The dragon resistances in NetHack 3.3.0

by Dylan O'Donnell

There are nine basic colours of dragon in NetHack 3.3.0. These breathe eight different types of dragonbreath; a resistance can be acquired (either intrinsic or extrinsic) to each of these types, and these are therefore sometimes referred to as the "dragon resistances". This spoiler discusses how to acquire these resistances and the protection they give.

acid resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  an alchemy smock.
• Being polymorphed into:
  spotted or ochre jelly, (baby) yellow dragon, green mold, black naga (hatchling), or any of bmyP.

protects against

• Acid attacks of ochre jellies, *yellow dragons, black nagas, Juiblex, and the *Chromatic Dragon.
• *Passive acid attacks of acid blobs, spotted and ochre jellies, and green molds.
  
• Damage from eating acidic corpses.
  
• Damage from quaffing potions of acid.
  * = may still corrode armour.

cold resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  white dragon scales or scale mail, or a ring of cold resistance.
• Eating:
  gelatinous cube, winter wolf (cub), freezing sphere, blue jelly, white dragon, brown mold, frost giant, gray ooze, brown or black pudding, ice troll, yeti, flesh golem, or the Chromatic Dragon; ring of cold resistance.
• Polymorphing into:
  gelatinous cube, winter wolf (cub), freezing sphere, blue jelly, ice vortex, Aleax, (baby) white dragon, silver dragon, earth elemental, brown mold, frost giant, ice troll, xorn, yeti, flesh or iron golem, ice devil, or any of yLMPWZ.
• Reaching:
  XL 1 as Valkyrie; XL 13 as Monk.
• Wielding:
  Frost Brand.
• Granted when crowned. May be lost by night-time gremlin attack.

protects against

• *Cold attacks of winter wolf (cub)s, freezing spheres, lynxes, ice vortices, silver and white dragons, all liches, ice trolls, ice devils, Asmodeus, and the Chromatic Dragon.
• Passive cold attacks of blue jellies and brown molds.
• Damage from Frost Brand's cold attack.
• *Damage from wands of cold and the cone of cold spell.
• Reduces slipping on ice.
  * = may still freeze potions.

disintegration resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  black dragon scales or scale mail.
• Eating:
  black dragon or the Chromatic Dragon.
• Polymorphing into:
  energy vortex, black or yellow light, (baby) black dragon.

protects against

• Disintegration attacks of black dragons and the Chromatic Dragon.
• *Wide-angle disintegration beams of angry gods.
  * = May still disintegrate armour.

fire resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  red dragon scales or scale mail, or a ring of fire resistance.
• Eating:
  fire ant, gelatinous cube, pyrolisk, hell hound (pup), red dragon, red mold, fire giant, red naga (hatchling), gray ooze, flesh golem, the Wizard of Yendor, salamander, the Chromatic Dragon, Ixoth, or Lord Surtur; ring of fire resistance.
• Polymorphing into:
  fire ant, gelatinous cube, pyrolisk, hell hound (pup), flaming sphere, steam or fire vortex, black or yellow light, (baby) red dragon, fire elemental, red mold, fire giant, master lich, arch-lich, red naga (hatchling), gray ooze, xorn, flesh or iron golem, horned devil, succubus, incubus, erinys, barbed devil, marilith, vrock, hezrou, bone devil, ice devil, nalfeshnee, pit fiend, balrog, or salamander.
• Reaching:
  XL 11 as Monk; XL 20 as Priest.
• Wielding:
  Fire Brand.
• Carrying:
  The Mitre of Holiness.
• Granted when crowned. May be lost by night-time gremlin attack.

Protects against

• *Fire attacks of fire ants, pyrolisks, hell hound (pup)s, flaming spheres, steam and fire vortices, red dragons, fire elementals, red nagas, salamanders, the Chromatic Dragon and Ixoth.
• Passive fire attacks of fire elementals and red molds,
• Damage from Fire Brand's fire attack.
• *Damage from scrolls and wands of fire, and fireball spell.
• Damage from scalding hot water from a sink and lit potions of oil.
• *Reduces damage from fire traps and chest fire traps, and lava.
  * = may still boil potions and burn armour, scrolls and spellbooks.

magic resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  gray dragon scales or scale mail, or a cloak of magic resistance.
• Polymorphing into:
  (baby) gray dragon.
• Wielding:
  Magicbane.
• Carrying:
  Orb of Detection, Sceptre of Might, Magic Mirror of Merlin, Eyes of the Overworld, Platinum Yendorian Express Card, or Eye of the Aethiopica.

protects against

• Magic missile attacks of Angels, gray dragons, Yeenoghu, and the Chromatic Dragon.
• Passive magic missile attack of the Oracle.
• Prevents instadeath and reduces damage from death attack of Yeenoghu and Death.
• Damage from wands of striking, magic missiles and death, and spells of force bolt, magic missile and finger of death.
• Scaring and purging attacks of Magicbane.
• Touch of death, destroy armour, drain strength, stunning, psi bolt, confusion, magical wound, and paralysis spells cast by monsters.
• Thrown potions of polymorph.
• Damage from exploding spellbooks.
• Polymorph, antimagic, teleport, and level teleport traps.
• Reduces damage from crossaligned artifact blast.
• Reduces number of objects cursed from a "malignant aura".

poison resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  green dragon scales or scale mail, an alchemy smock, a ring of poison resistance, or an amulet versus poison.
• Eating:
  killer or queen bee, soldier ant, giant beetle, quivering blob, gremlin, homunculus, quasit, tengu, blue jelly, white or gray or black unicorn, xan, green dragon, brown or yellow or red mold, shrieker, violet fungus, gray ooze, black or brown pudding, snake, water moccasin, pit viper, cobra, flesh golem, nurse, Medusa, the Wizard of Yendor, jellyfish, the Chromatic Dragon, Master Kaen, or any of csN; amulet versus poison; ring of poison resistance.
• Polymorphing into:
  killer or queen bee, soldier ant, giant beetle, werejackal, werewolf, wererat, gremlin, manes, homunculus, lemure, quasit, tengu, blue jelly, rabid rat, white or gray or black unicorn, couatl, Aleax, vampire bat, (baby) green dragon, air or earth or fire or water elemental, brown or yellow or red mold, shrieker, violet fungus, quantum mechanic, snake, water moccasin, pit viper, cobra, horned devil, succubus, incubus, erinys, barbed devil, marilith, vrock, hezrou, bone devil, ice devil, nalfeshnee, pit fiend, balrog, jellyfish, or any of bcksvxyLMNPVWZ'.
• Reaching:
  XL 1 as Barbarian, Healer or an orc; XL 3 as Monk; XL 20 as Tourist.
• Granted when crowned. May be lost by night-time gremlin attack.

protects against

• Poison attacks of killer and queen bees, soldier ants, quasits, rabid rats, centipedes, giant spiders, scorpions, couatls, vampire bats, green dragons, guardian nagas, snakes, water moccasins, pit vipers, cobras, iron golems, Medusa, erinyes, bone devils, Orcus, Geryon, Baalzebub, jellyfish, the Chromatic Dragon, and the Master Assassin.
• Effects of eating poisonous corpses: killer or queen bee, soldier ant, giant beetle, werejackal, werewolf, wererat, gremlin, homunculus, rabid rat, giant spider, scorpion, xan, vampire bat, (baby) green dragon, yellow mold, green slime, quantum mechanic, snake, water moccasin, pit viper, cobra, Medusa, jellyfish, salamander, the Chromatic Dragon, Scorpius, and all k.
• Damage from stinking clouds.
• Prevents instakill and reduces damage from poisoned weapons and poison arrow/dart traps, poison-spike pits, and poison gas/needle chest traps.
• Reduces damage from "contaminated water" from a sink.
• Reduces effects of potions of sickness and contact-poisoned spellbooks.

shock resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  blue dragon scales or scale mail, or a ring of shock resistance.
• Eating:
  gelatinous cube, blue dragon, storm giant, black or brown pudding, flesh golem, electric eel, or the Chromatic Dragon; ring of shock resistance.
• Polymorphing into:
  gelatinous cube, shocking sphere, energy vortex, grid bug, black or yellow light, Aleax, (baby) blue dragon, storm giant, arch-lich, black or brown pudding, green slime, flesh or iron golem, or electric eel.
• Reaching:
  XL 15 as Monk.

protects against

• *Electricity attacks of shocking spheres, energy vortices, grid bugs, blue dragons, electric eels, and the Chromatic Dragon.
• Passive electricity attacks of energy vortices.
• Damage from Mjollnir's electricity attack.
• *Damage from wands of lightning.
• Lightning bolts from angry gods.
• *Electricity traps on chests.
• Reduces damage from electric-chair thrones.
  * = may still destroy wands and rings.

sleep resistance

acquired by

• Wearing:
  orange dragon scales or scale mail.
• Eating:
  gelatinous cube, homunculus, orange dragon, flesh golem, elf, Woodland-elf, Green-elf, Grey-elf, elf-lord, Elvenking, or the Chromatic Dragon.
• Polymorphing into:
  manes, homunculus, lemure, Aleax, vampire bat, (baby) orange dragon, Woodland-elf, Green-elf, Grey-elf, elf-lord, Elvenking, salamander, or any of bvyLMVWZ'
• Reaching:
  XL 1 as Monk; XL 4 as an elf.

protects against

• Sleep attacks of homunculi, orange dragons, Nazgul, and the Chromatic Dragon.
• Wands and spells of sleep.
• Potions of sleeping and amulets of restful sleep.
• Sleeping gas traps.

Last changed: March 21, 2000