Black light
y black light 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Attacks |
Explode 10d12 hallucinate |
| Base level | 5 |
| Base experience | 74 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 0 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | Fire, Cold, Shock, Disintegration, Sleep, Poison, Acid, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A black light :
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1047 |
A black light, y, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the only other member of the light monster class along with the yellow light. A black light can fly and flow under doors, detect invisible monsters, and possesses every resistance property minus magic resistance.
Like yellow lights, a black light illuminates its surroundings in a 3x3 area centered on itself, but it is always invisible[1] - also like yellow lights, they attack using an explosion directed at the square of their target. This destroys the black light and causes several turns of hallucination if it hits you, while monsters are confused instead if a black light explosion hits them.[2] A black light's explosion will wake nearby sleeping monsters.
Generation
Black lights are always generated invisible and hostile. Reading a cursed scroll of light while confused has a 1⁄5 chance of generating a black light.
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.
Reading a cursed scroll of light while confused instead summons 3–4 tame cancelled black lights unless they are genocided.Strategy
Black lights can be spotted by the illumination they emit in dark areas, especially if the light seems to come from nowhere. They are most easily dealt with by blinding yourself using a blindfold or towel and waiting for it to explode harmlessly at you, then remove the blindfold or towel after. You can also take the brunt of the explosion and apply an immediate cure, such as a unicorn horn - though a potion of full healing can also cure hallucination, this is best saved for more dire scenarios. Wielding Grayswandir if you have the artifact weapon provides hallucination resistance, but does not cure the status and only suppresses its effects.
Try to avoid leaving strong pets near black lights, since they may turn on you in their confusion and batter you to death; this can also happen if you have displacement and the black light targets a displaced image on your pet's square. Once you have the see invisible property, you can reliably detect and intercept black lights before they explode, or even kill them if you have the means to.
Monsters have a 1⁄50 chance of recovering from confusion on each of their moves[3] - intelligent pets will cure their confusion using a unicorn horn, making it vital that you equip them with spare ones as soon as possible.
History
The black light first appears in NetHack 3.2.0.
Encyclopedia entry
Strange creatures formed from energy rather than matter, lights are given to self-destructive behavior when battling foes.
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
