Mordor orc

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A Mordor orc, o, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. They are slightly stronger than hill orcs, but much slower.

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

As part of resolving issue #679 regarding congruence between non-player monsters and their player counterparts, commit b6a3d4b gives poison resistance to all orcs, except for the goblin and hobgoblin (in order to distinguish them from other orcs). All strong orcs are also capped at 18/50 strength for purposes of polyself, with the exception of Uruk-hai; as of commit 651a5b2, the orc-captain polyform also retains 18/** strength.

Generation

Randomly generated Mordor orcs often appear in large groups, and some may be peaceful towards player orcs. A Mordor orc can grow up into an orc-captain.

Mordor orcs may appear among the hostile o that generate in throne rooms, as well as the various monsters that can be randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]

In a game that has Orcish Town, large numbers of named Mordor orcs will appear within the town walls[2] - other named Mordor orcs can appear elsewhere in the Gnomish Mines and the main branch, carrying various looted items with them.[3][4]

Mordor orcs have a 13 chance of being generated with each of the following: a scimitar, an orcish shield, a knife, and an orcish chain mail.[5] They also have the standard 12 chance of generating with an orcish helm.[6]

Strategy

Mordor orc hordes generally make for a more difficult fight than a group of hill orcs, due to the wider variety of starting equipment. While the same basic strategies for orc hordes still apply and will likely prove just as effective, you will want to be better-armored and slightly more cautious around them.

For Healers focusing on knives, Mordor orcs are a fairly plentiful source of the weapons; roles that have not yet found a decent melee weapon and can advance the scimitar skill may also find their scimitars useful. As with other orcs, Mordor orc corpses can be a decent source of nutrition, and orcish characters may want to consider using them for sacrifices in Orcish Town after converting the altar using a non-orcish corpse.

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

As of commit 296a3ac2, the scimitar skill is merged into the saber skill.

History

The Mordor orc is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, where the various orcish monsters are first differentiated from each other.

Origin

Like the other orcs of NetHack, Mordor orcs are derived from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The Orcs of Mordor (or Mordor-orcs) were the orc footsoldiers of Sauron within the Black Land of Mordor, and made up the bulk of his armies during the various wars he waged in the Second and Third Ages. Many of these orcs were gathered from the remnants of Morgoth's armies, while others were freshly bred by Sauron himself - the Uruks of Mordor (aka Uruk-hai) were the largest and fiercest among them. Upon Sauron's final defeat, many are believed to have escaped into the vast wastes and steppes of Mordor's eastern lands.

Variants

In variants that implement AC bonuses for wearing racial equipment, Mordor orcs may prove tougher foes than in vanilla NetHack.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Mordor orcs will be given an orcish dagger if they do not generate with a scimitar. They also have a 14 chance of generating with a small stack of orcish spears.[7][8]

dNetHack

In dNetHack, Mordor orcs may appear in the court of a throne room ruled by an orc-captain or an ogre king.

The Elvish Racial Quest generates several Mordor orcs on level creation for many of its floor, excluding the upper filler levels. The Chaos Quest generates several Mordor orcs on level creation for various floors in two of its variants:

  • The Mordor Ruins variant of the Chaos Quest has 15 Mordor orcs at the Mordor Wall, several at the Mordor Cracks and 13 in the Mordor Fortress, including 5 in the court of the ogre emperor's throne room. Stronger Mordor orcs exclusive to the branch can also be found throughout it.
  • The Chaos Temple Quest generates 12 Mordor orcs within the forest area of the Ancient Temple level; 310 of the randomly generated monsters on that level will be Mordor orcs.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, Mordor orcs have poison resistance like player orcs. For weapon generation, they have a 13 chance of either generating with a scimitar (23 chance) or a stack of orcish spears (13 chance).

EvilHack

In EvilHack, Mordor orcs generate with orcish scimitars rather than standard ones, and gain AC bonuses for wearing proper racial equipment like the player and other monsters. They also have poison resistance like player orcs and are capable of entering berserker rages, increasing their damage for that round of attacks but making them likely to hit monsters around them besides their intended target.

References