The Iron Ball of Liberation
| 0 The Iron Ball of Liberation (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Base item | heavy iron ball |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried | |
| When used | (none) |
| When invoked | |
| Base price | 5000 zm |
| Weight | 300 |
The Iron Ball of Liberation is the Convict quest artifact in UnNetHack, DynaHack, SpliceHack and SlashTHEM. It is the prize for completing the Convict quest, and is neutral for wishing purposes. Its base item type is a heavy iron ball that is hard-coded to weigh 300 aum.
Description
While carried, the Iron Ball of Liberation confers warning, displacement, magic resistance, and automatic searching. When invoked, the Iron Ball chains itself to you and confers temporary phasing. A Convict touching the Ball will erodeproof it and set its weight back to 300.
Like all other iron balls, a scroll of punishment may increase the Iron Ball of Liberation's weight.
Strategy
The major problem with this artifact is obvious: it is extremely heavy. The weight is so much of an issue that many choose to abandon the ball and use other means for acquiring the benefits.
If you decide to carry the Iron Ball of Liberation, there are some very interesting uses.
- It makes a very decent one-handed weapon. If you are using a shield (for reflection probably) instead of two-weaponing it does more damage than an unenchanted Luckblade. Convicts most likely already have at least basic skill in flail, meaning that it can be wielded and used effectively immediately.
- Once you get beyond unskilled at flail, throwing the ball pulls you several spaces. The higher your skill, the further you go. This can be very convenient when trying to get over traps in your way. But be careful when crossing water!
- When chained to you, the Iron Ball of Liberation can be thrown and then retrieved by backing up. This is very useful against sessile monsters (like blue jellies).
