Shard shrike

Version 0.26: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

shard shrike b
HP	69-140
HD	21
XP	3041
Speed	30
AC	2
EV	18
Will	80
Attack¹	21 (claw: cold)
Resistances	rC++
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Animal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Tiny
Type	shard shrike, shard shrike
Flags	Flying Batty Warm-blooded

An incredibly fast-moving bird, known for impaling its prey on shards of ice before tearing them to pieces. It has acclimated to the desolate wastes of Cocytus, and is enveloped with an accursed chill.

Useful Info

Shard shrikes are durable, extremely aggressive animals which can be found either individually or in packs. These birds swarm their prey, slashing and impaling them with cold damage attacks. They are thankfully rare, only occurring in the depths of Cocytus.

Spells

Tile	Name	Damage	Range	Flags
	Throw Icicle	3d30	5	Natural flag, Breath flag

Tips & Tricks

As they're found in Cocytus, you'll likely have plenty of cold resistance by the time you encounter them. Don't let that fool you into thinking them harmless, however; they have absurdly high speed, and their constant Throw Icicle spells deal partially irresistible damage. A large group of shrikes can hit you with plenty of these in a fairly short amount of time. Repel Missiles will certainly help keep you alive. However, invisibility won't fool them, silence won't stop their spells, and unlike most creatures in Cocytus, holy damage will barely make a dent in them.
They have surprisingly high HD, but only moderate willpower. Keep that in mind before trying to inflict them with status effects.

History

Shard shrikes were added in 0.16.