Serpent's Tongue
) Serpent's Tongue 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | dagger |
| Damage vs. small | 1d4 x2 + (special) |
| Damage vs. large | 1d3 x2 + (special) |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Bonus versus | (any) |
| Weapon skill | dagger |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded |
(none) |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 400 zm |
| Weight | 10 |
| Material | iron |
Serpent's Tongue is the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for necromancers in SLASH'EM.
It does double damage to all monsters, and even more to non-poison-resistant enemies:[1]
- 40% chance of 2 + d6 damage
- 30% chance of 4 + 2d6 damage
- 20% chance of 6 + 3d6 damage
- 10% chance of poison instadeath
Note that this artifact does not provide poison-resistance!
Despite it's being a weak base item type, Serpent's Tongue is among the best weapons in SLASH'EM from an average expected damage perspective. A +7 Serpent's Tongue will, in the best case scenario, do an average of:
- 2.5 vs. small and 2 vs. large
- plus 2 x 7 = 14 from the doubled enchantment
- plus 90% chance of an additional ~10 average damage and 10% chance of instakill vs. non-poison resistant foes
This gives it a total damage of 26.5 vs. small and 26 vs. large plus any applicable strength, skill, and blessed damage bonuses, with the additional 10% instakill chance against non-poison resistant foes. Compare this with an average of 31.5 / 30.5 for the Bat from Hell, 32.5 / 34.5 for Reaper, and 34.5 / 34.5 for Mjollnir, none of which can instakill, and of which Reaper is two-handed and Mjollnir does 24 less damage to shock-resistant foes. For these reasons, Serpent's Tongue is an excellent end-game choice for non-lawfuls who can two-weapon.
