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Nessos

From Ashenzari's Archive
Revision as of 22:18, 4 September 2023 by Hordes (talk | contribs) (fix category like)
Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of all centaurs, see list of centaurs.

A centaur warrior, skilled at warfare and deceit. They slew a mighty hydra, and now its deadly blood drips, still-fuming, from their arrows.

Useful Info

Nessos the Markscentaur is a unique centaur generated with a longbow of flame and barding. In addition to the longbow's flaming, Nessos' shots are always poisoned. Wielding the longbow yourself won't give you the poison effect.

Location

Spells

Tile Name Damage Range Flags
Blink Range — — Wizard flag
Haste — — Wizard flag

Tips & Tricks

  • Without fire and poison resistance, Nessos is a very dangerous opponent, especially when hasted. A hasted Nessos can fire 2-3 times per 1.0 turn, dealing {38 + weapon enchant + flame + venom} damage per shot. Even with both resistances, Nessos can be a tough foe to pin down.
  • Nessos has almost no willpower, so Hexes and hex wands are extremely effective. In particular, a wand of polymorph will at least get rid of the poison arrows, and Tukima's Dance gets rid of the bow entirely. With only 9 HD, Mephitic Cloud and other HD checks can also work.
  • Like other centaurs, Nessos won't fire when in melee with the player; staying in melee range will greatly reduce their threat level. A potion of attraction can do just that, though watch for the usual risks of attraction. A killhole is slightly less effective, but safer overall.
  • Going berserk is not recommended, as Nessos will just Blink away from you and fill you with arrows as your berserk runs out. Other buffs, such as a haste of your own, still work fine.
  • Having some form of Repel Missiles and/or Reflection can be very useful here.

Trivia

Nessos is a reference to Nessus, an evil centaur that Heracles killed with a hydra-poisoned arrow after it attempted to rape his wife. It managed to kill Heracles in the process, however, by convincing his wife that Nessus' now-corrosive blood would make Heracles forever faithful to her if she would spread it on his clothing.

History

  • Prior to 0.27, Nessos did base 16 damage with weapons (extra +12 from the archer flag), but didn't have a kick attack. This change was to compensate for the removal of hidden weapon penalties in this version.
  • Nessos was male before version 0.24.