Artifact

In NetHack, an artifact is a rare, magical and unique version of a specific object, with special qualities compared to their mundane counterparts. Each role that a player character can select has their own special quest artifact associated with them.

Generation

Items that are randomly generated on the ground have a base ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of being made into an appropriate artifact, with an equal probability for each artifact if there are multiple artifacts of that item's type. Sting and Orcrist can be created by naming their base items, while Excalibur is not randomly generated and can only be created by certain methods detailed in its article. Artifacts are not generated in a monster's starting inventory, though monsters can pick up artifacts they come across - the exception to this is the player monsters generated on the Astral Plane.

The odds of an artifact being generated are affected by the amount of artifacts that already exist in the current game, and the more artifacts that have been generated, the less likely it is for another artifact to be generated. This also applies to wishing for artifacts: the odds of obtaining an artifact with a wish steadily decrease for each artifact generated after the second - see the linked section for further details. Artifact generation odds do not apply to the creation of artifacts by methods other than random generation or wishing.

Only one of each artifact can be generated in a given game, and artifacts will not generate under their normal circumstances if they already exist elsewhere in the game. Conversely, artifacts left in a bones file will revert to their base item if a character that encounters the bones file has already generated the artifact(s) in question, or else if the artifact belongs to that character's role.

Each character's quest artifact and any guaranteed sacrifice gifts are adjusted to the hero's starting alignment, e.g. Magicbane and The Eye of the Aethiopica are generated as chaotic for chaotic Wizards. Artifacts that have their alignment revert to their base alignment if left in bones.

Sacrifice gifts

Characters that sacrifice to their god while their prayer timeout is zero may be given an artifact as a gift, increasing the prayer timeout; some roles have guaranteed first sacrifice gifts that they will always receive if it has not yet been generated. All candidates for sacrifice gifts are weapons, and such gifts will always be created non-cursed and erosion-proofed, with a minimum enchantment of +0; the character will also be unrestricted in the appropriate weapon skill if necessary.

A gifted artifact will always be either unaligned or the same alignment as the character, and the character's first sacrifice gift will always match their alignment, including their guaranteed gift if applicable.

Quest artifacts

Each role has a special artifact that they are tasked with retrieving for their Quest - these artifacts are only generated on their respective quests, where they will always be found on the square of their quest nemesis, although they can also be wished for or left behind in a bones file. A character cannot ever wish for their role's quest artifact, and their quest artifact will also be reverted to its base item if that character encounters a bones level containing the artifact.

Crowning

If a character prays to their god while they are piously aligned and have at least 10 Luck, there is a chance that they will be crowned, which usually results in an artifact being gifted - the artifact and its generation method depend on the character's alignment, and both are described in the article linked above.

Description

An artifact is a magical version of its base item with additional properties layered on top of the base item's properties, and appear as a named version of that base item while unidentified: for example, Excalibur will appear as "a long sword named Excalibur". Attempting to give an object the name of an artifact will fail if it is of the same base item type as that artifact, with the exception of Sting and Orcrist, and changing an existing artifact's name always fails - these mechanics are the basis for the naming artifacts trick.

Artifacts in shops are sold for four times the normal price, and can be sold to shops for only ¹⁄₄ of their normal base price.

Alignment

Many artifacts are unaligned and can be used by any character, while an artifact that is one of three alignments has a ¹⁄₄ chance of magically blasting a cross-aligned character that touches it for 4d4 magical damage. Intelligent artifacts will always blast characters that touch them for 4d10 magical damage if they are cross-aligned or attuned to a specific role (i.e. quest artifacts); an intelligent artifact that is both of a different alignment and role from a character will both blast on contact and evade their grasp altogether. Characters that have a poor alignment record will be blasted by an intelligent artifact that is otherwise co-aligned and of their role (if applicable).

Monsters will never touch cross-aligned artifacts, regardless of whether the artifact or the monster themselves are intelligent.

Artifact weapons

An artifact weapon is a generally a weapon that has enhanced damage and to-hit versus their mundane counterpart, and the damage is applied either to all monsters or to a specific subset of monsters - the latter type of artifact weapons are often known as the Banes due to the naming scheme used for some of them. Artifact weapons cannot be wielded in the offhand when twoweaponing.

Unique items

While not considered artifacts, there are objects with unique item types that also only appear once per game, and will always revert to mundane items if left behind in a bones file.

List of artifacts

Below is a list of artifacts available in NetHack, their effects and the means by which they can be obtained - see each artifact's linked article for more specific details.

Artifact name	Base item type	Alignment	Intelligent	Special properties			Obtaining
				Carried	Used (worn, wielded, applied, or read)	Invoked
Cleaver	battle-axe (two-headed axe)	neutral	No		+d3 to-hit and +d6 damage. Arc-swing hits up to 3 monsters at once		First sacrifice gift for Barbarians.
Demonbane	long sword	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to major demons. Blocks demon gating.		May be given to a new angelic being.
Dragonbane	broadsword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to dragons. Reflection.
Excalibur	long sword	lawful	Yes		+d5 to-hit and +d10 damage. Drain resistance. Searching. Hostile demon princes. Monsters track player.		May be produced for lawful adventurers at fountains. Lawful crowning gift.
The Eye of the Aethiopica	amulet of ESP (random amulet)	neutral	Yes	Energy regeneration. Half spell damage.	Magic resistance. Telepathy.	Branchport.	Quest artifact of Wizards.
The Eyes of the Overworld	pair of lenses	neutral	Yes		Astral vision. Protection against blindness and gazes. Magic resistance.	Enlightenment.	Quest artifact of Monks.
Fire Brand	long sword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to non-fire-resistant monsters. Fire resistance.
Frost Brand	long sword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to non-cold-resistant monsters. Cold resistance.
Giantslayer	long sword	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to giants.
Grayswandir	silver saber	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage. Protection against hallucination. Silver damage
Grimtooth	orcish dagger (crude dagger)	chaotic	No		+d2 to-hit and +d6 damage. Warning of elves.
The Heart of Ahriman	luckstone (random gray stone)	neutral	Yes	Stealth.	As projectile, +d5 to-hit and double damage.	Levitation.	Quest artifact of Barbarians.
The Longbow of Diana	bow	chaotic	Yes	Telepathy.	+d5 to-hit. Reflection.	Create arrows.	Quest artifact of Rangers.
The Magic Mirror of Merlin	mirror (looking glass)	lawful	Yes	Magic resistance. Telepathy. ×2 to some spell damage.	Rumors.		Quest artifact of Knights.
Magicbane	athame	neutral	No		+d3 to-hit. Special damage. Magic resistance. Protects against cursing.		First sacrifice gift for Wizards.
The Master Key of Thievery	skeleton key (key)	chaotic	Yes	Warning. Half physical damage. Teleport control.	Rumors. As of 3.6.1, automatically untraps when used to unlock.	Untraps.	Quest artifact of Rogues.
The Mitre of Holiness	helm of brilliance (random helmet)	lawful	Yes	Fire resistance.	Protection. Half damage from undead and demons.	Energy boost.	Quest artifact of Priests.
Mjollnir	war hammer	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit and +d24 damage to non-shock-resistant monsters. Can return when thrown.		First sacrifice gift for Valkyries.
Ogresmasher	war hammer	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to ogres. 25 constitution when wielded.
The Orb of Detection	crystal ball (glass orb)	lawful	Yes	Magic resistance. Half spell damage. Telepathy.		Invisibility.	Quest artifact of Archeologists.
The Orb of Fate	crystal ball (glass orb)	neutral	Yes	Half physical damage. Half spell damage. Warning. Luck.		Level teleport.	Quest artifact of Valkyries.
Orcrist	elven broadsword (runed broadsword)	chaotic	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to orcs. Warning of orcs.		May be produced by naming an ordinary elven broadsword Orcrist.
The Platinum Yendorian Express Card	credit card	neutral	Yes	Magic resistance. Half spell damage. Telepathy.		Charging.	Quest artifact of Tourists.
The Sceptre of Might	mace	lawful	Yes	(Magic resistance prior to v3.6.0)	+d5 to-hit and double damage to cross-aligned monsters. Magic resistance	Conflict.	Quest artifact of Cavepeople.
Snickersnee	katana (samurai sword)	lawful	No		+d8 damage.		First sacrifice gift for Samurai.
The Staff of Aesculapius	quarterstaff (staff)	neutral	Yes		Double damage and level drain to non-drain-resistant monsters. Hungerless regeneration. Drain resistance.	Healing, cures sickness, blindness, and sliming.	Quest artifact of Healers.
Sting	elven dagger (runed dagger)	chaotic	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to orcs. Warning of orcs. Cuts through webs.		May be produced by naming an ordinary elven dagger Sting.
Stormbringer	runesword	chaotic	Yes		+d5 to-hit, +d2 damage and level drain to non-drain-resistant monsters. Drain resistance. Bloodthirsty.		Chaotic crowning gift.
Sunsword	long sword	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to undead. Light. Protection from light-based blinding.		May be given to a new angelic being.
Trollsbane	morning star	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to trolls. Prevents trolls from reviving.
The Tsurugi of Muramasa	tsurugi (long samurai sword)	lawful	Yes	Luck.	Protection. +d8 damage. 5% chance of bisection.		Quest artifact for Samurai.
Vorpal Blade	long sword	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit and +1 damage. 5% chance of beheading (100% for jabberwocks).		Neutral crowning gift.
Werebane	silver saber	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit and double damage to werecreatures. Silver damage

Strategy

An artifact's properties and availability, including artifact weapons and the range of monsters they are effective against, naturally influence their desirability for a given hero, and artifact weapons in particular are considered vital to many kits - of course, it is more than possible to win without ever using a single artifact.

Artifacts in shops are difficult to procure due to their inflated price, and it is somewhat common to use pets or other monsters in order to steal a shop artifact: this naturally poses several wrinkles if the artifact in question is cursed or of a different alignment from the character's pet.

Artifact selection

Between the general rarity of artifacts to begin with and the presence of artifacts making it less likely that other artifacts can generate or be wished for, artifact selection for a hero is more often about finding one that is sufficient for their purposes than it is about reviewing the list and selecting one in advance. The latter generally only occurs if a character obtains one or more wishes early enough, and even in those cases the "best" artifact to wish for depends on the hero's role, alignment, and whether or not the player is attempting any particular conduct.

For artifact weapons, the most desired ones usually have damage bonuses against all monsters or against a wide range of them, while ones with bonuses against narrower subsets of monsters are considered less valuable. A two-handed artifact weapon prevents the use of a shield and will require tipping an uncursing item(s) out of a bag on hand in order to uncurse it and free up the hero's hands; quest artifacts have a ⁴⁄₅ chance of resisting item-cursing effects, making them less potentially cumbersome in comparison.

Some artifacts that are not usually desired may be sought out as gifts in order to unrestrict weapon skills for other artifacts.

Artifact weapon damage calculations

The table below lists the mean damage for each artifact, calculated before any bonuses from strength, skill, and the weapon being blessed. Silver damage is indicated in italics. This table assumes that the artifact is enchanted to +7, and that the target monster is affected by the weapon's damage bonuses (including extra damage from level draining), with the damage to resistant monsters in parentheses if applicable.

Artifact name	Base item type	Alignment	Intelligent	Special properties			Mean damage at +7		Obtaining
				Carried	Wielded	Invoked	vs. Small	vs. Large
Cleaver	battle-axe (two-headed axe)	neutral	No		+d3 to-hit & +d6 damage. Attacks in an arc.		17.5	19	First sacrifice gift for Barbarians.
Demonbane	long sword	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to major demons. Prevents demon gating.		23 (11.5)	27 (13.5)	May be given to a new angelic being.
Dragonbane	broadsword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to dragons. Reflection.		24 (12)	23 (11.5)
Excalibur	long sword	lawful	Yes		+d5 to-hit & +d10 damage. Drain resistance. Searching. Hostile demon princes. Monster tracking.		17	19	May be produced for lawful adventurers at fountains. Lawful crowning gift.
Fire Brand	long sword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to non-fire-resistant monsters. Fire resistance.		23 (11.5)	27 (13.5)
Frost Brand	long sword	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to non-cold-resistant monsters. Cold resistance.		23 (11.5)	27 (13.5)
Giantslayer	long sword	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to giants.		23 (11.5)	27 (13.5)
Grayswandir	silver saber	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage. Protection against hallucination.		23+10.5	23+10.5
Grimtooth	orcish dagger (crude dagger)	chaotic	No		+d2 to-hit & +d6 damage. Warning of elves.		12.5	12.5
The Longbow of Diana	bow	chaotic	Yes	Telepathy.	+d5 to-hit. Reflection.	Creates arrows.	arrow damage	arrow damage	Quest artifact of Rangers.
Magicbane	athame	neutral	No		+d3 to-hit. Special damage. Magic resistance. Protects against cursing.		13.40 (10.5)	12.90 (10)	First sacrifice gift for Wizards.
Mjollnir	war hammer	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit & +d24 damage to non-shock-resistant monsters. Can return when thrown.		23 (10.5)	22 (9.5)	First sacrifice gift for Valkyries.
Ogresmasher	war hammer	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to ogres. Increases constitution to 25.		21 (10.5)	19 (9.5)
Orcrist	elven broadsword (runed broadsword)	chaotic	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to orcs. Warning of orcs.		26 (13)	23 (11.5)	May be produced by naming an ordinary elven broadsword Orcrist.
The Sceptre of Might	mace	lawful	Yes		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to cross-aligned monsters. Magic resistance.	Conflict.	23 (11.5)	21 (10.5)	Quest artifact of Cavepeople.
Snickersnee	katana (samurai sword)	lawful	No		+d8 damage.		17	18	First sacrifice gift for Samurai.
The Staff of Aesculapius	quarterstaff (staff)	neutral	Yes		x2 damage & level drain to non-drain-resistant monsters (the draining itself causes an addition 1d8 damage to both current and max hp, and restores half that to your current hp, but this damage is NOT doubled.) Hungerless regeneration. Drain resistance.	Healing, cures sickness, blindness, & sliming.	25.5 (10.5)	25.5 (10.5)	Quest artifact of Healers.
Sting	elven dagger (runed dagger)	chaotic	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to orcs. Warning of orcs. Cuts through webs.		20 (10)	18 (9)	May be produced by naming an ordinary elven dagger Sting.
Stormbringer	runesword	chaotic	Yes		+d5 to-hit, +d2 damage & level drain to non-drain-resistant monsters (the draining itself causes an addition 1d8 damage to both current and max hp, and restores half that to your current hp.) Drain resistance. Bloodthirsty.		18 (12)	17.5 (11.5)	Chaotic crowning gift.
Sunsword	long sword	lawful	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to undead. Light. Protection from light-based blinding.		23 (11.5)	27 (13.5)	May be given to a new angelic being.
Trollsbane	morning star	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to trolls. Prevents trolls from reviving.		24 (12)	23 (11.5)
The Tsurugi of Muramasa	tsurugi (long samurai sword)	lawful	Yes	Luck	+d8 damage. 5% chance of double damage or instakill via bisection, depending on the size.		instakill (20)	38.85 (19.425)	Quest artifact for Samurai.
Vorpal Blade	long sword	neutral	No		+d5 to-hit & +1 damage. 5% chance of beheading monsters with heads. Instantly kills jabberwocks.		instakill(12.5)	instakill(14.5)	Neutral crowning gift.
Werebane	silver saber	unaligned	No		+d5 to-hit & x2 damage to werecreatures. Protects against lycanthropy attack.		23+10.5 (11.5+10.5)	23+10.5 (11.5+10.5)

Variants

Almost all variants change artifact mechanics and the properties of artifacts themselves in some manner, often adding new mechanics and artifacts as well - many variants also ease or remove the restrictions on twoweaponing with artifacts, as well as changing the mechanics of wishing for artifacts. Furthermore, many variants will implement artifact-related ideas suggested for NetHack by other players, many of which focus on improving less-used and less-viable artifacts.

The variant sections below give a very basic overview of changes to artifact mechanics, along with links to the article for that variant's list of artifacts. Artifact articles will also have information on changes made to them by variants in the appropriate sections.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, artifacts that roll for bonus damage are given flat damage bonuses instead, e.g. Excalibur deals a flat +10 damage, rather than +1d10.