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40d:Weapon

From Dwarf Fortress Wiki
Revision as of 15:59, 3 November 2007 by Death Dragon (talk | contribs) (Category Weapons)
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Weapons are items that increase the damage dealt by creatures in melee combat. In fortress mode, after accessing the military screen with m, pressing w gives a list of which weapons you desire your dwarves to use. Regardless of your choice here, civilians will not wield weapons until drafted.

Weapons have different properties that affect the way they deal damage. Blunt weapons like hammers and maces tend to deal large amounts of damage to external body parts, and never get stuck in targets. Slashing or cutting weapons such as axes or swords have a tendency to sever limbs on good hits, but sometimes get stuck in their victims. Piercing weapons such as spears or crossbow bolts have a high chance to deal damage to internal organs, possibly resulting in instant kills, but have the highest chance to get stuck in victims. Weapons that get stuck in their victims cannot be reused until pulled free, which can leave the attacker vulnerable. While stuck, the weapon can be twisted in the wound, possibly causing the victim to pass out from pain.

Not all weapons can be wielded by dwarves. Larger weapons like bows cannot be wielded by the stubby dwarves, they use the smaller crossbows instead. Merchant caravans will happily sell you weapons too big for you to wield, so if you are purchasing weapons for your fortress, be sure they are usable by dwarves.

Dwarves can also create weapons themselves. Wooden and bone crossbow bolts can be created at the craftsdwarf's workshop. Higher quality bolts and melee weapons can be created at a metalsmith's forge. Dwarves can only create weapons they themselves can wield, with the occasional exception of artifacts.

Most weapons can be made of iron, silver, copper, bronze, steel, bismuth bronze, or adamantine. A handful of weapons can be made of other materials such as wood or obsidian. The material of crossbows does not affect the damage of fired bolts, although it does affect the damage of the crossbow when it is used as a bludgeon (i.e., when all bolts have been expended).

There are a few enormous weapons that no race can wield, these are only usable when mounted into weapon traps. These are the menacing spike, the large, serrated disc, the spiked ball, enormous corkscrew, and the giant axe blade.

In most cases, dwarves will go to pick up an assigned weapon upon being drafted. However, there are a few special cases. A woodcutter uses a battle axe even as a civilian, so if a woodcutter is assigned to use an axe as a weapon he or she will not need to prepare (except to wear any assigned armor). A hunter usually carries a crossbow, bolts and even light armor, all of which can carry over to the military if the settings are appropriate. And miners carry their picks at all times; picks make mediocre weapons, but they use the civilian "mining" skill in combat, so miners don't have to train as soldiers to be effective fighters.

Picks will only be used as weapons by miners who are not instructed to wield any other weapon (in other words, the dwarves must be set to "unarmed" and drafted while carrying a pick).


Weapons have varying amounts of damage and type, according to raw/objects/weapons.txt.v0.27.169.33a

High "Crit. Boost" is a better chance of causing internal injuries, rather than just decreasing HP. This is useful against big, hard-to-damage enemies -- things like spears will tend to damage their organs, which is usually a faster way to take them out.

Weapon Stats

These have been taken from /raw/objects/item_weapon.txt:

Name Damage Damage Type Skill Used Crit. Boost
Battle axe 110 Slash Axe None
Blowgun† (melee) 20 Bludgeon Sword None
Bow† (melee) 40 Bludgeon Sword None
Crossbow† (melee) 70 Bludgeon Hammer None
Dagger 70 Slash Dagger 1
Flail 130 Bludgeon Mace None
Great axe 150 Slash Axe None
Halberd 140 Slash Axe None
Long sword 120 Slash Sword 1
Mace 120 Bludgeon Mace None
Maul 160 Bludgeon Hammer None
Morningstar 120 Bludgeon Mace None
Pick 70 Pierce Mining 2
Pike 120 Pierce Pike 2
Scimitar 100 Slash Sword 1
Scourge 30 Gore Whip None
Short Sword 100 Slash Sword 1
Spear 100 Pierce Spear 2
Two handed sword 140 Slash Sword 1
War hammer 120 Bludgeon Hammer None
Whip 20 Gore Whip None
Dwarves wield weapon two-handed
Dwarves cannot wield weapon (too large)

Ammunition Stats

These have been taken from /raw/objects/item_ammo.txt:

Name Damage Damage Type
Arrow 100 Pierce
Blowdart 10 Pierce
Bolt 100 Pierce


Trap Weapon Statistics

These have been taken from /raw/objects/item_trapcomp.txt:

Name Damage Damage Type No. of Hits Crit. Boost Wood
Giant axe blade 220 Slash 1 None No
Enormous corkscrew 150 Pierce 1 2 Yes†
Spiked ball 100 Pierce 3 1 Yes
Large serrated disc 120 Slash 3 None No
Menacing spike 150 Pierce 1 2 Yes‡
This trap component is a screw and can be used in screw pumps.
This trap component is a spike and can be used in Upright Spear/Spike traps.

All Trap Component weapons can be made out of metal. Those checked Yes under the Wood column above can also be made out of wood. This can be useful in getting some heavy weapons traps set up before you have a steady smelting operation going. Remember though that weapons made of wood suffer a penalty to damage. (Can we verify if it is still 50% of iron?)

Material Damage Effects

Actual weapon damage depends partially on the material from which the weapon was forged. An iron battle axe does 110 damage for example, while a steel axe does 146 damage etc.

Material Damage %
Adamantine 500
Steel and †Obsidian 133
Iron 100
Bronze and Bismuth bronze 75
Copper 66
†All other materials (wood, silver, etc.) 50
This value could not be verified from the raws. It is believed to still be accurate but use at your own risk.

Item quality

  • This section needs to be verified. Perhaps you can help!

Toady has stated that item quality increases its protection (or damage, in the case of weapons), namely, "Quality has a huge effect on damage and damage reduction... Exceptional is almost double damage/damage block."

  • Item Name : Basic crafted weapon - x1.0 damage
  • -Item Name- : Well-Crafted weapon - x1.2 damage
  • +Item Name+ : Finely Crafted weapon - x1.4 damage
  • *Item Name* : Superior Quality weapon - x1.6 damage
  • ≡Item Name≡ : Exceptional weapon - x1.8 damage
  • ☼Item Name☼ : Masterful weapon - x2.0 damage