Helm of brilliance
[  [  [  [  helm of brilliance | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Slot | helm |
| AC | 1 |
| Special |
|
| Base price | 50 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Material | iron |
A helm of brilliance, sometimes abreviated as HoB, is a type of magical helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron and has a randomized appearance when unidentified; the default one associated with it is an etched helmet.[1]
The helm of brilliance is the base item for The Mitre of Holiness, the Priest quest artifact.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
The helm of brilliance is made of glass and has the fixed appearance "crystal helmet" when unidentified. It has a 19⁄20 chance to resist breaking, as does crystal plate mail.Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, the helm of brilliance can be sold in general shops and armor shops.
Description
While worn, the helm of brilliance confers 1 base point of AC before enchantment and modifies the wearer's intelligence and wisdom by its enchantment]. Wearing an enchanted helm of brilliance will auto-identify it, as will enchanting the helm at +0.
Though the helm of brilliance is iron, it does not hinder spellcasting.[2]
Strategy
The helm of brilliance is generally useful for spell-casting, as higher intelligence and wisdom stats reduce the failure rate of high-level spells and mitigates the penalties from wearing metallic armor. It is especially beneficial to characters who want to cast high-level spells in spell schools that they are limited in, such as a high level Priest attempting to cast polymorph using the Mitre of Holiness. In addition, wearing an enchanted helm of brilliance will slightly improve energy regeneration and may give you a larger amount of maximum power when leveling up, since both are influenced by wisdom and energy regeneration is also influenced by intelligence.
However, for a character with already-low spell failure rates such as a Wizard, a helm of brilliance will likely not have a noticeable effect - conversely, a role with incredibly high spell-casting penalties such as a Valkyrie or Barbarian may not notice any significant gains without a robe. While the latter type of character can use the helm for foocubi encounters, the helm may end up removed mid-interaction.
Keep in mind that the helm of brilliance does not prevent instadeath from brainlessness induced by a mind flayer: brainlessness checks for a base intelligence of 3.
History
The helm of brilliance first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, using a cursed scroll of destroy armor on a cursed helm of brilliance or a cursed pair of gauntlets of dexterity reduces the enchantment of the piece of armor without altering the stats, and removing them would permanently increase your stats, allowing a character to temporarily surpass their racial maximum that way. This became known as the "hobug" (since the helm of brilliance is often abbreviated to HoB).
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, upgrading a dwarvish iron helm has a 1⁄2 chance of producing a helm of brilliance, and upgrading a helm of brilliance will produce a dwarvish iron helm.
The November NetHack Tournament
In The November NetHack Tournament, the deathmatch opponent has a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a blessed erodeproofed +4 or +5 helm of brilliance if they represent a non-Wizard character that did not wear a helm.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Duri always generates with a helm of brilliance.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, upgrading a helm of madness will produce a helm of brilliance, and vice versa.
