Disenchanter

R disenchanter
Difficulty	14
Attacks	Claw 4d4 disenchant, passive 0d0 disenchant

R disenchanter
Difficulty	14
Attacks	Claw 4d4 disenchant, passive 0d0 disenchant
Base level	12
Base experience	301
Speed	12
Base AC	−10
Base MR	0
Alignment	−3 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	2 (Quite rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	750
Nutritional value	200
Size	Large
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A disenchanter: is an animal. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. appears only in Gehennom.
Reference	monst.c#line1737

A disenchanter, R, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the only other member of the rust monster or disenchanter monster class.

Disenchanters are carnivorous animals that can be seen via infravision. They possess a single claw attack and a passive attack that are capable of disenchantment, decreasing the positive enchantments (or charges if applicable) of the target's equipment - the claw attack disenchants worn armor and the passive attack weakens weapons and other items that strike the disenchanter. Artifacts have a ⁹⁄₁₀ chance of resisting in both cases.

Eating a disenchanter corpse or tin will remove a random intrinsic, as with the intrinsic-stealing attack used by a gremlin.

Generation

Disenchanters are only randomly generated in Gehennom, and normally-created disenchanters are always hostile.

Hostile disenchanters can be created by the summon nasties monster spell.

The random R generated in the central room of the Castle at level creation has a chance of being a disenchanter.

Strategy

Disenchanters are a nightmare to face in close combat due to their very good AC of -10. The disenchanting claw attack is subject to magic cancellation: MC3 via a cloak of protection or other means will reduce the probability of your armor losing enchantment, but does not affect the passive disenchanting attack. Thankfully, disenchanters have 0 MR, leaving them completely vulnerable to magical effects such as polymorph, cancellation, and sleep, and they can be easily warded off using instruments such as a tooled horn or leather drum to scare them. Attack spells and wands can keep them at bay with far less risk to your armor, though their AC will make landing shots a major problem.

The "simplest" method of killing a disenchanter is to solely use unenchanted options, such as weapon-tools like pick-axes or unicorn horns, or else secondary starting weapons that went mostly unused. If you can immobilize a disenchanter, or else armor enchantment is not a pressing issue for you, you can also remove your gloves to preserve their enchantment and bash it to death with your bare hands - Monks aiming to kick one to death will also want to mind the enchantment of their boots. Similarly, strong pets that do not rely on weapons or else are wielding unenchanted ones will have no trouble against them.

Disenchanters are often a common target for single-species genocide, as rust monsters are not much of a threat once the player reaches Gehennom. However, they can also be useful to roles who cannot reliably cast drain life: a wielded weapon or piece of armor can have its enchantment selectively reduced by wielding the item and hitting the disenchanter with it, so that it can be re-enchanted to a higher level.

History

The disenchanter first appears in NetHack 3.3.0—from this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, disenchanter meat has no effect when eaten. The loss of an intrinsic from consuming disenchanter meat is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.

Origin

The disenchanter is a monster that originates in Dungeons & Dragons, making its debut in the 1st edition Fiend Folio and issue #6 of White Dwarf. It is often described as a blue-furred quadrupedal creature with an elephant-like trunk and a camel-esque body and "hump". Disenchanters are considered even more infamous in tabletop settings, not solely for their magic-eating abilities, but also for their somewhat goofy-looking designs.

Message

Your <item> seems less effective.

A weapon or piece of armor was subjected to disenchantment.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, disenchanter corpses and tins are safe to eat. Additionally, they are no longer the only monster that can disenchant weapons and armor with the addition of the steel golem, which has also a passive disenchanting attack.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, eating a disenchanter corpse or tin only has a ¹⁄₂ chance of removing a random intrinsic, and if the hero eats it while hallucinating it has a ¹⁄₅ of ending hallucination immediately.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, two disenchanters appear within one of the rooms in the lair of Demogorgon at level creation if his dwelling appears as the third Abyss level.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, eating a disenchanter corpse or tin while hallucinating cures that status property without targeting any other intrinsic - this also breaks perma-hallucination conduct.

Encyclopedia entry

Ask not, what your magic can do to it. Ask what it can do to your magic.