W

Printable ASCII characters
~	!	@	#	$	%	^	&	*	(	)	_	+	space
`	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	-	=	{	}	|
	Qq	Ww	Ee	Rr	Tt	Yy	Uu	Ii	Oo	Pp	:	"	[	]	\
	Aa	Ss	Dd	Ff	Gg	Hh	Jj	Kk	Ll	?	;	'	Ctrl
	Zz	Xx	Cc	Vv	Bb	Nn	Mm	,	.	/	<	>	Alt

In NetHack, the letter W serves the following purposes:

• w represents a worm:
  • w baby long worm
  • w baby purple worm
  • w long worm
  • w purple worm

• W represents a wraith:
  • W barrow wight
  • W wraith
  • W Nazgul

• Press w to wield a weapon.
• Press shift + w to wear armor.
• In wizard mode, press ctrl + w to wish for something.

Historical uses

In hack121, a port of Jay Fenlason's Hack, the wraith uses the w glyph, while the wumpus uses the W glyph. In PDP-11 Hack and Hack 1.0, the W glyph is given to the wraith, and the w glyph is given to the long worm. Both monsters retain their glyph for their appearance in Hack 1.0, though the wumpus could also be represented by a w depending on if the NOWORM compile-time option was enabled or disabled. All monsters retained their glyphs up to NetHack 2.3e.

In NetHack 3.0.0, the wraith and worm monster classes were established, and the long worm was made a default monster - the wumpus was made a default monster as well and moved to the quadruped monster class, q.

Variants

Some variants of NetHack merge the ghost monster class into the wraith monster class for better visibility.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM adds several monsters that use the w and W glyphs:

• w worm:
  • w larva
  • w maggot
  • w dung worm
  • w acid worm
  • w bloodworm
  • w tunnel worm
  • w rot worm
• W wraith:
  • W wight

The above also applies to SlashTHEM.

AceHack

In AceHack, the ghost monster class is merged into the wraith monster class to make them more visible to players. This is also applicable to Nethack 4 and FIQhack.

dNetHack

dNetHack adds several monsters that use the w and W glyphs:

• w worm:
  • w dark worm
  • w hunting horror
  • w wide clubbed tentacle
  • w worm that walks
  • w parasitic mind flayer
  • w parasitic master mind flayer
  • w long sinuous tentacle
  • w crimson writher
• W wraith:
  • W phantasm
  • W zarielite zealot
  • W zarielite heretic
  • W Necromancer
  • W Vechernyaya the Sun's Grave-keeper
  • W bright walker
  • W flaxen starshadow
  • W flaxen star-phantom

NetHack Fourk

In NetHack Fourk, the ghost monster class is merged into the wraith monster class as in NetHack 4, and the manes is also moved to the monster class at W.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, the ghost monster class is merged into the wraith monster class to avoid using punctuation for monster glyphs and make them more visible.

SpliceHack

SpliceHack adds a few monsters that use the w and W glyphs:

• w worm:
  • w maggot
• W wraith:
  • W bodak
  • W banshee

EvilHack

EvilHack adds two monsters that use the w glyph:

• w worm:
  • w giant leech
  • w neothelid

Hack'EM

Hack'EM adds many monsters that use the w and W glyphs, including several from other variants:

• w worm:
  • w larva
  • w maggot
  • w dung worm
  • w acid worm
  • w bloodworm
  • w tunnel worm
  • w rot worm
  • w giant leech
  • w neothelid
  • w hellminth
• W wraith:
  • W bodak
  • W banshee
  • W slaughter wight