Barbarian

The Barbarian, abbreviated as Bar, is one of the roles available for a hero in NetHack. Their corresponding player monster is the @ barbarian. According to the guidebook:

Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to battle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

Barbarians can be humans or orcs, and can be of neutral or chaotic.

Starting equipment

Each Barbarian starts with the following equipment:

• Either of these weapon sets (with equal probability):
  • a +0 two-handed sword and a +0 axe
  • a +0 battle-axe and a +0 short sword
• a +0 ring mail
• 1-2 food rations
• an oil lamp (¹⁄₆ chance or 16.67%)

Orcish Barbarians receive an orcish short sword in place of a short sword, a set of orcish ring mail in place of ring mail, and are given two additional stacks of 1-2 random comestibles.

Barbarians start with knowledge of all non-magical weapons and armor, in addition to any applicable racial equipment.

The Barbarian's default starting pet is a little dog named Idefix.

Intrinsics

Barbarians gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:

• Level 1: poison resistance
• Level 7: speed
• Level 15: stealth

Attributes

The Barbarian's starting attributes are distributed as follows:

Attributes	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma	Remaining
Minimum attributes	16	15	16	7	7	6	8
Distribution percentages	30%	20%	30%	6%	7%	7%
Mean w/ standard deviation (human)	18/00.89±1.34	16.72±1.01	17.69±0.59	7.60±0.87	7.69±0.91	6.60±0.87

Skills

Barbarians have the following skills available to them:

Barbarian skills
Max	Skills
Basic	Weapons: dagger, saber, flail, quarterstaff, bow Combat: two weapon combat, riding Spells: attack, escape
Skilled	Weapons: pick-axe, broadsword, long sword, scimitar, club, mace, morning star, spear, trident
Expert	Weapons: axe, short sword, two-handed sword, hammer
Master	Combat: bare hands

Barbarians start with Basic skill in axes and bare-handed combat, along with either short swords or two-handed swords depending on their starting weapons. They use the intelligence stat to cast spells, and their special spell is haste self.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 296a3ac2, the scimitar skill is merged into the saber skill, and Barbarians can train sabers to Skilled.

Special rules

The barbarian's attack messages replace most instances of "hit" with "smite" (e.g. "You smite the goblin!"), but this is flavor text with no gameplay effect.

Rank titles

The status line displays one of the following ranks for the corresponding experience levels:

• XL 1–2: Plunderer/Plunderess
• XL 3–5: Pillager
• XL 6–9: Bandit
• XL 10–13: Brigand
• XL 14–17: Raider
• XL 18–21: Reaver
• XL 22–25: Slayer
• XL 26–29: Chieftain/Chieftainess
• XL 30: Conqueror/Conqueress

Gods

The Barbarian pantheon is based on the Hyborian pantheon from Robert E. Howard's Conan mythos. Their first sacrifice gift is Cleaver.

• Lawful: Mitra
• Neutral: Crom
• Chaotic: Set

Quest

The Barbarian's quest sees them fight Thoth Amon for The Heart of Ahriman, an artifact luckstone. While carried, it confers stealth in addition to acting as a luck item like other luckstones, and can be invoked to toggle controlled levitation, even if already levitating: after invoking this effect, the hero can return to the ground by pressing >, or else by dropping or stashing the artifact.

Strategy

Because a Barbarian does not need to worry about poison and can fight their way through situations that would kill other heroes, they are one of the easier roles for a new player.

Character creation

Being an orc has relatively few benefits for a Barbarian: their poison resistance is redundant, and their 18/50 strength cap limits their late-game damage without gauntlets of power. Their benefits are still notable, however: orcs will not struggle for food between the lack of cannibalism penalties, the amount of orcish corpses that are commonplace in the early game and the extra starting good; this also makes altar conversion and raising luck much easier for the always-chaotic orcs. Orcish Barbarians may also have the best ranged weapon for the melee-focused role, due to their +1 multishot bonus gained from using an orcish bow and orcish arrows; the frequency of hostile orcs also makes it easy to assemble a sizable stack of arrows.

Human Barbarians are not as troubled by a lack of infravision as humans in other roles since a Barbarian's ranged options are overall limited, though they should still exercise caution in dark levels, hallways and cavernous areas such as the Gnomish Mines. The aklys is likely their best ranged option and can double as a melee weapon, though it cannot be multishot and has low damage; spears are fairly heavy in exchange for somewhat better damage, and can be trained to Skilled and multishot, but amassing a stack of them is typically difficult in general. A human's superior strength cap of 18/** also makes them a better pick for damage output than an orc.

In addition to same-race sacrifice perks, chaotic Barbarians can decrease prayer timeout more quickly through sacrifice, have a more merciful mysterious force, and murder is more feasible due to the relatively lax penalties. While neutral Barbarians have access to a generally better selection of artifact weapons, chaotic ones have access to one of the best in Stormbringer.

Early game

The Barbarian's early game is incredibly simple: they should have no trouble dishing out damage even when starting out, but should not lean on their health and armor to carry them through every fight—a pet can still help the Barbarian whittle down hostile foes quicker or pick off groups of much weaker monsters. The role's intrinsic poison resistance increases the amount of corpses that can be eaten in lieu of permafood. Early altars are a good opportunity to build luck and obtain Cleaver—as mentioned prior, orcish Barbarians have an easier time finding corpses to convert altars with, though human barbarians can still make use of werecreature corpses or the human corpses dropped by human zombies and mummies. The Gnomish Mines are always hostile towards Barbarians, but their melee abilities and immunity to instant death from spiked pit traps make it worth visiting.

The starting two-handed weapon should be a Barbarian's primary source of damage until they can obtain Cleaver. At minimum, the to-hit bonus and ability to slice through multiple foes provides a well-needed early boon for dealing with groups of hostiles, such as giant ants and hill orcs; be very careful not to hit your pets when swinging Cleaver in an arc, especially since early luck penalties are a hassle to deal with. Even after obtaining Cleaver, a Barbarian should consider at least a backup one-handed weapon: as discussed above, the aklys can work well as a general ranged option, and a scimitar or long sword deal good damage.

The Barbarian's starting ring mail should be replaced with any better metal armor that can be found and curse-tested as soon as possible, with the hero working their way towards elven or dwarvish mithril-coat as they fill out their armor slots with whatever they can come across. Well-armored enough dwarves can potentially pose a major threat to a Barbarian, but overcoming them can also solve equipment problems well into the mid-game. Perhaps the most difficult slot to fill at this point will be gloves—even then, a Barbarian can obtain some leather gloves from watchmen in Minetown, especially through use of pets.

Mid-game

While the Barbarian does not have the hardest quest among roles it contains many significant wrinkles: monster generation is biased towards ogres and trolls, and the stronger monsters in each class can prove fairly durable and heavily damaging, especially for an under-prepared Barbarian; trolls and ogres can generate with offensive items such as the wand of lightning or even the wand of death. Misfortune with reviving trolls may cause them to "swarm" the hero if they consistently get up faster than you can kill them, and the quest artifact gives little incentive to gain entry immediately. Careful players will typically wait until they obtain at least one of magic resistance or reflection, while others may put it off until after the Castle; still others may wait as late as discovering the vibrating square in Gehennom, even doubling back if they are particularly desperate for a silver 'weapon' to handle Orcus-town shades.

Barbarians that have established themselves in the mid-game and dealt with at least one, if not both, of the optional dungeon branches should consider two-weapon combat and switching their main weapon. Though smart movement and high awareness can make it so that Cleaver is rarely (if ever) in danger of slashing through a pet or innocent monster, most players prefer to avoid the hassle represented completely and utilize less-risky weapons while switching to Cleaver when appropriate. In rough order of skill caps and effectiveness, Mjollnir, Stormbringer, either of the Brands, and Vorpal Blade are all artifacts that make good primary weapon candidates, and even with the maximum of Basic in two-weapon combat they can improve a Barbarian's damage output. Even Trollsbane can become particularly viable if a Barbarian wishes to use it for the quest.

While Barbarians are very unlikely to care about spellcasting at this juncture, many pieces of non-metallic armor are lighter than what is initially: elves and Yendorian army fights can provide some useful upgrades or at least "side-grades" to a Barbarian's equipment; elven armor in particular can be enchanted higher than other types of armor, and both elven boots and elven cloaks can provide the useful stealth property as well. Shields are unlikely to see use for most Barbarians, even those that are not twoweaponing, unless they happen to generate highly enchanted.

Within the Barbarian quest proper, Cleaver can help deal with the hordes of hostiles in its wide-open levels, and smart wand usage along with effective troll-disposal can prevent the hero being overwhelmed. Of note is that chaotic Barbarians are more likely to encounter peaceful ogres in the quest, making Cleaver use even more risky than normal; peaceful ogres can be individually named in order to keep better track of them. Tinning kits and wielded footrice corpses can be extremely helpful against trolls, and meat-eating pets can help dispose of corpses as well; the locate level has a large body of water that runs through the level, where trolls can be disposed of and left to drown. The trolls on the goal level can also be lured up the stairs and dispatched on the level above, eventually leaving the hero free to deal with the quest nemesis after disposing of the ogres.

Thoth Amon himself is not especially difficult by quest nemesis standards, even with his prowess casting monster spells, and his low MR score means that a Barbarian can use wands or potions to immobilize him and hack away or even zap him with a wand of death, even if they do not have magic resistance themselves. Regardless, it is usually best to avoid awakening Thoth Amon if at all possible until you have dealt with the initial swarm of hostiles on his level, giving the Barbarian room to maneuver and time to recover health.

The Heart of Ahriman is commonly regarded as one of the least desirable quest artifacts: Its base item is a luckstone, which is guaranteed at Mines' End and can usually be found well before the Quest itself; its slotless stealth is made redundant by the stealth Barbarians gain at experience level 15, one level after the quest even becomes an option, and its only worthwhile qualities are resisting curses like all quest artifacts (something very useful for a luck item) and the ability to grant levitation when invoked. Levitation from The Heart of Ahriman is more dependent on the artifact's invocation timer, but the Barbarian can land at will as with intrinsic sources of blessed levitation, and a Barbarian that invokes it while riding will levitate their steed as well.

Late game

Barbarians who are not averse to wishing for quest artifacts and have not generated too many artifacts already may try for a source of half physical damage and/or half spell damage: The Orb of Fate is a worthwhile neutral candidate that grants both properties, but is also very heavy, while The Master Key of Thievery is a tempting wish for chaotic heroes in general.

Cleaver becomes a risky primary weapon from this point on, since it does not resist any item-cursing effects. Most Barbarians at this stage commit to two-weapon combat, if they have not already done so; Frost Brand, Stormbringer or Vorpal Blade are good main weapon candidates, with a silver spear or silver saber as an ideal offhand weapon. Keeping curse removal items in a separate bag to #tip out if needed is a good general practice, regardless of which weapons a Barbarian commits to: while successful prayer treats a lack of free hands as a major trouble, it will not work in Gehennom, and the pace of the ascension run is too hectic to rely on prayer. For Barbarians that opt to continue using Cleaver in the late game or even the end game, genociding liches and keeping Cleaver blessed will greatly reduce the dangers.

Armor for a Barbarian is generally squared away at this point, including the dragon scale mail of their preference: Barbarians that do not plan to experiment with spellcasting can wear a helm of telepathy to more easily detect monsters, and gauntlets of power are not remotely mission-critical but can provide a few extra points of damage. Of note is that a robe potentially enables spellcasting where it would be essentially out of the question otherwise, since the role has the highest base spellcasting penalty in the game, and most of a Barbarian's armor in the late game will be non-metallic simply as a result of managing inventory weight—the bonus from a robe is usually what makes it possible for Barbarians to pivot into casting of any kind.

The Barbarian is limited to Basic skill in attack spells and escape spells, and their spellcasting penalty is such that most spells other than their special spell of haste self will never reach any better than a 66% failure (or 67% without a worn helm of brilliance)—even the failure rate of haste self with Basic in escape spells will be capped at no better than at 30% (31% without a helm of brilliance, or 34% if also Unskilled). This is still enough room to maneuver with lower-level spells such as jumping, which they can use alongside their special spell or potions of speed to cover more ground during the ascension run.

History

The Barbarian first appears in Hack 1.0, where it is known as the Fighter until NetHack 2.2a gives the role its current name.

Origin

The Barbarian as a role is heavily based on the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard, particularly including the titular anti-hero Conan, also known as Conan the Cimmerian (from the name of his homeland). The tales of Conan first debuted in the Weird Tales comics of the 1930s. Conan's iconic appearance features him with square-cut black hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, and giant stature, often wearing a barbarian's garb.

Conan was born on the battlefield during a battle in Cimmeria, where his mother Greshan was fatally wounded by an enemy while attempting to save her husband, the village blacksmith Corin. The weakened Greshan used the last of her strength to give birth to her son, and names him Conan before dying. Conan grew up quickly, and was already a respected warrior by age fifteen, participating in the destruction of the Aquilonian outpost of Venarium. Struck by wanderlust, Conan traveled the world, beginning the colorful and exciting adventures chronicled by Howard and others. Conan possesses great strength, combativeness, intelligence, agility, and endurance, as well as a sharp wit and sense of humor.

Conan has been a thief and outlaw, a mercenary and commander of a mercenary company, and a pirate; although his adventures often result in him performing heroic feats, Conan's primary motive is his own survival, enrichment, or rise to power. Licensed comics published in the 1970s by Marvel drew further popularity to the character, introducing the now-iconic image of Conan in his loincloth. The most popular cinematic adaptation is the 1982 film directed by John Milius and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan, in which the plot revolves around Conan facing the villainous Thulsa Doom.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Barbarians are given a second sacrifice gift in Deathsword, and are also charged far more when buying from shops.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Barbarians can be played as vampires.

The Heart of Ahriman grants displacement and fast energy regeneration instead of stealth while carried, making it a more desirable acquisition for Barbarians and other chaotic roles.

dNethack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Barbarians cannot utilize wands well or train spellcasting at all, but have a heightened chance of performing shattering blows and gain extra attacks upon reaching certain levels, pumping their damage output much further.

Their first gift is changed to be either Cleaver or the Atlantean Royal Sword, depending on the skill of their starting two-handed weapon—both artifact gifts will always shatter the target's weapon on hit if possible. The Heart of Ahriman grants magic resistance, reflection, half spell damage, drain resistance, fire resistance, and poison resistance while carried, and invoking it behaves as a scroll of remove curse of the same beatitude: if The Heart of Ahriman is cursed, invoking it will uncurse the artifact.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, the Barbarian starts with a falchion and scimitar instead of a two-handed sword and one-handed axe, and can reach expert skill in scimitar. SpliceHack Barbarians also have access to the blood rage skill, which boosts damage at low health.

Encyclopedia entry

They dressed alike -- in buckskin boots, leathern breeks and deerskin shirts, with broad girdles that held axes and short swords; and they were all gaunt and scarred and hard-eyed; sinewy and taciturn.
They were wild men, of a sort, yet there was still a wide gulf between them and the Cimmerian. They were sons of civilization, reverted to a semi-barbarism. He was a barbarian of a thousand generations of barbarians. They had acquired stealth and craft, but he had been born to these things. He excelled them even in lithe economy of motion.
They were wolves, but he was a tiger.

[ Conan - The Warrior, by Robert E. Howard ]