# Vortex
The members of the vortex monster class will all engulf you and cause an appropriate type of damage, except dust vortices, which will blind you, and fog clouds, which will do physical damage. Once you can survive their engulfing long enough to get yourself expelled with your horn or drum, their greatest danger is transporting you into lava or into a black dragon's disintegration blast.

Contents

1 Types

1.1 Fog cloud
1.2 Dust vortex
1.3 Ice vortex
1.4 Energy vortex
1.5 Steam vortex
1.6 Fire vortex

2 Body parts
3 Messages
4 Encyclopedia entry
5 UnNetHack
6 References

Types
Fog cloud

v fog cloud 

Difficulty

4

Attacks

Engulf 1d6

v fog cloud 

Difficulty

4

Attacks

Engulf 1d6

Base level

3

Base experience

38

Speed

1

Base AC

0

Base MR

0

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

2 (Quite rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Sleep, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

A fog cloud:

 can fly.

 can flow under doors.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not have a solid form.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line856

Fog clouds offer a good opportunity for weapon training. While you are engulfed, your attacks are guaranteed to hit, avoiding the normal trouble non-warrior roles can have with the −4 Unskilled to-hit penalty. Despite messages like "You are laden with moisture and can barely breathe", they are not very dangerous because of their low speed. Pacifists might have problems with them if they can't move away since they mustn't destroy them.
As of NetHack 3.6.0, vampires and vampire lords can transform into fog clouds; they will rise up in their normal form when killed.

Dust vortex

v dust vortex 

Difficulty

6

Attacks

Engulf 2d8 blind

v dust vortex 

Difficulty

6

Attacks

Engulf 2d8 blind

Base level

4

Base experience

54

Speed

20

Base AC

2

Base MR

30

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

2 (Quite rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Sleep, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

A dust vortex:

 can fly.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line863

As with fog clouds, dust vortices offer a good chance for beginning characters to train their weapon skills, particularly up to NetHack 3.6.0 since they dealt no physical damage. In NetHack 3.6.1, dust vortices are able to deal 1d6 physical damage if their attack fails to engulf you because you had been engulfed by them recently.[1]

Ice vortex

v ice vortex 

Difficulty

7

Attacks

Engulf 1d6 cold

v ice vortex 

Difficulty

7

Attacks

Engulf 1d6 cold

Base level

5

Base experience

74

Speed

20

Base AC

2

Base MR

30

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Cold, Sleep, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

An ice vortex:

 can fly.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

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

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line870

Energy vortex

v energy vortex 

Difficulty

9

Attacks

Engulf 1d6 shock, Engulf drain energy 2d6, Passive (level + 1)d4 shock

v energy vortex 

Difficulty

9

Attacks

Engulf 1d6 shock, Engulf drain energy 2d6, Passive (level + 1)d4 shock

Base level

6

Base experience

101

Speed

20

Base AC

2

Base MR

30

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Shock, Sleep, Disintegrate, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

An energy vortex:

 can fly.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not have a solid form.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line879

The energy vortex is a very dangerous monster to encounter for players who lack shock resistance, possessing both passive and active shock attacks. The passive attack is only triggered by melee attacks; ranged attacks, even when engulfed, are perfectly fine. This includes repeatedly throwing and picking up your melee weapon, if you have no more powerful alternative. It is sometimes necessary to use wands to survive an unfortunate energy vortex encounter. Normally, neither engulfing nor passive shock attacks will destroy your rings or wands; however, after the vortex releases you, its engulfing attack gets temporarily (for 1-2 turns) converted to a shocking touch attack, which can explode your items.
While engulfed, the energy vortex will drain your power 75% of the time, similar to an anti-magic field. If it drains your power below zero, it will reduce your maximum power. This can be particularly devastating if you can't kill it quickly; it can drain your max power all the way down to zero. Cancelling the vortex will prevent this, but magic cancellation will not, nor will magic resistance.
The energy drain attack was implemented in NetHack 3.6.0, where it was 4d6, making it even more dangerous.

Steam vortex

v steam vortex 

Difficulty

9

Attacks

Engulf 1d8 fire

v steam vortex 

Difficulty

9

Attacks

Engulf 1d8 fire

Base level

7

Base experience

112

Speed

22

Base AC

2

Base MR

30

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

2 (Quite rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Fire, Sleep, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

A steam vortex:

 can fly.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not have a solid form.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

 can be seen through infravision.

 appears only in Gehennom.

 never leaves a corpse.

Reference

monst.c#line888

Fire vortex

v fire vortex 

Difficulty

10

Attacks

Engulf 1d10 fire, passive (level + 1)d4 fire

v fire vortex 

Difficulty

10

Attacks

Engulf 1d10 fire, passive (level + 1)d4 fire

Base level

8

Base experience

142

Speed

22

Base AC

2

Base MR

30

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

0

Nutritional value

0

Size

Huge

Resistances

Fire, Sleep, Poison, Stoning

Resistances conveyed

None

A fire vortex:

 can fly.

 does not breathe.

 has no eyes.

 has no limbs.
 has no head.
 is mindless.

 does not have a solid form.

 does not eat. (*)
 is neither male nor female.
 is normally generated hostile.

 can be seen through infravision.

 appears only in Gehennom.

 never leaves a corpse.

 gives out light.

Reference

monst.c#line897

Body parts
Vortex also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of vortices. It affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows:[2]

Body part[3]

Description

Arm

Region

Eye

Eye

Face

Front

Finger

Minor current

Fingertip

Minor current

Foot

Lower current

Hand

Swirl

Handed

Swirled

Head

Central core

Leg

Lower current

Light headed

Addled

Neck

Center

Spine

Currents

Toe

Edge

Hair

Currents

Blood

Life force

Lung

Center

Nose

Leading edge

Stomach

Interior

Messages
"You are freezing to death!"
You have been engulfed by an ice vortex.
Encyclopedia entry

Swirling clouds of pure elemental energies, the vortices are
thought to be related to the larger elementals.  Though the
vortices do no damage when touched, they are noted for being
able to envelop unwary travellers.  The hapless fool thus
swallowed by a vortex will soon perish from exposure to the
element the vortex is composed of.

 

UnNetHack
UnNetHack included the anti-matter vortex in versions prior to 4.0.0.

References

↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.1, line 302

↑ src/polyself.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 1580

↑ include/hack.h in NetHack 3.6.0, line 320

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