# Angel

A Angel 

Difficulty

19

Attacks

Weapon 1d6, weapon 1d6, claw 1d4, magic missile 2d6

A Angel 

Difficulty

19

Attacks

Weapon 1d6, weapon 1d6, claw 1d4, magic missile 2d6

Base level

14

Base experience

485

Speed

10

Base AC

-4

Base MR

55

Alignment

12 (lawful)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

No

Weight

1450

Nutritional value

400

Size

Medium

Resistances

Cold, shock, sleep, poison

Resistances conveyed

None

An Angel:

 can fly.

 has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso.

 can see invisible creatures.

 does not eat. (*)
 is not a valid polymorphable form.

 can follow you to other levels.
 is nasty.
 is strong.

 can pick up weapons and food.

 has infravision.
 can be seen through infravision.
 does not appear in Gehennom.

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line1087

An Angel,[1] A, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the most prominent of the angelic beings. Angels are strong humanoid monsters that are capable of flight, can see invisible, and will follow you to other levels if they are next to you.
Angels possess two weapon attacks, a claw attack and a melee-range magic missile attack that ignores both reflection and half spell damage, but deals no damage if you have magic resistance. The magic missiles they fire at range are similar to those from a wand of magic missile, but can be done at will. Like other monsters with magic missile attacks, Angels have magic resistance; they additionally have resistances to cold, shock, sleep, and poison.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Strategy
3 Variants

3.1 UnNetHack
3.2 SpliceHack

4 Encyclopedia entry
5 Notes
6 References

Generation
1⁄3 of randomly appearing Angels will be minions of a random god from your pantheon and are usually peaceful to co-aligned players, with "renegade" Angel minions being peaceful towards cross-aligned players instead.[1] The remaining Angels are lawful by default. An Angel will never generate in Gehennom.
Several Angels in service of the gods (including Moloch) appear on the Astral Plane - upon reaching this level, if your alignment is sufficiently high and you are not causing conflict, you will obtain a tame guardian Angel.[2] If you are generating conflict when you arrive, or generate conflict later that would affect the Guardian angel, a group of hostile Angels will be generated instead, with the guardian Angel disappearing.[3][4]
Angels are generated with an uncursed erodeproof large shield 3⁄4 of the time, and a shield of reflection otherwise, and their weapon will be a blessed erodeproof long sword, with a 1⁄5 chance of the sword being either Demonbane or Sunsword if that artifact has not been generated.[5] The tame guardian Angel you get when entering the Astral Plane has their level, armor and weapon enchantments boosted:[6] their weapon is blessed and has its enchantment raised by 1-4 points if it is under +4, and they will be given an amulet of reflection if they do not get a shield of reflection.
Angels are an invalid form for polymorph, and do not leave a corpse upon death.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Demonbane is now a mace, so Angels can only receive Sunsword.
Strategy
Angels have a solid AC of -4 augmented by their shield, and their magic missile attack can be quite fearsome in melee if you lack reflection; the attack also grants them magic resistance that makes a wand of death completely ineffective. The 1⁄4 chance of a shield of reflection can neuter other attack wands and ray-type spells as well, and the rest of them are much less effective due to the Angel's MR score of 55. Fire Brand and Stormbringer are among the best weapon choices when fighting Angels in melee; for viable ranged spells, the spell of fireball at Skilled or higher can do significant damage.
On the Astral Plane, you may have trouble mustering the necessary power to cast spells like fireball repeatedly while you are carrying the Amulet of Yendor; in addition, it is wisest to find your high altar as soon as possible, so a footrice corpse and a wand of teleportation will be preferable in that scenario. If you wish to avoid generating further hostile angels, remove any sources of conflict before entering the Astral Plane and do not generate conflict until after your Guardian angel has died - though its 55 MR means that conflict may not provoke it to leave for several turns, this is generally unreliable for purposes of avoidance.

Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Angels have a mutual grudge with demons, and they will attack each other on sight.

SpliceHack
Main article: Angel (starting race)
SpliceHack previously had Angels as a starting race, but they were later removed.

Encyclopedia entry

He answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed
is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed
are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the
children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the
devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels.  As therefore the weeds are gathered and
burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
[...]  So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels
shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
[ The Gospel According to Matthew, 13:37-42, 49-50 ]

 

Notes
^&nbsp; While "angel" is a common noun in English, in the NetHack source code (and thus the game) it is capitalized, and this article reflects that.
References

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1355

↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 460

↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 431

↑ src/dogmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 944

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 326

↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 500