Great swords

Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

In pre-DCSS versions of Crawl, there existed a skill for Great swords, as separate from long blades. Initially, it only governed the use of great swords, although triple swords were in fact added before the skill was removed.

Usefulness

While this skill applied to a very limited selection of weapons, one should remember that they were, at the time, the most powerful weapons in the game. Artefacts were few and far between, and most other weapon types were distinctly worse. Still, many characters would already have an endgame weapon they were skilled with by the time they stumbled upon a great sword (in earlier versions of Crawl, a well-enchanted mundane weapon served perfectly well as an endgame weapon).

Not too many species had good aptitudes for Great Swords: only Kenku (Tengu), Hill Orcs, Hill Dwarves, and Minotaurs had sub-100 ("positive") aptitudes, while a few others had aptitudes of 100 (i.e. 0 in the current system).

History

The Great Swords skill was removed in Crawl 3.40, long before DCSS. Notably, though, it was still present in Linley Henzell's last release of Crawl, namely 3.30.