Drain strength
- This article is about the monster spell. For the elemental damage type that drains strength by default, see poison.
Drain strength is a monster spell that appears in NetHack.
Description
Drain strength is a melee-range spell that can be used by any monster which casts mage spells and is at least level 7, and is only used against the hero.[1][2] When cast, the hero loses strength equal to 1d(ML - 6), where ML is the caster's level, and the die size is halved (rounded up) if the hero has half spell damage[3]—the minimum strength a hero can be drained to this way is 3, and any further strength loss beyond that point instead deals 6 points of damage to their current and maximum HP per lost point of strength.[4][5]
Magic resistance completely nullifies the spell's effects.[6] Sustain ability stops actual strength loss from occurring, though it will not prevent damage to HP if the attempted strength drain would have taken the hero below 3 strength.
Strategy
The drain strength spell is a major reason not to engage in melee combat with hostile spellcasting monsters in the mid-game without a source of magic resistance: while not as obviously deadly as the touch of death, significant strength loss from the spell can hamper damage, carrying capacity and movement speed all at once—unlike the strength loss itself, any maximum HP loss cannot be reversed with a unicorn horn, potion of restore ability or similar attribute-restoring items.
A lich or golden naga generated at their lowest possible monster level of 10 can still drain up to 4 points of strength per successful casting, while an arch-lich at their lowest level of 24 can drain up to 18—against a hero with 70 current HP and 15 strength, the worst-case scenario from this arch-lich casting the spell leaves them with 3 strength and cuts their current and maximum HP by 36, leaving them heavily strained by their load at 34 HP.
Even if a hero affected by the drain strength spell can defeat the hostile spellcaster repsonsible without losing too much strength, they will likely need to survive or escape combat against any other nearby hostiles, sometimes including the product of summon nasties from that same spellcaster. Once magic resistance is obtained, the spell becomes a complete non-issue.
History
The drain strength spell is introduced with the modern monster spell system and many of the monster spells in NetHack 3.0.0.
Messages
- You suddenly feel weaker!
- A monster cast this spell at you, and you do not have magic resistance; this is displayed even if the stat loss is blocked.
- You feel momentarily weakened.
- As above, but nothing happened because you have magic resistance.
