Shadow Dagger

Shadow Dagger

Type	Weapon
Type	Dagger
Level	4
Damage	10-20
Crit Chance	4%
Location	The Mines

The Shadow Dagger is the blade the Mines keep in their haunted floors, and the shrieking it is famous for is backed up by its numbers. It hits for 10 to 20 with double the usual chance of a critical strike, which makes it the most dangerous dagger the Mines hand out before the volcano. Crates and barrels on the ghost floors give it up, and again on the deepest levels, so it arrives in the middle of a save rather than at the start. Daggers are a minority taste, and this is the blade that converts people, because it is fast enough to out-damage the heavy swords of the same depth.

Location

Floors sixty to seventy-nine are the first place it appears, which is the icy stretch of the Mines where Ghosts drift about and Skeletons stand guard from the seventieth level. Breaking crates and barrels is the route, and the occasional special monster drops one too.

It appears again from the hundredth floor downwards, so a farmer pushing for the bottom of the Mines has a second chance at it alongside the Kudgel and the Steel Falchion.

A save using remixed mine rewards has a third route, since the chest on floor eighty can hold the dagger in place of its usual contents.

As with every weapon, duplicates do not stack, so the second and third Shadow Dagger are worth selling to Marlon rather than carrying.

Stats

Ten to twenty is a wide spread for a dagger, and the top end is what matters. A dagger strikes several times in the space of one sword swing, so a stab for 20 repeated quickly adds up faster than a slow club hitting for 27.

Four percent is the critical chance, twice the figure almost every other weapon carries. That turns into a steady stream of triple-damage stabs, and it is the reason the Shadow Dagger punches above its damage numbers. An Aquamarine Ring or the Scout profession raises it further.

Knockback is at the dagger minimum, which is the right choice for this weapon. A Ghost that is not pushed away stays in the strike square and takes the whole stab burst, where a club would have shoved it out of reach after one hit.

Range is the permanent weakness. The blade only reaches the tile directly in front, so anything approaching at an angle gets a free hit in. That is the trade every dagger makes and no amount of damage fixes it.

Notes

The dagger's alternate attack is a rapid burst of stabs rather than a single hit, and on a weapon with twice the normal critical chance that burst is where most of the damage lands. Artful halves the cooldown on it, which is the single best enchantment a dagger can carry.

Compared with the other daggers of its era the Shadow Dagger is the honest middle. Burglar's Shank hits for less but crits harder, and the Wicked Kris hits for 24 to 30 with a higher critical chance again, so a farmer who finds a Kris in the Skull Cavern can retire this one.

Level four keeps the innate enchantments available, since those only attach at level ten or lower. Extra critical power is the roll that suits it, because frequent critical hits are already the weapon's whole character, and a few more points of multiplier turn them into something the lava floors notice.

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