Shock

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This article is about the elemental damage type sometimes known as "lightning". For other uses of the term "lightning", see Lightning (disambiguation).
For the damage done by a failed polymorph, see system shock.

Shock, also known as lightning or electricity, is a damage type that occurs in NetHack, and is capable of electrifying targets and their vulnerable items.

Shock damage sources

Shock damage can occur from various sources:

Various monsters also have shock-element attacks, which use the AD_ELEC damage type flag:

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 6b60618e, the active explosion attack of shocking spheres creates a 3x3 shocking explosion centered on their square and affects all monsters (including the hero) caught in the blast. The explosions of shocking spheres can also destroy items as other shocking attacks would.

Shock damage effects

Shock damage from an attack or the lightning monster spell has a 1⁄3 chance per item of destroying rings and wands in a victim's open inventory unless the source of the shock damage is an engulfing attack, explosion attack or passive attack, and each destroyed wand deals additional damage to the victim, as does each destroyed ring (for the hero only).[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] The ring of shock resistance and wand of lightning are immune to destruction from shock damage.[16][17] A hero subjected to shock damage from being hit by a ray of lightning or zapping themselves with a wand of lightning abuses constitution.[18][19]

A hero that is engulfed by a monster using a shocking engulfing attack has a 1⁄2 chance of taking damage during each of that monster's turns, unless the monster is cancelled[20]—a monster subjected to an engulfing attack has a 1⁄2 chance of being damaged by the attacker's internal electricity before being released.[21]

Rays of lightning and shocking explosions can destroy doors.[22]

Magic cancellation can block the effects of melee shock attacks that do not engulf targets, and cancellation disables the electric effects of most attacks.[23][24][25]

Flesh golems hit by shock damage (including a hero polymorphed into one) will instead restore an amount of HP equal to dam + 56, rounded up and capped at their maximum HP.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Heroes in flesh golem form are additionally not subjected to constitution abuse, and will exercise strength if they regained at least 1 HP.[38] Iron golems other than a polymorphed hero are slowed if they are subjected to shock damage.[39]

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

As noted above per commit 6b60618e, explosion attacks from shocking spheres can destroy items.

Per commit eb22a810, item destruction caused by shock damage is dependent on the amount of damage dealt, with the amount of items in open inventory that are affected being equal to 1⁄5 of the shock damage inflicted.

Per commit ef6a88e1, chargeable rings that are hit by shock damage will be charged 2⁄3 of the time instead of being destroyed, with normal charging limits (and chance of destruction) applied.

Per commit 738c2239, there is a 1⁄10 chance that iron bars will melt when hit by lightning. Per commit 6b8079a1, the lightning spell will destroy any iron bars if the hero is targeted while occupying their square.

Per commit 67295bc7, wearing non-metallic gloves (all but gauntlets of power) will protect worn rings from electrical damage.

Resistance

Main article: Shock resistance

Shock resistance is a property that protects a hero or monster from shock damage by reducing or nullifying the amount of damage dealt, though it does not necessarily protect their items from destruction by shock damage.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 9942b65d, extrinsic shock resistance protects items in open inventory from breaking and exploding 99⁄100 of the time, with a separate roll for each item that would be destroyed.

Strategy

Shock damage is an extremely annoying and potentially lethal hazard to contend with, especially early on when you will usually lack a means of protecting valuable rings and wands, and sources of shock resistance tend to be quite rare as well—to make matters worse, some forms of shock damage (primarily rays of lightning) also result in blinding for the hero. Thankfully, sources of shock damage from monsters are rare or else easily avoided, with only five different monster types that randomly generate and deal shock damage at all:

  • The grid bug is entirely harmless, dealing only 1 damage and not affecting items unless it has somehow gained a level, and can even be used to confirm if the hero has a source of shock resistance.
  • Shocking spheres can be killed at range and lack most resistances or any MR score, while their blasts can be partially mitigated with high dexterity or else diverted by displacement or pets;[40] shock resistance of any kind will completely nullify a shocking sphere's explosion attack.[41]
  • The energy vortex is a notorious mid-game threat that can be very tricky to deal with due to its high movement speed of 20 and electric passive attack: while it does not normally destroy items, it is capable of sapping a hero's energy while engulfing them, and a hero that was engulfed by it and breaks free becomes vulnerable to item destruction from converted touch attacks.[5] Wands and thrown projectiles are some ideal methods of killing an energy vortex without zapping yourself (especially while engulfed), although their MR score of 30 makes magical items notably unreliable, and spells will be harder to use due to the energy loss being worsened for casting roles. A slow monster spell or wand used in advance can reduce the energy vortex's threat significantly.
  • Electric eels only dwell in water within swamps and some special levels, allowing for some level of preparation, and should ideally be engaged with at a distance if possible—their lack of MR score means that scaring and wands are often the most valuable method of dispatching them, e.g. using wands of cold and sleep to prevent retaliation, or using bugles to scare them out of melee range.
  • Blue dragons are usually found much deeper in the dungeon, and their breath weapon can be evaded by avoiding directly lining up with them or getting into melee range, while their corpses also provide a guaranteed source of shock resistance (but also over-satiation).

In addition to shock resistance, high magic cancellation (ideally MC3) can also help to block the melee attacks described above. Outside of these monster attacks, item destruction from shock damage only occurs with lightning rays, container traps, and Mjollnir, and both damage and item destruction can be avoided through the following methods:

  • Reflection will reflect the lightning monster spell and all rays of lightning, protecting the hero's inventory in the process, though the hero will still be blinded unless the lightning was from the monster spell. Being caught within clouds when lightning strikes on the Plane of Air will cause blindness and deafness, and also immobilizes the hero for three turns.
  • Container traps can be avoided by diligent untrapping and high luck, and surges of electricity are usually a rare specific outcome—if all else fails or you are especially paranoid, you can leave a container with a discovered trap alone until a later point.
  • A hero will only have to deal with smiting by lightning bolt if they sufficiently anger any of the gods, which only occurs at maximum anger levels and typically takes deliberate effort on the player's part—of note is that reflection will also block this lightning, though this immediately prompts a wide-angle disintegration beam from the smiting deity that can only be survived by a few means, such as having disintegration resistance or being engulfed by a monster with shock resistance when the smiting occurs.
  • Mjollnir's danger to a hero's items occurs very rarely and usually results from either a monster that finds and picks up the artifact to use as a weapon, or from a Valkyrie hero using gauntlets of power to throw Mjollnir and being hit by the returning weapon. The former can be dealt with by an attentive hero who can determine or realize the threat quick enough; though the chance of the latter occurring is extremely low, it is enough that most players avoid throwing Mjollnir at all.

Barring early misfortunes with a wand of lightning, shock resistance can still be obtained well before encountering most of those damage sources, e.g. by eating a gelatinous cube corpse or tin, a glob of a brown pudding or a glob of black pudding—heroes that are strong enough to safely fight black puddings can reliably produce them by kicking a sink (which produces one each), and can also deliberately split the puddings to produce more globs and increase their odds of obtaining shock resistance. As indicated above, reflection will also cover a majority of instances where the hero would deal with lightning. Blindness resistance blocks all forms of blinding inflicted by lightning.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

The changes to shocking spheres make them incredibly annoying and hazardous to a hero's valuables, to the point that they are often chosen as a genocide target. This makes extrinsic sources of shock resistance incredibly valuable, enough that blue dragon scale mail is much more popular as a choice of body armor for its extrinsic resistance and very fast speed (which it grants while worn per commit ef1eeed7).

Valkyries seeking to throw Mjollnir in particular will want to wear blue dragon scale mail or a ring of shock resistance as protection for the rare moments where the weapon hits them while returning.

History

Shock as a damage type is present in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is also present in Hack 1.0.

Messages

The door splinters!
A door was destroyed by lightning.[22]
Your hear crackling.
As above, while outside of your sight.[22]
You get zapped!
You were hit by a melee attack that deals shock damage.
The zap doesn't shock you!
As above, but you have shock resistance.
You shock yourself!
You zapped yourself with a wand of lightning or a breath weapon.
You zap yourself, but seem unharmed.
As above, but you have shock resistance.
You are jolted by a surge of electricity!
A container trap shocked you, dealing 4d4 shock damage and possibly destroying vulnerable items.[42]
The <bolt/blast> of lightning hits you!
You were hit by a lightning ray.
The <bolt/blast> of lightning whizzes by you!
A lightning ray missed you while passing through your square.
Your arm tingles.
As above, but you are blind.
You are blinded by the flash!
You were blinded by a bolt of lightning, even if you were protected by shock resistance or reflection.
You aren't affected.
You were hit by a ray of lightning, but have shock resistance.
Your <ring> turns to dust and vanishes!
One or more rings were destroyed by shock damage.
Your <wand> breaks apart and explodes!
One or more wands were destroyed by shock damage.
The air around you crackles with electricity.
You are currently engulfed by a monster using a shocking engulf attack.
A(n) <massive> electric shock shoots through your body!
You sat on a throne and got electrocuted, dealing less damage and not using "massive" if you had shock resistance.

Variants

Variants of NetHack that add object property systems include shock or lightning as a potential object property for weapons and sometimes armor.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM adds lightning as a spell that can be learned by the hero, and casting the spell fires a ray of lightning.

SLASH'EM also adds new monsters with shock attacks:

Shock damage is much more deadly than in NetHack: wands that explode from shock damage will behave as if they were applied, resulting in much higher damage and destruction of inventory.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, shock damage cannot destroy rings and has a chance of draining one or more charges from affected wands, with a chance of destroying them entirely—affected wands that are not destroyed will shoot sparks that add +1d6 damage for each charge lost from those wands.

The shocking, sparking and arcing object properties grant shock damage to weapons and certain types of armor. The tonitrus is a type of weapon that deals +1d10 shock damage to monsters with telepathy.

Randomized gaze attacks often include shock as one of the possible damage types.

The lightning bolt and lightning storm spell both allow the hero to cast lightning rays and explosions of lightning respectively. The eldritch style knightly stance can be used to add shock damage to wielded weapons via these spells, at the cost of some power.

Chain golems, argentum golems and green-steel golems are slowed if they are subjected to shock damage, with the exception of a hero polymorphed into one. Flesh golems are healed by shock damage as they are in NetHack, though the calculations for restoring HP floor the result rather than rounding it up.

Certain monsters take doubled damage from spells, attacks and items that inflict shock damage:

Some artifacts deal shock damage:

  • Ramiel is a lawful artifact partisan that has +1d4 to-hit and deals +1 shock damage against monsters without shock resistance—a hero pounding with Ramiel causes 3x3 shocking explosions centered on the target monster that deal 6d6 damage, while a riding hero attacking with Ramiel in melee fires a 6d6 ray of lightning in the direction of that monster.
  • Mjollnir behaves similarly to its appearance in NetHack, but is much stronger and can also be invoked to fire a bolt of lightning.
  • Cold Soul is an intelligent artifact that is a large ranseur with a 1⁄4 chance of causing explosions of lightning centered on the target each time it hits.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, "lightning" is one of many object properties available for weapons, and grants shock damage to weapons with the property while granting shock resistance to armor with the property.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the "lightning" object property grants shock damage to weapons with the property, while armor with the property grants shock resistance.

Tempest is an artifact halberd that can inflict shock damage on hit similar to Mjollnir, causes lighting explosions centered on targets when used to pound or perform melee attacks while the hero is mounted or a centaur, and also protects the wielder from shock damage.

Some monsters are vulnerable to shock damage, and the vulnerability can also be inflicted with the vulnerability monster spell by clerical casters.

SlashTHEM

In addition to SLASH'EM details, SlashTHEM adds the Electric Mage, a role originating from Slash'EM Extended that specializes in mastery of electricity and lightning. SlashTHEM includes more sources of shock damage as well:

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the "lightning" object property behaves as in EvilHack, as does shock vulnerability the vulnerability monster spell.

Worn blue dragon-scaled armor grants the wearer a passive shock attack.

References

  1. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 560-L577
  2. ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1214
  3. ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1338
  4. ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4924-L4940
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 319-L331: engulfing attacks have a grace period after release where a target cannot be immediately re-engulfed, and engulf attacks that hit during this period become touch attacks
  6. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2306-L2307
  7. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3723-L3728
  8. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3865-L3868
  9. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 574-575
  10. ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1061
  11. ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1070
  12. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1097-L1100
  13. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1754
  14. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1763
  15. ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4936-L4937
  16. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4877-L4889
  17. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5115-L5126
  18. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2300
  19. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3863
  20. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1955-L1966
  21. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2270
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4647-L4651
  23. ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1055
  24. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1091
  25. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2874
  26. ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4038-L4040
  27. ↑ src/polyself.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1791-L1794
  28. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2304
  29. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3860
  30. ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1066
  31. ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1713
  32. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1961
  33. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2132
  34. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2942
  35. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1758
  36. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2278
  37. ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2956
  38. ↑ src/polyself.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1800-L1806
  39. ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4043-L4045
  40. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2080-L2083
  41. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2068-L2071
  42. ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4929
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