Asterion

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Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
Asterion HAsterion.png
HP 150
HD 15
XP 3029
Speed 10
AC 5
EV 7
Will 100
Attack1 40 (hit: plain)
Attack2 20 (gore: plain)


Resistances None
Vulnerabilities Holy, Silver
Habitat Land
Intelligence Normal
Uses Weapons & armour
Starting equipment
Open doors
Holiness Natural
Size Medium
Type minotaur, minotaur
Flags Evil
Hybrid
Priest
See invisible
Speaks
Unique
Warm-blooded
Once a king infamous for waging bloodthirsty campaigns, Asterion was exiled to the depths of the dungeon for his crimes. Here he lurks in his tattered finery, dreaming of a new kingdom. In his lust for power, the minotaur king turned to the worship of Makhleb, and Makhleb has rewarded him with horrifying destructive might.

“The fact is that I am unique. What a man can pass unto others does not interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art of writing. Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand.”

-Jorge Luis Borges, “The House of Asterion”. 1947.
trans. Antonios Sarhanis, 2008.

Once a king infamous for waging bloodthirsty campaigns, Asterion was transformed into a horrible minotaur by the curse of a clever wizard-for-hire. Shunned and exiled from his land, he now wanders the dungeon clothed in tattered finery, hoping to establish a new kingdom in its depths by any means necessary.


These aspirations are appreciated by Makhleb, who has granted the minotaur destructive magic and the aid of demonic weaponry.


“The fact is that I am unique. What a man can pass unto others does not interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art of writing. Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand.”

-Jorge Luis Borges, “The House of Asterion”. 1947.
trans. Antonios Sarhanis, 2008.

Useful Info

Asterion is an extremely dangerous unique minotaur, often generated with a demon blade, demon whip, or demon trident. A worshiper of Makhleb, he is capable of launching a variety of powerful elemental attacks against you at range, and he hits astonishingly hard in melee, even before hasting himself and conjuring a spectral weapon to his aid.

Location

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d20)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set II
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d22)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set III
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d24)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set IV
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d25)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set V
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d27)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set VI
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d28)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste
Spell set VII
Slot1 Major Destruction (3d6)
Slot2 Spectral Weapon
Slot3 Haste
Slot4 Spectral Weapon
Slot5 Spectral Weapon
Slot6 Haste

Tips & Tricks

  • His Major Destruction ability allows him to hit you with the following spells: Bolt of Fire, Lightning Bolt, Sticky Flame, Iron Shot, Bolt of Draining, Fireball, and Orb of Electrocution. It's unlikely that you'll have resistance to all of these elements, but even so, it is far better to try to quickly kill him at range than to allow him into melee. With the aid of his Haste and Spectral Weapon spells, he can deal extraordinary amounts of damage very quickly, particularly when you consider how early in the game he appears.
  • If you do decide to fight him in melee, use hallways and chokepoints to avoid letting the spectral weapon reach you. On that same point, if you have area of effect spells, attacking both Asterion and his weapon will significantly increase your damage output against him, as the weapon shares damage with its caster.
  • He has sufficient MR and HD to make most debilitating effects chancy at best. Dedicated Hexes specialists can likely afflict him with a variety of status effects, but others are unlikely to get much use out of such abilities.
  • He is vulnerable to silver and holy damage (but not weapons of holy wrath). While holy damage is unlikely to be available, ranged weapons users with silver ammunition can deal very heavy damage to him, likely taking him down before he gets close enough to be a threat.
  • He doesn't need very many turns to kill poorly armoured characters. Err on the side of paranoia when it comes to fleeing a fight before it has a chance to get ugly.

History

Asterion will be added in 0.14.