Shield of the gong

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A heavy bronze gong that can be worn as a shield. Locked away in a temple for many years, its bearer is shielded by decades of accumulated prayer.

the +18 shield of the gong

+18 kite shield

-5 EV
rCorr
rN+
+40 Will
Makes very loud noise (intensity 40) whenever you block

Desirability

The shield of the gong is an incredibly loud, and incredibly dangerous, artefact. While a +18 kite shield is good at blocking melee and ranged attacks, keep in mind it does nothing against piercing attacks like bolt spells and javelins. And time you get hit, you make an intensity 40 noise. This is as loud as an alarm trap, and much louder than both Qazlal's shield (~20 noise) or regular shouting (12 noise). Using it will attract everything nearby to your position.

That being said, there are characters who would like to use this. Qazlal worshippers attract lots of monsters to them, anyway, and a "little" more noise can't hurt. Blasters with spells like Fire Storm will wake the entire dungeon up, anyways. Has potential use for careful necromancers, as spells like Death Channel can be great at managing crowds. And there are characters which are just plain weak - if the player is very very careful, they can use the shield to overcome enemies they otherwise wouldn't. Stair dancing is heavily recommended.

You can also use it as a swapout. Clear the whole level, then use this shield to take out a ghost vault. Or use it to lure enemies from the Elf:3 vault from a distance. A loud noise won't mean much in a Ziggurat, though characters doing many zigs would likely prefer either a highly enchanted randart tower shield, an orb of mayhem, or the crystal ball of Wucad Mu.

History

• Prior to 0.30, the shield provided electricity resistance instead of corrosion resistance. The Storm Queen's shield provides rElec in its place.
• Prior to 0.15, its enchantment was +27.
• Prior to 0.14, its enchantment was only +6, and it did not reduce the wearer's EV. This change essentially combined the original shield of the gong with the now-retired shield "Bullseye."
• Prior to 0.13, the shield of the gong also provided a spirit shield.