Portal detection methods

There are several ways to detect portals in Nethack. Portals count as a trap and can be found any way that a trap could be. This is most important on the Elementals, where speed is key. The usual methods are:

• Read a scroll of gold detection while confused.
• Read a cursed scroll of gold detection. This will show a pile of gold at every trap location. This is not so useful on the Plane of Fire, where there are many fire traps.
• Use a crystal ball and search for ^. This will leave you immobile for d10 turns - unacceptable amount of time.
• Zap a wand of secret door detection or the detect unseen spell, which will detect the portal if it is within a moderate radius.
• Wield or wear the Amulet of Yendor -- it could tell you whether the trail is hot or cold. Only on the Planes, 6.7% chance each turn if within 12 squares of the portal.

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 Information on this page may be out of date.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.