Martial arts
Martial arts is a skill in NetHack that is used by the hero in certain roles when attacking or kicking enemies while they are not wielding anything. The base damage for a martial arts attack is 1d4. Naturally, martial arts preserve the weaponless conduct.
When attacking using martial arts without body armor or a shield, there is a chance of dealing a staggering blow, knocking the enemy backwards.[1]
Martial arts skill
| Martial arts | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Master | |
| Grand Master | |
Monks and Samurai possess this skill, while all other roles use the bare hands skill.
Mechanics
Unlike weapon attacks, a martial arts attack applies its full damage bonus even if it rolls a 1 on its primary damage die, although skill will not be trained in that case.[2] Attacking with martial arts has a 1⁄5 chance per skill level above basic (up to 4⁄5 at Grand Master) to make an "off-hand" attack, as in two-weapon combat (but independent of your twoweapon skill level).[3] As in two-weapon combat, the bonus damage from strength will be reduced to 3⁄4 of its value, rounded up, for each hit. The following table lists the estimated damage assuming no missed hits, at no strength bonus, a +3 bonus (i.e. strength 18/01 to 18/75), and a +6 bonus (18/** to 25).
| +to hit | +damage | average damage | +3 bonus | +6 bonus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | +3 | +3 | 5.5 | 8.5 | 11.5 |
| Skilled | +4 | +4 | 7.8 | 10.9 | 14 |
| Expert | +5 | +6 | 11.9 | 15.1 | 18.4 |
| Master | +6 | +7 | 15.2 | 18.6 | 21.9 |
| Grand Master | +7 | +9 | 20.7 | 24.2 | 27.7 |
In addition to the bonuses above, a Monk not wearing body armor or a shield gets an additional to-hit bonus of (XL / 3) + 2.
Attacking with martial arts deals silver damage if you are wearing a silver ring and no gloves, similar to any wielded silver object; if the attack hits twice, each hand is evaluated for a silver ring independently. Blessed gloves or boots (when kicking) deals +1d4 damage against major demons and undead, including shapeshifted vampires.
Strategy
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"The 5.0.0 buffs make martial arts more viable, especially with gauntlets of power."
Martial arts is a more than suitable form of primary offense in the early game, but on its own will inevitably fall behind other weapon skills in the late game due to the low base damage, lack of enchantment bonuses, and the difficulty of gaining strength while observing vegetarian conduct. As a result, Monks often forgo martial arts in favor of obtaining an artifact weapon with a lower skill point investment, maximizing their luck to offset the to-hit penalties. While Samurai start with solid weaponry, martial arts gives them enough extra damage that the skill can be used as a fallback against acid blobs and other monsters that can damage armor or weapons, and makes the Samurai one of the better choices for weaponless conducts after Monks.
In any scenario, heroes relying primarily on martial arts should carry some form of ranged attack to supplement it against monsters with dangerous passives, which usually overlap with monsters that can damage weapons. Outside of magic, Monks have very few options in terms of ranged weapons, and can only train three relevant skills to Basic: spear, crossbow and shuriken. Samurai are much more limited in terms of magical skill, but have several more ranged weapon skills—they can reach Basic in daggers, Skilled in knives and spears, and Expert in bows and shuriken. Rings of increase damage are incredibly valuable for martial arts practitioners, to the point that it is often worth eating the rings if possible to accrue large damage bonuses for martial arts and ranged skills alike.
History
In NetHack 3.4.3 and previous versions, including some variants based on these versions, martial arts erroneously receives no skill-based to-hit bonus since the code that grants it is only called if the hero is wielding a weapon. This is fixed in NetHack 3.6.0.
In versions before NetHack 5.0.0, martial arts hit only once per attack, and the skill-based damage bonus did not apply if the hit rolled a 1 on its damage die, a 1⁄4 chance. The damage table was:
| +to hit | +damage | average damage | |
| Basic | +3 | +3 | 4.75 |
| Skilled | +4 | +4 | 5.5 |
| Expert | +5 | +6 | 7 |
| Master | +6 | +7 | 7.75 |
| Grand Master | +7 | +9 | 9.25 |
Variants
Many variants make some form of adjustment to improve martial arts.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, advancing skill in martial arts grants a to-hit bonus.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, half-dragon Troubadours can reach Expert in martial arts, while elven, incantifier, and myrkalfar Anachrononauts can reach Grand Master, as well as Androids.
Any role with the martial arts skill can twoweapon to attack with both hands, even if wielding only one weapon—Monks can also reach Grand Master with two-weapon combat. Any hero that is experience level 30 and reaches Grand Master in martial arts can name the Grandmaster's Robe, an artifact robe that increases the base dice for martial arts to 1d8 and grants it exploding dice.
The spirit Buer grants skill in martial arts and permanently unlocks the skill, while Eurynome increases the size of the hero's unarmed attack's damage dice. Binding Buer allows the hero to reach Expert in martial arts, while having both Buer and Eurynome bound (only possible for Binders) allows them to reach Grand Master.
The Earth Crystal upgrades the bare-handed combat skill to martial arts and boosts a hero's martial arts skill level while carried.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, the enchantment of your gloves is used when calculating damage, and martial arts attacks no longer do only 1 damage 1⁄4 of the time.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, a lawful hero wearing the Gauntlets of Purity gains a bonus to martial arts damage when fighting unarmed.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Ninjas can reach Master in martial arts.
