Makhleb

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

"Blood and souls for Makhleb!"

Makhleb the Destroyer is a fearsome deity of bloodshed and mortification of the flesh. Followers are expected to cleanse others by inflicting suffering and death on them in Makhleb's name. Dedicated followers may also access the raw energies and hell-spawned servants of chaos, so that they may better break the impure world and its false laws for their evil god's glory. Makhleb offers followers the ability to unleash bolts of chaotic destruction at the cost of their own health as well as call in help from powerful (if sometimes uncooperative) demons. The most devoted of worshippers will eventually be gifted with knowledge of Infernal Marks, allowing them to ritually brand their own bodies in exchange for one of the Destroyer's many hellish powers. Makhleb's powers all come with a price in blood. However, Makhleb will grant followers renewed health in return for killing beings of all kinds. Makhleb likes it when you or your allies kill living beings, you or your allies kill the undead, you or your allies kill demons and you or your allies kill holy beings.

Makhleb is the evil and chaotic god of the Hells.

Racial Restrictions

Demigods may not worship Makhleb (or any other deity).

Appreciates

• You or your allies killing living, undead, holy, or demonic beings (67% or more chance of +1 piety)

Deprecates

• Inactivity: You lose 1 piety per 340 turns, on average (1/17 chance every 20 turns).
• Abandonment. Your penance counter will be set to 25.

Given Abilities

Piety level -: "Spawn of Chaos"

• No abilities.

Piety level *: "Disciple of Destruction"

• Gain Health From Killing - When you kill a monster, you have a piety-dependent chance of healing, with the amount healed based on the monster's HD. You have a (piety - 30) / piety% chance of healing HD/2 + 1d(HD/2) - 0.5 hit points. At max piety, you have an 85% chance to heal an average of 3/4 * HD - 0.25 HP. This will not trigger if your ally deals the killing blow. (Passive)

Piety level **: "Fanfare of Bloodshed"

• Unleash Destruction - Hurl a non-piercing blast of random destructive energy (fire, cold, electricity or negative energy). Damage and accuracy are based on your Invocations skill. This ability is upgraded at 4*. (6.5% + 2 HP)

Piety level ***: "Fiendish"

• Infernal Servant - Summons a random demon from the table below for a short time, with Invocations skill increasing the strength. There is a 1/6 chance of additionally spawning a durably summoned hostile demon; when this happens, the friendly demon will be stronger. (8 HP, 4-6 piety)

Demon	Min skill	Max skill
4 Ice devil	0	7
4 Orange demon	0	9
4 Rust devil	2	10
4 Hellwing	3	10
3 Soul eater	6	13
3 Ynoxinul	6	13
3 Smoke demon	6	15
3 Sun demon	8	15
3 Sixfirhy	8	16
2 Blizzard demon	10	-
2 Green death	11	-
2 Cacodemon	13	-
2 Balrug	14	-
1 Executioner	17	-

Note that without Mark of the Tyrant, Invocations skill is effectively capped at 18 for this ability.

Piety level ****: "Demolition [Species Name]"

• Upgraded destruction - Permanently gain a mutation which brands your Unleash Destruction ability with the flavour of a random Hell, and upgrades all blasts to piercing bolts:

• Gehenna: fire (inflicting rF-), lava, lightning, negative energy
• Cocytus: cold (inflicting Frozen), ice, lightning, negative energy
• Tartarus: fire, cold, negative energy (with increased damage), devastation (inflicting Will/2)
• Dis: fire, cold, lightning, acid, metal splinters.

Piety level *****: "Pandemonic"

• No new abilities.

Piety level ******: "Champion of Chaos"

• Infernal Mark: Permanently gain one of a choice of three of the Infernal Marks below as a mutation, which remains effective as long as you worship Makhleb. (Pain: 2/3 of your current HP)

Infernal Marks

Upon reaching 6*, Makhleb will offer you the choice of three of the following Infernal Marks:

Mark	Description
Mark of Annihilation	Infernal Servant is replaced with Globe of Annihilation, which conjures an Orb of Destruction-like ball of destructive energy that explodes in a radius based on how far it has traveled (will explode in a 3x3 radius at a point blank collision). The damage type is modified by which type of Destruction you have.
Mark of Atrocity	Unleash Destruction becomes more powerful as you use it consecutively, increasing in power and cost until the fourth use which causes a barrage of random bolts to shoot out at several targets.
Mark of Carnage	Summons from Infernal Servant are summoned next to a random enemy and cause a large blast (dependent on your Destruction type) which only harms enemies.
Mark of Execution	Each melee kill has a chance to temporarily activate the Execution status, which gives you rampage and an aux attack that automatically retaliates for attacks that miss you. Doing anything other than attacking will quickly cause the transformation to expire.
Mark of Haemoclasm	Killed enemies have a chance of exploding into gore based on the number of adjacent enemies, which does damage proportional to how much health that enemy had. Enemies killed by this explosion always explode. Does not harm the player.
Mark of the Celebrant	Falling below 50% HP will fire several blood arrows at random targets that do invocations-based damage and always grant healing on kill. Recharges after reaching maximum health. If few enough enemies are present, up to 2 arrows will be deliberately fired per target and the rest will be shot in random directions.
Mark of the Fanatic	Grants the Vessel of Slaughter ability, which transforms you into a demon (with standard demonic resistances), giving great boosts to your attacks and defensive abilities, however in exchange you will be dragged down to the Crucible of Flesh after the transformation ends and have to fight XL-dependent demons and paralyzed mortal victims to regain your freedom.
Mark of the Legion	Infernal Servant is replaced with Infernal Legion, which calls in a swarm of weaker demons over time (similarly to Dragon's Call. You are also able to fire Unleash Destruction through these summons without harming them.
Mark of the Tyrant	Infernal Servant summons have a longer duration, and stronger demons (i.e. tier-1 demons) can be summoned at higher invocations. Killing enemies has a chance to grant haste, might, regeneration or brilliance to one of your servants.

Punishments

Makhleb does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers! Those who invite the fury of Makhleb are buried in demons and destruction. The greatest punishments are reserved for the strongest sinners; crystal spears and Executioners are only hurled at those Makhleb finds most deserving! Makhleb's wrath lasts for a relatively short duration.

Upon desertion, you will occasionally experience one of the two following forms of divine retribution, demons or destruction (equal chance):

• Makhleb rains destruction upon you, which cannot be avoided by any means. You are instantly struck with one of the following spells, depending on your XL:
  • XL 1-8 (100%), XL 9-13 (50%):
    • Throw Flame, Pain, Stone Arrow, Shock, or Spit Acid
  • XL 9-13 (50%), XL 14-17 (100%), XL 18-27 (50%):
    • Bolt of Fire, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Sticky Flame, Iron Shot, Bolt of Draining, or Orb of Electricity
  • XL 18-27 (50%):
    • Fireball, Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Orb of Electricity, Flash Freeze, or Ghostly Fireball
• Makhleb sends demons to punish you. The total number of demons is 1dXL/5 + 0.8, capped at 6 at XL 25.
  • Starting at XL 7, there's a chance that a Greater Servant of Makhleb will be summoned. There could be up to 6 such demons at XL 27. The rest will be Lesser Servants.
  • Greater Servants include executioners, green deaths, blizzard demons, balrugs, and cacodemons.
  • Lesser Servants are hellwings, neqoxecs, orange demons, smoke demon, and ynoxinuls.

Strategy

Makhleb offers 2 powerful Summonings abilities, a set of Conjurations, and a small amount of healing. Melee characters appreciate these abilities the most, though all sorts of characters can benefit.

• Lesser Servants can be great allies, especially in numbers. Multiple demons are enough to take out threatening enemies, such as hydras, in the mid-game. Greater Servants, as tier-2 demons, are strong whether on their own or in groups. But, like with many things in Crawl, it's best to summon your demonic allies before engaging a tough enemy. If you're already in danger, a hostile executioner probably won't help.
• The healing is particularly appreciated by Ghouls and bloodless Vampires, who have issues healing normally, and Djinn, who use HP to cast their spells. You should not rely entirely on this healing, but it can help you sustain a bit longer during a fight.
• Minor Destruction is akin to throwing stones and poison darts; it's weak, but it can help soften enemies up. Major Destruction is stronger (and always pierces enemies), but don't expect it to kill tougher enemies on its own.

Unfortunately, Makhleb doesn't offer great panic buttons. If you're already at low HP, this god won't help much. Also, in order for Makhleb's abilities to be reliable, you'll need a fair bit of Invocations skill.

Tips & Tricks

• If you decide to abandon Makhleb for another god, be aware that Makhleb's wrath cannot miss; Dodging, Shields, and Repel Missiles won't help. An untimely Lehudib's Crystal Spear can bring your game to a sudden end, especially if you have a very low HP pool.

History

• Makhleb was overhauled in 0.32, with the addition of Infernal Marks. Previously, his active abilities were as follows:
  • 2* - Minor Destruction - for a fixed cost of 1 HP, cast one of Throw Flame, Throw Frost, Vitriol, Stone Arrow, and Pain at random
  • 3* - Lesser Servant of Makhleb - summon a friendly level 3-4 demon. At low Invocations, there was a chance the demon could spawn hostile.
  • 4* - Greater Destruction - cast one of Fireball, Bolt of Cold, Bolt of Draining, Corrosive Bolt or Lightning Bolt at random
  • 5* - Greater Servant of Makhleb - summon a friendly level 2 demon or Executioner. At low to moderate Invocations, the demon could spawn hostile.
• Prior to 0.27, Makhleb would heal double HP on kill (HD + 1d(HD) - 1). Major Destruction was weaker and could create Fireball, Orb of Electricity, Sticky Flame, and Iron Shot instead of Corrosive Bolt and Bolt of Magma.
• Prior to 0.16, the player could sacrifice fresh corpses to increase piety.
• Prior to 0.14, Makhleb's wrath would consist only of summoning hostile demonic servants.
• Prior to 0.11, Makhleb's abilities cost MP instead of HP.
• Prior to 0.10, Makhleb's Gain Health From Killing ability could also restore your MP.
• Prior to 0.8, Chaos Knights could select Mahkleb as a starting god.