This page is outdated and only minimally maintained. In particular I have not checked whether the spoilers remain valid for any version of Nethack newer than 3.4.3.
This page attempts to list all Nethack spoilers which are available on the Web and have any content which is relevant to the current version of vanilla Nethack (3.4.3). It may omit spoilers if their content is completely contained in another spoiler or in the Guidebook or Nethack's built-in help system. It was written by Eva Myers, with a great deal of help from Dion Nicolaas's Nethack Index which is a very useful list of pages relating to Nethack. If you know of any spoilers which you believe should be listed here but aren't, please feel free to email me.
This section contains spoilers describing the various items which appear in the game and detailing their effects and uses. For example, links to Dylan O'Donnell's updated versions of Kevin Hugo's spoilers can be found here.
- Amulets, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Armour, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Artifacts and their properties, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Magicbane and artifact selection strategy, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Food, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Gems and luck, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Miscellaneous items, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Potions, Part 1, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Table of potions and their effects. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Potions, Part 2, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Miscellaneous facts about potions including the effects of mixing them. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Rings, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Scrolls, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Tools, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Wands effects, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Breaking wands, cancellation, and polymorphing, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Weapons, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Collected Item Tables, by Kevin Hugo and Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
This section contains tables of monsters including information about their attacks, and also some spoilers about specific monsters which are particularly difficult to kill or interesting in some other way.
Spoilers About Dungeon Layout And Special Levels
This section deals with the layout of the Dungeons of Doom, the special levels which can be found there, the bones levels on which you encounter the ghosts of previous adventurers, and the special rooms which occur on otherwise ordinary levels.
Spoilers About Dungeon Features
This section deals with the things you can do with dungeon features - fountains, sinks, thrones, graves and traps. Altars are covered later, in the spoilers about religion.
Spoilers About Properties Of Your Character
This section covers how your character's class and race affect the game, his/her intrinsics, stats, starting inventory and special abilities, and how to gain intrinsics and raise your stats.
- Starting stats, by Topi Linkala and Dylan O'Donnell. Starting statistics for the different classes. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Roles and Races, by Donald Welsh. Information on the allowed class/race/alignment combinations, starting equipment for the different classes, and the intrinsics and max stats of the different classes and races.
- Starting inventories by class and race, by Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Experience levels and rank titles, by Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Class- and race-dependent abilities and gained intrinsics, by Dylan O'Donnell. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Hit Points and Power Levels Spoiler, by Dylan O'Donnell. How much hit points and power increase when gaining a level. Text version at spod-central.org.
- The Dragon Resistances, by Dylan O'Donnell. Resistances to types of dragon breath, how to acquire them, and the protection they give. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Ring Intrinsics, by Dylan O'Donnell. Intrinsics which may be granted by wearing rings, and the effects of wearing rings in general. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Miscellaneous Intrinsics, by Dylan O'Donnell. Intrinsics which are neither dragon resistances nor conferred by wearing rings. Text version at spod-central.org.
- Nethack Protection Spoiler, by David Jao.
- Voluntary Challenges in Nethack 3.4, by Dion Nicolaas. The precise requirements for adhering to the voluntary challenges.
This section covers pets - acquiring them, keeping them tame and training them.
This section covers gods, praying, sacrificing, altars and priests.
This section deals with learning spells, casting spells, and the damage done by spells and other magical attacks.
Unlike the previous sections, which mostly deal with how various features of the game work, this section covers strategy - how to survive from the beginning to the end of the game, how to identify items, how to choose a weapon. They are arranged approximately in order, with spoilers for novices at the beginning and spoilers for experts at the end.
- Absolute Beginner's Guide for Nethack 3.4.1, by Mikko Saari.
- The Elbereth FAQ, by Kate Nepveu.
- Notes on Nethack Weapon Skills, by Thomas Fine.
- What Is The Best Nethack Artifact?, by Thomas Fine.
- Nethack Weapon Damage Calculator, by Thomas Fine. He also has advice on the best weapons for some classes:
- The NetHack Object Identification Spoiler, by David Damerell. Also at steelypips.org.
- Identifying Wands by Zapping, by Kieron Dunbar.
- Shopping Spoiler, by Gregory Bond.
- Nethack Shoplifting, by Travis Emmitt.
- Clippy, the Shopping Assistant, by Lee Berger. An automated script to help with price-identifying items.
- Quaffing from fountains in NetHack, by David Damerell.
- Instadeath Spoiler, by Trevor Powell. A list of ways to die other than running out of hit points, and information on how to avoid them.
- Wishing Spoiler, by Peter Snelling and Stanislav Traykov.
- I finally arrived in Gehennom. Now what?, by Paul Gresina, Boudewijn Waijers and Eva Myers.
- The Monk FAQ, by Kate Nepveu.
- The Extinctionist FAQ, by Hojita Discordia.
- The Pacifist FAQ, by Steve Relles.
This section contains spoilers which cover multiple topics or otherwise do not fit in any of the previous categories but nonetheless have some useful information about Nethack.