Ixoth
D Ixoth 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 22 |
| Attacks |
Breath fire 8d6, bite 4d8, spell-casting, claw 2d4, claw quest-artifact-stealing 2d4 |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 545 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -14 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1600 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Fire, stoning |
| Resistances conveyed |
Fire (100%) |
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Ixoth:
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| Reference | monst.c#line3245 |
Ixoth, D, is the Knight quest nemesis. He is a unique spell-casting red dragon that guards the Bell of Opening and the Knight quest artifact, the Magic Mirror of Merlin. Strangely, the default tileset gives him an identical appearance to Nalzok and the Minion of Huhetotl.
Like any other red dragon, eating Ixoth's corpse or tin is guaranteed to confer fire resistance.
Contents
Generation
Ixoth will always generate at the same point on the goal level, deep within his dark cavern; he sits meditating next to the entrance of a small subsection where he stores his hoard, with the quest artifact and Bell of Opening underneath him.
Ixoth will always leave a corpse upon death due to his size, but does not drop any scales unlike normal red dragons.
Strategy
Approaching Ixoth can be difficult due to the layout and darkness of his cave; unless you have stealth, he will likely become aware of your presence and teleport next to you while you are navigating the innermost bend. As with all covetous monsters, it may be more ideal to engrave Elbereth or drop a scroll of scare monster on the stairs and awaken him from there.
In practice, Ixoth will not use his fire breath unless he has teleported to the upstair to heal, since his covetous behavior will otherwise keep him in melee range. The magic resistance from the carried Magic Mirror of Merlin will prevent a wand of polymorph or death from working on him, but not the wand of sleep. Magic resistance of your own is recommended to protect your items from monster spells such as curse items and destroy armor.
If you are mounted on a fast steed and are at least Skilled in lance, you can use your movement speed to potentially joust Ixoth to death, especially if you can lure him out while remaining on the upstair. Note that while Ixoth will be unable to attack on most turns after being stunned from the joust, it is likely that he may recover before you can joust again, giving him a turn or two to try and attack or else flee to the upstairs.
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.
A scroll of scare monster on the ground no longer scares any @ monster or any unique monster.
Ixoth is now steadfast due to his size, and he can knock you backwards with his melee attacks - this can fling you off a saddled mount and result in wounded legs, unless the saddle is cursed; this can also force you away from the up stairs, and makes it dangerous to remain near water for any amount of time. Jousting will no longer force him backward into pounding range, but can still stun him and likely grant you some extra turns to deal significant damage with further jousting.History
Ixoth first appears with most other quest nemeses in NetHack 3.1.0.
Variants
Biodiversity patch
In any game with the biodiversity patch, Ixoth is no longer a red dragon, but instead the white-colored Hwitwyrm, though his attacks and attributes remain the same.
dNetHack
Ixoth appears in dNetHack, but his role as the quest nemesis guarding the Knight's quest artifact is given to Nimune - Ixoth instead appears as a hostile monster on the home level, taking part in the siege of King Arthur's castle.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Ixoth has a stronger hit die for his claw attacks, and he is additionally given poison resistance.
Encyclopedia entry
Ixoth shares his encyclopedia entry with all other dragons.
In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."
