Juiblex
& Juiblex 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 26 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 22 |
| Base experience | 899 |
| Speed | 3 |
| Base AC | -7 |
| Base MR | 65 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1500 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | Fire, Poison, Acid, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
Juiblex:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2663 |
Juiblex, &, often mistakenly referred to as Jubilex, is a demon lord that appears in NetHack. Juiblex is an amorphous and amphibious demon with an acidic and poisonous body that is capable of flight, can see invisible, has infravision, and can follow you to other levels if he is adjacent. Juiblex is covetous and desires the Amulet of Yendor.
Juiblex has a sickness-inducing engulfing attack and the ability to spit acidic venom. He possesses fire resistance, poison resistance, acid resistance, and stoning resistance.
Contents
Generation
Juiblex is always generated hostile under normal circumstances, and is not a valid form for polymorph.
Juiblex is generated meditating within his swampy lair at level creation if he has not appeared elsewhere in a game, e.g. via bones. He can also be gated in by other demons.
Sacrificing a monster of your own race at a chaotic altar has a 1⁄2 chance of summoning Juiblex if no demon lords have been generated this way: he will be peaceful if you are chaotic, and hostile otherwise.
Juiblex does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
Dealing with Juiblex in a straight fight is tedious: despite his incredibly low speed of 3, he possesses a solid AC of -7 and a quite good MR score of 65. On top of the usual problems posed by covetous monsters, his illness-inducing engulfing can and will kill you quickly unless you can apply an appropriate cure. Comparatively, his acidic venom is almost never employed, since he will almost always warp within melee range of you.
The most commonly used cure is a blessed unicorn horn, though this can be unreliable; most characters will also have access to potions of extra healing or full healing in case. Though you can deal damage much more easily while engulfed, the attack will continually induce sickness (or worsen it if you are already ill), but the engulfing will render you ill repeatedly - escaping his grasp may also give him time to teleport away or else re-engulf you. Fighting him in his level-wide swamp lair also introduces the danger of him expelling you straight into a pool of water, possibly drowning you in a worst case scenario.
The most common strategy for dealing with Juiblex requires a somewhat reliable sickness cure (usually a blessed unicorn horn or better), a wand of digging, and a decent weapon of any kind: Juiblex is solid enough that zapping the wand while inside him will drop his HP to 1 and force him to expel you, as with other non-whirly engulfers. Be sure to cure the illness immediately after you are freed, and then kill him with any single hit: if his AC gives you trouble in this regard, you can allow him to re-engulf you for a guaranteed hit. If you do so, do not forget to cure your illness again.
Juiblex will be peaceful if generated by same-race sacrifice on a chaotic altar - this can be used to ensure a slightly smoother exploration of Gehennom, or else to reap a significant experience point reward for comparatively minimal risk, since defeating him only requires the three aforementioned items.
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.
Juiblex now only loses half of his HP when hit with digging magic from inside.Juiblex Express
If you allow Juiblex to engulf you, then damage him a bit, he will warp to the up staircase with you inside - this allows easy traversal of his no-teleport swamp lair, especially when coming up from the Sanctum with the Amulet of Yendor. With regular curing of the illness and attention to your HP, it may be possible to continue the Juiblex Express up to dungeon level one.
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.
Covetous monsters now pick a particular stair to teleport to. As of commit 2402e6ad, Juiblex will expel you before teleporting to the stairs.Extinctionism
Juiblex presents a unique and difficult problem for extinctionists: repeated stoning and animating via stone to flesh is the standard approach for most unique monsters, and Juiblex is both immune to stoning and will never leave a corpse, which also prevents standard revival methods. Life-saved re-kills do not count toward the kill counter, and even those take some effort.
Extinctionists looking to add Juiblex to their list will have to drop an amulet of life saving into his belly while engulfed, then zap him with a wand of slow monster or speed monster or the slow monster spell to make him put it on, as he will not pick up an amulet by normal means (though he can be generated with one).
History
Juiblex first appears in NetHack 3.0.0, which introduces the demon lords and princes. His lair is introduced in NetHack 3.1.0.
Origin
Juiblex, also known as the Faceless Lord, is a being that first appears in Dungeons & Dragons, where he debuts in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. Juiblex is the demon lord of oozes and shapeless things, and most commonly appears as a nine-foot cone of slime and jelly; he is often considered the most foul of all demon lords and deities in both appearance and aura. His amorphous form swirls with a mixture of hideous colors and constantly drips caustic slime, and is full of eyes that seep black grime and constantly pulsate and shift across it - the mass is bound by a thin membrane of oil and thick mucus, and can shift freely: at rest, he resembles little more than a spread-out mass of filth.
Regardless of form, Juiblex can manifest dripping pseudopods in all directions to lash out and hungrily scoop up nearby creatures, and favors using his ooze-like qualities to close in and attack as many foes as possible. His form makes him difficult to damage consistently with weapons that are not cold iron or good-aligned, and the toxicity of his mass also makes it a serious ordeal to even get near him, let alone preserve weapons and armor. Most of Juiblex's abilities revolve around controlling and spreading slime and ooze, summoning jellies, oozes and puddings, or enabling high mobility while possibly hindering that of his opponents. His primary domain Shedaklah is a realm of living rot and bubbling ooze, with a massive subterranean network of caves and sinkholes below it where all kinds of oozes and slimes breed and lurk.
Despite seeming weaker and simpler than other demon lords, Juiblex's mind is said to be eldritch beyond mortal comprehension and alien even by the standards of demons: despite his dominion over traditionally-mindless spawn, he possesses an incredibly vast intellect and acts with unknowable purposes, and moves cautiously and subtly even against rivals such as Zuggtmoy. With all this in mind, Juiblex is possibly the easiest of the demon lords to understand: his only active goal is the corrosion and eventual dissolving of all existence, and he has more than enough patience to mask any other agendas to that end. Additionally, the adaptability of his body and the omnipresence of oozes means that his "true" body is far greater than even his own intellect can manage.
Variants
Some variants address Juiblex's weakness to the wand and spell of digging, while others grant him traits similar to the slimy monsters that inhabit his lair.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Juiblex's HP is only halved instead of reduced to 1 when zapping a wand or spell of digging while engulfed by him.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Juiblex is significantly buffed, with his difficulty raised to 33: he has three touch attacks that each inflict sliming, corrosion and acid damage, the same sickness-inducing engulf attack, a stronger acid-spitting attack, and an acidic passive attack. Juiblex also becomes a metallivore, has his speed raised to 8, possesses a much higher effective AC of -17 (with all 27 points in "natural" armor), and only takes damage equal to 1⁄4 of his maximum HP if a character zaps a wand of digging or uses similar item effects while engulfed by him.
Seeing Juiblex will confer the permanent "gluttony" madness, which increases your hunger.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, Juiblex's lair can be found in Shedaklah within the Stygian Marsh of Gehennom. Juiblex's lair will never contain a wand of wishing.
Juiblex himself is buffed significantly: He can voluntarily split himself in two, and also splits when attack with metallic items like a pudding; he is also capable of generating puddings and oozes from his body. His speed is raised slightly to 6, and he can also hide on ceilings. If the "main" Juiblex is killed while there are clones of him present on the level, a random clone will become the "real" Juiblex. The archfiends in xNetHack also apply debuffs if they are not killed prior to obtaining the Amulet of Yendor: Juiblex in particular will reduce your speed.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Juiblex is one of four demon lords that can appear in the first-tier demon lair of Gehennom.
Juiblex is buffed significantly: he gains a 4d6 acidic touch, a 2d6 clerical casting attack, an acidic passive attack identical to that of the spotted jelly, and explodes upon death for 4d6 acid damage. His speed is increased to 12, and his difficulty increased to 27.
Encyclopedia entry
Little is known about the Faceless Lord, even the correct spelling of his name. He does not have a physical form as we know it, and those who have peered into his realm claim he is a slime-like creature who swallows other creatures alive, spits acidic secretions, and causes disease in his victims which can be almost instantly fatal.
