# Ring

Item classes

"&nbsp;Amulets

[&nbsp;Armor

%&nbsp;Comestibles

$&nbsp;Coins

*&nbsp;Gems

!&nbsp;Potions

=&nbsp;Rings

?&nbsp;Scrolls

+&nbsp;Spellbooks

`&nbsp;Statues

(&nbsp;Tools

`&nbsp;Boulders

)&nbsp;Weapons

/&nbsp;Wands

A ring, represented by =, is a type of magical item that appears in NetHack. Rings produce a variety of effects when worn, and each ring always has a randomized appearance.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Description

2.1 Ring hunger

3 Table of rings
4 Charging
5 Strategy

5.1 Eating rings
5.2 Identification

6 FIQHack
7 Encyclopedia entry
8 References

Generation
Rings comprise 3% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon, 5% in containers, 5% on the Rogue level, and 8% in Gehennom. All types of rings are equally likely to be generated.
Of the rings marked as 90% cursed below, the remaining 10% are uncursed. The BUC status of chargeable rings is determined by the following table:

≥&nbsp;+1
+0
≤&nbsp;−1
Total

blessed

15.1%

0.4%

0.2%

15.7%

uncursed

33.3%

1.7%

6.3%

41.3%

cursed

1.6%

0.4%

40.9%

42.9%

All other rings are generated 10% cursed, 90% uncursed, and 0% blessed. Rings of invisibility carried by Nazgul are always cursed.
The initial enchantment of a chargeable ring has an exponentially-weighted probability, but tends to be in the range of −3 to +3.

Description
Rings are worn by using P to put them on, and removed using R; one ring can be worn on each hand. While there is no difference between the left or the right in terms of the ring's effects, a cursed wielded weapon may prevent access to the right finger, and incubi will always place a ring of adornment on a woman's left hand.
All rings have a weight of 3, except for the meat ring (which has a weight of 1). All rings except for the ring of shock resistance have a 1-in-3 chance of exploding when subjected to shock damage.[1]

Ring hunger
Furthermore, with the exception of the meat ring and chargeable rings at +0 charge, worn rings cause an additional nutrition point to be deducted once every 20 turns. This is cumulative—a player wearing two rings will lose 2 additional hunger points every 20 turns. This sense of "ring hunger" is distinct from the additional hunger-causing effects of rings of regeneration, conflict, and hunger, all of which cause a nutrition point to be lost every other turn. The ring of slow digestion prevents ordinary nutrition consumption, but still causes ring hunger.
For a full list of hunger causes and amounts, see the articles on nutrition and foodless.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

A +0 ring of protection now causes ring hunger if it is your only source of extrinsic protection. If you are wearing two rings of protection and the one on your left hand is +0, ring hunger applies to it, even if the right ring is charged.
Table of rings

Ring
Cost
Extrinsic granted
Notes

meat ring
5
None
symbolized by %; never randomly generated

ring of adornment
100
+n charisma
chargeable

ring of hunger
100
hunger
90% generated cursed

ring of protection
100
+n protection
chargeable

ring of protection from shape changers
100
protection from shape changers

ring of stealth
100
stealth

ring of sustain ability
100
sustain ability

ring of warning
100
warning

ring of aggravate monster
150
aggravate monster
90% generated cursed

ring of cold resistance
150
cold resistance

ring of gain constitution
150
+n constitution
chargeable

ring of gain strength
150
+n strength
chargeable

ring of increase accuracy
150
+n to-hit bonus
chargeable

ring of increase damage
150
+n damage bonus
chargeable

ring of invisibility
150
invisibility
cursed if from a Nazgul

ring of poison resistance
150
poison resistance

ring of see invisible
150
see invisible

ring of shock resistance
150
shock resistance

ring of fire resistance
200
fire resistance

ring of free action
200
free action

ring of levitation
200
levitation

ring of regeneration
200
regeneration

ring of searching
200
searching

ring of slow digestion
200
slow digestion

ring of teleportation
200
teleportitis
90% generated cursed

ring of conflict
300
conflict

ring of polymorph
300
polymorphitis
90% generated cursed

ring of polymorph control
300
polymorph control

ring of teleport control
300
teleport control

Charging
Chargeable rings modify one of your attributes by n, where n is the value of the ring's charge, which can be positive or negative. The enchantment of a chargeable ring (i.e., adornment, gain constitution, gain strength, increase accuracy, increase damage, or protection - may be altered by charging, for example with a scroll of charging or the PYEC.
In contrast to most chargeable items, a ring retains its enchantment much like weapons and armor. Blessed charging adds 1 to 3 points of enchantment; cursed charging removes 1 to 2 points; and uncursed charging always adds 1. When a ring with a positive enchantment is charged, it has an x⁄7 chance of exploding (where x is the enchantment prior to charging); rings with enchantments of ≤&nbsp;−5 or ≥&nbsp;+7 will always explode when charged. Therefore, the highest possible enchantment is +9 by charging (and +10 by random generation).
Below are the odds of using blessed scrolls of charging to achieve the enchantment on the top row starting from the enchantment listed in the left column without the ring exploding.

≥&nbsp;+1
≥&nbsp;+2
≥&nbsp;+3
≥&nbsp;+4
≥&nbsp;+5
≥&nbsp;+6
≥&nbsp;+7
≥&nbsp;+8
+9

From +0

100%

95%

83%

60%

43%

26%

11%

3.9%

0.8%

From +1

N/A

86%

78%

62%

38%

24%

12%

3.3%

0.7%

From +2

N/A

N/A

71%

61%

45%

22%

12%

4.2%

0.6%

From +3

N/A

N/A

N/A

57%

46%

31%

10%

4.3%

1.1%

From +4

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

43%

33%

19%

2.9%

0.8%

From +5

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

29%

20%

10%

0.5%

From +6

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

14%

9.5%

4.8%

Strategy
Main article: Ring strategy
Rings have various applications beyond simply wearing them. For example, topaz, sapphire, ruby, steel, diamond, and emerald rings can be used to make slow but semi-permanent engravings. Since this is dependent on the appearance rather than the function of the ring, it can be done even if the ring isn't identified.

Eating rings
Main article: Eating jewelry
Eating rings is a way to permanently obtain the effects granted by wearing some rings - however, this is only possible for rings of metal or wood. See that article for more information.

Identification
Main article: Sink#Identifying rings with a sink
When a ring is dropped on top of a sink, you will get a message that can help you identify the ring. Since the ring is usually lost in the process, this is best done with rings that you have multiples of. If you are on the brink of starvation and have several unidentified rings, you may consider giving up all of them to a sink - the ring of slow digestion is not lost when dropped down the drain.

FIQHack
In FIQHack monsters can wear rings.  Also, you can retrieve rings from sinks by destroying the sink and digging a pit beneath it.

Encyclopedia entry

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

[ The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ] 

References

↑ zap.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 4606: destroy_item

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