Gyre and Gimble

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

Two quick blades joined by a chain. Swinging one compels the wielder to swing the other, as if they have minds of their own.

the +12 pair of quick blades "Gyre" and "Gimble"

+12 quick blade

Protection brand
Each swing attacks twice
Always two-handed (Except for formicids)

Desirability

Gyre and Gimble are an unusual weapon - thematically two weapons, they are treated in-game as a single two-handed weapon that just so happens to make twice as many attacks as a normal quick blade. As quick blades already attack extraordinarily fast, this amounts to an absurd number of hits before the enemy can react to you. At minimum delay (requires a paltry 8 Short Blades skill), you'll essentially be getting in an attack every 1.5 auts. When hastened, this goes up to an attack every aut.

However, the actual effectiveness of these attacks depends on two things: your slaying bonuses and the enemy's AC.

• A quick blade doesn't deal very much damage per hit, unless it has a set damage brand like distortion, electrocution, or pain. Gyre and Gimble's protection brand helps increase your survivability, but does absolutely nothing to increase your damage output. Slaying increases your damage per hit regardless of how strong your weapon is; the more times you can attack in quick succession, the more that slaying will benefit you, and attacking quickly is where Gyre and Gimble excel.
• Gyre and Gimble fire weak attacks rapidly; this works fine against low-AC targets, but high-AC opponents will shrug off the majority of your blows. Enough slaying bonuses, liberal use of potions of might, and easy access to berserk rage can all help overcome this issue, allowing Gyre and Gimble to be effective against armoured foes and absolutely devastating against the unarmoured. Assembling such extensive combat bonuses may be easier said than done, however.

Alternatively, if you happen to have a reliable, renewable way to stab enemies (confusion, invisibility, blindness), Gyre and Gimble function as a phenomenally deadly weapon.

Note that auxiliary attacks aren't performed any faster than with an ordinary quick blade. But as you're still attacking with a quick blade, these attacks will still fire rapidly (3 aut), so species with auxiliary attacks will get a bit more out of Gyre and Gimble than those without.

Also note that most tactics that make the best use of Gyre and Gimble can also work adequately with any other type of short blade -- Gyre and Gimble's main advantage is simply their exceptional attack speed. Whether or not it's worth sacrificing the use of your off-hand is up to you, but a well-branded, fully-enchanted quick blade and a good shield (or perhaps an orb) may be the smarter choice in some cases. Formicids, of course, don't have to worry about losing their shield slot, but whether they'd prefer Gyre and Gimble over a heavy two-handed weapon is another question.

Trivia

Gyre and Gimble are a reference to the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carrol.

History

• In 0.29, the enchantment was changed from +7 to +12.
• Prior to 0.24, Gyre and Gimble had a +5 enchantment, the vorpal brand, and a -3 penalty to Dexterity.
• Gyre and Gimble were added in 0.16.