Great sword

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Great sword
Skill	Long Blades
Damage	17
Accuracy	-3
Base delay (%)	17 (170%)
Min delay	7 at skill 20
Hands	2H
Size	Large
Ranged?	No

A sword with a very long, heavy blade and a long handle. "Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit: occidentis telum est." ("A sword by itself does not slay: it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.") -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, _Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium_, Letter LXXXVII: Some arguments in favor of the simple life, 1. 30. ca. 65 A.D. trans. Richard Mott Gummere, 1917.

This weapon falls into the 'Long Blades' category. It is a two handed weapon.

Great swords are large, two handed Long Blades that deal good damage, though they require high Long Blades skill to reach minimum delay. Triple swords are stronger, but considerably rarer.

Strategy

Great swords are rarely found on the Dungeon floor. However, they can occasionally generate on enemy wights, orc warriors, orc knights, and a few other enemies.

You may prefer a demon blade or double sword; they deal slightly less damage, but can be worn with a shield. However, both weapons are rarer than the great sword. The scimitar is a more common one-hander, though there is a significant damage difference between scimitar and great sword.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact

	Unrandart Great Swords
Sword of Power
Sword of Cerebov

History

• In 0.28, Long Blades lost riposte. Damage was increased back to pre-riposte levels.
• In 0.19, Long Blades gained riposte. Great swords were reduced by 2 base damage to compensate.
• In very early versions of Crawl, these (and triple swords) were governed by their own skill.