Necklace of Bloodlust

Version 0.18: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A necklace made of bloodstained human and animal teeth, and something that appears to be a piece of spine.

the necklace of Bloodlust
+Rage
Forces berserk (on 5% of attacks)
Cursed, 33% chance of recursing itself on equip
+2 strength
-2 intelligence
+40 magic resistance
+3 slaying
Extends berserk on 50% of kills for (1 + 1d4) / 2 turns

Desirability

The necklace of Bloodlust is definitely not the sort of item you'd want to use regularly, but it can still be situationally useful. Although +3 slaying and +40 magic resistance on an amulet are both excellent properties, the forced berserk makes it a terrible piece of gear for any character who isn't undead or doesn't have clarity to wear for any extended period of time. However, it may be useful for characters who find themselves facing a particularly nasty lone melee threat: the slaying bonus will be quite helpful, and moreover, berserking would likely be useful in this situation instead of harmful. However, at a 5% chance per attack, it is not a good idea to rely on the berserkitis from this item. Be sure to have a scroll of remove curse handy in case it recurses itself.

History

• In 0.18 the forced berserk chances were decreased from 9% to 5%.
• In 0.15 the stealth penalty of -20 was removed.
• In 0.14 the amount of MR given was increased from 30 to 40.
• In 0.12 the odds of the amulet causing berserk were changed.