Necklace of Bloodlust

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

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

the necklace of Bloodlust

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 that a melee character would want to use regularly. While +6 slay and Will++ are excellent properties, the berserkitis makes it a risky piece of gear.

Undead players, Formicids, and those with clarity are unaffected by *Rage, which allows getting full advantage of Bloodlust's other properties. Ranged weapon users greatly appreciate this amulet too - ranged weapons benefit from slaying, but don't trigger the berserk. Casters, in a similar vein, can use this amulet for the Will++; the -3 intelligence penalty is too small to matter.

Even if you're a melee character who is affected by berserk, it can be a niche swapout. Swap it in whenever berserk is helpful, such as before taking on a ghost vault). Do note that it takes 5 turns to put on an amulet (and another 5 turns to remove one).

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 0.25, this amulet's base type was an amulet of rage.
• 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.