Bennu

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

bennu b
HP	50-103
HD	14
XP	1337
Speed	16
AC	6
EV	16
Will	140
Attack1	27 (peck: holy)
Attack2	24 (claw: plain)
Attack3	24 (claw: plain)
Resistances	rF+++ rPois+ rMiasma rN+++
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	bennu, bennu
Flags	See invisible Flying Speaks Warm-blooded No poly

A sacred, self-created sunbird, representative of rebirth. It has ascended past the cycles of life and death, and calls upon aspects of both, rising forth from death in a burst of unholy flame.

Useful Info

Bennus are curiously contradictory creatures, masters of both life and death. Their attacks inflict holy damage. Upon death, bennus resurrect and emit a large burst of negative energy, damaging the living. They can only resurrect once. They are very rare, appearing only in the Tomb of the Ancients and ziggurats.

Tips & Tricks

• For the living, bennus are one of the less dangerous Tomb creatures; they are simple melee threats that aren't especially strong. But against undead or demonic players, they can hit hard and fast with holy-branded attacks. If you're vulnerable to holy and lack great defenses, mind the damage.
• Bennus are immune to fire and resistant to Shatter, so many AOE spells that obliterate mummies won't work against them.

Trivia

The bennu is a reference to Bennu, an Egyptian deity of the sun, creation, and rebirth. The unholy aspects ascribed to it in DCSS have likely only been added to make it better fit in the undead-filled Tomb of the Ancients.

History

• In 0.33, bennus will have two stronger attacks instead of three: 46 holy damage and 36 damage.
• Prior to 0.30, bennus had fast regeneration.
• Prior to 0.28, they were vulnerable to water.
• Prior to 0.19, their ghostly flame explosions could heal any nearby undead, including the player. Also, bennus had a draining melee attack.
• Bennus were added in 0.16. For a brief time during their development, they also possessed sticky flame attacks.