Asterion

Version 0.24: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Asterion H
HP	84-170
HD	15
XP	2669
Speed	10
AC	4
EV	4
Will	100
Attack1	35 (hit: plain)
Attack2	20 (gore: plain)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	Silver
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	minotaur, minotaur
Flags	Evil See invisible Speaks Warm-blooded Unique Male

Once a king infamous for waging bloodthirsty campaigns, Asterion was exiled to the depths of the dungeon for his crimes. Here he lurks in his tattered finery, dreaming of a new kingdom. In his lust for power, the minotaur king turned to the worship of Makhleb, and Makhleb has rewarded him with horrifying destructive might. “The fact is that I am unique. What a man can pass unto others does not interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art of writing. Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand.” -Jorge Luis Borges, “The House of Asterion”. 1947. trans. Antonios Sarhanis, 2008.

Useful Info

Asterion the Fallen King is an extremely dangerous unique minotaur, usually generated with a demon blade, demon whip, demon trident, or broad axe as well as a (possibly magical) kite shield. A worshipper of Makhleb, he is capable of launching a variety of powerful elemental attacks against you at range, and he hits astonishingly hard in melee, even before hasting himself and summoning a mighty demon to his aid.

Location

• The Snake Pit
• The Spider's Nest
• The Vaults:1-3
• The Elven Halls
• The Depths:1-3

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1	Major Destruction (3d27 / 3d24 / 3d6 / 3d25 / 3d22 / 3d20 / 3d28)	Priest flag
Slot2	Greater Servant of Makhleb	Priest flag
Slot3	Haste	Priest flag

Tips & Tricks

• His Major Destruction ability allows him to hit you with the following spells: Bolt of Fire, Lightning Bolt, Sticky Flame, Iron Shot, Bolt of Draining, Fireball, and Orb of Electrocution. It's unlikely that you'll have resistance to all of these elements, but even so, it is far better to try to quickly kill him at range than to allow him into melee. With the aid of his Haste spell, he can deal extraordinary amounts of damage very quickly, particularly when you consider how early in the game he appears.
• His Greater Servant of Makhleb ability allows him to summon an executioner, cacodemon, balrug, blizzard demon, or green death with a summon cap of one.
• He has sufficient MR and HD to make most debilitating effects chancy at best. Dedicated Hexes specialists might be able to weaken him with status effects, but others are unlikely to get much use out of such abilities.
• He is vulnerable to silver and holy damage (but not weapons of holy wrath). While holy damage is unlikely to be available, ranged weapons users with silver ammunition can deal very heavy damage to him, likely taking him down before he gets close enough to be a threat.
• He doesn't need very many turns to kill poorly armoured characters. Err on the side of paranoia when it comes to fleeing a fight before it has a chance to get ugly.

History

• Prior to 0.19, Asterion had Spectral Weapon instead of Greater Servant of Makhleb.
• Prior to 0.17, Asterion could appear in the Swamp or Shoals.
• Asterion was added in 0.14.