# Silver saber

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Name

silver saber

Appearance

silver saber

Damage vs. small

1d8+(1d20)

Damage vs. large

1d8+(1d20)

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

saber

Size

one-handed

Base price

75 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

40

Material

silver

The silver saber is a type of sword that appears in NetHack. It is made of silver.
The silver saber is the base item for the artifact weapons Grayswandir and Werebane.

Contents

1 Saber skill
2 Generation
3 Strategy

3.1 Average damage calculation

4 History
5 Origin
6 Variants

6.1 SLASH'EM
6.2 NetHack brass
6.3 dNetHack
6.4 SlashTHEM

7 Encyclopedia entry
8 References

Saber skill

Saber

Max
Role

Basic

Barbarian, Healer, Samurai, Valkyrie

Skilled

Knight, Rogue, Tourist

Expert

Archeologist

The silver saber is the only weapon to use the saber skill.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Per commit 296a3ac2, the scimitar skill is merged into the saber skill, and Barbarians can reach Skilled in saber to maintain consistency with the former scimitar skill.
Generation
Silver sabers make up about 0.6% of randomly generated weapons (on the floor, as death drops, or in shops). Watch captains and Yendorian army captains have a 50% chance of being generated with one.[1]

Strategy
The silver saber is a respectable weapon in its own right, and is a common secondary weapon when #twoweaponing for the bonus damage it deals against silver-hating monsters such as shades, demons, lycanthropes, and vampires. However, as they are rarely generated, players with the weapon skill will often consider killing the watch captain in Minetown for one.
Players who cannot find a saber and have bad luck with the watch captain's weapon generation (or else do not wish to risk themselves or their pets) can search Fort Ludios if it appears during that game, and may encounter at least a captain or two by the time they reach Gehennom.

Average damage calculation
The average damage calculations in the following table do not include bonuses from weapon skills, strength, or from using a blessed weapon against undead or demons.

Weapon

Not silver-hating

Silver-hating

+0 silver saber

+7 silver saber

History
The silver saber first appears in NetHack 3.1.0, which introduces Grayswandir and chances Werebane from a long sword, had its changed to a silver saber in this version.

Origin

Wikipedia has an article about:
Saber

The saber is a curved, single-edged sword with a cross-guard connecting to the pommel (tip of the hilt). It descends from the similar West Asian scimitar, which has a simple cross-guard. The blade of a saber is backward-curved as opposed to the forward curving associated with many similar swords, and was designed for use by mounted cavalry, such as the Central European hussars and the light cavalry of the 16th-to-19th centuries. The saber's cross-guard was improved as the development of firearms made many forms of armor ineffective.

Variants
In variants with object materials systems, the silver saber is instead simply a saber with a default material of iron, and can also generate made of silver among other compatible materials. Some variants also add additional weapons that use the saber skill.
In variants with the Convict role, prison guards in the Convict quest have a 1⁄2 chance to be generated with a silver saber.

SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds a new saber weapon in the rapier.

NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, silver sabers have been removed and replaced with standard iron sabers. Grayswandir retains its silver damage as a unique property of the artifact rather than an intrinsic property of the base item. The scimitar skill is also phased out, with scimitars using the saber skill instead.

dNetHack
In dNetHack, the default Noble quest nemesis, the Rebel Ringleader, will always generate with a silver saber. Argentum golems also have a 1⁄6 chance of their starting silver dagger being replaced with a silver saber.

SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, the Rebel Ringleader retains her silver saber and serves as the nemesis for all Nobles.

Encyclopedia entry

Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air,
Sab'ring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery smoke,
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not--
Not the six hundred.

[ The Charge of the Light Brigade,
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson ] 

References

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 205