Boggart

Version 0.18: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

boggart g
HP	13-27
HD	4
XP	117
Speed	12
AC	0
EV	12
Will	40
Attack1	5 (hit: plain)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Little
Type	boggart, boggart
Flags	See invisible Warm-blooded

A malevolent and dangerous little sprite. The shadowy illusions it summons may not be real, but they'll kill you all the same, if you don't get their master first. “He thinks every bush a boggart.” -John Ray, _A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs_. 1768. “A BOGGART intruded himself, upon what pretext or by what authority is unknown, into the house of a quiet, inoffensive, and laborious farmer; and, when once it had taken possession it disputed the right of domicile with the legal mortal tenant, in a very unneighbourly and arbitrary manner. In particular, it seemed to have a great aversion to children. As there is no point on which a parent feels more acutely than that of the maltreatment of his offspring, the feelings of the father and more particularly of his good dame, were daily, ay, and nightly, harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and invisible boggart.” -C.J.T., _Folk-lore and Legends: English_ 1890.

Useful Info

Boggarts are weak, fragile pack creatures who rely on their mastery of illusions to destroy their enemies. Although next to harmless themselves, boggarts will quickly turn invisible and begin casting Shadow Creatures when enemies appear, flooding the screen with powerful, deadly opponents. They can be found in the Depths and the Vaults.

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1	Shadow Creatures	Wizard flag
Slot2	Invisibility	Wizard flag
Slot3	Blink	Wizard flag

Tips & Tricks

• When you first encounter a boggart, know that there are others nearby; they almost always travel in a pack. Multiple boggarts can quickly turn a perfectly safe room into an overwhelmingly dangerous fight, and with the promise of reinforcements as soon as you make a dent in their summons. As such, never attempt to fight your way through a boggart's summons, and always make killing them quickly a high priority. They're fairly fragile, rarely needing more than two decent hits to kill, and as soon as a boggart dies, its summons will vanish.
• Ideally you'll be killing boggarts before they have time to start casting many spells, but that's not always possible. Having a source of see invisible makes invisible boggart hunting much easier.
• Boggarts have only moderate magic resistance. Someone with a bit of Evocations or Hexes training should be able to paralyze or polymorph a boggart with a few shots, but killing them physically is usually the faster approach. Casters with area-of-effect spells should try to clear them out quickly, while others can usually hit a few of them at a time by zapping wands of fire, cold, or other powerful attack wands. They have low health and poor MR, so a wand of destruction with its long range is ideal.
• If you open a door and suddenly find yourself face to face with several boggarts, close it. They'll have to come to the door and open it themselves to reach you.

History

Prior to 0.14, they were able to cast Confuse and Slow, and were slightly less likely to cast Shadow Creatures. They were also much more fragile, almost never surviving even a single attack.