Demogorgon
& Demogorgon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 57 |
| Attacks |
Sting 1d4 drain life, Claw 1d6 disease, Claw 1d6 disease, Spell-casting |
| Base level | 50 |
| Base experience | 3269 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | -8 |
| Base MR | 95 |
| Alignment | -20 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1500 |
| Nutritional value | 500 |
| Size | Huge |
| Resistances | Fire, Poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
Demogorgon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2731 |
Demogorgon is the most difficult of the demon princes and, indeed, the most difficult monster of any sort to appear in NetHack. Fortunately, his appearance is not guaranteed and can only occur through demon summoning. He can be summoned directly by Orcus, Juiblex, or Yeenoghu, or indirectly by any demon that can summon these.
Contents
Strategy
The safest approach to Demogorgon is not to meet him in the first place. As mentinoed above, in vanilla NetHack, Demogorgon will not appear unless Orcus, Juiblex or Yeeenoghu summon him. Therefore, when facing any of these three foes, kill them as expeditiously as possible. If you get bogged down fighting lesser threats, you are giving Demogorgon an opportunity to arrive every turn.
Conversely, if you want to meet Demogorgon, perhaps as the ultimate demonstration of your demon-hunting prowess, then let Orcus spend all the time he wants bouncing death rays off of your shield of reflection. Demogorgon will be along eventually.
The only way to survive Demogorgon is to be prepared. Just as you carry an escape item for emergencies, work out your "Demogorgon Kit" and carry it in inventory when you enter Gehennom. Be very fast and unburdened, capable of curing diseases, and be able to attack him. You must have Magic resistance and cancellation. You will also need speed boots or haste self, and either a unicorn horn (preferably blessed) or the Staff of Aesculapius as equipment. A safe, one-turn way of engraving Elbereth can also be vital (fingers in the dust are not safe). Be aware that not even a blessed unicorn horn is perfectly reliable for curing sickness--the safest item is a blessed potion of healing, potion of extra healing, or potion of full healing.
As for how to actually kill him, there are several ways. First, you can beat him to death, but this is very slow and difficult to do. He is not immune to stoning or disintegration, so you can kill him in that manner; if you have any wishes left, wishing for a cockatrice corpse could be a really good idea. Kate Nepveu, author of the Demogorgon FAQ reports killing Demogorgon by polymorphing into a cockatrice and allowing him to sting, but adds that this is a risky gambit and she "can't really recommend it." If you have a non-cursed scroll of earth and a ranged attack other than striking, you can keep him at a distance.
Finally, if you can, GET AWAY! Leave immediately and get past him. Teleport to the staircase, zap a wand of digging downwards, quaff a cursed potion of gain level. Use the breathing space to reassess, re-equip, and move back in on your own terms. Discretion is the better part of valor.
Engraving on the Up-stairs
Many startegies for tackling Demogorgon involve getting to the up-stairs, since this is the only location Demogorgon will teleport to when he flees you to lick his wounds. If you are occupying this square, he has nowhere to teleport to. If you can reach the up-stairs first and permanently engrave Elbereth there, you can beat on him freely with no risk of illness (he will keep moving next to you to cast spells, but will not strike at you).
Jousting Demogorgon
The simplest way to kill Demorgon is quite simply to be a Knight, be very fast, be on horseback, be an expert with the lance and use it instead of Excalibur or any other relic sword. At Expert level a Knight has 80% chances of jousting and this will stun Demogorgon. A stunned Demogorgon will be unable to teleport and the very fast Knight will be able to finish him before Demogorgon be able to retaliate. Also Demogorgon is one of those rare superheavy monsters who don't recoil one square when they are jousted so the Knight doesn't need to spend time moving adjacent again after a successful joust. Sequence of the fight is: Demogorgon teleports adjacent, stings the Knight, Knight jousts Demogorgon, Knight attacks, Knights attacks, Knight attacks, and so on until Demogorgon is dead. Then Knight applies his blessed unicorn horn to get cured. Because he will not have Excalibur in hand, the Knight needs a cloak that confers MC3 to avoid level drainage. Another option for the Knight is: after the initial joust, move one square away and resort to pounding, this has the advantage of not risking that by pure bad luck the stunned Demogorgon attacking in the Knight's direction, however it is longer and in addition as Demogorgon is not being restunned again and again as in first method, there is chance he can recover and teleport away.
Encyclopedia entry
Demogorgon, the prince of demons, wallows in filth and can spread a quickly fatal illness to his victims while rending them. He is a mighty spellcaster, and he can drain the life of mortals with a touch of his tail.
