Fire Brand

)   Fire Brand   (No tile)
Base item	long sword
Damage vs. small	1d8 ×2
Damage vs. large	1d12 ×2
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	targets without fire resistance
Weapon skill	long sword
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	unaligned
When carried	(none)
When wielded	fire resistance
When invoked	(none)
Base price	3000 zm
Weight	40
Material	iron

Fire Brand is an artifact that appears in NetHack. It is unaligned, and its base item type is a long sword.

Frost Brand is the cold-aligned counterpart of Fire Brand.

Generation

Any long sword that is randomly generated on the ground has a base ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of being made into an artifact, which has a ¹⁄₆ chance of being Fire Brand.

Description

While wielded, Fire Brand grants fire resistance, has a +1d5 to-hit bonus and deals double damage against monsters without fire resistance - it may also destroy scrolls, spellbooks and potions in the target's open inventory.

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.

Per commit 928677c8, engraving with Fire Brand will burn the message into the floor like a wand of fire without dulling the blade.

Strategy

Though it is less popular than its counterpart Frost Brand due to many of Gehennom's denizens being fire-resistant demons, and it can destroy valuable loot in a monster's inventory, Fire Brand is still a great artifact weapon throughout the game: it deals slightly more damage than Grayswandir against non-resistant large monsters that do not hate silver. Fire Brand is also the stronger of the two on the Astral Plane, where most of the monsters present will resist cold damage but not fire damage.

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.

As a result of commit 928677c8, Fire Brand can be used to reliably create a permanent Elbereth in a single turn.

Frost Brand are two very similar artifacts. They are both unaligned long swords that give double damage and +1d5 to-hit against monsters not resistant to fire or cold respectively. When the bonus is applied, Frost Brand gives the message "The ice-cold blade freezes the <monster>!" and Fire Brand gives

Frost Brand is vastly more popular than Fire Brand, because many monsters in Gehennom are fire-resistant. However, most of the Astral Plane's monsters are cold-resistant and not fire-resistant. Both can destroy potions carried by their target; Fire Brand can also destroy scrolls and spellbooks. Some players dislike using them for this reason, but they are likely to kill their targets before the monster can use its item or the item is destroyed.

Frost and Fire Brand do slightly more damage than Grayswandir against large monsters who are neither resistant nor silver-hating. For that reason, they make excellent weapons once you have the resources to enchant them, and Frost Brand is probably your best weapon choice for Gehennom if you have it (unless you also have Grayswandir).

Average damage calculation

The average damage calculations in the following table do not include bonuses from weapon skills, strength, or from using a blessed weapon against undead or demons.

Weapon	Fire-resistant		Not fire-resistant
	Small monster	Large monster	Small monster	Large monster
+0 Fire Brand	$\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{4.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}=\bold{6.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2} \right )\times 2=\bold{9}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2} \right )\times 2=\bold{13}$
+7 Fire Brand	$\frac{1+8}{2}+7=\bold{11.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+7=\bold{13.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2}+7\right )\times 2=\bold{23}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2}+7\right )\times 2=\bold{27}$

Messages

The fiery blade <hits/burns> <monster>!

Fire Brand was used to attack a monster, with "hits" used only if the target has fire resistance.

Variants

xNetHack

In xNetHack, Fire Brand has its base item changed to a short sword, and it can be twoweaponed with Frost Brand or Mirror Brand. Fire Brand instantly kills green slimes and flammable golems upon hitting them.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, Fire Brand has its base item changed to a steel short sword. It can be combined with Frost Brand at a forge to create Dichotomy, an artifact runesword.

Encyclopedia

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

[ Fire and Ice, by Robert Frost ]

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.