Resistance (ego)

Version 0.34: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

It protects its wearer from the effects of both cold and heat.

Resistance is a rare ego which grants you one rank in both fire and cold resistance. It is only found on robes, scarves, and bucklers.

Artefacts will display the resistance ego as {rC+ rF+} (plus, they can have other resistances too). The unrand shield of Resistance provides a superior version of this ego.

Strategy

Resistance is an amazing ego; 2 useful resistances with no drawback. Unless you already cover both resistances, it is one of the best defensive egos available, and remains competitive even if you have both rC+ and rF+. The need for both rC and rF rises once you get to the Vaults and Depths, but elemental threats exist well before then.

• Shields of any ego are fairly rare, and resistance is one of the best egos for a shield. But because it can only appear on a buckler, it might not be the best option for the whole game, since you may want to start using heavier shields at some point.
• Robes of resistance are more dubious. Obviously, heavier melee brute won't like them, and even casters have stronger (higher AC) options in the body armour slot. Species with heavy equipment restrictions (such as Spriggans) appreciate their ability to fit while padding out their resistances.

Once available, a set of gold dragon scales effectively has a superior form of resistance, but is befitting for extremely heavy armour characters.

• A scarf of resistance is quite good. You'll miss out on the 3-4 extra AC from having an enchanted cloak, but the ego can easily make up for that. Depending on your other equipment, though, you may find a scarf of repulsion or a cloak more useful.

History

• Prior to 0.34, resistance ego could appear on any shield.