Abyssal Knight

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

The Abyssal Knight is a fighter serving Lugonu the Unformed, ruler of the Abyss. They are granted some power over the Abyss, and must spread death and disorder in return. They are sent from the Abyss into the Dungeon to spread corruption and chaos, starting with a simple weapon of their choice and leather armour.

Abyssal Knights are warriors sent from the Abyss by Lugonu, the god of corruption and chaos. Their purpose is to spread bloodshed and disorder in the Dungeon, and must do so unflaggingly to earn Lugonu's favour.

Preferred Species

Hill Orc, Merfolk, Draconian, Troll, Demonspawn, and Palentonga are the recommended races if you pick an Abyssal Knight Background.

Racial Restrictions

Demigods cannot be Abyssal Knights, as they cannot worship Lugonu (or any other god).

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• +1 weapon of choice (unarmed, hand axe, spear, short sword, falchion, or mace)
• +0 leather armour

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Fighting: 3
• Chosen Weapon's Skill: 2
• Armour: 1 (+1 if Armour Apt. >= Dodging Apt.)
• Dodging: 1 (+1 if Dodging Apt. > Armour Apt.)
• Invocations: 2

Choosing Abyssal Knight adds 5 to your starting Strength and Dexterity, and adds 2 to your starting Intelligence.

Abyssal Knights start with 60 piety with Lugonu.

Abyssal Knights also start their game in the Abyss:1, directly on an exit. The Abyss spawns monsters far out of your league, and has no items, so there is no point in staying.

Strategy

Abyssal Knights begin with melee-oriented skills, supplemented by Lugonu's invocations. You start with enough piety to use Bend Space, a blink-like ability with a tendency to send enemies further away. This can allow you to pillar dance, or simply gain space to escape.

You can also cause banishment of enemies, corruption of levels, and easy travel to and from the Abyss. These are mainly defensive abilities, and help an otherwise melee character out of tight spots. Of course, your Abyssal Knight is free to branch into ranged combat or magic should you wish to,. Lugonu does not have any stringent requirements, and awards piety for all kills, making it easy to play an Abyssal Knight in any way you like.

Serving Lugonu has the advantage of making the abyssal rune easier to acquire; the rune is generated faster for Lugonu worshippers and they can escape the Abyss much more easily than anyone else. Getting banished to the Abyss is not the death sentence for Abyssal Knights that it is for low-level characters of other backgrounds. Also, the Corruption ability makes it easy to disrupt well-guarded stone-walled vaults, making it very useful when coupled with Apportation for grabbing runes without actually fighting its guardians.

See Also

• IonFrigate's guide to Abyssal Knights and Pacra's Abyssal Knight guide (both outdated)

History

• In 0.30, Abyssal Knights will be removed.
• Prior to 0.29, Abyssal Knights started with only 38 piety (buffed alongside most other backgrounds). When starting the game, the Abyssal exit would always spawn somewhat near the player, instead of directly on top of them.
• Prior to 0.28, Abyssal Knights started with +4 Str, +4 Int, and +4 Dex.
• Prior to 0.16, abyssal stairs could not appear in the Abyssal Knight starting abyss.
• Prior to 0.15, abyssal knights started with +2, +2 weapons instead of +1.
• Prior to 0.14, abyssal knights started with 20 gold.
• This background was added in 0.8, but it was essentially available in earlier versions by selecting a Chaos Knight of Lugonu. Chaos Knights can only be of Xom after this update.