New memorable randarts

[Estie]

Um. A 9d8 MoD +2 attacks with slay evil (among other slays) --with heal500 activation-- suggests that randarts are less than perfect. Yeah it's a great weapon. But a priest doing 1100 damage vs. evil really doesn't have much challenge.

Aha!

Nope, fighting Morgoth isnt a challenge with that weapon. Nor is it a challenge with Deathwreaker or a good ego weapon. What amounts to a challenge depends on the individual playing, but that aside, after defeating Morgoth a couple dozen times with standarts, it takes some restrictions to keep killing him challenging.

The challenge, if you want to call it that, lies in getting there. Everyone starts out level 1 with a dagger and a couple potions. Sometimes I find great items - then I proudly post my findings - but more often not, and then I dont make a post. But to keep starting out, I need the knowledge that there is something out there to be found. Standarts which I know (or at least knew - they have changed a bit) inside out and all of which I have found multiple times is not that.

That doesnt mean Morgoth cant be kept challenging, in principle. However, if "no artifacts" games with ego items only are no challenge, and everything random must be better than ego items to be equipped, it is impossible to make the endgame a challenge.

[Sky]

Um. A 9d8 MoD +2 attacks with slay evil

but then again, something you run into - like i did - a randart set without a single rNether, NO ESP, and barely average DPS.

it's very rare to find something like that in a randart set. i know, because i read every randart set i ever generated, and i have *yet* to find something like that.

but then again i found a ring of speed +20 and i have now found The One Ring a whopping 3 times.

[PowerWyrm]

p) the Katana 'Ranor' (3d5) (+11,+18) [+37]
     Dropped by a great storm wyrm at 4750 feet (level 95).

     Cannot be harmed by acid.

     Combat info:
     4.0 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 199.2.

The katana of Craptacular...

[Estie]

p) the Katana 'Ranor' (3d5) (+11,+18) [+37]
     Dropped by a great storm wyrm at 4750 feet (level 95).

     Cannot be harmed by acid.

     Combat info:
     4.0 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 199.2.

The katana of Craptacular...

Lindybeige wouldnt be surprised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWzH_1eZsc

[Sky]

Lindybeige wouldnt be surprised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWzH_1eZsc

that guy is really good at making arguments when there is nobody to disagree with him.
notice that i didn't call him an idiot, a retard, a moron, a handicapped child, or any other swear word, because i am a true gentleman and i respect his right to be wrong.

[Thraalbee]

I was very low on CON and had mediocre speed when I found this one, a clear winner for the end game kit.
Found in a major vault at L81

the Multi-Hued Dragon Scale Mail 'Aranas' (-2) [45,+31] <+5, +9>
----------------------------------------------------------------
+5 constitution. +9 speed.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, poison.
... breath ...
Min Level 73, Max Level 127, Generation chance 8, Power 489, 26.0 lbs
Random dragon armor of power 489.

[Sky]

as requested:
Evaluating artifact attempt ********
Artifact index is 99
the Rapier 'Margol' (+9,+20) [+17] <+3, +6, +2>
Slay and brands: firex2 lightningx2 acidx3 undeadx5 dragonsx5 demonsx5 giantsx3 trollsx3 orcsx3 animalsx2 evil creaturesx2
best power is : 200
to damage power is 50, power is 50
dice power is 8, power is 58
extra blows multiplier is 232, power is 290
extra blows divisor is -232, power is 58
slay power is 8, power is 66
slay slay bonus is 8, power is 74
brand brand bonus is 5, power is 79
slay brand bonus is 4, power is 83
kill kill bonus is 8, power is 91
all kills bonus is 20, power is 111
to hit power is 13, power is 124
to armor power is 17, power is 141
15 for intelligence, power is 156
30 for wisdom, power is 186
24 for constitution, power is 210
total modifier bonus is 9, power is 219
7 for sustain dexterity, power is 226
6 for protection from fear, power is 232
6 for see invisible, power is 238
8 for free action, power is 246
1 for blessed melee, power is 247
multiple misc ability bonus is 4, power is 251
3 for ignore acid, power is 254
1 for ignore electricity, power is 255
3 for ignore fire, power is 258
1 for ignore cold, power is 259
5 for acid resistance, power is 264
6 for electricity resistance, power is 270
6 for fire resistance, power is 276
6 for cold resistance, power is 282
28 for poison resistance, power is 310
6 for light resistance, power is 316
multiple base resists bonus is 16, power is 332
all base resists bonus is 10, power is 342
multiple high resists bonus is 8, power is 350
effect power is 7, power is 357
FINAL POWER IS 357
New depths are min 56, max 127
Power-based alloc_prob is 15
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ARTIFACT COMPLETED
Number of tries for artifact 99 was: 37

[Grotug]

Oh man, I wondered once if you could get dam on armor. My understanding it wasn't possible. How about damage, speed, telepathy, pBlind, pConf, DexSustain, *CON* and a whole bunch of resistances? Yes please! And let's give it heal (500) activation while we're at it.

Blue Dragon Scale Mail of Rodos (+1, +7) [12, +29] <+6> <+5> <+1>
resists: fire, acid, elec, cold, light, dark, chaos. pBlind, pConf, Telepathy, FrAct and sustains DEX, which means I can juggle around my gear for even more damage by putting a shield of speed in place of Preservation and donning "Weaponmastery in place of my current amulet of pConf. Ohhhh yeahhhhhhh.. Will have to post a char dump once I get all the gear ready for Sauron.

+6 CON
+5 Speed
+1 Light

the (+1, +7) makes up for all my gloves of thievery lately (+7, +1)

Been finding great stuff in chests in last several games; and this one was on DL96, so I was pretty excited to open it. Though I have all those resistances already covered and my current +5 speed armor has better AC, but this one is lightweight, so +1 effective speed right there and the Heal is good, too.

I'm doing a cool 1100 to Undead, Demons, Dragons and 625 to evil with a swap, but my Undead/Demon/Dragon is only 25 shy of that at 600 to evil, and its dam is at 8! I've boosted it form 5, but it'd be nice to get it to 12. And I haven't even finished optimizing my equipment for damage. All resists, except pStun and Shards. All this with a base speed of 33. Could theoretically swap out a ring of speed <+14> for a ring of dam (+12) but probably not worth it.

EDIT: I died fighting Morgoth. Both Sauron and Morgy rapidly summoning all hell and quickly I I was overrun. Against Sauron I ended up phasing around an oval room so had to teleport away. It didn't seem to make sense to destruct (not that I could get Sauron or Morgy in LOS for TO) as they both summoned so many so quickly it just felt like it'd happen again. I thought I was safe from LOS against morgoth and was trying to maximize my heals so I healed up to 620 with a !CCW but Vecna mana stormed me after Morgy bashed my head in a few rounds. Last two battles against both bosses have been quite a bit harder than other games in the past. Just when I was beginning to think I was getting the hang of fighting Morgoth. It's sort of frustrating as I had 1199 max HP, and yet he was crushing me down to 600 in like three rounds, while summoning the worst of Angband. The friendliest foe he summoned was a Vampire Lord. I did forget to deconstruct the start area, not that I ever do that. I usually just let M do the deconstructing. Oh well, it's boring if I win all the time. I ended up wearing two rings of damage in the end. Was doing 769 vs evil before multiple buffs bringing me up to 782. Pretty sure it's the most damage I've done to M but his summons sure were giving me hell. Before I hit the stairs I hastened myself with 3 staves of speed (15 charges) when they emptied I recharged them 9 times (only one blew up). So I hasted myself like 30+ times before I hit the stairs to fight him. I was at 32 speed the whole fight.

[Sky]

did you somehow manage to fight sauron AND morgoth at the same time ??

waait WHAT ???? did i read that right, does haste from staves STACK ??

[Estie]

did you somehow manage to fight sauron AND morgoth at the same time ??

waait WHAT ???? did i read that right, does haste from staves STACK ??

At the same time would be impossible of course.

There was discussion about letting haste duration stack, but if I am not mistaken it wasnt implemented. He simply used all hastes to get his staff empty.

[PowerWyrm]

You just stack the duration, although it's pretty much pointless as you only get 5 extra turns each time you stack haste. But yes, since Morgoth drains charges, you'd better empty a staff of speed and drop it before the fight than letting him heal from the remaining charges.

Concerning Morgoth + Sauron, I bet it was the "mouth" of Sauron, not the actual guy.

[Sky]

well thats useful to know. i generally do not carry staves of speed (but rather speed potions if i cannot cast speed) because of how much staves weight, because potions are more abundant, and because i rarely have an extra empty slot for them. but now that i know i can stack the speed effect, i'll drain them when i find them. 8 charges should be 20+ 1d20 + (5x7=35) turns, at base +20 that's a fair bit of exploration.

[Derakon]

Speed potions aren't abundant for many players, and since they're immune to charges drain, players that can't cast Haste Self will tend to hoard them for the final fights, and rely on rechargeable staves of speed as much as possible otherwise.

[Grotug]

Lately been finding lots of staves of speed in my games so I tend to take advantage of what the dungeon gives me. While it is a strain on precious equipment slots, it allows me to save speed potions, which in my general experience are rare enough that it's hard to stockpile a lot for the final fight.

I spoke of my fights with Sauron and Morgoth interchangeably because they were similar fights, but of course I fought them separately. I didn't fight MoS with Morgoth.

My experience has been a few times that Sauron and even M are more dangerous Uniques as compare to the top Uniques, but not in a whole nother category by themselves, but that's how it was in that last game. For comparison, I had started whacking away on a small s that I thought was an unusually tough skeleton ettin or something, when I realized it was Catoras I just kept going. He died without a fuss and I didn't even need to heal; which was the case with lots of tough uniques: I marginalized them, so going into the final two fights I thought I was gonna walk over the two final bosses, but instead got a whole lot of trouble from them right off the bat that was really quite a shock. That's a good thing, though. Nothing should ever be certain when fighting those two.

But, yeah, M really surprised me. At 1199HP I was really expecting to get in a lot of rounds before I'd need to heal or ?phase, but I'd hardly get in two or three, sometimes only one. It was nuts. Grond was doing work.

[Sky]

this ...

the Trident of Lienni (8d10) (+6,+12)
-------------------------------------
Slays animals.
Provides resistance to shards.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
Slows your metabolism.


Min Level 17, Max Level 109, Generation chance 5, Power 183, 7.0 lbs
Random polearm of power 183.

and NO off-weapon brands or slays in the entire set.