Bloodbane
| A blade forged in Hell by the sacrifice of countless tortured souls. It inflicts the rage and suffering of those souls upon its wielder. |
the +7,+8 demon blade "Bloodbane"
+8 demon blade
Vorpal brand
Allows berserk
Forces berserk (on 9% of attacks)
-50 stealth
Desirability
Similar to but somewhat weaker than the Sword of Jihad, Bloodbane is a very nice weapon if you can overcome its berserkitis, but if you have to use an amulet of clarity to do so, you'll probably want to eventually switch to a normal demon blade: it is far preferable to have something like conservation or resist mutation in your amulet slot, and a well-enchanted demon blade of freezing will provide more damage output in most cases. Being undead or worshiping Ashenzari will give you a bit more leeway for using this weapon, and the fact that it doesn't curse itself constantly means you can use it whenever a situation arises in which berserking would actually be useful. Just don't wield it all the time and you'll be fine.
History
In 0.15 stealth penalty was increased from -20 to -50.
Truly a shapeshifting weapon, Bloodbane was originally a long sword, then a katana (even after katanas were removed in 0.9), and now a demon blade.
