# Polearm
Contents

1 Generation
2 Comparison table
3 Polearms skill
4 Mechanics
5 Strategy

5.1 Packed rooms

6 Origin
7 Halberd
8 Bardiche
9 Spetum
10 Ranseur
11 Partisan
12 Voulge
13 Glaive

13.1 Encyclopedia entry

14 Fauchard
15 Guisarme
16 Bill-guisarme
17 Lucern hammer
18 Bec-de-corbin
19 SLASH'EM
20 References

A polearm is literally a weapon on a pole. There is an abundance of polearm types in NetHack.  This is another feature of the game that echoes early editions of Dungeons &amp; Dragons, which were infamous for giving stats for many exotic polearms, while describing none of them.
Monsters will attempt to use polearms in the following order: halberd, bardiche, spetum, bill-guisarme, voulge, ranseur, guisarme, glaive, lucern hammer, bec de corbin, fauchard, partisan, followed by the lance; and so this list is roughly from best to worst. Polearms can only be used by strong monsters without a shield.
The lance is, in real life, a polearm, but in NetHack it uses the lance skill instead of the polearm skill, due to its very different usage: by mounted soldiers instead of against them.

Generation
Collectively, polearms make up about 6.4% of all randomly generated weapons (on the floor, as death drops, or in shops). The probabilities of each type range from 0.4% to 0.8%. 
A few types of polearms are more common because they appear in the starting inventory of certain monsters.  Ranseurs, partisans, glaives, and spetums are the usual starting weapons of trolls.[1]  Lucern hammers may also be generated as a fall-back starting weapon for strong monsters that lack default weapons.[2]
Watchmen and soldiers in the Yendorian Army often start with a random polearm.[3]

Comparison table

Name
Value
Weight
Prob&nbsp;(%)
Sdmg
Savg
Ldmg
Lavg
Material
Appearance
Tile
Glyph

halberd
10
150
8
d10
5.5
2d6
7
iron
angled poleaxe

)

bardiche
7
120
4
2d4
5
3d4
7.5
iron
long poleaxe

)

bill-guisarme
7
120
4
2d4
5
d10
5.5
iron
hooked polearm

)

ranseur
6
50
5
2d4
5
2d4
5
iron
hilted polearm

)

voulge
5
125
4
2d4
5
2d4
5
iron
pole cleaver

)

guisarme
5
80
6
2d4
5
d8
4.5
iron
pruning hook

)

lucern hammer
7
150
5
2d4
5
d6
3.5
iron
pronged polearm

)

spetum
5
50
5
d6+1
4.5
2d6
7
iron
forked polearm

)

bec-de-corbin
8
100
4
d8
4.5
d6
3.5
iron
beaked polearm

)

glaive (naginata)
6
75
8
d6
3.5
d10
5.5
iron
single-edged polearm

)

fauchard
5
60
6
d6
3.5
d8
4.5
iron
pole sickle

)

partisan
10
80
5
d6
3.5
d6+1
4.5
iron
vulgar polearm

)

Polearms skill

Polearms

Max
Role

Basic

Healer, Rogue, Tourist

Skilled

Caveman, Knight, Priest, Ranger, Samurai, Valkyrie, Wizard

How skill affects range when applying a polearm:

ESUSESXXXSUX@XUSXXXSESUSE
The @ is where your character is standing. Spaces marked with a X are too close to be hit, spaces marked with a U can be hit even while Unskilled, spaces marked with a S can only be hit when Skilled, and spaces marked with a E can only be hit when Expert. No role in vanilla NetHack can become Expert in polearms, but Knights can become Expert in lances, which use the same mechanic.
All of the weapons listed on this page use the polearms skill:

halberd
bardiche
spetum
ranseur
partisan
voulge
glaive
fauchard
guisarme
bill-guisarme
lucern hammer
bec-de-corbin
There are no artifact polearms.

Mechanics
Main article: Pounding
Polearms are capable of attacking enemies from two squares away, but the procedure for using them is different from other weapons. A polearm must be wielded (like any weapon), and then applied via the a command each time you want to strike. Attacking this way doesn't trigger passive attacks, but the polearm itself is still subject to erosion and loss of enchantment from a disenchanter. Pounding with a polearm while standing on Elbereth can cause it to fade and reduce your alignment record, just like attacking in melee.
If you are mounted, you may use polearms for melee attacks in the usual way (which does trigger passive attacks), but simply walking into an opponent on foot will only bash them with the pole; this deals d2 damage, with no bonuses, and does not train polearm skill.

Strategy
A character with a mount could make a polearm their primary weapon. Polearms deal less damage than other two-handed weapons in most circumstances, but they are an attractive option for roles such as Rangers and Wizards, who can ride but are restricted in most of the better melee weapon skills, and the ability to transition from pounding to melee without switching weapons is a tactical advantage. You'll need a backup weapon in case you're dismounted.
One of the great uses of polearms is not for fighting mounted opponents, but for fighting sea monsters, since staying two squares away from water makes a character immune to their drowning attack. If you have no simpler method for dealing with the sea monsters, it can be worthwhile to grab the best polearm you find and spend some time training with it before going to a level with open water.
In terms of differences between polearms, the halberd deals the most damage against small monsters, and the bardiche against large monsters; however, these are also among the heaviest options. The spetum deals high damage to both categories for only 50 weight; the ranseur is also a respectable lightweight polearm. The bec-de-corbin and lucern hammer offer poor damage for such heavy weapons.

Packed rooms
In leprechaun halls, throne rooms, and other rooms where every space is filled with monsters, a character with stealth can use polearms to attack monsters behind other monsters, protecting themselves from being attacked, and in some cases, preventing the target from moving.

Origin

Wikipedia has an article about:
Pole weapon

Polearms were popular in warfare for combating mounted soldiers, and those with heavy armor. The polearms (arms on poles) increased leverage for cutting the armor, and increased reach for reaching above the horse.
As time went on the various different weapon types borrowed heavily from each other and began to look like each other, which has led to a great deal of confusion over classification.  Warfare is, after all, a ruthlessly pragmatic matter, and classification is a hobby for comfortable people after the dust has settled.  If you search the internet now for examples of these weapons, you are likely to see weapons completely mislabeled as something different.
The term "poleaxe" seems to mean an axe on a pole, and that is how it is used in NetHack's descriptions. However, the term in real life is considered a corruption of "pollax", the "poll" part meaning "head", denoting originally a tool for slaughtering animals by hitting them in the head with a spike (whence the verb "to poleaxe"). As with many other agricultural tools, it became yet another military polearm.

Halberd

) 

Name

halberd

Appearance

angled poleaxe

Damage vs. small

d10

Damage vs. large

2d6

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

10 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

150

Material

iron

The halberd was a mainstay weapon in many armies for a long time. The halberd is a type of poleaxe in the most literal sense, an axe on a pole. Its main identifying feature is that the blade is always angled slightly downward, which explains NetHack's description of an angled poleaxe. In addition to the axe, halberds also have both a spear tip, and spike or hook on the rear for penetrating armor or hooking, making a versatile three-in-one weapon. Due to the popularity of this weapon, there are a wide variety of different styles, although some were only parade weapons. The halberd is one of the best NetHack weapons, and this is consistent with its role in real warfare.

Bardiche

) 

Name

bardiche

Appearance

long poleaxe

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

3d4

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

7 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

120

Material

iron

NetHack calls the bardiche a long poleaxe and that is exactly right, if you assume that the "long" applies to "axe" and not "pole". A bardiche is nothing more than a long axe blade on a stick. The cutting blade was typically two feet long or more, and usually attached to the pole in two places (in the middle and the bottom). But it is mounted on one of the shortest poles for a polearm, only about five feet. So "short poleaxe" would be accurate also. This simple weapon's advantage was in its size and weight, not its subtlety. NetHack gets the weight wrong—a bardiche should be heavier than a halberd.

Spetum

) 

Name

spetum

Appearance

forked polearm

Damage vs. small

d6+1

Damage vs. large

2d6

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

5 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

50

Material

iron

The spetum is a spear with two more knife blades stuck on the sides. NetHack's "forked polearm" is vaguely accurate, but forked weapons, like the military forks shown below, would more typically have side prongs that reach all the way up to the top. Over time variations were added and it more strongly resembled the ranseur. (The spetum may have grown into the ranseur, or they may have been developed independently.) NetHack gives this an advantage with large monsters, which doesn't quite make sense, as it is supposed to be a lighter polearm.

Ranseur

) 

Name

ranseur

Appearance

hilted polearm

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

2d4

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

6 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

50

Material

iron

The ranseur, the hilted polearm, is essentially a spear with a hilt. The hilt served primarily to block opponents' weapons and possibly trap the weapon for disarming. The hilt was sometimes also used secondarily as an alternate way to attack. The hilt often hooked backwards also, so that it could be used as a hook. The ranseur was probably an all around better weapon than the spetum, but this is not the case in NetHack. In a perfect universe, NetHack would give this weapon an advantage when fighting monsters that use weapons, as that is where the hilt is useful.

Partisan

) 

Name

partisan

Appearance

vulgar polearm

Damage vs. small

d6

Damage vs. large

d6+1

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

10 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

80

Material

iron

The partisan also winds up looking much like the ranseur and spetum. Originally the partisan was a spear with small double axe blades added below it. This basic form is shown in the first partisan above; however you won't likely ever see a partisan that looks like this. The other forms are more typical. Note that while some of them look like spetums, they present broader protrusions than the knife-like spetum prongs. The partisan is also more likely to have a flat bladed tip, rather than the spiky blade of the spetum and ranseur. Over time partisans (or weapons called partisans) became more ornamental and ceremonial, which may explain why it is one of the weaker polearms, and also why it is referred to as a vulgar polearm.
Perhaps one good way to differentiate between the spetum, the partisan, and the ranseur is to look for the edges on the prongs. Typically, a ranseur would have no edges, a partisan would have edges only facing out, and a spetum would have edges on both sides of the protrusions.

Voulge

) 

Name

voulge

Appearance

pole cleaver

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

2d4

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

5 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

125

Material

iron

NetHack has it just right referring to the voulge as a pole cleaver, as this weapon probably was invented as a meat cleaver on a pole. The voulge may look somewhat like a bardiche, but the blade is much shorter and the shaft is longer. It also may tend to look like the glaive, but would generally have a broader blade.

Glaive

) 

Name

glaive

Appearance

single-edged polearm

Damage vs. small

d6

Damage vs. large

d10

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

6 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

75

Material

iron

If you could put a cleaver on a stick, why not just a knife? The glaive is basically just that, a knife on a stick; or as NetHack calls it, a single-edged polearm.

In NetHack the glaive is called a naginata if you are playing as a Samurai. A naginata is a Japanese polearm tipped with a curved blade similar to (although often shorter than) the blade of a katana.

Encyclopedia entry

A Japanese pole-arm, fitted with a curved single-edged blade.
The blades ranged in length from two to four feet, mounted on
shafts about four to five feet long.  The naginata were cut
with a series of short grooves near to the tang, above which
the back edge was thinned, but not sharpened, so that the
greater part of the blade was a flattened diamond shape in
section.  Seen in profile, the curve is slight or non-
existent near the tang, becoming more pronounced towards the
point.

"With his naginata he killed five, but with the sixth it
snapped asunder in the midst and, flinging it away, he drew
his sword, wielding it in the zigzag style, the interlacing,
cross, reversed dragonfly, waterwheel, and eight-sides-at-
once styles of fencing and cutting down eight men; but as he
brought down the ninth with a mighty blow on the helmet, the
blade snapped at the hilt."

[ Story of Tsutsui no Jomio Meishu from Tales of Heike ] 

Fauchard

) 

Name

fauchard

Appearance

pole sickle

Damage vs. small

d6

Damage vs. large

d8

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

5 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

60

Material

iron

The fauchard, which NetHack calls a pole sickle, is distinguished from other single-edged polearms by having a curved blade with the sharp edge on the inside of the curve. This was not a very effective weapon, and fairly weak in play.

Guisarme

) 

Name

guisarme

Appearance

pruning hook

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

d8

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

5 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

80

Material

iron

The guisarme, like the voulge, started out as a peasant's weapon, made from a tool on a stick. In this case the tool is a pruning hook, hence the weapon's unidentified description. While it was a somewhat useful cheap weapon, the lack of a spear point was a significant liability. It was good for pulling riders off of their mounts, but what do you do once they're off? It evolved to some degree, sometimes adding a reverse spike, but eventually guisarme became a generic term for any weapon with a hook, such that you had voulge-guisarmes and glaive-guisarmes.

Bill-guisarme

) 

Name

bill-guisarme

Appearance

hooked polearm

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

d10

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

7 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

120

Material

iron

This leads us to the bill-guisarme. Bills, developed from an agricultural implement called the bill hook (still used today), were English weapons similar in shape to the guisarme, but perhaps with somewhat less hook in general. They followed a different evolution, such that any weapon that was similar to a glaive or fauchard, but with extra bits thrown in, was often called a bill. So, in terms of origination, bill-guisarme would be a bit redundant, but in terms of later meaning, a bill-guisarme was a bladed weapon with multiple sharpened edges and spikes, and with a hook. These weapons were very versatile, and used over long periods of time, second only to the halberd.
There is a lot of confusion out there on guisarmes and bill-guisarmes. Often the bill-guisarme is called simply a guisarme. Also, many pictures purporting to be guisarmes are actually fauchard-forks, which is a fauchard, with a sharp spear point added to the back of the blade.

Lucern hammer

) 

Name

lucern hammer

Appearance

pronged polearm

Damage vs. small

2d4

Damage vs. large

d6

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

7 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

150

Material

iron

Despite the name, the lucern hammer is not really a hammer, and does not use the hammer skill. This confusion may have been responsible for the creation of Thunderfist. Similar confusion was common among players of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons &amp; Dragons.  AD&amp;D cleric characters were denied the use of sharp weapons, restricting them generally to maces and war hammers. Any number of early clerics therefore ended up carrying around a lucern "hammer", which did more damage than a traditional war hammer.

The lucern hammer is vaguely similar to the halberd, only instead of an axe blade, it presents a three-pronged hammer to its victim (hence the pronged polearm designation).

Bec-de-corbin

) 

Name

bec-de-corbin

Appearance

beaked polearm

Damage vs. small

d8

Damage vs. large

d6

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

polearm

Size

two-handed

Base price

8 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

100

Material

iron

The bec-de-corbin (literally "crow's beak") looks extremely similar to the lucern hammer; however the hammer side was sometimes blunt instead of pronged. The distinguishing characteristic though is that the spike was a thick beak-like shape designed only for puncturing (armor, or whatever). This is why it is the beaked polearm. The beak was the primary mode of attack; the hammer or claw was secondary. The spear tip was also generally less pointy than that of the lucern hammer.

SLASH'EM
UUUUUUXXXUUX@XUUXXXUUUUUU
In SLASH'EM, the range of the polearm is expanded and not restricted by skill level.
A new role, the Yeoman, can reach Expert skill at polearms, and begins play with a +1 partisan.
Reaper is a lawful artifact halberd with a high bonus to damage.

References

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 392

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 497

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 196

This page is based on a spoiler by Tom Fine, available at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Fun/polearms.html

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.0. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-360}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.