Merfolk avatar

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of merfolk monsters, see List of merfolk

merfolk avatar m
HP	71-96
HD	13
XP	933
Speed	10 (swim: 60%)
AC	4
EV	12
Will	121
Resistances	rDrown, rWater
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Amphibious
Intelligence	Normal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	?, ?
Flags	Fake spells No gen derived Speaks Warm-blooded

Once a merfolk woman, she has become an avatar of the sunken god. Her voice can instill the same single-minded fascination that grabs hold of sailors on a long voyage. Her song also can call up the souls of others who have drowned in her waters in order to bring you the same watery bliss. Why only female merfolk are called to become avatars of the sunken god is a mystery understood only by the avatars themselves. “Row'd on, in reach of an erected voice, The Sirens soon took note, without our noise, Tuned those sweet accents that made charms so strong, And these learn'd numbers made the Sirens' song: ‘Come here, thou worthy of a world of praise, That dost so high the Grecian glory raise, Ulysses! stay thy ship, and that song hear That none past ever but it bent his ear, But left him ravish'd, and instructed more By us, than any ever heard before. For we know all things whatsoever were In wide Troy labour'd; whatsoever there The Grecians and the Trojans both sustain'd By those high issues that the Gods ordain'd. And whatsoever all the earth can show T' inform a knowledge of desert, we know.’” -Homer, _The Odyssey_, XII, 268-82. trans. George Chapman, 1857.

Useful Info

A merfolk avatar is similar to a siren, but much more insidious and deadly. Like sirens, they will attempt to mesmerise you shortly after noticing you. Unlike sirens, however, they will then keep as far away from you as possible, retreating into deep water when able, and begin summoning swarms of drowned souls to kill you. They are occasionally found throughout the Shoals.

Tips & Tricks

• High magic resistance will let you ignore the singing effect. The spell can also be broken early by killing or confusing the siren, as well as through a number of other methods. See the mesmerise page for a full list.
• Although random blinks and teleports can also break mesmerism if you manage to leave LOS, you cannot willingly make controlled blinks or teleports away. If you can't lose the intrinsic no matter what, try teleporting to a space occupied by a monster to force the game to send you on a random teleport instead.
• Her drowned souls aren't very durable, but there are a lot of them and they won't stop coming until the avatar is defeated. Focus on killing her quickly, and all her souls will dissipate.
• For melee-focused characters, if you have a means of flying and hasting yourself, then you can just chase down the avatar and take her out up close. This poses significant dangers, of course, as you'll be taking significant amounts of asphyxiation damage from her drowned souls as you rush in. If possible, use ranged attacks instead to take her out more quickly.
• Unbreathing species (the undead, gargoyles, and grey draconians) have little to fear from the drowned souls. Focus on other, more immediate threats first.

History

Merfolk avatars were introduced in 0.16, freeing up the monster name siren, which mermaids were then renamed to.