THE LEVELS BEYOND 26 (not for hack v1.0) Once the player has reached level 26 , he should be prepared to win the game. However, finding the amulet is by no m eans easy, if you don't know where to look. Rather than tell the player how to find the amulet and wands of wishing, we will only give the following advice. Through the halls the dungeon calls for the hero to check the walls. For not in sight is the wand of might, but instead in a spot quite tight. Blast asunder t o receive the plunder by pushing
once, and looking under. The last you seek in a place quite bleak and of brims tone it does reek. Your quest now nigh Beware, or fry, If from fire you can die . Give not a care to lack of stair but go directly to His lair. To His home y
o u must now roam, though surrounded by brine and foam. A protective coat is his moat above this trap you must float. And then you run up towards the sun and cl aim victory with a prize well won.
STRATEGIES OF HACK
 The following is is a discussion of the various strategies used by hack players , and some helpful advice from Erik Lauer, our resident hack expert.
 The blitz strategy:
This strategy is to blitz down as far as possible, taking only enough time to f ind the items on the level and collect them. This particular strategy is usuall y used by more inexperienced players who want to see how far they can get in a c ertain amount of time. In fact, it is surprisingly easy to go down levels, at l east to the 26th level, even with a character who is not very powerful. It is e qually easy, however, to go to a level with creatures far beyond your ability to reckon with, so care must be ta
ken to ensure this does not happen.
The "snail's pace" strategy:
Here the player will only go down when he is running low on food. This allows t he player to develop as much as possible before encountering the harder creatur es on the next level. This strategy has a few intrinsic problems. One is that it is extremely easy to run too low on food if the player is not careful. Anoth er is that this takes a very long time, and so is only for the truly patient. F inally, there is a point of diminishing returns, sometime around when the cockat rices first appear, that it is n
o longer profitable to fudge around on the upper levels.
The best overall strategy is somewhere in between the two, and is based primaril y on what you find available. Although overall strategy is important, the most important thing in hack is based on a simple idea: Hack is a game for opportun ists. That is, as hack has grown, and more options become available to the play er, every little detail presents a potential tool for the observant player. Thi s has become increasingly true as hack expanded into nethack. Try to find a us e for everything you find. I re
ad an article once in which the writer denounced the destroy armor scroll as tot ally worthless. He had never thought that he could use it to destroy cursed arm or also, and so made his game that much harder. If you can do this, then you ca n win the game.
 SPECIFIC HINTS ON VARIOUS PARTS OF HACK:
Stores:
 This section presents probably the most useful thing in hack, the store. The se cret to stores does not lie in the buying of items, however. The real secret li es in robbing them blind. There are probably as many ways to steal from shops as there are shopkeepers. The most common is to acquire teleportation, on a sc roll, wand, or intrinsically, pick up everything you can in the shop, and telepo rt out. Another method is to polymorph the shopkeeper. He may become more powe rful, but it is not very likely.
You can then walk past him. Another possibility is to kill the shopkeeper. This is recommended only if you are powerful (shopkeepers are not wimps), and ei ther desperate or just plain sadistic. Finally, you can steal individual items by having your dog go into the shop and bring them out. [Reward your dog after he brings you the first item, and he will continue bringing you items. Note tha t any item on the space directly in front of the door is a freebie. -PG] Tel eportation is the best method by
far. Since it is very to find a leprechaun on the first and second levels, it is highly recommended that you eat one, and thereby gain intrinsic teleportation . The same in fact goes for finding floating eyes to gain telepathy. [Having i ntrinsic teleportation isn't always a good thing, unless you can control it -PG]
 Kops: 
The Keystone Kops were an addition to nethack, originally intended to hinder peo ple who rob shops. When a shop is robbed, a number of "K"'s appear. The Kops a ttack by throwing cream pies at you, and regenerate when they are killed. Howe ver, the Kops in fact represent yet another aspect of hack which the observant p layer can make excellent use of. The Kops are very easy to kill, and do very li ttle damage. Although you can be blinded by a cream pie, since it is very easy to acquire telepathy, this is de
finitely not a hindrance. Most importantly, since every Kop carries a large num ber of cream pies, they also create an abundance of readily available food. Fin ally, since Kops sometimes carry magic items, killing them gives the player hoar ds of treasure. Regeneration is, therefore, just a bonus, because it means your supplies of food, treasure and experience points will not run out. There is o nly one way the Kops can hurt a player who is even moderately powerful, but it s hould not be taken lightly. If
the Kops throw a cream pie at you, but miss and hit the shopkeeper, the shopkeep er will get mad and attack you. This means that you must trap the shopkeeper if you do not want him getting in the way. The best way is to trap yourself and t he shopkeeper with a boulder in the shop. Then, when you teleport out, the shop keeper is alive, but trapped.
 Food:
 Once you have mastered combat, you will find that food becomes the main problem. If you do not continually eat food, you will eventually begin to faint and sta rve. Fainting is often enough to kill a character by itself. The key is to hu nt down food constantly. Hunt, kill and eat all the edible creatures you can fi nd. ALWAYS search for monsters which can give you special abilities. In partic ular, before continuing below the second level you should find and eat, if possi ble, a leprechaun and a floating
eye. [See my earlier comment on eating leprechauns. -PG] However, do not e at so much that you could not eat any more. The reason is that if you are on th e verge of choking, and kill, for example, a wraith, you would not be able to ea t the cadaver for a long time, and so it might spoil before you get the chance.
 Unidentified items:
Yet another key point is to find out as quickly as possible which items have whi ch powers. This does not mean, however, that you should try every item out the instant you get it. We will deal with the different items separately. Potions : You should almost never test out potions until you are at least seventh lev el, at full hit points and are on a cleared level. If you are not seventh level , you run the risk of wasting a potion of gain level. If you are not at full hi t points, then should you quaff
a healing potion, it will not affect your maximum hit points. If there are crea tures nearby, you run the risk of being paralyzed or confused, and unable to def end yourself. Lastly, always test your duplicate potions first.
Scrolls:
 You should only test out scrolls when you are wearing a spare set of armor and a re wielding a spare weapon. This allows you to not risk your good equipment on determining which scrolls are the destroy armor and damage weapon scrolls. Of c ourse, once one of these have been found, you no longer have to take precautions against it. You also should wait until you have something to identify, in case it is an identify scroll. You won't have to wait long. And, as with potions, check the duplicate scrolls fir
st.
 Rings:
 Rings should be identified first, since they are the hardest thing to identify, aside from gems. Trying on unidentified rings is not encouraged, as one cursed ring can ruin the game. If you have a scroll of remove curse, it is safe to try on the ring. You can check it out if there is a Nymph on the level. That is dealt with later. [If you have several unidentified rings, (or armor or weapons ) try them all until you have on as many cursed items as 
possible. This will al low you to de-curse as many as p
ossible with one scroll. -PG]
 Wands:
 ALWAYS test out wands as soon as there is a weak monster in your area to zap the m at. Since wand might shoot out a ray or a bolt, which bounce, it is vitally i mportant to shoot the wand diagnolly in such a way that should the bolt bounce, it will not hit the character. [The bolt is of a finite length, so in a large r oom it may be safely zapped in a straight line. -PG] Usually, the wand's fun ction is now apparent. For wands, however, this may not be sufficient to identi fy the wand. After zapping such
a wand, and observing the target, call the wand something such as "tested1". T his shows you that, although its purpose is not known, the wand has been used.
 Spellbooks:
 Do not read spellbooks until you are at least eighth level and have identified a scroll of amnesia. This is because transcribing spells is hard for characters less than eighth level, and the amnesia scroll remove all the spells you know. In either case, the player loses valuable spellbooks. [If you know any spells, but don't know which scroll is amnesia, don't read any scroll without identifyi ng it. Also, just because you can learn a spell, doesn't mean you can cast it. Since spellbooks have a limited
number of castings, be careful not to waste them. -PG]
Vaults:
 Eventually, the player will encounter what is known as a treasure vault. The va ult is a 2x2 room, with four "$" spaces, and no doors. There is always a secret door somewhere on a vault level which leads to a space which teleports the pla yer to the vault. There is always an engraving which says "ad ?ae??um." If you find this engraving, search for the secret door next to it. To get out of a va ult with all the money, you have to either teleport or use a wand of digging. I f you have neither, eventually a
guard will enter the vault. He is harmless, but will lead you out of the vault if you are carrying NO money. Should you discover the answer to his question, he will leave by yourself in the vault. (In other words, knowing the answer d oes not help). [My luckiest move was zapping a guard with a wand of polymorph. He turned into a Quantum Mechanic, hit me, and whammo! I was teleported out! - PG]
 Nymphs:
 Although Nymphs can be annoying, they can do one extremely useful thing: they c an steal cursed items. Therefore, if a Nymph is found, you can use her to remov e your cursed items. The way this is done is demonstrated in the following exam ple of how to check unidentified rings with a Nymph on the level. 1) Clear out the level the Nymph is on.
2) Go down to the next level, and clear it. 3) Try putting on your unidentified rings. If a ring is not cursed, name i t something such as "uncursed1" to mark that this type of ring is not cursed. 4) Upon finding a cursed ring, remove ALL of your equipment, and drop it on that space. Then go up the stairs, find the Nymph, and let her steal an item. The item she steals then has to be the cursed item. Go back down, equip yourse lf, and continue.
 Not using the dog:
Although the dog seems to be a useful ally, in fact he presents a good player wi th a handicap. This is for a number of reasons. 1) Anything the dog kills, the character does not get experience for. This means that it takes longer to go up levels while using the dog. 2) The dog will eat edible monsters and other Comestibles that the characte r needs. Hence, there is less food for the character. 3) Perhaps the worst thing about the dog is that the player can NOT enter t he dog's space. This means that the dog can actually trap the player in a corri dor, and prev
ent the player's escape from a powerful monster. For these reasons , unless you have the uncontrollable urge to experiment with the dog, it is best to leave the dog behind on the first level.
Carry extra items, but don't carry gold:
The player should always carry as many items as he possibly can through the dung eon. This is because even worthless items can be polymorphed or sold in the sho ps for gold. On the other hand, you should NEVER carry gold. The gold weighs a non-negligible amount, and is not used unless the person is buying an item in a shop. Since buying items is very rare, it is best to pile all the gold from a level next to the stairs going up. That way, on the way back up, the winning p layer can collect all the money
he left behind. One useful technique of bringing more items than you can carry along is to shuffle them down. Carry your items in two (or more) piles. Leave one pile by the stairs, while carrying the other items. When you find the stai rs going down, drop the surplus items, go get the other pile, and bring it down to the next level. Drop that pile, go back up, and get the other items.
 Fighting floating eyes:
Many beginning players fight floating eyes by killing them in hand to hand comba t. This is not a very good method, since it lets the eye get a chance to paraly ze you. Instead, it is far preferable to attack floating eyes by throwing weapo ns at them. If you have your dog, you can always let the dog kill it, and then step in to eat the eye before the dog gets a chance.
Killing Leprechauns:
The leprechaun is yet another reason not to carry any gold at all. If you are h it by a leprechaun while you have gold, not only do you lose the gold (temporari ly), but the trickster also teleports away, and so you have to hunt him down. I f you do not have any gold, however, he is a very weak monster worth gold and e xperience. Before you fight one, drop your gold in a place he can not get to, a nd then kill him. Also be careful about letting the leprechaun run away, since he is faster than you are.
 Dealing with Shapechangers:
Once you begin to encounter shapechangers, you should already be able to deal wi th all the other creatures. The shape-changers, however, are the most potential ly dangerous creatures in the game, because
1) They can not be genocided, and can turn into previously genocided creatures.
 2) They can kill the player instantly in more than one way.
 Do not believe that the only way a shapechanger can kill you is by turning into a cockatrice and stoning you. They also have the unique ability to swallow you, as a purple worm for instance, and then kill you by changing into a different c reature. There is no defense against this attack other than to wear a ring of p rotection against shape changers. DO NOT take them lightly.
REAL
 SPOILERS
 The following are spoilers which go beyond (in my opinion) helpful hints. Some of these spoilers (in fact most of them) can be figured out in the course of pla y, but they also dramatically change how the game works. Read this only if you are truly stuck.
 ELBERETH:
 Any version which has engraving has the secret word Elbereth in it. If the play er etches the word "Elbereth" on the ground, and does
 not smudge the word by mov ing (you may type "."), monster will flee in terror upon moving adjacent to the player, so long as the player stands on that space. It works much like a scare monster scroll, except that the player can not attack off of it and preserve its abilities. Using Elbereth allows a competent player to win at will, but it is basically cheating. It is poss
ible to guess about the word Elbereth, however. Use it only when no one is watc hing. [Elbereth has been weakened as of release 2.2 of NetHack. I'm not sure e xactly how. But it is definitely cheating. My one win was accomplished without using it. -PG In 2.2 and greater releases, you need a Magic Pen to Engrave th e E-word in order to make it permanent and useful. I never use it. - SY]
 EXCALIBUR:
 In nethack, there is a fairly good chance that any long sword named "Excalibur" will become +5 after being dipped in a fountain. This gives a very powerful wea pon to anyone who can get a long sword; in particular a knight. [This has been eliminated in NetHack 2.2. There is still a way to get it, but I don't know wha t it is. -PG Just dip any longsword in a fountain. It should not be named "E xcalibur" before dipping. The weapon will become progressively worse (- damage) until suddenly being 'blessed'
and renamed "Excalibur" - SY]
 CROESUS:
 Croesus is the name that the vault guard is expecting. This does not help you w in the game, but is listed for the curious.
The rubber chicken attack: If the player is wearing gloves, he may pick up an d wield a dead cockatrice. Any creature struck by the bird is automatically tur ned to stone. Unfortunately, the cockatrice disintigrates after a period of tim e, but in the mean time it can wreak vast devastation. Be careful! Should you f all down while carrying a dead cockatrice, it may accidentally touch you!
 Polymorphing wands:
One really big spoiler is that should you collect a large number of wands (from a wand shop, for example), and put them in a pile, you may polymorph the wands, and try to get wands of wishing. With enough wands and charges in your polymor ph wand, you can eventually get at least one wand of wishing. By wishing for mo re polymorph wands, you can continue the process, acquiring a truly disgusting n umber of wishes. The best part is that the charges are the charges the old wand had, so that one wand may have
up to 15 wishes!! Clearly this presents a simple, yet powerful (and cheap) metho d of winning. [This is also the only use I have found for the fabled "wand of n othing." They have a lot of charges. -PG] [Polymorphing your dog: If you want a real powerful pet, you can polymorph your dog, and he will remain loyal to you . However, if you have a large dog, he's probably just as good without being po lymorphed. One warning, though. If your dog turns into a dragon, he may still kill you with his breath weapon,
if you get in his way. -PG]
 Praying for food:
One fairly common effect of praying is that the character is surrounded by a str ong aura. This aura not only heals damage and restores strength, but it also ra ises the player's maximum hp. by 5 AND restores the player's hunger to its init ial value of 900 turns. This means that, by praying every 300+ turns, even if t his result only occurs once out of every four tries, the amount of food that nee ds to be eaten is better than halved. Use the time option to keep track of when it is time to pray.
 Canceling wands of wishing:
It is an interesting fact that a wand with zero charges CAN be zapped after a lo ng number of tries, after which it can no longer be zapped, and has -1 charges. This works for wands of wishing as well. But, a wand of cancellation used on a nother wand makes the wand have 0 charges. Hence, by zapping a wand of wishing with 
a wand of cancellation after the wand is at -1 charges gives the player ano ther wish. The player can continue this process indefinitely, but it takes a VE RY long time. This is really an
alternative to the polymorphing technique mentioned previously, but can be used by earlier versions of hack. [Another "feature" written out of NetHack 2.2. W hen a wand reaches -1 charges, it disintegrates. -PG]
Iron Balls:
 The punishment scroll gives you an extremely powerful weapon: the Iron Ball. A lthough the cockatrice is more powerful, it has the disadvantages of disintegrat ing and of destroying all edible monster. The iron ball, although very heavy, c an kill many monsters in one swing, and almost every monster in two. Try wieldi ng it some time.
 Nurses and the spell of extra-healing:
Both of these allow the player to gain an enormous number of hp. The spell gran ts the player hit points each time it is cast, so the player can with this spel l increase his maximum hit points as many times as he has the mana to do it. [N o longer true, since the spell has a finite number of uses. -PG] Nurses will c ast extra healing on any character they "attack" which is not wearing any armor . This means that by letting a nurse attack you for a long period of time, you can gain literally hundreds of h
it points.
 Finding the wands of wishing on the 26th level and below: Each level below the 25th has a wand of wishing on it. The wands are located be neath a large boulder ("`") which is adjacent to 3 walls. To get one of the wan ds, use a wand of digging to create a hole next to the boulder and push the boul der away. Using a wand of striking will work also. [You can also remove most o f your goodies, and move toward the rock again. This will let you crawl under i t to get the wand. -PG]
 [The Medusa:
 A new creature, the medusa, has been added as of NetHack 2.2. She is a unique m onster, shown by the symbol "8". She guards the lower levels, and can be tough to defeat, since looking at her will instantly turn you to stone. Two items hav e been added to help you: the mirror, and the blindfold. Using these is the mos t popular method of destroying the medusa, but there are others. -PG]
 Going below the 26th level:
To go below the 26th level, you must be confused and read a teleport scroll with a ring of teleport control on. This allows you to teleport to a lower level. The dungeon goes down to the 40th level, and none of the levels beyond the 26th have stairs going down. [40 is no longer the lowest level, and the Wizard isn' t always there. -PG]
 Surviving the 40th level:
You MUST have fire resistance to enter the 40th level and live. The amulet is g uarded by a powerful wizard and his hell hound. They are located in the center of the level, surrounded by a moat, and an inner wall. It looks like this:
 ~~~~~~
 ~----~
 ~|1h|~
 ~----~
 ~~~~~~
 The wizard is located in the center. You can levitate over the water, or you ca n destroy a space of water with a wand of fire. Once over the water, use a wand of digging to blast open the wall, fight the wizard and retrieve the amulet. N ow leave the dungeon, and collect as much money as you can. You also get bonus points for leaving with a pet. These points are directly related to the pet's e xperience level. 
1 s = may make you sick (lose 1-8hp)
p = Poisonous food. Persons with poison resistance may ignore the effects.
 2 Knight, Priest, Elf, Wizard and Caveman are standard Hack character classes. Others are exclusive to Nethack.