Two-handed
Some weapons are two-handed. You wield them in both hands, which means you cannot wear a shield or engage in two-weapon combat while wielding them.
Hitting a monster with a two-handed weapon has a 5% chance to shatter its wielded weapon.
The weapons below are two-handed. All other wielded ones are one-handed, including launchers. Polearms and missiles belong to a separate category.
| Weapon Name | Cost | Weight | Prob (‰) | Damage (S/L) | Material | Appearance | Tile | Glyph | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| axes | |||||||||
| battle-axe | 40 zm | 120 | 10 | d8+d4 | d6+2d4 | iron | double-headed axe |  |
) |
| pick-axes | |||||||||
| dwarvish mattock | 50 zm | 120 | 13† | d12 | d8+2d6 | iron | broad pick |  |
) |
| two-handed swords | |||||||||
| two-handed sword | 50 zm | 150 | 22 | d12 | 3d6 | iron |  |
) | |
| tsurugi | 500 zm | 60 | N/A | d16 | d8+2d6 | metal | long samurai sword |  |
) |
| quarterstaves | |||||||||
| quarterstaff | 5 zm | 40 | 11† | d6 | d6 | wood | staff |  |
) |
| unicorn horns | |||||||||
| unicorn horn | 100 zm | 20 | tool | d12 | d12 | bone |  |
( | |
Monsters (including pets) can wield two-handed weapons if they have the strong attribute and are not wearing a shield, in addition to the usual restrictions (must have a weapon attack, no cross-aligned artifacts etc).
Wielding cursed two-handers
Two-handed weapons are infamous for their crippling effect when wielding a cursed one. (Wielding a cursed weapon while wearing a cursed shield has similar drawbacks.) While your hands are welded to a cursed two-hander, you cannot loot or apply containers, cast spells, change your cloak, body armor, or shirt, wear or remove rings, and several other activities. Your god treats this as a major trouble for prayer purposes.
These handicaps make it hard to lift the curse, since your uncursing items will usually be safely in your bag. But you can empty your bag on the floor with the tip command to reach your curse removal items. That's quite annoying if you didn't prepare in advance a second bag with just what you needed. Praying is the most convenient solution, but keep in mind that you can't successfully pray in Gehennom. Some people also drop holy water on the ground in places you can easily branchport or level teleport to.
Spellcasting monsters, Rodney, angry gods, and fountain quaffing can curse your items, including your wielded weapon.
Variants
The tip command was introduced in NetHack 3.6.0, and variants based on older versions (such as SLASH'EM) may lack the command. As a result, wielding a cursed two-handed weapon is typically a much more serious problem. Players may choose to avoid these weapons entirely.
In SLASH'EM, bows, crossbows, and some firearms (but not slings) are two-handed.
See also
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.
