Grimtooth

)   Grimtooth   (No tile)
Base item	orcish dagger
Damage vs. small	1d3 +1d6
Damage vs. large	1d3 +1d6
To-hit bonus	+2 +1d2
Bonus versus	(any)
Weapon skill	dagger
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	chaotic orcish
When carried	(none)
When wielded	detect elves
When invoked	(none)
Base price	300 zm
Weight	10
Material	iron

Grimtooth is an artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is chaotic-aligned, and its base item is an orcish dagger.

Generation

An orcish dagger randomly generated on the ground or as a death drop has a base ¹⁄₂₀ chance of being made into an artifact, which will always be Grimtooth if it has not yet been generated. Chaotic heroes that are not elven may receive Grimtooth as a sacrifice gift.

Player monster rogues on the Astral Plane have a ¹⁄₄ chance of generating with an orcish dagger in place of their initial primary weapon: like all player monsters on the Plane, there is a ¹⁄₂ chance that it will be made into an artifact weapon of the same base item that has not been generated, resulting in a ¹⁄₈ chance (12.5%) that a rogue on the Astral Plane will be generated with the artifact.

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 d87cadaf and commit c2c797fa, artifact balance is substantially reworked: artifacts have 2 additional internal stats—the minimum sacrifice value required to obtain them by sacrificing (which is usually just the difficulty rating of the monster sacrificed), and a flat number added to the weapon's enchantment when it is either randomly generated or gifted.

Grimtooth requires a sacrifice of at least 5 value, and will not have anything added to its enchantment when randomly generated or given as a sacrifice gift.

Description

While wielded, Grimtooth has +d2 to-hit and +d6 damage bonuses against all monsters and grants warning of elves, glowing red when any elves are present on the level. Heroes that are elven or are polymorphed into elven monsters cannot wield Grimtooth and will be blasted if they try.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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 8f7258dc, Grimtooth grants poison resistance while wielded and is permanently poisoned, with a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of instadeath on each hit against targets without poison resistance. Its base price has been increased to 1200zm.

Grimtooth can be invoked to throw venom at targets as well—the venom will be either blinding venom or acidic venom with equal probability, and is selected at random.

Strategy

Grimtooth's weak base item means that even with its damage bonuses to all monsters, it is effectively on par with a normal long sword—however, it averages the same damage as a crysknife without the crysknife's danger of reverting to a worm tooth or the requirement of a scroll of enchant weapon to create.

Chaotic heroes will primarily consider Grimtooth as a major factor in their ability to receive Stormbringer through sacrifice: elven heroes will never be gifted Grimtooth, allowing elven Priests and Rangers to name Sting and Orcrist in order to arrange for their first sacrifice gift to be Stormbringer; orcish heroes can never receive Sting or Orcrist for the same reasons elves cannot receive Grimtooth, and thus orcish Rogues and Rangers have a ¹⁄₂ chance to receive Stormbringer as a first gift. Even if they whiff on obtaining the better of the two artifacts as a gift this way, orcish Rangers and Rogues that obtain it early can likely to make good use of it despite its low damage, and it may suffice to tide them over until they acquire Stormbringer, Fire Brand or Frost Brand.

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.

The changes to sacrifice gifts mean that forcing Stormbringer via this exact method is no longer possible for elven Priests: per commit b1a5a9c3, Demonbane is their first sacrifice gift, though they have a ¹⁄₂ chance of obtaining Stormbringer as their next gift by naming Sting and Orcrist, then using a sacrifice valued at 9 or higher—this will produce either Stormbringer or the unaligned Frost Brand. Elven Rangers can still reliably force Stormbringer as a first gift with this given method as well, since a first gift will always be co-aligned and the other gift candidates for sacrifices of 9 or higher value are Frost Brand and the lawful Grayswandir. Orcish Rogues and Rangers still have a ¹⁄₂ chance of their first gift being Stormbringer if they offer a sacrifice of 9 or higher value.

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	Damage
+0 Grimtooth	$\frac{1+3}{2}+\frac{1+6}{2}=\bold{5.5}$
+7 Grimtooth	$\frac{1+3}{2}+\frac{1+6}{2}+7=\bold{12.5}$

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Grimtooth gives a flat +6 damage bonus as opposed to 1d6, but is still outshined by the many better artifacts present, particularly for chaotic players. It might be a decent choice for two weapon combat, which is allowed for artifacts in SLASH'EM.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Grimtooth is permanently poisoned and deals +d6 damage against non-poison resistant monsters, with a 10% chance of killing them instantly - this makes it markedly more useful. Grimtooth is also the first sacrifice gift for Rogues.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Grimtooth has +d5 to-hit, doubled damage, and warning against elves, humans and minions. It can be created by naming an orcish dagger, and can be twoweaponed as a secondary weapon.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, Grimtooth is permanently poisoned as in UnNetHack, though the removal of poison instadeath makes it somewhat less powerful. Its base price is raised from 300 to 1000.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, Grimtooth has a disease-incuding attack with a ¹⁄₆ chance of inflicting terminal sickness on the target unless they are either poison resistant or have immunity to sickness. Grimtooth also deals extra damage to elves that is separate from the bonus damage they take when struck by iron, and has a chance of instakilling any elf it hits (including an elven or drow hero). Elves and drow that see a hero wielding Grimtooth will become hostile, and elven and drow shopkeepers will bar that hero from their shop.

The sickness inflicted by the disease attack can be used to dispose of targets with massive defenses, such as high level low-AC player monsters, that do not have an immunity or a means of curing it. You are credited (or blamed) for monsters that die of terminal illness this way and gain experience as normal.