Holding attack

A holding attack prevents the player from moving away from a monster. If you try to move away, you waste that turn and get the message (You cannot escape from the !). There are three types of holding attacks:

Grabbing attack
The grabbing attack is most famously possessed by owlbears. This is reflected by the messages foo grabs you! or You are being crushed.. In the case of rope golems, the message is You are being choked.. Apart from the inability to move (and extra damage from being crushed) there are no additional ill effects.

Drowning attack
The drowning attack is a two-move instadeath possessed by some sea monsters. It is deadly even to high level characters. It is a two-move instadeath possessed by some sea monsters. It is impossible for a drowning attack to succeed if you are wearing an uncursed or blessed oilskin cloak or if your outermost item is greased; this is part of the reason why items of armour are largely wished for greased.

If you see the message " swings itself around you!", you usually have only one turn to escape death by drowning (except if the monster is a kraken, which is very slow and will not get its next attack for at least three turns). On this turn, you can:


 * Pray, which can get you out of trouble.
 * Engrave Elbereth, if you are on land.
 * Otherwise scare the monster (e.g. mirror, tooled horn)
 * Try to kill the monster in one turn, or put it to sleep (this can be risky unless the method is guaranteed, e.g. magic flute, guaranteed hit with already-wielded potion of sleeping)
 * Teleport it away
 * Freeze or otherwise alter the terrain the monster is on so that it is no longer liquid water.
 * Wear an amulet of magical breathing (you will still be held by the creature)
 * If you are levitating in a controlled fashion over dry land, stop levitating and the monster will become startled, releasing you

Sticky attack
A sticky attack is a silent holding attack that is differs from grabbing attacks and drowning attacks because it is preventable by having high magic cancellation. The large and giant mimics use the sticking attack, and they have the additional property of sticking to you if you stumble upon them while they are mimicking an object.