# Spellbook of haste self

spellbook of  +   haste self   

Appearance

random

Abundance

3.36%

Base price

300 zm

Weight

50

Turns to read

8

Ink to write

15–29

Spell type

escape

Level

3

Power cost

15 Pw

Direction

non-directional  

Equivalent

potion of speed

Special for

barbarian

In NetHack, the spellbook of haste self you to learn the spell of haste self. It is a level 3 escape spell, and the spellbook takes 10 actions to read. It is the special spell for Barbarians.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Effects
3 Strategy
4 History
5 Variants

5.1 SLASH'EM
5.2 FIQHack

6 External links

Generation
Roughly 3.36% of randomly-generated spellbooks will be a spellbook of haste self.

Effects
When cast, the spell gives you very fast speed temporarily, and can be cast cumulatively to increase the number of turns the effect lasts for. At Unskilled or Basic, the haste effect lasts for 100–109 (more) turns - at Skilled or Expert, it lasts for 160–169 (more) turns.
Unlike a potion of speed, it will not heal wounded legs, but still exercises dexterity when cast.

Strategy
While most NetHack players achieve very fast speed by wearing speed boots, if you need both very fast speed and jumping (e.g., on the Astral Plane), you can combine this spell with a pair of jumping boots. A potion of speed can be just as effective for the short duration required and requires no casting aptitude, but the spell only requires knowledge of it and the ability to cast it reliably.
A player with the Eye of the Aethiopica can stand in place for a while and cast haste self dozens of times, obtaining enough turns of speed to last the rest of the game - this allows them to free up an armor slot for a different pair of boots, e.g. water walking boots, and the process can be easily repeated by the time it wears off.
Note that anything that removes speed (such as the slowing attack of a shade or stoning attack of a footrice) will remove all accumulated turns of speed.
Despite being their special spell, haste self is difficult for most Barbarians to use due to their spellcasting penalty - while the spell is possible to cast with sufficient skill and a robe, they may instead opt to combine speed boots with jumping, which is easier to cast.

History
The spellbook of haste self and its spell first appear in NetHack 1.3d.
In NetHack 3.6.2, all roles were given the ability to advance to at least Basic in their special spell's school, making it more plausible for Barbarians to cast haste self.

Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the spell of haste self is moved to the body spells school.
There is a well-hidden chest in the northwestern corner of Grund's Stronghold that can contain a spellbook of haste self - the book is always accompanied by an amulet of magical breathing.

FIQHack
In FIQHack, the spellbook of haste self is replaced with the spellbook of speed monster.

External links
NetHack Spells spoiler

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.