# Disintegration resistance
Disintegration resistance is a resistance property that occurs in NetHack, and protects against the effects of disintegration.

Contents

1 Effects
2 Sources
3 Strategy
4 Messages

Effects
While you possess disintegration resistance, the breath attack of a black dragon, and the wide-angle disintegration beam of an angry god have no effect. Disintegration resistance also protects your shield, cloak, body armor, and shirt from the effects of black dragon breath.

Sources
Disintegration resistance can only be obtained through the following methods:

Eating the corpse or tin of a black dragon (100% chance) or the Chromatic Dragon (1⁄6 or ~17% chance)
Wearing black dragon scales or black dragon scale mail.
Polymorphing into a D&nbsp;black dragon, D&nbsp;baby black dragon, y&nbsp;yellow light, y&nbsp;black light, or v&nbsp;energy vortex.
Strategy
The most obvious reason to obtain disintegration resistance is to prevent instadeaths from disintegration. In practice, though, this can be achieved by obtaining reflection (which also completely protects against disintegration breath) and being careful not to anger the gods. However, it is still a good idea to seek the intrinsic if possible, in case a black dragon attacks you while you are nurse dancing or polymorphing yourself.

Messages
You feel very firm.
You gained disintegration resistance from eating an appropriate corpse.
You feel totally together, man.
As above, while hallucinating.