Ring of slaying
| Type | Jewellery |
|---|---|
| Name | Ring of slaying |
| Icon | 
|
| A ring that increases the wearer's accuracy and damage with ranged weapons and melee attacks. |
A +4 ring of slaying increases the accuracy and damage of your melee (including unarmed), ranged, and auxiliary attacks. Its boost is equivalent to 4 levels of weapon enchantment.
A functionally identical effect occasionally appears on artefact jewellery and armour, denoted as "Slay ±X" (not limited to 4).
Desirability
The slaying boost is substantial, especially early on. Because each attack gets a flat damage boost, characters using fast weapons like Short Blades, and/or those with multiple auxiliary attacks benefit the most, although neither is required to benefit. Still, it should be compared to wearing an attribute ring or defensive ring.
When judging artefacts with slaying, keep things in perspective. Gaining +1 slaying is too small to realistically matter, while negative slaying is obviously negative. Unless the slaying is particularly high (or low), the other qualities of an artefact are more important.
Comparison to Stat Boosts
For the sole purpose of attack damage, 1 strength/dexterity equals 0.025 * <base dmg> * skill multipliers> slaying. For example, when (<base dmg> * <skill multi>) = 40, then 1 str/dex = 1 slaying. Therefore, +6 str/dex = +4 slaying at 26.7 (<base dmg> * <skill multi>). The higher the base damage, the better strength/dex becomes for weapon damage.
However, each stat has its other bonuses. Strength reduces encumbrance, thus improving EV, while dexterity boosts EV, SH, accuracy, and a few other stats. Slaying increases accuracy, and has a pronounced effect on auxiliary attacks due to their low base damage.
History
- Priot to 0.33, rings of slaying had 1/3 the normal generation chance.
- Prior to 0.27, you could find rings of slaying with a -4 enchantment; such rings were always cursed.
- Prior to 0.25, rings of slaying were randomly generated between 1 and 6 (positive and negative).
- Before the weapon enchantment merge in 0.15, rings of slaying had two distinct bonuses--one for accuracy, and one for damage.
- Prior to 0.10, slaying was more powerful, as it was included before the weapon skill multiplier.
