Gyre and Gimble

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

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+5 quickblade
Vorpal brand
Each attack attacks twice
Always two-handed (Does this apply to formicids??)

Desirability

Gyre and Gimble is an unusual weapon - thematically two separate weapons, they are treated in game as a single two-handed weapon that just happens to get twice as many attacks as a normal quickblade would. As quickblades already attack extraordinarily fast anyway, this amounts to an absurd number of hits before the enemy can react to you. At mindelay (8 Short Blades skill), you'll essentially be getting in an attack every 1.5 auts. When hasted, this goes up to an attack every aut. In short, you'll be attacking very quickly.

However, the actual effectiveness of these attacks depends on two things: your slaying bonuses and the enemy's AC. A quickblade doesn't deal very much damage per hit unless it has a set damage brand, like distortion, electrocution, or pain. The vorpal brand is slightly better than nothing, but still one of the worst options available for a quickblade. This issue doesn't matter much for low-AC opponents, as you'll simply spread the damage out over several attacks, but against high-AC opponents you'll be barely scratching them. Enough slaying bonuses, however, will overcome this issue, allowing Gyre and Gimble to be effective against armoured foes and absolutely devastating against the unarmoured. Good luck finding those slaying sources, however.

Whether or not it's worth sacrificing use of your off-hand is up to you, but a well-branded, fully-enchanted quickblade and buckler of resistance may be the smarter choice in most cases.

History

Gyre and Gimble will be added in 0.16.