Rift

Version 0.27: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A small wrinkle in the very fabric of reality, magically bound to a shaft by some mad acolyte of Lugonu. It possesses an unusually large reach that teleports its attack directly to its victim.

the +8 demon trident "Rift"

+8 demon trident

Distortion brand
Range 3 reaching attack that is smite-targeted (bypasses intervening monsters, statues, and iron grates).

Desirability

Rift has the advantage of being a highly-enchanted demon trident (one of the best one-handed polearms in the game) able to attack any space within three tiles without having to worry about intervening enemies getting in the way; it also reaches its minimum speed delay with the relatively modest investment of 14 levels in Polearms. However, its distortion brand can be tricky to work with -- while Rift is capable of dealing impressive amounts of irresistible damage or even removing your target entirely through banishment, it is also likely to blink your target around randomly, which can be dangerous if they have ranged attacks. What's more, wielders suffer potentially disastrous effects (among them being a 25% chance of being banished themselves) if they ever unwield the weapon, precluding a fighting style based on switching weapons to take advantage of enemy weaknesses.

Whether the unparalleled reach and heavy damage is worth the potential side-effects of the distortion brand or practically losing the ability to switch weapons is up to you. Do note that a sudden trip to the Abyss becomes less of a problem the farther down the Dungeon you go, should you find Rift early but decide to switch to a different weapon at a later point.

Rift is more likely to be useful to followers of Lugonu, who can switch to another weapon without consequences. It may also serve a purpose in the hands of a spellcaster who prefers to blast enemies from a safe distance.

History

Rift was added in 0.23.