Over the years, several weapons have been removed from the ''Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup'' arsenal.
*[[Bow]]
*[[Crossbow]]
*[[Dart]]
*[[Sling]]

==See also==
*[[Ranged Combat]]

==History==
Prior to [[0.15]], ranged combat was significantly more complicated. Min delay was heavily influenced by your [[stats]], and there was a much smaller variety of weapons available.

Prior to [[0.14]], [[dagger]]s, [[spear]]s, [[hand axe]]s, and [[club]]s could be thrown.

Ossuary

2015-02-19T22:26:43Z

Furrykef: /* Tips & Tricks */ According to Death curse, "allowing an allied or enslaved creature to kill a mummy still results in you suffering the death curse".

{{version012}}
{{flavour|The Ossuary is a smallish tomb containing the remains and grave goods of some distant relatives of the pharaohs, along with the corpses of their retainers and household animals. It is undoubtedly riddled with many traps, and its undead denizens are unlikely to take kindly to looting.
}}
{{Flavour|You can make out a staircase leading downwards into a small tomb. Sand surrounds the staircase and is continuously pouring onto it. Before long the staircase will be gone. They say that some distant relatives of the pharaohs were entombed here.}}

==Useful Info==
[[File:Ossuary portal.png]]The [[Ossuary]] is a randomly generated special level of the [[Dungeon]], accessible through a timed portal and occasionally found in the early dungeon around the same floors that [[the Sewers]] are generated on. Although its layout varies greatly, you can always expect to find [[undead]] monsters (including [[mummy (monster)|mummies]]), numerous [[trap]]s, and a pile of treasure at the end. An exit should be located right by the entrance, but leaving will seal off the floor forever.

==Layout==
The Ossuary's layout is unpredictable. Although it's always a fairly small floor, it ranges from a wide open crypt with little cover, to a series of interconnected rooms, all separated by doors.

==Tips & Tricks==
*The Ossuary is often found very early in the game. [[Ice elementalist]]s and [[Necromancer]]s without [[Dispel Undead]] may want to skip it if they have no means of dealing with undead enemies.
*The mummies you encounter are slow, but pack an annoying [[death curse]] when defeated: each time you take one out, a piece of equipment in your inventory is [[cursed]]. Fire [[damage]] or weapons of [[holy wrath]] will make short work of them. This goes double for encounters with a [[guardian mummy]]; their death curses are much more dangerous.
*[[Poison resistance]] and/or exploring while at full [[HP]] are helpful for dealing with traps.
* High-metabolism characters such as [[troll]]s may wish to give this branch a pass if they don't have much in the way of food, as you'll probably be waiting around for quite a bit in the more trap-heavy versions.
*If you open the first door and suddenly find yourself facing an Ossuary that's half underwater, expect [[bog bodies]] in surprisingly large numbers. These creatures can do extra [[cold]] damage in melee, especially to low-level characters who are less likely to have resistance. Keep an eye on your potions!
*If you see the message: ''"You feel the presence of a powerful and evil guardian..."'', expect the main treasure pile at the end of the ossuary to be watched over by a [[guardian mummy]], which (depending on your skill set) may be well beyond your ability to kill. Even if you do manage to kill it, you'll still get pegged with a nasty [[death curse]].

==Monsters==
*[[Scorpion]] (Rare)
*[[Mummy]]
*[[Guardian mummy]] (Rare)
*[[Wight]] (Rare)
*[[Mimic]] (Rare)
*[[Skeleton (monster)|Skeleton]]
*[[Zombie]]
*[[Simulacrum (monster)|Simulacrum]] (Rare)
*[[Spectral thing]] (Rare)
**For derived undead, the base types will be monsters that tend to be seen in the upper dungeon, ranging from [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s about up to [[water moccasin]]s.

===Ossuary Variant Monsters===
*Decayed [[bog body]] (weaker, has [[Throw Frost]] instead of [[Bolt of Cold]])

==Timeout Messages==
{{flavour|1: Nearby sand pours into the staircase. 2: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, lightly covering it. 3: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, greatly covering it. 4: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, almost completely blocking access.}}

[[Category:Portals]] [[Category:Mummy]]

Ossuary

2015-02-19T22:24:08Z

Furrykef: /* Tips & Tricks */ No traps skill in the game anymore

{{version012}}
{{flavour|The Ossuary is a smallish tomb containing the remains and grave goods of some distant relatives of the pharaohs, along with the corpses of their retainers and household animals. It is undoubtedly riddled with many traps, and its undead denizens are unlikely to take kindly to looting.
}}
{{Flavour|You can make out a staircase leading downwards into a small tomb. Sand surrounds the staircase and is continuously pouring onto it. Before long the staircase will be gone. They say that some distant relatives of the pharaohs were entombed here.}}

==Useful Info==
[[File:Ossuary portal.png]]The [[Ossuary]] is a randomly generated special level of the [[Dungeon]], accessible through a timed portal and occasionally found in the early dungeon around the same floors that [[the Sewers]] are generated on. Although its layout varies greatly, you can always expect to find [[undead]] monsters (including [[mummy (monster)|mummies]]), numerous [[trap]]s, and a pile of treasure at the end. An exit should be located right by the entrance, but leaving will seal off the floor forever.

==Layout==
The Ossuary's layout is unpredictable. Although it's always a fairly small floor, it ranges from a wide open crypt with little cover, to a series of interconnected rooms, all separated by doors.

==Tips & Tricks==
*The Ossuary is often found very early in the game. [[Ice elementalist]]s and [[Necromancer]]s without [[Dispel Undead]] may want to skip it if they have no means of dealing with undead enemies.
*The mummies you encounter are slow, but pack an annoying [[death curse]] when defeated: each time you take one out, a piece of equipment in your inventory is [[cursed]]. Fire [[damage]] or weapons of [[holy wrath]] will make short work of them, but killing them with summoned monsters lets you avoid the curse entirely. This goes double for encounters with a [[guardian mummy]]; their death curses are much more dangerous.
*[[Poison resistance]] and/or exploring while at full [[HP]] are helpful for dealing with traps.
* High-metabolism characters such as [[troll]]s may wish to give this branch a pass if they don't have much in the way of food, as you'll probably be waiting around for quite a bit in the more trap-heavy versions.
*If you open the first door and suddenly find yourself facing an Ossuary that's half underwater, expect [[bog bodies]] in surprisingly large numbers. These creatures can do extra [[cold]] damage in melee, especially to low-level characters who are less likely to have resistance. Keep an eye on your potions!
*If you see the message: ''"You feel the presence of a powerful and evil guardian..."'', expect the main treasure pile at the end of the ossuary to be watched over by a [[guardian mummy]], which (depending on your skill set) may be well beyond your ability to kill. Even if you do manage to kill it, you'll still get pegged with a nasty [[death curse]].

==Monsters==
*[[Scorpion]] (Rare)
*[[Mummy]]
*[[Guardian mummy]] (Rare)
*[[Wight]] (Rare)
*[[Mimic]] (Rare)
*[[Skeleton (monster)|Skeleton]]
*[[Zombie]]
*[[Simulacrum (monster)|Simulacrum]] (Rare)
*[[Spectral thing]] (Rare)
**For derived undead, the base types will be monsters that tend to be seen in the upper dungeon, ranging from [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s about up to [[water moccasin]]s.

===Ossuary Variant Monsters===
*Decayed [[bog body]] (weaker, has [[Throw Frost]] instead of [[Bolt of Cold]])

==Timeout Messages==
{{flavour|1: Nearby sand pours into the staircase. 2: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, lightly covering it. 3: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, greatly covering it. 4: Nearby sand pours into the staircase, almost completely blocking access.}}

[[Category:Portals]] [[Category:Mummy]]

Frequently Asked Questions

2014-07-26T07:05:26Z

Furrykef: rm obsolete entry -- all scrolls identify when read as of 0.14

{{version013}}

If you're absolutely new to the game we suggest looking at this faq first:

https://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/faq

== What the hell is a jelly doing on D:1? ==

A: It's eating items in a small, inaccessible room in order to annoy you.

== How do I throw [whatever]? ==

A: To throw any item in your inventory, ('''F''')ire, then press ('''*''') to show all items. This is handy for troglodytes, people who can use [[Ignite Poison]] or [[Corpse Rot]], throwing annoying stuff into lava, and maybe something clever nobody's thought of yet.

== There's this awesome looking sword that's surrounded by crystal/stone walls, how do I get it? ==

A: The sword in stone vault has the weapon resting on a teleport trap, so to get it you'll need [[LRD]] or [[Shatter]] to break through the wall, then [[stasis]], [[teleport control]], or [[Apportation]] to reach the sword. [[Lugonu]] followers can corrupt the level to clear the walls and the trap.

== Does a portal to a bazaar always disappear eventually? ==

A: Some bazaars won't disappear until entered (these don't feature the "coins being counted" or bell tolling messages).

== Treasure trove wants a +6 [weapon]. I have a +6/+5 [weapon]. If I end up with +7/+6 would the Trove accept it? ==

A: Yes. When the troves ask for +n/+m enchantment, n and m are the minimum it will take. Also, it will accept any brand.

== How do I reach this location that's completely surrounded by trees? ==

A: Burn your way in. Fireball, bolt of fire, disintegration, lightning bolt... all available in wand form.

== Will leaving and then re-entering the Abyss reset the level? Most importantly, will new items be generated there? ==

A: Yes, the abyss is infinite. Teleporting sometimes resets the abyss too. There are infinite items and xp to be had there, if you can deal with the boredom and lack of rest between fights. Of course, if you are looking for the rune, exiting it is not advised.

== There's this text "(Hit _)" that sometimes appear at the top right of the screen, what does it mean? I'm playing online at CDO ==

A: It means you have a message waiting. Press _ to read it.

== How do you get a character dump/CIP for an online character? ==

A: Use the # key to dump the character file. The filename will be <character_name>.txt in the morgue directory.

== When I first started it asked me my name and I put it in. Now every time I run it, it uses that name and the save game is of course the same. How do I change that so it asks me every time so I can run a different game and have multiple saves? ==

Open init.txt and set remember_name = false and it will never remember old names for you. Alternatively, hit Backspace on the main menu: it'll clear out the name, allowing you to enter a new one.

== What do the different text colors on items mean? ==

A: See [[item]].

== Can a wand be recharged or should I just throw them away? ==

A: Yes, with a scroll of recharging. If you use an unknown scroll and it prompts you to select an item, the scroll is either identify (most common), recharging, or enchant armour. They're best saved for rods or wands of healing, haste, or teleportation though.

== Do magic staves get affected by corrosion? ==

A: No.

== I know enhancer staves (fire, cold, air, earth, death, poison) get a bonus to melee damage, but what about other staves? ==

A: Staves of conjuration, energy, etc. have no special effects in melee.

== Are we able to use enchant weapon scrolls on staves? ==

A: You can't use enchant scrolls on magical staves. Only on quarterstaves and lajatangs. Enhancer staves are always treated as 0/0. The staves that don't do extra damage have other nice effects, but for your caster to kill stuff in melee you need one of the damaging ones (elemental, death, poison to some extent).

== Does brand weapon scroll make distortion brand permanent? ==

A: Brand weapon only makes vorpal, flame, frost, electrocution, poison, and draining permanent. It can also change an existing brand. Pain, Distortion, and Holy Wrath are unique to [[Kikubaaqudgha]], [[Lugonu]], and [[The Shining One]], and trying to vorpalize those brands will backfire (often quite painfully).

== How useful is an anti-magic brand? ==

A: It is a weapon brand of choice for berserkers and heavy armor users against spellcasters, but the effect is dependent on the amount of damage you inflict, so you'd probably prefer to have it on a heavier weapon that can deal more damage. It's also entirely useless against non-casters, so you may prefer a more generally applicable brand anyway.

== Amulets of warding do not appear to protect against ranged or magic attacks from summoned creatures. Is this an oversight or is it intentional? ==

A: Intentional. It's meant to give you an edge against some summoners, like [[deep elf summoner]]s, who summon dangerous monsters with low MR. Warding is not as good as faith, but that's a consequence of the fact that this amulet is ridiculously good, not a specific problem with warding.

== Can someone explain how the speed brand diminishes my attacks? I had the impression it just reduces the time taken per attack. ==

A: It also reduces damage by 10%. This happens last (even after other brands get added).

== I have two rings of regeneration, is there any benefit to wearing both? ==

A: Yes, they stack.

== Do any bags/containers exist in game? ==

A: No, create a [[stash]] for your items.

== Do the effects of "ring of [element]" and "staff of [element]" stack? So can I wear both at the same time to increase the damage of my [elemental] spells even further? ==

A: Yes, enhancers stack up to three levels max.

== Does it make any difference whether a brand is on the launcher or ammo? ==

A: Ammo's brand overrides launcher's brand.

== Does sickness prevent a potion of heal wounds from functioning? ==

A: No, sickness only prevents "natural" regeneration.

== Does the "of electrocution" brand make noise? Will it hinder my stealth/stabbing successes if I wield it? ==

A: It doesn't hinder your stealth and stabbing. When you hit a monster and get the shock effect, it makes a slightly louder noise which can wake the nearby monsters. It only makes a lot of noise when the victim is standing in water.

== Do other brands make noise? ==

A: [[Chaos]].

== I have found at least one altar. Can I pray at it to become religious? What is a good choice and why and how? Can I change my mind later? ==

A: Yes, you can use an altar to become a god's worshiper. See the [[God]] page for which god you should choose and why. You can leave a god, but that god will periodically [[Penance|punish you]].

== When you use Ashenzari's exp transfer ability, does it take into account aptitudes? ==

A: It does take aptitudes into account. It transfer skill points, not skill levels. A high aptitude means you need less skill points to gain levels. So transferring from a high aptitude skill to a low one means the high one will lose more levels and the low one gain less than if you do it the other way around.

== If you see the altar with ''Trog'' and the burning spellbook, if you can apport the book before it is burnt, is it a useful book, or does it just explode anyway? ==

A: It only contains one spell: [[Apportation]].

== Do Nemelex's 'a' abilities allow me to train evocations? ==

A: Yes.

== When it says that Vehumet is aiding my destructive magic, what exactly does that mean? ==

A: Vehumet's aiding is basically like a ring of wizardry.

== How do you deal with orc priests in the early game? ==

A1: Run or take them out asap, depending on how strong you are. Corridors actually work okay for taking out priests if there are only regular orcs and priests present. The priests will quickly push their way to the front to melee you, past the weaker fodder. Stupid AI is stupid. They might smite you once or twice on the way, so if you are weak running still is your best bet. Note that this will not work if there also is an orc warrior or other strong orcs around.

A2: Find a corridor with a corner, where you can position yourself with minimum visibility. Ideally, the priest won't be able to smite you until it's one or two squares away, and you have a decent chance of fighting back.

A3: Sometimes you just need to start running earlier - whenever you see 2 or more orcs together, there's a high chance that there will be at least one priest with the group. If you have low HP and a few smites could kill you, you might want to start making your escape before the priests come into LOS.

== If a monster triggers a Zot trap when the player is not nearby, does it have any effect on the monster or on anything else? ==

A: Nothing happens when hostile monsters step on the trap out of LOS (apart from the message). When in LOS, the effect is applied to you with 1/5 chance (or nothing happens).

== Is polymorphing Jellies a good idea? ==

A: Jellies are great candidates for polymorphing. They are low HD and annoying.

== Other than waiting is there a way to reduce glow or the effects of glow? ==

A: Resist mutation, Necromutation, worship Zin, reading a scroll of vulnerability, or getting hit with purple draconian/quicksilver dragon breath.

== What is Victory Dance and how/why do I do it? ==

A: Before version 0.9, when you killed monsters, exp went into a pool, which would then be spent as you used various skills. Victory dancing was purposefully performing actions to train specific skills after you kill a monster and have points to spend. It has more or less been eliminated with the new skill system, and was completely squashed even for skills below level 1 in version 0.10.

== Is there a cap on skill levels? ==

A: Every skill can go up to [[27]].

== How much Armor/Shield skill or Strength is required to negate casting penalties? ==

A: The spellcasting penalty is 25 * (AEVP + ASP) - 20. AEVP is Adjusted Evasion Penalty (body armour) and ASP is Adjusted Shield Penalty. The armour skill you need to nullify the penalty depends on your strength and the encumbrance rating of your body armour. The formula is: Armour skill = 45 - 0.8*5*(STR+3)*45/(2*Encumbrance rating²). For leather armours, 5 str will be enough even if you don't have any armour skill. For fire dragon armours, 27 skill levels won't completely remove the penalty unless you have more than 22 str. For shields, assuming normal size and robe/Steam Dragon Armour, you need 1 for buckler, 11 for normal and 21 for large shield.

== Does the speed of primary unarmed attacks improve with skill level, like melee weapons? Can you get it down to a min delay? ==

A: Unarmed combat delay starts at 10 and decreases by 1 every 5.4 levels of the skill, so at 27 skill your delay is 5. It can't get any lower unless you count Haste and such.

== Do certain spells train Spellcasting faster? ==

A: Higher level spells add more weight, but with the new 0.9 skill system, focusing Spellcasting (and turning off competing skills) is probably more productive.

== Is it possible for a random blink to land you on a known Zot trap? Or any trap if you know it is there? Or a cloud? ==

A: Yes.

== What can you do to improve accuracy of spells? ==

A: Spell accuracy improves with spell power. So pump intelligence, spellcasting skill, all the spell's "school" magic skills, conjurations skill, and wear relevant boosters if they aren't crowded out by something more important. You can also apply a malus to enemy evasion, such as with Corona or the halo granted by TSO worship.

== Can I use Blade Hands and Statue Form at the same time? Because that would be awesome. ==

A: No two forms can be used at the same time, sorry.

== Do Claws etc stack with Transmuter forms? ==

A: Statue and Lich forms don't override physical mutations.

== Can Swiftness help Spriggans move any faster? ==

A: No.

== I've only gotten to D:10 and I'm close to 100 deaths any tips are welcome. ==

A: Keep playing. Every time you get killed by something, or meet a monster you haven't seen before, come over to the Wiki (or Henzell's LearnDB) to look it up.

== Is it possible to cook meat or make raw meat last longer? ==

A: There is nothing of the kind in Crawl, and developers have specifically stated that there will never be anything of the kind.

== Is there an action that takes half a turn but does nothing? ==

A: You can put on or take off a piece of jewellery. It takes exactly half a turn to do. Enable show_game_turns option to see the exact duration of actions.

== If a monster is unaware of you because you have a lot of Stealth and you attack it, will you always be revealed by attacking? Can you have a high enough Stealth skill to remain hidden even after attacking? ==

A: A monster taking damage will always wake up.

== Does anyone ever get really frustrated with this game and dying? ==

A: Sure, death can be frustrating. But this is also why winning is so rewarding. :)

[[Category:Strategy Guides]]

The Realm of Zot

2014-07-15T01:08:13Z

Furrykef: /* Recommendations */ There is no D:27 anymore. Whoever said the article is current as of 0.14 was obviously premature.

{{version014}}
{{flavour|A region of the dungeon that is so terrifying, so full of madness, frenzy and lunacy, that it has been locked securely against random trespassers. Only the most demented adventurers would dare gather the required keys, break the seal and penetrate deeper — all in the vain hope for a fabled artefact no one has ever laid eyes on before.

The Realm of Zot is five levels deep and can only be entered when carrying at least three runes.}}

{{flavour|This gate leads to the Realm of Zot, the final stage of your quest as its deepest level houses the infamous Orb of Zot. Both the Orb and this Realm have a fearsome and questionable reputation, but one piece of information seems to be for certain: The monsters inhabiting this area and protecting the Orb are strong and strange - some of them nowhere encountered but here.}}

[[File:Zot entry.png]] '''The Realm of Zot''' is the final [[branch]] in the game. It houses the goal of your quest, the legendary [[Orb of Zot]], but its ferocious guardians won't let you just walk in and take it without a fight...

==Useful Info==
The Realm of Zot is 5 floors deep. A single locked portal to the Realm can be found on the 5th floor of [[the Depths]]. To unlock it, you will need at least three [[runes of Zot]], acquired by clearing other branches.

The layout of the Realm of Zot is occasionally similar to the [[Elven Halls]] (a series of small and large rooms interconnected by narrow corridors), though each floor has a high chance of instead being a massive floor-wide [[vault]] with wide hallways and a generally symmetrical layout. The Realm is filled with a number of dangerous opponents, many of which are seen nowhere else:

*Any mature [[list of draconians|draconian]]
*[[Fire dragon]]s, [[ice dragon]]s, [[storm dragon]]s, [[shadow dragon]]s, [[bone dragon]]s, [[iron dragon]]s, and [[golden dragon]]s
*[[Ghost moth]]s and [[moths of wrath]]
*[[Death cob]]s
*[[Killer Klown]]s
*[[Curse toe]]s
*[[Lich]]es and [[ancient lich]]es
*[[Electric golem]]s
*[[Orb Guardian]]s
*And the ever-terrifying [[orb of fire]]

The [[Zot:5|final floor]] of the Realm of Zot houses the [[Orb of Zot]]. It is defended by some of the most dangerous monsters you will face, and in a layout that makes reckless behavior extremely risky. [[Teleport control]] is disabled on the floor, and since the biggest open areas available are filled with several of the nastiest opponents in the game, [[teleport]]ing is a much less reliable panic button here than it is elsewhere.

Visiting and clearing the Realm of Zot can be done long before you decide you've collected enough runes and are ready to win the game, and doing so will likely provide you with useful items and a significant amount of [[experience]]. It isn't until you actually pick up the Orb itself that the game enters its final stage. Read the [[Orb of Zot]] article for details on the Orb, the ascension run, and winning the game.

==Recommendations==
The first four floors of the Realm of Zot can be cleared as soon as you've acquired 3 [[runes of Zot]] and reached the entrance on Depths:5, but doing so without preparations for its many threats can be extremely costly:
*The bands of draconians you encounter have a wide variety of abilities at their disposal; engaging an entire band at once will give them time to [[corrode]] your gear, [[rot]] you, blast you with [[smiting]] and [[hellfire]], [[banish]] you to [[the Abyss]], or simply kill you with heavy damage. Whenever possible, try to break up the band and take them out one or two at a time, and if possible change your resistances to match the threats you face at the moment. Also, be aware that they lack [[see invisible]]; an invisible player has a significant advantage when facing them.
*Due to the rock and stone [[wall]]s of Zot and their ability to [[multizap]], electric golems can inflict staggering amounts of [[electricity]] damage very quickly. While it isn't necessary to keep up electricity resistance at all times, be ready to have it as soon as an electric golem appears. As they are fairly rare, a few [[potions of resistance]] should be sufficient. This also applies to storm dragons, but they're significantly more survivable without it.
*Most of the time, Killer Klowns aren't too dangerous. However, their melee attacks inflict extremely random effects, and they can occasionally get lucky and deal heavy damage or undesirable [[status effects]] with a single blow. If possible, kill or soften them up from a distance before engaging in melee. Their single most damaging attack is their cold attack, so having rC+ is usually a good idea when fighting them.
*[[Curse toe]]s are one of the only sources of [[torment]] in Zot, and charging in to face one will rapidly deplete your [[HP]] and force you to fight your way through a horde of nasty undead foes. Lure them into range around a corner to take away their biggest advantage.
*By far the most dangerous opponents in Zot are the [[orbs of fire]]. These opponents can do tremendous amounts of [[fire]] damage very rapidly, and will pile [[bad mutations]] on you if you don't have [[mutation resistance]]. On top of that, they are extremely durable. Unless you are extremely confident in your skills, don't explore Zot without a bare minimum of rF+, and avoid actually fighting orbs of fire without rF++ or better.

The fifth and final floor of the Realm of Zot is taken up almost entirely by the sprawling Orb chamber. See the [[Zot:5]] article for details on how to handle the Orb chamber and its guardians.

==History==
Prior to [[0.13]], floor layouts in Zot were never full-floor [[vault]]s, and narrow corridors were much more common.

[[Category:Dungeon_Branches]]

27

2014-07-14T23:50:02Z

Furrykef: Not anymore it don't.

[[27]] is a commonly-seen number in ''Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup''. Its significance to the developers is unknown. At least one member of the [[development team]] has wanted to add more [[race]]s and remove [[class]]es just to get the totals to 27.

#[[The Dungeon]] formerly had 27 floors.
#[[Ziggurat]]s have 27 floors.
#Highest [[skill]] level: 27.
#Highest [[XP]] level: 27.
#[[Strength]] needed to wear [[gold dragon armour]] correctly: 27.
#The [[Knife of Accuracy]] has a +27 enchantment to accuracy.
#Maximum duration of [[Death's Door]]: 27 turns.
#[[The Lernaean hydra]] has 27 heads.
#Being in [[tree form]] sets your stealth modifier to 27.

[[Category:Crawl]]

Hunter

2014-02-05T15:23:57Z

Furrykef: /* Strategy */ typo

{{version013}}

'''Hunters''' are [[Fighter]]s who specialise in missile weapons.

==Starting Equipment==
Some [[species]] may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.
*+0 ranged weapon ([[bow]], [[crossbow]], [[sling]] or [[javelin]]s) & ammo
** Ranged weapons start with 20 of the appropriate ammo
** Javelin users start with 5 javelins
*+0 [[short sword]]
*+0 [[leather armour]]
*[[Bread ration]]
*20 [[gold]]

==Starting Skills==
These are adjusted by your species' [[aptitude]]s.
*[[Fighting]]: 2
*Chosen Weapon's Skill: 4
*[[Dodging]]: 2
*[[Stealth]]: 1

==Strategy==
Hunters are good for players who either want to play a missile weapon-based fighter, or for those who want to play a melee character but want a useful to way soften up early-game nasties such as [[ogre (monster)|ogre]]s before they get into melee range.

[[Category:Backgrounds]]

Attack flavour

2014-02-04T21:22:15Z

Furrykef: sp

{{version}}
'''Attack flavour''' is the type of damage or effect caused by a monster's [[melee]] attack.

{| class="wikitable sortable" border=1 border-style="solid" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
!Flavour
!Description
|-
! Mutate
| Has a 25% chance of [[polymorph]]ing the defender (or [[mutate|mutating]], in the case of the player).
|-
! Poison, medium poison, strong poison, nasty poison
| See [[Poison#Poison Types|poison types]] for the specifics.
|-
! Poison strength, dexterity, intelligence, stat
| If not resistant to poison, the defender has a 33% chance of temporarily losing a point of the affected [[stat]].
|-
! Drain strength, dexterity, intelligence
| The defender has a chance of temporarily losing a point of the affected [[stat]]. The chance of the drain effect happening is 33% (5% if the attack did no damage), with an additional check against [[life protection]].
|-
! Rot
| The defender has a chance of receiving 2-4 points of [[rot]]. If the melee attack did more than 2 points of damage, this chance is 33%; otherwise, it is 5%.
|-
! Sickness
| The defender is [[sick]]ened for 5-14 turns.
|-
! Fire
| Adds [[hit dice]] + 1d(hit dice) - 1 [[fire]] damage and can burn your [[scroll]]s.
|-
! Cold
| Adds hit dice + 1d(hit dice*2) - 1 [[cold]] damage and can freeze your [[potions]].
|-
! Electricity
| Adds hit dice + 1d(hit dice/2) - 1 [[electrical]] damage.
|-
! Vampiric draining
| Will [[heal]] the attacker for 1d(damage inflicted), if the defender is [[cold-blooded]] or [[warm-blooded]]. Against bloodless defenders, it still does normal damage, but without the healing effect.
|-
! Hunger
| Will reduce the defender's [[hunger|satiety]] by 25%, outright. If the attack does no damage, the effect only has a 5% chance of happening.
|-
! Blink
| The attacker has a 33% chance of [[blink]]ing with a successful hit.
|-
! Confuse
| Has a 33% chance of attempting to [[confuse]] the defender (10% if the attack did less than 3 points of damage). Duration is 1d(hit dice + 3) / 10 turns, rounded up, with a cumulative maximum of 4 turns.
|-
! Drain XP
| Has a 50% chance of attempting to [[drain experience]] (or hit dice, in the case of monsters); a 3% chance if the damage done is less than 6 points; and a 33% chance if the attack normally does no damage (i.e., "touch").
|-
! MR Vuln
| Has a 33% chance of lowering the defender's [[magic resistance]] by a set amount. If the defender is already so afflicted, it instead increases the duration of the effect.
|-
! Paralyze
| If not resistant to poison, the defender may be [[slow]]ed, or sometimes [[paralyze]]d, for 1d3 turns.
|-
! Acid
| The defender is hit with a level 3 [[acid splash]]. In the case of the [[spiny worm]], this attack also imparts 1d4+1 levels of [[poison]] to any non-resistant defenders.
|-
! Distortion
| This is equivalent to being hit by a weapon with the [[distortion]] brand.
|-
! Rage
| The defender has a 33% chance of going [[berserk]], if it is capable of doing so.
|-
! Napalm
| Has a 33% chance of hitting the defender with [[Sticky Flame]] (5% if the attack did less than 3 points).
|-
! Steal
| Will steal one item from inventory (affects players only).
|-
! Steal food
| Will consume one or more items of food from your inventory – or on the ground, if you are standing on any food.
|-
! Crush
| This always accompanies the [[constrict]] attack type.
|-
! Holy
| Does an additional 75% damage against [[evil]] and [[unholy]] targets. This is similar to the [[holy wrath]] weapon brand, but without a random component.
|-
! Antimagic
| Equivalent to the [[antimagic]] brand.
|-
! Pain
| Equivalent to the [[pain]] brand.
|-
! Ensnare
| If the attack does any damage, it has a 50% chance of hitting the defender with a [[web]].
|-
! Chaos
| Changes flavour with every attack, to one of the following:
*[[Fire]]
*[[Cold]]
*[[Electricity]]
*Nasty-level [[poison]]
*[[Vampiric]] draining
*[[Confusion]]
*"Pure" chaos, which has many different possible effects detailed on the [[chaos]] page.
|-
! Klown
| Random flavour chosen from the following:
* [[Fire]]
* [[Cold]]
* Nasty-level [[poison]]
* [[drain experience|drain XP]]
* [[rot]]
* [[blink]]
* [[anti-magic]]
|-
|}

[[Category:Attack flavours|*]]

Walkthrough

2014-02-04T01:23:38Z

Furrykef: /* Zot:5 */ space

{{version013}}

==Introduction==
This walkthrough charts the progress of a melee fighter wearing heavy armour who worships [[Trog]], [[Okawaru]] or [[The Shining One]]. If you have ascended using a different type of character, feel free to enhance this guide according to your experience. The progression order should apply to most characters.

This page only covers the general strategy of the game. For specific topics and tactics, see the related pages. The following are good reads for beginners:

*[[Escaping from (and avoiding) trouble]]
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Strategy guides]]
*[[Character guides]]
*[[Weapon choice]]

For generic character building strategy see:

*[[Early Game Character Building]]
*[[Mid Game Character Building]]
*[[Late Game Character Building]]

After you win the game, consider writing a character guide for your combination.

You can also look at published wins on public servers for more hints.

==Overview==
* Character selection
* Early game (approx. D:1 - D:9)
** Pre-Temple dungeon
** [[Ecumenical Temple]] - pick a god and establish a temporary [[stash]] if necessary
** Post-Temple upper dungeon
** Occasional [[portal]]s appear throughout the dungeon.
* Early branches (order may vary)
** [[The Lair]], L1-6 - establish [[stash]], preferably on L2
** [[Orcish Mines]], L1-3 - should get you some decent weapons and armour
* Middle dungeon (approx. D:10 - D:18)
* Middle branches
** [[The Lair]], L7-8
** [[Orcish Mines]], L4
** [[The Swamp]], L1-4 - may wish to delay if you cannot swim or [[fly]]
** [[The Shoals]] L1-4 - may wish to delay if you cannot swim or fly
** [[The Snake Pits]] L1-4 - may wish to delay if you lack [[poison resistance]]
** [[The Spider's Nest]] L1-4 - may wish to delay if you lack poison resistance
** [[Elven Halls]] L1-2 - should get you some accessories and books
** [[The Vaults]] L1-4
** [[The Crypt]] L1-4
** [[Hall of Blades]] - may provide you with a decent weapon, if you don't already have one
* Lower dungeon (approx. D:19 - D:27)
* Branch endings, either for loot or a rune (order may vary, delay if you have teleportitis)
** [[The Crypt]] L5
** [[The Swamp]] L5
** [[The Shoals]] L5
** [[The Snake Pits]] L5 - definitely delay if you lack poison resistance
** [[The Spider's Nest]] L5 - definitely delay if you lack poison resistance
** [[Elven Halls]] L3 - delay if you lack high magic resistance
** [[The Vaults]] L5
* [[The Realm of Zot]] L1-4
* [[The Realm of Zot]] L5 - don't pick up the [[Orb of Zot]] yet
* Bonus branches (optional, order may vary, some characters may find any of these very hard)
** [[The Slime Pits]]
** [[The Vestibule of Hell]] - an excellent place for your late-game stash
** [[Tartarus]]
** [[The Iron City of Dis]]
** [[Gehenna]]
** [[Cocytus]]
** [[The Abyss]] - explore until you get the rune: this can take a long time
** [[The Tomb]] - delay if you have teleportitis
** [[Pandemonium]] - remember to bring extra food and plenty of resistances
** [[Ziggurat]] (a portal can be found by wandering Pandemonium, if you haven't found one elsewhere) - only go here if you want the challenge or need more supplies or equipment; ziggurats are extremely difficult
* Pick up the Orb of Zot, run to Level 1, and escape!

==Character selection==
Note that while race selection is locked in and significantly affects the whole game, the background/weapon selection only determines starting equipment,and skills, but doesn't affect the game in any other way (i.e you can develop any skills you choose). Also, initial god selection (if applicable) can be changed, but you will incur [[penance]], which may be deadly if you are not powerful enough yet.

If you're new to Crawl, you'll have to experiment until you find a race/background combination that works for you. See [[Background and race combinations for beginners]] for guidance.

Don't forget to read the strategy guide for your character combination, if available. The available guides are listed earlier in this article.

==Early game==

At the start of the game, start descending through the dungeon. Sometimes you'll need to skip levels and take the first stairs down as soon as possible, without further exploration, if they appear too risky. Uniques (especially [[Sigmund]] and [[Grinder]]), [[player ghost]]s, [[ogre]]s, and bands of [[gnoll]]s or [[orc]]s all pose a significant threat on the first few levels. You may be able to isolate the most dangerous monsters and kill them from afar, or by using any tricks at your disposal -- wands, spells, branded [[throwing]] weapons. etc. -- but remember, you're under no obligation to kill the monsters '''now'''. Remember, ''you'' get more powerful over the course of the game. The uniques and other "local bullies" don't.

Once you find the Temple, pick a god if you haven't yet (and aren't a [[demigod]]). If you're playing a character with low Strength you may want to establish a temporary [[stash]] here if your carrying capacity is almost maxed out; characters with high Strength, and therefore a higher carrying capacity, can often delay until they reach [[the Lair]]. If the particular god you want isn't in the Temple (perhaps you got the "corrupted temple"), you can find it in the main dungeon. If you're looking to convert to one of the more unusual gods (i.e. [[Beogh]], [[Lugonu]], or [[Jiyva]]), then you may have to wait until later to convert.

Then, continue exploring the dungeon until you find the entrances to the [[Orcish Mines]] and [[the Lair]]. Even though they are generally discovered in that order, most players will find it easier to clear the [[Lair]] first. These branches are not just digressions; clearing them is a major part of the game, and you will get significant resources from each. But, speaking of digressions...

==Portals==
Throughout the game, you will find various [[portal]]s to optional levels. If a portal demands a price, ignore it for now. Many of the portals are timed, so if you wish to enter them at all, you must do so quickly. Portal levels have different themes, and each has characteristic types of monsters and other threats. First, look up the portal, and consider whether you're equipped to deal with it. Some of these are obvious; to mention some later portals, it's fire resistance for the [[Volcano]], cold resistance for the [[Ice Cave]], or extra food for the [[Labyrinth]]. If the portal plays to your weak points, just skip it! (That ''is'' what "optional" means, after all.) Likewise, if the "guards" around the portal are too tough for you, you probably didn't want to go inside anyway. If the portal's timer runs out before you're ready to go in, well, that's life in the dungeon.

If you do decide to venture in, take a moment before doing so to set up your resistances and then clear out your inventory of anything you surely won't need for this portal -- you don't want to have all of your scrolls burned and your potions shattered. Once you're in, take stock of the situation, and explore carefully. Keep track of the exit portals (there's always at least one handy). If you're overmatched, take what you've got so far (if anything) and skedaddle -- whatever's around the next bend surely isn't worth getting killed! If you step in and immediately face an "oh, sh*t" situation, '''RUN''', because it's not going to get easier!

Most likely, the first portal you find will be the [[Sewer]], which is good practice for your general strategy here. The sewer features lots of water, and mostly weak monsters, but there will be [[poison]]ous snakes, and the end of the sewer can have nastier monsters. [[Merfolk]], [[Octopode]]s, [[Tengu]], or grey [[Draconian]]s may be able to reach some extra treasure because of their ability to cross deep water. The second is likely to be the [[Ossuary]], with lots of zombies and/or mummies, and occasionally more exotic undead. Both are highly variable, with many possible maps and a range of hazard levels. The [[Bailey]] may show up a bit later -- this one needs distance attacks, defense against missiles, and a fair dose of raw killing power.

== Early branches ==
While most of the individual branches are more-or-less optional, you do need to clear several of them to get your [[Rune of Zot|runes]] and win the game. Often when you first reach a branch entrance, you will not be strong enough to deal with the inhabitants, so you'll have to gather experience and equipment in the main dungeon, then come back later. When you do venture in, you should normally clear ''all but the last level''. These "branch endings", ''especially'' those with runes, are much more dangerous than the rest of their branch! It's wiser to leave them be until you've gotten more powerful and are ready to take them on. Note that runes are not needed for anything until you are ready to enter the [[Realm of Zot]].

It is generally safe to clear the all but the last level of [[the Lair]] when you find it. The first 3-4 levels are not too much of a challenge. You'll find packs of rats, various fast-moving poisonous snakes, [[Giant frog|frogs]] and assorted other beasts. (Watch out for [[spiny frog]]s, an early threat.) As you go deeper, [[sheep]] and [[Yak|yaks]] will occasionally be joined by [[death yak]]s, [[elephant]]s, and sometimes even [[dire elephant]]s. The occasional [[hydra]] will rear its heads, so make sure you have a means to deal with it. Establish your [[stash]] on L2; only beasts spawn on this level, and they can't pick up items. If you start having trouble with the beasts, return to the main dungeon (or other branches) for a while, rinse and repeat. Watch out for the occasional fire-breather such as a [[lindwurm]], [[fire drake]], or even a [[mottled dragon]]. If you're confident in your abilities, you may consider clearing Lair:8; however, be prepared to leave in a hurry, as Lair:8 always has a dangerous vault that you may not be able to handle.

Despite the entrance appearing earlier, the [[Orcish Mines]] are tougher than [[the Lair]]. While bands of plain orcs don't pose much difficulty, [[orc warrior]]s (nasty), [[orc knight]]s (nastier), and [[orc warlord]]s (deadly) may appear as you go deeper, punctuated by various [[ogre]] types and [[troll]]s. On the mystical side, you'll see plenty of [[orc wizard]]s who can turn invisible, [[orc priest]]s who can smite you from afar for serious damage, and even [[orc sorcerer]]s summoning demons. To add insult to injury, levels are often split into multiple paths, with some parts being unreachable unless you use a scroll of magic mapping and [[dig]] your way to them. You'll find the entrance to the [[Elven Halls]] on the lower levels, but don't go in yet, as the elves are much tougher than the orcs. As noted above, don't even touch the last level unless you're really "sweeping all before you" (and then watch out for [[orc warlord]]s and [[orc high priest]]s). You may also find a big [[ogre]] vault on Orc:4 -- if so, this will be your introduction to [[ogre mage]]s!

== Middle dungeon ==
After you've explored the majority of the early branches, continue to explore the main dungeon, but take it slow. Monster difficulty will start to ramp up noticeably. You'll find the entrances to [[the Vaults]] and [[Hell]] before too long. When you begin to feel uncomfortable with how dangerous the dungeon's monsters are, it's time to backtrack a bit and clear the branches you've passed over so far, especially finishing the [[Orcish Mines]] and [[Lair]].

== Middle branches ==
Assuming you have poison resistance by now and a way to kill hydras (spells, flaming weapons or non-bladed weapons), [[the Swamp]] should be your first target... if it exists (Only one of Swamp and Shoals will appear in any game). Be careful to only fight from solid ground unless your character does well in shallow water or can [[fly]] (if you're surprised while wading through shallow water, retreat to dry land, then turn and fight). If you lack poison resistance, you may either get a swamp dragon hide in the swamp, or do the [[Elven Halls]] L1-2 first and hope to find equipment there.

If your game has generated the [[Shoals]] instead, the first few floors can be cleared now, so long as you're careful. Again, fight from solid ground or while [[fly]]ing to avoid incurring penalties. A source of flight is much more important in the Shoals than it is in the Swamp, as the Shoals have large patches of shallow water that you must traverse between areas of dry land. The shifting tides may even confine you to an island; if that happens, either fly to the next island or wait for the tides to shift. Expect to have to deal with foes such as [[list of merfolk|merfolk bands]], [[snapping turtle]]s, [[harpy|harpies]], and possibly even a [[kraken]].

Afterwards, you can clear the first four floors of the [[Snake Pit]] or the [[Spider's Nest]] (again, assuming you have poison resistance). The Snake Pit is populated by [[list of snakes|snakes]] and hordes of [[list of nagas|nagas]]; a large portion of their damage comes from poisoning you, but you'll also face a few heavy melee threats such as [[anaconda]]s or [[naga warrior]]s. The Spider's nest has swarms of fast-moving [[list of arachnids|spiders]] that can quickly inflict severe poisoning, so poison resistance is almost mandatory. Decent AC is also recommended, as many spiders hit about as hard as [[yak]]s.

If you lack poison resistance or a means of flight, clearing the first two floors of the [[Elven Halls]] may provide you with one or both of them. The Halls feature many dangerous [[list of deep elves|deep elven]] casters, especially on the third and final floor, so avoid going there for now. Even while exploring the upper floors, try to have high [[magic resistance]] to avoid getting [[Banishment|banished]]. On the physical side, there are also deep elves who love to pelt you from afar with their bows. [[Repel Missiles]] or [[Deflect Missiles]] are of great use here, if you have them.

As you explore these areas, you may find additional portals to places like the [[Volcano]], [[Ice Cave]], or [[Labyrinth]]. Should you find one, prepare yourself adequately before entering (i.e. fire resistance for the Volcano, extra food for the Labyrinth, etc.)

The [[Slime Pits]] are much more dangerous than any of the other branches found so far, and require quite a lot of preparation before you can clear them with any semblance of safety.

'''Do not descend to any of the branch endings yet!'''

[[The Vaults]] (L1-4) are next. The primary threats here are mostly physical ones, so having a decent set of armour helps. [[Plate armour]] or better is generally enough to be able to fight your way through without too much trouble. Again, the fifth and final floor of the Vaults is extremely dangerous; do not enter it yet.

If you're in need of a good weapon, you can clear the [[Hall of Blades]]. If you choose to do so, try to equip yourself to defend against the weapon brands: life protection is quite necessary to prevent or reduce draining. Look for a good branded weapon if necessary, and a weapon of holy wrath for [[the Crypt]]. Note that weapons of distortion may banish you to [[the Abyss]], both when they hit you and when you unwield them, so be cautious with any that you find.

You can then explore [[the Crypt]], which is a great source of piety with [[The Shining One]]. If you worship another god and plan to switch later to [[The Shining One]], you may want to delay clearing [[the Crypt]] (although you may also use [[the Abyss]] for this purpose). [[Dispel Undead]] and the [[Necromancy]] to back it will make the Crypt almost trivial. You'll find an entrance to the [[Tomb]] somewhere along the way, but '''DO NOT ENTER IT'''. The Tomb is one of the most dangerous places in the entire game, even for end-game characters.

== Branch endings ==
You should now be ready to the take the bottom floors of the various branches you've come across so far. If you're uncertain of your ability to do so, finish exploring the main dungeon first, though you won't be able to open the gate to the [[Realm of Zot]] yet. These "branch endings" are significantly different from the preceding levels, with non-random layouts and a high concentration of powerful monsters. They should be played carefully: explore in a circular fashion from the upstairs, ready to retreat at the first sign of danger, and try to pull individual monsters back to you instead of fighting large packs. See the individual branch pages for needed preparation and strategy. You will need high magic resistance for [[Elven Halls]], poison resistance for the [[Snake Pit]] and [[Spider's Nest]], a way to [[fly]] for the [[Shoals]] and [[Swamp]], and electricity resistance and high AC for [[the Vaults]].

== Lower dungeon and Zot ==
After you have your first three runes, finish exploring the main dungeon, if you haven't already done so.

At this point, you may wish to stop relying on scrolls and potions, since many monsters will have fire/cold/sticky flame attacks that destroy them. If you continue relying on them, be very careful and wear an [[amulet of conservation]] or [[cloak of preservation]].

Once you've cleared the main dungeon, go unlock the portal to [[the Realm of Zot]]. You should be able to clear the first four levels: they are similar to the [[Elven Halls]] and feature lots of narrow corridors inhabited by [[list of draconians|draconians]] instead of elves. Remember to put on an [[amulet of resist corrosion]] to deal with yellow draconians, a source of electricity resistance for black draconians, and lots of fire resistance for [[orb of fire|orbs of fire]]. You may also consider clearing the outer portion of [[Zot:5]] -- as long as you don't go near the orb chamber, the threats you face will be primarily on the same level as the first four Zot floors.

== Late branches ==
After clearing the majority of the Realm of Zot, you may choose to do a few of the optional branches. Their difficulty varies based on your character, but they provide plenty of experience, loot, and more runes. Note that you risk getting mutated in these branches, so if you already have good gear and experience, are low on potions of cure mutation, and don't plan on randomly teleporting in Zot:5, you may wish to clear that first. You may also delay some of these if you lack sufficient gear for them (such as corrosion resistance for the [[Slime Pits]] or high-power spells for [[the Tomb]]).

If you are worshiping another god and intend to switch to [[The Shining One]], do so now and clear [[the Crypt]] to boost your piety.

You may find a portal to a [[Wizard Laboratory]] while exploring late-game areas. These areas vary greatly in what sorts of threats you may face; look up whatever laboratory you find yourself in before proceeding.

The [[Slime Pits]] are the easiest, but only enter if you have an [[amulet of resist mutation]] (or the mutation resistance mutation), an [[amulet of resist corrosion]], and mostly corrosion-proof gear (i.e. [[artifact]]s, +4 or better armour, dwarven gear, or crystal plate armour). Clear the last level extremely carefully, avoiding the structure in the center until you've cleared everything else. Kill [[the royal jelly]], but be careful since it spawns more jellies when damaged. After you've killed the royal jelly, you can get the loot and the rune by [[dig]]ging, [[teleport]]ing, or [[Passwall]]ing through the walls of the loot chambers. Alternately, you can convert to [[Jiyva]], which will turn all the monsters in this branch neutral toward you and eventually unlock the rune vaults. Just be prepared to deal with your former god's wrath and hungry jellies eating your items.

[[The Abyss]] contains another rune, but you'll have to spend a lot of time wandering through the chaotic, demon-infested realm in order to find it. Bring extra food and [[mutation resistance]], as well as any other resistances you'll need to deal with the various demons and cosmic horrors you'll find during your explorations. On the upside, you can find almost any item in the Abyss, so it's a good place to find additional equipment or supplies you're running low on. It's also a good place to build piety with [[The Shining One]], if you've already cleared the [[Crypt]] or have burned through some of your piety in other locations. In order to find the rune, you'll have to descend to at least Abyss:3.

You can also enter [[the Vestibule of Hell]], kill [[Geryon]], and evoke his [[horn of Geryon|horn]] to open the Hells. Once you've done that, consider moving your [[stash]] to the Vestibule, as it makes an excellent stash location for the end-game.

[[Hell]]'s four branches each require particular resistances and contain fiends to [[torment]] you. Again, life protection is a must, and sustain abilities is recommended. Every branch has loot and a rune at the end. You can also get the [[Sceptre of Asmodeus]] and the [[Staff of Dispater]] here. Note that you will very likely be cast into [[the Abyss]] at least once. It's recommended you read their respective pages and prepare carefully, as some of the most dangerous monsters in ''Crawl'' are found in these branches.

[[The Tomb]], filled with mummies, is one of the most dangerous branches in the game. These cast death curses when killed (including torment for priests and greater mummies), but the real problem are mummy priests and greater mummies, who can both torment *and* smite you, resulting in a quick death; this can be mitigated with torment resistance or immunity. [[Kikubaaqudgha]] provides protection from mummy curses at high piety, so his worshippers should have relatively little difficulty. Alternately, if you are a summoner or a follower of a god who grants summoning invocations ([[The Shining One]] is perfect here), you can let your summons handle the mummies, though you'll need to proceed carefully. Life protection is a must to reduce harm from torment. [[The Tomb]] contains loot at the very end and a rune. If you have teleportitis and lack torment resistance, avoid it. Some players may be able to survive this branch anyway, but it's quite risky.

== Zot:5 ==
If you do have teleportitis, no means to cure it, and don't plan to randomly teleport in Zot:5 or can still become stronger, you may want to do [[Pandemonium]] or [[the Abyss]] first in hopes of finding a potion of cure mutation (or enough potions of mutation to randomly remove it). You could even attempt a [[Ziggurat]], although that can be ''very'' dangerous. If you don't want all the runes, you may also consider converting to Zin and building piety with donations to use his Cure All Mutations ability.

It's recommended you read [[Zot:5]] for more details on the level itself and the strategies for clearing it. In any case, this is the time to clear out the Orb chamber in preparation for your ascension.

== Bonus branches ==
You can now take the Orb and ascend for a multi-rune, but not "complete" win... ''or'' you can leave the Orb in place and prepare for [[Pandemonium]]. Make sure you bring plenty of food, and the recommended equipment/resistances described on that page.

When entering a new [[Pandemonium]] level, check for a message indicating the presence of a powerful demon lord. If such a message appears, this is your one chance to kill the demon lord and grab the rune (in [[Cerebov]]'s level, make sure you get the loot from his castle, too). Otherwise, explore and take the first portal you find to a new [[Pandemonium]] level. If you stumble across a randomly-named demon, kill him and see if there is a demonic rune. If you've killed [[Mnoleg]], [[Gloorx Vloq]], [[Lom Lobon]] and [[Cerebov]] and still have no demonic rune, continue through [[Pandemonium]] until you find one. You will find food in [[Pandemonium]], but wearing a [[ring of sustenance]], playing an undead character, or traveling in [[lichform]] will make [[Pandemonium]] farming easier, especially if you use lots of skills that cause hunger.

After all this, or in case you stumble upon a portal to one while roaming [[Pandemonium]], you can raid one or more [[Ziggurat]]s. Note that this can be extremely dangerous and the loot will be virtually useless since you can already kill everything in the game anyway. If you haven't found a portal to a [[Ziggurat]] yet, you may be able to create one using a legendary deck of changes or a legendary deck of dungeons. Failing that, just wander around [[Pandemonium]] until you find one.

Finishing a [[Ziggurat]] is extremely hard: the later levels may be full of multiple Pan lords who haste themselves and summon tormenting and smiting demons, and there may be no safe strategy for it with your current character. Nonetheless, it is possible to fully clear them. Of course, you may also opt to enter one earlier (having found or made a portal) to get some of the loot in the upper floors, which are often quite survivable.

Once you have done all that, find an exit from [[Pandemonium]]; while exits to the Dungeon are safer to use, exits through the [[Abyss]] are far more common. If you want the abyssal rune and haven't found it yet, wander around the Abyss until you find it. At this point, you can search for a portal back to the dungeon and make your way back to Zot:5.

== Ascension ==
So, when you've finished ransacking every place you wish, just proceed to Zot:5 and claim the [[Orb of Zot]]! To save yourself a bit of distance, consider using [[Apportation]] to drag the Orb over to the nearest staircase (though this will take a while and make tons of noise, which is why you should clear out the Orb chamber first). Be warned that from the time you pick up the Orb, all portals in the dungeon will close, sealing off Hell and the other netherworlds. Furthermore, you will be under -cTele (that is, no teleport control ''anywhere'') from this point on.

To finish the game, simply book it towards D:1. Make use of the game's autotravel feature (Ctrl+G), which will automatically calculate the shortest route to your destination. Your priority now is speed: use every method of speeding yourself up available to you, whether it's [[haste]], [[Swiftness]], [[dig]]ging yourself a shortcut, or anything else. Make use of any potions, scrolls, or wands that can help you travel more quickly, and don't worry about [[magical contamination]]; it doesn't matter if you exit the Dungeon as a [[Blurry Vision|half-blind]], [[deformed]], [[mutation|mutant]] [[Herbivore|vegan]] so long as you've escaped safely.

Occasionally residents of Pandemonium will appear to block your path, including [[Pandemonium lord]]s. If you can get around them, do so. If they block your path completely, only fight if you can clear a path within a few turns; otherwise, [[dig]] yourself a new path or take another route. Though you'll be under permanent -cTele, you can still make a semi-controlled [[blink]] by using a [[scroll of blinking]] or [[Controlled Blink]]; a random teleport, whether from a [[scroll of teleportation|scroll]] or [[wand of teleportation|wand]], can also get you free of a blockade. Only stop to heal if you're in danger of dying, and use any means of healing quickly that remain at your disposal. Just travel as quickly and efficiently as possible, avoid getting pinned down, and you should escape without too much trouble.

==History==
In [[0.14]] a new branch, called [[the Depths]], will replace D:17-27, and it will be necessary to obtain a [[rune of Zot]] to enter [[the Vaults]].

[[Category:Strategy Guides]]
[[Category:Crystal Ball Articles]]

Identification

2014-02-04T00:43:03Z

Furrykef: /* Jewellery */ rm parens

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Any item can be completely '''identified''' by reading a [[scroll of identify]]. Unfortunately, there won't be enough scrolls for everything you want to identify, so it's helpful to know about other means of identification.

==Checking items you have identified==
Press '''\''' for a list of items already identified. You can also use the command '''-''' to toggle the view to items you have not yet identified.

==Pre-identified items==
Certain [[background]]s or [[species]] start with a couple of items identified:
*[[Deep Dwarf|Deep Dwarves]] recognize [[wands of heal wounds]].
*[[Spriggan]]s recognize [[potions of porridge]].
*[[Vampire]]s recognize [[potions of blood]].
*[[Assassin]]s recognize [[potions of poison]].
*[[Healer]]s recognize [[potions of curing]] and [[potions of heal wounds]].
*[[Warper]]s recognize [[scrolls of blinking]].
*[[Artificer]]s recognize [[wands of flame]], [[wands of enslavement]], [[wands of random effects]], and [[scrolls of recharging]].
*[[Wanderer]]s recognize [[scrolls of teleportation]] and may start with additional scrolls or potions, which they will also recognize.

Additionally, converting to [[Ashenzari]] will identify [[scrolls of remove curse]], [[scrolls of curse weapon]], [[scrolls of curse armour]], and [[scrolls of curse jewellery]], if you haven't already identified them.

==Identifying items in shops==
Anything bought from a non-antique [[shop]] will automatically be identified. This is especially useful for identifying bad items such as [[curse scroll]]s, [[rings of hunger]], or harmful [[potions]], as all of these are quite cheap and identifying them this way will prevent you from harming yourself by experimenting with them.

==Identifying items through use==
If the item is a weapon, armour, ring or amulet, you may want to make sure that you can uncurse it (a [[scroll of remove curse]] will always work, and [[scrolls of enchant weapon]]/[[scroll of enchant armour|armour]] will uncurse weapons and armour, respectively) before trying to identify it through use. Some weapons and armour appear as shiny, runed, glowing, dyed, embroidered ''etc.'', while others are "plain". It's worth noting that while "plain" weapons and armour are never [[brand]]ed, they often have random pluses or minuses: while (0,-1) and the like are common, armour and weapons up to +2 or +3 can be found by testing these items in bulk. Conversely, items with adjectives are almost never +0, but can have bonuses or maluses, and they don't necessarily have brands. Many of them will be cursed: any cursed weapon/armour has 1 chance in 3 of having an adjective. Even marked weapons are still more likely to be (-1, 0) or (+1, -1) than (+2, +3). More exotic descriptors such as "ancient", "humming", or "distressingly furry" indicate [[artefact]]s; even when unidentified, they will appear in white in the inventory listing.

===[[Armour]]===
Armour is always fully identified when worn. This includes artefacts. The only risk with wearing un-ID'd non-artefact armour is being stuck by a curse with something suboptimal; there are no harmful armour [[ego]]s other than [[ponderousness]], which is exceedingly rare and not usually generated cursed. Artefact armour can occasionally be nasty: mutagenic radiation, teleportitis, and negative slaying are all possibilities. You should always have a scroll of remove curse handy when trying on artefact armour.

===[[Weapon]]s===
Weapons will reveal any [[brand]]s (such as "of flaming") when wielded - and all other special properties, too, if it's an artefact. To find their to-hit and to-damage bonuses, however, you need to have some skill with them. If your skill is above a certain value (randomly determined when the weapon is created), the weapon is in your [[inventory]], and you know that it is not cursed (eg: you have already wielded that weapon), the pluses will be revealed.

Note that weapons of [[distortion]] can have dangerous effects if wielded while un-identified or unequipping, such as casting the user into [[the Abyss]]. The unique monsters [[Psyche]] and [[Sonja]] are likely to drop weapons of [[distortion]] or [[chaos]], and their weapons will be inscribed with their names.

===[[Jewellery]]===
Some amulets and rings auto-identify but many do not. Amulets are generally safer to identify in this way than rings, since only the [[amulet of inaccuracy]] is harmful, and it's rarely cursed.
*The [[amulet of faith]] will auto-identify when put on if you are worshipping a god, or if worn when you pray at an altar, but beware as unequipping it will lower your piety by 1/3.
*The [[amulet of rage]], [[amulet of the gourmand]] and [[amulet of guardian spirit]] all auto-identify when worn - note that the last can be dangerous for spellcasters, as it will drain all your MP when put on or taken off. Don't put on un-ID'd amulets in combat.
*The [[amulet of stasis]] and the [[amulet of clarity]] both auto-identify when the player resists the corresponding effects.
*The [[amulet of warding]] will auto-identify when an attack from a summoned monster is deterred.

This leaves the [[amulet of resist corrosion]], the [[amulet of resist mutation]], the [[amulet of conservation]], and the aforementioned [[amulet of inaccuracy]] to be identified.

As for rings, they can be more dangerous than amulets, but many will auto-identify for you.
*These rings all auto-identify when put on: [[ring of flight]], [[ring of teleportation]], [[ring of invisibility]], [[ring of magical power]], [[ring of regeneration]], [[ring of wizardry]], [[ring of fire]], [[ring of ice]] and most of the "stat rings": [[ring of protection]], [[ring of evasion]], [[ring of strength]], [[ring of dexterity]], and [[ring of intelligence]].
*The [[ring of see invisible]] will identify if worn when a creature attempts to turn invisible, or if putting it on reveals a hitherto unseen invisible creature.
*The [[ring of sustain abilities]] will identify if worn when it protects you from stat drain.
*The [[ring of teleport control]] can be identified by teleporting or [[blink]]ing.
*The [[ring of teleportation]] and the negative versions of "stat rings" are usually cursed.
*The [[ring of sustenance]] and the [[ring of hunger]] will auto-identify when your hunger status changes. Rings of hunger are always cursed. If a ring is cursed and does not auto-identify it should be removed with a scroll of remove curse as soon as possible, since there is a very good chance that it's a ring of hunger.

This leaves the following rings to be identified normally:
*The rings of resistance ([[ring of poison resistance|poison]], [[ring of protection from fire|fire]], [[ring of protection from cold|cold]], [[ring of life protection|negative energy]], and [[ring of protection from magic|magic protection]]) can produce revealing messages when they protect you from something, though it is only unambiguous if you have no other source of the resistance to the resisted element. Usually it is best to simply use an identify scroll on those rings that don't identify through other means; for the resistance rings, though, it is possible to use a safe source of the element to be resisted. Generally a self-targeted low-level spell will do; potions of poison can be used to test for poison resistance, though be sure to be at full health in a safe area first.
*[[Rings of slaying]] must be identified with a scroll.

Artefact jewellery will reveal any properties that would auto-identify when worn; for example, a ring with +5 Int and rElec will reveal the Int bonus but not the resistance when worn. As such, you'll often need to use scrolls of identify to fully identify them. Artefact jewellery that is partially identified will be inscribed as such.

===[[Scrolls]]===
Most scrolls, but not all, will auto-identify when read. Reading one of these scrolls will always identify it:
*[[Scroll of acquirement]]
*[[Scroll of blinking]]
*[[Scroll of enchant weapon]]
*[[Scroll of fear]]
*[[Scroll of fog]]
*[[Scroll of holy word]]
*[[Scroll of immolation]]
*[[Scroll of magic mapping]]
*[[Scroll of noise]]
*[[Scroll of random uselessness]]
*[[Scroll of silence]]
*[[Scroll of summoning]] (unless in a cramped or crowded place where the monsters couldn't be created)
*[[Scroll of teleportation]]
*[[Scroll of torment]]
*[[Scroll of vorpalize weapon]]
*[[Scroll of vulnerability]]

Reading one of these scrolls will ask for an item to use it on:
*[[Scroll of enchant armour]] (identified if used on a piece of armour and the enchantment succeeds)
*[[Scroll of identify]] (identified if used on an unidentified item)
*[[Scroll of recharging]] (identified if used on a wand or rod)

The following scrolls may identify, based on certain conditions:
*[[Scroll of amnesia]] (if you have at least one spell memorized)
*[[Scroll of curse armour]] (if wearing at least one uncursed piece of armour)
*[[Scroll of curse jewellery]] (if wearing at least one piece of uncursed jewellery)
*[[Scroll of curse weapon]] (if wielding an uncursed weapon)
*[[Scroll of remove curse]] (if you are wearing at least one cursed item)

For best results when read-IDing scrolls, be sure that you:
*Are on an unexplored level, standing on stairs leading to a clear level (to retreat if it's a teleportation, noise, or another harmful scroll, and to make the most out of magic mapping)
*Test the most numerous unknown scrolls you have first (to make it more probable to discover the more common identify, teleportation, curse, and remove curse scrolls first and to avoid wasting more valuable scrolls)
*Don't have any allies nearby (to not offend them and possibly your deity with fear, immolation, torment, or holy word)
*Wield the best uncursed weapon you have (to identify curse weapon and benefit from weapon enchantment scrolls)
*Are carrying an unidentified piece of armour and an unidentified wand, even if it's just the number of charges (best chance to correctly use identify, enchant armour or recharge). Note that on an ''unsuccessful'' reading of one of these scrolls, the game will auto-inscribe the ''type'' of scroll with the item it was tested with. This makes it easy to rule out possibilities!

For the brave, be sure that you have a cursed item equipped (to identify remove curse). Not infrequently this may be one that was just cursed by a curse armour/weapon/jewellery scroll, if you are identifying a number of scrolls at once.

Conditions can be adjusted as your knowledge improves. For example, once you've discovered scrolls of remove curse, cursing your weapon with a scroll of curse weapon is no problem at all. Some of the less common scrolls are very valuable and therefore it is not wasteful to use a scroll of identify on single scrolls that have been single for some time (e.g. vorpalise weapon).

Identifying scrolls is all about balance. On the one hand, you shouldn't waste scrolls of identify out of sheer curiosity, but on the other, it's massively annoying to die on level 3 with several scrolls of teleportation, fear, or blinking in your inventory. When read-identifying scrolls, watch out for the following detrimental effects:
*The scrolls of immolation and torment both cause serious HP damage, though torment is never directly lethal. Scrolls of holy word cause similar damage to undead or demonic characters.
*If you have any allies in sight, reading a scroll of fear, immolation, or torment (or holy word, for undead/demonic allies) is liable to cause them to turn on you. On top of that, some [[god]]s get angry if you harm your allies.
*Your armour, weapon, or jewelry may become cursed, though scrolls of remove curse are fairly common.
*Scrolls of random uselessness may produce friendly butterflies, which can be troublesome for characters worshiping a god who dislikes the death of allies.

===[[Potions]]===
All potions auto-identify when quaffed, but some (for example potions of poison and decay) are seriously harmful. It may be sensible to wait until you have larger potion stacks before trying them, so that you are more likely to discover the [[potion of curing]], which is the most common potion and will cure poisoning and rotting. This also reduces the chance of wasting a [[potion of cure mutation]]. The [[potion of blood]] is always red, and it will auto identify when it turns into a [[potion of coagulated blood]] after a while. Note that wearing an [[amulet of resist mutation]] or having [[poison resistance]] will ''not'' interfere with identifying the corresponding potions, but will protect from their effects.

A second way to identify potions is to witness monsters quaffing them. You'll have to note the effect the potion has on the monster; once you've seen it, the appropriate potion type will be marked as "tried by monster" and it can be inscribed with its identity depending on the effects you saw.

Note that potions of porridge are almost always described as a "gluggy white" or "gluggy brown" potion.

It is not cowardice to avoid quaff-IDing potions entirely. Scrolls of identify are common enough that using them on every unidentified potion you find is not unreasonable.

===[[Wands]]===
Wands usually auto-identify when zapped at a monster which does not resist them, but until you have a fairly high [[Evocation]]s skill, the only way to determine the number of charges in a wand is to use a scroll of identify.

The best way to identify wands is by zapping at a monster who is at least one square away from you, close to a rock wall, yet without the shot being perpendicular to the wall. This will ensure that if the wand is a fireball you will not be hit by the blast, if the wand is digging it will become identified due to digging the wall, and if the wand is lightning it will not hurt you by bouncing back at you. Wands should be tested on weak monsters in case they are hastened or turned invisible. If the game tells you "nothing happens" and the enemy is uninjured, it's a [[wand of healing]].

Another method is to zap the wands at a section of wall. If this fails attempt to use it on yourself. This can use more charges, but is slightly safer and does not require a monster to be present. In fact, you should make sure that there ''aren't'' any nearby monsters, since a [[wand of confusion]] or a [[wand of enslavement]] will cause you to confuse yourself.

==History==
Prior to [[0.10]], scrolls of enchant weapon, scrolls of fear, scrolls of holy word, scrolls of torment, and scrolls of vorpalise weapon would only identify when read if they affected something.

Prior to [[0.8]], wield-IDing [[magical staves]] would only work if the spellcaster's skills exceeded a certain value, much like with weapons now.

Prior to [[0.6]] and the removal of the [[Divinations]] school of magic, you could also identify items using the [[Identify]] spell.

[[Category:Strategy Guides]]

Intelligence

2014-02-01T05:10:30Z

Furrykef: stat death -> stat zero

{{version012}}

'''Intelligence''' (or INT) is one of a character's three main [[attributes]], along with [[strength]] and [[dexterity]]. Characters who plan on using any of the various schools of magic will benefit greatly from having a high intelligence score.

Intelligence affects the following:
*Increases chance of [[spell success]].
*Reduces [[spell hunger]] per casting by (INT × [[Spellcasting]]).
*Increases [[spell power]].
*Increases the success rate of [[Sif]]'s channeling.

If your intelligence is ever reduced to 0 or lower, you will eventually suffer [[stat zero]] effects.

[[Category:Stats]]

Nemelex guide

2014-01-31T19:25:58Z

Furrykef: /* Nemelex's abilities */ sp

{{version}}
[[Nemelex Xobeh]] is a complicated god who requires a lot of micromanagement, both for obtaining and using appropriate [[decks]]. This guide is meant to help people new to Nemelex.

==Worshiping Nemelex==

What kind of characters should worship Nemelex? Any character that can handle controlled risk.

Here are some popular choices:

* [[Artificer]]s - They start off with high [[evocations]] skill and need evocable items.
* [[Troll]]s - They're not too terrible at evocations and the added flexibility is pretty useful. The Shuffle card allows them to become decent spell casters.
* Small [[species]] - The smaller the character the better they are at evocations it seems. [[Spriggan]] [[Enchanter]]s and [[Kobold]] [[Assassin]]s are very good with Nemelex.
* Undead characters ([[Mummy|Mummies]], [[Ghoul]]s, bloodless [[Vampire]]s, and [[Necromutation|liches]]) can use legendary decks of destruction more safely.
* [[Felid]]s have lots of stuff to sacrifice, and the decks help cover for some of their limitations.

==Strategy==

===Tips===

Here are some general tips:

# Train Evocations early, but aim for around 10 rather than the high end, unless you have other plans for Evocation that make you want more. Nemelex's piety boost to the outcome of deck draws becomes more significant than Evocations at higher piety levels.
# Only draw cards from unidentified decks if you're standing on solid ground and a monster is around, but not directly next to you. Damnation will send you to the Abyss without another valid target on screen, and Flame has a 50% chance of casting fireball.
# A common piece of extremely questionable advice is to attempt to get a deck of Wonders as early as possible by sacrificing a stack of permafood the moment you start worshiping Nemelex. The payoff for doing so is the possibility of drawing an Experience card, giving you a sizable power boost that helps in the early game. What is usually left unmentioned is that the deck also contains Helix cards (which can leave you horribly malmutated), Shuffle cards (which will leave you with stats that are useless for the background you're playing), Wild Magic cards (think of them as playful little mini-[[Zot trap]]s), and Sage cards (which often divert useful experience toward skills you will never use). Unless you're fine with the possibility of losing your character to a gamble, don't do this.
# Sacrifice everything you don't need as soon as you come across it. You'll get plenty of decks after awhile. Be aware that weapons and armor are much more common than other things, so if you don't want your decks heavily biased in favor of Destruction and Escape, stop sacrificing those item types once you've gotten the decks rolling.
# Use cards as often as possible until your Piety is maxed.
# Use Draw One and unmarked decks whenever you can handle the consequences (given the deck type) in order to maximize gifts. If you only use Triple Draw and marked decks, you will not gain piety fast enough and you will run out of decks.
# Nemelex is a great end-game god. You may want to stash away as many valuable items as you can. Then, switch to Nemelex and sacrifice everything at once to gain 100 piety (****) quickly.

===Nemelex's abilities===

* Draw One - It allows you to draw cards without having to wield the deck.
* Peek at Two - Use it to identify decks, losing one card in the process.
* Triple Draw - Choose one from the top three cards, discarding the other two. Use it when you want a higher probability of drawing (or '''not''' drawing) a particular card. Be careful of triple drawing when the deck is near done. If there is only one card left, you will immediately play that card. This ability is strongly recommended for dealing with decks of Wonders, and it makes it much more likely to get the life-saver you need need when drawing from a deck of Escape.
* Deal Four - Draw four cards from an unmarked deck all at once. If there are fewer than four remaining, you draw from the deck of Punishment. Only use it on decks which have been drawn from very little or not at all, as Punishment cards can be very painful. Deal Four-ing a deck of Summoning will give you a wall of monsters to cover your getaway, and using it on a deck of Destruction is useful if something needs to die immediately ("Firing the card cannon"). Just bear in mind that the usual precautions of drawing from Destruction still apply.
* Stack Five - Stack the deck in your favor! Draw five cards, discard the rest. You get to choose the order of your deck. The only downside to this ability is that you don't gain any piety for using stacked decks.

===Decks===

Nemelex will give you only pure decks, but decks found in the dungeon are likely to be mixed decks, which are generally inferior.

Pure decks:

* [[Deck of destruction]] - A variety of ranged attacks scaling with power level. This deck has been buffed a good deal since this guide was originally written. In particular, the Torment card has been removed. At low power the only risk of self-harm is the 50% chance of [[Olgreb's Toxic Radiance]] on the Venom card. At power level 2 the [[Pain card]] casts [[Symbol of Torment]] and the [[Spark card]] casts [[Orb of Electrocution]]. To protect yourself from the latter, be sure to target any draw from a Legendary deck at least 4 squares away on a clear path.

* [[Deck of dungeons]] - Spam plain and ornate versions of these decks to get gifts, but beware of blocking off sections of the dungeon. This deck allows you to alter the terrain around you. It's a pretty well balanced deck in terms of utility. '''Beware: Drawing the Trowel card from a lesser deck may create an [[Orange crystal statue]], so carry a [[wand of disintegration]] around.'''

* [[Deck of escape]] - This deck allows you to escape or avoid danger. It's very useful at higher power. The only "dangerous" cards in this deck are Damnation (if you're alone), and Flight (it might turn you into a bat or spider for a limited time).

* [[Deck of summoning]] - This is the best deck for difficult battles (and the safest one for a non-Nemelexite). It's also the least dangerous deck at higher power. If you summoned a hostile monster you can keep drawing cards and hope for a Crusade card, or for other summons to kill the renegade. Alternatively, run away and wait for it to disappear.

* [[Deck of wonders]] - This deck is very powerful, but the majority of its cards are dangerous. Triple draw from this deck. Alternatively, you may want to triple draw from this deck first, then stack the rest. The best cards are Experience, and if you want mutations, Potion and Helix . Everything else is highly situational.

Other (mixed) decks:

* [[Deck of changes]] - A mix of wonder and battle cards. Spam these decks (against weak enemies) while wearing an [[amulet of resist mutation]], or triple draw with enemies present.
* [[Deck of war]] - A mix of destruction and escape cards. Spam these decks against weak monsters to gain piety.
* [[Deck of defence]] - A mix of emergency and battle cards. Spam plain and ornate versions on weak monsters. Stack the legendary version of these decks, since they tend to have a lot of Elixir cards.

===Cards===

The comments below are useful if you are using one of Nemelex's abilities to choose which card to evoke. If you are just drawing at random without knowing what is coming out, well, at least this section will tell you what just happened to you.

* [[Deck of destruction]]:
** '''Vitriol''' - Two-thirds chance of a decent acid attack, one-third of turning a (living) monster into a [[Pulsating lump]], which just sucks. They're not worth much [[XP]] and their attacks mutate you, though they're extremely slow. Sure, you can turn weak critters (like rodents) into one to gain more experience, but it's a waste of time.
** '''Flame''' - It's a decent card, just make sure that the target is at least one square away from you, as there's even odds of casting a [[Fireball]].
** '''Frost''' - It's slightly less random than the Flame card. A good offensive card.
** '''Hammer''' - This card is kinda worthless in the early-game -- the Striking effect does barely any damage. And Stone Arrow is a pretty weak 1st tier effect compared to the elemental cards. However, it does allow Iron Shot to become available much earlier than normal, and evoking [[Lehudib's Crystal Spear]] later on for free is pretty nice.
** '''Venom''' - Avoid this card unless you are immune to poison, or you are willing to immediately imbibe a potion of curing. There is an even chance this card will cast [[Olgreb's Toxic Radiance]], which will poison you as well as your enemies.
** '''Spark''' - Be careful. The [[Orb of Electrocution]] effect can easily kill you, if you have no electricity resistance or below 100 HP. Aim it 4 squares away from you.
** '''Pain''' - Similar to the Spark card, but it's not nearly as powerful. At power level 2 it casts [[Symbol of Torment]], harming you as well.

* [[Deck of dungeons]]:
** '''Water''' - Fills the surrounding area with water. At high power, it creates large patches of [[deep water]]. [[Merfolk]] and [[Tengu]] get the most benefit out of this card. Merfolks get an EV boost and gain an axillary attack (tail slap). Tengu can permanently fly once they reach a certain experience level. Monsters incapable of swimming or levitating will have difficulty fighting in the water. Characters with confusion spells can drown masses of enemies at once!
** '''Vitrification''' - Turns walls transparent. Less useful now that you can't target things through clear walls.
** '''Dowsing''' - One of the few ways to get divinations effects. [[Detect Secret Doors]], [[Detect Traps]], and temporary telepathy.
** '''Trowel''' - Creates either a useless statue, a horribly dangerous statue, an altar, or a random portal. Only draw this card from legendary decks to create portals to nice, loot-filled places (i.e labyrinths, troves, etc.).
** '''Minefield''' - Train your Traps & Doors skill or get killed by a Zot trap! You can also lure monsters over the traps, but I wouldn't recommend it. Monsters tend to activate Zot traps repeatedly to harm you.

* [[Deck of escape]]:
** '''Portal''' - At high power, it causes controlled teleports. It's useful if a controlled blink can't take you far enough away from danger.
** '''Warp''' - The best escape spell in card form. At high power, it causes [[Controlled Blink]]. In general, controlled blinks are better than controlled teleports, since you can still control the general direction of your blinks in areas that disable teleport control.
** '''Swap''' - Switch places with an enemy. It has its uses, such as getting to the stairs or getting out of a blocked corridor. It does not let you drop monsters in deep water or lava.
** '''Velocity''' - A nice card that gives you a free speed boost.
** '''Tomb''' - [[Tomb of Doroklohe]] was a broken spell, so it isn't surprising that this card is overpowered. Remember that it skips squares that are already occupied, including by plants or fungi. (That can be useful.)
** '''Banshee''' - Fear scroll in card form. Nice in the early-game, but it's useless later on due to high monster [[HD]].
** '''Damnation''' - Banish an enemy or yourself to [[the Abyss]]. It can be used in emergencies to escape if you're desperate.
** '''Solitude''' - It's [[Dispersal]]. There are several better cards to choose from.
** '''Warpwright''' - Creates a teleport trap next to you. Use it at the end of a corridor to prevent monsters from coming near you.
** '''Flight''' - The Velocity card is better.

* [[Deck of summoning]]:
** '''Crusade''' - Enslavement or Abjuration (sometimes both). Controlling enemies is always fun. :-)
** '''Herd''' - Summons a lot of natural animals. It's pretty nice.
** '''Pentagram''' - Summon a [[1]] at high power. It's better than [[Makhleb]]'s Greater Servant invocation, because they're guaranteed to be friendly!
** '''Dance''' - At high power, it summons either a katana or executioner's axe with a speed/elec brand! Great card.
** '''Foxfire''' - Pretty broken card in general. Summons tons of wisps and vapours, which are notoriously hard to kill due to their high AC/EV. At high power, it summons a swarm of yellow/red wasps which can ''easily'' clear out 2/3 of a branch end by themselves.
** '''Bones''' - Decent card. [[Bone dragon]]s are awesome. Remember to [[Haste]] them.
** '''Repulsiveness''' - It's better than [[Summon Ugly Thing]].

* [[Deck of wonders]]:
** '''Potion''' - Gives the effect of a random potion among: [[Agility]], [[Brilliance]], [[Might]], [[Curing]], [[Potion of confusion|Confusion]], [[Slowing]], [[Potion of paralysis|Paralysis]]. At higher power, it has a chance of giving [[Potion of magic|Magic]], [[Potion of invisibility|Invisibility]], [[Potion of speed|Speed]] or [[Potion of resistance|Resistance]].
** '''Focus''' - Reduces your lowest stat by one and raises your highest by one. Do not use it if your stats are dangerously low.
** '''Shuffle''' - Swaps your stats around. Useful if you want to turn a fighter into a mage.
** '''Experience''' - This card is wonderful. Always pick it, if you can.
** '''Wild Magic''' - Avoid this card, unless you like random miscast effects.
** '''Helix''' - Useful if you want mutations. At low power it's an equal mix of good and bad outcomes. At high power it is significantly biased in your favor.
** '''Sage''' - Redirects half of incoming XP to a particular skill. If you had even the slightest iota of control over what skill starts leeching your experience points, this card would be great. As it is, the Sage card will almost certainly end up leeching points away from desirable skills into other places.

* [[Deck of oddities]]: ''This is not a distinct deck; These cards may appear unexpectedly in ''any'' deck, on a 1% chance per draw. You will get a message of "This doesn't seem to belong here".''
** '''Genie''' - Even odds of an [[scroll of acquirement|acquirement]] or nastiness. Nastiness is even odds of [[potion of decay|decay]] or [[potion of degeneration|degeneration]].
** '''Bargain''' - Gives you a special temporary buff, which will discount store prices by 20% for the length of its duration.
** '''Wrath''' - Invokes the wrath of a randomly chosen god against you.
** '''Xom''' - [[Xom]] acts with a severity of 5 + random2(power / 10). If you're actually following Xom, he goes to maximum amusement first!
** '''Feast''' - Sets your current nutrition level to 12000.
** '''Famine''' - Sets your current nutrition level to 500. One more reason never to walk around without any food on you or nearby.
** '''Curse''' - Curses one or more items in your inventory.

* Mixed decks:
** '''Elixir''' - Healing! You'll want to draw this card from a legendary deck to get the full HP and MP heal effect.
**'''Battlelust''' - Acts like a might potion or a slaying bonus. It's useful if you're a fighter, especially if you use fast weapons.
** '''Metamorphosis''' - If you specialize in unarmed combat, this card can be nice. (Beware: you lose the benefits of most of your armor, so this is NOT a card to invoke carelessly.) Probably most useful to change forms for a speed boost when running away.
** '''Helm''' - At low levels, grants [[Phase Shift|phase shift]] or [[Stoneskin|stoneskin]]. At higher levels, can grant both plus a magical shield. At max power, the above effects plus a [[Potion of resistance|potion of resistance]]. It's okay. There are much more useful defensive cards around.
** '''Blade''' - The Dance card is better for immediate, temporary aid. However, you can use this card in combo with a [[scroll of vorpalize weapon]] to give a permanent brand to a weapon.
** '''Shadow''' - Invisibility with an added stealth boost. Very nice for stabbers.

==Source information==

This section is for anyone interested in the inner workings of Nemelex. Thanks to '''Pan Et Circenses''' for diving the source code.

===Piety===

* Every 20 turns there is a 1:35 chance of losing 1 piety.
* Whenever you sacrifice something, there is a chance of gaining piety depending on the value of the sacrifice and your current piety.
* Whenever you gain piety, your [[Gift Timeout|gift timeout]] seems to decrease.

===Card countdown===

* Decks are only given with a card countdown of 0.
* When you receive a deck, your card countdown is set to 10. Note, this is not the same as a gift timer.
* In 0.10, waiting doesn't decrease the card countdown anymore. You need to use decks or sacrifice, and the former is not enough by itself.

===Sacrifice===

* Every item has a value, which is usually the price it sells for in stores. "Worthless" consumables, including the [[Fulsome Distillation|distillable]] or [[Vampire|bottleable]] potions, rotten food, and scrolls of Curse Armour/Jewellery/Weapon, Noise, and Random Uselessness, have a value of 1 instead of their shop value.
* As such, sacrificing things like potions of poison is fairly pointless. This is so that you cannot abuse [[Fulsome Distillation]], turning potential summoning decks into decks of wonder. Note that potions of mutation are an exception to this rule, valued at 30.
* Whenever you sacrifice an item, there is a VALUE:800 chance of decreasing your card countdown by 1.
* The value of the item sacrificed is added to the weight of the corresponding type of deck (in the case of corpses, mass is used instead of value, making it relatively easy to bias towards decks of summoning):
** Escape: Armor
** Destruction: Weapons, Staves, Ammo
** Dungeons: Misc. Objects, Jewelry, Books
** Summoning: Corpses
** Wonders: Potions, Scrolls, Wands, Food
* You can toggle the sacrificing of entire classes of items in the detailed religion screen (<tt>^!</tt>). This can help reduce micromanagement of piles while you are trying to avoid certain kinds of decks.

===Gift giving===

* Decks are only given with a gift timeout and a card countdown both at 0.
* Decks are never given if you are over deep water, even for [[Merfolk]].
* For any action that may give a gift:
** If you have been given no decks, there is a PIETY+1:50 chance of getting a deck.
** Otherwise, there is a 1:3 chance of having a PIETY+1:200 chance of getting a deck.
* The type of deck you get is weighted based on your sacrifices. To put it simply, if you have sacrificed an equal amount of value in every category, there is an equal chance of getting any kind of deck.
* At 200 piety, your chances of getting a common/uncommon/legendary deck are 5%/60%/35%. It drops off at lower piety.
* Your card countdown is set to 10
* Your gift timeout is increased by 5+(random number up to 9)
* The weighting of the deck type you are given is multiplied by 4/5
* NO OTHER WEIGHTS DECAY; there doesn't seem to be any reason to hold onto items of a particular type and sacrifice them all at once hoping to get a certain deck. In fact, for rare stuff like jewelry, the sooner you sacrifice it, the longer you'll have it in your weightings for a chance of getting good decks.

===Conclusions===

Sacrificing items can give you piety, and getting piety decreases your gift timeout.

It looks like you always get piety for drawing from a deck. You can get up to 3 points: 1 point for using up a deck, 1 point for drawing from an unstacked deck, and a 1:3 chance of an extra point for drawing from an unstacked deck. Depending on the number of points you gain, you also have a chance of decreasing your card countdown, up to (40/70/100% chance for 1/2/3 points). I think the number of points is weighted by some kind of normal distribution to determine actual piety gain.

Based on all this, I think the best way to get a specific deck type in the late game is to spend all game sacrificing as much as possible to get a huge number of decks, and after you think you have enough stop sacrificing undesired categories entirely and rely on your decks mostly for piety gain.

The best advice I can give for gaming the system is never sacrifice anything of a type you don't want more valuable than your current piety+30 (230 at max piety). Everything above that I believe is guaranteed to give you piety, and extra value only goes toward deck weighting.

If you don't want decks of summoning, don't sacrifice really huge corpses (all corpses give piety at the same rate, but their weight in aum gets added to their deck weighting). Butcher such otherwise useless corpses to convert them to food, and sacrifice the chunks. Chunks don't have a lot of value, but at least you're getting something.

Late game if you have a lot of decks built up, you can use them to get more decks. The benefit of this is that you'll start decaying your more heavily weighted deck types without bumping them back up again.

Prior to 0.10 it was ideal to wait ~400 turns after receiving a gift before drawing more cards or sacrificing items, as it would only go toward reducing the card countdown (which would go to zero on its own anyway). In 0.10 the card countdown is only reduced by card use and sacrificing, and it is impossible to get a net gain in decks purely through card-draws. You must do some sacrificing as well in order to keep up your deck supply.

[[Category:Strategy Guides]]

Cheating

2014-01-31T14:40:54Z

Furrykef: /* Cheating */ bones file -> ghost file

'''Cheating''' is the act of doing things not intended by [[developers]] or considered to be against the "spirit" of the game.

==Not cheating==

* Using [[wizard mode]] to test things out, before trying it in a legit game.
* Reading spoilers

==Degenerate behavior==

* All forms of [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scumming scumming]
* Deleting level files

==Cheating==

===Save scumming===

'''Save scumming''' is creating a back-up save file in case your character dies. Thus, eliminating the permanency of death.

===Abusing the random number generator===

A sufficiently determined player can find the seed of the [[random number generator]] after starting the game and then use it to his or her advantage.

===Selectively deleting ghost files===

It is possible to delete [[player ghost|ghost]] files. If you do this selectively, deleting only the ones that you think will kill you again, this is cheating. If you always delete all ghost files including ones you would be glad to find, this is not cheating as it is the equivalent of playing every game on a fresh install.

===Leaving weak ghosts behind===

When players die they may leave a ghost on that level. Players can create high level characters and give them major weaknesses, before killing them. When they encounter the weak ghost later on, they can kill them and get tons of [[XP]] early on.

[[Category:Crawl]]

ARCHIVED Huggz's Spriggan Enchanter guide

2014-01-31T04:37:09Z

Furrykef: /* Strategy */ typo

{{Character guide}}
{{version013}}

Spriggan Enchanters use stealth and stabbing to ninja their way to victory. A very popular choice among ''Crawl'' players, Spriggan Enchanters are also known for being used in both time- and turn-count [[Speed running|speedruns]].

This guide has been updated for 0.13 and is largely based on the guide by hyperbolic. For the latest guide by hyperbolic, see [http://crawl.develz.org/info/index.php?q=hyperbolic this link].

==Skills==
Approximate goals are as follows:

# 5 Short Blades, 8 [[Stealth]].
# [[Invisibility]] to 6% fail. 8 Short Blades, 10 Dodging, 12 Stealth.
# 6 Fighting, 10 Short Blades, 15 Dodging/Stealth.
# 27 Stealth, 10 Fighting, and whatever spell skills you want.
# Other skills you may need at some point: [[Spellcasting]] to reduce hunger, some [[Evocations]], and 9 [[Shields]] to remove the shield penalty once you get a buckler.

==Stats==
Train Strength to about 8 for carry capacity, then train Int (spellcasting).

==Spells==
*From the starting book: [[Ensorcelled Hibernation | EH]], [[Confuse]], [[Invisibility]] (and [[Sure Blade]] to train Charms or if you want better melee).
*When you find them: other generally good spells like [[Haste]], [[Repel Missiles]], [[Regeneration]], [[Dispel Undead]], [[Apportation]], [[Blink]], [[Control Teleport]], [[Phase Shift]], [[Controlled Blink]], etc.

==Equipment==
*Weapons: Any short blade will work for stabbing, but switch to a dagger when possible. Short blades, compared to other weapon schools, gain a large bonus to damage when stabbing, and daggers get an especially large bonus. For regular melee, early on look for [[electricity]] and [[venom]] weapons. Later look for a [[quick blade]] and/or [[pain brand]] a weapon with Kiku. [[Distortion]] is nice also.
*Buckler: Train shields to 9 to avoid penalties. If possible, one of rF+, rC+, resistance, protection, poison resistance - but rN+ and reflection are better than nothing.
*Rings of slaying for melee, rings of protection (or evasion), rF+ or rC+ rings if you don't have the resist, or rF++ if you go into Zot. Swaps include teleport control, protection from magic, poison resistance, life protection; anything that you may want to swap to if <situation> presented itself.

==Gods==
Quick guide: Ash, Jiyva, Kiku, Lugonu, Makhleb, and Nemelex are all great choices.

[[Spriggan]] [[Enchanter|Enchanters]] are compatible with a wide range of gods! Here are some good choices:

*[[Okawaru]] offers two abilities: [[Heroism]], which slightly improves your melee combat performance, and [[Finesse]], which greatly increases your attack speed. Also, you will eventually gain god gifts of branded / artifact short blades and various kinds of spriggan-suitable armour, which can really help fill your missing resistances.
*[[Makhleb]] offers two abilities that allow you to ignore magic skills entirely: elemental direct damage blasts and powerful demon summoning for when things get out of hand. If you use Makhleb, train Invocations to 10 before using his summons to greatly reduce their chance of arriving hostile, and always have an escape route lined up. Never use his summons as a last-ditch attempt to escape, but rather as soon as you see that a monster that is likely to be nasty. These abilities cost HP rather than MP, which spriggans unfortunately do not have huge amounts of, but he also restores your HP with each kill.
*[[Vehumet]] can work well for an SpEn that wants to become an offensive spellcaster by the time most monsters start resisting hexes. Vehumet will gift books with Conjurations and Summoning spells, guaranteeing you actually find them; he also makes offensive spells easier, cheaper, and more powerful, all of which a Spriggan will need to overcome low aptitudes. You can train piety while still stabbing monsters.
*[[Nemelex Xobeh]], as his decks provide an answer to situations not covered by stealthy backstabbing. Evocations will be a major part of a SpEn of Nemelex's skillset.
*[[Kikubaaqudgha]] adds Necromancy, gives one of the best books in the game and brands your sabre with pain, so your spriggan can take most living things in direct melee. Keep Necromancy trained and learn Pain, Vampiric Draining, Regeneration, Dispel Undead, Agony, and Borgnjor's Revivification. You'll need to come up with some other means of killing demons, however.
*[[Ashenzari]] allows SpEns to radically alter their skillset once Hexes-resistant monsters become more common, by redirecting their existing Hexes, Short Blades etc. skills into offensive spell schools (melee SpEn are most likely better off with another god, as it is impossible to reskill into Fighting and Ashenzari provides no melee damage bonus). Possible choices are Poison/Conjurations, for Poison Arrow, or Air for Airstrike and Tornado, depending of course on luck with spellbook finds.
*[[Jiyva]] is an interesting option; although you can only access it in the late game, Jiyva's mutations can fill in a lot of your missing resistances, and the slime allies it creates can at the very least provide useful distractions for more substantial opponents. A spriggan with high dexterity and several natural weapon mutations could conceivably become a decent Unarmed Combat fighter, but that requires a lot of training outside of your strengths. Just be careful establishing your food stash; the last thing you want is for a jelly to eat all your honeycombs and bread rations. Prior to serving Jiyva, you could also serve one of the other gods with survivable wrath. Spending the early game serving Okawaru can provide you with some nice artifacts, for instance, or Kiku could pain brand your saber.

==Strategy==
*Even more than other character builds, use your stealth and do not immediately engage monsters when you first see them. Evaluate whether or not to leave the monster(s) alone for the time being. You may also explore alternatives routes to particular sleeping monsters, to minimize the number of turns that you are exposed while going in for the kill.
*[[Ensorcelled Hibernation]]: At level 2, get Ensorcelled Hibernation (EH) and use it on monsters when they are adjacent to you. Note that EH at low power will often take several casts to succeed. If the monster is potentially dangerous, use EH with one space between you and the monster and move in for the stab when they fall asleep. Cast EH from too far and they will wake up before you get to them. Since you are faster than most monsters you can also easily kite them until EH works.
*[[Confuse]]: EH does not work on cold resistant monsters and undead, as well as monsters who have recently been ensorcelled. You can tell that EH does not work at the time because you will get the message "<foo> is unaffected" instead of "<foo> resists" In this case, you can also confuse them and stab them while they are not looking.
*Confuse can also be combined with EH; cast Confuse on them from outside melee range and then Ensorcelled Hibernation, and wait for them to walk next to you while sleeping.
*[[Invisibility]]: Once you get Invisibility, use it against any monster that is hard to put back to sleep or in a group. Slime creatures and packs of orcs are perfect targets for this, as are ugly things. The orc mines and blade can be trivialised with Invisibility.
*In the late game, enemies with with high MR and see invisibility become more common. It will be near impossible to fight your way to some runes of Zot or the Orb of Zot relying only on the Hexes/Stabbing combo. Your choice of god may provide you with alternatives means of offense. Alternatively, the high EV and movement speed bonus of spriggans makes them excellent at stealing runes/the Orb without killing the branch end guardians.

==Sample Characters==
*[http://crawl.develz.org/morgues/0.10/78291/morgue-78291-20120311-031841.txt 78291: SpEn best realtime speedrun in the 0.10 tournament (01:28:55, 19956 turns)]
*[http://crawl.develz.org/morgues/0.10/jeanjacques/morgue-jeanjacques-20120309-174901.txt jeanjacques: SpEn best turn-count speedrun in the 0.10 tournament (03:01:45, 18437 turns)]

==Other Links==
*[http://crawl.develz.org/info/index.php?q=hyperbolic hyperbolic's 0.12 SpEn Guide]
*[https://crawl.develz.org/tavern/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1476 SpEn Tavern Discussion]

[[Category:Character guides]]

Summoner

2014-01-30T22:12:01Z

Furrykef: /* Strategy */ Sludge Elves are no more

{{version013}}

'''Summoners''' specialise in calling creatures from this (and other) worlds to serve them. Although they can at first summon only very wimpy creatures, the more advanced summoning spells allow them to call on such powers as elementals and demons.

==Starting Equipment==
Some [[species]] may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.
*+0 [[robe]]
*[[Book of Callings]]
*[[Bread ration]]
*20 [[gold]]

==Starting Skills==
These are adjusted by your species' [[aptitude]]s.
*[[Dodging]]: 2
*[[Stealth]]: 2
*[[Spellcasting]]: 1
*[[Summonings]]: 4

==Strategy==
Recommended species for Summoner include [[Deep Elf]], [[Kobold]], [[Naga]], [[Draconian]], [[Ogre]], [[Tengu]], [[Vampire]], and [[Mummy]].

Relying on summoned creatures to kill opponents for you does reduce your gained XP somewhat. Don't be afraid to get your hands a little dirty when dealing with generally harmless foes.

==History==
In [[0.14]] they will start with 2 Spellcasting.

[[Category:Backgrounds]]
[[Category:Crystal Ball Articles]]

Kobold

2014-01-30T18:17:30Z

Furrykef: /* Innate Abilities */ updating Saprovore description for 0.13

{{version013}}
{{for monster}}
{{flavour|Kobolds are small, ugly creatures with few redeeming features. They are not the sort of people you would want to spend much time with, unless you happened to be a Kobold yourself.

They tend to be stronger and less agile than Halflings, and are slightly more talented at using most types of magic, particularly necromancy. They are competent in combat, especially with short blades, maces or crossbows, and are also very adept at using magical devices. They often live as scavengers, surviving on carrion (which they can eat even when not hungry), but are carnivorous and can only eat meat. Kobolds advance in levels as quickly as Humans. Like Halflings, Kobolds cannot wield large weapons.}}

==Innate Abilities==
*Kobolds recover from [[sickness]] quickly.
*[[Good_mutations#Carnivorous|Carnivorous 3]]: Kobolds gain more sustenance from meat and can eat [[chunk]]s at any time, but cannot eat anything but meat.
*[[Saprovore|Saprovore 2]]: Kobolds can eat rotten meat, and have a reduced nutrition penalty from eating contaminated meat.
*Kobolds are [[Size#Player Sizes|small]] creatures, unable to wield [[large shield]]s, [[bardiche]]s, [[battleaxe]]s, [[dire flail]]s, [[executioner's axe]]s, [[glaive]]s, [[great mace]]s, [[great sword]]s, [[halberd]]s, [[longbow]]s, [[scythe]]s, [[triple sword]]s, [[giant club]]s, [[giant spiked club]]s, [[javelin]]s, and [[throwing net]]s. One-handed weapons like [[magical staves]], [[broad axe]]s, [[trident]]s, [[demon trident]]s and [[double sword]]s are two-handed weapons to them.

==Preferred Backgrounds==
*'''Warriors:''' [[Hunter]], [[Assassin]]
*'''Zealots:''' [[Berserker]], [[Healer]]
*'''Warrior-mages:''' [[Arcane Marksman]], [[Enchanter]]
*'''Mages:''' [[Summoner]], [[Necromancer]], [[Fire Elementalist]], [[Ice Elementalist]], [[Air Elementalist]], [[Earth Elementalist]], [[Venom Mage]]
*'''Adventurers:''' [[Artificer]]

==Level Bonuses==
*+1 [[strength]] or [[dexterity]] (equal chance) every 5th level.
*20% less [[HP]] than average.
*Average [[MP]].
*+3 [[magic resistance]] per level.

==Starting Skills and Equipment==
Kobolds receive the skills and equipment listed for their background, with the following exceptions:
*[[Meat ration]]s replace [[bread ration]]s.
*[[Stone]]s replace [[throwing net]]s.

==Difficulty of Play==
{{Beginner}}

Kobolds are a fairly easy race to play because of their excellent aptitudes in most "nimble assassin" skills. They play similarly to [[halfling]]s, but have a leg up on them thanks to their considerably higher [[Fighting]] aptitude and their ability to eat almost any kind of meat at any time. This makes them excel as [[berserker]]s, as they will be so well fed most of the game that berserking often is easy to manage. They advance extremely quickly in experience compared to the more "powerful" races.

{{species_aptitudes|Kobold}}

==Trivia==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold Kobolds] were originally creatures from Germanic mythology, but they are most well-known to gamers as low-level monsters in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (which their depiction in ''Crawl'' most resembles).

==Guides==
*[[Hybrid's Kobold Berserker guide]]

[[Category:Species]] [[Category:Kobold]]

Troll

2014-01-30T18:14:09Z

Furrykef: /* Innate Abilities */ updating Saprovore description for 0.13

{{version013}}
''This page is about the player [[species]]. For the monster, see [[Troll (monster)]]. If you were looking for monstrous trolls in general, see [[List of trolls]].''
{{flavour|Trolls are like Ogres, but even nastier. They have thick, knobbly skins of any colour from putrid green to mucky brown, which are covered in patches of thick fur, and their mouths are full of ichor-dripping fangs.

They can rip creatures apart with their claws, and regenerate very quickly from even the most terrible wounds. They learn slowly indeed - as slowly as High Elves - and need a great amount of food to survive.}}

==Innate Abilities==
*[[Good mutations#Shaggy Fur|Shaggy Fur]] 1 and [[Good_mutations#Tough_Skin|Tough Skin]] 2: Trolls get +3 [[AC]].
*[[Good_mutations#Claws|Claws 3]]: Trolls have claws for hands, as well as an unstated to-hit bonus when using them. These claws inflict heavy [[bleeding]] and can decapitate [[hydra]]s.
*[[Gourmand]]: Trolls can eat [[chunk]]s at any time.
*[[Good_mutations#Regeneration|Regeneration 2]]: Trolls heal very quickly.
*[[Bad_mutations#Fast_Metabolism|Fast Metabolism 3+]]: On top of the +3 hunger penalty from this mutation, trolls receive an additional +3 racial penalty, for an unmatched base metabolism of 9 food/turn.
*[[Saprovore]] 2: Trolls can tolerate rotten meat, and have a reduced nutrition penalty from eating contaminated meat.
*Trolls are [[Size#Player Sizes|large]] and can use [[giant club]]s and [[giant spiked club]]s (unlike smaller species), but their bodies do not fit into [[boots]], [[gloves]], [[gauntlets]], [[helmet]]s, or most body armour. [[Buckler]]s are too small for them to use, but they can handle [[shield]]s and [[large shield]]s easily.
*Trolls are large enough to attack normally while standing in [[shallow water]], but they still move slowly in it.

==Preferred Backgrounds==
*'''Warriors:''' [[Fighter]], [[Gladiator]], [[Monk]], [[Hunter]]
*'''Zealots:''' [[Berserker]], [[Death Knight]], [[Healer]]
*'''Mages:''' [[Wizard]]

==Level Bonuses==
*+1 [[strength]] every 3rd level.
*30% more [[HP]] than average.
*20% less [[MP]] than average.
*+3 [[magic resistance]] per level.

==Starting Skills and Equipment==
Trolls start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:
*Incompatible body armour is replaced with an [[animal skin]] or [[robe]].
*[[Helmet]]s are replaced with [[cap]]s.
*[[Meat ration]]s replace [[bread ration]]s, and trolls receive an extra ration.
*Any [[Armour]] skill is replaced with [[Dodging]].
*If their background does not start with [[Unarmed Combat]] skill ''and'' offers a choice of weapon, trolls have the extra option of "claws" (and Unarmed Combat skill).
*Troll [[hunter]]s are offered a choice of [[large rock]]s instead of [[javelin]]s.

==Difficulty of Play==
{{Easy}}

Trolls are an extremely easy race in the early game. While they have the worst aptitudes in almost every skill, and their hunger rate is three times faster than average, trolls are highly effective as all-out [[Unarmed Combat]] attackers. They have the highest STR in the game, +6 bonus damage (from the Claws 3 mutation), a passive +4 [[to hit]] bonus, and they occasionally inflict the [[bleeding]] condition for 9% of a living monster's health per turn. With or without [[Blade Hands]], a troll specialized in Unarmed Combat is one of the deadliest melee fighters possible, competitive with an [[ogre]] with a fully enchanted [[giant spiked club]]. Trolls can also throw [[large rock]]s. These are easily the best [[Throwing]] weapons in the game, and even with zero Throwing skill, they are very effective at softening up enemies before engaging in hand to hand combat.

Their hunger rate is astonishingly fast, but their Gourmand intrinsic allows them to eat [[chunk]]s like a carnivore without losing access to vegetarian permafood. It's not unusual to spend the majority of your game at Full or better with no actual fear of starvation. [[Poison]] resistance makes this even easier by expanding the range of edible corpses. Assuming you stick to eating corpses whenever possible, you should have more than enough permafood to survive the later corpseless branches.

The biggest challenge most trolls face is achieving a solid defense. Their large size prevents them from wearing any gloves or boots, and the only body armour they can wear initially are robes and animal hides, so getting decent [[AC]] can be tricky. [[Ev]]asion is hard to come by, too; they have a lousy [[Dodging]] aptitude (-2), and their large size and low [[dexterity]] both reduce their EV significantly.

Instead of negating enemy attacks through AC and EV, trolls rely on their large health pool and regenerative properties. This is the case in spite of their slightly below-average [[Fighting]] skill aptitutde: their excellent HP modifier magnifies your gains from this skill. Assuming you get into melee range, few single opponents can kill a troll before getting torn to pieces. The real threat lies in overconfidence; taking on multiple opponents at once (a band of [[list of orcs|orcs]] or halberd-wielding [[list of gnolls|gnolls]], for example) or charging ranged attackers is an easy way to lose an otherwise promising troll. Until you've established some sort of solid defense, cautious play and intelligent use of [[potion]]s, [[scroll]]s, and thrown weapons is vital.

Eventually, however, trolls can couple their vitality with excellent defense. Their high strength and large size make it easy to operate even in heavy dragon armours. Although these do slow your unarmed attacks somewhat, the added durability is well worth it. [[Shields]] are also an excellent way to add durability. A troll's low Shields skill aptitude is counteracted by the lower-than-normal skill level needed to negate the [[Shields#Shield_Penalties|shield penalty]].

{{species_aptitudes|Troll}}

==Strategy==
Trollish [[intelligence]] and magic aptitudes are some of the worst in the game. While this doesn't rule out magic entirely, trolls require intense effort to get access to higher level spells, and it's generally not an efficient use of experience. Some 1st and 2nd level spells, however, are perfectly viable for trolls: [[Confusing Touch]] and [[Beastly Appendage]] are decent 1st level combat enhancers, [[Sting]] is excellent for softening up approaching opponents, and [[Swiftness]], [[Shroud of Golubria]], and [[Repel Missiles]] are all useful level 2 buffs well within the reach of trolls. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but you should definitely try to have your physical offense and defense in order before more than dabbling in magic.

[[Evocations]] is one of a troll's better aptitudes (at least compared to their magic skills), and it offers less of an uphill battle for magical support. Finding a useful [[rod]] can immediately give a troll access to high-level spells they'd normally have to devote massive amounts of training for, and a troll's capacity for eating corpses makes it much easier to deal with the hunger costs involved (just be careful when exploring corpse-free branches). Rods, unfortunately, are by no means guaranteed to generate, so consider this a tactic to take up if the opportunity presents itself, and not something to rely on.

A vital resource that ''is'' guaranteed to present itself are gods. Trollish [[Invocations]] has an astounding aptitude of -1, and there are a number of excellent gods to complement their limited skill set:

'''Recommended'''
*[[Okawaru]]'s Heroism buffs Unarmed Combat performance tremendously, as does Finesse, and his armour gifts occasionally include early dragon armour.
*[[Trog]]'s abilities require no skill training to activate, and provide free [[berserk]]ing, [[magic resistance]], even greater health regeneration, and very abusable summons.
*[[Elyvilon]]'s normal hunger restraints are less of a concern for the voracious troll, who benefits immensely from excellent panic buttons and the ability to pacify most dangerous opponents with smite targeting.
*Likewise, [[Makhleb]]'s HP costs for spells are of little concern when you regenerate them back almost immediately, and having powerful ranged attacks and high-level summons lets you handle anything you're afraid to get into clawing range for. The healing-on-kills helps trolls recover from fights even faster than normal.
*[[Nemelex Xobeh]]'s [[deck]] gifts are a more reliable way to make use of Evocations than hoping for a rod, and if you ''really'' want to turn your troll into a spell caster, drawing a [[Shuffle card]] is a means of acquiring a phenomenal boost to intelligence.
*[[Jiyva]]'s random mutations don't get in the way of your equipment slots, as most of them are already off-limits, and the various resistances it grants you can protect you from elements you'd otherwise have difficulty with. Slimify is a very effective method for disabling dangerous opponents, and his [[list of jellies|jellies]] will help keep you well-fed as they devour every item in sight. Just be prepared to occasionally lose a lot of your strength when Jiyva decides to shuffle you.

'''Acceptable'''
*[[The Shining One]] restricts you from a number of useful items and tactics ([[curare]] [[needle]]s, [[wands of draining]], attacking [[confused]] or [[paralyse]]d enemies, etc.), but he does offer defensive boosts (particularly if you already use a shield) and powerful summoned allies. His cleansing flame works wonders against [[undead]] or [[demon]]ic opponents, however, and his free healing for killing evil monsters is very nice.
*[[Ashenzari]] provides sizable boosts to your skills through cursed equipment. Although you can't improve unarmed combat this way, cursing one's jewellery grants you bonuses to your magical skills which go a long way toward getting spells online, and it's always helpful to know when a band of monsters is lurking around a corner. Without a weapon to [[curse]], however, farming [[piety]] might take a while.
*[[Kikubaaqudgha]]'s corpse deliveries can provide you with snacks. Also, trolls aren't ''entirely'' useless with [[Necromancy]] if you should choose to dabble in that, and the ability to invoke torment (which you'll partially resist) on powerful foes goes well with the fact that you regenerate faster than them.
*[[Vehumet]]'s spell support is another method for getting access to [[Conjurations]], but you'll probably find little use for the later spell gifts he offers.
*[[Cheibriados]]' stat boosts are extremely useful for unarmed combat fighters, especially if they intend to use [[Blade Hands]], and Step From Time can get you directly into melee range rather than getting peppered with ranged attacks as you crawl toward your foes. Also, +15 intelligence is a good method for making up for magic aptitudes. Unfortunately, the loss of movement speed makes it difficult to choose your battles; don't be afraid to Step From Time when things look bad.

'''Not Recommended'''
*The only god that really doesn't mesh well with trolls is [[Zin]]. While his abilities are just as useful to trolls as they are to everyone else, his dietary restrictions cut your corpse access quite harshly. Worshiping Zin as a troll is one of the easiest ways to find yourself actually starving to death.

Finally, don't use trollish unarmed combat against hydras. It's a very bad idea. Large rocks, powerful attack wands, god abilities, or simply retreating are your best bets here.

==Guides==
*[[Elynae's Troll Conjurer guide]] newbie-friendly, Chei, Oka, Makh, Veh
*[[Buddy23Lee's Troll monk of Jiyva ("slime troll") guide]] (0.12)

[[Category:Species]]
[[Category:Troll]]

0.13

2014-01-30T18:13:52Z

Furrykef: It was released some months ago now

{{version013}}

'''0.13''' is a version of ''Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup''. It was released on Oct. 11th, 2013.

Stone Soup 0.13 (20131011)
---------------------------------------------

0.13 highlights
---------------
* A new race: [[Gargoyle]]s.
* A reimagined [[Skald]] background.
* A thorough rework of the monster set in [[Crypt]].
* Improvements to many evokable items.
* A new item: [[sack of spiders]].
* Massively overhauled layout generators.
* [[Summonings]] school: per-spell limits and no stair following or pulling.
* New [[Sprint]] map: linesprint.

Branches, environment
---------------------
* A new Sprint map: "|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||" by st (otherwise known as linesprint).
* [[Branch]]es now have exactly one exit stair (except [[the Dungeon]], which can, but is not guaranteed, to have more).
* Many new layouts have been added to most branches, including unique layouts for branches that didn't have them; and numerous tweaks and improvements to existing layouts.
* [[Vault]]s can now be placed at the centre of some layouts prepared to accept them there.
* All [[portal]] vaults entrances that time out are now announced.
* [[Temple]] overflow [[altar]]s can now contain multiple altars.
* New [[shop]] type: gadget shops, which sell evokable items.
* Mechanical [[trap]]s do not spawn outside of vaults.
* [[Zot trap]] effects are now only a subset of the full set of miscasts, and have some new unique effects - draining of [[wand]] charges and Word of Recall (as per [[ironbrand convoker]]s).

Character
---------
* A new race: [[Gargoyle]]s, with low natural [[HP]] but an impressive host of resistances and the ability to [[fly]] at XL14.
* [[Sludge elves]] are no more.
* The [[Skald]] background gets a reworked [[spell book]] with four new spells:
** [[Infusion]] grants additional melee damage costing MP with each strike;
** [[Song of Slaying]] grants an incremental slaying bonus with every monster killed (of sufficient threat level);
** [[Spectral Weapon]] creates an allied spectral clone of your weapon which strikes enemies in melee when you do.
** [[Song of Shielding]] has a similar effect to [[spirit shield]], trading [[HP]] loss for [[MP]] loss.
* [[Priest]]s are no more.
* The [[nausea]] [[status effect]] from eating contaminated [[chunk]]s has been removed; contaminated chunks now give less nutrition for characters that can't handle them.
* [[Stabbing]] skill is no more; stabs now depend upon the average of the character's [[stealth]] and weapon skill.
* The [[Traps]] skill is no more; all characters detect traps as though they had (XL/3) Traps skill.
* [[Chaos knight]]s start with a +0 [[chaos]] weapon instead of a +2 normal weapon.
* New tier 2 [[demonspawn mutation]] - "magic shield", giving [[spirit shield]] at level one, improved magic regeneration at level two, and regenerating mana in place of health as a function of current magic level at level three.
* Deaths to [[acid]], self-targetting, and [[sticky flame]] now credit the appropriate monster/spell.
* [[stat death|Draining a stat to zero]] can no longer directly kill the player; instead, further stat drain damages the player. The effects of a stat being at zero (fainting, slow actions, etc.) persist.
* [[Ogre]] [[hunter]]s and [[artificer]]s now start with a [[club]] instead of a [[short sword]].

Monsters
--------
* New/reworked [[Crypt]] monsters:
** [[Wraith]]s, [[shadow wraith]]s, and [[eidolon]]s drain speed instead of [[XP]].
** [[Eidolon]]s deal more melee damage and can cast [[Bolt of Draining]].
** [[Phantasmal warrior]]s can temporarily reduce their target's [[magic resistance]] and can [[blink close]]r to their foes.
** [[Flayed ghost]]s gain a [[smite]]-targeted flaying attack, dealing temporary damage that scales with XP and goes away when the flayed ghost is killed and/or enough time passes.
** [[Ancient champion]]s, formerly a vault-specific monster, are now full randomly-generated monsters, coming with a band of [[skeletal warrior]]s 50% of the time.
** [[Vampire mage]]s cast [[Vampiric Draining]] more often, and have slightly higher [[HD]] and HP; they also come with a band of [[list of vampires|vampires]].
** [[Rotting hulk]]s are now [[plague shambler]]s, capable of inflicting a "[[retching]]" [[status effect]] that prevents food consumption; they generate a [[cloud]] of [[miasma]] on death.
** [[Spectral thing]]s move at their full base monster speed.
** [[Deep dwarf death knight]]s gain slightly better attack power and starting equipment, and now come with a band of [[undead]].
** [[Flying skull]]s get a slight HP boost and a larger attack power boost.
** [[Ghoul (monster)|Ghouls]] inflict [[rot]] half as often.
** [[Curse skull]]s are capable of out-of-LOS movement, similar to [[wandering mushroom]]s, but preferring to place themselves where a player needs to move the most to actually reach them.
** New monster: [[revenant]]s, possessing a ghostly fireball attack and capable of creating clouds of ghostly flame, which do not harm undead and occasionally summon spectral things.
** New monster: [[lost soul]]s, who sacrifice themselves to heal nearby undead creatures or assume the shape of a nearby killed living creature; they can be summoned by [[deep elf death mage]]s.
** [[Necromancer (monster)|Necromancers]] don't come with [[necrophage]]s, but do come with [[simulacra]].
** [[Unborn deep dwarves]] are now just [[unborn]].
** New monster: [[jiangshi]], who move in short burts (like [[sixfirhies]]) and possess a [[vampiric]] melee attack.
* New [[forest]]-themed monsters:
** [[Spriggan assassin]]s and [[spriggan enchanter]]s, who attempt to disable the player with [[blowgun]]s and [[hexes]] respectively before moving in for the kill.
** [[Wind drake]]s, who can breathe powerful blasts of wind and [[airstrike]] the player.
* Other new monsters:
** [[Tengu reaver]]s, skilled with both steel and spells; appearing in the late dungeon and in Vaults.
** [[Deathcap]]s, summonable by [[curse toe]]s - tougher [[wandering mushroom]]s with [[Drain Life]].
* New unique: [[Sojobo]], king of the tengu.
* [[Jory]] now spawns normally in the late dungeon, instead of being limited to vaults.
* Adjustments to some tier 4 demons:
** [[Orange demon]]s' sting has a 50% chance of inflicting a [[Weakness]] status, which reduces the player's attack damage.
** [[Blue devil]]s have a swooping attack, where they can immediately move adjacent to the player and attack from up to four tiles away.
** [[Red devil]]s can now hop backwards from adjacent foes to make use of their now-guaranteed polearms' reaching attacks.
* Adjustments to the elementals:
** [[Water elemental]]s have an asphyxiation attack which lasts as long as their target is next to them, and have slightly increased AC and HP.
** [[Fire elemental]]s (and [[fire vortices]]) deal pure fire damage.
* Updated spell set for several monsters:
** [[Draconian shifter]]s:
** [[Banishment]] is dropped.
** A new monster spell: [[Dimension Anchor]], which temporarily prevents teleportation, blinking, and [[Phase Shift]].
** A new monster spell: [[Blink Allies Encircling]], which blinks nearby allies around the target.
** [[Controlled Blink]] is replaced with [[Blink#Monster Version|Blink Away]] as an emergency spell.
** [[Spriggan air mage]]s:
** Drop [[Swiftness]].
** New spell: [[Control Winds]], which manipulates [[cloud]]s (including putting out fores fires immediately), and improves allied ranged weapon accuracy.
** [[Spriggan druid]]s:
** Drop [[Summon Caniforms]].
** New spells: [[Haste Plants]], which [[haste]]s nearby plant-like enemies, and [[Druid's Call]], which calls wildlife from elsewhere on the level to aid the druid.
** [[The Enchantress]]:
** [[Banishment]] is banished.
** Gains [[Dimension Anchor]] (see draconian shifter entry above), [[Strip Resistance]] (lowers the magic resistance of the target), and [[Mass Confusion]].
** [[Curse toe]]s:
** No more [[Summon Undead]].
** [[Deep elf summoner]]s:
** [[Summon Demon]] replaced with [[Summon Vermin]], which summons [[orange rat]]s, [[spider]]s, and some other things.
** [[Deep elf priest]]s/[[Deep elf high priest]]s:
** A new spell "[[Malign Offering]]", which steals HP from the target to give to their allies.
** [[Deep elf mage]]s:
** Entirely new spellsets:
** [[Freeze]], [[Throw Icicle]], [[Summon Ice Beast]];
** [[Bolt of Magma]], [[Stone Arrow]], [[Petrify]];
** [[Iskenderun's Mystic Blast]], [[Slow]], [[Venom Bolt]], [[Blink]];
** [[Flame Tongue]], [[Throw Flame]], [[Sticky Flame]], [[Fireball]];
** [[Magic Dart]], [[Force Lance]], [[Iskenderun's Mystic Blast]], [[Iskenderun's Battlesphere]].
** [[Deep elf conjurer]]s:
** Only one spellset ([[Bolt of Fire]], [[Bolt of Cold]], [[Lightning Bolt]], [[Bolt of Draining]]); the spell set with sticky flame has been removed.
** [[Gloorx Vloq]]:
** No longer has [[Invisibility]] as an emergency spell.
* Speed adjustments to several monsters:
** Speed 8: [[spiny worm]]s, [[snapping turtle]]s, [[guardian mummies]] (all previously speed 9).
** Speed 10: [[jellies]] (previously 9).
* [[Shadow]]s can now turn invisible, allowing them to move faster and land a guaranteed stab attack on enemies.
* The retribution effect for killing an [[apis]] now inflicts [[Weakness]] on the player, instead of healing nearby hostiles.
* [[Giant fireflies]] can now signal nearby awake monsters in a manner similar to shouting.
* [[Vault warden]]s can seal stairways in addition to doors.
* [[Zombie]]s no longer appear excessively out of depth in the early dungeon.
* Orb run monster spawns no longer include weak monsters, and now include [[Orb Guardian]]s.
* Monster actions are now taken in order of speed, rather than any given monster taking all of its actions at once.
* Removed monsters:
** [[Laboratory rat]]s.
** [[War dog]]s (replaced by [[wolves]] with essentially matching stats).
** [[Deep dwarf scion]]s, [[deep dwarf necromancer]]s, and [[deep dwarf artificer]]s.
** [[Deep elf soldier]]s.
** A large number of vault-specific monsters.
* Imps and other weak monsters no longer appear in [[Pandemonium]].
* [[Nergalle]] appears earlier in the dungeon.
* [[Lamia]] no longer comes with a band of minions.
* Creatures other than natural creatures can now be [[frenzied]]; this causes them to attack anything in sight. The [[berserk]]ing effect of frenzy (might and haste effects) is limited to natural creatures.

Spells
------
* New spells:
** [[Searing Ray]], a level 2 conjuration replacing [[Force Lance]] in the [[Book of Conjurations]] that deals damage over several consecutive turns.
** [[Discord]], a level 8 [[Hexes]] spell that attempts to [[frenzy]] all monsters in sight.
* [[Summon Small Mammals]] now only ever summons one mammal, and is renamed to [[Summon Small Mammal]] as a consequence.
* 100% of teleports on the orb run are delays (up from 50%).
* [[Haunt]] adjustments:
** Summons now fixate on their target.
** [[Flayed ghost]]s are no longer summoned.
** Friendlies are no longer targettable.
* [[Olgreb's Toxic Radiance]] now [[poison]]s continuously over several turns (and deals impact damage); it also ignores the caster's poison resistance (if any).
* [[Dragon Form]] is pure [[Transmutations]] (was Tmut/Fire for all but [[Draconian]]s).
* [[Force Lance]] is now level 5 (was level 2), with boosted range and damage to match.
* [[Fulminant Prism]] now caps at 200 spellpower.
* [[Swiftness]] can be cast in water; it doesn't operate in water, but it grants the status (which operates as expected when out of the water).
* [[Summonings]] caps are introduced. This acts on a per-spell basis, each spell has a fixed numerical limit for the number of summons active at any time. Going over this limit means your oldest summons will expire in a very short number of turns. Applies only to non-necromantic non-permanent summons.
* Temporary summons will no longer follow the player down stairs.
* Temporary summons expire when the player moves to a different level.

Items
-----
* The elemental evocation items have been reworked:
** All no longer depend on elemental magic skill or nearby terrain, can summon multiple elementals, and have an XP-based recharge timer.
** The [[lamp of fire]] fires up to three trails of flame in a given direction.
** The [[fan of air elementals]] is now the [[fan of gales]], and blows back nearby enemies.
** The [[stone of earth elementals]] is now the [[stone of tremors]]; it causes rubble to fall from nearby rock, stone, or permarock walls to damage creatures adjacent to them, and has a chance to [[shaft]] creatures;
** A new elemental evoker item - the [[phial of floods]]; it generates a wave of water which temporarily leaves a pool of water behind, and summons [[water elemental]]s.
* The dependence of armour penalties on strength has been adjusted; there are no longer magic strength numbers for lowest possible penalties.
* Potions of gain <ability> have been replaced by [[potions of beneficial mutation]], which grant the player a single beneficial mutation.
* the [[Scroll of vorpalise weapon]] is now called [[Scroll of brand weapon]], and can rebrand weapons that already have a permanent brand affixed.
* the [[Scroll of immolation]] has been reworked to [[Inner Flame]] everything in [[LOS]].
* [[Lear's chain mail]] is now [[Lear's hauberk]] - a +27 [[chain mail]] that covers all armour slots other than [[shields]] and [[cloak]]s.
* The [[staff of energy]] eliminates 100% of spell hunger again, and includes the now-gone [[staff of channeling]] as well.
* The [[staff of power]] scales with your maximum magic power.
* [[Box of beasts]] has been reworked:
** Has a fixed, random number of charges between 5 and 15 inclusive.
** 1/3 chance to fail on usage with no bad effects.
** When successful, generates a [[chimera]]; a new monster with three heads. Each head can be a different beast, picked from a list which provides better/stronger beasts at higher [[Evocations]] skill. The heads determine the attacks and abilities available to the monster.
* New "[[sack of spiders]]" item:
** Fixed charges between 5 and 15 inclusive.
** On evoking, creates [[web]]s around you and releases [[list of arachnids|spiders]].
** Number of webs and type/number of spiders scales with evocations.
* [[Splint mail]] has been removed; [[chain mail]] is now 8 AC to compensate.
* [[Needle]]s of [[sickness]] have been removed.
* [[Manual]]s do not need to be read to be activated; they're always on while in inventory.
* The [[rod of striking]] now functions as a melee weapon - it expends charges to deal additional damage in melee.
* [[Boots]] of [[running]] have a -1 movement delay (was -2).
* The [[lantern of shadows]]' rate of shadow spawning scales with evocations, and the resulting shadows now wander instead of following the player.
* New unrand: the +4 [[moon troll leather armour]] {Spirit MP+5 Regen}.
* Adjustments to unrands:
** [[Arga]] is now a [[broad axe]].
** The [[shield of the Gong]] no longer has [[guardian spirit]]; it is otherwise unchanged.
** The [[knife of Accuracy]] and [[boots of the Assassin]] are no more.
** The [[lightning scales]] are now +6 (was +3).
* [[Hammer]]s do not generate outside of vaults.

Gods
----
* [[Yredelemnul]] no longer gifts [[rotting hulk]]s / [[plague shambler]]s.
* [[Hill orc]]s encountering an [[orc priest]] for the first time are offered the chance to convert to [[Beogh]] on the spot.
* [[Zin]]'s Recite no longer paralyses the player; the player can take any action that doesn't involve the mouth while reciting.

Interface
---------
* For online play, explore_delay and travel_delay are instananeous by default.
* Dungeon features with variable-colour tiles now display those colours in tiles (e.g. walls in the Abyss, the Elven Halls, and the Pan disco hall).
* Examining a monster will display the spells monsters of its type are capable of using.

Technical
---------
* A port to OpenSolaris (Dyson/Illumos).
* MSVC compilation once again possible (Visual Studio [Express] 2012)

[[Category:Crawl Versions]]