Singing Sword

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

An enchanted blade which loves nothing more than to sing to its owner, whether they want it to or not. It radiates damaging sonic waves as you strike, especially in combat involving dangerous or numerous foes.

the +11 Singing Sword

+11 double sword

Damages everything (excluding the user) in LOS, creating noise in the process

Mechanics

Every time you swing the Singing Sword (even if you miss), it has a chance to cast the Sonic Wave spell. Higher tension increases the frequency, damage, and noise of Sonic Wave.

Tier	Tension	Noise	Chance	Damage
1	0+	0	1/4	2d15
2	20+	20	3/8	2d16
3	40+	30	1/2	2d18
4	60+	40	1/2	2d23

Damage is calculated as follows:

• 2d(5 + (100 + 13 * (tier - 1) + 36) / 10) if the tier is 4,
• 2d(5 + (100 + 13 * (tier - 1)) / 10) otherwise.

At the highest singing effect, the sword's name changes to the Screaming Sword. When silenced, the sword's name instead changes to the Sulking Sword and no noise or damage are produced.

If the character wearing the weapon is not the player, then only the first tier applies.

Desirability

The Singing Sword is a powerful weapon; a +11 double sword with extra singing damage is no joke. At the lowest tier, Sonic Wave is stronger than electrocution (though Sonic Wave checks AC), can't be resisted, and hits every monster in LOS. It's one of the strongest one-handed Long Blades in the game.

The noise is a downside, but it can be managed. There's no penalty for switching to another weapon, and the noise is only created on swing. If noise would be an issue (such as when first entering a floor), you can always use a different weapon. Also, Sonic Wave becomes more powerful as more monsters are on screen. Just make sure you don't get carried away by that fact.

Sonic Wave will hurt your own allies (except those protected from harm, e.g. Hepliaklqana ancestor), so it's not a good idea for Summoners, Beogh worshippers, etc. to use this weapon.

History

• Prior to 0.30, the Singing Sword was a +7 vorpal double sword.
• Prior to 0.23, the Singing Sword's sonic damage was weaker and could trigger at any time with high enough tension. It also did not have the vorpal brand.
• Prior to 0.14, this weapon was significantly worse; its base type was a long sword and it generated significant amounts of noise regardless of the presence of monsters.
• Prior to 0.9, this weapon did not cast Sonic Wave.