Sniper

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

The sacred weapon of Toth-Mos, first apostle of the god Ashenzari. It grants the wielder a fraction of Ashenzari's own vision, ensuring that every shot will land true.

the +9 heavy crossbow "Sniper"

+9 heavy crossbow (modified triple crossbow; base delay 27)

Vorpal brand
See invisible
Never misses

Desirability

Sniper is essentially a maximally enchanted triple crossbow with even worse delay. The weapon's true minimum delay of 1.3 cannot be reached due to requiring an impossible 28 in Crossbows skill; at skill level 27, you will have a 50/50 chance at a delay of either 1.3 or 1.4, which is about twice as slow as the slowest two-handed melee weapons.

However, Sniper always hits its target; combined with its high base damage, enchantment, and vorpal brand, it is capable of inflicting considerable amounts of damage. Once an enemy enters line of sight, a skilled user can still get several shots in before the enemy can engage in melee. Sniper is especially valuable against monsters with high EV and low HP like spriggans or very dangerous opponents with extreme EV like Ereshkigal.

Be wary of using this against especially fast enemies or foes with dangerous ranged abilities, as they might well get a chance to retaliate while you're reloading. In dangerous situations, use potions of haste and/or Okawaru's Finesse to speed up your shots as much as possible.

History

• In 0.30, Sniper will be buffed to an enchantment of +27. In addition, it will have heavy instead of vorpal, with base delay lowered to 25 to compensate.
• Prior to 0.18, Sniper had an enchantment of +15 and lacked perfect accuracy.
• Prior to 0.15, Sniper was a standard crossbow with a +15 enchantment and the vorpal brand, but it was given a slower-than-normal rate of fire.
• Prior to 0.14, Sniper had a +10,+0 enchantment level and the venom brand.