Revision as of 23:11, 13 June 2009

Madawc is an Animal.

Prior to v1.09, Talic and the other Ancients were much fiercer, since their benefits from the random Monster Modifiers they gained were uncapped, and enabled them to stack multiple immunities on Hell. Players were frequently forced to use a town portal to reset the level and try again until they "rerolled" properties on the Ancients that could be dealt with. Since v1.09, the maximum gains from random properties are capped, making the Ancients more predictable, less dangerous, and somewhat less fun.

• All values are listed by difficulty level: Normal / Nightmare / Hell.

Statistics

Offense

Madawc and the other 2 Barbarian Guardians do not have any permanent modifiers, but they all gain, at random, 1 on Nightmare and 2 on Hell.

Madawc casts the Shout warcry, considerably boosting his own defense as well as that of the other two Guardians. His Shout is equivalent to level 5, 8, and 12, increasing with the difficulty level.

Madawc throws axes. He is exclusively a ranged attacker and will attempt to retreat from melee range if engaged. Though the listed damage for his axes is not high, he has a fast throwing rate, very high AR, and on hell difficulty he's quite likely to add elemental damage from one of the random modifiers he rolls. His rapid fire axes boosted by Extra Strong or one of the elemental enchantments, and further boosted by the Might or Fanaticism he can receive from his fellow Guardians, can become more than annoying.

• All of the guardians spawn with random equipment bonuses, much like Valkyries do. This can give them interesting bonuses to their damage, resistances, and other properties, though these bonuses are hard to observe or quantify during the chaotic battle.

Defences

Like all SuperUniques, Madawc does not regenerate hit points.

Madawc has very low base defense, even with the benefit he gets from his Shout warcry. This makes him quite easy to hit, though his high level can still afford some protection, when the game calculates to/hit odds.

• Drain Effectiveness tells what % of a character's mana and life steal apply to that monster. 100 is all, 0 is none.
• Chill Effectiveness tells what % of a character's cold length applies to the monster. 100 is all, 0 is no freeze/chill at all.

Resistances

• Resistances over 99% are listed as immunities and monsters will take no damage from that type of attack.
• Immunities can be "broken" by skills that lower resistance, if the value drops below 99%. See the Resistances page for more details.

Locations

All SuperUniques (except for Uber Diablo) are found in roughly the same location every game, on all three difficulty levels. (Except for the Uber Monsters who are only found on Hell Difficulty.)

Lore

No one is quite sure where Madawc is from, only that one day he walked out of the hills of Val Narian in the North, an axe in both hands, ready to battle. Those who were crazy enough to battle beside Madawc referred to him as the warrior prophet. He claimed he was cursed with visions from both past and present. He would often begin fights without provocation, claiming he sought justice for crimes not yet committed. Before every battle he would sit, trance like, staring up to the skies. Sometimes, when he would fall out of these trances, he would rise from wherever he was, and leave, not taking part in the waiting battle. Those that knew of Madawc’s trances began to believe he could tell the outcome of a battle even before it was fought. How else could the crazy old codger have survived for as long as he had?

He became well known among the warriors of the Northern Lands because of his supposed gift. Men began to follow Madawc wherever he went, staying if he stayed, leaving when he left. He became something of a legend, a warrior prophet. However, one night as Madawc sat around the fire with some of his men, he stood up, dropped his pipe, and left. When one of the men stopped him and asked where he was going he said, "The Ancients have called me to guard Mt. Arreat. So, I must go." Pushing past the man, Madawc began his long trek south to the summit of Mt. Arreat.

Outside Diablo

Madawg (sometimes also Madog or Madoc) is a Brythonic (Old Welsh) Celtic name. The most famous Madawc was a Brythonic king, who is usually said to be either the son or the brother of King Arthur. In one of the mythological texts featuring him (Breuddwyd Rhonabwy) he is depicted as ruling over a lesser age where men looked back with nostalgia to the true Golden Age of King Arthur. Madawc was linked to, but at the same time able to live beyond this time. This background may have inspired the dreamer-prophet countenance given to his namesake in Diablo II

Alternatively, another Madoc was a later prince of Gwynedd (a kingdom in Wales). It is sometimes claimed that this Madoc discovered America (300 years before Columbus) and left a colony of Welsh-speakers who mixed with the native peoples. If the Diablo Madawc was based on this man, his mysterious appearances and disappearances would make sense, as would his strange temperament (Madoc is confusingly stated to be both fierce in battles and yet sometimes a coward).