Damage Type

Version 0.30: 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 (element) 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, like most other types of damage shown. Many attack flavours (such as an ice beast's freezing damage) must deal at least 1 physical damage to apply.

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 the Steam Ball monster spell, as well as steam clouds. Steam resistance provides complete immunity to steam clouds, and -66% damage from Steam Ball, but the clouds will still block line of sight. A single rank of Fire resistance will grant steam resistance.

Example Sources:

• Steam dragon
• Smoke demon

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:

• Frozen Ramparts
• Bolt of Cold

Partial Physical

Many spells cause hybrid damage, dealing 50% physical damage and 50% elemental damage (i.e. 50% irresistible).

Resist	Vuln	0	1	2	3
Players	125%	100%	75%	66.7%	60%
Monsters	125%	100%	75%	60%	50%

Example Sources:

Ice:

• Hailstorm
• Iceblast
• Polar Vortex

Fire:

• Bolt of Magma
• Fire Storm

Electric:

• Chain Lightning

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 HP 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. In addition to life protection (with a reduced effect), the form-specific rTorm cuts the damage in half, and there are a few other ways to reduce it further. AC does not apply. See the torment article for details.

Poison

Poison damage is normally caused by being poisoned, though some poison attacks also deal immediate damage on impact. Poison resistance reduces the chance to be poisoned, and reduces the direct poison impact. It does not reduce the amount of poison status if you get poisoned. AC can reduce the blow, but not the poison status itself. Undead and demonic monsters are naturally immune to poison, as are undead players.

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

Example Sources:

• Venom Bolt
• Poisonous Cloud

Poison Arrow

Sting, Poison Arrow, and Eringya's Noxious Bog cause hybrid damage, dealing poison (70%) and physical (30%) damage. Unlike normal poison attacks, they can override poison resistance to inflict the poison status.

Poison Resistance	Vuln	0	1	Immune
Players	135%	100%	53%	30%
Monsters	135%	100%	53%	30%

Acid

Acid damage is caused by the attacks of certain monsters and a few abilities. Acid damage may cause corrosion, which reduces your AC and Slaying by -4 per stack. rCorr, or Acid Resistance reduces both damage and the corrosion chance.

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

Electricity

Electric damage is a fairly rare, but variable damage type. Many sources have extremely high damage caps, which is a property of the attacks rather than electricity itself. rElec reduces damage, but is quite rare itself, the only "main" resistance to not have a ring type dedicated to it.

Electricity Resistance	0	1
Players	100%	33%
Monsters	100%	33%

Example Sources:

• Electrocution brand
• Lightning Bolt

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. There is no way to reduce the damage, although spirit shield will redirect damage to MP as usual.

Source:

• Smiting

Holy Damage

Holy attacks are effective against those who offend the good gods. It is very rare, limited to a few holy monsters. Vulnerability increases damage from beams by 150%, and melee by 75%. This is technically distinct from the holy wrath brand, which simply adds physical damage against the undead and demons. There is no way for players to gain holy resistance, but holy monsters and profane servitors are completely immune.

Example Sources:

• Cleansing Flame
• Pearl dragon

Damnation

Damnation is a hellish form of power. It works much like Smite - it always hits and does not check AC, but deals noticeably more damage. Damnation resistance will completely block all damage, but is a rare trait exclusive to monsters that can fire damnation in the first place.

Sources:

• Call Down Damnation
• Hurl Damnation

History

• Prior to 0.30, partially irresistible fire/water/ice attacks were 55% / 40% / 40% resistible, respectively, instead of all being 50% resistable.