Nethack Weapon Selection for Tourist

Jack of all trades, master of none.

The weapon choices for the Tourist are least influenced by the skill system of any of the players. That's because only one weapon class (and also martial arts) is restricted. You can pick up anything except a club or aklys and advance to basic.

You start with darts, which can be advanced to expert. I wouldn't waste the slots doing it though (you should have plenty of slots, but only if you aren't wasteful), because darts are just such wimpy weapons. The other weapons which can be advanced to expert are daggers and short swords. I wouldn't advance either of them to expert right away, because early on, you'll need the slots for other things. Later, the short sword isn't worth it, but by the time you get Magicbane or find Grimtooth you should have some slots available to advance with the dagger.

The best non-artifact weapons available are the dwarvish mattock followed by the two-handed sword. Since you can only advance them to basic, you might as well do that with both. Another good possibility is the unicorn horn, advanced to skilled. It's not as good as the mattock or the two-handed sword, but if you want one anyway for the healing properties, its definitely worth the three slots needed for advancement.

Since you probably won't get those immediately, and the darts suck, you'll need a first weapon to pass the time with. The other weapons you can choose are, in order starting from the best: battle-axe, bardiche, trident, katana, halberd, spetum, long sword. You're bound to find one of these pretty quickly, and it'll only use one slot (a saber or scimitar advanced to skilled both beat the long sword, but use two slots).

For artifacts, Mjollnir is the best one for you, and even matches your alignment. Wishing for Grayswandir is fine, since it can be advanced to skilled, and makes an excellent end-game weapon. Fire Brand, Frost Brand, and Cleaver are also very strong weapons. And Magicbane can be very useful. The rest of the artifacts are probably not worth considering, as they aren't as strong as the dwarvish mattock or two-handed sword in the end-game.

So, to recap, your first slot will go to a fairly good weapon, your second and third slots should go to the two-handed sword and the dwarvish mattock. After that, don't waste slots on junk, but be an opportunist and use slots on good stuff you get. This would include a unicorn horn, Grimtooth or Magicbane, Grayswandir, Mjollnir, Cleaver, Fire Brand or Frost Brand.

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