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	neutral
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.

Giantslayer has a +1d5 to-hit bonus and deals double damage against non-undead giants.

Strategy

Like most of the Banes, this weapon has too narrow a damage range to be particularly useful. Likely its main use is that it might unrestrict the long swords skill for a neutral character, without requiring them to be crowned; this could be useful for a character who finds Frost Brand on the floor, for example. Also, unlike some other Banes, it is at least derived from a good base item, so is actually useful against giants. However, giants are rarely dangerous enough to need a particularly effective weapon to take them out.

Variants

dNetHack

In dNetHack, Giantslayer grants warning of giants.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, Giantslayer's double damage is replaced by a +1d20 damage bonus.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, this weapon is removed in favor of Giantkiller, a neutral axe with the same double damage range. As an axe is a far weaker base weapon than a long sword, Giantkiller is even less useful than Giantslayer.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, Giantslayer warns of giants and prevents the wielder from being knocked back by an attack.

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	neutral
When carried	(none)
When wielded	18/** Strength
When invoked	(none)
Base price	1200 zm
Weight	3
Material	leather

In UnNetHack, Giantslayer is instead a neutral sling, with bonuses versus the same group of M2_GIANT monsters; it provides warning of, and +1d5 to hit and double damage against them. It also sets the wielder's strength to 18/**, even if wielded in the off hand (this may be a bug, as it does not always set the wielder's strength to 18/** immediately in either hand).

EvilHack

In EvilHack, Giantslayer is a neutral spear that sets the wielder's strength to 25 and provides knockback resistance. It also warns of giants and has a chance to instakill giants that it hits by evisceration.

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.

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