Black dragon
D black dragon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Breath 1d255 disintegration, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4 |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 460 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -6 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1500 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Disintegration |
| Resistances conveyed | Disintegration resistance (100%) |
|
A black dragon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1161 |
A black dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an adult dragon associated with disintegration. Like all dragons, black dragons are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
Black dragons have a disintegrating breath weapon, a strong bite attack, and two claw attacks, and possess disintegration resistance.
Eating a black dragon corpse or tin always grants disintegration resistance.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Black dragons and other dragons gain the additional extrinsic effects conferred by their scales.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated black dragons are always created hostile. A baby black dragon can grow up into a black dragon.
Hostile black dragons can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell. Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing black dragon scales or black dragon scale mail will turn into black dragons.
Black dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]
Black dragons have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 black dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to 1⁄20 if the dragon was revived.
Strategy
Taking on a black dragon is an especially perilous endeavor, as a character has very few options to protect against their breath weapon: in terms of obtainable properties, the primary recourse is either reflection or disintegration resistance, and the latter is most easily obtained by either eating black dragon meat or wearing its scales. If not reflected or resisted, the disintegration breath affects the target's armor in the order of priority listed below:[2][3]
- Any worn shield.
- Any worn body armor, including cloaks.
- A worn amulet of life saving; this only applies in corner cases where a living monster wearing an amulet has been polymorphed into a form the amulet would not work on, Otherwise, the ray destroys their cloak and shirt if applicable, and the amulet functions as normal.
- The victim in question.
This makes the black dragon incredibly dangerous to engage while within its line-of-fire, especially in hallways and unlit areas such as Fort Ludios, and the rebound can still disintegrate targets if their gear saved them from a direct hit. For characters without reflection, significant care is required during combat: the breath weapon can be avoided either by trying to lure the dragon close, or else using (very) fast speed in order to close the gap while avoiding its line of fire as much as possible. Thankfully, black dragons lack any other resistances, and can be brought down with poison, wands or spells among other options - a wand of cancellation can nullify their breath attack if the character is able to zap them from a safe spot.
Peculiarly, this often means that characters who survive the first few counters with black dragons (if not the very first) have a means of surviving disintegration for the rest of that game unless the property is lost, though this still comes with a few stipulations: the corpse is still a lot for even the hungriest character to wolf down without being interrupted or risking choking in the process, and resistant characters may still want to keep non-reflecting pets from being reduced to ash. Pacifists in particular will want a source of reflection for pets or a means of cancellation to nullify their breath attack, and may even consider genocide to remove the threat altogether.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Black dragons gain drain resistance from their scales, which in theory represents a potential wrinkle for characters with Stormbringer as their main weapon - in practice, most such characters will have no shortage of offensive choices to use against one instead. Black dragons and other large enough monsters can also inflict knockback with their melee attacks, making them exceedingly dangerous to fight near pools or lava and capable of forcing characters back into breath weapon range.
Black dragons are also more desirable targets for characters with disintegration resistance or reflection: monsters can gain intrinsics from corpses, and spare black dragon corpses can be used to give valuable pets a defense for future encounters with them. Black dragon scales are the only non-artifact source of drain resistance, which is valuable to many roles - for example, Healers with black dragon scale mail can prevent the Cyclops from repeatedly draining their experience levels with The Staff of Aesculapius.As a pet
Some characters may keep pet black dragons around as a means to cleave their way through groups of hostile monsters or else wipe out especially powerful single targets, though this typically means the loss of any non-artifact loot from them; artifacts resist disintegration 19⁄20 of the time.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Characters riding on black dragon steeds can use #monster to employ their disintegration breath, making them a slightly more attractive mount option.As a polymorph form
For characters not observing polyselfless conduct, a black dragon polymorph is often employed to evaporate particularly troublesome foes: Monks in particular may consider doing so against Master Kaen to eliminate him from outside his attack range, and Samurai can use the form to kill Ashikaga Takauji without risk of death by bisection. Disintegrating a quest nemesis will not destroy the quest artifact or the Bell of Opening.
History
The black dragon first appears in NetHack 2.3e - in this version, black dragon breath instakills the player, and there is no means of reflection, disintegration resistance, or amulet of life saving, and the temptation of genocide must be balanced with the fact that there is no means to genocide only black dragons; dragons of any color are a guaranteed source of fire resistance, which is absolutely necessary to enter Hell without immediately dying.
NetHack 3.0.0 introduces sources of reflection and tones down the black dragon's breath weapon slightly, and it also becomes possible to genocide black dragons without wiping out any other species, though the addition of other fire resistance sources renders this somewhat moot. From this version to NetHack 3.0.10, including variants based on those versions, polymorphing a black dragon corpse produces regular dragon scale mail. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces sources of disintegration resistance in the black dragon's scales and scale mail, and established the current method of obtaining colored dragon scale mail.
Variants
Many variants alter the black dragon and other dragons to make them more varied and/or threatening.
SLASH'EM
As with most other dragons in SLASH'EM, the black dragon's base level is raised to 18, their difficulty is raised to 25, their AC is boosted to -4, their bite and claw attacks are stronger, and they hit as a +3 weapon. Tame black dragons also have a chance of turning traitor.
Black dragons can appear in dragon lairs and the Wyrm Caves.
NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, the black dragon's speed is raised to 12.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack and DynaHack, all dragons have their breath weapons, resistances, and names randomized each game, allowing any non-chromatic dragon to appear as black - the default disintegration dragon is the sirrush.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, black dragons have their difficulty slightly raised to 21, their effective AC is boosted to -4, and their attacks are made stronger, with an additional 4d10 tailslap attack that they will use once every global turn. Black dragons also gain drain resistance both intrinsically and from their scales, and their breath attack is the only one to not ignore ordinary reflection, instead disenchanting armor by an amount equal to the damage roll; armor in dNetHack and its variants is destroyed upon reaching a low enough negative enchantment.
Black dragons may appear among the court of a throne room ruled by an orc of the ages of stars.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, black dragons are buffed similarly to GruntHack: their attacks are made stronger as in GruntHack and reordered, including the addition of the digestion attack. Black dragons and their scales are also given the ability to passively disintegrate monsters attacking them in melee, with a small chance of disintegrating weapons used to hit them as well; this also applies to heroes attacking while being digested. Most artifacts have the standard 19⁄20 chance of resisting the black dragon's passive effects; Dragonbane and The Hand of Vecna are completely immune to this effect, as are the Sword of Annihilation, the Armor of Retribution, black dragon scales, and black dragon-scaled armor due to their disintegration resistance.
Black dragons in EvilHack are incredibly dangerous to deal with for most heroes: the existing danger of their breath weapon is compounded by their passive's effects, which are best circumvented by using disposable weapons and projectiles or wands and spells in order to dispatch them while at melee range. Fortunately, black dragons do not have any additional resistances, and weapons that are poisoned or have the venom object property can still quickly bring them down; force-fighting via F can be used to suppress additional attacks such as the Monk's kicks and the shield bash from attaining Skilled level in shields. Reflection still prevents instant death from their breath attack, though the target still takes significant damage without enough disintegration resistance.
Black dragons are also no longer the sole source of intrinsic disintegration resistance, and are still one of the best sources by far with their meat granting 1⁄2 (+50%) additional disintegration resistance—50% intrinsic disintegration resistance is the minimum required to avoid instadeath from their breath attack or passive attack and prevent the destruction of worn shields and armor, though a hero will still take significant damage.
Encyclopedia entry
In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."
References
- ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 741
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3678: default case for
ZT_DEATHis used for disintegration breath - ↑ zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3820
