Shadow dragon scales

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Shadow dragon scales
Size to wear	Any
Armour Class	10
Encumbrance rating	-15
Maximum Enchantment	+10
Grants	Stealth++++
Time to Wear	5

The scales of a great umbral dragon. It is heavier than most dragon-scale armours, but despite this, blends in so well with the shadows as to provide a substantial benefit to the wearer's stealth.

Shadow dragon scales are a fairly heavy suit of armour, providing defensive stats identical to those of storm dragon scales. As such, it makes spellcasting and evasion significantly more difficult, but oddly enough, it actually provides a boost to its wearer's stealth.

It is possible to obtain a set of shadow dragon scales by killing a shadow dragon.

Desirability

Depending on your character's build, shadow dragon scales may be a useful option. Characters which focus on stabbing unaware opponents will get excellent results from this gear, aiding in their stealth attempts and helping keep them alive when those attempts fail. The penalty to EV and spell success rate are significant, however, and the lack of a resistance might leave you feeling naked when facing certain foes. Even so, if you have all your necessary resistances covered in other equipment slots, shadow dragon scales are an interesting option for characters that never intend to cast particularly high-level spells.

Note that the normal heavy armour stealth penalties apply to the shadow dragon armour, so for stealth purposes the armour is equal to a robe with Stlth+.

History

Shadow dragon scales were known as shadow dragon armour before 0.19. They were created by using a scroll of enchant armour on a shadow dragon hide.

Shadow dragon armour was added in 0.16.

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Shadow dragon scales