Weapon choice

[starstealer]

Bear with me as I'm doing this from memory. I currently have a level ~29 high elf ranger and I've got a couple of choices for weapons and I'm honestly not sure which to pick.

Basically, it comes down to deciding between The Lance of Eorlingas or Firestar.

With both weapons, I would have 3 attacks and of course, the lance does a good bit more damage than firestar on many opponents. I only have a +3 to speed due to Thalkettoth, so the lance would push me up to +5 there.

The main reasons I've kept using Firestar are for the Immunity to fire and activation for fireball (not great, but useful nonetheless). Really, I think it comes down to the immunity versus the amount of damage. Right now, I'm not facing a lot of big ticket breathers of fire (I think I'm only around DL 40 or so), which is what makes me think I could probably go for the bigger damage for now and switch it up later.

The opposite of this though, is that I'm really using my bow most of the time, so the amount of damage I'm dealing in melee is relatively low in comparison anyway. In that respect, it comes down to the speed versus the immunity, but of course the speed boost is tiny. But is it worth it?

My gear is pretty bare bones (there's a delicious set of boots of speed (+10) in my BM, but they are well out of my price range...) other than my choice of weapons.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Derakon]

Carry Firestar as a swap, and wield it when you face fire monsters. Easy-peasy.

[starstealer]

Heh - sometimes the best solutions are the easiest... I cringe at carrying 51 pounds for 2 weapons I don't use often, but I suppose it is probably the best option...

[Estie]

Firestar. Youre using bow for anything tough, it doesnt matter what you use to melee orcs. Firestar means you can carry 1 of each mage books instead of multiples (they cant get burned) and your scrolls are safe. Overall, thats at least as good for your speed as +2 from a heavy lance.

I would use this setup, go down to level 97 or so and gear up till I´d feel ready for the tougher uniques, then consider Eorlingas (if nothing better has turned up by then).

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Yeah, Estie's got a point. Firestar's more than adequate for nuisances. Forget who it was, but someone did a completely weaponless mage. His choice for shooter was Cubragol...for its +10 speed. He never did carry ammo. Something of the same mindset here. Your major offense is your bow, so the issue is more, what secondary aspects do you want to emphasize? Fire immunity is definitely *sweet* for this part...save those scrolls of ID, spellbooks, etc. etc. that can get burned up.

Also: while speed's not easy to find early, it's not all that rare. Fire immunity is *quite* rare. And being a bit slow, can be remedied or alleviated...but even double resist doesn't provide complete inventory protection.

[PowerDiver]

but even double resist doesn't provide complete inventory protection.

Isn't that "doesn't provide any inventory protection at all"?

[Derakon]

I submitted a patch to make inventory damage calculations happen after resistances instead of before, so now if your resistances take you beneath the damage breakpoints, then your inventory will take less damage.

In practice, most inventory damage is either from attacks that are always below the 2% breakpoint (e.g. weak fire breaths, melee attacks) or always above the 3% breakpoint (e.g. big fire breaths), so the effect is likely not noticeable.

[d_m]

I submitted a patch to make inventory damage calculations happen after resistances instead of before, so now if your resistances take you beneath the damage breakpoints, then your inventory will take less damage.

I'm not sure if I applied your patch, used it as an idea, or did something independently, but I definitely changed the way equipment damage is done to take resistance into account.

[starstealer]

Picked up a longbow of power (+15,+15) last night that solidifies my ranged power (previous to it was a regular long bow (+6,+7).

I even had an issue where, while wielding the lance, I was hit by a hell hound's breath and it burned my last WoR scroll... luckily, I did find another in short order on the way back to town...

Despite my lack of speed boosts, I've been doing remarkably well at not putting myself in terribly dangerous situations. Usually by now I've perished because I assumed I could take on a *some nasty beasty...* but I've been much better about running away (?TL or similar).

Still haven't won this infernal game, so hopefully this one will be the ticket...