Zot:5

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Zot:5 is the final floor of the Realm of Zot. Part of the floor is similar to Zot:1-4, but the rest is taken over by the massive Orb chamber, one of several pre-designed vaults containing the Orb of Zot. Picking up the Orb allows you to ascend the Dungeon, escape, and win the game.

The Orb chamber is one of the most dangerous places you'll have to trudge through, barring some of the worst Ziggurat floors. It is almost entirely constructed of indestructible walls and has a layout that makes monsters likely to come at you in groups. These monsters include:

• L Ancient lich - Very powerful spellcasters that can cast brutal Conjurations (Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Corrosive Bolt)
• L Dread lich - The summoning counterpart to ancient liches, Dread liches can paralyse you and summon dangerous Tier-1 and -2 demons.
• * Orb of fire - Fast, extremely durable opponents which inflict brutal fire damage and bad mutations.
• 9 Electric golem - Extremely fast constructs that blink constantly and deal heavy electricity damage.
• X Orb guardian - Although fairly bland compared to everything else on Zot:5, these melee monsters are powerful, move quickly, and come in great numbers.
• p Killer Klown - Unpredictable blinking pests whose thrown pies can inflict a variety of unpleasant effects.
• All manner of dragons and draconians.

Charging in is almost certain suicide. To succeed, consider your build and plan your approach around that. The rest of the page provides helpful information and outlines common strategies.

Preparations

The following items, abilities, and intrinsics are recommended for surviving the Orb chamber. They are ordered in rough terms of importance. A more experienced player can clear the chamber with fewer, while a player who just reached Zot:5 for the first time will probably want to have as many of them as possible.

• High stats relevant to your character: HP (Fighting skill), MP (Spellcasting or Invocations), experience level, AC, EV, SH, Piety, etc.
• Fire resistance for orbs of fire (as much as you can muster -- three ranks is best, but two ranks are adequate if you can kill them quickly).
• High willpower for liches (Will+++ or better to reliably avoid paralysis).
• Ways to increase your damage output and mobility: potions of haste, might, god abilities (such as Okawaru's finesse), you name it.
• Potions of cancellation to get rid of the Sentinel's Mark status, should you or an enemy trigger an alarm trap far away from the nearest stairs.
• Electricity resistance for electric golems.
• Potions of mutation for when Orbs of Fire inevitably malmutate you.
• See invisible for ancient liches and dread liches.

Preliminaries

• Clear Zot:1-4. This is optional, but it gives a large amount of experience and makes the ascension run safer.
• If you have one, use a scroll of magic mapping once you reach Zot:5 to see the layout of the chamber. Consider excluding the entrance to the orb chamber so you don't autoexplore into it (shift-x, select the entrance, press e twice to block the spot).
• Clear everything outside the chamber first, which makes escaping from Zot:5 much safer; this section will be similar to the upper floors of Zot. Do note that as you explore the orb chamber, monsters may stumble into the permanent teleport traps within and be scattered across the level, including areas you have already cleared.
• If you have a way to dig, consider making a kill hole near the entrance to the Orb chamber; this can help pare down the number of dangerous monsters you'll be fighting at once. Be sure to leave an exit for yourself, as teleporting away will be slow and potentially dangerous, as you might end up teleporting into the Orb chamber itself.

Monster Strategies

• Orbs of fire are one of the scariest monsters in Zot:5. If you lack at least rF++, they can deal incredible damage very quickly, and they will almost certainly mutate you several times if you don't resist them. They are incredibly deadly when by themselves; if you've attracted other threatening monsters, it's a good time to make an escape.
  • There's no safe way to deal with them, since they have very high HP and defenses, resist almost all elements, and have enough damage output to chew through most summons almost as fast as you can create them. Melee fighters should use antimagic weapons to negate their attacks (if you haven't found one, freezing or vorpal weapons are your best alternatives). Conjurers should cast their most powerful irresistable Conjurations, such as Iron Shot, Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Orb of Destruction, Polar Vortex, Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling, or Fire Storm.
  • Spellforged servitors shine here. Their elemental resistances allow them to soak a few fire spells without dying, their spells are nearly as potent as your own, and you can hide behind one to avoid any bad mutations reaching you.
  • There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to orbs of fire. Pull out all the stops -- potions of might, brilliance, haste, or resistance, a wand of acid, god-given abilities like Okawaru's Finesse or Sif Muna's Divine Exigesis... Do everything in your power to kill them as quickly as possible.
• Ancient liches and dread liches are also very threatening monsters. Similar advice applies to both of them; buff yourself up and abuse their weakneses. They can cast Corrosive Bolt or Crystal Spear at any point for massive damage, or summon brutal demons with torment and damnation, respectively.
  • Silenced liches have no means of defense other than a weak melee attack; while fatal at low health, its rather pathetic otherwise. Just make sure that there's nothing else around you: orbs of fire are immune to silence - you aren't.
  • Other methods of killing them are: good weapons of antimagic or holy wrath (a short sword of antimagic is not a good weapon), Dispel Undead, Orb of Destruction, Shatter, Iron Shot, Polar Vortex, Summon Mana Viper, and/or Spellforged Servitor.
  • Ideally you'll be able to kill (or neuter) any dread liches before they summon too many demonic reinforcements. If they do get anything frightening out, remember that killing the summoner is the fastest method for destroying their summons. Attempting to flee by foot or random blink often results in death by torment and damnation. Don't let the liches last long enough to make this a problem!
• Remember that enemies won't cast anything if they can't see a target; try not to spend too long with them in your line of sight without attending to them. Melee characters will want to retreat around corners to force them into melee range, as rushing towards them gives them several turns to hit you with a crystal spear or summon fiends, not to mention the fact that you'll likely encounter even more enemies as you enter unexplored areas.
• Whenever you come across a monster, try to grab its attention and retreat to a safe place to kill it. Keep in mind that creatures with ranged attacks (Killer Klowns, dragons/draconians, electric golems) will shoot at you as they chase you, so you may have to hide behind a corner to force them to follow you.
  • Orb Guardians are fast and strong, but their main strategy is swarming you alongside other denizens of Zot:5. Avoid this as much as possible.
• Moths of wrath may berserk monsters or you. Try not to be there when this happens to a pack of Orb Guardians.

Trap Strategies

The inner chamber and the lungs are littered with traps. Dispersal traps will blink you around randomly, possibly putting you behind enemy lines and in sight of something unpleasant. Alarm traps will wake most of the floor and ensure everything can hunt you down. Net traps will drop throwing nets on you, potentially pinning you down long enough for something to come along and kill you. Pressure plates will drop a bunch of Killer Klowns on top of you. Zot traps will apply one of several unpleasant effects (list includes draining your MP, paralyzing you, durably summoning a greater demon, and more). Furthermore, monsters can and will use traps against you by stepping on them. However, traps can only affect you if you can see them; it may be safer to stay out of sight and shout into the chamber lungs to attract attention.

Be sure to immediately quaff a potion of cancellation if you get marked and begin planning a retreat (as creatures will continue to move towards your last known location for a time). Be especially wary of dispersal traps in this situation, as random blinking will almost certainly stymie any attempt to flee on foot. Should you be trapped in an endless cycle of blinking, reading a scroll of teleportation may be your last chance to get out alive.

An artefact with -Tele may become a lifesaver, as it will prevent dispersal traps from blinking you. However, it will also prevent you from teleporting to safety; be prepared to begin retreating the instant things start to turn south.

Strategies

WARNING: The strategies below call for specific abilities and tactics, and may not apply to your character!

Clear the Chamber Gradually

The most straightforward strategy is to simply walk into the chamber, wake up as few monsters as possible, retreat and kill them one by one; rinse and repeat. When exploring the two areas adjacent to the Orb's chamber, stick to the dividing wall, peek around the corner, and lure back anything you find. Approaching too aggressively will likely pull down more threats than you can handle at once.

This strategy can also be accomplished with careful use of noise (shouting and spells are the most reliable means of attracting attention). Make some noise to attract some monsters, get them chasing you, and run away. Note that due to the chamber layout and the patrolling Orb Guardians, this may be hard to do without getting swamped.

Go In With an Army

If you can, summon as many creatures as possible. You can then hang back as they fight the enemies. This may be accomplished in many ways:

• Divine companions: Angels and daevas of The Shining One, Trog's Brothers in Arms, Makhleb's Greater demons, Beogh's orcish companions, Qazlal's elementals, Yredelemnul's undead army...
• Summonings spells: Why compromise? Dragon's Call: There is no substitute.
  • Scroll of summoning is very powerful (albeit short-lived) in Zot.
• The permanent orcs of Beogh won't be of much use after you ascend, so why bother preserving them? Go in with a truly massive army; though, one that'll get shredded fairly quickly.
• Followers of Gozag can bribe the denizens of Zot. With friendly orbs of fire on your side, the entire floor turns into a joke.

Blast Your Way Through

A Conjurations specialist with a reliable means of recharging MP (potions of magic, Sif Muna's channeling, Sublimation of Blood, etc.) can often simply blast his way through with high-end spells like Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Orb of Destruction, Fire Storm, or Shatter. This is especially true when you're accompanied by a spellforged servitor. Mind the noise, don't attract more monsters than your MP can handle, and don't be afraid to fall back and recover if need be.

Shattering a Lung

The entrance to each chamber is surrounded by stone walls. While unbreakable for most characters, some are able to; fighting Zot:5 on their own terms. Breaking the lungs means you won't have to deal with enemies coming in both directions, avoid inconveniently placed traps, or create a shorter path to rush the Orb.

• Worshiping Lugonu can make the Orb chamber a much less daunting task. If you corrupt the level at the entrance of either side of the chamber, you'll likely break through a path to the Orb room. You'll create many demons, which will handle much of the challenge of Zot. Frisky adventurers can haste up and use scrolls of blinking and teleport to get the Orb.
  • If need be, banishing yourself to the Abyss can save your life and give you a chance to heal, but don't forget that you will return to the exact same spot you left from.
• Worshippers of Fedhas have a similar wallbreaking ability - Overgrow. While not as overtly powerful as Corruption, you can lure enemies one by one into safety, preferably guarded by your own oklob plants.
• If you can cast Shatter, you can make yourself a shortcut through the stone walls in the orb chamber. Note, however, that this is much slower and will make a lot of noise, enough to instantly awaken almost every monster on the floor. As a bonus, however, Shatter deals very respectable damage to many enemies found here (apart from dragons, orbs of fire, and electric golems).

Stealth/Stabbing

Walk into the Orb chamber and try to stab any sleeping monsters (Orb Guardians, ancient liches, orbs of fire, etc.). If possible, use a scarf of shadows to limit the number of opponents you have to deal with. Be sure to have a means of escape and stack as much stealth as possible if you want to try this approach. If an Orb Guardian wakes up, lure it outside the chamber before fighting it to avoid waking up any other monsters. When you're in sight of the Orb, grab it and teleport away.

History

• Prior to 0.27, ancient liches had 5 possible spellbooks; with the possibility of summoning, various hexes, and/or powerful conjurations. In 0.27, their spellbook list was consolidated, and dread liches were introduced as dedicated summoners.
• Prior to 0.26, the translocations restrictions caused by the Orb of Zot were stricter; randomizing Controlled Blink and scrolls of blinking, while fully disabling Passage of Golubria.
• Prior to 0.19, the translocations restrictions of the Orb of Zot did not apply to the entire Realm of Zot
• Before the removal of teleport control in 0.17, teleport control was disabled on Zot:5
• Prior to 0.12, digging out everything outside the Orb chamber would increase the chances of landing somewhere safe after a random teleport.