Giantslayer
) Giantslayer 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | long sword |
| Damage vs. small | 1d8 ×2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d12 ×2 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | giants |
| Weapon skill | long sword |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded |
(none) |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 40 |
| Material | iron |
Giantslayer is an artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is neutral-aligned, and its base item is a long sword.
Contents
Generation
Giantslayer may be given as a sacrifice gift to any neutral character. Any randomly-generated long sword has a base 1⁄20 chance of being made into Giantslayer.
Description
Giantslayer has a +1d5 to-hit bonus and deals double damage against non-undead giants.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Wielding Giantslayer now confers steadfastness, preventing you from being sent flying by attacks.Strategy
Like most of the Banes, Giantslayer has too narrow a damage range to be particularly useful: most giants are not especially threatening on their own for the point they are encountered, and in situations where they become a threat they can also be dispatched through other means, including artifact weapons that cover a wider range of monsters and/or deal more damage overall. Unlike some of the other Banes, Giantslayer may still be fine enough as an artifact weapon for an early neutral character - a long sword is an acceptable base weapon, and receiving it via sacrifice can unrestrict long swords for characters looking to use other long sword artifacts (e.g., Frost Brand) that they either discover randomly or via bones.
History
Giantslayer first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, Giantslayer is replaced with Giantkiller, a neutral axe with the same to-hit bonus and double damage range. This also applies to SlashTHEM.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, Giantslayer additionally grants warning of giants.
SporkHack
In GruntHack, Giantslayer's base item is changed to a sling. It still has +1d5 to-hit, and its bonus damage against giants is changed to +1d8. While wielded, it warns of giants and sets the wielder's strength to 18/** - this can happen even if the artifact occupies the alternate weapon slot.
UnNetHack
) Giantslayer (UnNetHack) 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | sling |
| Damage vs. small | 1d2 ×2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d2 ×2 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | giants |
| Weapon skill | sling |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded |
|
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 1200 zm |
| Weight | 3 |
| Material | leather |
In UnNetHack, Giantslayer's base item is also changed to a sling. It has +1d5 to-hit and deals double damage against giants, and while wielded it warns of giants and sets the wielder's strength to 18/** - as in SporkHack, this can happen even if the artifact occupies the alternate weapon slot.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Giantslayer is unaligned, and its base item is changed to an axe. Giantslayer does not resist being twoweaponed in the offhand, but incurs a -20 to-hit penalty when used this way unless the character has Grand Master skill in two weapon combat (which only a Monk can achieve in practice).
Giantslayer deals +1d4 bonus damage against small monsters and +2d4 against large monsters - against large monsters, it also gains +1d10 to-hit and +1d20 damage. Carrying Giantslayer grants warning of giants and other boulder-throwing monsters, and hitting such a monster with Giantslayer reduces their movement points by 6 and has a 1⁄10 chance of attempting to cancel the target (subject to their MR score).
FIQHack
In FIQHack, Giantslayer's double damage is replaced with a +1d20 damage bonus versus giants.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, Giantslayer additionally warns of giants while wielded and prevents the wielder from being knocked back by attacks.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Giantslayer's base item is changed to a spear. While wielded, Giantslayer sets the wielder's strength to 25, provides knockback resistance and warns of giants - it cannot be wielded by a giant character. Like all Banes in EvilHack, Giantslayer has a chance of instakilling giants that it hits by evisceration.
