Air elemental
E air elemental 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 10 |
| Attacks |
Engulf 1d10 |
| Base level | 8 |
| Base experience | 126 |
| Speed | 36 |
| Base AC | 2 |
| Base MR | 30 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 0 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | Huge |
| Resistances | poison, petrification |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
An air elemental:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1364 |
An air elemental, E, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an unsolid, whirly elemental that is strong and capable of flight. An air elemental has an engulfing attack, and possesses poison resistance and stoning resistance.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated air elementals may be peaceful towards neutral characters. An air elemental may also be generated as minions of neutral gods. Air elementals generated on the Plane of Air will have three times as many hit points.[1][2][3]
Eleven hostile air elementals are generated on the Plane of Air at level creation.[4]
Air elementals are not a valid target for genocide. An air elemental does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
The air elemental is the fastest monster that can be encountered in the game, and its 36 speed is the primary factor behind its deadliness: the amount of turns it can get while engulfing you and pummeling you with debris causes damage to pile up, even against fast and well-armored characters. Additionally, the damage is non-elemental, making it harder to defend against. Half physical damage and high AC can blunt the damage dealth, and a polyform that is huge or larger can also prevent engulfing. Warning is a good property for trying to spot approaching hostile air elementals, since they are mindless and cannot be detected by telepathy.
If you are engulfed by an air elemental, you can escape using tools such as a bugle to scare it into releasing you - the knock and slow monster spells (or their equivalents in the opening and slow monster wands) can also force the air elemental to expel you, though their speed may allow them to get another chance at engulfing you. Teleportation is a fairly reliable means of escaping an air elemental, either by zapping it with a wand of teleportation on a non-teleport level, or else teleporting yourself on any other level. A wand or spell of sleep can also immobilize the air elemental and give you valuable turns to either escape or bring it down. In all of these cases, be mindful of an air elemental's 30 MR score, which gives it a significant chance to resist magic and scaring.
As a polymorph form
Air elementals are sometimes used as a polyself form for traveling purposes, due to their high speed and flight. In terms of combat, their base AC of 2 is unimpressive, they cannot wear armor and the engulfing attack falls short as the sole source of damage when dealing with large monsters, such as the expected giants and dragons. The polyform is also blind and lacks hands to adjust rings or open containers, among other actions - a wand of probing can reveal the identity of items you pick up while moving, as well as wearing the Eyes of the Overworld.
History
The air elemental first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. From this version to NetHack 3.3.1, including some variants based on those versions, the air elemental's pummel attack dealt twice as much damage.
Messages
- You are pummeled with debris!
- You are engulfed by an air elemental.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, at least one air elemental is generated within the Cloud Bank of the Lawful Quest at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, monster generation on the Air Temple level of the Chaos Temple Quest has a 1⁄8 chance of creating an air elemental.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, an air elemental is generated on the Plane of Ice at level creation.
SlashTHEM
In addition to SLASH'EM details, SlashTHEM adds greater air elementals, though air elementals cannot grow up into them.
The Electric Mage quest artifact, The Harp of Lightning, can be invoked to summon air elementals, and has a 3⁄4 chance of generating a standard one.
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 39: elementals and home planes
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1012: max HP for elementals on home planes
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1825: max HP gain for elementals on home planes
- ↑ dat/endgame.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 172
