Wand of draining (SLASH'EM)
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | draining |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 175 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | beam |
| Maximum charges | 8 |
| Monster use | May be used offensively by monsters. |
The wand of draining is a wand that appears in SLASH'EM.
Contents
Generation
Wands of draining can be randomly generated, and make up 3⁄200 (1.5%) of all randomly generated wands[1]. Monsters eligible for an offensive item can be given a wand of draining, provided their difficulty is greater than 6.[2].
Grund's Stronghold can potentially generate with two wands of draining, each with a 40% chance. Additionally, the Guild of Disgruntled Adventurers is notorious for generating many wands of draining: they are not actually guaranteed, but every player monster there is given d3 offensive items[3], making wands of draining a very common sight there.
Necromancers are guaranteed to start with a wand of draining. Wizards may also be given a wand of draining as their random wand.
Description
The wand of draining has the same effect as the spellbook of drain life:
- When cast against a monster, the wand subtracts d8 hit points from its target's current HP, and then subtracts the same d8 hit points from its target's max HP and HP, and reduces their hit dice by one, effectively giving it a damage of d8 × 2. Monsters passing a monster magic resistance check only take d4 damage from their current HP and no damage to their max HP, while those who are drain resistant take no damage at all.
- When cast against the hero, it simply drains a level, similar to a monster's drain life attack. Drain resistance nullifies its effect entirely.
- Monsters or heroes who would be drained to level 0/zero hit dice are killed, regardless of HP.
- When cast at an item, it has a 90% chance of reducing any positive enchantment by 1, or draining one charge from chargeable items. This chance is reduced to 10% if the item is an artifact.
Notably, the beam from this wand cannot be reflected or stopped by player-style magic resistance. Unlike a wand of striking, it never misses.
Strategy
Counterplay
The wand of draining is single-handedly responsible for making drain resistance a far more important property in SLASH'EM than it is in vanilla.
Early game
Early on, a monster with this wand is a direct threat to one's life: while the wand does little direct damage, monsters zapping this wand can easily drain the hero of all life, as it never misses. Players should treat such monsters as they would any monster with a wand of fire or similar: maneuvering to stay out of the line of fire, fleeing if the monster is something that can stand up to punishment, while (potentially) attempting to kill the monster if it's something weak like a goblin.
Later game
Later on, the wand represents a major strategic threat: a character at XL15 is unlikely to be killed by a single monster with a wand of draining, but the experience levels can be very difficult to regain. It is for this reason that virtually all heroes need a source of drain resistance. Fortunately, one is guaranteed, light, and highly desirable otherwise: the Hand of Vecna, found on the Chaotic Quest. Unfortunately, to get drain resistance from the Hand, it must be wielded—and as it is completely ineffective as a weapon, the player must come up with some other way to deal with the monster with the wand of draining. This poses little problem for magic users, but melee characters will be forced to choose one of several options:
- Swap in a better source of drain resistance before unwielding the Hand.
- Take the monster down with offensive wands or thrown weapons.
- Simply wait for the monster to exhaust its wand before unwielding the Hand.
Make sure you pick up the wand after you kill the monster: others will gladly pick it up and use it against you. Overall, this wand makes weapons such as Excalibur or Stormbringer highly desirable (note that the Staff of Aesculapius does not provide drain resistance in SLASH'EM), and may even prompt some players to choose a deep dragon scale mail for their ascension kit.
For the hero
A wand of draining is a powerful weapon in the early game. While its damage is notably less than other offensive wands, the fact that it never misses makes it very reliable. Moreover, many high-threat early monsters actually have fairly low HD—meaning the wand is guaranteed to kill them in just a few zaps; even a fearsome soldier ant will normally go down in at most three zaps. Later on, where more monsters have high monster MR or drain resistance, and all monsters have high HP, the wand becomes less appealing as an offensive option. However, it remains very useful for heroes looking to disenchant their +4 armor so they can try to enchant it to +5, as unlike the drain life spell it does not require any magical aptitude. Note that the 90% failure rate makes it impractical to use wands of draining on artifacts.
