Choosing a god

In Crawl, one's choice of god has the most significant impact on the progress of the game other than choice of race and class.

How Do I Choose a God?

There are two ways to choose a god. The quickest is to begin the game with a background that worships one by default: Berserkers, Chaos Knights, Healers, Abyssal Knights, Death Knights, and Priests all begin the game serving a particular god and receive a small head start on piety gain.

Alternatively, you can find an altar dedicated to a god along the way, stand on it, and pray. When asked if you want to join its religion, press y to accept. They can be found as follows:

• Most gods will have an altar in the Ecumenical Temple, a harmless branch located between Dungeon floors 4 and 7.
• If the temple lacks a particular altar, it is guaranteed to be located between floors 2 and 9, with the following exceptions:
  • Beogh's altar can be found in the Orcish Mines.
  • Lugonu's altar can be found in the Abyss.
  • Jiyva's altar can be found on the sixth floor of the Slime Pits, and occasionally in the Lair or the lower dungeon floors.

You can only worship one god at a time. If you abandon a god's religion or switch to another god, you'll incur penance (unless you worship one of the three good gods (Zin, Elyvilon, or The Shining One): they only react if your new god is evil). Note that if you do switch from a good god to a non-evil one, and later switch to an evil god, you will face penance from both abandoned gods.

What do all the *** mean?

See piety.

Primary Melee Fighters

These gods work best for characters who primarily kill monsters with weapons rather than with spells.

Okawaru the Warmaster

Okawaru is the "default" god for melee characters.

His simple, straightforward effectiveness has made him one of the most popular yet criticized gods in the Crawl pantheon. He provides only two activated abilities to the player: Heroism (gives bonus to combat skills), which can be invoked at *, and Finesse (increased attack speed) at *****. Used in conjunction, this will allow three or four extra attacks per turn, making any non-magical enemy trivial. These enhancements come with no downsides but glow, so one can also use magic and abilities if they wish.

After the activated abilities come the gifts of weapons, armour, shields, and ammo, biased towards usefulness. Since these behave like a slightly nerfed scroll of acquirement, many of these will be of little permanent use, but by the end game you will likely find yourself using mostly god given equipment. While Trog will also provide ammo and weapons, Okawaru is the only god who bestows armour and shields as gifts.

Players going for an all-rune win can often benefit from abandoning him in favor of The Shining One before Crypt.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Melee characters who rely or plan to rely on magic, such as High Elf Crusaders, Merfolk Transmuters, and Naga Warpers. Any character who needs rare equipment (quick blades, dragon armours). Like Trog, he also gifts ammunitions. He penalizes allowing allies to die, so summoners, necromancers, or demonspawn (with demonic guardians) should avoid him.

Trog the Furious

Trog is the most offensive-minded melee fighter's god. Piety is gained by killing everything, sacrificing their corpse, and burning books (more for those you haven't read or ID'd).

His abilities are tremendously useful early on - Berserk, which temporarily boosts damage, speed, and HP, can help even a Deep Elf take down a D2 ogre. At high piety it is extended for every kill, though its end brings an exhaustion effect which slows and hungers the user and prevents them from berserking for a while, so make sure that you've either killed every monster in that short time or have some means of escaping the survivors. Trog's Hand adds temporary regeneration and magic resistance, and is one of the few ways for a Deep Dwarf, Mummy, or bloodless Vampire to heal.

Brothers in Arms summons always friendly, always berserk ogres, trolls, bears, and giants, which in numbers are more than a match for nearly every enemy in the game, and are a great way to take down tough but stationary enemies like oklob plants. None of these require training of the Invocations skill, just piety and food, so experience can be focused elsewhere, usually Fighting, weapon skill of choice, missile skill of choice, and Armour/Evasion. At highest piety he will gift weapons weighted toward brute damage and two hand use, and also branded sling bullets, arrows, and bolts if you have the respective launcher on hand (make sure to drop your crossbow, bow, longbow, or sling if you want melee weapon gifts).

However, learning or casting magic of any kind will offend Trog, so you must specialize only in physical combat, which will make later demon infested branches a migraine. Note that he doesn't mind use of magic scrolls, potions, staves, wands, or rods. In addition, his non-training of Invocations can be a mixed blessing, since if you plan to switch to another god, you'll have to spend time working on that as well.

Trog is a great god for a player new to Crawl, or for any melee character who plans only for a three or four rune run.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any character with zero short term interest in magic. Trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, Mountain Dwarves, and Hill Orcs will have the easiest time due to their excellent melee aptitudes. Kobolds are also an excellent choice, since they have few food issues early on and so can berserk rather freely. He also works well for sturdier ranged fighters such as Halfling and Centaur Hunters due to his ammo gifts.

The Shining One the Righteous

The Shining One is a more defensive-minded god who crusades against evil. He will protect you from negative energy and may intervene to save your life. You'll gain piety over time, and also when you destroy evil or unholy monsters such as the undead, demons, or priests of other religions.

The Shining One is tremendously useful for the Hells, Pandemonium and Tomb because he gives you rN+++, allows you to add the holy wrath brand to a weapon (the best for those areas except for the very rare speed brand), grants you HP and MP for demon/undead kills (often allowing you to avoid having to rest in those areas), and gives you Angel and Daeva summons that are extremely effective for killing the lords of Pandemonium and Hells and killing everything in Tomb (allowing you to avoid curses and torment).

You will also be surrounded by a halo that, within its range, increases your to-hit roll and reveals all invisible enemies around you. His Divine Shield ability grants you a floating shield (and stacks with your existing one), and you can eventually conjure Cleansing Flame to destroy undead and demons around you. Finally, holy beings you encounter will be peaceful at high piety.

Worshipping him has some downsides. You will not be able to use necromancy or poison related items and spells (including the Regeneration spell, usually the biggest downside), have much less stealth due to the halo, and are unable to stab anyone sentient natural beings due to the paladin code (but demons, undead, and animals are valid targets).

Although a great choice for late-game because of the prevalence of undead and demons, gaining piety with The Shining One is painstakingly slow outside of the demonic branches, and his abilities only shine when your Invocations skill is high. Many experienced players start off with a different god with which they train their Invocations skill, then switch to The Shining One when they are about to enter some of the later branches where holy powers are most useful. Elyvilon is the best choice if you want to switch to The Shining One early, because you won't suffer god wrath and you can get fast piety with her by sacrificing weapons.

Starting with Okawaru is also a great choice, because he is helpful in the early game and offers great armor gifts. Once you have all the artifact armor you feel you'll need and get your Invocations skill up to at least 10, switch to The Shining One and head for the Crypt (where you'll probably reach maximum piety with TSO). You will suffer Okawaru's wrath, but you should be able to survive at this point (just cast Blink and run away when he summons giants around you).

Make sure you bless a weapon before taking on the Hells or Pandemonium: the best choice is usually either a broad axe, an executioner's axe, a bardiche, a demon whip, or a demon blade. Blessed demon whips (holy scourges) and blessed demon blades are the best one-handed weapons in the game against demons (except for weapons of speed). For ogres or trolls, bless a giant spiked club instead.

Undead and Demonspawn characters may not follow him, and casting Necromutation will result in excommunication.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Melee characters with dreams of the fifteen runes that lie in undead/demon heavy branches, such as the Abyss, the Crypt, the Tomb, Pandemonium, and the Hells, and good Invocations skill, including Hill Orcs, High Elves, Mountain Dwarves, and Deep Dwarves.

Primary Spellcasters

On the other hand, if magic is your character's planned forte, you'll find Sif Muna, Vehumet, or Kikubaaqudgha more to your liking.

Sif Muna the Librarian

Sif Muna is the "default" for spellcasters. Of the three, she is the least demanding, and the most predictable. Her primary ability is spellbook acquirement: as you gain piety, she will gift you spellbooks, each guaranteed to have at least one spell you haven't yet found, weighted toward your magic skills. You will eventually have access to every spell in the game.

Also central is the * ability that gives you MP at the cost of a turn and some hunger (only of a turn if in lich form, or a race not on a food clock ie Ghouls, bloodless Vampires, Mummies). This allows easy correction of mistakes if you get cornered with no MP left. It is more powerful than the staff of channeling, and is reliable unlike the ball of energy. At *****, you can forget spells similar to Selective Amnesia and you will acquire protection from all miscasts barring necromancy.

Piety is straightforward: train magic related skills (Invocations and Evocations don't count) and it will rise. Although you'll need to train Invocations to improve the MP channel, all other benefits are passive. Note that the only way to piss her off is to "forget her," which is difficult to do as your piety decays extremely slowly, about one point every 2000 turns.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any and all magic users.

Vehumet the Battlemage

Vehumet is the god for offensive mages, for whom piety is gained through the bringing of death, which his rewards further supplement.

Killing monsters will grant you piety and may restore some MP. Later, Vehumet will reduce the chance of conjuration miscasts, increase your conjurations's range, and even reduce their MP cost. Finally, he'll bestow on you the 3 Conjurations (Book of Conjurations, Book of Power, Book of Annihilations) and 3 Summonings (Book of Callings, Book of Summonings, Grand Grimoire) spellbooks at ****** piety. All of Vehumet's benefits are passive, making him a great, low-management god if you're new at playing a spellcaster. Also, you can ignore Invocations!

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Conjurators, meaning dedicated nukers of all kinds. Common ones include Demonspawn Wizards, Deep Elf Fire Elementalists, and Spriggan Venom Mages. Tengu, with good aptitudes for conjurations and summonings but a poor aptitude for invocations, are especially suited for Vehumet.

Kikubaaqudgha the Soulstealer

Kikubaaqudgha is the god of the necromantic arts.

Spellcasters who dabble in darker domains can opt to worship Kikubaaqudgha. This demon-god appreciates the slaying of living things and demons. You'll learn how to summon multiple corpses for your own nefarious uses (requires Invocations); later on, she will reduce torment damage, augment your Necromancy spells as well as protect you from their miscasts, grant you the ability to invoke torment using a corpse, and finally, gift you either the Necronomicon (the most powerful necromantic spellbook in the game) or the Pain brand on a weapon of your choice. The torment resistance and the spells you'll learn from the Necronomicon will make any spellcaster extremely powerful in the late-game. Anyone who uses melee should opt for the pain weapon, as it virtually kills everything in a three-rune game, bar undead, which you can dispel.

It is also possible to worship Kikubaaqudgha until you get her final gift, and then abandon her. This is a key element in the Mummy Wizard guide, but also might be useful if you don't plan to worship Sif Muna, and want to be sure you'll be able to cast Necromutation for the Hells and Pandemonium.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any character with a prime focus on necromancy, including non-Deep Dwarf Necromancers and Sludge Elf Transmuters. Demonspawn with the "powered by death" mutation may benefit from Kiku in later corpseless branches.

"Backup" Gods

Instead of choosing a god who will simply enhance your character's specialization, you can also go with a god who shores up your weaknesses or who'll provide some emergency help.

Makhleb the Destroyer

Makhleb is the god of violent death. Followers earn piety by killing enemies and sacrificing their corpses to the Destroyer. Doing so will eventually grant you a chance to heal some HP when dealing a killing blow, the ability to hurl minor/greater destruction, and finally the power to summon minor/major demons. This makes Makhleb a solid choice for characters with healing issues (Deep Dwarves and Vampires, among others) or those who want to have access to an easy-to-train ranged ability. The demons summoned are perfect fodder to cover your escape but can also overwhelm weaker enemies.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Anybody who can't heal naturally, or heals slowly. Besides the obvious Deep Dwarves and Vampires, Ghouls can do well with Makhleb.

Yredelemnul the Reaper

Yredelemnul is the dark god of death. By following him, your character can learn various necromancy-related powers without having to train spellcasting or necromancy. Like Makhleb, Yredelemnul grants you a way to heal (by sucking the lifeforce out of every monster around you!), but he also brings some unique tools to the table, such as the power to reflect damage inflicted to you when praying. Yredelemnul will regularly send his undead minions to help you (an early skeletal dragon buddy is great fun!). Somewhat redundant for spellcasters already versed in necromancy, but still far from useless.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations:

Beogh the Orc-Father

Beogh can only be worshipped if your character is a Hill Orc, but grants many useful passive powers and bonuses. You'll get more mileage from using orcish gear (i.e. better offensive and defensive bonuses), and the orcs you encounter in the dungeon may become allies (who may follow you between floors) upon meeting you! Worshipping Beogh also gives you access to a powerful Smite spell that uses Piety but is well worth it. The Orcish Mines will never get easier than this... although by late-game your orcish followers probably won't be up to the task of taking over Hell or Pandemonium by themselves.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Hill Orc melee characters receive excellent bonuses from orcish gear when worshipping Beogh, and the Smite ability gives them a fantastic (but pricey) irresistible ranged attack.

Elyvilon the Physician

Elyvilon provides healing, rot curing/stat fixing and divine vigour. As one of the "good gods", she does not accept undead or demonspawn worshippers.

Elyvilon followers play similarly to fighters, except they can heal themselves virtually anytime and can avoid fighting some difficult enemies, such as hydras, by pacifying them and turning them into neutral monsters. Pacifying demons and undead this way is less effective, but the ability to heal yourself in the middle of a fight can add tremendous lasting power to any tank. On top of that, as a last resort you can activate Divine Protection, letting you survive fatal blows for a time in exchange for piety.

Formerly, Ely was popular for training invocations before switching to another non-evil god. As Invocations training no longer requires spending much piety, she is now significantly less popular.

Recommended race and class combinations:

Lugonu the Fallen One

Lugonu allows you to instantly banish yourself and depart to/from the abyss. This can instantly save your life, but will permanently reduce your maximum HP. In addition, the corruption ability makes Zot:5 and many branch final levels much easier since you it allows you to create walls in areas that would otherwise be open. Getting the orb is much easier, since you can corrupt the walls and then immediately banish yourself to the Abyss once you pick up the Orb.

Recommended race and class combinations:

Exotic/Challenging Gods

The following gods grant unreliable benefits or are simply more challenging to worship than others.

Zin the Judge

Zin provides Sanctuary and Cure Mutations. Gaining power with higher piety, he protects his followers from sickness and mutations. In addition, his Imprison ability is extremely useful, and three-turn Recite is a powerful ability for stopping chaotic, evil, or priestly monsters. However, gaining piety is either slow or expensive in terms of gold, and his restrictions on diet and item use are severe. A great "ninja" god.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations:

Fedhas Madash the Natural

Fedhas Madash allows you to alter the terrain around you and create plant allies to aid you in battle. Merfolk and tengu are best suited for this god, due to their ability to abuse Fedhas' Rain invocation. This god isn't well suited for a 15 rune game, due to the fact that corpses become rare in the end-game. Fedhas can significantly help you in Zot:5 by allowing you to create a large Oklob farm, which reportedly can be quite effective in clearing the chamber, once monsters are lured to it.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations:

Jiyva the Shapeless

Jiyva constantly alters your body with (usually) good mutations and stat shuffling. In exchange, worshipers have to frantically run around grabbing items, before jellies devour them. Typically, you'll have very few items to use in the end-game. Jiyva is best for brawny unarmed fighters.

Recommended race and class combinations: Ogres, trolls, felids, and octopodes can't wear boots, gloves, or helmets, so the Unarmed Combat mutations offered by Jiyva are exceptionally useful for them.

Xom the Insane

Xom is an interesting god that'll likely cause you to die in a hilarious way. Most of his actions are either harmful, flavourful, or somewhat helpful. Xom rewards high risk play-styles.

Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Chaos Knights start off worshiping Xom. This is considered a "challenge class", and the game does not recommend it for any race.

Cheibriados the Relaxed

Cheibriados is a deity who rewards you for wearing ponderous gear and killing fast creatures, but detests seeing you haste yourself. Being slow is a big disadvantage, but possibly worth it in exchange for massive stat boosts, multiple resistances, and the ability to deal huge amounts of damage with the Slouch ability.

Recommended race and class combinations: Nagas are slower than most everything else in the dungeon, letting them gain piety at lightning speed with Chei and enhancing the damage output of Slouch even further. Transmuters of all stripes are best suited for worshiping Chei, due to the odd fact that he doesn't seem to mind you transforming into a fast creature and that his stat boosts give tremendous bonuses to the Blade Hands spell.

Nemelex Xobeh the Trickster

Nemelex Xobeh allows you to use powerfully magical decks more safely. Playing with cards is time consuming and risky, but offers great utility and even more power than spells. Decks of summoning provide powerful allies, legendary decks of dungeon have the Trowel card (makes portals to bazaars and ziggurats), and decks of escape provide life-saving effects more powerful than anything else in the game (Tomb, Portal, and Warp). Notably, her powers depend on Evocations rather than Invocations.

Recommended race and class combinations: As the only Evocations god, and one who provides a wide variety of magical effects, Nemelex is well-suited for spriggans, felids, kobolds, and trolls as a quick way to access powerful magic that mediocre-to-bad magic aptitudes would have difficulty matching.

Ashenzari the Shackled

Ashenzari is the bound god of Divination, and lets identify items, see through walls, and know how to use your equipment better as you gain piety. Piety gain is easy; simply explore new areas and collect runes to access her powers. However, in order to access these gifts you must be as bound as she is, allowing your equipment to be cursed. How dangerous a trade-off this is depends on your character and play style. Fortunately, Ashenzari doesn't mind if you uncurse yourself on occasion to switch gear.

However, Ashenzari is a great god for Pandemonium scumming/ziggurat raiding. At that point you will likely have the best gear; fine to curse permanently. Piety gain is extremely quick in the Abyss, so you can transfer XP constantly while there (as you will be frequently, between Pan trips.) Instant Zig portal detection upon entering Pan levels and free IDing for everything you find in there reduce the headaches involved tremendously.

Recommended race and class combinations: Stalkers and Earth Elementalists.