Disenchanter
R disenchanter 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 14 |
| Attacks |
Claw 4d4 disenchant, passive disenchant |
| Base level | 12 |
| Base experience | 301 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -10 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | -3 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 750 |
| Nutritional value | 200 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A disenchanter:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1876 |
A disenchanter is an annoying monster found in the deeper levels of the dungeons and in Gehennom. The random R at the Castle may be a disenchanter, but they are otherwise only randomly generated in Gehennom. Its attack can decrease the enchantment of weapons and armor (as well as doing an unthreatening amount of damage), and reduce charges on items you hit it with.
Hitting a disenchanter with a weapon will decrease the enchantment of the weapon, unless it is an artifact, in which case it has a 90% chance to resist. Hitting a disenchanter with any chargeable object will decrease its charges - charges and enchantment are not treated separately by the game. Wands are therefore not a good alternate weapon to use to avoid disenchanting your main one.
Disenchanters are the deeper level equivalent of rust monsters. Disenchanters remove only positive enchantment/charges; a disenchanter will not remove negative enchantment or cause an unenchanted item to gain negative enchantment.
Strategy
- The disenchanting claw attack is subject to magic cancellation, so make sure your armor grants magic cancellation of 3. This does not prevent the passive disenchanting attack.
- Engrave Elbereth. Your weapon may still be disenchanted if you attack and hit.
- Cancel the disenchanter via a wand of cancellation, the spell, or by hitting with Magicbane. Canceled disenchanters can not disenchant, even through their passive attack.
- Use ranged attacks. Be aware that your projectiles will be disenchanted; prefer spells or wands. In a game where you had many scrolls of enchant weapon, you might choose to throw from your pile of +7 daggers; for though the resulting +6 daggers will not stack, they are much preferable to disenchanting your artifacts or armor.
- Unequip your weapon and punch it to death, or use an unenchanted weapon. Bear in mind that any gloves will be disenchanted if you hit with gloved hands.
- Equip a junk weapon and hack it to death; pick-axes work well for this, as do some class' starting secondary weapons. Unicorn horns also work very well, as they are rarely enchanted, provide d12 base damage, and you should always have one with you anyway by the time you meet disenchanters.
- Let your pet do the killing if it's strong enough, if your pet does not wield weapons.
- Genocide. Because rust monsters are not much of a threat once the player reaches Gehennom, and blessed scrolls of genocide are best reserved for monsters whose entire class is difficult (liches, for example), disenchanters can be a good target for a single species (uncursed, if from a scroll) genocide.
- Don't try to kick them to death. This will disenchant your boots.
Disenchanters can sometimes be useful, if you want to reduce the enchantment on a weapon or a piece of armor so you can try to enchant it higher. To reduce the enchantment on a piece of armor, wield it and strike the disenchanter with it once.
Encyclopedia entry
Ask not, what your magic can do to it. Ask what it can do to your magic.
