Whip

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

Name	Whip
Skill	Maces & Flails
Damage	6
Accuracy	+2
Base delay (%)	11 (110%)
Min delay	5 at skill 12
Hands	1H
Size	Medium
Ranged?	No

A long plaited strip of leather. Originally developed for use in disagreements with cattle, this simple weapon is now widely used to settle differences between all sorts of creatures.

This weapon falls into the 'Maces & Flails' category. It is a one handed weapon.

Whips are one of the better early game weapons, a direct upgrade to clubs. They have good attack speed, even at low skill, and are easy to find off kobolds and other early humanoids.

Strategy

At 0 skill, a +0 whip is stronger than a short sword, dagger, or club, but weaker than a spear. It does not have the stabbing benefits of the former two weapons, but hits harder.

A whip with a "flat" brand, namely venom or electrocution, is a powerful weapon in the early game. A whip of of either brand can kill most enemies up to Lair with minimal skill investment. Without a good brand, you should upgrade to a mace or better, at least once you get some Maces & Flails skill.

Note that there is some risk with using whips at 0 skill. Since you attack at 1.1 delay (which is >1.0), monsters have a chance to get an extra turn on you. However, whips are stronger on average. If you need to use a 0 skill weapon in the first place, you'll likely prefer the better performance of a whip. At 2 Maces & Flails skill, whips attack at 1.0 delay, negating this risk entirely.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact
Snakebite

History

Prior to 0.14, whips could possess the reaching brand.

In earlier versions of the game, whips did as little as 4 damage and had 12 base delay, which made them close to worthless.