Skin of Zhor

Version 0.25: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

The smelly skin of some strange animal, native to cold and distant lands. It radiates the chill of its native habitat, slowing creatures from warmer climes.

the +4 skin of Zhor

+4 animal skin

Passive Metabolic Englaciation
rC+++
See invisible

Desirability

The skin of Zhor provides an advantage to the player in many situations. Being almost immune to the cold is a game changer in frost-themed branches or when facing monsters with powerful cold attacks. It's an excellent choice if you find it in time to explore an Ice Cave.

When fighting non-cold-resistant opponents, they will be slowed by the chilling effect. Any character, specially those unable to cast Metabolic Englaciation, will have an easier time against vulnerable foes. See invisible is also nice to have, making the skin of Zhor a good choice for EV characters.

However, players that rely on AC or those with other sources of cold resistance won't benefit from this armour. Also, the chilling effect will be less effective in the late game.

Chilling Effect Mechanics

When monsters are nearby, there is a 1 in 7 chance every turn that Metabolic Englaciation will be cast with a spell power of 30. This requires no action from the player, no skills to be trained and will not hamper stealth. But because of the low spell power, it can be resisted by high HD monsters.

History

• The skin of Zhor gained SInv and a passive Metabolic Englaciation effect in 0.23.
• Prior to 0.14, the Skin of Zhor only provided rC++.