Dragonbane
) Dragonbane 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | broadsword |
| Damage vs. small | 2d4 x2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d6+1 x2 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | dragons |
| Weapon skill | broadsword |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded | |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 500 zm |
| Weight | 70 |
| Material | iron |
Dragonbane is an artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is unaligned, and its base item is a broadsword.
Contents
Generation
A randomly generated broadsword has a base 1⁄20 chance of being made into Dragonbane if no artifacts have already been generated. Any character may receive Dragonbane as a sacrifice gift, though it will never be the first one given.
Player monsters on the Astral Plane that generate with a broadsword have a 1⁄2 chance of that broadsword being turned into Dragonbane if it has not yet generated.[1]
Description
Dragonbane has +1d5 to-hit and deals double damage against dragons - while wielded, it grants reflection.
Strategy
Though most Banes are not considered useful due to their narrow ranges for damage bonuses, Dragonbane is much more viable for general use than the others by strength of its reflection, and dragons are fairly valuable and dangerous targets - Dragonbane is also more spellcasting-friendly than a shield of reflection, though most builds will prefer the amulet of reflection or silver dragon scale mail. In some cases, two-weaponing Dragonbane with a good offhand weapon offers better damage than a single weapon and shield.
Dragonbane is especially useful for procuring dragon scales from reverse genocided dragons to convert into dragon scale mail, particularly for wishless conduct. Though not at all necessary, Cavemen that receive Dragonbane as a sacrifice gift can use it to deal with the Chromatic Dragon.
History
Dragonbane first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Dragonbane's ability to grant reflection while wielded is added in NetHack 3.6.1, and is imported from SporkHack.
Variants
Variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may or may not include reflection as in later versions.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, Dragonbane's to-hit bonus is a flat +5, and like all Banes it has a 3⁄20 chance of canceling any dragon it hits.
dNetHack
Dragonbane has been replaced with Dragonlance.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Dragonbane is changed to a pair of dragonhide gloves.
UnNetHack and SporkHack
) Dragonbane 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | dwarvish spear |
| Damage vs. small | 1d8 +1d4 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8 +1d4 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | (any) |
| Weapon skill | dwarvish spear |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded | |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 500 zm |
| Weight | 30 |
| Material | iron |
In SporkHack and UnNetHack Dragonbane is instead a dwarvish spear that confers fire, cold, acid, sleep, disintegration and shock resistance while wielded, and has a 50% chance of instantly slaying dragons (reduced to 20% in UnNetHack[2]). It also gets +d5 to hit and +d4 damage against all enemies. (If you are polymorphed into a dragon, a monster wielding Dragonbane can instantly kill you!)
In UnNetHack, Dragonbane also grants warning of dragons.
FIQHack
) Dragonbane 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | lance |
| Damage vs. small | 1d8 +1d20 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8 +1d20 |
| To-hit bonus | +1d5 |
| Bonus versus | dragons |
| Weapon skill | lance |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded | |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 500 zm |
| Weight | 90 |
| Material | iron |
In FIQHack, Dragonbane is an artifact lance that confers reflection[3]. Because it is an artifact, it will never break when jousting. The damage bonus is changed from double damage to +1d20. Dragonbane has half the weight of a regular lance. It's the first sacrifice gift for Knights.
If you are granted Dragonbane, you will also receive a free saddle and the riding skill will be unrestricted.
References
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 270: Artifact generation for Astral Plane player monsters
- ↑ unnethack/artifact.c, line1161
- ↑ https://github.com/FredrIQ/fiqhack/blob/865c9091803e844b66255e122877ae6c70950e51/libnethack/include/artilist.h#L139
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
