Caustic shrike

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

For a list of all birds, see list of birds.

caustic shrike b
HP	71-144
HD	18
XP	4608
Speed	20
AC	8
EV	18
Will	80
Attack1	36 (claw: acid)
Resistances	rF+ rC+
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Animal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Tiny
Type	caustic shrike, caustic shrike
Flags	Flying Warm-blooded

A swift, nightmarish bird whose razor-sharp metallic feathers drip with corrosive acid.

Useful Info

Caustic shrikes are devastatingly powerful flying pack hunters that swarm their victims and tear them apart with brutal corrosive attacks. They can be found in the Depths and Dis.

Tips & Tricks

• Shrikes are justification for carrying a form of resist corrosion around while exploring the mid-game. They can prove devastating if you allow several of them to attack you at once; use narrow hallways (of your own making if need be) to prevent this, especially if you lack acid resistance.
• For those who worship Okawaru, kills of caustic shrikes tend to award maximum piety per kill even well after you've achieved a fairly routine ability to dispatch them. Keep that in mind if you need a boost to take out one or more - if you invoke heroism and/or finesse, odds are you'll recover much of the piety you spent upon your victory.
• Caustic shrikes have decent willpower. Evocations or Hexes experts can status them fairly reliable. You can use a scroll of vulnerability to improve the chance of hexing them. Charmed shrikes make good allies.
• Even as a very dangerous late-game enemy, they cannot see invisible. Invis is powerful -- just don't expect a potion to be a one-stop solution to a shrike pack. They also aren't resistant to corrosion or even poison themselves, though whenever a wand of acid will hit is another story.

History

• Prior to 0.28, caustic shrikes could see invisible.
• Caustic shrikes were introduced in 0.16.