Two-handed sword
) | |
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Name | two-handed sword |
Appearance | two-handed sword |
Damage vs. small | 1d12 (1-12) |
Damage vs. large | 3d6 (3-18) |
To-hit bonus | +0 |
Weapon skill | two-handed sword |
Size | two-handed |
Base price | 50 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
Weight | 150 |
Material | iron |
A two-handed sword is a kind of melee weapon that appears in NetHack. It is one of the most damaging non-artifact weapons in the game, and one of the most damaging among two-handed weapons.
Contents
Generation
A +0 two-handed sword is one of the possible starting swords for Barbarians.[1] Two-handed swords make up about 2.2% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops).
A strong humanoid monster with a weapon attack, the ability to wield weapons and no other ruleset governing its monster starting inventory has a chance of generating with a two-handed sword, unless they are being generated on the Rogue level: the base odds are 1⁄14 for normal monsters, 1⁄12 for a monster that is a lord or nasty, 1⁄10 for a monster that is an overlord or both a lord and nasty, and 1⁄8 for a monster that is both nasty and an overlord.[2]
Croesus is always generated with a two-handed sword if Fort Ludios appears in a game.[3] One of the weapons guarded by the ghost on the Rogue level has a 50% chance of being a two-handed sword, with an enchantment ranging from -1 to +3 and a 3⁄4 chance of generating as cursed.[4]
Player monsters, including those on the Astral Plane, have an approximate 1.9% chance of generating with a two-handed sword before role replacements - barbarians have a 1⁄4 chance of receiving a two-handed sword in place of their initial primary weapon, bringing their odds to roughly 27%.[5]
Two-handed sword skill
Two-handed sword | |
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Max | Role |
Basic | |
Skilled | |
Expert |
The two-handed sword skill covers the use of two-handed swords and tsurugi. The Tsurugi of Muramasa is an artifact tsurugi that uses the skill.
Strategy
Two-handed swords are solid early game weapons for their high damage rolls, particularly for weaker roles like Tourists - but they can become a nuisance when cursed, making it an unpopular choice to use past the mid-game. The #tip command can be used to get curse removal items out of a carried bag, but most players will still prefer a one-handed and/or curse-resistant weapon to avoid this issue entirely.
History
The two-handed sword first appears in Hack 1.21, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial weapon list for Hack 1.0.
From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.0.10, a two-handed sword can be named Orcrist, giving it a bonus d10 damage against orcs - prior to Hack 1.0.2, naming Orcrist was not restricted to this weapon alone. Until NetHack 3.0.0, it is possible to have multiple "Orcrists" by naming two-handed swords this way - NetHack 3.0.0 makes artifacts unique, and Orcrist uses the two-handed sword as its base item until NetHack 3.1.0, which makes it an elven broadsword.
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds Deathsword, an artifact two-handed sword.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Thiefbane is an artifact two-handed sword carried by the black market proprietor One-eyed Sam.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Aurumach Rilmani will generate with a gold two-handed sword enchanted to at least +4, and wandering githyanki pirates are generated with a two-handed sword.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Lifestealer and The Sword of Kas are artifact two-handed swords.