Wraith

W wraith
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Touch 1d6 drain life

W wraith
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Touch 1d6 drain life
Base level	6
Base experience	120
Speed	12
Base AC	4
Base MR	15
Alignment	-6 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	2 (Quite rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	0
Nutritional value	0
Size	Medium
Resistances	cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance.
Resistances conveyed	gain level
A wraith: can fly. does not need to breathe. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. does not have a solid form. does not eat. (*) is undead. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels.
Reference	NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 1893

For the monster class, see wraith (monster class).

A wraith, W, is a type of monster that appears in Nethack. The wraith is a type of unsolid undead monster that is the namesake of the wraith monster class. Wraiths are capable of flight, and can follow a hero to other levels if they are adjacent to them.

A wraith has a life-draining touch attack, and possesses cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, and stoning resistance.

A wraith corpse has no weight, so it cannot be made into a tin with a tinning kit and tins of wraith "meat" will not generate. Sacrificing a wraith corpse has +1 value if the hero is not chaotic. A hero eating a wraith corpse gains an experience level, but the corpse has the same ¹⁄₇ chance of being rotten as any other food item, which causes it to instantly "rot away completely". A monster that eats a wraith corpse gains a monster level (up to a limit of its base level plus 15) and has its HP adjusted accordingly.

Generation

Randomly generated wraiths are always created hostile.

Wraiths are quite common in graveyards, where each monster placed in the room during level creation has a based ¹⁄₅ chance (20%) of being a wraith.

The wraith is the second quest monster for Priests, and makes up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ monsters that are randomly generated in the Priest quest. Several wraiths are also generated on floors below the home level of the Priest quest at level creation: one is generated on the upper filler levels, three are generated on the lower filler level(s), and eight are generated on the goal level. The Priest quest also has several undead-filled graveyards that include wraiths among their ranks, and they may also appear among the monsters that are part of the second quest class for the branch and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated there. The random W that is generated on the goal level of the Priest quest during level creation may be a wraith.

Wraiths also appear among the random W that are part of the second quest monster class for Wizards and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters that are randomly generated on the Wizard quest. The single random W that is generated on the home level of the Wizard quest during level creation may be a wraith.

Reading the Book of the Dead while it is cursed, or else while improperly performing the invocation ritual on the vibrating square, will raise the dead and possibly summon wraiths.

Wraiths can be generated with a random offensive item, miscellaneous item and/or defensive item.

A wraith leaves a corpse ¹⁄₂ of the time upon death.

If a hero is killed by a member of the wraith monster class and leaves bones, they will rise from the grave as a wraith rather than a traditional ghost.

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.

As of commit 3c421da7, a wraith created from a hero killed by a W will have the same intrinsics as the former character.

Strategy

Individually, wraiths are not especially strong but can be quite annoying due to their ability to drain levels: most heroes will not have a means of reliably preventing this at the point they first encounter one, unless they obtain Excalibur or Stormbringer early. Heroes that lack a source of drain resistance should engage them from range if at all possible and obtain as high of a magic cancellation rating as they can manage for their current build (ideally MC3)—a hero that loses a level to a wraith can quickly regain it by either killing the wraith or obtaining experience through another source, such as eating a tripe ration.

The level gained from eating a wraith's corpse makes them a popular choice for farming and reverse genocide, and the corpses provide zero nutrition: this heavily reduces the risk of overeating, though an oversatiated hero can still choke on them, and they cannot be tinned as a result. Players fortunate enough to have an ice box on hand can keep them fresh for later if necessary, but are generally better off eating them as soon as possible. A hero discovering the bones of another hero killed by a wraith or a monster in the same class will have to contend with the tougher spirit of that hero, as wraiths can fly, use wands and read scrolls on top of draining levels.

Most players will resort to hunting wraiths in order to meet the level requirement for their Quest, possibly in addition to finding or making potions of gain level. Wraiths represent one of the many temptations for a Monk in particular to break vegan or even vegetarian conduct, as they may want the additional levels in order to access their quest or else obtain additional intrinsics.

Wraith farming

Like other undead, wraiths killed on a level with a graveyard (or the Castle, which counts as a graveyard level for this purpose) are much less likely to leave a corpse, with a ¹⁄₁₈ chance if killed by the hero or ¹⁄₆ if killed by anything else. Players looking to obtain wraith corpses will often have wraiths follow their hero to another level before dispatching it, either by using a stair or else by means such as level teleporting: The Eye of the Aethiopica is one of the best options for this purpose with its branchporting invoke effect, and the cursed Book of the Dead can also be used for wraith farming (though it will also mark the level it is used on as a graveyard).

Wizards and Priests in particular can repeatedly cast create monster (or use a wand of create monster) on their quest's home level: Priests will generate far more wraiths on their quest overall, but due to every level in the branch being a graveyard level, they must lure them outside of the branch for the best chance of obtaining corpses—Wizards that retrieve the Eye gain access to branchporting and fast energy regeneration that makes farming much easier, and some Wizards may consider a strategic genocide of xorns to generate more wraiths for losing out on the xorn polyform's benefits (primarily phasing and eating jewelry). Other heroes aiming to maximize their level via wraith corpses may consider genocide of other graveyard monsters, such as zombies and vampires.

Either drain resistance or MC3 is highly recommended for transporting wraiths, Magic cancellation will not completely prevent level drain, but at worst decreases the odds that a second level is drained before the character can regain the previous level, e.g. by killing the wraith. Alternatively, graveyard wraiths can be saved to raise the level of a pet purple worm, whose digestion attack is not subject to the odds of a corpse dropping—a high-level purple worm can make short work of various late-game monsters up to and including the Wizard of Yendor. This does not work for heroes polymorphed into purple worms, since the gained experience levels will be lost upon polymorphing again or returning to normal.

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.

Per commit 1a2d844a, digestion attacks will not affect wraiths and other unsolid monsters—though purple worms can still eat wraith corpses as normal, this significantly raises the difficulty of "overleveling" a pet purple worm to quickly dispatch late-game hostiles.

History

The wraith first appears in Hack 1.21, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0.

Wraiths are sometimes used to drain for gain in NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions.

Origin

"Wraith" is a Scottish word that describes a ghost, spectre or apparition: the word has no commonly accepted etymology and first appears in Scottish Romanticist literature, and in 18th- and 19th-century Scottish literature it also applied to aquatic spirits. The term has since acquired the more general or figurative sense of "portent" or "omen". An association with the verb "writhe" was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien, whose use of the word in naming the creatures known as the Ringwraiths (or Nazgul) has influenced its later usage in fantasy literature.

The wraiths of Nethack originate from Dungeons & Dragons, where they are undead creatures born of evil and darkness. A wraith appears as a sinister, spectral figure robed in darkness and often lacking distinct features or appendages, save for glowing red eyes—they despise living things and light sources, particularly natural sunlight which can render them powerless. Wraiths can drain the life from living creatures, turning them into new wraiths upon death, and can only be harmed by either silver or enchanted weaponry similar to wights.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, wraiths need a +1 weapon or better to be hit, and have a ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with robes.

Wraith corpses also have different effects if eaten:

Possibility	Effect	Message
10%	You lose experience.	"You feel that was a bad idea."
10%	Your maximum HP and Pw decreases.	"You don't feel so good ..."
20%	Nothing happens.	"You feel something strange for a moment."
10%	Your maximum HP and Pw increases.	"You feel physically and mentally stronger!"
50%	You gain experience.	"You feel that was a smart thing to do."

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the lower filler levels of the Binder quest place a wraith in each of the three non-graveyard rooms at level creation, and wraiths may naturally appear in the graveyards themselves.

Eight wraiths appear on the goal level of the Pirate quest at level creation.

In the Mordor Ruins variant of the Chaos Quest, several wraiths can appear in the Elven Forest at level creation, and one may appear on the Mordor Wall at level creation.

Wraiths can appear in the court of a throne room ruled by a vampire lord or vampire lady.

TNNT (the game)

In TNNT (the game), The DevTeam Office is a popular location to branchport wraiths to when farming.

Encyclopedia entry

Immediately, though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, three advancing. In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel. Their eyes fell on him and pierced him, as they rushed towards him. Desperate, he drew his own sword, and it seemed to him that it flickered red, as if it was a firebrand. Two of the figures halted. The third was taller than the others: his hair was long and gleaming and on his helm was a crown. In one hand he held a long sword, and in the other a knife; both the knife and the hand that held it glowed with a pale light. He sprang forward and bore down on Frodo.

[ The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ]