One more to go...

[AndyS]

I feel like I worried way too much about Sauron. I spent hours scraping 98 to no avail hoping for a better weapon or ring and then maybe 3 minutes on 99.

I left all my wands (all i had was TO anyway) and staffs (staves?) at home. I used Beaked axe of Hurin because its the only acid weapon I have. I have damage ring +14 and speed +13 and they were a better combo than anything I could figure out with an acid ring.

I zapped rod of speed then read *destruction* and got in a corner. He came along quickly. I had 4 rods of TO, I would have been toast without those. I needed 3 for deadly uniques but then he put a great wyrm of ice in my only open square and I was quite ok with letting him stay there. I used I think 4 *healing* and 1 life. The life was probably unnecessary but I was so close to beating him I was ok with not fooling around.

I didnt need to use any banishment because I guess he doesn't (or didnt) summon mobs like Morgoth does (from what Ive read here). Didn't need a rune either but maybe I better figure those out now before the last dive. I know Morgoth will be much harder and I probably got lucky with Sauron's choice of attacks. I was vulnerable to stun, shards, and nether.

The only weapon I have against evil is Fundin Bluecloak's Mace (I think thats what its called, its at my home and I want to roam around 99 before going back). The damage looks ok (I guess) but I hoped id have some combination of rings and weapon that would deal more evil damage by now. And I havent gotten a single slay evil arrow the whole game.

It's nice to be this far, will still have been a fun game if I die. I dont remember it was so long ago but I doubt I ever got past level 50 when I used to play. But I dont want to spend more hours hoping for a better weapon that may never come. So I think I will scrape what I can on 99 while I still have a TO charge left or the others recharge; then find a down staircase, zap home and grab what I think Ill need, then go back to 100. If that doesnt work I can always start over

[Grotug]

I suppose their is two schools of thought. As soon as you are powerful enough fight Morgoth because it's only a matter of time before bad luck will kill you the longer you spend looking for better loot. On the other hand, you may yet find some better gear which will make the final fight much easier. I think if I was in your position I'd want to find a better endgame weapon, though.

[AndyS]

I suppose their is two schools of thought. As soon as you are powerful enough fight Morgoth because it's only a matter of time before bad luck will kill you the longer you spend looking for better loot. On the other hand, you may yet find some better gear which will make the final fight much easier. I think if I was in your position I'd want to find a better endgame weapon, though.

Kinda funny when you go back to town after fleeing from Morgoth and you see the purple unique text... Farmer Maggot 1S 11 E lol. Guess Ill have to fight one of them sooner or later...

[PopTart]

AndyS and others participating in this thread and its predecessor on the vanilla forum, I’ve been greatly enjoying and benefitting from the exchange. After years of playing, I’ve recently gotten “decent” at Angband, i.e. can fairly reliably get DL60-80, so this thread came at a perfect time for me, answered questions that are starting to get brutally relevant for me. Not only details explaining how the game works (can we get a general wiki together??) but also what dilemmas will arise and how to consider them.

I can’t believe how much it helps to know about how resistances work! And how much breath attacks determine the difficulty of a monster.