Burglar's Shank

Burglar's Shank

Type	Weapon
Type	Dagger
Level	4
Damage	7-12
Crit Chance	4%
Stats	Crit. Power (+25)
Location	Floor 60 of The Mines (remixed); The Mines (Floors 81-119); Skull Cavern; Quarry Mine

The Burglar's Shank is a thief's weapon in every sense: it barely hits, it hits often, and when it hits properly it hurts badly. Ordinary stabs land 7 to 12, which is feeble for the depths it is found at, but the blade rolls critical hits twice as often as most weapons and raises the damage of each one by 25 points on a multiplier already lifted above the normal. It is found deep in the Mines from floor 81 down, in the Skull Cavern and in the Quarry Mine, broken out of crates and barrels or taken off the monsters that guard those floors. The description calls it the choice of the swift and silent, and the blade plays exactly that way: strike first, strike often, and do not stay to argue.

Location

Three places produce it, all of them late. The Mines from floor 81 to floor 119 is the first, the Skull Cavern the second, and the single cave of the Quarry Mine the third. In each, the blade comes from breaking the crates and barrels scattered about or from killing the special monsters that occasionally appear.

On a farm created with remixed mine rewards switched on, the chest on floor 60 can hold the shank instead of its usual prize, which hands it over a good twenty floors earlier than normal.

The Skull Cavern is the fastest hunting ground of the three, since its floors are packed with containers and a farmer with bombs can clear a dozen in a morning. The Quarry Mine is the slowest, because it stays exactly as it was left until the day ends.

Stats

Reading the numbers from the top down makes the shank look like a mistake. The damage band is lower than weapons found forty floors above it. The crit chance is double the baseline. The crit power bonus adds a quarter again, and the multiplier is raised above the usual triple. Put together, those small stabs occasionally land as something far heavier, which is the only reason anyone carries it past the floor they found it on.

Protection and reach are the shank's price. Knockback is at the dagger minimum and armour has to come from boots and rings, so the farmer stands inside a monster's range for the whole exchange. That is survivable against Dust Sprites and fatal against a Serpent, which is why the shank suits ambush fighting rather than open brawls.

Speed is the class standard, which for a dagger means several stabs a second and plenty of chances for the crit to come up.

Notes

The shank's case improves sharply with the right support. Aquamarine at the Forge pushes the crit chance higher, Jade raises the payload of each crit, and the Scout and Desperado professions multiply both. A shank built that way does far more damage than its damage figure suggests, though it never becomes a safe weapon to hold.

Ruby is the honest alternative for anyone who finds the basic stabs too weak to bother with, since ten percent a level lifts the whole range rather than the lucky swings.

The dagger special move is the shank at its best. Holding the alternate attack pins a monster and delivers four rapid stabs, each with its own chance to roll a critical, which turns an ambush into a burst of damage rather than a nibble. Used on a single monster that has not yet noticed the farmer, that burst is often the entire fight.

All Daggers

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Type	Level	Damage
Abby's Planchette	Dagger	8	24-30
Broken Trident	Dagger	5	15-26
Burglar's Shank	Dagger	4	7-12
Carving Knife	Dagger	1	1-3
Crystal Dagger	Dagger	4	4-10
Dragontooth Shiv	Dagger	12	40-50
Dwarf Dagger	Dagger	11	32-38
Elf Blade	Dagger	2	3-5
Elliott's Pencil	Dagger	8	24-30
Galaxy Dagger	Dagger	8	30-40
Infinity Dagger	Dagger	16	50-70
Iridium Needle	Dagger	12	20-35
Iron Dirk	Dagger	1	2-4
Shadow Dagger	Dagger	4	10-20
Wicked Kris	Dagger	8	24-30
Wind Spire	Dagger	1	1-5