Titan

H titan
Difficulty	20
Attacks	Weapon 2d8, Spell-casting

H titan
Difficulty	20
Attacks	Weapon 2d8, Spell-casting
Base level	16
Base experience	553
Speed	18
Base AC	−3
Base MR	70
Alignment	9 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	2300
Nutritional value	900
Size	Huge
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A titan: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is omnivorous. is nasty. is strong. can throw boulders. can pick up weapons and food. can pick up magical items. has infravision. can be seen through infravision.
Reference	monst.c#line1438

The titan is a powerful monster that appears in NetHack. It is capable of flight, spellcasting, and can throw boulders like its close cousins, the giants. Titans will actively pick up magical items alongside other objects, and cannot be genocided.

Generation

In addition to random generation, the second variant of Medusa's Island always generates a titan in the entrance hall where the upstair is located. While quite rare, it is also possible for a titan to randomly generate within the quest branch for Cave(wo)men and Valkyries.

Titans are most likely to generate as peaceful for lawful characters, and are a valid form for polymorph traps. They have a 50% chance of starting with a boulder.

Strategy

Titans are among the more difficult monsters that can be encountered in the deepest parts of the dungeon - the titan on Medusa's Island in particular is one of two significant obstacles on the average dig for victory, with the other being the general presence of minotaurs.

Titans are alarmingly fast at 18 speed and possess a good AC of -3; while they are by no means the most physically damaging among giant humanoids, titans make for tricky fights, especially due to its ability to summon nasties. While titans respect Elbereth, many of the nasties they can summon - minotaurs, elf-lords, elvenkings, captains, and couatls - do not. Magic resistance can help protect against the other spells in a titan's arsenal.

Taming and cancelling titans are possible counters, though both are risky due to their high magic resistance of 70. For casters with a sufficiently high experience level, the spell of cancellation may be a preferable option to the wand - though roles capable of achieving the required skill level in matter spells should probably invest in alternate (and usually more direct) options, such as the Wizard's magic missile. Putting them to sleep is similarly risky, though success means having a few free turns to inflict the necessary damage without fear of magical retaliation; a wielded potion of sleeping is a good choice for this.

With gloves and good to-hit, cockatrice corpses can easily render titans a non-issue, and they are among the nasties that a titan can summon.

As pets

With the combination of fight, spellcasting, a decent melee attack, excellent speed and solid defenses, titans are superb fighters and pet candidates. Their natural AC easily compensates for an inability to wear body armor, especially once you give them a well-enchanted weapon and other pieces of armor; their size also makes them immune to engulfing, which is especially handy for preventing an untimely instadeath by digestion.

Titans are obtainable from polymorph traps, and rival balrogs as the best monsters that can be made pets this way. Unlike balrogs, they are not inediate, but a well-kitted titan can easily keep themselves fed - even so, be wary if a pet titan becomes confused from hunger.

History

The titan was introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, titans can be genocided.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, titans are primordials, and can appear as the ruler of a throne room (which work much differently in this variant); a titan's throne room audience will include many giants among them.

Encyclopedia entry

Gaea, mother earth, arose from the Chaos and gave birth to
Uranus, heaven, who became her consort. Uranus hated all
their children, because he feared they might challenge his
own authority. Those children, the Titans, the Gigantes,
and the Cyclops, were banished to the nether world. Their
enraged mother eventually released the youngest titan,
Chronos (time), and encouraged him to castrate his father and
rule in his place. Later, he too was challenged by his own
son, Zeus, and he and his fellow titans were ousted from
Mount Olympus.

[ Greek Mythology, by Richard Patrick ]