Choosing a god
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In Crawl, one's choice of god has the most significant impact on the progress of the game other than choice of race and class.
Contents
How Do I Choose a God?
There are two ways to choose a god. The quickest is to begin the game with a background that worships one by default: Berserkers, Abyssal Knights, Chaos Knights all begin the game serving a particular god. The former two also receive a small head start on piety gain.
Alternatively, you can find an altar dedicated to a god along the way, stand on it, and pray (with either '<' or '>' keys). When asked if you want to join its religion, press y to accept. They can be found as follows:
- Most gods will have an altar in the Ecumenical Temple, a harmless branch located between Dungeon floors 4 and 7.
- A faded altar can spawn between floors 1 and 3, giving you access to a random god.
- If the temple lacks a particular altar, it is guaranteed to be located between floors 3 and 10, with the following exceptions:
- Beogh's altar can be found in the Orcish Mines, but having a conscious (i.e. not asleep, paralyzed, etc.) orc priest or orc high priest in view grants hill orcs the ability to convert to Beogh on the spot.
- Lugonu's altar can be found in the Abyss or occasionally in a corrupted version of the Ecumenical Temple.
- Jiyva's altar can be found on the sixth floor of the Slime Pits, occasionally in the Lair and lower dungeon floors, and very rarely in the Temple as an early jelly vault.
You can only worship one god at a time. If you abandon a god's religion or switch to another god, you'll incur penance. The three good gods (Zin, Elyvilon, or The Shining One) will only react if your new god is evil, or chaotic if your god is Zin. Note that if you do switch from a good god to a non-evil one, and later switch to an evil god, you will face penance from both abandoned gods. Ru also has no penance, except the sacrifices you willingly made.
What do all the *** mean?
The asterisks are an indication of your piety, or your current standing with your god. Higher piety generally means more and stronger god-granted powers. See the piety article for more details.
Primary Melee Fighters
These gods work best for characters who primarily kill monsters with weapons rather than with spells.
Okawaru the Warmaster
Okawaru is the "default" god for melee characters. You gain piety by killing; high-HD (strong) monsters are more rewarding.
His simple, straightforward effectiveness has made him one of the most popular, yet criticized, gods in the Crawl pantheon. He provides only two activated abilities to the player: Heroism (gives bonus to combat skills), which can be invoked at *, and Finesse (doubled attack speed) at *****. Used in conjunction, this will allow three or four extra attacks per turn, making most mundane enemies trivial. These enhancements come with no downsides other than a marginal piety cost, so one can also use magic and abilities if they wish.
After the activated abilities come the gifts of weapons, armour, shields, and ammo. Many individual items will be of little permanent use, but by the end game you will likely find yourself using mostly god given equipment. While Trog will also provide weapons, Okawaru is the only god who bestows armour and shields as gifts.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Most melee characters not already worshipping another god. Primarily melee builds who use magic, such as Gnolls, Transmuters, and Warpers. Any character who desires rare equipment (quick blades, rare darts).
Trog the Furious
Trog is the most offensive-minded melee fighter's god. Piety is gained by killing living monsters, demons, holies and spellcasters.
His abilities are tremendously useful early on. Berserk temporarily provides massive boosts to damage, speed, and HP. But Berserk prevents you from using useful potions or scrolls, and ending berserk will slow you. Make sure that you've separated and killed every monster around you, or at least a means to escape. Trog's Hand gives temporary regeneration and magic resistance, and is one of the few ways for a Deep Dwarf to heal.
Brothers in Arms summons always friendly, always berserk ogres, trolls, bears, and giants, which in numbers are more than a match for nearly every enemy in the game, and are a great way to take down tough but stationary enemies like oklob plants. None of these require training of the Invocations skill, so experience can be focused elsewhere. At high piety, he will gift strong weapons weighted towards the helpful antimagic brand
However, learning, training, or casting magic of any kind will offend Trog, so you must specialize only in physical combat. Note that he doesn't mind use of magic scrolls, potions, staves, wands, or rods. In addition, his non-training of Invocations can be a mixed blessing, since if you plan to switch to another god, you'll have to spend time working on that as well.
Trog is a great god for a player new to Crawl, or for any melee character who plans only for a three or four rune run.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any character with zero short term interest in magic. Trolls, Ogres, Minotaurs, Merfolk, and Hill Orcs will have the easiest time due to their excellent melee aptitudes. Berserk and Borthers in Arms are both such a strong abilities for a starting god that even Deep Elves Berserker is a strong, albeit not recommended, choice.
The Shining One the Righteous
The Shining One is a slightly more defensive-minded god who crusades against evil. He will protect you from negative energy and may intervene to save your life. You'll gain piety gradually from discovering monters, and also when you destroy evil or unholy monsters such as the undead, demons, or priests of other religions.
The Shining One is tremendously useful for the Hells, Pandemonium, and Tomb. He grants you HP and MP for demon/undead kills (often allowing you to avoid having to rest in those areas), gives you rN+++, and holy summons that are extremely effective for killing the lords of Pandemonium and Hells and everything in Tomb (allowing you to avoid curses). He also gives you a one time holy wrath brand, incredibly strong against anything in those three branches.
You will also be surrounded by a halo that, within its range, increases your to-hit roll and reveals all invisible enemies around you. This halo will reduce your stealth, and TSO forbids stabs on natural (non demonic or animal) monsters. His Divine Shield ability grants you a floating shield (and stacks with your existing one), and you can eventually conjure Cleansing Flame to destroy undead and demons around you. Finally, holy beings you encounter will be peaceful at high piety.
Although a great choice for late-game because of the prevalence of undead and demons, gaining piety with The Shining One is painstakingly slow outside. His abilities only take off when your Invocations skill is high. And you will not be able to use necromancy or poison related items and spells (including Borgnjor's Vile Clutch and Necromutation). Therefore, many experienced players start off with a different god to get up to Zot, then switch to The Shining One when they are about to enter the branches where their holy powers are most useful.
Elyvilon is a strong choice if you want to switch to The Shining One early, because you won't suffer her wrath; transferring piety instead. Starting with Okawaru or Trog are also a great choices, because they are effective where TSO is not; and provide useful gifts. Once you are ready to take on the Pandemonium, switch to The Shining One and head for the Crypt, where you can even reach maximum piety. You will suffer wrath, but you should be able to survive at this point (Blink and run away).
Make sure you bless a weapon before taking on the Hells or Pandemonium: use the best weapon you've got. Blessing Demon Whips, Demon Tridents, and Demon Blades will turn them into their respective holy variants, making them acceptable for TSO users.
Undead and Demonspawn characters may not follow him, and casting Necromutation will result in excommunication.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Melee characters with dreams of the fifteen runes that lie in undead/demon heavy branches, such as the Abyss, the Crypt, the Tomb, Pandemonium, and the Hells. Those with good Invocations aptitudes, such as Hill Orcs, High Elves, Merfolk, and Deep Dwarves, are particularly well-suited.
Primary Spellcasters
On the other hand, if magic is your character's planned forte, you'll find Sif Muna, Vehumet, or Kikubaaqudgha more to your liking.
Sif Muna the Loreminder
Sif Muna is the "default" god for spellcasters. Of the three, she is the least demanding, and the most predictable. Her primary ability is spellbook acquirement: as you gain piety, she will gift you spellbooks, each guaranteed to have at least one spell you haven't yet found, weighted toward your magic skills. You will eventually have access to every spell in the game.
Also central is channeling; a * ability that gives you MP at the cost of a turn. This allows easy course correction if you get cornered with no MP. Divine Exegsis is accquired late, but allows you to cast any spell in your library.
Piety gain is straightforward: kill most monsters. Note that the only ways to lose piety are to "forget her," which is difficult to do as your piety decays extremely slowly (about one point every 2000 turns).
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any and all magic users, though pure casters will gain piety (and usefulls spellbooks) much faster. If your primary target is to just gain destructive spells consider Vehumet. If you want to focus on Necromancy Kikubaaqudgha is a more straightforward choice. Over an infinite time Sif Muna will give you all spells, but that won`t help you if you need Conjurations or Necromancy now.
Vehumet the Battlemage
Vehumet is the god for offensive mages, for whom piety is gained through the bringing of death, which his rewards further supplement.
Killing monsters will grant you piety and may restore some MP. Later, Vehumet will reduce the chance of conjuration miscasts and increase your conjurations' range. He'll also gift you with Destructive spells after you reach *..... piety. All of Vehumet's benefits are passive, making him a great, low-management god if you're new at playing a spellcaster.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Conjurers and dedicated nukers of all kinds. Common ones include Demonspawn Wizards, Deep Elf Fire Elementalists, and Spriggan Venom Mages. Tengu, with good aptitudes for Conjurations but a poor aptitude for Invocations, are especially suited for Vehumet.
Kikubaaqudgha the Soulstealer
Kikubaaqudgha is the god of the necromantic arts. Piety is gained by killing most monsters.
Spellcasters who dabble in darker domains can opt to worship Kikubaaqudgha. This demon-god appreciates the slaying of living things and demons. You'll learn how to summon multiple corpses for your own nefarious uses. Later on, they will reduce torment damage, and protect you from Necromancy miscasts, grant you the ability to invoke torment using a corpse. And you will get spells able to raise the undead; even if you weren't already a Necromancer.
Finally, they'll gift you either the the Pain brand on a weapon of your choice, or a collection of high level Necromancy spells (Haunt, Borgnjor's Revivification, Necromutation, and Death's Door). The pain brand will be immediately powerful to any character, even those with little physical training; pain's damage is determined by attack speed and Necromancy. The collection of spells are incredibly useful late game, combined with torment resistance.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any character aspiring to become well versed in Necromancy for differing reasons. The undead races especially profit from an easy way to torment your enemies without hurting themselves.
"General" Gods
Instead of choosing a god who will simply enhance your character's specialization, you can also go with a god who shores up your weaknesses or who'll provide some emergency help.
Makhleb the Destroyer
Makhleb is the god of violent death. Followers earn piety by killing enemies for the Destroyer. Doing so will eventually grant you a chance to heal some HP when dealing a killing blow, the ability to hurl destruction, and finally the power to summon demons. This makes Makhleb a solid choice for many melee character, if only for the healing. A ranged attack and access to demons, who can take out dangerous enemies or be used, make them stronger.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Most melee characters. Special synergy with those with hampered regeneration: [{Deep Dwafves]], Vampires, and Ghouls. Djinni looking to cast spells as much as possible.
Yredelemnul the Reaper
Yredelemnul is the dark god of death. By following him, your character can learn various necromancy-related powers without having to train spellcasting or necromancy. Like Makhleb, Yredelemnul grants you a way to heal (by sucking the life force out of every monster around you!), but he also gives the (expensive) power to reflect damage inflicted to you. Yredelemnul will regularly send his undead minions to help you - an early bone dragon buddy is great fun! These minions can help even the weakest characters throughout a 3-rune game.
Redundant for spellcasters already versed in necromancy, but far from useless. Be aware, however, that in the extended endgame (i.e. Tomb, Pan, Hell), gaining piety with Yred is very difficult and his servants will usually be outclassed. Luckily, his wrath is relatively light, making a switch easy.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Any sort of character who wants some free, powerful allies and some potent panic buttons. Some, but decidedly not all, of his abilities are redundant to Necromancy or Summoning, meaning it is more often melee characters who favor Yred.
Beogh the Brigand
Beogh can only be worshipped if your character is a Hill Orc, but grants the ability to convert orcs into allies! Beogh also gives you access to a powerful Smite - expensive in piety, but strong in targeting. The Orcish Mines will never get easier than this... although by late-game your orcish followers probably won't be up to the task of taking over Hell or Pandemonium by themselves.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Hill Orc Monk is a decent combination. Hill Orc is a strong species, while finding Beogh late will setting your character way behind on piety. Like Yred, Beogh is redundant with Summonings and Necromancy, and orcs may get in the way of some destructive Conjurations.
Elyvilon the Healer
Elyvilon provides healing, rot curing/stat fixing and divine vigour. As one of the "good gods", she does not accept undead or demonspawn worshippers.
Elyvilon followers play similarly to fighters, except they can heal themselves virtually anytime and can avoid fighting some difficult enemies, such as hydras, by pacifying them and turning them into neutral monsters. Pacifying demons and undead this way is less effective, but the ability to heal yourself in the middle of a fight can add tremendous lasting power, even to just run away. On top of that, as a last resort you can activate Divine Protection, letting you survive fatal blows for a time in exchange for piety.
Recommended race and class combinations: Any character with trouble surviving in combat can make use of her healing abilities. Good candidates include Deep Dwarves, who can't heal naturally.
Lugonu the Unformed
Lugonu is the god of the Abyss - he allows you to instantly banish yourself, and depart immediately from, his domain. This can easily save your life. The Corruption ability makes many branch ends, including Zot:5, easier thanks to the ability to break through stone walls. You can banish monsters; removing high threat foes until you have to take the abyssal rune.
Recommended race and class combinations: Any character seeking alternative means for dealing with particularly meddlesome monsters and levels. Characters already banished to the Abyss who desperately need a way out. Lugonu is rare to find outside of the Abyss and the Abyssal Knight start.
Zin the Law-Giver
Zin is the god of order. His most notable ability is Sanctuary; which scares monsters within a 9-tile radius and prevents almost all attacks. Recite is a free, 1* piety ability; helpful in dealing with particularly dangerous demons, undead, or priests. Zin also provides a temporary boost in stats and the ability to Imprison dangerous monsters. Especially pious followers are immune to all mutation; helpful for fighting an orb of fire! Zin's piety gain requires donating gold, so expect to have considerably less money than usual.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Zin works well for any strong character (or player!) looking for safety against incredibly dangerous situations and mutations.
Exotic/Challenging Gods
The following gods grant unreliable benefits or are simply more challenging to worship than others.
Fedhas Madash the Natural
Fedhas Madash is the god of plants, allowing you summon plant allies to aid you in battle. From obstructing briar plants, to rapid-fire ballistomycetes and oklob plants at high piety and Invocations.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Characters who can afford to invest heavily into Invocations; especially Hill Orc and Demonspawn, who have a high aptitude.
Jiyva the Shapeless
Jiyva is the slime god - fittingly, only guarinteed in the Slime Pits. Assuming you can find them in the Temple or Lair, they are quite strong. Worshipers have to frantically run around grabbing items, before jellies devour them. But devouring items gives you massive sums of piety. Your body will constantly be changing with (usually) good mutations and inconsistent stats, while you can manually cure out of designated bad mutations. Slimeify is a spammable ability that negates any threatening enemy within 2 turns. Finally, Jiyva will unlock the Slimey Rune for free, allowing you to
Jiyva is hard to recommend, if only because Jiyva altars are so late. Elyvilon gives you a god to chew on before you find Jiyva's altar. Alternatively, you can switch to Jiyva late-game upon gaining a particularly bad mutation you can't cure, such as teleportitis. Just make sure The Royal Jelly hasn't died yet. Late game, you'll have had plenty of chances to spawn consumables already.
Recommended race and class combinations: Going into a game expecting to use any god is a bad mindset, and this couldn't be more true for Jiyva. Characters who struggle with any of the three 3rd runes and strong monsters, such as Felids or Spriggans, benefit most. Trolls, Vine Stalkers, and Vampires all enjoy faster regeneration, or less time for slimes to eat valuable items.
Xom the Unpredictable
Xom is an interesting god that'll likely cause you to die in a hilarious way. Most of his actions are either harmful, flavourful, or somewhat helpful. Xom rewards high risk play-styles.
Recommended Race and Class Combinations: Chaos Knights start off worshiping Xom. This is considered a "challenge class", and the game does not recommend it for any race.
Cheibriados the Contemplative
Cheibriados is a deity who rewards you for moving slowly and killing fast creatures, but detests seeing you haste yourself. Being slow is a big disadvantage, but possibly worth it in exchange for massive stat boosts, the abilities to slow adjacent enemies or to deal huge amounts of damage with the Slouch ability.
Recommended race and class combinations: Nagas are slower than most everything else in the dungeon, letting them gain piety at lightning speed with Chei and enhancing the damage output of Slouch even further. Transmuters of all stripes are best suited for worshiping Chei, due to the odd fact that he doesn't seem to mind you transforming into a fast creature and that his stat boosts give tremendous bonuses to the Blade Hands spell.
Nemelex Xobeh the Trickster
Nemelex Xobeh allows you to use powerfully magical decks more safely. Playing with cards is time consuming and risky, but offers great utility and even more power than spells. Decks of summoning provide powerful allies, legendary decks of dungeon have the Trowel card (makes portals to bazaars and ziggurats), and decks of escape provide life-saving effects more powerful than anything else in the game (Tomb, Portal, and Warp).
Recommended race and class combinations: Any character who can use some powerful magic can usefully worship Nemelex Xobeh. Greater benefits fall to characters who are otherwise lacking magical options, or those with good Invocations. Melee oriented Deep Dwarves, Hill Orcs and Formicids especially can benefit.
Ashenzari the Shackled
Ashenzari is the bound god of Divination, and lets players identify items, see through walls, and gain knowledge of their equipment as you gain piety. Piety gain is easy; simply explore new areas and collect runes to access his powers. However, in order to access these gifts you must be as bound as he is, allowing your equipment to be cursed. How dangerous this trade-off is depends on your character and play style. Fortunately, Ashenzari doesn't mind if you uncurse yourself on occasion to switch gear.
However, Ashenzari is a great god for Pandemonium scumming/Ziggurat raiding. At that point you will likely have the best gear you can find, so you're fine to curse yourself permanently. Piety gain is extremely quick in the Abyss, so you can transfer XP constantly while there (as you will be frequently, between Pan trips.) Instant Ziggurat portal detection upon entering Pandemonium levels and free IDing for everything you find in there reduce the headaches involved tremendously.
Recommended race and class combinations: Ashenzari works well for characters that could use a boost in their abilities. He can help mediocre spellcasters cast things they would normally have trouble with, and average melee fighters can perform considerably better than average with his help.
