Werebane

)   Werebane   (No tile)
Base item	silver saber
Damage vs. small	1d8 x2 +(1d20)
Damage vs. large	1d8 x2 +(1d20)
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	werecreatures
Weapon skill	saber
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	unaligned
When carried	(none)
When wielded	prevents lycanthropy
When invoked	(none)
Base price	1500 zm
Weight	40
Material	silver

Werebane is an artifact that appears in NetHack. It is unaligned, and its base item is a silver saber.

Generation

A silver saber randomly generated on the ground or as a death drop has a base ¹⁄₂₀ chance of being made into an artifact, which has a ¹⁄₂ chance of being made Werebane (and will otherwise be Grayswandir) if no artifacts have already been generated. Werebane can be given to any hero as a sacrifice gift, though it will never be the first one given.

Player monsters on the Astral Plane that generate with a silver saber have a ¹⁄₂ chance of that saber being turned into a compatible artifact that is not yet generated, resulting in an effective ¹⁄₄ chance of the saber becoming Werebane if no artifact sabers are generated.

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.

The aforementioned changes also mean that unaligned artifacts such as Werebane can be given as first gifts, though they are less likely to be given than a co-aligned artifact in this case. Werebane requires a sacrifice of at least 4 value, and will always have +1 added to its enchantment when randomly generated or given as a sacrifice gift.

Description

While wielded, Werebane protects the hero from lycanthropy, and has +1d5 to-hit and deals double damage against werecreatures, which is applied before the +d20 silver damage.

Strategy

Among the Banes, Werebane is one of the more powerful artifacts against its target monsters, but against other monsters it is a slightly better silver saber, and thus unremarkable: the artifact can be a fine option in the early game for characters that would ordinarily have trouble with werewolves, but players able to compensate for such a power gap will have less use for the weapon. The primary trait that holds Werebane back the most is the fact that its bonus only applies to three monsters, all of which are primarily found in a particular stage of the game—once a character advances past that stage, they will be contending with non-werecreature monsters more often, and usually can attain the resources to make werecreatures themselves a non-issue.

One perk to receiving Werebane as a sacrifice gift is that it unrestricts the saber skill for characters that have either already found Grayswandir randomly, discovered it in bones or else plan to wish for it later. An artifact silver saber is also serviceable as a hero's silver weapon of choice, though it cannot be wielded in the offhand for two weapon combat.

History

Werebane first appears in NetHack 3.0.0, where it is a lawful artifact long sword. NetHack 3.1.0 changes the base item to a silver saber, and NetHack 3.3.0 changes its alignment to unaligned.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Werebane has a ¹⁄₆ chance of canceling werecreatures that it strikes.

Changes to other artifact mechanics, polymorph mechanics and the addition of several stronger werecreatures make Werebane a more viable weapon: polymorphed monsters (including werecreatures) revert to their initial form upon death or cancellation—combined with the werecreature's regeneration and summoning, they can be quite difficult to kill permanently, making Werebane much more valuable against them. Werebane can also be twoweaponed in the offhand with another artifact weapon, making it an attractive secondary option.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Werebane grants warning of werecreatures.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Werebane has +1d10 to-hit and +1d20 damage bonuses against werecreatures and demihumans, and has a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of cancelling them on hit, subject to monster magic resistance scores. While wielded, Werebane protects the wielder from lycanthropy and does not resist being held second to other weapons - however, doing so incurs a -20 to-hit penalty unless the hero is Expert in two-weapon combat.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, Werebane deals +1d20 damage against werecreatures instead of double damage.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, Werebane can be twoweaponed with another artifact weapon.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, Werebane is the first sacrifice gift for Druids, and its base item is changed to a scimitar made of silver.

Werebane can be combined with Stormbringer at a forge to create Shadowblade, an artifact athame.