Leech

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A blade forged in Hell by the sacrifice of countless tortured souls. It fills its wielder with the rage and suffering of those souls, and gorges itself further on drained life force every time it strikes, leaving behind a mess of blood and gore.

the +8 demon blade "Leech"

+8 demon blade

Vampiric brand effect, activated on every hit
Harm property (+30% damage dealt, +20% damage taken)
Causes draining when unequipped
rN+
Creates sprays of blood when striking opponents that bleed

Desirability

Leech, like any well-enchanted vampiric demon blade, is a very nice thing to have. And, with the vampiricism activating on every hit unlike most vampiric weapons, you'll steadily regain HP in fights with living opponents. The Harm property is a mixed bag; increasing the health you drain, but making you more vulnerable (especially to everything not in melee range).

As undead, demonic, and nonliving foes are unaffected by vampiricism, it may well be worth eating the HP drain to switch to a more effective weapon in the later portions of the game.

Demonspawn with the Ignite Blood mutation will appreciate how Leech constantly sprays burning blood everywhere.

History

• Prior to 0.28, Leech had both evocable and random rage instead of Harm and *Drain.
• Prior to 0.25, Leech had -3 AC and EV instead of its berserking properties.
• Prior to 0.19, Leech's AC and EV costs were only -2, and it had -2 Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity.
• Prior to 0.15, Leech's stat, AC and EV costs were only -1.
• Prior to 0.14, Leech's vampiric effect was only activated on 60% of all attacks, like all other vampiric weapons.