Serpent of Hell

Version 0.11: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This chart is not updated automatically. It may contain outdated information.
Serpent of Hell D
HP	98 - 140
HD	20
XP	15000
Speed	14
AC	12
EV	9
MR	346
Attack1	35 (bite: plain)
Attack2	15 (claw: plain)
Attack3	15 (trample: plain)
Attack4
Max Chunks	0
Type of Meat	None
Resistances	Standard: rPois+, rRot, rN+, rTorm Gehenna: Add damnation Cocytus: Add rC+
Vulnerabilities	Holy, Dragon Slaying
Habitat	land
Intelligence	High
Uses	Open doors
Holiness	Demonic
Size	Huge
Type	serpent of hell, serpent of hell
Flags	Spellcaster Flying Sense invisible Evil

Gehenna: A huge red glowing dragon, burning with hellfire. It seems to be possessed by the very essence of Gehenna and its eternal fire. Cocytus: You can barely move through the hellish cold that's freezing your soul. It emanates from this massive white dragon. Your eyes hurt from the temperature, and from the gleam of shards of ice covering the demonic beast. Tartarus: A pair of lurid magenta eyes hang in the darkness before you. You can just barely trace the outline of a vast, sinuous dragon. Its malice for you is palpable. Dis: A towering beast with an army's worth of swords for teeth. Each scale is a shield with a razored edge. It watches you through a pair of featureless chrome eyes.

Useful Info

The Serpent of Hell is a unique demonic dragon that appears in one of the four branches of Hell. Although its stats are mostly identical wherever you encounter it, it will have two different breath weapons which vary based on the branch you encounter it in:

• File:Serpent of Hell Gehenna.png In Gehenna, it will have hellfire and fire breath. Only the latter is resistable. It will also resist fire completely.
• File:Serpent of Hell Cocytus.png In Cocytus, it will have Ozocubu's Refrigeration and cold breath. It will also resist cold completely.
• File:Serpent of Hell Tartarus.png In Tartarus, it will have miasma and draining breath.
• File:Serpent of Hell Dis.png In the Iron City of Dis, it will breathe metal splinters and quicksilver bolts.

Spells

Spell set Gehenna
Slot1	Hellfire (3d20)
Slot2	Fire Breath (3d40)
Slot3	none
Slot4	Hellfire (3d20)
Slot5	Fire Breath (3d40)
Slot6	none

Spell set Cocytus
Slot1	Ozocubu's Refrigeration (3d15)
Slot2	Cold Breath (3d40)
Slot3	none
Slot4	Ozocubu's Refrigeration (3d15)
Slot5	Cold Breath (3d40)
Slot6	none

Spell set Tartarus
Slot1	Bolt of Draining (3d24)
Slot2	Miasma (3d15)
Slot3	none
Slot4	Bolt of Draining (3d24)
Slot5	Miasma (3d15)
Slot6	none

Spell set Dis
Slot1	Metal Splinters (3d32)
Slot2	Quicksilver Bolt (3d20)
Slot3	none
Slot4	Metal Splinters (3d32)
Slot5	Quicksilver Bolt (3d20)
Slot6	none

Tips & Tricks

Regardless of where you encounter it, the Serpent's breath attack can deal heavy damage if you aren't prepared. Generally speaking though, preparation for each branch of Hell will make it much less dangerous. It isn't terribly durable, and only the Gehenna and Cocytus versions have any elemental resistances, so most forms of dealing damage quickly should work fine here. The Cocytus version is probably the least dangerous, as it is the only version whose breath attacks can both be resisted. Be very careful of the Tartarus version if you are living; miasma will slow you and rot your HP even if you are poison resistant.

History

In ancient versions of the game, the Serpent of Hell did not appear as a unique monster, but rather as a generic one that could be found in considerable numbers guarding the lowest level of Gehenna. It always had the Gehenna spell set. While they may have had fewer hit points, the fact they could appear in considerable numbers made them more dangerous than the single monster ever is: facing multiple 20-HD hellfire-casting dragons at a time was often a quick death.