Extinctionist FAQ

The following is a guide for the Extinctionist "challenge" for vanilla Nethack 3.4.0. Insert obvious spoiler warning here. Also, a lot of rot about monster creation that I haven't seen elsewhere.

(Guide version 0.03, last changed: 2002-10-02 [minor errata])

Corrections and suggestions are always appreciated ^_^;;
Hojita Discordia


Table of Contents

1: Extinctionist?

2: Monster Overview

3: Monster Table

4: Specific Monsters

5: General Strategy

6: References and Thanks


1: Extinctionist?

1.1 What in the world is it?

In brief, extinctionist behavior is attempting to eliminate every inhabitent of the dungeon (as much as is possible) such that none of them ever come back.

Thus, this guide will both cover the extinction of monsters as well both a large variety and a large number of them.

1.2: What's so challenging about that?

Not much, really. It requires attention to detail and a lot of patience. Scratch that. A TON of patience. That in and of itself is challenge worthy.

1.3: Playing Style

The first "extinctionist" ascension on r.g.r.n. (at least from what I can tell) seems to have been by Matthew Bourland in 2000, who although he didn't actually kill everything, certainly genocided all (at the time) 256 monster types that were genocidable. Then, after that he extincted all other randomly generated monsters. On the other hand, having 120 kills in every category is perhaps more noteworthy (or foolhardy?) than simply genociding every monster.

I'd recommend a dose of both. Kill them until they're dead and then genocide them for good measure!

Other people attempt to rack up as many kills as possible. 255 is the max "recorded" kills that Nethack will tell you about when you die/win for any given monster. Thus, some people will kill everything in the game as many times as possible. This leads to 255 kills for things like Rodney, Demogorgon, Death, and sometimes the quest nemesis.

Some people attempt for a non-creationist extinctionist in which they never explicitly created (bag of tricks, foo of create monster, reverse genocide, etc...) any monsters via items or spells.

Some people attempt to kill as large a variety of monsters as well. Some monsters are extremely unlikely to ever be created in the game (woodchucks) and some are very unlikely unless you are specifically baiting them (Demogorgon). Other players don't leave anything standing in the dungeon (quest leader, quest friendlies, shopkeepers, priests, the Oracle, and sometimes even Izchak). It is to note that killing Izchak is certainly a point of contention with many people and is definitely not generally done, in respect for Izchak.

As you might guess, there is no consistent definition as to what an "extinctionist" ascension is. At the very least, it requires that all randomly generated monsters have been killed to the max that they can or genocided. Everything else is just icing.

2: Monster Overview

2.1: Monster Creation

Nethack differentiates between when a monster has been genocided (such as via a scroll of genocide or a throne) and when it has been extincted. Genocided monsters cannot ever be in the game again. Period. End of story. Extinct monsters may still be created in the game, but only by methods which do not respect extinction. Sadly, not every monster can be genocided or extincted.

A monster is "extinct" when 120 have been born. When this condition occurs, no more of that monster will be randomly generated or made by any other method which respects extinction. "Randomly generated monsters are those created in the usual course of the game when the game wants to create an unspecified monster of an appropriate difficulty for your character level and dungeon depth (rather than a specific monster to suit the requirements of a game effect, special room, or predefined level)." --Dylan O'Donnell. Not all monsters can be created in this manner, but those which can are deemed to be "randomly generated monsters."

Some monsters need fewer than 120 to be born before they become extinct. There are only 9 Nazgul, 3 erinys, and 1 of each unique monster that appears in the game.

An interesting note is that peering through the Nethack sources reveals a comment that says that in previous versions (3.2), the behavior for extinction was 120 monsters killed, not 120 born.

Thus, extinction-related behavior can be broken down into four categories. Any given method will either count towards the number of monsters born, or not. If it does, then it is also possible that this method of creation will also respect extinction. It is to note that non-randomly generated monsters will never respect extinction, no matter how they are created or how many have previously been born.

2.2: Actions That Do Not Increment the Born Counter

There are some actions that increment the amount of creatures born for any given creature type. These do not contribute to extinction in any way. These methods include:

2.3: Actions That Respect Extinction

Action that respect extinction will never create monsters that have had more born than the maximum number (generally 120). They will also increment the born counter. Remember that non-randomly generated monsters (excepting djinni and ghosts) can always be created via these methods (when applicable).

2.4: Actions That Don't Respect Extinction

There are some actions that will always create monsters. It is important to realize that although none of these methods will respect extinction, they will all contribute to it. Thus, if you read scrolls of create monster while confused and create 120 or more acid blobs, they will be extinct. However, you will still be able to create more acid blobs via that method.

2.5: Actions That Partially Respect Extinction

There are a few things in Nethack that can create a variety of monsters, some of which count respect extinction and some of which don't. In all cases, the number of monsters born via these methods is incremented. The method is listed first and then indendented is listed the possible kinds of monsters that can be created by that method.

2.6: Non-randomly Generated Monsters

In an effort to be complete, there are some methods which will only create non-randomly generated monsters. These will always work, no matter how many of these monsters have previously been created. This lists only methods of creating monsters, and not all the monsters themselves.

3: Monster Table

3.1: Table Key

There are four types of monsters:

  1. Extinctable
  2. Uniques (but may not always exist)
  3. Non-extinctable, but genocidable
  4. Non-extinctable, non-genocidable

Table Key:

# : Number in the given type
RGn : Randomly generated
Loc? : Location, where to find this monster : Hell, NoHell, or Both
Uni : Unique?
Gen : Genocidable?
Nasty : Summoned as part of summon nasty
Notes : Can clone, or regen back to life

3.2: Table (yeah, Perl!)

TYPE 1: Extinctable

| #   | Name                    | RGn | Loc?   | Uni | Gen |Nasty| Notes |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| 1   | giant ant               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 2   | killer bee              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 3   | soldier ant             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 4   | fire ant                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 5   | giant beetle            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 6   | acid blob               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 7   | quivering blob          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 8   | gelatinous cube         | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 9   | chickatrice             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 10  | cockatrice              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 11  | pyrolisk                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 12  | jackal                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 13  | fox                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 14  | coyote                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 15  | little dog              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 16  | dog                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 17  | large dog               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 18  | dingo                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 19  | wolf                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 20  | warg                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 21  | winter wolf cub         | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 22  | winter wolf             | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 23  | hell hound pup          | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 24  | hell hound              | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 25  | gas spore               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 26  | floating eye            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 27  | freezing sphere         | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 28  | flaming sphere          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 29  | shocking sphere         | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 30  | kitten                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 31  | housecat                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 32  | jaguar                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 33  | lynx                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 34  | panther                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 35  | large cat               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 36  | tiger                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 37  | gremlin                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes | Clone |
| 38  | gargoyle                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 39  | winged gargoyle         | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 40  | hobbit                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 41  | dwarf                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 42  | bugbear                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 43  | dwarf lord              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 44  | dwarf king              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 45  | mind flayer             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 46  | master mind flayer      | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 47  | manes                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 48  | homunculus              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 49  | imp                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 50  | lemure                  | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 51  | quasit                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 52  | tengu                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 53  | blue jelly              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 54  | spotted jelly           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 55  | ochre jelly             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 56  | kobold                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 57  | large kobold            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 58  | kobold lord             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 59  | kobold shaman           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 60  | leprechaun              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 61  | small mimic             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 62  | large mimic             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 63  | giant mimic             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 64  | wood nymph              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 65  | water nymph             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 66  | mountain nymph          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 67  | goblin                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 68  | hobgoblin               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 69  | hill orc                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 70  | Mordor orc              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 71  | Uruk-hai                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 72  | orc shaman              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 73  | orc-captain             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 74  | rock piercer            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 75  | iron piercer            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 76  | glass piercer           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 77  | rothe                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 78  | mumak                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 79  | leocrotta               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 80  | wumpus                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 81  | titanothere             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 82  | baluchitherium          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 83  | mastodon                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 84  | sewer rat               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 85  | giant rat               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 86  | rabid rat               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 87  | rock mole               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 88  | cave spider             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 89  | centipede               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 90  | giant spider            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 91  | scorpion                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 92  | lurker above            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 93  | trapper                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 94  | white unicorn           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 95  | gray unicorn            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 96  | black unicorn           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 97  | pony                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 98  | horse                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 99  | warhorse                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 100 | fog cloud               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 101 | dust vortex             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 102 | ice vortex              | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 103 | energy vortex           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 104 | steam vortex            | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 105 | fire vortex             | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 106 | baby long worm          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 107 | baby purple worm        | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 108 | long worm               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 109 | purple worm             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 110 | grid bug                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 111 | xan                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 112 | yellow light            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 113 | black light             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 114 | zruty                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 115 | couatl                  | Yes | NoHell | No  | No  | Yes |       |
| 116 | Aleax                   | Yes | NoHell | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 117 | Angel                   | Yes | NoHell | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 118 | ki-rin                  | Yes | NoHell | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 119 | Archon                  | Yes | NoHell | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 120 | bat                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 121 | giant bat               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 122 | raven                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 123 | vampire bat             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 124 | plains centaur          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 125 | forest centaur          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 126 | mountain centaur        | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 127 | baby gray dragon        | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 128 | baby silver dragon      | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 129 | baby red dragon         | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 130 | baby white dragon       | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 131 | baby orange dragon      | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 132 | baby black dragon       | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 133 | baby blue dragon        | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 134 | baby green dragon       | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 135 | baby yellow dragon      | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 136 | gray dragon             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 137 | silver dragon           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 138 | red dragon              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 139 | white dragon            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 140 | orange dragon           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 141 | black dragon            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 142 | blue dragon             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 143 | green dragon            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 144 | yellow dragon           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 145 | stalker                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 146 | air elemental           | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 147 | fire elemental          | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | Yes |       |
| 148 | earth elemental         | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 149 | water elemental         | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 150 | lichen                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 151 | brown mold              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 152 | yellow mold             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 153 | green mold              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 154 | red mold                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 155 | shrieker                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 156 | violet fungus           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 157 | gnome                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 158 | gnome lord              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 159 | gnomish wizard          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 160 | gnome king              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 161 | stone giant             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 162 | hill giant              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 163 | fire giant              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 164 | frost giant             | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 165 | storm giant             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 166 | ettin                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 167 | titan                   | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 168 | jabberwock              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 169 | lich                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 170 | demilich                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 171 | master lich             | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 172 | arch-lich               | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 173 | kobold mummy            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 174 | gnome mummy             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 175 | orc mummy               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 176 | dwarf mummy             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 177 | elf mummy               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 178 | human mummy             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 179 | ettin mummy             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 180 | giant mummy             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 181 | red naga hatchling      | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 182 | black naga hatchling    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 183 | golden naga hatchling   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 184 | guardian naga hatchling | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 185 | red naga                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 186 | black naga              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 187 | golden naga             | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 188 | guardian naga           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 189 | ogre                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 190 | ogre lord               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 191 | ogre king               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 192 | gray ooze               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 193 | brown pudding           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  | Clone |
| 194 | black pudding           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  | Clone |
| 195 | green slime             | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 196 | quantum mechanic        | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 197 | rust monster            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 198 | disenchanter            | Yes | Hell   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 199 | garter snake            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 200 | snake                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 201 | pit viper               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 202 | python                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 203 | cobra                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 204 | troll                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  | Regen |
| 205 | ice troll               | Yes | NoHell | No  | Yes | No  | Regen |
| 206 | rock troll              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes | Regen |
| 207 | Olog-hai                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes | Regen |
| 208 | umber hulk              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 209 | vampire                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 210 | vampire lord            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 211 | barrow wight            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 212 | wraith                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 213 | Nazgul                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 214 | xorn                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 215 | monkey                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 216 | ape                     | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 217 | owlbear                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 218 | yeti                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 219 | carnivorous ape         | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 220 | sasquatch               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 221 | kobold zombie           | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 222 | gnome zombie            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 223 | orc zombie              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 224 | dwarf zombie            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 225 | elf zombie              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 226 | human zombie            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 227 | ettin zombie            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 228 | giant zombie            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 229 | ghoul                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 230 | straw golem             | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 231 | paper golem             | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 232 | rope golem              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 233 | gold golem              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 234 | leather golem           | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 235 | wood golem              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 236 | flesh golem             | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 237 | clay golem              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 238 | stone golem             | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 239 | glass golem             | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 240 | iron golem              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | Yes |       |
| 241 | wererat                 | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 242 | werejackal              | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 243 | werewolf                | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 244 | Woodland-elf            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 245 | Green-elf               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 246 | Grey-elf                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 247 | elf-lord                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 248 | Elvenking               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 249 | doppelganger            | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 250 | nurse                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 251 | soldier                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 252 | sergeant                | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 253 | lieutenant              | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 254 | captain                 | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 255 | ghost                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 256 | horned devil            | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 257 | succubus                | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 258 | incubus                 | Yes | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 259 | erinys                  | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 260 | barbed devil            | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 261 | marilith                | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 262 | vrock                   | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 263 | hezrou                  | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 264 | bone devil              | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 265 | ice devil               | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 266 | nalfeshnee              | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 267 | pit fiend               | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 268 | balrog                  | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 269 | djinni                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 270 | sandestin               | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 271 | newt                    | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 272 | gecko                   | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 273 | iguana                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 274 | baby crocodile          | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 275 | lizard                  | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 276 | chameleon               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 277 | crocodile               | Yes | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 278 | salamander              | Yes | Hell   | No  | No  | No  |       |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+

TYPE 2: Unique

| #   | Name                    | RGn | Loc?   | Uni | Gen |Nasty| Notes |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| 1   | Vlad the Impaler        | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 2   | Oracle                  | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 3   | high priest             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 4   | Medusa                  | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 5   | Wizard of Yendor        | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  | Clone |
| 6   | Croesus                 | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 7   | Juiblex                 | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 8   | Yeenoghu                | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 9   | Orcus                   | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 10  | Geryon                  | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 11  | Dispater                | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 12  | Baalzebub               | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 13  | Asmodeus                | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 14  | Demogorgon              | No  | Hell   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 15  | Death                   | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  | Regen |
| 16  | Pestilence              | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  | Regen |
| 17  | Famine                  | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  | Regen |
| 18  | Lord Carnarvon          | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 19  | Pelias                  | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 20  | Shaman Karnov           | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 21  | Hippocrates             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 22  | King Arthur             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 23  | Grand Master            | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 24  | Arch Priest             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 25  | Orion                   | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 26  | Master of Thieves       | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 27  | Lord Sato               | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 28  | Twoflower               | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 29  | Norn                    | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 30  | Neferet the Green       | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 31  | Minion of Huhetotl      | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 32  | Thoth Amon              | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 33  | Chromatic Dragon        | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 34  | Cyclops                 | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 35  | Ixoth                   | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 36  | Master Kaen             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 37  | Nalzok                  | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 38  | Scorpius                | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 39  | Master Assassin         | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 40  | Ashikaga Takauji        | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 41  | Lord Surtur             | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
| 42  | Dark One                | No  | Both   | Yes | No  | No  |       |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+

TYPE 3: Non-extinctable but genocidable

| #   | Name                    | RGn | Loc?   | Uni | Gen |Nasty| Notes |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| 1   | queen bee               | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 2   | orc                     | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 3   | woodchuck               | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 4   | giant                   | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 5   | minotaur                | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | Yes |       |
| 6   | Keystone Kop            | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 7   | Kop Sergeant            | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 8   | Kop Lieutenant          | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 9   | Kop Kaptain             | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 10  | water moccasin          | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 11  | water troll             | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  | Regen |
| 12  | watchman                | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 13  | watch captain           | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 14  | jellyfish               | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 15  | piranha                 | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 16  | shark                   | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 17  | giant eel               | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 18  | electric eel            | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
| 19  | kraken                  | No  | Both   | No  | Yes | No  |       |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+

TYPE 4: Non-extinctable and non-genocidable

| #   | Name                    | RGn | Loc?   | Uni | Gen |Nasty| Notes |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+
| 1   | skeleton                | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 2   | human                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 3   | elf                     | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 4   | shopkeeper              | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 5   | guard                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 6   | prisoner                | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 7   | aligned priest          | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 8   | shade                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 9   | water demon             | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 10  | mail daemon             | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 11  | archeologist            | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 12  | barbarian               | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 13  | caveman                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 14  | cavewoman               | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 15  | healer                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 16  | knight                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 17  | monk                    | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 18  | priest                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 19  | priestess               | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 20  | ranger                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 21  | rogue                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 22  | samurai                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 23  | tourist                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 24  | valkyrie                | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 25  | wizard                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 26  | student                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 27  | chieftain               | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 28  | neanderthal             | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 29  | attendant               | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 30  | page                    | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 31  | abbot                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 32  | acolyte                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 33  | hunter                  | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 34  | thug                    | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 35  | ninja                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 36  | roshi                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 37  | guide                   | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 38  | warrior                 | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
| 39  | apprentice              | No  | Both   | No  | No  | No  |       |
+-----+-------------------------+-----+--------+-----+-----+-----+-------+

4: Specific Monsters

4.1 Water Monsters

It is interesting to note that no water monsters are ever randomly generated (water trolls, krakens, sharks, etc...) but are always part of water levels (Medusa, quest levels) and so once you kill the initial few, you should be safe.

There is oddly a bit of code in Nethack that attempts to create water monsters when you are standing in water. However, this never happens because water monsters are never randomly generated and thus will never be created. You can reverse genocide all of them, however, if you still want to kill lots of them.

4.2 Woodchucks

Woodchucks (included as a joke with the Oracle) are never generated, ever. Most other monsters have specific conditions under which you can create them (queen bees only appear in beehives and in the wizard tower), but woodchucks are not created, ever. Thus, if you really want to kill them, you have to either genocide or reverse genocide them.

The only way you may ever see a woodchuck in your game is if a monster steps on a polymorph trap (accidently or deliberately) and randomly becomes one.

4.3 Cloning and Regenerating monsters

It was said in the introduction, but black puddings, brown puddings, and gremlins can all clone themselves and split. The "new" monster doesn't count towards extinction. You must find 120 individual puddings or gremlins and kill them. You'll probably have a whole lot of kills, though.

The same applies to regenerating monsters like trolls and Olog-hai.

4.4 Djinni/Ghosts

If you look carefully at the table, djinni and ghosts are the only monsters that can be made extinct but are not randomly generated. The only time their extinctness is respected is when you get either from a bottle or a djinni from a lamp. It is easy to extinct ghosts by killing at least 120 of them at a haunted altar, which does not respect extinction.

Djinni are a little harder to make extinct, because the only way to get one is to quaff a blessed smoky potion or rub on magic lamps. Since you only get one 1/(13+2*previous) of the time, where "previous" is the amount of djinnis already created, to make them extinct from potions alone you would have to quaff (on average) 15,840 blessed smoky potions. You cannot reverse genocide them, because they are not genocidable. Thus, unless you have an abundance of potions and magic lamps, it will probably be impossible to eliminate djinni. However, the 3 djinni you get on the plane of air will count towards the 120 djinni in the game.

However, Even if you assume 10 magic lamps and the 3 djinni on the plane of air, it will still take on average 12,733 blessed smoky potions.

4.5 Skeletons

Skeletons are not randomly generated and are also not genocidable. The only way to generate them is to polypile items made out of bone (instrument horns, unicorn horns, and ivory rings). There is a (n/1000) chance of items shuddering when polypiling given n items on the ground. There is also a one in (luck+45) chance of creating a golem out of those items. Thus, to maximize the skeletons, you should have as much bad luck as possible (kill some co-aligned unicorns or throw your own eggs).

There will always be 5 skeletons randomly placed in Orcus' town.

4.6 Co-aligned Unicorns

Some people are skittish about killing co-aligned unicorns (bad luck penalty) while others really want 120 kills of every category. Most people use a combination of pets or conflict. If you don't want to kill co-aligned unicorns, you could always leave them, or polymorph them into another monster and then kill them. However, on the upside, if you do kill them, you'll have one more unicorn horn to polypile with.

If you do take them out by yourself, the luck penalty for co-aligned unicorns is easily abated by sacrificing until you are blue in the face on an altar with the other million monsters you are more than likely killing.

4.7 Kops

If you are trying to kill lots of Kops but don't want to reverse genocide them, you can maximize the amount of Kops by being far away (teleport, digging) when the Kops are initially called in. The shop keeper will call in twice as many if you are far away than if you just "step out" of the store.

Every time the kops are called you will get anywhere from your dungeon depth to dungeon depth plus five normal Kops. For every three Kops, you will get a Sergeant Kop (plus one guaranteed sarge). For every six Kops, you'll get a lieutenant. For every nine, a Kaptain.

So, if you're trying to kill as many Kop Kaptains as possible, it is best to find a store on dungeon level nine or above. Stores can be created anywhere above Medusa (Medusa is anywhere from 21 to 28), but increasingly less likely the deeper in the dungeon.

Once you have angered a shopkeeper by shoplifting, you can pacify the shopkeeper by paying him off for what you have stolen plus an extra 66% (as a stealing surcharge). If you have lots of gold, this could be repeated indefinitely.

Kops (of all flavours) have a two in five chance of coming back as soon as you kill them. If one does come back, then half of the time they will appear near the down staircase and the other half they will appear randomly on the level. In neither case is extinction respected.

4.8 Baby Monsters

Baby monsters are only generated in 4 places: Vlad's Tower, the Oracle level, Sokoban, and anywhere in the Mines. This is due to the fact that they have a zero frequency of occurance in the majority of the dungeon and can only appear in parts of the dungeon that are aligned (lawful, neutral, chaotic).

One easy way to generate lots of baby monsters is to polymorph into the parent creature (crocodile, dragon, naga) and then lay lots and lots of eggs.

4.9 Role Monsters

The "role" monsters (tourist, valkyrie, monk, etc...) are hard to generate in the game. Dopplegangers will sometimes appear as them, but it will not count as a kill for the monster the doppelganger has transformed into, but rather as one for doppelgangers.

The only way to kill 255 of a role monster is via stoning and re-stoning, or by killing and resurrecting monsters via the cursed Bell of Opening or the cursed Book of the Dead.

There are up to 6 "role" monsters created on the Astral Plane. However, there is always a statue of a Knight (Perseus) on Medusa's level as well 7-8 statues of "players". However, there is only a random chance that these statues or the role monsters on the Astral Plane will contain all 12 (if you count caveman/cavewoman) classes. Bones piles may also have corpses of players.

You can always create a lot of your own role by reading cursed scrolls of genocide while confused. This will send in 4-6 of your own role. However, this doesn't do you much good as you can already find plenty of your own role on your quest.

The most complete method is to grab all of the corpses (22 total) that are randomly generated in Gehennom before they rot. However, it is a no teleport level, so the best is to confused read teleport scrolls (or otherwise level teleport) back to a conveniently located icebox. After that, you can kill and re-kill them at your leisure.

4.10 Nasties

Summon nasties will always create monsters even if they have been extincted. The only way to prevent this is to genocide as many of these monsters as possible. All of them are genocidable except for couatl, iron golems, and fire elementals.

However, only certain monsters can summon nasties. These include golden nagas, nalfeshness, arch-liches, titans, ki-rins, Archons, master liches, Orcus, Dispater, and the Wizard of Yendor. Of these, all are extinctable except for the Wizard of Yendor.

Thus, so long as you make extinct as many summoning monsters as possible, it will be very likely that what you have made extinct will stay that way.

4.11 Juiblex

Juiblex has the distinction of being the one monster that you can kill only once. Juiblex is not generated randomly, non-genocidable, unique, leaves no corpse, and is not stoneable. This leaves Juiblex out of any abuse from reviving corpses or unstone-restone methods. Sadly, Juiblex does not use amulets of life saving, even if you drop them in his stomach when he swallows you.

Thus, you may only ever kill one (or none!) Juiblex. You will never get to slaughter a jubilee of Juiblexen. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

4.12: The Mail Daemon

The Mail Daemon comes in a close second for hardest to kill more than one of. Juiblex is seemingly impossible. To kill more than one Mail Daemon takes finesse. Excuse this rather in depth look at how to maximize the amount of Mail Daemon's killed.

To create a Mail Daemon, you must make sure that Nethack has #MAIL defined when it was compiled. This is a default option, but not every game is compiled with it. The Mail Daemon normally randomly appears, runs up to you, hands you mail, and disappears quickly. You cannot kill the Mail Daemon when it appears like this.

The only way to kill a Mail Daemon is to wish for a statue of one, stone to flesh it, and then kill it. However, the problem is that once you've killed a single Mail Daemon, it will genocide all Mail Daemons, and no more can be created, ever. Therefore, before you kill any Mail Daemons, you must first create all of them that you want to kill.

Other things of note are that if you create a Mail Daemon in this manner and do not attack it by the next turn [which gives you two moves when you are speedy] then it will say "I'm late!" and disappear. In order to make it stay around you must attack it (it's generated peaceful). This will cause the Mail Daemon to stay (at least for a while longer or until you move to a place no longer adjacent to it). This happens even with conflict or aggravate monster.

The correct method is then to wish for all the statues of Mail Daemons that you want to kill at once. Then, place them all adjacent to you. This means you can have 8 around you and any number of them on the square you are standing on. The reason you keep the extras on the square you are standing on is because stone to flesh is a spell with range, and you can only keep the extras "safe" by leaving them on the square you are standing on.

Bring the 8 adjacent to you to life. Do this by stone to fleshing one of them and then immediately hitting it with something that won't kill them, but will anger them. Repeat for all of the remaining seven Mail Daemons around you. Then, stone to flesh any on your square by zapping downwards. This will create them somewhere outside the ring of 8 Mail Daemons. However, you can't hit those few that have been created outside the circle of 8, except with something at range, like a wand of death. The maximum creatures a wand of death can hit is 5 (13 total range and minus 2 range for each creature hit). Thus, you can kill 4 extra Mail Daemons outside of the ring of 8 in a single zap. Since it takes two moves for the Mail Daemons to disappear, if you luck out and get the max range for your wand and two zaps worth as well as doing it when you have your extra turn due to speed, you can take out 8 extra Mail Daemons. Then, quickly dispatch the 8 adjacent to you. It must be a wand of death and not some other method of angering. This is because as soon as you anger them, on the next turn when you are not adjacent to them (because you never were), they will disappear.

To do this with the minimum number of statues, you will need to dig something that looks like the following diagram. You need to dig this as far away from everything else as possible.

                    ###
                #####@######
                    ###

This forces the 8 statues on your square to be created in straight lines. Place the initial statues here:

                    '''
                ####'@'##### (eight statues on square with player)
                    '''

And hey, that's only 16 wishes, right?

4.13 Geryon, Dispater, Barbed Devils, Erinys, and Horned Devils

Like Yeenoghu, Geryon and Dispater are two lawful demon princes which do not have a special level. Baalzebub and Asmodeus are the only lawful demon princes that can summon Geryon and Dispater. If you hang around either of them for long enough, eventually they will randomly summon them.

Also, barbed devils, erinys, and horned devils are all lawful demons and thus will not be randomly generated in hell. To generate a lot of them, you should hang around lawful spellcasters in Hell (ideally Baalzebub, Asmodeus, Geryon, or Dispater) and hope that they summon them when they summon demons.

They can also summon each other. There is an erinys, a barbed devil, and a horned devil on the sanctum level. There is a horned devil and a barbed devil on Baalzebub's level. There is a horned devil on Asmodeus' level.

4.14 Yeenoghu

Yeenoghu has no set level in the dungeon like Asmodeus, Baalzebub, Orcus, and Juiblex all have. Thus, in order to kill Yeenoghu he must be summoned by one of the chaotic demon lords and princes. These include Orcus and Juiblex. Also, chaotic spellcasting monsters have a random chance of summoning Yeenoghu while in Gehennom as well.

4.15 Demogorgon

All you ever wanted to know about Demogorgon is covered in the Demogorgon FAQ (available at finer Internets near you). In general, to summon him, you need to hang around Orcus, Juiblex, or Yeenoghu until they do it for you. You can get Yeenoghu or Juiblex quickly by sacrificing your own race, humans, or elves at an altar. Other spellcasting monsters that can summon nasties can also summon Orcus while in Gehennom (randomly). The Wizard of Yendor may also randomly summon Demogorgon.

4.16 Wizard of Yendor

Sadly, although you can kill the Wizard of Yendor umpteen times, he will always come back to haunt you and will never truly become extinct until you make it to the astral plane.

Stoning and re-stoning the Wizard of Yendor is the best way to kill him multiple times. Wands of Death and the PYEC (especially as a tourist) aren't terribly bad either, but seem to miss a lot more than wielded cockatrice corpses or wielded eggs.

4.17 Riders

Like the Wizard of Yendor, the riders will continue to revive for as long as you'd like to kill them. Tinning them, picking them up, or nearly any other bizarre behavior will only serve to revive them.

There is a way to eject them from the game, however. If you reverse genocide enough monsters such that the riders, when regenerating on their own, have no square to appear on, then they will disappear from the game, leaving you with the message "You feel less hassled." and the corpse will begin to rot away. Sadly, this doesn't mean that you can nor should tin it, eat it, or otherwise bother it in any way until it has entirely rotted away.

You may note that by this point, you'll have made extinct a whole lot of monsters. But, so long as you haven't genocided everything yet, you can always reverse genocide (as many times as you so choose) any monster who is not randomly generated but is genocidable (Type 2 in the chart above). This will create 4-6 monsters. The best way to do it is to read non-blessed scrolls of create monster while confused. This will create 14-18 acid blobs (and will not respect extinction).

If you want to kill the riders as many times as possible, its recommended that you kill them one at a time. Facing all three riders at once is never a good idea, even if you have a character of herculanean proportions. There are two really good strategies for keeping the other riders at bay:

  1. Barely moving monsters in front of doors

    The riders can open locked doors, and so even if you lock them into one of the altar rooms, they will just open it up and come back out. However, if there are monsters in the way, they will be unable to get to the door. If the monsters don't really move, then all the better.

    Creating hordes of acid blobs via reading non-blessed scrolls of create monster while confused is the most effective way to jam them in. The fact that acid blobs don't really move very much or very quickly makes this even more ideal.

  2. Boulder Jail

    There are a limited number of ways to create boulders on the astral plane. You must either wish for one (one at a time), polymorph into a monster that starts with a boulder (giant), or reverse genocide giants. Giants are the key choice for an extinctionist because they are not generated randomly and thus cannot be extincted.

    Scrolls of earth do not work on the astral plane.

    You can use boulders to block the choke points or the doors and so long as no stray force bolts or wands of striking hit it, the Riders will not move them.

    Other people recommend jailing the riders all next to each other on the diagonal walls in the middle room. This requires far fewer boulders and allows you to repeatedly kill them while not allowing them to move.

5: General Strategy

5.1 Alleviating the Boredom

I'll be right up front here. An extinctionist game is long, tedious, and boring. If you are one of those people who enjoy accumulating items and trying to enchant them to obscene levels, or who really enjoys polypiling, the mass slaughter of monsters for incredible amounts of loot may be able to pull you through the game.

For others, I'd recommend playing this game a little bit every day (perhaps when frustrated by other Nethack games), but not in large stretches. Doing something else like watching TV while you're playing might help as well. Although that's not a good general Nethack strategy, you're probably not in much danger of dying when you're just summoning monsters and slaughtering them (especially when you're not in hell or you're at lower levels).

5.2 Slaughter by an Altar

Unless you're going for some sort of athiest extinctionist, if you're going to kill nigh-every monster in the game, you might as well get a lot of it. Sacrifice everything that's good. If it's bad, and you can't eat it (at the moment), put it in an ice box. Always good to keep around floating eye corpses for when you decide to go take out "innocent" victims in the dungeon.

Slaughtering by an altar will also allow you to easily re-coup your luck if you do something wrong.

Speaking from experience, extinctionist behavior leads to near mind numbing create-kill-sacrifice-repeat behavior. If you are playing a non-chaotic character, be very wary of what you are sacrificing. You may not know you have killed a shapechanger until you look at the corpse. If you're not paying attention, you may well sacrifice it before you really notice. If you don't trust yourself, wear a ring of protection against shapechangers so that you always know which monsters are dopplegangers.

Also, pray whenever safe to. You will probably be crowned really shortly, but it's not that large of a problem. In an extinctionist game, by praying as much as possible, you'll probably have enough divine protection granted from your god to ascend naked. See the praying spoiler for more details.

5.3 Blessed Eye of the Aethiopica

Be a wizard, or wish for it. No, really. I've played a near- extinctionist game that I just had to hit "1000." for years on end. It's infinitely easier to be able to summon monsters almost constantly because of the energy regen this artifact gets you.

5.4 Maximizing Polypiling

You'll have a lot of potions and scrolls by the time you're done. The best way to turn them into something useful is to cancel them all into uncursed blank scrolls and uncursed water. Then, use up two holy waters and bless both of them. Drop them in clumps (four scrolls, four potions per square) in a line 5 squares long (the maximum range), and cast/zap polymorph. This minimizes shuddering and golem creation while maximizing the amount tranformed per turn and the total yield.

Everyone needs +7 armor, right? And how are you going to kill 255 woodchucks without 50-odd cursed scrolls of genocide?

Also, make sure to capitalize on the unicorn horns, which are the easiest to obtain (there are 360 of them, at least) magical tool. Polypiling a magical tool is more likely to turn into a magic marker.

However, if you do not have an easy means of polymorphing (which really means you don't have the spell memorized), then you may wish to drop more per square in order to maximize the amount of stuff you can polymorph, even though a lot of it will shudder.

If you are trying to kill as many skeletons as possible, you may want to drop larger clumps of unicorn horns to create skeletons.

5.5 Genociding

This is a quick summary of genociding for those who don't want to look through other spoilers.

So, maybe you don't want to kill all these monsters, but you still want to make them extinct. Maybe it's possible that you've made them extinct and now you want to genocide them on top of that just to make them doubly dead.

To genocide all possible monsters, you will need exactly 45 genocide scrolls and will have to blessed genocide: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, B, C, D, F, G, H, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, V, W, Y, Z, ;, : and @. You can (just) uncursed genocide leprechauns (l), zruty (z), stalker (E), jabberwock (J), quantum mechanic (Q), umber hulk (U), xorn (X). Blessed scrolls of genocide work equally well.

The A, &, and ' classes contain only monsters which are not genocidable.

If you want to genocide things you cannot make extinct, you must genocide 16 things with a minimum 9 scrolls: queen bees (a), orcs (o), woodchucks (r), giants and minotaurs (H), Kops (K), water trolls (T), water moccasins (S), watchmen and watch captains (@), jellyfish, piranhas, sharks, giant eels, electric eels, and krakens (;).

If you want to eliminate as many of the nasties that can be summoned as possible, you will need to genocide 29 things with a minimum of 21 scrolls: cockatrices (c), gremlins and winged gargoyles (g), master mind flayers (h), ochre jellys (j), leocrottas and baluchitheriums (q), purple worms (w), xans (x), zruty (z), red, black, green, and yellow dragons (D), stalkers (E), fire giants, ettins, and minotaurs (H), jabberwocks (J), ogre kings (O), green slimes (P), disenchanters (R), rock trolls and Olog-hai (T), umber hulks (U), vampire lords (V), xorns (X), owlbears (Y), and captains (@).

The nasties that you cannot genocide are: couatl (A), fire elementals (E), and iron golems (').

Remember, genociding @ will always kill you, even if you are not human because all "roles" are @. The source says that "Although "genus" is Latin for race, the hero benefits from both race and role; thus genocide affects either." Thus, unless you have unchanging, or can finish the game before you change back, I would not recommend genociding @ until the last minute.

Reverse genociding a monster will create 4-6 of the given monster that you specify. However, you can only reverse genocide genocidable monsters and thus cannot reverse genocide shopkeepers or some such. If you want to get 255 kills on a non-randomly generated but genocidable monster, you will need anywhere from 43 to 64 scrolls.

5.6 Maximizing Kills and Score

In order to maximize the number of kills you have on any given monster type, you should abuse all of the methods which do not respect extinction or do not increment the born counter.

The easiest way to kill and re-kill monsters is to stone them and then bring them back to life with stone to flesh. However, this requires you to have a convenient means of stoning and the spell stone to flesh. The best way of accumulating means of stoning is polymorph into a 'trice and lay lots of eggs. Then, wield (one) of those eggs and attack. Don't throw them, you might miss. If you wield the whole stack of eggs, they will all splat and the monster will be no less stoned for all your waste. If you've accumulated a lot of cockatrice corpses in an icebox, that's a great way as well because there's no luck penalty.

Another way to do this process is to kill (normally) and then bring them back to life, generally with a cast spell of undead turning. The cursed Bell of Opening, wand of undead turning, or cursed Book of the Dead will all work. The prior two need charges and the latter summons graveyard monsters. With the spell, the only limitation is your energy. However, there are a lot more monsters that never leave corpses (or only sometimes leave a corpse). There are many fewer monsters who are stoning resistant. Thus, the stoning method is generally more effective, but the reviving technique works as well.

If you want to maximize score, the way to do that is to kill monsters of highest experience point value. You get eight times the experience points of every monster you kill once you have succesfully ascended. Demogorgon is the highest experience point monster, for 3,269 experience. If you have stoned him, you can always stone to flesh him and them kill him again for more points. This might be considered slightly insane by most people, but is by far the quickest way to rack up a giant score. You need to kill him ~38 times to get an extra million points on your final score.

If killing Demogorgon for fun isn't your idea of a good time, you'll be happy to know that Asmodeus comes in only slightly behind with 3,202 points and is likewise not stone proof. None of the other unique demons (except for Juiblex) are stone proof, and can be killed and re-killed with this method. The only real limitation is creating methods of stoning.

Comparison of experience gaining rates: (not entirely rigorous)

  1. Stone and re-stone Demogorgon. Assuming you have 100% chance to hit, it will take one move to un-stone, and one move to re-stone, and another move to get out another egg from the floor or a bag (so they didn't stack). Assume that you had to take one move previously to create the method of stoning (assume polymorphing costs get amortized).

    Experience rate: 3,269/4 = 817.25 experience per move.

  2. Stone and re-stone the Wizard. Assume same conditions as above.

    Experience rate: 3,153/4 = 788.25 experience per move.

  3. Stone and re-stone Medusa. Requires one move to unstone and another for Medusa to stone herself via reflection. The advantages here are that you don't need external means of stoning.

    Experience rate: 633/2 = 315.5 experience per move.

  4. Kill Death repeatedly. Requires ~3 move to kill Death and two moves to move towards him and pick him up so that he comes back to life.

    Experience rate: 1,412/5 = 282 experience per move.

  5. Kill the Wizard repeatedly without stoning. Requires ~2 turns to kill the Wizard. The wizard will come back on average every 900 turns. Assume you've killed him at least 19 times.

    Experience rate: 3,53/900 = ~3.49 experience per turn.

Conclusion: Demogorgon (and close behind the Wizard) even if you take almost 10 turns to kill them each time will still be the most effective way to gain experience.

Also, it's interesting to note that despite the fact that the Wizard of Yendor yields the 3rd largest experience point value in the game (after he's been killed at least 19 times previously), it's not time effective in the least to kill him repeatedly by waiting for him to resurrect.

5.7 End Game

If you have extincted everything possible before you hit the end game, then there is not much to worry about.

The Earth Plane will contain the Wizard of Yendor and a Minotaur.

The Air Plane will contain only 3 djinnis.

The Fire Plane will contain only one minotaur.

If you haven't genocided all water creatures, then the Plane of Water will have 8 giant eels, 8 electric eels, 9 kraken, 4 sharks, 4 piranhas, 4 jellyfish, and 4 more random water creatures.

The Astral Plane will contain Death, Famine, Pestilence, 30 aligned priests, 3 high priests, and up to 6 player monsters.

6: References and Thanks

I thought I had been (relatively?) rigorous with this guide the first time I wrote it, but there were half a million things I didn't think of and another half million that I got wrong. Thanks to everyone on r.g.r.n. who pointed out mistakes and suggested additions and put up with such an awful first version of this guide. Here's a list of people who had a lot of great suggestions:

Kate Nepveu, Dylan O'Donnell, Jason Short, Vladimir Florinski, Robert R. Schneck, Rast, and anyone else I forgot =)


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