Scythe

General
The Scythe is a double-handed weapon to be used by the Dervish, one of the two new professions to be introduced in Guild Wars Nightfall.

Not much is known about it so far, except that scythes are capable of striking multiple targets at the same time. This effect is not the result of a skill, but rather an inherent property of the weapon. It cannot hit more than 3 targets with 1 attack.

Damage stats

 * Slashing damage
 * Minimum damage: 4-6
 * Maximum damage: 9-41
 * Attack Interval = 1.75 seconds
 * Each attack strikes primary target and up to 2 additional targets within adjacent range.

Scythes with an attribute requirement of 0 have been observed with damage as high as 8-15.

Upgrades and modifiers
A scythe can be equipped with a magic Scythe Snathe (name prefix) and/or Scythe Handle (name suffix) to add extra bonuses to the weapon. Scythes have been confirmed to possess every prefix except for Silencing, Fiery and Shocking, and every suffix except slaying. Vampiric scythes can have up to 5 life stealing like hammers and bows.

Furthermore a scythe may come with a number of non-salvagable weapon modifiers. Scythes have been observed with the seven modifiers shared by all PvP melee weapons. In other words, every melee weapon modifier except for "+10..15% damage vs hexed foes", "+10..15% damage, health regeneration -1", "+10-15% damage, energy regeneration -1", the unconditional "+10-15% damage" modifier, "Precious" and "Highly Salvagable".

See "weapon upgrades" and "weapon modifier" for details.

Insignas
Insignas are sort of like modifiers but only work on certain scythes that can accept it.

Scythe types

 * Briarwood Scythe
 * Bronze Scythe
 * Crenellated Scythe
 * Death's Grasp Scythe
 * Elegant Scythe
 * Embossed Scythe
 * Hooked Scythe
 * PvP Scythe (same skin as Suntouched Scythe)
 * Soulbreaker (preorder item)
 * Starter Scythe (4-6 damage, same skin as Suntouched Scythe)
 * Suntouched Scythe
 * Banana Scythe (Drakes on the Plain quest reward)

Scythe range
(following information is of GW Build 19,494, 16th october 2006)

Per scythe attack, the scythe may hit the original target, and two additional targets. These two additional targets may be any target (appears to be chosen at random) that appear to be anywhere that is still adjacent to BOTH the original target AND the player. nb: adjacent here refers to adjacent/melee/touch range.

Generally, the rules for the scythe range appear to be:
 * original target (close combat - same as a sword, axe or hammer)
 * up to 2 additional targets (tested on Practice target at Isle of the Nameless)
 * all additional targets appear to be chosen at random (testing done against mobs of Renegades near Fort Ranik (Location))
 * all additional targets must be adjacent to the original target (tested at Isle of the Nameless)
 * all additional targets must be adjacent to the player (tested at Isle of the Nameless)
 * the additional target can be in awkward locations such as behind the player, even if the original target is infront of them, as long as the adjacency rules are satisfied.

The adjacent image displays five examples of this (taken from the Isle of the Nameless).