Dart

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Dart
Launcher	Throwing
Base damage	0
Base delay (%)	10 (100%)
Min delay	7 at skill 6

A thin piece of metal, typically coated in some harmful substance. When thrown with skill it can deliver its toxins into the bloodstream of a living or demonic being. In addition to throwing skill, stealth skill improves the chance for a dart to affect its target.

Darts are throwing weapons designed to incapacitate foes rather than kill them outright. They may be found on the Dungeon floor or in the possession of some monsters (kobolds and spriggan riders).

Darts come with the following brands:

• Poisoned
• Curare - inflicts heavy poison, slows, and deals asphyxiation damage
• Datura - sends target berserk and neutral, causing them to attack whatever's closest
• Atropa - blinds and may briefly confuse target

Undead and nonliving creatures are immune to darts, but all others can still be affected. Poisoned and Curare darts work on any susceptible creature that does not resist poison, but the effectiveness of the other two varieties is determined by the player's skill in Throwing and Stealth, and resisted by the target's hit dice.

The chance is 100 - 100 * (HD - 2) / (4 + pow), where pow = (Throwing + Stealth) * 2 / 3. For monsters with HD < 15, there's a minimum chance of 3% for success.

When thrown, poisoned darts have a 8.33% chance to mulch, destroying the dart. The other three brands instead have a doubled chance (to 16.66%).

Strategy

Darts can be useful for many different characters, particularly in the early game where monsters have low HD (and therefore low resistance to darts). Many tough creatures like ogres or orc warriors can be rendered much more manageable by poisoning them, blinding/confusing them, or poisoning, damaging, and slowing them. Datura works well on groups of monsters, as you can force one of them to go berserk and fight the rest -- just be sure to keep your distance lest you have to fight a berserk monster yourself.

As the game progresses, most characters that aren't focused on Stealth and/or Throwing will probably find that darts become less useful than just killing monsters using a different method (though having some darts on hand for especially dangerous monsters can still prove helpful). Sneaky stabbers, though, may well continue to rely on darts to soften up monsters or give themselves stabbing opportunities.

Poisoned	Atropa-tipped	Curare-tipped	Datura-tipped

History

• In 0.24, blowguns were removed and needles were replaced with the new version of darts.
• Prior to 0.15, darts were a thrown weapon that did damage comparable to stones but could be branded. They were removed in 0.15.
• Prior to 0.6, darts could be fired from a hand crossbow.