Why does everyone like The Singing Sword?

[XuaXua]

It's just a Vorpal +7/+7 Long Sword, with a chance to go screaming and damage nearby enemies, right?

Seems like it brings the wrong kind of attention; is it really worth investing in Long Blades for?

[crate]

It's the best weapon in zigsprint (well maybe obsidian axe is better now that it has cleaving, I haven't tried) but it's pretty much useless in a real game.

The singing sword in singing sword form is pretty bad, but screaming sword is theoretically useful because it does damage for free while you do other things. However if you get into a situation that is high-enough tension to transform the sword probably you are in big trouble and killing things is not your first priority.

Interestingly the main reason to use the singing sword (screaming while you do things that aren't tab) actually has nothing to do with long blades skill.

[KoboldLord]

People like The Singing Sword because it is hilarious. The tricky part of designing it is to make it just barely strong enough that the hilarity makes it appealing to use, without making it strong enough to be actually useful in any reasonable situation. The Shield of the Gong is designed along the same philosophy.

[DukeVonBathrobe]

I used it once with boots of running on a MiGl to kite the royal jelly to death without ever getting into melee. Niche usage certainly but amusing and memorable.

[cerebovssquire]

It isn't even vorpal

[white_noise]

I think I've found one on D:4 or something and it get me killed.

[XuaXua]

It isn't even vorpal

So it's just a plain +7 Longsword +Noise with a chance at screaming? WTF

[rchandra]

when you find it really early, just being a +7 longsword is better than a lot of things for some time. I'd also really like to try it in Orc before Lair.

[sardonica]

I like it cause it's funny

[njvack]

Awwww, the Singing Sword just got a little less awesome. It turns out Screaming used to be a way to damage through Sanctuary without breaking it:

https://gitorious.org/crawl/crawl/commi ... ormat=html

I gotta admit: that change makes me more than a little sad. I like Stupid Mechanic Tricks.