Dexterity

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Dexterity (or DEX) is one of a character's three main attributes, along with strength and intelligence. It is important if you want to have high evasion.

Dexterity affects the following:

• Increases damage of certain weapons (Short Blades, Long Blades, Ranged Weapons). Every point gives +2.5% damage, where 100% damage = 10 DEX.
• Increases the effect of Dodging skill on evasion.
• Increases the chances to stab monsters.
• Slightly increases your SH bonus with bucklers, kite shields, and tower shields.
• Slightly increases stealth (3 per point - for comparison, boots of stealth give 50).
• Very slightly increases accuracy in combat.

Dexterity is a generally useful defensive stat, though strength is more impactful for heavy armour characters, and intelligence for dedicated spellcasters.

If your dexterity is ever reduced to 0 or lower, you will suffer stat zero.

History

• In 0.29, both blades and ranged weapons gained DEX scaling.
• Prior to 0.28, Dexterity increased the chance of doing auxiliary attacks, and Dex was not the sole stat to increase SH with shields.
• Prior to 0.18, each weapon type had a strength weight that determined how much dexterity contributed to damage and accuracy. Now dexterity increases accuracy equally for all weapons, and does not affect damage.
• Prior to 0.17, Dexterity affected the chance of doors creaking.