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{{version034}}
{{weapon
|name = Quick blade
|cost = 150
|weight = 5.0
|damage = 4
|size = One-handed
|skill = Short Blades
|accuracy = +6
|basedelay = 15 (150%)
|mindelay = 5 at skill 20
|damtype = Stabbing
|hands = 1H
|ranged = No
}}
{{flavour|A dagger with an uncanny enchantment upon it, allowing it to strike twice for every blow the wielder makes.

----

"He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword...

-Julia Ward Howe, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". 1861}}
{{crawlquote|This weapon falls into the '[[Short Blades]]' category. It is a one handed weapon.}}

'''Quick blades''', when used by a skilled user, are extremely rapid weapons. When swinging with a quick blade, two attacks are made. This is treated as if you attacked twice with any other weapon, so factors like [[brand]], [[auxiliary attack]]s, and [[AC]] can activate twice.

==Sources==
Quick blades are rare items.
*For those invested into Short Blades, [[Trog]]'s weapon gifts are likely to gift one eventually. [[Scrolls of acquirement]], or [[Okawaru]]'s weapon gift, also have a high chance of gifting 'rare' weapons.
*The [[Elven_Halls#Elf:2 - The Hall of Blades|Hall of Blades]] has a decent chance (~41.5%) of having a [[dancing weapon|dancing]] quick blade, always [[brand]]ed. Also, [[deep elf blademaster]]s have a 1/26 chance of holding one.
*Some of the more powerful [[List of spriggans|spriggans]] have a chance of spawning with one.

==Strategy==
At minimum delay, quick blades become [[rapier]]s that swing twice for more than half the base damage. They benefit greatly from flat damage effects, such as [[enchant]]ment/[[slay]], [[auxiliary attack]]s, [[stab]]bing, and flat damage [[brand]]s. This is because, if every hit deals +1 damage, hitting twice as fast results in twice the bonus. Conversely, enemy [[AC]] matters more.

A major downside of quickblades is the massive amount of skill required to reach mindelay, even more than [[broad axe]]s. However, a +9 quick blade with a good flat damage brand - namely [[electrocution]], [[pain (brand)|pain]], [[distortion]], and [[chaos]] - will outdamage an equivalent [[rapier]] at moderate levels of skill, even against high AC foes like [[orbs of fire]]. Therefore, reaching mindelay is not close to required when using a quick blade.

Overall, a quickblade with a flat damage brand is a powerful weapon on its own right, able to take on enemies without needing to stab. A quick blade of distortion or chaos can take you through [[Zot]]. If you happen to obtain a quickblade in the early-/mid- game, [[venom]] and [[draining]] are also reasonable, tying with a [[dagger]] of those brands at 6 skill and only getting better with more skill.

===Compared to rapiers===
If a quick blade is highly enchanted and has a good flat damage brand (that the enemy doesn't resist), it will outdamage an equivalent rapier.

Using [[wizard mode]] fightsim tests: against an [[orb of fire]], with 25 [[Fighting]] and 30 DEX, a +9 quick blade of distortion will outdamage a +9 rapier of distortion at 0 or more Short Blades skill; this does not consider the 5% banish chance. When fighting lower AC opponents, or with higher Short Blades skill, lower Fighting, and/or lower DEX, quick blades become relatively better.

At low/moderate enchantment levels and with brands worse than distortion, the calculation can change, although the quick blade remains competitive or better at moderate skill.

===Compared to daggers===
Quick blade are generally better than daggers at stabbing. A quick blade at mindelay will make twice as many swings, resulting in twice as many stabs (except [[sleep]] stabs, as the enemy will wake up). Since the dagger stab boost is always less than double that of a quick blade, a quick blade is almost strictly superior to a dagger.

{| class="prettytable" style="border:none; margin:auto; padding:0; text-align: center"
! || Quick blades
|-
| '''Mundane''' || [[File:Quickblade.png]]
|-
| '''Magical''' || [[File:Quickblade2.png]]
|-
| '''Artifact''' || [[File:Quickblade3.png]]
|-
! || [[Unrandart]]s
|-
| '''[[Gyre and Gimble]]''' || [[File:Gyre and Gimble.png]]
|-
| '''[[Vampire's Tooth]]''' || [[File:Vampire's tooth.png]]
|}

==History==
*Prior to [[0.34]], quick blades had a base delay of 12 with the same mindelay of 0.5 (reached at only 14 skill).
*Prior to [[0.31]], quick blades only made 1 attack per swing, but had a base delay of 0.7 decaAut and mindelay of 0.3 decaAut.
*Prior to [[0.30]], quick blades could not naturally generate with [[brand]]s.
*Prior to [[0.29]], quick blades dealt 5 base damage and scaled with strength instead of dexterity.
*Prior to [[0.27]], [[Cheibriados]] disapproved of quick blades.

{{weapons}}

[[Category:Short blades]]

Quick blade - Revision history

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