Cigotuvi's embrace

Version 0.33: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page refers to the artefact. For the obsolete spell, see Cigotuvi's Embrace (spell).

A suit of armour borne of rotten flesh and bone and gristle, held intact by the will of a long-dead sorcerer. The dreadful energies within it call to the bodies of the recently dead, protecting the wearer with a cocoon of carrion. This protection only lasts a short time, however - the ward against decay holds true within, but not without.

the +4 Cigotuvi's embrace

+4 leather armour

Miasma immunity
Drains wearer when removed
rN+
Absorbs corpses to temporarily increase AC
Evil

Mechanics

Any fresh corpses in your line of sight are destroyed to increase the enchantment of Cigotuvi's embrace. This is subject to diminishing returns - it takes more corpses to increase the enchantment further. The enchantment will gradually decrease over time. The higher the bonus, the faster it decays.

The enchantment goes to +10 with one corpse harvested, which takes about 90 turns to fully slough off. Four corpses give you +18 and take ~180 turns to fully go away, sixteen corpses give +34 and take ~320 turns to fully rot away, etc. Regardless of size or HD, each and every corpse gives the same amount of AC.

If corpses are destroyed, Cigotuvi's embrace won't work. Yredelemnul and Necromancy spells (Animate Dead, Simulacrum, etc.) take priority, turning the corpse into undead first. Gozag converts corpses into gold, preventing them from being used. Note that Death Channel does not destroy corpses, and can be used with this armour.

Followers of Beogh will not desecrate orc corpses with this armour.

Desirability

Cigotuvi's embrace is a lightweight option that can provide extremely high amounts of AC, assuming you can create corpses. Can be very useful in a prolonged group fight. The reliance on corpses is not perfect, however:

• It does nothing if you haven't killed anything yet. It won't help much if you are shafted, for instance.
• Resting will reset the AC bonus. An amulet of regeneration is useful; the less time you rest, the more likely you are to benefit from the AC.
• Demons, most types of undead monsters, and nonliving monsters do not drop corpses. Cigotuvi's embrace is of limited use where these monsters are common (like Zot:5, Pandemonium, Hell, Abyss or Tomb).
• Certain specific methods of killing (wand of mindburst, Inner Flame, Orb of Destruction) destroy corpses, which prevents this armour from working.
• Because Ziggurat floors have a huge number of tightly packed enemies, AC can reach a gigantic number there. But it's important to remember that some undead or demonic floors might not have corpses, making the armour not 100% reliable there.

This armour is best suited for EV-based fighters (melee and ranged). Casters will often need to regenerate MP, so they'll benefit less from the extra AC. Heavy brutes will likely prefer the consistent AC of a heavier set of armour.

Cigotuvi's embrace still allows for death drops, so you won't miss out on dragon scales whenever you kill a dragon.

History

• Prior to 0.32, Cigotuvi's embrace would absorb skeletons on the ground.
• Prior to 0.29, Cigotuvi's embrace would apply before you could use Necromancy spells like Animate Dead.
• Prior to 0.26, Cigotuvi's embrace had rot immunity instead of miasma immunity.
• The unrand version of Cigotuvi's embrace was added in 0.25 as a reference to the old spell.