Asterion

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

Asterion H
HP	84-170
HD	15
XP	1705
Speed	10
AC	10
EV	2
Will	100
Attack¹	35 (hit: plain)
Attack²	20 (gore: plain)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	Silver
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	minotaur, minotaur
Flags	Evil See invisible Speaks Warm-blooded Unique Male

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.

Useful Info

Asterion the Fallen King is an extremely dangerous unique minotaur, usually generated with a spectral-branded demon blade, demon whip, demon trident, or broad axe, as well as a (possibly magical) kite shield. A worshipper 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 summoning a mighty demon to his aid.

Location

Spells

Name	Damage	Range	Flags
Major Destruction	3d22 / 2d14 / 3d24 / 3d27 / 3d20 / 3d25 / 3d28	6	Priest flag
Haste	—	—	Priest flag
Infernal Servant	—	—	Priest flag

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 spell, he can deal extraordinary amounts of damage very quickly, particularly when you consider how early in the game he appears.
His Greater Servant of Makhleb ability allows him to summon an executioner, cacodemon, balrug, blizzard demon, or green death with a summon cap of one.
He has sufficient willpower and HD to make most debilitating effects chancy at best. Dedicated Hexes specialists might be able to weaken him with status effects, but others are unlikely to get much use out of such abilities.
He is vulnerable to silver damage, so ranged weapons users with silver javelins can deal very heavy damage to him, likely taking him down before he gets close.
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

In 0.30, Asterion now always generates with a spectral-branded weapon.
Prior to 0.19, Asterion had Spectral Weapon instead of Greater Servant of Makhleb.
Prior to 0.17, Asterion could appear in the Swamp or Shoals.
Asterion was added in 0.14.