Archon
A archon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 26 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 2d4, Weapon 2d4, Gaze 2d6 blinding and stunning, Claw 1d8, Spell-casting |
| Base level | 19 |
| Base experience | 730 |
| Speed | 16 |
| Base AC | −6 |
| Base MR | 80 |
| Alignment | 15 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | Fire, Cold, Shock, Sleep, Poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
An Archon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1106 |
The Archon, A, is a powerful monster that appears in NetHack. Archons are the most powerful of the angelic beings, and have the second highest monster difficulty of all randomly generated monsters after the arch-lich. They are large humanoids that are capable of flight, can see invisible, possess regeneration, and can follow you to other levels.
An Archon can attack five times per turn: this includes two weapon attacks, an active gaze attack that blinds and stuns you, a claw attack, and a set of mage monster spells up to and including the touch of death.
Contents
Generation
Archons will always generate as peaceful for lawful characters with a non-negative alignment record, and are not a valid target for genocide or polymorph. As a lord to its kind, a randomly-generated Archon will always have a rustproof long sword and a shield of reflection - if neither Demonbane nor Sunsword have been created in that game, the long sword will be converted to either of the two artifacts.[1] Archons do not leave corpses upon death.
In terms of random generation, Archons have such high difficulty that even for a player at experience level 30, they cannot appear before dungeon level 22. Since the Dungeons of Doom end around level 29 and Archons cannot be generated in Gehennom, most characters will not see one before finding the Amulet of Yendor, which raises their effective level to at least 45 for purposes of monster generation. There are two particular locations of note that an Archon can appear in:
- The random angelic being generated when using the second version of Medusa's Island can be an Archon, but the odds are quite low.[2]
- Vlad's Tower is not technically part of Gehennom, making it possible for one to generate, though the branch's chaotic bias makes them exceedingly rare.
Archons are not eligible to be created by the summon nasties monster spell, but can cast the spell themselves and may appear in place of a summoned nasty that was genocided - this can very rarely result in what is called an "Archonstorm". Archons can also appear as the minions of lawful gods, but are almost never seen in this capacity unless you actively set up the required circumstances.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Demonbane is now a mace, but Archons still only receive a long sword, so they can no longer generate with Demonbane.Strategy
Archons are among the most difficult non-unique monsters to take on in a straight fight - they have a stellar base AC of -6, and Archons with a shield of reflection will deflect any kind of ray-based spell, including death rays. They are also capable of wielding nearly the entire arsenal of mage monster spells against you, which spells a quick end if they get within melee range and you lack magic resistance. Furthermore, they ignore Elbereth, cannot be scared off by standing on a scroll of scare monster, and cannot be blinded by sources such as an expensive camera. In most cases, it is wiser to avoid them and keep moving, which can be aided by exploiting their inability to unlock doors; peaceful Archons are considered a significant advantage of being lawful.
For others, the best way to fight an Archon beyond possessing magic resistance is to use a footrice corpse and blind yourself to protect against their gaze; wearing the Eyes of the Overworld if you have them also prevents you from being stunned or blinded by this attack. Another offensive option is to try using Vorpal Blade, which can still decapitate them.
Archonstorm
Excessive use of genocide may lead to an "Archonstorm", a scenario in which overwhelming numbers of hostile Archons begin to appear in the endgame in place of other high-level monsters that have been genocided. Players can keep the chances of such a scenario low by using genocide sparingly; while lawful humans also incur a −1 alignment penalty for each genocide, said alignment record is trivial to regain by the time Archons enter the picture.
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.
Summon nasties can no longer create monsters of equal or higher difficulty than the caster, preventing arch-liches or Archons from summoning more of themselves.As pets
Archons are exceedingly popular as pets due to their power: they are inediate, hard-hitting and have far more capabilities compared to a tamed arch-lich. Archons are too large for body armor, but can wear other armor (i.e., gloves, helms, boots, and shields), and will pick up and use a variety of items. Getting an Archon to drop their starting weapon can be quite hard: applying a bullwhip towards them can strip them of their current weapon, allowing you to hand them another weapon or enchant their initial one before handing it back.
Archons are permanently fast after they cast haste self and will use their blinding gaze frequently against enemies (though it does not stun them in exactly the same way it would stun you). Additionally, an Archon's MR score of 80 allows it to always ignore conflict from a ring once it reaches level 25, or level 30 for a weapon; a level 32 or higher Archon will also be immune to polymorph traps. However, there is no way to make an Archon immune to level teleporters, so beware if an Archon runs into one - they will likely be untamed by the time you find them again.
Obtaining a pet Archon
The easiest way to obtain a pet Archon is to apply a blessed figurine of an Archon; wishing for this figurine is a common pacifist goal. However, an Archon from a figurine will not generate with its standard inventory of a longsword and shield of reflection, and without reflection it is vulnerable to death rays and disintegration breath. The figurine also has a 1⁄10 chance of generating a hostile Archon, which makes a fearsome fight even without their usual inventory, so try to have an escape item handy in case.
As an alternative to the figurine, a lawful character might wish for a statue of an Archon, stone to flesh it, and then cast charm monster. Although this is much harder and requires a fairly advanced spellcaster, the Archon will never come to life as hostile for a lawful character with positive alignment record, making this a safer option.
Another alternative for a high-level character is to tame a randomly-generated Archon with a charm monster spell, but this will often require several attempts due to its high monster magic resistance, which can be painful if the Archon is hostile. The most difficult portion of this may well be finding a random Archon: on top of requiring a high experience level, the Castle and Vlad's Tower are the likeliest areas, and the latter has a bias towards generating chaotic monsters. The create monster spell can be used to create many monsters quickly, but be sure not to expend so much energy that you cannot cast charm monster afterward. Once you find an Archon, draining their level will make the spell more reliable - the best tools for this are the Staff of Aesculapius or Stormbringer, as other level-draining methods will take far longer. If there is a magic trap nearby, you might consider repeatedly triggering it and hoping for the taming effect, which ignores monster MR.
History
The Archon first appears in NetHack 3.1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on these versions, a figurine of an Archon would generate the monster with its usual starting inventory, making it easier to indirectly procure artifacts by wishing for such a figurine.
Origin
In the early literary period of ancient Greece, the word Archon (Greek: ἄρχων, arkhon) was used to mean "ruler" and frequently occurred in the title of a specific public office, e.g. the chief magistrates of various Greek city states were called archontes. The Archon as a monster is derived from the celestial archons introduced in the 2nd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons - these are distinct from "elemental archons", worshipers of an elemental lord who gained the powers of one of the four elements. Celestial Archons came in nine distinct varieties: Hound, Justice, Lantern, Sword, Tome, Throne, Trumpet, Warden, and Word. Throne archons were the second highest in rank of the archons that occupied a hierarchy, and served the higher-ranking Tome archons.
The Archons of NetHack are most closely modeled after Throne archons, particularly including their high resistance to magic and weapons as well as their "penitentiary gaze" (analogous to the blinding and stunning gaze attack). This gaze overwhelmed any creature that was not lawful good with remorse for their sins; it could even manifest the guilt of evil creatures as painful boils, and produced highly realistic and draining visions in creatures that were more chaotic. A Throne archon that was forced to fight used this gaze to exhaust foes into submission before attempting to decapitate them with their greatswords.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the dungeon is much deeper, creating a higher probability of encountering an Archon before the Castle. Archons can also be obtained as tame minions through prayer and sacrifice for lawful players from experience levels 19 to 25.
Archons have their base AC boosted to -10, require a +4 weapon to hit and hit as +4 weapons themselves, and have additional resistance to death rays. The Planetar and Solar are the only angelic beings that outclass the Archon in terms of sheer power, possessing stronger versions of the same attacks - Archons are still a stellar choice for pets, and due to the above changes to dungeon depth they are somewhat easier to obtain outside of wishing for a figurine (which follows 3.4.3 rules).
Using firearms to fire +4 or higher bullets can bypass the reflection granted by an Archon's shield, and is among the most reliable ways of bringing one down in combat.
dNetHack
Archons in dNetHack are split into 10 varieties: 7 main types, plus 3 types that are not randomly generated and are primarily found as statues on the Healer quest. The counterpart to the Archon of NetHack is the Throne Archon.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, the random V and L generated on the Astral Plane are replaced with random A, making it much likelier that you will encounter one or more Archons there.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Archons retain the same stat line as in NetHack, but are given magic resistance, making them harder still to fight; conflict may also prove less effective against Archons, since monsters in EvilHack can use their monster spells in combat against other monsters. This does also make tamed Archons even stronger pets, since they can deliver a touch of death to strong hostile threats that are vulnerable, and their magic resistance prevents them from being instantly killed by a wand of death or the touch of death monster spell.
Encyclopedia entry
Archons are the predominant inhabitants of the heavens.
However unusual their appearance, they are not generally
evil. They are beings at peace with themselves and their
surroundings.
