Damage Type

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

While all attacks deal damage, not all attacks do so in the same way. Each attack deals specific kinds of damage. AC protects against all damage unless otherwise stated, but other specialized resistances can help take the blow down further.

Physical

Physical damage is the most common kind of damage in the game. Almost every monster deals it with their base attacks, and many Earth Magic spells deal it as well. Physical damage is reduced by an amount ranging from 0 to the target's AC. This is the only type of damage affected by guaranteed damage reduction, and only if the source of the damage is melee combat.

Fire

Fire damage is usually caused by spells and abilities, but certain weapon brands also cause it. Fire resistance protects against it. Note that melee attacks that deal fire damage (either from a branded weapon or a monster with a natural fire attack) are an exception to the chart below: the fire component of the attack deals 200% damage to vulnerable foes, instead of 150%.

Fire Resist	Vuln	0	1	2	3
Players	150%	100%	50%	33%	20%
Monsters	150%	100%	50%	20%	0%

Example Sources:

• Fireball
• Sticky Flame

Steam

Steam damage is caused by a variety of monster abilities and spells, as well as steam clouds. Steam resistance provides complete immunity to steam damage, but the clouds will still block your line of sight. A single rank of Fire resistance will grant steam resistance.

Example Source:

• Steam dragon

Cold

Cold damage is usually caused by spells and abilities, but certain weapon brands also cause it. Cold resistance protects against it. As with fiery melee attacks, cold melee attacks are also an exception: their cold damage component deals 200% damage to vulnerable foes, instead of 150%.

Cold Resist	Vuln	0	1	2	3
Players	150%	100%	50%	33%	20%
Monsters	150%	100%	50%	20%	0%

Example Sources:

• Throw Frost
• Bolt of Cold

Negative Energy

Negative energy damage is the result of many Necromancy spells, some undead monster attacks, and certain weapon brands. Some of these attacks have an additional draining effect, reducing a player's maximum HP or a monster's HD. Life protection resists both the damage dealt and the XP loss. Undead and demonic monsters are naturally immune to it, as are undead players.

Life Protection	0	1	2	3
Players	100%	66%	33%	0%
Monsters	100%	0%	0%	0%

Example Sources:

• Draining brand
• Pain
• Bolt of Draining

Torment

Torment damage is a particularly devastating kind of negative energy, caused through a wide variety of evil sources. It normally deals damage equal to half the HP of the target, but this percentage can be reduced in a number of ways (not including AC). See the torment article for details.

Acid

Acid damage is caused by the attacks of certain monsters and a few abilities. The amount of acid damage dealt by acid attacks is dependent on the acid resistance of the target. Acid damage also may cause corrosion of your weapons and armour, temporarily reducing their effectiveness (either AC or Slaying as factors) by a value of 4 per stack.

Electricity

Electric damage is a fairly rare, but variable damage type. The main threat of electricity comes from the actual sources, rather than an innate quality of Elec. rElec reduces damage, but is quite rare, the only "main" resistance to not have a ring type dedicated to it.

Poison Resistance	0	1
Players	100%	50%
Monsters	100%	33%

Example Sources:

• Electrocution brand
• Lightning Bolt

Poison

Poison damage is normally caused by being poisoned, though some poison attacks also deal immediate poison damage on impact. Poison resistance makes it nearly impossible to become poisoned, reduces the direct poison impact, and poison over time. Undead and demonic monsters are naturally immune to it, as are undead players. AC can reduce the blow, but not the poison damage itself.

Poison Resistance	Vuln	0	1
Players	150%	100%	50%
Monsters	150%	100%	33%

Example Sources:

• Sting
• Venom Bolt
• Poisonous Cloud

Poison Arrow

Both Poison Arrow and Sting cause hybrid damage, dealing poison (70%) and physical (30%) damage. Unlike normal poison attacks, they can override poison resistance to inflict poison, but not immunity.

Poison Resistance	Vuln	0	1
Players	135%	100%	65%
Monsters	135%	100%	53.1%

Smite Damage

Smiting attacks are the result of divine or infernal wrath directed against the target. They don't do much damage, but they are completely unavoidable and there is very little one can do about it. At present, only the unique damage reduction granted to Deep Dwarves can reduce smite damage.