Lochaber axe

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

This brutal weapon, long thought lost to history, combines the extended reach of a polearm with the cleaving sharpness of an axe.

the +5 lochaber axe

+5 lochaber axe (modified bardiche; 19 damage, -7 accuracy, base delay 20)
Cleaves all targets within two tiles
Uses the highest of Axes or Polearms skill

Desirability

The lochaber axe combines reaching and cleaving for an extremely impressive supercleave. However, the stipulations make it less effective than it may seem. It has no damage brand, meaning it suffers in comparison to other two-handers. It requires a lot of skill to use practically, swinging slower and even less accurately than a base bardiche. Just being a two-handed weapon works against it; many characters won't want to give up their off-hand, and kobolds and spriggans are outright incapable of using it.

Outside of extremely crowded situations, this is more of a flashy weapon than a general-purpose one. Still, if you have ever dreamed of striking 20-ish enemies with a single swing, the lochaber axe can make that happen.

History

• In 0.30, the lochaber axe will drain on unequip.
• The lochaber axe was reintroduced in 0.29 as an unrand artefact, with the same base stats as a pre-reaching bardiche.
• In 0.4, lochaber axes were renamed to bardiches.
• This weapon was introduced in 0.1.