Portal

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the dungeon feature. For the obsolete card or spell, see Portal card or Portal (spell) respectively.

A portal is a (generally) temporary gateway to a special level. Each such level has multiple possibilities for its exact layout and inhabitants, but always follows a specific theme. You will almost certainly encounter some of these in every game, but it is extremely rare to ever find all of them in a single run-through. In the console version of Crawl, portals are represented by the ∩ glyph.

Useful Info

Portals are either announced or silent. The majority of portal levels are announced.

Announced portals are timed, and give a warning when you first enter their floor. They will eventually close if you do not get to them fast enough. They continue to count down even if you are on a different level. Every so often, the portal gives a "sound", indicating roughly how far the portal is (ignoring walls):

Adjective	Distance (tiles)
(No adjective)	0 - 6
Very nearby	7-13
Nearby	14-20
Distant	21-27
Very distant	28+

Each portal also gives a rough indication of how much time it has left - for example, an Ossuary's "brisk hissing" means that time is running out. When an announced portal times out somewhere out of sight, you may get a message such as: "The floor vibrates strangely!"

Silent (or permanent) portals comprise of all treasure troves and Ziggurats, though a bazaar will sometimes spawn silent. They won't ever time out, remaining until you enter them, even if you leave the level.

Regardless if a portal is announced or silent, you may only enter a portal once; exiting it will close the portal for good. If you have a full inventory, it is recommended to leave excess items outside, so you don't have to leave stuff permanently behind.

Portals

The following comprises all portal levels, with their in-game description and a brief explanation:

Early Game

Ossuary

A sand-covered staircase

Zombies and mummies and traps, oh my!

The Sewers

A glowing drain

Wade through rat- and snake-infested waters. Mind the kobolds.

Mid Game

Bailey

A flagged portal

A shooting match and/or slugfest with orcs, gnolls, and/or goblins (sometimes even elves).

Gauntlet

A gauntlet entrance

Choose a set of arenas, if you dare. You'll win prizes, but you'll also have to face a minotaur!

Ice Cave

A frozen archway

Assorted frigid monsters and ice statues abound. Bring cold resistance.

Volcano

A dark tunnel

Everything is on fire. Including you, if you forget your fire resistance.

Late Game

Desolation of Salt

A ruined gateway

An open expanse of salt containing some heavily guarded treasure.

Wizard Laboratory

A magic portal

The private laboratory of any one of several strange characters.

Anywhere

Bazaar

A gateway to a bazaar

Shopping trip! Hope you have some gold saved up. Sometimes does not have a portal timer.

Treasure trove

A portal to a secret trove of treasure

A collection of treasure customized for your character... at a specific, peculiar price. No portal timer.

Ziggurat

A gateway to a ziggurat

The ultimate challenge: a gauntlet of 27 floors of increasing madness. If you survive to the end, you can do it again, but harder. No portal timer.

History

• Prior to 0.28, portal levels could be a mimic, with the same announcement, but simply did not enter. Also, you could enter the portal of a Malign Gateway, assuming the tentacle wasn't already there. Entering it would blink you and deal minor damage.
• Prior to 0.27, portal distance sounds
• Labyrinths were replaced by the Gauntlet in 0.23.
• Desolation of Salt was added in 0.19.
• Prior to 0.14, a shorter timer would be started upon first seeing the timed portal.
• Prior to 0.13, many timed portals were not announced.
• The Spider's Nest was upgraded from a portal level to a full-fledged dungeon branch in 0.11.