Volcano

Version 0.25: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Built from enormous blocks of obsidian, the volcano's sweltering chambers may once have served as a temple to some strange deity, or perhaps the dwelling of a mighty fire giant. The air shimmers with oppressive heat, and the dull roar of the volcano's heart never ceases.

The Volcano is a single-floor mini-branch one can reach via a timed portal that shows up in the early- to mid-game; the Lair or the Orcish Mines are common location for such entrances. The Volcano usually contains fire-themed monsters and loot, but may also feature the undead, various humanoids (armed with fiery equipment) and the occasional toenail golem. Its most defining feature is that the volcano occasionally erupts, with predictably dreadful results.

Layout

Although some variation is possible, the volcano generally consists of a small entrance area, a large central chamber with a lava pool taking up much of the area, in the center of which is a stone- or metal-walled chamber filled with fire-themed loot and powerful monsters. Other formats can incorporate twisting, narrow passages or a small central chamber with multiple branches each containing small piles of loot. One possible layout is a stone structure that is completely shielded from the volcano; eruptions here will instead collapse portions of the roof, sealing off the treasure chambers one by one. Move quickly if you want to get the treasure.

Be aware of the message, "The air gets thick with the scent of sulphur." This means that large portions of the volcano will soon be filling with fire clouds, and in some maps will cause new rock walls to form. If this happens, you may need a source of flight and a wand of digging to fully explore certain maps.

Strategy

• Even a single rank of fire resistance can make a big difference. Pile it on as best you can. If you lack it, be aware that much of the loot found here will provide it, including items that normally never offer the fire resistance ego. You'll face a brutal fight on your way through to get it, though; don't be afraid to quaff a potion of resistance or two to help you survive the heaviest fighting.
  • If you have no way of getting fire resistance at all, you may want to skip this side level. There's usually an exit near the entrance, so you can often take a look at what you'll be up against before deciding to continue or not.
• New clouds cannot form on tiles that already have existing clouds. If you have Mephitic Cloud, you can avoid eruptions easily by creating mephitic clouds on yourself before the eruption occurs. Just be careful if you lack poison resistance, since you'll probably end up confusing yourself.
• Most monsters found here are weak against cold.
• Stealth helps tremendously here, giving you the option of ignoring all those pesky monsters living in the lava which really don't pay off when killed.
• Two particular volcano layouts will cut off access to the loot -- one where eruptions will periodically collapse parts of the roof, and one where the loot is spread around the edges of a long pool of lava which will eventually begin to rise, destroying anything you haven't picked up yet. If you have potions of haste and encounter one of these maps, it might well be worth your while to move to grab as much loot as quickly as possible. Just be careful not to attract more attention than you can handle at once in your mad scramble.

Monsters

Nearly all volcanoes contain the following:

S Lava snake

b Fire bat

Volcanoes have several possible sets of monsters, with the following chances of generating:

Set	Chance
Humanoid sets	45%
Demons set	20%
Beasts set	20%
Elemental set	15%

• Humanoid sets: centaurs and yaktaurs, ogres, or salamanders, plus one base red draconian / hell knight. All are equipped with fiery weapons and armour.
• Demons set: red devil / red ugly thing / hell hound, smoke demon / sun demon, orc sorcerer / hell knight.
• Beasts set: hell hound / steam dragon / fire bat band, hell hog / lindwurm, fire dragon / fire crab.
• Elemental set: fire elemental / earth elemental / gargoyle, efreet, stone giant.

Additionally, certain volcanoes may contain special monsters, such as wizards, toenail golems, obsidian statues, or skeletal warriors.

History

• In 0.19, volcano monster sets were reworked and upgraded and the quality of the loot improved. Uniques could also no longer generate there.
• Prior to 0.12, the sets were quite weak. Humanoid sets included plain orcs, big kobolds, and gnolls, while the non-humanoid sets featured bizarre monsters solely based on having a red glyph in console such as pulsating lumps, worker ants, and redbacks.
• Volcanoes were added in 0.6.