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[[File:Yredelemnul altar.png]] "Carry the black torch! Rouse the idle dead!"''
  
[[File:Yredelemnul altar.png]] ''"Carry the black torch! Rouse the idle dead!"''
+
{{flavour|Yredelemnul the Dark is a god worshipped by those who seek powers over death and the soul. Followers can reap legions of servile undead, and gain a number of other useful powers with which to make better use of the souls of the living. Yredelemnul especially favours those who would surround themselves with a bounty of collected souls.
  
{{flavour|Yredelemnul the Dark is a god worshipped by those who seek powers over death and the undead. Followers, who must oppose all things holy, can raise legions of servile undead, and gain a number of other useful (if unpleasant) powers. Yredelemnul appreciates killing, but has no interest in sacrifices, preferring corpses to be put to use. Destroying artificial beings is also appreciated, as they are neither truly alive nor subject to death or undeath.
+
Yredelemnul gives followers the power to raise slain foes from the dead and bind them into service. Followers also can recall undead followers to them, heal by draining life from the living, and exchange members of their undead army for Yredelemnul's more powerful servants. With a large and powerful enough mass of the dead, followers can fully bind a foe's soul and make it fight for them in death with the full capacities it held in life.
 
 
Yredelemnul gives followers the power to raise skeletons and corpses, to recall undead followers to their vicinity, and to heal by draining the life force of living creatures. With sufficient piety, Yredelemnul can be called upon to mirror a follower's injuries onto attackers. Eventually, followers will gain the power to bind a monster's soul, and make it fight for them instead. Yredelemnul will sporadically gift followers increasingly powerful undead servants.
 
 
 
Yredelemnul likes it when you or your undead slaves kill living beings, you or your undead slaves kill artificial beings and your undead slaves kill holy beings. Yredelemnul especially likes it when you kill holy beings.
 
  
 
Yredelemnul strongly dislikes it when you use holy magic or items.}}
 
Yredelemnul strongly dislikes it when you use holy magic or items.}}
  
 
==Racial Restrictions==
 
==Racial Restrictions==
*Demigods cannot worship Yredelemnul (or any other [[god]]).
+
*Demigods cannot worship Yredelemnul (or any other [[god]]). Also, characters who sacrificed love under [[Ru]] cannot join Yredelemnul.
*[[Gargoyle]]s are considered a "[[nonliving]]" [[species]] not subject to death or undeath, and thus cannot worship Yredelemnul.
 
  
 
==Appreciates==
 
==Appreciates==
Actions that increase your [[piety]] are:
+
*Rousing the idle dead. Having more and stronger [[derived undead]] in your [[line of sight]]; each thrall adds <code>2 * [[hit_dice]] + 2</code> piety, from a base of 15.<ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|religion.cc|1075}}</ref>
*Killing a living creature: About 67% chance (more for creatures with lots of hit dice, less as your experience level increases) of +1 piety.
+
**As Yredelemnul's piety system is unusual, [[monk]]s will receive several [[derived undead]] allies upon converting.
*Having an undead slave kill a living creature: About 40% chance (more for creatures with lots of hit dice, less as your experience level increases) of +1 piety.
 
*Killing a holy being: About 83% chance of +1 piety.
 
*Having an undead slave kill a holy being: About 40% chance of +1 piety.
 
*Killing or having an undead slave kill an [[artificial]] being.
 
  
 
==Deprecates==
 
==Deprecates==
*Forgetting him. (Piety decreases on average by 1 every 340 turns)
+
*Having your derived undead leave your line of sight.
*Abandoning him. (Penance)
+
*Abandonment. (Penance)
 
*Attacking with a weapon of [[holy wrath]]. (Penance)
 
*Attacking with a weapon of [[holy wrath]]. (Penance)
*Voluntarily reading a [[scroll of holy word]]. (Penance)
 
*Casting [[Statue Form]]. (Excommunication)
 
  
 
==Given Abilities==
 
==Given Abilities==
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level -]]''': "Tainted"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level -]]''': "Tainted"
*No abilities.
+
*'''Reap souls''': When killing [[Natural|living]] and [[demon]]ic creatures, there is a 50% chance that their souls will rise as [[derived undead]]: in most cases, you'll get [[zombie]]s, but corpseless monsters or monsters who had their bodies destroyed will rise as [[spectral thing]]s instead. Reaped monsters will drop whatever items they were carrying, but not [[corpse]]s or their associated [[death drop]]s. These thralls are used for Yred's other abilities and will rot if you leave your current floor.
 +
**As their souls are already being harvested, the [[reaping]] weapon [[brand]], as well as ally-creating [[Necromancy]] spells, are incompatible. [[Infestation]] will override the zombies, but all other spells, even [[Death Channel]], are non functional.
 +
*'''Recall Undead Harvest''': Progressively [[teleport]]s your undead servants to your current location. (2 MP)
 +
*In addition, Yredelemnul makes you immune to [[Spectral Cloud]]s and the negative effects of [[umbra]], so allied revenants and profane servitors won't impede you.
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level *]]''': "Torchbearer"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level *]]''': "Torchbearer"
*'''Animate Remains''': Creates a [[zombie]] slave from a [[corpse]], or a [[skeleton (monster)|skeletal]] slave from a [[skeleton]]. Becomes Animate Dead at ***... (Costs 2 MP and 100-200 Food)
+
*No new abilities.
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level **]]''': "Fey [Species Name]"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level **]]''': "Fey [Species Name]"
*'''Pain Mirror''': Any damage you suffer while this ability is active is mirrored upon your attacker. Note that the piety cost per reflected damage is quite high, so use this ability only when you absolutely need the boost. (Free to activate, but costs piety each time it takes effect equal to the square root of the damage done)
+
*'''Dark Bargain''': Summon a temporary servant of Yredelemnul. (2 Souls, 4 MP)
*'''Recall Undead Slaves''': Progressively [[teleport]]s your undead slaves to your current location, similar to a [[Recall]] spell. Affects your [[derived undead]] on the current floor and the undead servants gifted by Yredelemnul from any floor. Does not function in [[the Abyss]]. (Costs 2 MP and 50-100 Food)
+
**In order of ascending power, eligible servants include:
'''[[Piety|Piety level ***]]''': "Black Crusader"
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{| class="prettytable" style="border:none; margin:0; padding:0;"
*'''Animate Dead''': Replaces Animate Remains, functioning the same but affecting all corpses in view. (Costs 2 MP, and 100-200 Food)
+
| {{monsterlink|Wight}}
*'''Gift: Undead servants''': If you are eligible for a gift and your Piety is >= 75, there's a 25% chance to receive an undead servant from Yredelemnul, which stays with you until it is destroyed. The undead servant is selected among:
+
| {{monsterlink|Necrophage}}
 
+
| {{monsterlink|Shadow}}
{| border="3" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"
+
| {{monsterlink|Phantom}}
|Roll
 
|'''Yredelemnul Gifts'''
 
|-
 
|1
 
|[[Mummy]]
 
|-
 
|2
 
|[[Wight]]
 
|-
 
|3
 
|[[Flying skull]] (2-5)
 
|-
 
|4
 
|[[Wraith]]
 
|-
 
|5
 
|[[Vampire (monster)|Vampire]]
 
|-
 
|6
 
|[[Phantasmal warrior]]
 
|-
 
|7
 
|[[Skeletal warrior]]
 
|-
 
|8
 
|[[Flayed ghost]]
 
 
|-
 
|-
|9
+
| {{monsterlink|Wraith}}
|[[Death cob]]
+
| {{monsterlink|Flying skull}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Freezing wraith}}
 +
| {{Red|V}} [[File:Vampire (monster).png]] '''[[Vampire (monster)|Vampire]]'''
 
|-
 
|-
|10
+
| {{monsterlink|Shadow wraith}}
|[[Ghoul (monster)|Ghoul]]
+
| {{monsterlink|Phantasmal warrior}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Bog body}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Skeletal warrior}}
 
|-
 
|-
|12
+
| {{monsterlink|Jiangshi}}
|[[Bone dragon]]
+
| {{monsterlink|Flayed ghost}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Vampire knight}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Eidolon}}
 
|-
 
|-
|12
+
| {{monsterlink|Death cob}}
|[[Profane servitor]]
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| {{monsterlink|Ancient champion}}
 +
| {{Red|n}} [[File:Ghoul (monster).png]] '''[[Ghoul (monster)|Ghoul]]'''
 +
| {{monsterlink|Revenant}}
 
|-
 
|-
 +
| {{monsterlink|Searing wretch}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Profane servitor}}
 +
| {{monsterlink|Bone dragon}}
 +
|
 
|}
 
|}
 
+
'''[[Piety|Piety level ***]]''': "Black Crusader"
Each time you are to receive a minion, the game rolls 1d(min(3+(# of previous gifts)/2, 12)). The result determines which undead servant you are gifted. As such, the faster you acquire piety, the faster the quality of Yredelemnul's gifted servants will improve. There can only be a combined maximum of three profane servitors and bone dragons in the player's undead army.
+
*No new abilities.
 
 
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level ****]]''': "Sculptor of Flesh"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level ****]]''': "Sculptor of Flesh"
*'''Drain Life''': You can drain life from all living (non-demonic, undead, holy or life-protected) beings in sight. You drain 1 + 1d7 + 1d(Invocation) HP from each creature, and gain half of that damage back as healing, up to a maximum of Invocations*2. (Costs 6 MP, 200-400 Food, and 2-3 Piety)
+
*'''Drain Life''': You can drain life from all living (non- demonic, undead, holy or life-protected) beings in sight. You drain <code>1 + 1d7 + 1d(Invocations)</code> HP from each creature, and gain half of that damage back as healing, up to a maximum of Invocations*2. (3 Souls, 6 MP)
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level *****]]''': "Harbinger of Death"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level *****]]''': "Harbinger of Death"
*'''Enslave Soul''': This ability allows you to convert a single enemy into a permanent undead slave upon its death. First, you must use the ability on a [[:Category:Natural_holiness|Natural]], [[:Category:Demonic_holiness|Demonic]], or [[:Category:Holy_holiness|Holy]] being of at least normal intelligence, which must have 75% or more of its health remaining. The target must also be able to leave a zombifiable corpse. Using the ability requires an unobstructed path between the caster and the target. Once this is done, the caster will have (2 + (Invocations * 0.75) turns to kill the victim. If the victim is successfully killed in time, it becomes a permanent [[spectral thing]] of its former self, allied to you and still capable of casting its spells and equipped with all of its gear. You may only have one enslaved soul at a time; enslaving a new one will destroy the old. (Costs 8 MP, 150-300 Food, and 4-6 Piety)
+
*'''Bind Soul''': You can convert a single enemy into a permanent undead slave upon its death. Eligible monsters include [[:Category:Natural_holiness|Natural]], [[:Category:Demonic_holiness|Demonic]], or [[:Category:Holy_holiness|Holy]] enemies of at least normal (animal) intelligence, which must have more than 80% of their health remaining. Once cast, you have <code>2 + (Invocations * 0.75)</code> turns to kill the victim. If the victim is successfully killed in time, it becomes a permanent soul version of its former self, allied to you and still capable of casting its spells and equipped with all of its gear. You may only have one enslaved soul at a time; binding a new one will destroy the old. These souls contribute towards piety, but won't be sacrificed. (4 Souls, 8 MP)
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level ******]]''': "Grim Reaper"
 
'''[[Piety|Piety level ******]]''': "Grim Reaper"
 
*No new abilities.
 
*No new abilities.
  
 
==Punishments==
 
==Punishments==
If you leave or are excommunicated from Yredelemnul, all of your slaves leave you and become hostile, though none of them are worth any experience to kill.  
+
{{flavour|Yredelemnul strongly dislikes it when you use holy magic or items.
  
While under penance, Yredelemnul will sometimes punish you (about once every 2000 turns).
+
Yredelemnul does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers!
  
Possible punishments are:
+
Those who anger Yredelemnul find themselves beset by legions of the dead. Novice adventurers will be assaulted by zombies and skeletons; veterans by the strongest of Yredelemnul's undead servants. The victims' own undead servants desert them and crumble into dust. Yredelemnul's ire may instead drain the lives of the unfaithful.
*Random [[Miscast effect#Necromancy|necromancy miscast]] (100% if your experience level is <= 4, less likely as your experience level increases)
 
*Cast (hostile) [[Animate Dead]]
 
*Some of your undead slaves leave you
 
*Hostile undead are summoned against you from the following list: [[mummy]], [[wight]], [[flying skull]], [[wraith]], [[freezing wraith]], [[phantasmal warrior]], [[flaming corpse]], [[flayed ghost]], [[skeletal warrior]], [[ghoul]], [[death cob]], [[bone dragon]], or [[profane servitor]].
 
  
On average, it will take 25 such punishments to burn through the 50 penance you have incurred.
+
Yredelemnul's wrath lasts for a relatively short duration.}}
  
==Strategy==
+
If you leave or are excommunicated from Yredelemnul's service, all your undead allies immediately vanish.
Yredelemnul is the god of choice for melee characters who want backup, as well as powerful panic buttons in terms of draining life force and mirror damage prayers. Characters capable of casting [[Haste]] work well with this god, as powerful minions can become considerably deadlier while hastened. Yredelemnul is also viable for "monstrous" species who might want access to undead slaves, but lack the magical aptitudes to easily learn Necromancy.
 
  
* Yredelemnul's ability to permanently Enslave Souls enables you to get a single extremely powerful undead version of a single living humanoid. This requires a very high [[Invocations]] skill, but it can even enslave [[Tiamat]]! Also note that when used properly, the resulting spectral horror keeps its old gear on it.
+
While under penance, Yredelemnul will sometimes punish you (about once every 2000 turns). Possible punishments include:
 +
*[[Bolt of Draining]] (100% if your experience level is <= 4, less likely as your experience level increases)
 +
*Hostile branch- and XL-dependent [[zombie]]s are summoned against you.
 +
*Hostile undead are summoned against you from the following list: [[mummy]], [[wight]], [[flying skull]], [[wraith]], [[freezing wraith]], [[phantasmal warrior]], [[flayed ghost]], [[skeletal warrior]], [[ghoul]], [[death cob]], [[bone dragon]], or [[profane servitor]].
  
* Consider leaving powerful [[unique monster|unique]]s alive if your Enslave Soul isn't reliable yet for later enslavement. Good candidates include [[Tiamat]], [[Frederick]], [[Margery]], [[Saint Roka]], [[Rupert]], [[Aizul]] and other powerful uniques. [[Nikola]] can be a dangerous ally, though, due to his usage of [[Chain Lightning]]. Good generic monsters to enslave include [[titan]]s, [[fire giant]]s, [[frost giant]]s, high level [[list of deep elves|deep elves]] (demonologists, master archers, blademasters), and [[orc warlord]]s.  
+
On average, it will take 25 such punishments to burn through the 50 penance you have incurred.
  
* Yredelemnul is perhaps the worst god to worship while tackling the extended end game content such as the [[Hell]]s, [[Pandemonium]], and the [[Tomb]]. In those areas, even [[bone dragon]]s are outmatched, there are no corpses to raise, and enemies are immune to Drain Life. Also, there is no way to gain piety as Yredelemnul does not award piety for demon and undead deaths while it constantly decays over time. In addition, Yredelemnul prohibits the use of Holy Wrath weapons which are often the best type available for those areas. On the other hand, Yredelemnul's wrath is one of the easiest to deal with, so switching late game is an option.
+
==Strategy==
 +
Yredelemnul is the god of choice for melee characters who want backup, and a powerful emergency option in Drain Life. This applies most to "monstrous" species, who lack the magical aptitudes to easily learn Necromancy. Yred tends to snowball; once you have a few zombies, the rest of the floor tends to succumb to your swarm (all the while, creating more zombies). This will eventually get big enough where you can bind souls -- to get a single, permanent, extremely powerful enslaved version of a single living monster. This requires a fairly high [[Invocations]] skill, but it can even enslave [[Tiamat]]! Then, the process begins anew on another floor.
  
==History==
+
Weaker characters tend to have a rougher time with Yred.
Prior to [[0.16]], players could start the game worshipping Yredelemnul as a [[Death Knight (background)|death knight]].
+
*When you enter a new floor, your piety resets. In other words: until you kill things on a new floor, Yred doesn't help much. For characters who struggle to kill regular enemies, this can be a problem. The entrance to a new floor can be dangerous, so not having any god abilities there is a notable downside. This fact makes [[shaft]]s a bigger problem than with most other gods.
 +
*When you go back upstairs, your piety resets. If a strong enemy forces you to retreat upwards, you'll lose the undead you had before. This also punishes you for [[stair dancing]].
  
Prior to [[0.14]], there was no cap on the number of bone dragons and profane servitors you could have at once. Also, you would receive [[freezing wraith]]s in place of vampires, and desecrating [[:Category:Holy holiness|holy]] remains gave piety.
+
These problems are mitigated once you have a bound soul in your possession. But note that, unlike [[Hepliaklqana]]'s ancestor, your bound soul won't respawn. If you have to [[teleport]] away, your bound soul might die, forcing you to start from scratch.
  
Prior to [[0.13]], you could be gifted [[rotting hulk]]s and [[plague shambler]]s.
+
Regardless of the drawbacks, many characters can appreciate and use the roused undead to their advantage. At the very worst, Yred is equivalent to being atheist with a permanent (slightly weaker) [[Animate Dead]] buff. You can swap places with your zombies to avoid [[attacks of opportunity]], and you get that buff as soon as you worship Yred.
  
Prior to [[0.12]], recalling undead slaves did not have any delay, but it was not able to recall any undead servants from other levels.
+
===Tips & Tricks===
 +
*In the early game, most zombified monsters will be weak. ''The best use for weak zombies is to help you retreat.'' Zombies can block the way from monsters, and if you swap places with a zombie, you can prevent [[attacks of opportunity]].
 +
*Note that when used properly, bound souls will keep their old gear.
 +
*Monsters that summon allies, like [[Mlioglotl]] and [[Mara]], tend to be strong as bound souls.
 +
*[[Troll]]s and other oddly [[size]]d species might not want to worship Yred; you can't skin zombies, limiting you access to various [[dragon scales]].
 +
*A [[scroll of immolation]] can turn even the weakest zombies into ticking time bombs. When something dies, it explodes. Of course, don't let yourself be hit by the explosions.
 +
**Also, don't let your bound soul get hit. If the bound soul is currently on your level, strongly consider ''not'' using immolation.
 +
*Your allies can be attacked in fights you don't know about. Consider Recalling them from time to time.
 +
*The [[amulet of faith]] will increase the reap chance from 50% to 67%,<ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|religion.cc|1103}}</ref>, but will take away zombies (if any) when removed. If you have no zombies/spectres, removing the amulet has no consequences.
  
Prior to [[0.10]], the undead servant gift roll's results were based on piety.
+
==History==
 +
*Yredelemnul will be reworked in [[0.32]]:
 +
**Followers will gain an [[umbra]].
 +
**Piety will no longer depend on how many derived undead are in sight. Instead, piety gain will work as normal but with a quirk. Players will have to '''Light the Black Torch''', an ability which enables piety gain for the floor and creates a few undead allies. This can only be used once per floor; leaving the floor will cause the effect to end and disable any further piety gain on that floor. Lighting the torch gives protection against [[Shaft#Exploration Shafts|exploration shafts]].
 +
**The formula for zombie creation is changed: The first kill on a viable enemy will guarantee a zombie is created, and the chance of reaping monsters decreases as the total [[HD]] of your zombies increases.
 +
**New ability: '''Hurl Torchlight''', which does heavy invocations-based irresistible damage to anything not [[undead]] or [[non-living]]. 5 charges of torch are given per floor, but more can be gained by slaying [[unique]]s.
 +
**New ability: '''Fathomless Shackles''', which creates a shrinking damage field on the ground. Enemies not adjacent to each-other are [[constrict]]ed and take more damage. Damage returns HP to the user.
 +
**Bind soul will be reworked: Binding a soul will take away a third of the user's health upon usage, but the status is now permanent until the monster leaves your sight, and the lost HP will be returned upon slaying the foe. Invocations now determines the HP of the bound soul.
 +
**Drain Life and Dark Bargain are removed.
 +
*Prior to [[0.29]], Yredelemnul zombies could attack from outside [[line of sight]]. Also, reading the now removed [[scroll of holy word]] would incur penance.
 +
*In [[0.28]], Yredelemnul was overhauled. Prior to this change:
 +
**Yred had a regular piety system, which increased when you killed natural, holy, and nonliving (not demonic!) monsters.
 +
**You had to invoke necromancy; available at 1* and acting like [[Animate Dead]] at 3*. (This means that Yred did not limit [[death drop]]s).
 +
**As you gained piety, you got permanent ally gifts, maxing out at [[profane servitor]]s and [[bone dragon]]s. Gifts, along with [[umbra]] immunity, came at 3*.
 +
**Bind Soul was called Enslave Soul, which only worked on intelligent monsters, and souls were generally weaker.
 +
**Injury Mirror, unlocked at 2*, mirrored damage to attackers in exchange for piety. Replaced by Dark Bargain.
 +
*Prior to [[0.27]], Yredelemnul forbid [[Gargoyle]]s and the use of [[Statue Form]].
 +
*Prior to [[0.25]], Yredelemnul would inflict [[Necromancy]] [[miscast effect|miscasts]] instead of [[Bolts of Draining]] as a punishment.
 +
*In [[0.22]], Enslave Soul became smite-targeted.
 +
*Prior to [[0.18]], Yredelemnul's Enslave Soul could not affect demons & holy beings. Abandoning Yredelemnul now destroys your zombie minions.
 +
*Prior to [[0.16]], players could start the game worshipping Yredelemnul as a [[Death Knight (background)|death knight]].
 +
*Prior to [[0.14]], there was no cap on the number of bone dragons and profane servitors you could have at once. Also, you would receive [[freezing wraith]]s in place of vampires, and desecrating [[:Category:Holy holiness|holy]] remains gave piety. Also, read-IDing a [[scroll of holy word]] would have angered Yredelemnul's servants.
 +
*Prior to [[0.13]], you could be gifted [[rotting hulk]]s and [[plague shambler]]s.
 +
*Prior to [[0.12]], recalling undead slaves did not have any delay, but it was not able to recall any undead servants from other levels.
 +
*Prior to [[0.10]], the undead servant gift roll's results were based on piety.
 +
*Prior to [[0.6.0]], Yredelemnul's random undead gifts could not follow you between floors.
  
Prior to [[0.6.0]], Yredelemnul's random undead gifts could not follow you between floors.
+
==References==
 +
<references />
  
 
{{gods}}
 
{{gods}}
 +
 
[[Category:Evil Gods]]
 
[[Category:Evil Gods]]
 +
[[Category:Crystal Ball Articles]]

Latest revision as of 22:05, 10 March 2024

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Yredelemnul altar.png "Carry the black torch! Rouse the idle dead!"
Yredelemnul the Dark is a god worshipped by those who seek powers over death and the soul. Followers can reap legions of servile undead, and gain a number of other useful powers with which to make better use of the souls of the living. Yredelemnul especially favours those who would surround themselves with a bounty of collected souls.

Yredelemnul gives followers the power to raise slain foes from the dead and bind them into service. Followers also can recall undead followers to them, heal by draining life from the living, and exchange members of their undead army for Yredelemnul's more powerful servants. With a large and powerful enough mass of the dead, followers can fully bind a foe's soul and make it fight for them in death with the full capacities it held in life.

Yredelemnul strongly dislikes it when you use holy magic or items.

Racial Restrictions

  • Demigods cannot worship Yredelemnul (or any other god). Also, characters who sacrificed love under Ru cannot join Yredelemnul.

Appreciates

Deprecates

  • Having your derived undead leave your line of sight.
  • Abandonment. (Penance)
  • Attacking with a weapon of holy wrath. (Penance)

Given Abilities

Piety level -: "Tainted"

  • Reap souls: When killing living and demonic creatures, there is a 50% chance that their souls will rise as derived undead: in most cases, you'll get zombies, but corpseless monsters or monsters who had their bodies destroyed will rise as spectral things instead. Reaped monsters will drop whatever items they were carrying, but not corpses or their associated death drops. These thralls are used for Yred's other abilities and will rot if you leave your current floor.
    • As their souls are already being harvested, the reaping weapon brand, as well as ally-creating Necromancy spells, are incompatible. Infestation will override the zombies, but all other spells, even Death Channel, are non functional.
  • Recall Undead Harvest: Progressively teleports your undead servants to your current location. (2 MP)
  • In addition, Yredelemnul makes you immune to Spectral Clouds and the negative effects of umbra, so allied revenants and profane servitors won't impede you.

Piety level *: "Torchbearer"

  • No new abilities.

Piety level **: "Fey [Species Name]"

  • Dark Bargain: Summon a temporary servant of Yredelemnul. (2 Souls, 4 MP)
    • In order of ascending power, eligible servants include:
z Wight.png Wight n Necrophage.png Necrophage W Shadow.png Shadow W Phantom.png Phantom
W Wraith.png Wraith z Flying skull.png Flying skull W Freezing wraith.png Freezing wraith V Vampire (monster).png Vampire
W Shadow wraith.png Shadow wraith W Phantasmal warrior.png Phantasmal warrior n Bog body.png Bog body z Skeletal warrior.png Skeletal warrior
V Jiangshi.png Jiangshi W Flayed ghost.png Flayed ghost V Vampire knight.png Vampire knight W Eidolon.png Eidolon
z Death cob.png Death cob z Ancient champion.png Ancient champion n Ghoul.png Ghoul z Revenant.png Revenant
n Searing wretch.png Searing wretch A Profane servitor.png Profane servitor D Bone dragon.png Bone dragon

Piety level ***: "Black Crusader"

  • No new abilities.

Piety level ****: "Sculptor of Flesh"

  • Drain Life: You can drain life from all living (non- demonic, undead, holy or life-protected) beings in sight. You drain 1 + 1d7 + 1d(Invocations) HP from each creature, and gain half of that damage back as healing, up to a maximum of Invocations*2. (3 Souls, 6 MP)

Piety level *****: "Harbinger of Death"

  • Bind Soul: You can convert a single enemy into a permanent undead slave upon its death. Eligible monsters include Natural, Demonic, or Holy enemies of at least normal (animal) intelligence, which must have more than 80% of their health remaining. Once cast, you have 2 + (Invocations * 0.75) turns to kill the victim. If the victim is successfully killed in time, it becomes a permanent soul version of its former self, allied to you and still capable of casting its spells and equipped with all of its gear. You may only have one enslaved soul at a time; binding a new one will destroy the old. These souls contribute towards piety, but won't be sacrificed. (4 Souls, 8 MP)

Piety level ******: "Grim Reaper"

  • No new abilities.

Punishments

Yredelemnul strongly dislikes it when you use holy magic or items.

Yredelemnul does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers!

Those who anger Yredelemnul find themselves beset by legions of the dead. Novice adventurers will be assaulted by zombies and skeletons; veterans by the strongest of Yredelemnul's undead servants. The victims' own undead servants desert them and crumble into dust. Yredelemnul's ire may instead drain the lives of the unfaithful.

Yredelemnul's wrath lasts for a relatively short duration.

If you leave or are excommunicated from Yredelemnul's service, all your undead allies immediately vanish.

While under penance, Yredelemnul will sometimes punish you (about once every 2000 turns). Possible punishments include:

On average, it will take 25 such punishments to burn through the 50 penance you have incurred.

Strategy

Yredelemnul is the god of choice for melee characters who want backup, and a powerful emergency option in Drain Life. This applies most to "monstrous" species, who lack the magical aptitudes to easily learn Necromancy. Yred tends to snowball; once you have a few zombies, the rest of the floor tends to succumb to your swarm (all the while, creating more zombies). This will eventually get big enough where you can bind souls -- to get a single, permanent, extremely powerful enslaved version of a single living monster. This requires a fairly high Invocations skill, but it can even enslave Tiamat! Then, the process begins anew on another floor.

Weaker characters tend to have a rougher time with Yred.

  • When you enter a new floor, your piety resets. In other words: until you kill things on a new floor, Yred doesn't help much. For characters who struggle to kill regular enemies, this can be a problem. The entrance to a new floor can be dangerous, so not having any god abilities there is a notable downside. This fact makes shafts a bigger problem than with most other gods.
  • When you go back upstairs, your piety resets. If a strong enemy forces you to retreat upwards, you'll lose the undead you had before. This also punishes you for stair dancing.

These problems are mitigated once you have a bound soul in your possession. But note that, unlike Hepliaklqana's ancestor, your bound soul won't respawn. If you have to teleport away, your bound soul might die, forcing you to start from scratch.

Regardless of the drawbacks, many characters can appreciate and use the roused undead to their advantage. At the very worst, Yred is equivalent to being atheist with a permanent (slightly weaker) Animate Dead buff. You can swap places with your zombies to avoid attacks of opportunity, and you get that buff as soon as you worship Yred.

Tips & Tricks

  • In the early game, most zombified monsters will be weak. The best use for weak zombies is to help you retreat. Zombies can block the way from monsters, and if you swap places with a zombie, you can prevent attacks of opportunity.
  • Note that when used properly, bound souls will keep their old gear.
  • Monsters that summon allies, like Mlioglotl and Mara, tend to be strong as bound souls.
  • Trolls and other oddly sized species might not want to worship Yred; you can't skin zombies, limiting you access to various dragon scales.
  • A scroll of immolation can turn even the weakest zombies into ticking time bombs. When something dies, it explodes. Of course, don't let yourself be hit by the explosions.
    • Also, don't let your bound soul get hit. If the bound soul is currently on your level, strongly consider not using immolation.
  • Your allies can be attacked in fights you don't know about. Consider Recalling them from time to time.
  • The amulet of faith will increase the reap chance from 50% to 67%,[2], but will take away zombies (if any) when removed. If you have no zombies/spectres, removing the amulet has no consequences.

History

  • Yredelemnul will be reworked in 0.32:
    • Followers will gain an umbra.
    • Piety will no longer depend on how many derived undead are in sight. Instead, piety gain will work as normal but with a quirk. Players will have to Light the Black Torch, an ability which enables piety gain for the floor and creates a few undead allies. This can only be used once per floor; leaving the floor will cause the effect to end and disable any further piety gain on that floor. Lighting the torch gives protection against exploration shafts.
    • The formula for zombie creation is changed: The first kill on a viable enemy will guarantee a zombie is created, and the chance of reaping monsters decreases as the total HD of your zombies increases.
    • New ability: Hurl Torchlight, which does heavy invocations-based irresistible damage to anything not undead or non-living. 5 charges of torch are given per floor, but more can be gained by slaying uniques.
    • New ability: Fathomless Shackles, which creates a shrinking damage field on the ground. Enemies not adjacent to each-other are constricted and take more damage. Damage returns HP to the user.
    • Bind soul will be reworked: Binding a soul will take away a third of the user's health upon usage, but the status is now permanent until the monster leaves your sight, and the lost HP will be returned upon slaying the foe. Invocations now determines the HP of the bound soul.
    • Drain Life and Dark Bargain are removed.
  • Prior to 0.29, Yredelemnul zombies could attack from outside line of sight. Also, reading the now removed scroll of holy word would incur penance.
  • In 0.28, Yredelemnul was overhauled. Prior to this change:
    • Yred had a regular piety system, which increased when you killed natural, holy, and nonliving (not demonic!) monsters.
    • You had to invoke necromancy; available at 1* and acting like Animate Dead at 3*. (This means that Yred did not limit death drops).
    • As you gained piety, you got permanent ally gifts, maxing out at profane servitors and bone dragons. Gifts, along with umbra immunity, came at 3*.
    • Bind Soul was called Enslave Soul, which only worked on intelligent monsters, and souls were generally weaker.
    • Injury Mirror, unlocked at 2*, mirrored damage to attackers in exchange for piety. Replaced by Dark Bargain.
  • Prior to 0.27, Yredelemnul forbid Gargoyles and the use of Statue Form.
  • Prior to 0.25, Yredelemnul would inflict Necromancy miscasts instead of Bolts of Draining as a punishment.
  • In 0.22, Enslave Soul became smite-targeted.
  • Prior to 0.18, Yredelemnul's Enslave Soul could not affect demons & holy beings. Abandoning Yredelemnul now destroys your zombie minions.
  • Prior to 0.16, players could start the game worshipping Yredelemnul as a death knight.
  • Prior to 0.14, there was no cap on the number of bone dragons and profane servitors you could have at once. Also, you would receive freezing wraiths in place of vampires, and desecrating holy remains gave piety. Also, read-IDing a scroll of holy word would have angered Yredelemnul's servants.
  • Prior to 0.13, you could be gifted rotting hulks and plague shamblers.
  • Prior to 0.12, recalling undead slaves did not have any delay, but it was not able to recall any undead servants from other levels.
  • Prior to 0.10, the undead servant gift roll's results were based on piety.
  • Prior to 0.6.0, Yredelemnul's random undead gifts could not follow you between floors.

References

Gods
Good ElyvilonZinThe Shining One
Neutral AshenzariCheibriadosFedhas MadashGozag Ym SagozHepliaklqanaIgnisNemelex XobehOkawaruQazlalRuSif MunaTrogUskayawVehumetWu Jian
Chaotic JiyvaXom
Evil BeoghDithmenosKikubaaqudghaLugonu *Makhleb *Yredelemnul
* Chaotic & Evil