Ogresmasher
| ) Ogresmasher (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Base item | war hammer |
| Damage vs. small | 1d4+1 x2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d4 x2 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | ogres |
| Weapon skill | hammer |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded |
|
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Material | iron |
Ogresmasher is an artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is unaligned, and its base item is a war hammer. It has a +d5 to-hit bonus and does double damage against ogres; while wielded, it also sets the wielder's constitution to 25.
Contents
Generation
Any randomly generated war hammer has a base 1⁄20 chance of being made into an artifact; in vanilla, the only other possible artifact war hammer is Mjollnir.
Strategy
Like most of the Banes, Ogresmasher is considered weak due to its target class of monster being both uncommon and relatively not very dangerous. Ogresmasher is further hampered by its weak base damage, and is outperformed by a regular +0 long sword.
However, its other effect gives it a somewhat niche application, where it can be wielded before leveling up to improve HP gains per level - a character with 25 constitution will gain 1 more HP per level over a character with 18 constitution, and at XL 11 or above they will regenerate slightly more HP depending on the character's experience level (up to 21 HP per three turns at level 30). In this regard, Ogresmasher may be of interest to elven characters.
History
Ogresmasher is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, where its base item is a lucern hammer - both this and Thunderfist were the result of a likely error on the DevTeam's part that confused a lucern hammer for an actual war hammer. Ogresmasher has its base item changed to a war hammer in NetHack 3.0.3, while Thunderfist is replaced with Mjollnir.
Ogresmasher's ability to boost the wielder's constitution is introduced in NetHack 3.6.1 and adapted from SporkHack.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Ogresmasher grants warning against ogres and instakills them upon hitting; it sets constitution to 25 when wielded, and can also be two-weaponed. Characters in dNetHack who aren't capable of two-weaponing and have no need of the second weapon slot can get increased max HP by keeping Ogresmasher in the off-hand. The 25 constitution will grant a character with 14 consitution about 5/3 as much health, since it applies retroactively to all health gained from leveling up.
FIQhack
In FIQHack, Ogresmasher's double damage is replaced by a +1d20 damage bonus. Additionally, wielding Ogresmasher set your constitution to 25.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, Ogresmasher sets the wielder's constitution to 25 when wielded. It also deals an extra +d4 damage to all monsters and has a 50% chance of instantly killing ogres.
UnNetHack
In UnNethack, Ogresmasher grants warning against ogres, deals an extra +d4 damage to all monsters and has a 50% chance of instantly killing ogres. It sets the wielder's constitution to 25 when wielded.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, Ogresmasher's base cost is now 1200zm, and it has been significantly buffed: it deals +d8 to all monsters and has heavy critical hits, which crush and instakill small or tiny monsters and disable medium or larger monsters.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, Ogresmasher warns of ogres and has a chance of slamming monsters into the ground, creating a pit and doing an extra 2d5 damage.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Ogresmasher warns of ogres, and its base item is change to a heavy war hammer, which deals significantly more damage. Ogresmasher can also send smaller monsters hurtling backward up to multiple squares with its blows.
Ogresmasher can be forged together with Trollsbane to create Ashmar, an artifact dwarvish roundshield that retains Ogresmasher's ability to set the player's constitution to 25 and can send monsters hurtling backward by deflecting blows.
