Juggernaut

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

juggernaut C
HP	112-227
HD	20
XP	7211
Speed	15 (atk: 450%)
AC	20
EV	10
Will	120
Attack1	80 (hit: plain)
Attack2	40 (hit: plain)
Resistances	rDrown
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Giant
Type	giant, juggernaut
Flags	Fighter See invisible Speaks Warm-blooded

A gigantic humanoid with thick iron plates welded to its skin. Juggernauts sprint towards their targets, their immense fists dealing incredible damage, but have to rest between blows.

For a list of all giants, see list of giants.

Useful Info

Juggernauts are fast-moving giants that have extremely powerful attacks, but must rest for approximately two turns after each swing. They can rarely be found in the Depths and the Iron City of Dis, as well as orc and giant-themed Ziggurats.

Strategy

Juggernauts move quickly (as fast as a centaur) and hit for up to 120 damage, enough to two-shot most characters, and one-shot the likes of Spriggans and Felids. As they have high defenses, juggernauts are hard to take down before they enter melee range. Running away at normal speed isn't recommended, as they outspeed all species except Spriggan.

But, other than high willpower, juggernauts don't have any resistances. The following can work well:

• They aren't resistant to poison, so curare darts are very effective. A slowed juggernaut moves as fast as a normal character, and attacks even slower than usual, making it easier to fight.
• Magical characters can use spells that create space between you and monsters (Iskenderun's Mystic Blast, Blink, Passage of Golubria...). Just make sure you have enough MP left over to actually kill the thing.
• A scroll of butterflies knocks enemies back and creates a mass of butterflies, forcing the juggernaut to make a slow swing against each one. A scroll of summoning, Summoning spells, or even Fulminant Prism can be used to a similar effect.
• Juggernauts have good willpower, but a scroll of vulnerability halves it. Hexes spells or hex wands can work well. Also, a scroll of fear can work reliably against a 1/2 willpower juggernaut.
• The usual emergency consumables work. A potion of haste allows most species to move at the same speed as a juggernaut; it can make one attack of opportunity before making a gap. A scroll of blinking creates space, which can give you time to haste up.
• If all else fails, it's still possible to get away by just sprinting for the nearest stairs and tanking the hits as you go. Each attack you survive will give you a couple turns' running start before the juggernaut starts chasing you again.

If you must fight a juggernaut, try to fight it without any other monsters around to complicate things. Summons or undead allies work well.

Notes

Undead juggernauts are almost as bad as living ones; they only sacrifice a small portion of their overwhelming speed and damage and can potentially be more durable than their base form. Add standard undead resistances onto that and they become just that much more difficult to destroy, especially for characters specializing in cold, poison, or negative energy.

• Fortunately, undeath renders them significantly more susceptible to Hexes, making slowing, confusing, or petrifying one much easier.
• In most cases, you can whittle undead juggernauts down over a series of encounters if you don't have the fortitude to destroy them in a straight fight. Spectral versions, however, can regenerate, run at full speed, and should probably be avoided by anyone who can't handle a living juggernaut.

History

• Juggernauts were added in 0.17.