# Two-handed sword

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Name

two-handed sword

Appearance

two-handed sword

Damage vs. small

1d12 (1-12)

Damage vs. large

3d6 (3-18)

To-hit bonus

+0

Weapon skill

two-handed sword

Size

two-handed

Base price

50 zm(+10/positive enchant)

Weight

150

Material

iron

A two-handed sword is a kind of melee weapon that appears in NetHack. It is one of the most damaging non-artifact weapons in the game, and one of the most damaging among two-handed weapons.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Two-handed sword skill
3 Strategy
4 History
5 Variants

5.1 SLASH'EM
5.2 UnNetHack
5.3 dNetHack
5.4 EvilHack

6 References

Generation
A +0 two-handed sword is one of the possible starting swords for Barbarians.[1] Two-handed swords make up about 2.2% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops). 
A two-handed sword is one of the weapons that can be given to a strong humanoid monster with a weapon attack, the ability to wield weapons and no other ruleset governing its monster starting inventory, unless they are being generated on the Rogue level: the base odds are 1⁄14 for normal monsters, 1⁄12 for a monster that is a lord or nasty, 1⁄10 for a monster that is an overlord or both a lord and nasty, and 1⁄8 for a monster that is both nasty and an overlord.[2]
Croesus is always generated with a two-handed sword if Fort Ludios appears in a game.[3] One of the weapons guarded by the ghost on the Rogue level has a 50% chance of being a two-handed sword, with an enchantment ranging from -1 to +3 and a 3⁄4 chance of generating as cursed.[4]
Player monsters, including those on the Astral Plane, have an approximate 1.9% chance of generating with a two-handed sword before role replacements - barbarians have a 1⁄4 chance of receiving a two-handed sword in place of their initial primary weapon, bringing their odds to roughly 27%.[5]

Two-handed sword skill

Two-handed sword

Max
Role

Basic

Rogue, Tourist

Skilled

Knight

Expert

Barbarian, Samurai, Valkyrie

The two-handed sword skill covers the use of two-handed swords and tsurugi. The Tsurugi of Muramasa is an artifact tsurugi that uses the skill.

Strategy
Main article: Two-handed
Two-handed swords are solid early game weapons for their high damage rolls, particularly for weaker roles like Tourists - but they can become a nuisance when cursed, making it an unpopular choice to use past the mid-game. The #tip command can be used to get curse removal items out of a carried bag, but most players will still prefer a one-handed and/or curse-resistant weapon to avoid this issue entirely.

History
The two-handed sword has been present in the game since Hack 1.21, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack.
From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.0.10, a two-handed sword can be named Orcrist, giving it a bonus d10 damage against orcs; prior to Hack 1.0.2, naming Orcrist was not restricted to requiring this weapon. Until NetHack 3.0.0, it is possible to have multiple "Orcrists" by naming two-handed swords this way - NetHack 3.0.0 made artifacts unique, and Orcrist used the two-handed sword as its base item until NetHack 3.1.0, which made it an elven broadsword instead.

Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds Deathsword, an artifact two-handed sword.

UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Thiefbane is an artifact two-handed sword carried by the black market proprietor One-eyed Sam.

dNetHack
In dNetHack, Aurumach Rilmani will generate with a gold two-handed sword enchanted to at least +4, and wandering githyanki pirates are generated with a two-handed sword.

EvilHack
In EvilHack, Lifestealer and The Sword of Kas are artifact two-handed swords.

References

↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 44

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 527

↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 1308

↑ src/extralev.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 328

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 171