Necklace of Bloodlust

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A necklace made of bloodstained human and animal teeth, and something that appears to be a piece of spine.

the necklace of Bloodlust

Amulet of rage
Forces berserk (on 50% of melee attacks)
-3 intelligence
+80 willpower (Will++)
+6 slaying
Extends berserk on 50% of kills for (1 + 1d4) / 2 turns

Desirability

The necklace of Bloodlust is definitely not the sort of item you'd want to use regularly, but it can still be situationally useful. Although +6 slaying and +80 willpower on an amulet are both excellent properties, the berserkitis makes it a risky piece of gear for any character who isn't undead or doesn't have clarity to wear for any extended period of time. However, it may be useful for characters who find themselves facing a particularly nasty lone melee threat: the slaying bonus will be quite helpful, and moreover, going berserk would likely be useful in this situation instead of harmful. At a 50% chance per attack, it is a fairly reliable means of activating 'zerk.

Tips & Tricks

• The berserk effect won't trigger with ranged attacks. This makes the necklace an interesting proposition for characters primarily relying on ranged combat, giving them easy access to berserk rage while always providing a bonus to slaying and willpower.

History

• Prior to 0.28, the amulet only forced berserk on 5% of melee attacks, but had evocable berserk.
• Prior to the removal of curses in 0.27, this item would curse on equip.
• Prior to 0.20, the amulet only gave +3 slaying and +40 magic resistance.
• Prior to 0.19, the amulet had a +2 strength buff was removed and only a -2 intelligence malus.
• Prior to 0.18, the forced berserk chances were decreased from 9% to 5%.
• Prior to 0.15, the amulet had a stealth penalty of -20.
• Prior to 0.14, the amulet only gave 30 MR.
• In 0.12 the odds of the amulet causing berserk were changed.