Editing v0.34:Weapon

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:11, 29 April 2013 (UTC)}}

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Weapons can be split in two categories: those that you can produce, and those that you can't. [[Weaponsmith]]s can produce seven types of native weapons at a [[metalsmith's forge]], but there are also fourteen foreign weapons that can be found in the hands of enemy combatants, or bought from trading caravans (note, however, that due to bugs, several foreign weapons currently are effectively unusable by dwarves). These may use skills your dwarves are unfamiliar with. It is impossible to buy them in bulk, and they are of variable quality and material. Like all weapons they tend to be expensive as trade good. They may be worth using when you can secure a high-quality specimen (see [[#Quality and strange moods|Quality]] below). Since they are common for other nations, it is important to understand their properties when you have to fight enemies wielding them.

From another point of view there are four categories: slashing, piercing, crushing, and ranged.

Slashing weapons, like [[short sword]]s and [[battle axe]]s work by concentrating their force along a sharp blade, allowing them to make gashes in or completely sever body parts. Given the opportunity they make the quickest work of their foes. They are far less effective against armored targets, however, as armor will block most hits and convert them into weaker blunt damage.

Piercing weapons, like [[spear]]s and [[pick]]s work by concentrating their force at a point, allowing them to punch through armor and damage internal organs. They often get stuck, giving their wielder further leverage on the target.  

Crushing weapons, like [[war hammer]]s and [[mace]]s, work by concentrating their force behind a large, blunt mass, putting dents in armor and breaking bones beneath their blows. These weapons are slow to kill their targets - dwarves have a habit of breaking every bone in their opponent's body before moving on to the next target - but are the most effective weapons against heavy and heavily armored foes which shrug off damage more easily.

 

 

There exists one more kind of weapon, so-called training weapons. Training weapons are all wooden, and all made at the [[Carpenter's workshop|carpenter's workshop]]. Training axes, spears, and short swords can be constructed in dwarf fortress mode. They do little blunt impact damage, due to the poor [[material science|material properties]] of wood.  They were intended for avoiding injuries to training dwarves during sparring, but are now redundant, since regular weapons no longer cause injuries during sparring. Training weapons can still be useful in [[danger room]]s and [[live training]], but it is preferable to avoid having your dwarves become "attached" to wooden weapons.

A dwarf that has used a particular weapon for a long time will grow attached to it, equipping it whenever their uniform allows them to. This is fine if they are wielding a ☼Steel Mace☼, but a major problem if they are wielding what is meant to be a training weapon (be it a wooden axe or a copper spear). You can avoid this pitfall by not using training weapons and not forging weapons until you have real weaponsmithing underway. These events generate [[announcement]]s. If a dwarf does become attached you can easily force him to relinquish the weapon by assigning a 'specific weapon' instead in his equipment view.

Weaponsmithing is a [[moodable]] profession, which means that you can get [[artifact]] weapons. This is a bit of a mixed bag: although a legendary [[armorsmith]] would be more useful, it's certainly better than a legendary [[tanner]]. Artifact weapons have a 3x combat bonus and can be made out of a wide range of materials; ordinarily a [[rainbow trout]] [[bone]] spear is impossible, but a moody dwarf can create one with a single trout bone. Artifact weapons made of totally inappropriate materials are inferior to regular ones made of weapons-grade metal, although the exact balance is still under discussion.

Hunters gain [[marksdwarf]] skill from hunting, but wood cutters do not gain [[axedwarf]] weapon skill from cutting trees. Miners gain [[mining]] skill, which is not considered a military skill, but is used as a weapon skill when fighting with a pick. A dwarf using a weapon as a tool may opt not to use the same tool as a military weapon, instead dropping their tool to pick up another from a stockpile. Dwarves may carry only one weapon as a tool at a time; for example, woodcutters/hunters will drop their axes then go and pick up crossbows every time they begin hunting.

|rowspan="3"| Singlegrasp

Using any multigrasp weapon in a single hand (i.e. with a shield in the other hand) gives you a disability to hit. Do not equip two-handed swords with a shield, for instance.

 

In Adventurer Mode, however, it is possible to wield a two-handed sword, or any multigrasp weapon in one hand, without penalty (allowing for the simultaneous use of a shield) if your character passes the one-handed check for single-handing a multigrasp weapon.  For example, if you create a Human character, and manage to spawn into a world with a "broad body" or a "tall body" in the character description, you will be able to single-hand any multigrasp weapon (and will be forced to, much like you are forced to single-hand any singlegrasp weapon), which allows for the simultaneous, disability-free use of a shield, thus making your damage and defensive capabilities much higher than they would be with a singlegrasp weapon and shield.  Note that upping Strength to Superior (and eventually Superhuman) will make all attacks more likely to deal extra damage, making cutting off the limbs of your enemies much easier.

Weapons have a minimum size to use at all, and a minimum size to use one-handed. Adult dwarves vary in size between 33750 and 93750 (average 60000) based on their height and broadness.

 

Unfortunately this is currently bugged in Fortress mode.{{Bug|0005812}}  'One-handed' vs. 'two-handed' checks are performed correctly, but 'can wield' vs. 'can't wield' ignores height and broadness modifiers.  So Dwarves in Fortress mode will never equip two-handed swords, great axes, halberds, mauls, or pikes. Other weapons have a minimum wielding size of less than 60000, and are wielded one-handed if the individual dwarf is large enough. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=119068.msg3790913#msg3790913 this] forum post.

 

The following table shows approximately how many dwarves ''should be'' able to use each weapon one or two handed (see [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=101379.msg3029579#msg3029579 this forum post] for details), with all fractional numbers being approximate. While there are seven categories each for height and broadness, the number used is chosen randomly from within each category.

 

Where the size checking bug affects weapon wielding for dwarves, correct approximate figures are given in brackets.

| 1/49 (0)

| 10/49 (11/49)

| 1/49 (0)

| 10/49 (11/49)

| 1/49 (0)

| 10/49 (11/49)

| 48/49  

| 1/49 (0)

| 10/49 (11/49)

| 32/49 (ALL)

| 14/49 (0)

| 3/49 (0)

| 1/49 (0)

| 10/49 (11/49)

| 32/49 (ALL)

| 14/49 (0)

| 3/49 (0)

| 32/49 (ALL)

| 14/49 (0)

| 3/49 (0)

| 11/49 (0)

| 7/49 (18/49)

| 32/49 (ALL)

| 14/49 (0)

| 3/49 (0)

| 32/49 (ALL)

| 14/49 (0)

| 3/49 (0)

In regards to edged weaponry:  [[Adamantine]] and [[steel]] take first and second place respectively, with [[iron]] the third best material in the game, matched by the [[bronze]]s. Beyond that is [[copper]], the second worst material, and [[silver]] is the worst weapon material available (and due to the existence of training weapons, not even useful in that regard).

| All six standard weapon metals perform nearly identically. Steel has a slightly higher rate of critical wounds, while silver is slightly more likely to penetrate armor. Platinum (only available as [[artifact]] weapons) has twice the density of silver and several other improved properties, making it the best metal for impact weapons, though very limited in production. Adamantine's light weight makes it a terrible choice for blunt weapons, roughly the same as making a weapon out of cork.