Titan
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:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1438 |
A titan, H, is a powerful type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a giant humanoid that is a close cousin of the giants: titans are capable of flight and spellcasting, as well as lifting and throwing boulders.
Contents
Generation
Titans are very rarely seen in the dungeon by random generation, and will not be generated in Gehennom; they are most likely to appear as peaceful for lawful characters. Titans are a valid form for polymorph, and cannot be targeted for genocide. Randomly generated titans have a 50% chance of generating with a boulder.
The second variant of Medusa's Island always places a titan in the entrance hall where the upstair is located. While even rarer than normal generation, it is also possible for a titan to appear within the quest branch for Cave(wo)men and Valkyries.
Strategy
Titans are among the more difficult monsters that can be encountered in the deepest parts of the dungeon - the possible 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. Their tendency to be peaceful towards lawful characters is considered a notable advantage compared to other alignments.
Titans are alarmingly fast at 18 speed and possess a good AC of -3. They have a single weapon attack and one monster spell per round; while less physically damaging than other H, titans still make for tricky fights, especially when they summon nasties. Magic resistance can help protect against most of the spells in a titan's arsenal, and titans respect Elbereth, but many of the nasties they can summon - minotaurs, elf-lords, Elvenkings, captains, and couatls - do not.
One way to avoid randomly-generated titans is to keep your experience level low. For example, assuming a character at XL 14, titans are only randomly generated starting at depths of 26 - the Dungeons of Doom can terminate on dungeon level 25 at highest and DL 29 at the lowest, and titans cannot appear in Gehennom, leaving the window of generation outside of shapeshifters and polymorph traps narrow. However, they can still be randomly generated in the Castle, on Medusa's Island, via polymorph, or during the ascension run.
Taming and cancelling are possible counters to titans, though both are risky due to their high magic resistance of 70. For casters with a sufficiently high experience level, while the cancellation spell may be preferable to the wand, those capable of the required skill level in matter spells should invest in alternate and 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 retaliation; a wielded potion of sleeping is a good choice for this. Cockatrice corpses can render titans a non-issue with gloves and good to-hit, and cockatrices are conveniently found among the nasties a titan can summon; conflict can also turn a titan's summoned nasties against them or each other, at minimum diverting their focus from you.
As pets
Pet titans are superb fighters due to the combination of flight, spellcasting, weapon attack, excellent speed, and solid defenses. Their natural AC easily compensates for an inability to wear torso armor, and their size also makes them immune to engulfing, including instadeath by digestion. A shield of reflection is ideal for protecting the titan from a wand of death, and a unicorn horn is standard for any humanoid pet; ensure that the titan is wielding a suitably powerful one-handed weapon before leaving the shield for them, as they may instead wield the unicorn horn and leave no room to wear one.
Titans and balrogs are among the best monsters that can be made pets via polymorph trap, and both can be outfitted with limited armor and weapons. Unlike balrogs titans are not inediate, but can easily keep themselves fed - even so, be wary if a tamed titan becomes confused from hunger.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Monsters that eat food can gain intrinsics from corpses, allowing a titan to gain poison resistance and other intrinsic resistances that can vastly increase their survival odds.History
The titan is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, titans can be genocided. They also have death resistance.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, titans are primordials, and can appear as the ruler of a throne room.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, hostile titans are all the more threatening due to the increased number of monster spells - however, this also makes them even more popular as pets, since EvilHack allows tame spellcasting monsters and players in the form of a spellcasting monster to use those monster spells in combat.
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.
