Nessos

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of all centaurs, see list of centaurs.

Nessos c
HP	47-96
HD	9
XP	1325
Speed	15
AC	8
EV	7
Will	20
Attack1	13 (hit: plain)
Attack2	5 (kick: plain)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Large
Type	centaur, centaur
Flags	Archer Speaks Warm-blooded Unique Gender neutral

A centaur warrior, skilled at warfare and deceit. They slew a mighty hydra, and now its deadly blood drips, still-fuming, from their arrows.

Useful Info

Nessos the Markscentaur is a unique centaur generated with a longbow of flame and barding. In addition to the longbow's flaming, Nessos' shots are always poisoned. Wielding the longbow yourself won't give you the poison effect.

Location

• The Dungeon:12-15
• The Orcish Mines:2
• The Lair:4-6

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1	Blink Range	Wizard flag
Slot2	Haste	Wizard flag

Tips & Tricks

• Without fire and poison resistance, Nessos is a very dangerous opponent, especially when hasted. A hasted Nessos can fire 2-3 times per 1.0 turn, dealing {38 + weapon enchant + flame + venom} damage per shot. Even with both resistances, Nessos can be a tough foe to pin down.
• Nessos has almost no willpower, so Hexes and hex wands are extremely effective. In particular, a wand of polymorph will at least get rid of the poison arrows, and Tukima's Dance gets rid of the bow entirely. With only 9 HD, Mephitic Cloud and other HD checks can also work.
• Like other centaurs, Nessos won't fire when in melee with the player; staying in melee range will greatly reduce their threat level. A potion of attraction can do just that, though watch for the usual risks of attraction. A killhole is slightly less effective, but safer overall.
• Going berserk is not recommended, as Nessos will just Blink away from you and fill you with arrows as your berserk runs out. Other buffs, such as a haste of your own, still work fine.
• Having some form of Repel Missiles and/or Reflection can be very useful here.

Trivia

Nessos is a reference to Nessus, an evil centaur that Heracles killed with a hydra-poisoned arrow after it attempted to rape his wife. It managed to kill Heracles in the process, however, by convincing his wife that Nessus' now-corrosive blood would make Heracles forever faithful to her if she would spread it on his clothing.

History

• Prior to 0.27, Nessos did base 16 damage with weapons (extra +12 from the archer flag), but didn't have a kick attack. This change was to compensate for the removal of hidden weapon penalties in this version.
• Nessos was male before version 0.24.