Ice beast

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

ice beast Y
HP	16-38
HD	5
XP	130
Speed	10
AC	5
EV	10
Will	20
Attack1	5 (hit: cold: 5-14)
Resistances	rC+++, rPois+, rDrown, rWater
Vulnerabilities	Fire
Habitat	Amphibious
Intelligence	Animal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Large
Type	ice beast, ice beast
Flags

A terrible creature, formed of snow and crystalline ice. Its feet leave puddles of icy water on the floor.

Useful Info

Ice beasts are one of the more threatening early game creatures. Their icy bodies are resistant to cold and poison, and their attacks can deal a significant amount of cold damage with each hit. Fortunately, they are vulnerable to fire. They are occasionally found in the early Dungeon, showing up as early as D:5 or 6, and they can be summoned by the unique elf ice mage Fannar.

Tips & Tricks

• Ice beasts introduce new players to the danger of elementally-charged attacks: the cold damage they deal bypasses AC. Melee characters should show more caution than usual around these creatures, softening them up at a distance if possible.
  • Lightly armored characters should be especially careful facing them in melee; their cold damage procs more often the more damage it deals.
• Their immunity to cold and poison can be a problem for some characters. Blowgun users who have been kiting dangerous foes with poison or curare needles will suddenly find that trick useless, and Ice Elementalists will likely be unable to damage them unless they've learned Throw Icicle. Also, they are too large to be vulnerable to throwing nets, so don't bother with those. If you have any fire-themed attack wands, now's not a bad time to use them, but you might just want to avoid ice beasts entirely if you don't yet have a means of easily dealing with them (at least until you develop a bit more).
• The spell Summon Ice Beast lets you call an ice beast into existence to fight for you, with hit dice determined by your spell power.