Zot trap

Version 0.12: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This trap bears a powerful enchantment that inflicts dangerously unpredictable magical effects on those unlucky enough to trigger it. It's often worse than mere damage - you may find yourself thrown into the Abyss, contaminated with enormous amounts of wild magic, have mighty fiends summoned against you, or the like - it is something to avoid at all costs.

A Zot trap is a trap which produces a random spell school miscast effect. Thus, the effect can range from harmless (summoning a throng of butterflies) to brutal (causing severe glow and mutations, banishment to the Abyss, etc.). It is a magical trap, and thus cannot be disarmed with the Traps skill or dodged by levitating or flying.

Zot traps are only found on the lower levels of the dungeon and in the later branches. Most players will first see them on the last few floors of the Lair.

Tips & Tricks

• It is not necessary to step onto a Zot trap to be affected by it. If a monster in your LOS steps on a Zot trap, it may "invoke the power of Zot" against you.
• You can sometimes tell if you're on a floor with Zot traps by the sounds they make. A "distant Zot" means that a distant monster stepped on a Zot trap, while a "loud Zot" means it happened nearby. Either way, be ready to lure enemies away from traps as you explore the floor.
• A Traps & Doors skill of at least 10 is suggested if you would like a reasonable chance of noticing Zot traps before stepping on them.
• If you find a Zot trap while walking down a 1-tile wide hallway, it may be worthwhile to use a wand of digging, wand of disintegration, or appropriate spell to give yourself a means of stepping around the trap. Failing that, a random Blink (only if you are adjacent to the trap), or a semi-controlled Blink or Controlled Blink can get you past without an issue. If you have no alternative but to walk into a Zot trap, equip as many purely defensive items as you can first.

History

In 0.13 the list of possible effects will be changed considerably.