Wish

In NetHack, you may not always encounter the items necessary for a good Ascension Kit. Fortunately, Nethack has a system of wishing. Whenever you receive a wish, you may ask for an item and you will receive it, with some restrictions.

Methods of wishing

There are several ways to obtain a wish in NetHack, including:

• Zapping a wand of wishing (guaranteed)

(Zapping a wand of wishing is the only guaranteed method. The others are not guaranteed and may have negative side effects.)

• Rubbing a magic lamp, preferably blessed
• Quaffing a smoky potion, preferably blessed
• Quaffing from a fountain, a small chance
• Sitting on a throne, a small chance

The castle has always has wand of wishing in a chest in one of the four corner rooms. Unless you are trying for wishless conduct, you should be able to do some wishing before you enter Gehennom.

Restrictions on wishing

You may not wish for a wand of wishing, or a magic lamp. This is to guard against infinite wishes. You also cannot wish for your own quest artifact, although you may wish for those of other roles. Note that wished-for quest artifacts will "evade your grasp" unless your alignment matches the artifact – check Hugo/O'Donnel NetHack Artifacts Spoiler for artifact alignments. You cannot wish for the Amulet of Yendor or for any of the unique items required to obtain it (the Bell of Opening, the Candelabrum of Invocation and the Book of the Dead).

When wishing, you may specify an amount of an item or a specific enchantment - for instance, 2 of an item instead of 1, or +1 rather than +0. However, the more or higher you wish for, the more chance you have of getting only one or +0. Most players wish for 2 items or +2 enchantment, or 3 items or +3 enchantment. (The NetHack Wishing Spoiler includes a table of probabilities.)

What to wish for

If using the wand, your first wish could be "2 blessed scrolls of charging". (A wand of wishing (0:0) can be recharged exactly once, and if you have 2 scrolls then you keep the other one.) However, the NetHack Wishing Spoiler reminds you that you might instead wish for an "uncursed magic marker", so you can write your own scrolls. (You would need to have already identified the scroll of charging, and you would also need a supply of scroll of blank paper and holy water.)

Wishing for objects oftens aims to complete the ascension kit.

Many NetHack players like to obtain gray or silver dragon scale mail. Which color they get depends on their specific situation:

• "blessed +2 gray dragon scale mail" provides magic resistance
• "blessed +2 silver dragon scale mail" provides reflection

A Wizard, for example, starts the game with a cloak of magic resistance, and can also obtain magic resistance by carrying the Quest artifact, the Eye of the Aethiopica, or by wielding the first gift from sacrificing, Magicbane. So the silver dragon scale mail is the best choice. For a character who found the amulet of reflection in Sokoban, but has no source of magic resistance, gray dragon scale mail is best. (Later, when the player wants to wear an amulet of life saving, he or she can swap the AoR for a shield of reflection.)

With a wish, you can be wearing a dragon scale mail (which also reduces your AC considerably) long before you are able to kill a dragon of the appropriate color and enchant the scales to scale mail.

If you want, you can just join #nethack on Freenode and ask them to suggest what to wish for.

Wishing for quest artifacts

If you are a Neutral character and want a quest artifact, there are at least two good choices:

• "blessed rustproof Eye of the Aethiopica" (if you are not a Wizard) to regenerate power for spells
• "blessed Platinum Yendorian Express Card" (if you are not a Tourist) to #invoke for charging

If you play Lawful or Chaotic, do not wish for the Eye or PYEC; it will "evade your grasp" because it is the wrong alignment and the wrong class. (A helm of opposite alignment also will not help.) The only way to use the Eye or PYEC when your are Lawful or Chaotic is if it is your quest artifact, in which case (as usual) the game adjusts the alignment of the artifact to match that of your character.

What not to wish for

The NetHack Wishing Spoiler has a list of good items to obtain "Without Wishing". Here are a few more:

• unicorn horn – This is a very common item after you find unicorns. Early in the game, if you have no unicorn horn but find a wish, you probably want dragon scale mail.
• food ration – You are fainting, cannot #pray, and there is no food around? Prefer wishing for a horn of plenty. If you're not fainting yet but out of food regardless, wishing for a ring of slow digestion may be better - NetHack is usually plentiful enough on food that you can find a monster or food item soon enough with the decreased hunger.
• potion of holy water – ... unless you are playing an atheist, in which case you might not be able to do a water prayer. Of course, if you are playing a wishless atheist, then this is not an option.

External links

• The NetHack Wishing Spoiler by Peter Snelling, Stanislav Traykov, and others provides a detailed analysis of how to wish effectively, including a list of specific wishes ordered by priority.
• In the Dudley's dungeon of 19 August 2005, Dudley wishes for a "blessed greased fixed erodeproof disenchanterproof demonpossessionproof vacuumofdeepspaceproof proofremovalproof fully insured 100% all-natural materials completely and utterly intact, undamaged and structurally sound freshly washed and free of the stench of congealed human blood totally bereft of ancient unbreakable curses and absolutely NOT stolen from any nearby easily-angered shopkeepers +3 armor enhancement GRAY DRAGON SCALE MAIL", but forgets something.