Wand of slow monster
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | slow monster |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 5% |
| Base price | 150 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | beam |
| Maximum charges | 8 |
| Spell | slow monster |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of slow monster is a wand that will make monsters slow down (take more turns to move or attack).
Monsters have a chance to resist the wand's effect, given by MR112 − difficulty. If the monster does not resist, it becomes slow (2⁄3 of normal movement speed), or normal speed if it was previously fast. If you were engulfed by a whirly monster (vortex or air elemental), you are expelled.
If you zap yourself with a wand of slow monster, you will lose intrinsic speed if you previously had it. Otherwise, nothing happens. Monsters in NetHack 3.6.0 will not use this wand offensively against you.
Contents
Messages
- The bugs on the <floor> slow down!
- You engraved with a charged wand of slow monster. This is a unique message, however the wand is not auto-identified.
- <Monster> seems to be moving slower.
- You zapped a monster which did not resist.
- You disrupt <monster>! A huge hole opens up...
- You zapped a whirly monster that you were engulfed in, and were expelled.
- You slow down.
- You lost the speed intrinsic by zapping yourself with a wand of slow monster.
- Your quickness feels less natural.
- As above, but you still have extrinsic speed from wearing speed boots.
Identification
The wand can be identified by engraving: it will make the bugs on the ground slow down. Note that the wand of death and the wand of sleep both make the bugs stop completely, thus you can distinguish them from this wand.
Strategy
Since whirly monsters are immune to a wand of digging, the wand of slow monster is one of the few ways you can escape being engulfed by them, and additionally slows them down like any other monster. A player with speed boots can build up some distance to attack a slowed vortex from range, though even slowed air elementals are too fast to outrun. Whirlies have only a 30% chance to resist each zap except for the fog cloud, which never resists.
Otherwise, it is best used on faster low-MR threats such as soldier ants, leocrottas or winged gargoyles at range. It is unlikely to affect monsters with higher MR, such as Archons or arch-liches.
