Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mindmaker]

Oh god, my level 11 OgBe, got banished by Sonja, but I somehow managed to survive.
Having draconian knights chasing you, when you reach a portal with 20 HP, just to spawn inside a horde of 10 orcs, provides a nice adrenaline rush.

[DJ]

OK, Rupert definitely has his own special rules. I had Swiftness, Haste and Spider Form on, and I was barely faster than him even though he *didn't* berserk. Luckily for me he opted for spamming Confusion, which only got through once, so I managed to kill him with Sticky Flame and Mystic Blast.

I think this is the first time I killed him (he killed like 10% of all my characters), too, and because he didn't berserk rather than because of something I did. So yeah, I'd say he badly needs a nerf.

[Mindmaker]

Trog really hates me. Getting craploads of darts and needles.
Only randart that far was a sling...
I desperately need a good artifact GSC.

Had another near death moment.
When fleeing up the stairs with low hp, a cyclops shows up in my LOS.
Fortunately he was just passing by.

Anyway, should I ditch darts and needles for the big rocks?

[nenjin]

Levels 6-15 is where my melee characters feel like they're on top of the world. Enough HP to avoid unlucky deaths, enough damage output to reliably down enemies in only a few hits, and you generally don't face too many ranged attackers or spell casters.

Poison
Orc Mines
Weapon Dependent Survival

Those are my real issues with melee in 6 - 15. Orc mines can just get bad, bad bad with all the Knights, Sorcerers at the bottom, and some unlucky unique draws. And once you start hitting packs of poison monsters, your survival rate drops quite a bit.

But weapon, honestly, is what makes or breaks you. (And the skill that goes with it.) Not being able to kill fleeing monsters easily also adds to the frustration.

Finding the right weapon, and enough back up for it (I just got a +0/+5 Ring of Slaying, and life just got about...5x easier) by the time you need it is when the melee game is rough.

[Mindmaker]

Awesome. Killed by a slime creature while slowed.
This might have been prevented if I actually knew what the hell half of my stuff was doing.
Way to few ID scrolls this game.

[DJ]

Killed by a pack of hydras in Swamp 5. Damn things move FAST in water, and I totally forgot my wand of haste

But yeah, I much prefer SeTr because I don't need weapons. Ice Form is all kinds of awesome, hell, I don't even use Blade Hands much when I got it. Makes a lot of places easy mode, such as a mini-vault I found in Lair which was all scorpions, redbacks, wolf spiders and centipedes.

[BishopX]

Levels 6-15 is where my melee characters feel like they're on top of the world. Enough HP to avoid unlucky deaths, enough damage output to reliably down enemies in only a few hits, and you generally don't face too many ranged attackers or spell casters.

Poison
Orc Mines
Weapon Dependent Survival

Those are my real issues with melee in 6 - 15. Orc mines can just get bad, bad bad with all the Knights, Sorcerers at the bottom, and some unlucky unique draws. And once you start hitting packs of poison monsters, your survival rate drops quite a bit.

But weapon, honestly, is what makes or breaks you. (And the skill that goes with it.) Not being able to kill fleeing monsters easily also adds to the frustration.

Finding the right weapon, and enough back up for it (I just got a +0/+5 Ring of Slaying, and life just got about...5x easier) by the time you need it is when the melee game is rough.

I tend to play melee character who worship trog, okawaru or mahkleb... the first two pretty much guarantee a good weapon, and mahkleb lets you get by without one

I don't find the mines to be too bad. My typical branch order is a)hive when I get poison resistance b)lair up till lair 5 or so c) mines d)finish lair. I find that the mines typically arn't too bad, as long as you stair dance.

[Robsoie]

It's recommended to get into Lair before Orc Mines, if you manage to clear Lair, Orc Mines become easier (as you'll have more level, health and better equipment from what you will have gathered in Lair).

Diving in Orc Mines before clearing Lair can be very dangerous (especially depending on what kind of last floor you'll get and which uniques are waiting there), but sometime you can be lucky and in the whole Orc Mines there's not much strong opposition (though weaker opposition = much less experiences earned too).

[nenjin]

I always get at least to the stash spot before I go to mines. Having to stair dance, imo, means an area is just flatout dangerous. And the lower levels of mines are like that. (Amazing armor and weapon availability withstanding.)

Plus, the "backside" of Mines that you sometimes can only access with one way ceiling hatches usually have lots of bad news on the other side.

I'm enjoying my melee run now though. Evolved into this +6 dex, -3 str, stealth, magic resistant, attuned to the shadows demon with claws. Add in some more evasion, mR and damage from items, and a +6/+12 artifact mace with rElec, rPoison, rN+, slay orc, and I've been able to ditch my armor entirely for 90% of fights. I can finally start working on my magic, which turns out to be surprisingly good and ready to level once I ditched main armor.

Too bad I didn't find this mace until long after mines, my life would have been a lot easier, pretty much all the way up until now.

Still, it's fun basically having 95% stealth guarantee with like a stealth skill of 5. My evasion is up to almost 30, as is my shield from all the heavy tanking times. I'm like this moving black shadow that generates inky darkness, has a somewhat insubstantial form, makes no sound, dodges like a ninja and pops out of darkness to clobber you with a mace.

Once I throw on my splint mail, I'm still rated as somewhat stealthy. With the darkness on top I basically get first choice in almost any encounter.

I think Daemonspawn have kind of spoiled me, they're so much more fun as a species to level than others.

[lemon10]

OK, Rupert definitely has his own special rules. I had Swiftness, Haste and Spider Form on, and I was barely faster than him even though he *didn't* berserk. Luckily for me he opted for spamming Confusion, which only got through once, so I managed to kill him with Sticky Flame and Mystic Blast.

I think this is the first time I killed him (he killed like 10% of all my characters), too, and because he didn't berserk rather than because of something I did. So yeah, I'd say he badly needs a nerf.

Few things, first, he moves at a speed of ten when not berserk, with swiftness+haste, you move at a equivalent of 18, and attack/cast spells at a equivalent of 15. Its possible he threw a few paralyses in there and screwed with you.
Second, apparently spider form gives you swiftness (according to the knowledge bot), which means that their MS bonuses won't stack.
And while Rupert does cheat:

An evil crusader. Will "look more energetic" 2 turns after his berserk wears off (and promptly zerk again)

He can basically have berserk up forever, but he still moves at a speed of 10/20 (while berserk)

[G-Flex]

Once I throw on my splint mail, I'm still rated as somewhat stealthy. With the darkness on top I basically get first choice in almost any encounter.

I don't think "somewhat" appears as an adverb for that, but I don't really think you have high stealth at all with that armor on. Generally speaking, wearing fairly heavy armor with stealth is a bad idea.

[Soadreqm]

I've been playing a spriggan transmuter lately, and my diligent quaffing of every single mutation potion in the dungeon has given me a set of antennae 1, claws 1, talons 1, berserk 1, fire resistance 3, regeneration 1, spit poison 1, AC +4, Str +1, Dex -2. The berserkitis was a bit of a bother for a while, but not really crippling. I found sufficient food in the dungeon, and later Ashenzari's clarity kicked in, rendering me immune to involuntary berserking. I just checked out the topmost level of Vaults, and after getting nearly killed by cyclopes, decided to go check out something else instead. Probably going to delve deeper into Lair. I've been neglecting it.

Does anyone have any insight into effectively using Ashenzari's knowledge transfer power? I don't think I've ever used it.

[G-Flex]

It's useful for training skills that are otherwise hard to train. For instance, training Fighting on a spellcasting.

Also, for getting rid of skills you no longer use.

[nenjin]

Is there any practical application for Fulsome Distillation, or is it purely for skill raises?

[Leafsnail]

Is there any practical application for Fulsome Distillation, or is it purely for skill raises?

Evaporate lets you turn negative potions into clouds.  With that one level 2 spell, you can basically cast Mephitic Cloud, Poison Cloud and several other spells if you have the right potions.  Distillation gets you the right potions.