Orcus
& Orcus 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 36 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 3d6 physical, claw 3d4 physical, claw 3d4 physical, spell-casting 8d6 mage, sting 2d4 poisonous |
| Base level | 30 |
| Base experience | 1445 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -6 |
| Base MR | 85 |
| Alignment | -20 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1500 |
| Nutritional value | 500 |
| Size | Huge |
| Resistances | Fire resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
Orcus:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2503 |
- This article is about the demon prince. For the chaotic god of the Undertaker pantheon, see Orcus (god).
Orcus, &, is a unique monster that appears in NetHack. He is a very powerful demon prince that is tied for the fifth-highest monster difficulty with Geryon, and has the seventh-highest base experience in the game. Orcus is capable of flight, can see invisible, has infravision, can be seen via infravision, will pick up weapons, food and other items he comes across, and can follow the hero to other levels if he is adjacent. Orcus is covetous and capable of warping, and desires both the Amulet of Yendor and the Book of the Dead.
Orcus has a weapon attack, two claw attacks, the ability to cast one mage monster spell per round of combat, and a poisonous sting attack. He possesses fire resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, death resistance, and a weakness to silver like all major demons.
Orcus is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if he is somehow digested by another monster.
Contents
Generation
Orcus is always generated hostile, and is not a valid form for genocide or polymorph.
Orcus will always generate meditating on the down stair of his lair in Gehennom at level creation, unless he has been generated elsewhere or his lair has a bones level loaded.
Orcus always generates with a wand of death.
Orcus never leaves a corpse upon death.
Strategy
For heroes without magic resistance, Orcus poses a dual threat of instadeath through his wand of death and the touch of death spell—reflection can deflect rays from the former, but cannot protect against the latter. For any hero with magic resistance, Orcus can still deal significant damage via psi bolts and has full access to the rest of the mage spell arsenal, including the standard trouble spells: curse items, summon nasties, destroy armor, and so on. He is fairly slow at 9 speed (or 12 once he casts haste self), but has a strong -6 AC and a very high MR score of 85.
The main priority is often relieving Orcus of his wand without destroying it or letting him waste several charges, especially for heroes that plan to use it later against non-immune threats like the Wizard of Yendor. Orcus can also use his melee attack to gate in major demons, and can even summon Demogorgon or Yeenoghu (the latter of whom can summon Demogorgon in turn)—the possibility of Demogorgon arriving is often the other prime motivator to kill Orcus as fast as possible in either case, or else avoid fighting him directly in melee.
Skipping Orcus is technically possible, though it is more ideal to dispose of him if the hero is at all capable of doing so; for those that cannot avoid fighting him directly, the options to block the up stair and prevent his escape are as follows:
- As with most covetous monsters, use the down stair in Orcus-town while Orcus is adjacent: the up stair is always on the opposite end of the map, and the level is no-teleport. This is most easily arranged by digging down upon reaching the level, then taking the up stair - it is also easier if mapping Gehennom starting from the bottom.
- Create a boulder fort on or near the stair, then get the attention of Orcus, e.g. with a cursed potion of invisibility; missile weapons are the most ideal offense for this strategy, as many spells and wands will be blunted by his 85 MR. Moving a boulder onto the up stair will prevent him from actually using it.
Orcus is not immune to stoning or disintegration, so hitting him with a footrice corpse or egg will instantly kill him, and the breath attack of a black dragon will also wipe him out instantly if he is in the line of fire. Orcus may summon a cockatrice and black dragon with the summon nasties spell, which can be turned against him via conflict, and a tame black dragon can also do the job. Another option is to wield a potion of paralysis and strike with it while wearing a ring of free action, then try to finish Orcus as quickly as possible—this will likely require a few potions if the hero is not fortunate enough to roll long-lasting paralysis. Finally, a Knight on a steed with high luck and Expert skill in lance can potentially joust Orcus to death, with the stun from jousting impeding his escape.
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. Monsters will also avoid using wands if they see that you are immune to them: this means it is easier to preserve the charges of Orcus's wand, but also means that he will start using "proper" attacks on you much sooner.History
Orcus first appears in NetHack 3.0.0, which introduces the demon lords and princes. His lair is introduced in NetHack 3.1.0.
Origin
Orcus is derived from Dungeons & Dragons, which takes the name and general association with undeath from an Etruscan god named Orcus whose domain was the Estrucan and later Roman underworld, and acted as a punisher of broken oaths. As with Hades, Orcus's name was also used for the underworld itself; in later Roman tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater (who inspired the Dispater of Dungeons & Dragons). Like many other deities associated with death and the underworld, his name was used for demons and other underworld beings such as the Dungeons & Dragons demon prince.
Orcus is among the most well-known and mighty demon princes of the Dungeons & Dragons settings - he physically appears as a fat and immense humanoid demon anywhere between 15-20 ft (4.6-6.1 m) in size, with the horned, tusked and decayed skull of a ram for a head; Orcus also has the legs and hooves of a goat, the wings of a bat, and a long and spiny poison-tipped tail. His most iconic artifact by far is the "Wand of Orcus": a skull-topped wand with the power to slay any living being, represented by the literal wand of death he holds in NetHack.
As Prince of the Undead, Orcus seeks to extinguish life throughout all universes, and is at constant war for the Abyss with rivals such as Demogorgon; among the ranks of his armies and followers are zombies, vampires and shades (referred to as shadows). Orcus is one of the Abyssal powers most often worshipped as a deity, and has attained actual divinity once previously: after doing so, he eventually abandoned the war for the Abyss and became lazy and careless, culminating in his death at the hands of the ambitious drow demi-goddess, Kiaransalee. Despite her efforts, Orcus was eventually resurrected by one of his foremost high priests in a blasphemous ritual and took back his wand and the title of Prince of the Undead, resuming his war for the Abyss.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, Orcus has his difficulty raised to 39.
While Orcus is still capable of summoning Demogorgon, each demon lord and prince has their own lair within Gehennom, so all heroes characters will eventually face Demogorgon themselves sooner or later—they will still want to avoid Orcus and/or Yeenoghu springing the demon prince on them unexpectedly.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Orcus is one of the demon princes whose lair can appear as the second Abyss level, and he is heavily buffed compared to NetHack.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, Orcus's lair resides in either Shedaklah or the Abyss.
Orcus has a unique spell list that includes a few exclusive spells and several changes:
- Orcus can cast a blighting spell that inflicts withering similar to Dark Speech.
- He can also cast a disenchanting spell that drains enchantment from weapons and armor, as well as charges from rings, wands and magic tools.
- The summon nasties monster spell cast by Orcus creates undead monsters instead.
- The drain strength, stun and touch of death monster spells bypass player magic resistance.
The archfiends in xNetHack also apply debuffs if they are not killed prior to obtaining the Amulet of Yendor: Orcus in particular inflicts a fluctuating penalty that increases your spellcasting power costs, and characters may randomly fail to write scrolls and spellbooks (including known ones) some of the time.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Orcus is always among the four demon lords and princes whose lairs appear in Gehennom, and he is significantly buffed compared to NetHack.
Encyclopedia entry
Orcus, Prince of the Undead, has a ram's head and a poison
stinger. He is most feared, though, for his powerful magic
abilities. His wand causes death to those he chooses.
