List of holy monsters

Version 0.15: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Holy monsters are creatures that are blessed in some way by divine forces. They are quite rare outside of specific vaults, the Abyss, or holy-themed Pandemonium or Ziggurat floors - thankfully so, because they tend to be quite dangerous. Their innate holy damage, occasionally augmented by weapons of holy wrath, make them particularly deadly to undead or demonspawn characters. They all have halos of varying sizes, resist holy damage and often negative energy as well, and many of them can fly. Killing a holy monster will anger the Shining One, who may decide to smite the offender with Cleansing Flame.

Holy Monster Types

Angels

A Angel- The most common holy monster, they can often be found in special vaults throughout the Dungeon guarding altars to good gods or entrances to Ziggurats. They are faster than most characters and often carry weapons of holy wrath. They have five-tile halos.

A Daeva- Slower and more durable than angels, they often carry large shields in addition to their weapon of holy wrath. They can smite foes from a distance and have five-tile halos.

A Cherub- One of the less powerful holy creatures, they are still capable of flight, wield powerful flaming weapons, and can inspire their weaker allies. They have six-tile halos.

A Seraph- One of the most powerful angels, their already impressive strength is further augmented by the powerful long blades they wield, and they can heal themselves and others. They have seven-tile halos.

G Ophan- A wheel-like angelic being that traps you inside a ring of holy flames before pelting you with Bolt of Fire. They have seven-tile halos.

Mortals

h Holy swine- Celestial beings that have fallen afoul of a curse. They are fast and deal moderate holy-branded physical damage, but are otherwise rather mundane. They have one-tile halos.

Y Apis- Essentially a holy yak that lumbers into battle and deals surprising damage with its horns. They have two-tile halos.

D Pearl dragon- A holy dragon with brutal holy attacks. They can breathe cleansing flames that create lingering clouds of holy fire, making them extremely dangerous to demons and the undead. Butchering a pearl dragon corpse may produce a hide which can be enchanted into pearl dragon armour. They have two-tile halos.

Unique Holy Monsters

A Mennas- An extremely dangerous angel who silences players before rushing in and breaking them. His halo extends two tiles, which is smaller than a normal angel's.

Unused and Retired Holy Monsters

* Silver star- The holy analogue of the dreaded wretched star, it is a terrible threat to any heavily mutated opponent. They have six-tile halos.

H Shedu- Holy creatures that always come in pairs. Whenever one of them is injured or killed, the other will attempt to heal or even resurrect it unless you destroy the corpse. They have three-tile halos.

b Phoenix- A mystical bird wreathed in flames. If you leave a phoenix corpse alone for too long, it will resurrect itself at full health with a burst of fire; destroy the corpse to stop this from happening. They have three-tile halos.

p Spirit- Intended to be a weak, timid creature that would flee from you until enough time had passed for it to transform into a far more powerful holy monster. However, they were never actually included in Crawl. They would have had two-tile halos.

Blessed toe - Intended to be the holy analogue to curse toes. They would have been able to summon more holy monsters and would have had four-tile halos.

@ Paladin - Mortal worshipers of the Shining One, they came with armour, shield, and a weapon of holy wrath. They had two-tile halos.

History

Prior to 0.15 holy monsters could be neutral toward sufficiently pious worshipers of the good gods (i.e. The Shining One, Elyvilon, or Zin).