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[Leafsnail]

Since when?

I think since at least 0.10?  Almost all of the "hard" skill breakpoints have now been removed (min delay is more of a soft breakpoint after which skill training becomes significantly less useful, rather than a hard breakpoint where you suddenly get much better).

I guess breakpoints sortof exist for dodging and armour because you can't have half an EV/AC.  Those won't necessarily fall at the whole level marks though.

[Retropunch]

Since when?
Either way, it's usually one area you are lacking in (offense, defense) that you want to fix as fast as possible.

Yeah, it uses all the increments now. It's a lot less newbie-friendly (or anyone friendly really) but it does mean that xp isn't 'wasted' as much (going past 15 but not reaching 16).

If you're struggling with skills/skill management the auto system actually does a really good job for managing the few skills you need for berzerkers or fighters. Just turn off everything that isn't armor,fighting,axes (or whatever your 3-4 main skills are) and it'll divide it pretty well between the three. You might need to sometimes focus on one skill for a bit, but it does work well and cuts out skill juggling well.

Remember that you NEED some ranged either through wands or weapons. Some Javelins/tomahawks and a little investment in throwing will be fine, but if you don't you'll have a hard time with things like orb spiders, summoners and others.

[Leafsnail]

I don't see how it's not newbie friendly.  As you say, it means that the auto-skill system actually does a reasonable job (if you had breakpoints at each level then you'd want to manually train one skill at a time all the time).

[Mindmaker]

I disagree with NEEDING some range support.
It used to be a lot more relevant in earlier versions, but these days you can do without, especially on a berserker.
Some wands can help you with early jellies, curare can help with nasty uniques, poisondarts/needles with earlygame hard hitters like Ogres/Snails/Large Beetles, but you can use those well enough while unskilled.
There aren't this many problems that berserk doesn't solve on the mightiest of all OTab classes.

[Rex_Nex]

Getting your 250 HP char demolished by a rat.

#justogrethings

[miauw62]

I actually have some wands, slow, disintegration and lightning.

Either way, thanks for the help on the skill screen, it was sort of confusing since it didn't have any indication of what you could do there.

[tompliss]

Your wands are nice :
Slow and disintegration can be nullified by the enemy's magic resistance. if you right-clic on it, or use "x" -> move the selector to the nemy, "v", you can see a description of it. It well tell you if it is "somewhat resistance to enchantment" (IIRC), of things like that.
Disintegration deals great damage and is only resisted by HPs and magic resistance. Lightning, on the other hand, is a very good multi-target wand, damaging everyone (that doesn't evade the bolt) in a line, and can bounce on walls, travelling through 8 squares. It can be very useful, for example, if there are enemies that can cast spells at you from behind other troops (Orc priests, for example).

[Rex_Nex]

I like to only keep one of each of the greater frost and fire wands, a disintegration, a teleport, and any haste/healing I've been lucky enough to find. The other wands (like slow, poly, confusion) have their uses (particularly earlier on), but most of the time they are a waste by the time I manage to pick them up. I wish I could set it so autopickup would ignore the weaker wands once I've hit a certain level or found one of the greater versions.

[tompliss]

You can use the \ screen to set to auto-pickup items, such as specific wands and scrolls, ranged weapons ammos, etc...

As far as "lower" wands (slow, poly, confusion,... and magic dart, low damage fire & frost) go, it's pretty much the same for me. As you go deeper, enemies' magic resist will increase, so, if you don't spend XP in your evocation skill, those wands will be weaker, getting lower chances of affecting them.

[Mindmaker]

Your wands are nice :
Slow and disintegration can be nullified by the enemy's magic resistance. if you right-clic on it, or use "x" -> move the selector to the nemy, "v", you can see a description of it. It well tell you if it is "somewhat resistance to enchantment" (IIRC), of things like that.
Disintegration deals great damage and is only resisted by HPs and magic resistance. Lightning, on the other hand, is a very good multi-target wand, damaging everyone (that doesn't evade the bolt) in a line, and can bounce on walls, travelling through 8 squares. It can be very useful, for example, if there are enemies that can cast spells at you from behind other troops (Orc priests, for example).

I wouldn't use disintegration for combat anyway.
It's much more useful for removing most statues (some are immune) and certain dungeon features.

[Retropunch]

I normally drop the early enchantment ones (slow, paralyze, confuse, flame and frost) pretty early on. They're mostly useless after that unless you put loaaads into evo (I've never put enough to be able to reliably confuse stuff mid-late).
Bolt wands will always be useful, and I use disintegrate a lot against single enemies. Also remember that gargoyles, golems and other rock like things are doubly effected by disintegrate!

[miauw62]

Thanks for the tips.

BTW, does anyone know if there's an Android build available for the newest version?

[Retropunch]

I don't know - I always invest a small amount into Evo (say, between 4-8 on a regular three rune character), and wands of confusion, enslavement and paralysis are still helpful for when you run into, say, a hydra at the wrong moment. Still not useful lategame, but I think I'd keep them until I'd at least got my first rune.

Had my life saved once when I was playing a Naga in Snake with an anaconda sticking to me like glue, whittling down my already-low HP while I had no way to really damage it or escape. Scroll of vulnerability -> wand of enslavement -> 'You go that way, I'm going this way'. Same thing can work well in Orc; you can get a temporary orc knight or even warlord pet, if you're lucky, to hack his way through his former buddies.

Agreed, coupled with a scroll of vulnerability (which lowers everything in sight's magic resistant for those that didn't know) these wands can be pretty good, although I usually find I want to do something else than risk it as a last ditch attempt. Evo is now a lot more useful due to evokable items lying around (fan of gales, spider bag etc.), so it's definitely worth it for fighters/non-magic users.

[Robsoie]

Usually, everytime i play a melee character i invest in Evocation, it helps a lot in many situations.

[Damiac]

Evocation is a very good investment for a berserker.  You get your ranged attacks, summons, utility spells, all in one skill.  Of course, you have to actually find the items to evoke, but that's not hard.

For example, the lamp of fire/fan of gales/water elemental thingy only get better with more evocation skill, and they recharge over time(actually over XP gained, you can't just wait it out)
Having your wands of fire/ice etc do more damage is always nice.
If you're lucky, you may find some rods too(as a Trog follower, if you get an acquirement scroll and ask for a staff, you'll get a rod).  They're basically rechargable wands, although they have different effects.


As far as using the exec axe goes, it depends on a few factors.
First off, what is the executions axe's brand, and enchantment?  If it's a -5-5 executioners axe of venom, or something equally crappy, just forget about it.  If it's at all non-crap, you might want to use it.
Do you already have a decent axe? If so, you may want to stick with it for a while, until your axe skill is higher.
What is your axe skill right now?  You may want to focus on it more, to get the exec axe up and running faster.  Making things dead faster is a good form of defense.
I'd say, if you don't already have a broad axe or battleaxe, just switch to the exec axe right now, and focus all your skill gains on axes.  Once it's taking 1.2 turns or less per swing, you can go back to training your dodging, fighting, armor, etc, while still training some axes.  You're going to need 26 axe skill for min delay, but don't feel that you have to rush to that goal.  You definitely are going to want some fighting, dodging, and armor skill, at the very least.