Unique monster

Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Unique monsters are monsters that are generated only at most once per game. They are usually much more powerful than normal monsters, but provide much greater experience. As such, they can be considered the "bosses" of Crawl (although not every unique is guaranteed to appear in every run, and by no means are you required to slay every unique you encounter).

Wandering Uniques

i Agnes- A zippy spriggan fighter who wields a branded lajatang.

S Aizul- A disgraced guardian serpent who uses powerful poison magic and a nasty sleeping spell.

H Asterion- A bloodthirsty king who was turned into a minotaur and exiled. He now seeks to carve out a new kingdom with the aid of Makhleb.

R Azrael- An efreet who commands a pack of lesser monsters while pelting you with high-power Fire Magic and Hellfire.

o Blork the orc- A fat orc spellcaster who managed to find some rainbow suspenders somewhere.

L Boris- A lich who will revive himself elsewhere after you've killed him once.

g Crazy Yiuf- An insane, cloak-wearing gnoll who defends his forest hut with a quarterstaff of chaos.

@ Donald- An adventurer much like yourself, but with a propensity for both swimming and complaining. Generally comes with a high-quality shield.

e e Dowan and Duvessa - Twin elves who are never seen apart and who complement each other's strengths. Dowan uses magic while Duvessa prefers a blade.

@ Edmund- Sigmund's obscure and less threatening younger brother. Generally comes with a decent flail.

x Erica- A spellcaster who carries a flaming scimitar, but prefers to use her assortment of conjurations and hexes.

i The Enchantress- Queen of the spriggans, she is extremely difficult to hit and has a nasty set of hexes. She owns one of the last surviving sets of faerie dragon armour.

O Erolcha- An ogre mage with a variable spell set who can potentially banish the unlucky to The Abyss.

@ Eustachio- A mustachioed summoner who can bog his foes down in a swarm of summoned mammals and imps.

e Fannar- An elven Ice Mage who spawns with Ice Magic-enhancing equipment. Bring cold resistance!

@ Frances- A powerful fighter who once bested a demon lord and thereby gained demonic powers.

@ Frederick- A fighter-mage who packs several extremely powerful spells.

w Gastronok- An unusually intelligent elephant slug who gained his magic and his hat by eating a wizard.

5 Grinder- A shadow imp who can easily paralyze and torture low-level adventurers to death.

g Grum- A gnoll armed with a weapon of reaching who leads a pack of wolves into combat.

@ Harold- A bounty hunter on the verge of retirement. He hunts down his quarry with the help of powerful Fire Magic.

g Ijyb- A goblin who is only marginally stronger than his brethren, though he may show up with a dangerous wand.

@ Jessica- An apprentice sorceress who uses low-level spells to attack those who disturb her.

g Jorgrun- A deep dwarven earth elementalist fond of statuary (both creating it and blowing it up).

V Jory- A wealthy vampire who combines mesmerization with devastating magical power.

@ Joseph- A mercenary who attacks with throwing nets, a sling, and a quarterstaff.

@ Josephine- An elderly necromancer who devastates the living and supports her undead underlings by hurling ghostly fireballs.

M Khufu- A greater mummy that combines high durability, smiting, torment, and an extremely dangerous mummy and demon entourage.

@ Kirke- An enchantress who would like nothing more than for you to join her herd of hogs.

@ Louise- A spellcaster who wears surprisingly heavy armour and is capable of banishing the unwary to the Abyss.

R Mara- An exceptionally powerful rakshasa, Mara's mastery of illusions allows him to bamboozle even the strongest of foes. Particularly unlucky adventurers may even find themselves battling their double.

@ Margery- A powerful Fire Elementalist with her own entourage of hell knights.

@ Maud- A warrior princess from a distant land who often uses demonic weaponry.

f Maurice- An accomplished thief who uses invisibility to rob passersby blind.

M Menkaure- The mummified king of a long-forgotten realm who can torment his foes.

A Mennas- A powerful angel whose speed and aura of silence makes escape extremely difficult. Spellcasters beware!

h Natasha- A wandering felid wizard who has gone searching for her lost owner. She has three lives.

o Nergalle- An orcish necromancer who can summon spectral orcs to fight for her.

c Nessos- An armoured centaur who pelts his opponents with arrows of poisoned flame.

@ Nikola- A mad scientist who is an expert with fighting using electricity of all kinds.

@ Norris- A laid-back spellcaster who debilitates foes before crushing them with powerful two-handed weapons.

K Pikel- A big kobold who has taken up slave trading. Carries a branded whip and travels with a band of slaves.

p Player ghost - The restless spirit of another adventurer who perished on their quest for the Orb. Their skills in life are carried over into undeath.

F Prince Ribbit- A cursed prince who is stuck in the form of a blink frog.

@ Psyche- A maddened mage who is mostly dangerous due to her dagger of chaos or distortion.

T File:Purgy.png Purgy- An unusually skinny troll that fled from his brethren into the upper levels of the dungeon.

8 Roxanne- A powerful earth mage who turned herself into a statue when a spell went horribly wrong. She can't move, but there's nothing wrong with her magic.

@ Rupert- A berserker whose powerful roars can disable his foes long enough for him to rush in and crush them.

o Saint Roka- An orc warlord of Beogh who travels with a band of followers who believe he is the orcish messiah.

@ Sigmund- The bane of low-level adventurers, Sigmund carries a couple of dangerous spells and a wicked scythe.

T Snorg- An exceptionally fat troll who will go berserk at the slightest provocation.

Q Sojobo- King of the tengu, Sojobo is not only a powerful warrior but a master Air Mage.

K Sonja- A kobold assassin who always carries curare needles and a nastily-branded short blade.

@ Terence- A weak fighter who appears near the very beginning of the dungeon.

o Urug- A one-eyed orc who carries a pack of javelins and a heavier weapon than usual.

g Wiglaf- A dwarven fighter of Okawaru, Wiglaf will buff himself before rushing into combat.

D Xtahua- An ancient and exceptionally powerful fire dragon.

Snake Pit Unique

N Vashnia- A naga sharpshooter who possesses far more skill with both weaponry and Translocations than her underlings.

Spider's Nest Unique

H Arachne- Half-spider, half-woman, Arachne and her pets will quickly ensnare and poison those who blunder unprepared into her lair.

Swamp Unique

D The Lernaean hydra- A hydra with a mind-boggling 27 heads. Those who allow it into biting range are swiftly devoured.

Shoals Uniques

m Ilsuiw- A skilled merfolk aquamancer who often travels with a large band of her kin.

C Polyphemus- A cyclops who has somehow managed to tame a herd of death yaks and catoblepi.

Slime Pits Uniques

J Dissolution- An intelligent jelly that eats its way through rock walls in search of those who would oppose the Slime God.

J The royal jelly- Jiyva's primary worshipper and guardian of the Slimy Rune of Zot, the Royal Jelly will quickly overwhelm interlopers with an army of jellies. Should someone manage to kill it, the Slime God will also die.

Hell Uniques

D Serpent of Hell- A powerful dragon that changes depending on which branch of Hell you find it in.

z Murray- A mobile curse skull with a nasty bite and even nastier necromantic spells.

& Geryon- The three-headed gatekeeper of Hell, Geryon presides over the Vestibule of Hell. Those who wish to enter Hell itself must first defeat him and his followers and sound his horn.

C Antaeus- Ruler of the frigid realm of Cocytus and guardian of the Icy Rune of Zot. Easily the beefiest enemy in the game, Antaeus eschews reliance on underlings and prefers to crush intruders himself using his massive body and powerful cold and electric magic.

& Asmodeus- Ruler of the fiery realm of Gehenna and guardian of the Fiery Rune of Zot. Asmodeus and his followers will quickly incinerate any interlopers with insufficient fire resistance.

& Dispater- Ruler of the Iron City of Dis and guardian of the Iron Rune of Zot. Dispater will crush adventurers with powerful Earth Magic and legions of powerful demons.

& Ereshkigal- Ruler of the deathly realm of Tartarus and guardian of the Bone Rune of Zot. Those who face her and her servants risk being drained of all life.

Pandemonium Uniques

1 Ignacio- A mortal who was rewarded with demonhood and became an executioner. He still carries his favorite executioner's axe.

& Cerebov- Guardian of the Fiery Rune of Zot, lord of a host of balrugs, and wielder of his signature sword, which allows him to partially ignore fire resistance. Quite possibly the single most dangerous foe in the entire game.

& Gloorx Vloq- Guardian of the Dark Rune of Zot and leader of a multitude of executioners. He is exceptionally fast and extremely deadly to both the living and the undead.

& Lom Lobon- Guardian of the Magical Rune of Zot and head of a cabal of wizards. In addition to his followers, he himself has extremely powerful ice and lightning magic.

& Mnoleg- Guardian of the Glowing Rune of Zot and master of everything hideous, tentacled, and mutagenic. He and his minions will quickly deform even the hardiest of warriors.

Realm of Zot Unique

d Tiamat- An exceptionally powerful draconian whose color, breath weapon, and resistances are constantly shifting. Comes with a dragonskin cloak and a large retinue of draconian followers.

Dungeon Sprint Uniques

C Chuck- A stone giant armed with a large rock of returning and an anachronistically awesome cap.

C The Iron Giant- A colossal construct capable of firing iron shots and summoning iron elementals.

Y Nellie- Standard hellephants cannot compare with Nellie in terms of raw ferocity or adorableness.

Retired Uniques

@ Duane - A large-eared mercenary who had rather average abilities.

@ Francis - An aged wizard who had an assortment of spells.

@ Jozef - A mercenary who would poison and slow opponents before moving into melee or pelting them with sling bullets.

@ Michael - A human spellcaster who had a very basic spell list.

@ Norbert - A human warrior who had little in the way of distinguishing characteristics.

p Terpsichore - A phantom who would have been able to bring nearby weapons to life as her allies.

N Lamia- Although stunningly beautiful, this sorcerous naga queen is cannibalistic and mad.

Generation

While every game will present a fair number of them, most uniques are not guaranteed to exist in a given game. The only ones who are guaranteed are:

• The four unique Pandemonium lords: Cerebov, Gloorx Vloq, Lom Lobon, and Mnoleg
• The four unique Hell lords: Antaeus, Asmodeus, Ereshkigal, Dispater
• Geryon
• The Serpent of Hell
• The royal jelly
• If the Shoals are generated, Ilsuiw is guaranteed to appear in them

Source Code Notes

From mon-util.h, line 133:

M_UNIQUE            = (1<<21),        // monster is a unique

History

Lamia and Jorgrun were added in 0.12

Sojobo was added in 0.13

0.14 removed Lamia and introduced Natasha, Vashnia, and Asterion.

In 0.15, all uniques will have a special title (such as Edmund the Younger).