Silver dagger

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Name	silver dagger
Appearance	silver dagger
Damage vs. small	1d4+(1d20)
Damage vs. large	1d3+(1d20)
To-hit bonus	+2
Weapon skill	dagger
Size	one-handed
Base price	40 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	12
Material	silver

A silver dagger is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a stackable one-handed weapon that can be used in melee or thrown as a projectile, and uses the dagger skill. It is naturally made of silver.

Generation

Silver daggers make up 0.3% of all randomly generated weapons. General stores, antique weapon outlets and used armor dealerships can stock silver daggers.

Player monsters, including those on the Astral Plane, have a ~0.26% chance of generating with a silver dagger as their initial weapon before role-based replacements.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

As part of commit 20cbadcf - which strengthens quest leaders and makes it so that killing them no longer makes the game unwinnable - the Healer quest leader Hippocrates generates with a +5 silver dagger, and The Master of Thieves generates with a +4 silver dagger when serving as the Rogue quest leader.

Description

The silver dagger is mostly identical to a regular dagger, but it is heavier, erosion-proof and deals +d20 damage to silver-hating monsters due to its material.

Strategy

Silver daggers are incredibly rare, and its heavier material can cause the weight to add up should a hero assemble a stack of them. A stack of highly enchanted silver daggers is among the deadliest weapon options that can be used throughout Gehennom: Heroes that aim to use daggers as their primary ranged attack throughout the game might consider using spare wishes for an enchanted stack after the necessities are taken care of at the Castle.

Average damage calculation of thrown silver daggers

The following average damage calculation shows the average amount of damage dealt per turn by throwing as many silver daggers as possible. We assume the player has expert skill in dagger, which gives a +2 damage bonus, and a multishot rate of 1d3 daggers. A blessed weapon deals 1d4 extra damage against major demons and undead. The worst case scenario is against a non-silver-hating, non-undead, non-demon large monster. The best case scenario is against a silver-hating undead/demon small monster.

	Weapon
	Uncursed silver dagger + 0	Blessed silver dagger +7
Against regular small monsters	$\left(\frac{1+4}{2}+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{9}$	$\left(\frac{1+4}{2}+7+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{23}$
Against regular large monsters	$\left(\frac{1+3}{2}+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{8}$	$\left(\frac{1+3}{2}+7+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{22}$
Worst case scenario	$\left(\frac{1+3}{2}+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{8}$	$\left(\frac{1+3}{2}+7+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{22}$
Best case scenario	$\left(\frac{1+4}{2}+\frac{1+20}{2}+2\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{30}$	$\left(\frac{1+4}{2}+\frac{1+20}{2}+7+2+\frac{1+4}{2}\right)\times{\frac{1+3}{2}}=\bold{49}$

History

The silver dagger first appears in NetHack Plus, a variant of NetHack 3.1.3, and makes its vanilla debut in NetHack 3.3.0.

Variants

In variants with object material systems, the silver dagger is removed as an item, and standard daggers can generate as made of silver—some of these variants may specify silver when generating daggers in specific instances.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Undead Slayers have a ¹⁄₂ chance of a weapon set that contains a stack of 5 +0 silver daggers—lycanthrope Undead Slayers are given normal daggers instead.

Doppelgangers are always generated with a silver dagger.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notdNetHack, the silver dagger is removed as an item, and normal daggers can generate as made of silver.

Maids have a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance of generating with a dagger made of silver.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Bards start each game with a +1 silver dagger. Samurai know the silver dagger as a jade-hilted kunai.

Player monster hackers are generated with a silver dagger.

Silvershard is an unaligned artifact silver dagger that has +2 to-hit and deals double damage.