Fire resistance
Fire resistance is a property in NetHack that protects you against most sources of fire damage.
Contents
Description
Fire resistance nullifies any fire damage that you take from monster attacks and wands, but will not prevent fire damage from boiling potions or burning scrolls and spellbooks, nor will it prevent burning of non-fireproof armor. Falling in lava with fire resistance still incurs damage but prevents it from being immediately lethal, providing a limited time for you to escape it before you sink beneath its surface.
Monsters that are resistant to fire but not to cold are considered vulnerable to cold, and take about 57% more damage from rays of cold as well as double damage from frosty explosions.[1] [2] This is not applied to you, even while polymorphed into such a monster.
Sources
By role
Intrinsic
Intrinsic fire resistance can be obtained by crowning like all other resistance properties. Monks gain intrinsic fire resistance at experience level 11, and Priests obtain fire resistance at XL 20.[3]
The intrinsic can also be gained by from eating the following corpses and globs:
| Monster | Conduct | Difficulty | Chance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| red mold | vegan | 2 | 3% | |
| gray ooze | vegetarian | 4 | 7% | acidic |
| gelatinous cube | vegan | 6 | 10% | acidic |
| red naga hatchling | meaty | 4 | 10% | |
| flesh golem | meaty | 10 | 12% | |
| Chromatic Dragon | meaty | 23 | 17% | poisonous, Caveman quest nemesis |
| fire ant | meaty | 6 | 20% | abundant on the Valkyrie quest |
| pyrolisk | meaty | 8 | 20% | |
| red naga | meaty | 8 | 20% | |
| Wizard of Yendor | meaty | 34 | 25% | cannibalism for humans |
| fire giant | meaty | 11 | 30% | abundant on the Valkyrie quest |
| hell hound pup | meaty | 9 | 47% | |
| Lord Surtur | meaty | 19 | 50% | Valkyrie quest nemesis |
| salamander | meaty | 12 | 53% | poisonous |
| hell hound | meaty | 14 | 80% | |
| red dragon | meaty | 20 | 100% | |
| Ixoth | meaty | 22 | 100% | Knight quest nemesis |
Extrinsic
Extrinsic fire resistance is granted by the following items:
- Wearing a ring of fire resistance
- Wearing red dragon scale mail or scales
- Wielding Fire Brand
- Carrying the Mitre of Holiness, the Priest quest artifact
Strategy
Fire resistance is a must-have before hitting Gehennom, as fire traps are prevalent there and capable of reducing your maximum hit points otherwise.
Messages
- "You feel a momentary chill."
- You gained intrinsic fire resistance by eating a corpse or tin.
- "You be chillin'."
- You gained intrinsic fire resistance by eating a corpse or tin, while hallucinating.
- "You feel cool!"
- You gained intrinsic fire resistance by gaining a level.
- "You feel warmer!"
- You lost intrinsic fire resistance (level drain, gremlin attack).
- "You feel mildly warm."
- You were burnt, but suffered no damage due to fire resistance.
Variants
FIQHack
In FIQHack, extrinsic fire resistance prevents items you carry from burning as well.
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.1. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-361}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
