Gnoll

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This article covers the player species. For the monster, see Gnoll (monster). For a list of all monstrous gnolls, see List of gnolls.

Gnolls are a race of caniform humanoids originally hailing from the arid deserts and grasslands of the east. In recent history they have become unusually attracted to the Dungeon, establishing tribes around and even inside of it. Unfortunately their long stay in the Dungeon has exposed their somewhat fragile minds to excessive amounts of its magic. On the one hand, their bizarrely altered brains now have incredible proficiency at learning every skill. On the other, these same alterations have rendered Gnolls incapable of selective learning. They learn all skills equally at the same time, so it's hard for them to learn more about any one thing. In order to survive with this limitation, Gnolls use their universal knowledge and excellent physical attributes of strength, intelligence, and dexterity to take advantage of every resource they find in the Dungeon. They also have powerful noses have adapted to the Dungeon's scents, allowing them to easily locate where treasures lay hidden.

Innate Abilities

• Distributed Training: Gnolls' experience is split equally to ALL skills.
• Fangs 1: Gnolls can make an auxiliary bite attack.
• Strong Nose: Gnolls can sense the location of nearby items on the floor.

Gnolls have a base Strength of 7, Intelligence of 7 and Dexterity of 7 (before Background modifiers).

Preferred Backgrounds

• Adventurer: Wanderer
• Warrior-mages: Transmuter, Warper, Arcane Marksman

Level Bonuses

• +1 strength, intelligence, or dexterity every 4 levels
• Average HP and MP
• +3 magic resistance per level

Difficulty of Play

Gnolls are jacks of all trades, but masters of none. Using what the game provides you as far as items and spells is essential. On the other hand, you will always have skill for any good item you find, which makes skilling and gearing easier. Gnolls also have an easier time with triple school spells than most other races, as they train all three schools at once.

Notably, Gnoll's nominal +8 and +6 aptitudes mean that they start with inflated skill in whatever background they provide. While largely meaningless in the endgame, it does make their starts a lot easier.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	8	Armour	8	Spellcasting	8
		Dodging	8
Maces & Flails	8	Shields	8	Conjurations	6
Axes	8	Stealth	8	Hexes	6
Polearms	8			Summonings	6
Staves	8	Invocations	9	Necromancy	6
Unarmed Combat	8	Evocations	8	Translocations	6
Throwing	8	Shapeshifting	7	Alchemy	6
				Fire Magic	6
Short Blades	8			Ice Magic	6
Long Blades	8			Air Magic	6
Ranged Weapons	8	Experience	0	Earth Magic	6

Strategy

Given that a Gnoll's skills will be at around 16 once hitting character level 27, going for high level spells will be a challenge, and min delay with heavier weapons will not be possible without boosts from Okawaru or Ashenzari. This leads to a a hybrid character that should use every advantage they've got - from hexes, summons, and ranged combat - before engaging in melee.

Tips and Tricks

• Okawaru is a popular god choice for gnolls because of weapon and armour gifts and skill boosts. Since gnolls can use every weapon equally well, Oka's gifts are easier to use and never require retraining if you get something absurdly powerful.
• Cheibriadosʼ stat boosts enable a gnoll to comfortably use any item or spell the game throws at it, at the cost of slow movement speed. This speed penalty may be worth paying in exchange for being able to deal with practically any situation before it becomes dangerous.
• The gnoll's ability to use all and everything has the downside that inventory management becomes even more of an issue than for all other characters.

Weapon Choice

This section contains advice from other players, which may be subjective, outdated, inaccurate or ill-advised. Take advice as you see fit, and read at your own risk!

Gnolls have a unique dilemna - what exactly do I use? Here are a few points on melee weapons.

• The main thing to keep in mind is attack delay - you almost always want to keep it below 1.0. Above that, and you risk normal speed enemies double-hitting you. You can press @ to see the delay with your current weapon.
• Daggers are a useful swap-out when you want to stab; whenever from Hexes or from hex wands.
• Artefacts aren't necessarily better than a mundane (branded) weapon. But they might come with some neat properties.
• Gnolls, more often than not, prefer some sort of shield. Two-handed weapons require high skill levels, and they are already training Shields skill, anyway. Bucklers and Orbs are most likely useful, while kite shields are good if you can cast necessary spells reliably in them.

Early Dungeon

• Brands and enchantment are the main distinguishing factors throughout the early dungeon . A dagger of venom on a Human is already strong enough to beat enemies on route to Lair, and a +9 randart freezing flail will probably be useful for longer.
• Gnolls, thanks to their +8 aptitudes, will start with great skill in whatever weapon they start with. Make sure to use that.
• Polearms, like your monster brethren, are great to use in the early game. The extra hit, as well as the low skill effectiveness of spears and tridents, are great perks in the early game.

Mid-game Options

• Many fast, low skill, and powerful options exist. From demon whips to demon tridents to... demon blades, all three of those weapons are effective in terms of power, speed, and skill. Non-demonic one handers include Morningstars, Eveningstars, and Scimitars.
• Axes are still respectable throughout the entire game, thanks to their cleave.
• With a strong Transmutation, like Blade Hands or Statue Form, you may consider Unarmed Combat - though Gnoll's low skill makes UC a poor choice without the help from Okawaru.
• While unable to invest in skills, scrolls of enchant weapon represent another form of dedication. A good weapon that's well enchanted and branded (+6 broad axe, eveningstar, demon weapons, etc.) will remain passible for most of the game.
  • A strong artefact (especially certain unrands) is probably worth using, anyway.

History

• Prior to 0.27, their base attributes were 10 Str / 10 Int / 10 Dex.
• Gnolls were added in 0.21.