# Weapon

Item classes

"&nbsp;Amulets

[&nbsp;Armor

%&nbsp;Comestibles

$&nbsp;Coins

*&nbsp;Gems

!&nbsp;Potions

=&nbsp;Rings

?&nbsp;Scrolls

+&nbsp;Spellbooks

`&nbsp;Statues

(&nbsp;Tools

`&nbsp;Boulders

)&nbsp;Weapons

/&nbsp;Wands

In NetHack, a weapon is an item used to attack opponents.

Contents

1 Description

1.1 Weapon generation
1.2 Weapons and erosion
1.3 Weapon use by monsters

2 Table of weapons and their properties
3 Strategy

3.1 Erodeproofing
3.2 Weapons and monster size
3.3 Fighting weaponless

4 Encyclopedia entry
5 See also
6 References

Description
Most weapons are wielded with w and used to hit enemies; you cannot wield a weapon if you are handless or tiny.[1] To attack with a wielded weapon, simply try to move into a monster's space, or use Shift&nbsp;+ F to attack in any direction.
Some weapons are missiles that are designed to be thrown with t (or f to fire quivered weapons), and others require a launcher to be wielded in order to shoot them as ammo - still other items are not designed as weaponry, but can be improvised to serve as one, such as a cream pie. Hitting monsters properly with weapons can increase your training in that weapon. 
You can ready a second weapon for use, and use x to exchange between your primary and secondary weapons. Some roles can wield both weapons at once using the #twoweapon command. Pressing w, then - will unwield your current weapon and have you fight empty-handed; this is the default for Monks, who excel in fighting without a weapon, and Tourists that start the game without a tin opener.

Weapon generation
Randomly generated weapons have the following total probability of beatitude and enchantment:[2]

+0
+1
+2
+3
+4
&gt;+4

Blessed
4.09%
3.03%
1.01%
0.34%
0.11%
0.06%

Uncursed
73.64%
3.03%
1.01%
0.34%
0.11%
0.06%

+0
-1
-2
-3
-4
&lt;-4

Cursed
4.09%
6.06%
2.02%
0.67%
0.22%
0.11%

Given the BUC status, the chance of enchantment is:

+0
+1
+2
+3
+4
&gt;+4

Blessed
47.37%
35.09%
11.70%
3.90%
1.30%
0.65%

Uncursed
94.19%
3.88%
1.29%
0.43%
0.14%
0.07%

+0
-1
-2
-3
-4
&lt;-4

Cursed
31.03%
45.98%
15.33%
5.11%
1.70%
0.85%

After the type of weapon is chosen, if an artifact matching the base type exists, there is a 5% chance that the weapon is converted into an artifact.
Poisonable weapons are generated as poisoned 1% of the time.

Weapons and erosion
Many weapons are subject to possible erosion from various sources, such as rust traps and monsters with eroding attacks (typically in the form of a passive attack); erosion can significantly reduce a weapon's effectiveness. Most metallic weapons can rust or corrode, while wooden weapons can be burnt.
A weapon can be made erodeproof by wielding it as a primary weapon and reading a scroll of enchant weapon while confused; this also repairs any current erosion on the weapon in question. Some weapons can also have their erosion repaired by dipping the weapon in a potion of oil.

Weapon use by monsters
A monster wielding a weapon will have the damage from a wielded weapon added to the base attack damage.[3][4]  When monster infoboxes on this wiki give monster attacks in the form of "weapon (n)d(y)", it means that (n)d(y) is the base damage that the weapon damage is added to.

Table of weapons and their properties

Weapon
Skill
Cost
Hands
Weight
Prob&nbsp;(‰)
Dam. (S)
Dam. (L)
Material
Appearance
Tile
Glyph

orcish dagger
dagger
4 zm
1
10
12†
2
2
iron
crude dagger

)

dagger
dagger
4 zm
1
10
30
2.5
2
iron

)

silver dagger
dagger
40 zm
1
12
3
2.5
2
silver

)

athame
dagger
4 zm
1
10
N/A
2.5
2
iron

)

elven dagger
dagger
4 zm
1
10
10†
3
2
wood
runed dagger

)

worm tooth
knife
2 zm
1
20
N/A
1.5
1.5
undefined

)

knife (shito)
knife
4 zm
1
5
20
2
1.5
iron

)

stiletto
knife
4 zm
1
5
5
2
1.5
iron

)

scalpel
knife
4 zm
1
5
N/A
2
2
metal

)

crysknife
knife
100 zm
1
20
N/A
5.5
5.5
mineral

)

axe
axe
8 zm
1
60
40
3.5
2.5
iron

)

battle-axe
axe
40 zm
2
120
10
7
8.5
iron
double-headed axe

)

pick-axe
pick-axe
50 zm
1
100
tool
3.5
2
iron

(

dwarvish mattock
pick-axe
50 zm
2
120
13†
6.5
11.5
iron
broad pick

)

orcish short sword
short sword
10 zm
1
30
3†
3
4.5
iron
crude short sword

)

short sword (wakizashi)
short sword
10 zm
1
30
8
3.5
4.5
iron

)

dwarvish short sword
short sword
10 zm
1
30
2†
4
4.5
iron
broad short sword

)

elven short sword
short sword
10 zm
1
30
2†
4.5
4.5
wood
runed short sword

)

broadsword (ninja-to)
broadsword
10 zm
1
70
8
5
4.5
iron

)

runesword
broadsword
300 zm
1
40
N/A
5
4.5
iron
runed broadsword

)

elven broadsword
broadsword
10 zm
1
70
4†
6
4.5
wood
runed broadsword

)

long sword
long sword
15 zm
1
40
50†
4.5
6.5
iron

)

katana
long sword
80 zm
1
40
4
5.5
6.5
iron
samurai sword

)

two-handed sword
two-handed sword
50 zm
2
150
22
6.5
10.5
iron

)

tsurugi
two-handed sword
500 zm
2
60
N/A
8.5
11.5
metal
long samurai sword

)

scimitar
scimitar
15 zm
1
40
15†
4.5
4.5
iron
curved sword

)

silver saber
saber
75 zm
1
40
6
4.5
4.5
silver

)

club
club
3 zm
1
30
12
3.5
2
wood

)

aklys
club
4 zm
1
15
8
3.5
2
iron
thonged club

)

mace
mace
5 zm
1
30
40
4.5
3.5
iron

)

morning star
morning star
10 zm
1
120
12
5
4.5
iron

)

flail (nunchaku)
flail
4 zm
1
15
40
4.5
5
iron

)

grappling hook
flail
50 zm
1
30
tool
1.5
3.5
iron
iron hook

(

war hammer
hammer
5 zm
1
50
15
3.5
2.5
iron

)

quarterstaff
quarterstaff
5 zm
2
40
11†
3.5
3.5
wood
staff

)

partisan
polearms
10 zm
2
80
5
3.5
4.5
iron
vulgar polearm

)

fauchard
polearms
5 zm
2
60
6
3.5
4.5
iron
pole sickle

)

glaive (naginata)
polearms
6 zm
2
75
8
3.5
5.5
iron
single-edged polearm

)

bec-de-corbin
polearms
8 zm
2
100
4
4.5
3.5
iron
beaked polearm

)

spetum
polearms
5 zm
2
50
5
4.5
7
iron
forked polearm

)

lucern hammer
polearms
7 zm
2
150
5
5
3.5
iron
pronged polearm

)

guisarme
polearms
5 zm
2
80
6
5
4.5
iron
pruning hook

)

ranseur
polearms
6 zm
2
50
5
5
5
iron
hilted polearm

)

voulge
polearms
5 zm
2
125
4
5
5
iron
pole cleaver

)

bill-guisarme
polearms
7 zm
2
120
4
5
5.5
iron
hooked polearm

)

bardiche
polearms
7 zm
2
120
4
5
7.5
iron
long poleaxe

)

halberd
polearms
10 zm
2
150
8
5.5
7
iron
angled poleaxe

)

orcish spear
spear
3 zm
1
30
13†
3
4.5
iron
crude spear

)

spear
spear
3 zm
1
30
50†
3.5
4.5
iron

)

silver spear
spear
40 zm
1
36
2
3.5
4.5
silver

)

elven spear
spear
3 zm
1
30
10†
4
4.5
wood
runed spear

)

dwarvish spear
spear
3 zm
1
35
12†
4.5
4.5
iron
stout spear

)

javelin
spear
3 zm
1
20
10
3.5
3.5
iron
throwing spear

)

trident
trident
5 zm
1
25
8
4.5
7.5
iron

)

lance1
lance
10 zm
1
180
4
3.5
4.5
iron

)

orcish bow
bow
60 zm
1
30
12†
1.5
1.5
wood
crude bow

)

orcish arrow2
bow
2 zm
1
1
20†
3
3.5
iron
crude arrow

)

bow
bow
60 zm
1
30
24
1.5
1.5
wood

)

arrow2
bow
2 zm
1
1
55†
3.5
3.5
iron

)

elven bow
bow
60 zm
1
30
12†
1.5
1.5
wood
runed bow

)

elven arrow2
bow
2 zm
1
1
20†
4
3.5
wood
runed arrow

)

yumi
bow
60 zm
1
30
0
1.5
1.5
wood
long bow

)

ya2
bow
4 zm
1
1
15
4
4
metal
bamboo arrow

)

silver arrow2
bow
5 zm
1
1
12
3.5
3.5
silver

)

sling
sling
20 zm
1
3
40
1.5
1.5
leather

)

flint stone2
sling
1 zm
1
10
gem
3.5
3.5
mineral
gray stone

*

crossbow
crossbow
40 zm
1
50
45†
1.5
1.5
wood

)

crossbow bolt2
crossbow
2 zm
1
1
55†
3.5
4.5
iron

)

dart2
dart
2 zm
1
1
60†
2
1.5
iron

)

shuriken2
shuriken
5 zm
1
1
35
4.5
3.5
iron
throwing star

)

boomerang2
boomerang
20 zm
1
5
15
5
5
wood

)

bullwhip
whip
4 zm
1
20
2
1.5
1
leather

)

rubber hose
whip
3 zm
1
20
N/A
2.5
2
plastic

)

unicorn horn
unicorn horn
100 zm
2
20
tool
6.5
6.5
bone

(

(‰) Relative probability.[5] Figures are given as probability in a thousand, or permille.
(†) Objects are significantly more common in play than their probability would otherwise imply due to monster starting inventory or certain traps.
(1) When the user is riding, the lance gets an additional 2d10 in case of a successful joust. The victim is also automatically stunned and thrown back a square.
(2) This is a projectile weapon that is meant to be thrown or fired, not wielded, in order to deal damage.

Strategy
A significant part of NetHack strategy comes down to weapon selection. On a basic level, curse-testing any weapons you find before wielding them is ideal, whether it be via a starting pet or an altar.

Erodeproofing
Once you have settled on your main weapon(s), erodeproof them as soon as you can in order to preserve their damage output. The urgency of this varies with your role and weapon(s) of choice: for instance, while most wooden and organic weapons risk being burnt, this is only a risk against monsters with fiery passive attacks (i.e. the fire elemental, fire vortex, and red mold), and fire traps also do not affect weapons.[6] Therefore, you can save scrolls of enchant weapon by switching to a metallic weapon or other burn-proof alternative against those monsters.

Weapons and monster size
 Monsters by size
Main article: Physical size
Another aspect of weapon selection is accounting for the physical size of hostile monsters that you will face in the various stages of the game. As shown in the table above, various weapons have different hit dice against monsters depending on whether they are small (medium-sized or smaller) or large (large-sized or bigger).
The majority of monsters in the game are classified as small; this includes most of the monsters you encounter early on, with large monsters being intermittent and often more difficult in comparison. In contrast, the mid-game tends towards a mix of medium-sized monsters and larger; during the late game and end game, a majority of the most threatening monsters you will face - the Wizard of Yendor, the high priest of Moloch, and many of the Astral Plane denizens - are at least medium-sized, with most of the demon princes in Gehennom being large minus the dangerous but rarely-seen Dispater.

Fighting weaponless
In addition to being the preferred combat style of Monks, unwielding a weapon is viable if you must take on weapon-hazardous monsters such as acid blobs or rust monsters in melee, provided you lack a resistant weapon (e.g. a silver weapon or unicorn horn).

Encyclopedia entry

A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind.

[ The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold ] 

See also
Artifact weapon
Two-handed
Weapon Skills
References

↑ mondata.h in NetHack 3.4.3, line 106

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.1, line 768

↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 959: base attack damage

↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1003: weapon damage is added to base attack damage

↑ http://www.steelypips.org/nethack/343/weap-343.html

↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 3124

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It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
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