The Diary of Pentaxis, Ironman Hobbit Mage

[Wanderlust]

L58. 5-4. A tiny maze level, home to the Balrog of Moria. 6 arrows of venom, 3 of frost and 7 acid bolts kill it.

L59. 5-5. I kill Ar-Pharazon the Golden with 13 acid bolts, 11 seeker arrows of frost and 1 explosion.

L60. 3-3. A cave level. An ethereal drake takes me to CL 39 (649 HP, 313 SP).

L61. 5-4. Not much of interest here.

L62. 6-7. There's a small vault here; 3 time hounds and an AMHD get teleported away, everything else dies. Inside: the mithril gauntlets of Beolair. +3 infravision, fire immunity, resist cold and nexus, regeneration, and a 160-point frost ball activation. The gloves I'm currently wearing give +2 strength, +3 intelligence, resist lightning and free action. It's tempting to make the swap for the fire immunity, but losing that intelligence would drop my SP from 313 down to 234. I keep my current gloves.

L63. 6-7. A small vault, guarded by Ren the Unclean and Saruman of many colors. I teleport Ren out of harm's way for now; It takes 15 arrows of acid and one acid bolt to kill Saruman. He takes me to CL 40 (664 HP, 321 SP) and drops an amulet of trickery: +3 dexterity, +1 stealth, +5 searching, +5 infravision, +2 speed, resists poison and nexus, sustains dexterity. Up to now I've been wearing the jewel Siandi, found on L31. Siandi's most important property is the +4 constitution, but CON is well maxed even without it. Therefore switching to trickery is a straight upgrade. My stealth goes to 'heroic', base speed to +29.

Before I leave this level, Ren dies to 5 acid-brand arrows and 14 acid bolts, dropping nothing of interest except a slightly better robe of resistance that gives me 5 more AC points.

L64. 9-9. A decent-sized vault dominates the center of this level, chock-full of uber-powerful uniques.

In the non-vault part the level, Castamir the Usurper dies to 17 acid bolts, destroying a few potions in the process. He drops the leather shield 'Sulutureg': +1 light, +5 strength, resist all base elements plus light and dark. On the other hand I'm now using a shield of elvenkind that has +1 stealth and resist nexus. Sulutureg's +5 STR just doesn't make much difference but I don't currently resist light and dark. On the other hand, stealth is incredibly tactically important right now and I notice that +1 makes the difference between 'superb' and 'heroic'. I have no idea what that means in terms of the probability of waking things up, but it's clearly a good omen, so I discard the artifact and stick with my trusty shield of elvenkind.

Opening this vault is probably a bad idea. On the other hand, it's the kind divided into separate chambers, so hopefully I can control the situation.

I teleport away a Great Wyrm of Thunder; the Phoenix; the Cat Lord (5 times, she keeps coming back); Glaurung, father of dragons; a great swamp wyrm; Lungorthin, the balrog of white fire; a nightcrawler; Hoarmurath of Dur; Gothmog, high captain of the balrogs; and Khamul, the black easterling.

Ji Indur Dawndeath is killed by 8 mithril arrows of acid and 5 acid bolts. He drops the studded leather armor 'Elfaugros', which offers +2 wisdom, resists dark, sound and chaos, protects from blindness and confusion, and see invisible. I'm still wearing a robe of resistance, so this is a welcome upgrade. The weight of my armor begins to encumber my movement, but the only effect I can see from this is my SP drops slightly from 329 to 326.

Uvatha the Horseman dies after taking 4 arrows of acid and 5 acid bolts, dropping junk only.

Kavlax the Many-Headed gets hit by 8 arrows and 6 magic missiles.

Everything else inside dies, bringing me to CL 41 (683 HP, 329 SP). In the vault is a slightly better amulet of Trickery with an extra stealth point. How does stealth really work? Is it like constitution, where the very last points are the most powerful? Or is it more like speed, where there's no real benefit after a certain point?

[Wanderlust]

L65. 7-4. Ulwarth, son of Ulfang dies. A vault full of plasma hounds takes me to CL 42 (701 HP, 334 SP).

L66. 6-3. I take a couple exploratory shots at Ungoliant the Unlight, but she's just too tough; I teleport her away and move on.

L67. 7-7. Wandering around, Harowen the Black hand dies after taking 34 acid bolts. Fundin Bluecloak has 5000 HP and resists everything; I decide not to bother him.

There's a small vault guarded by Ungoliant the Unlight, Glaurung, and Tselakus the dreadlord. After brief experimental engagements with Tselakus and Glaurung, all 3 uniques get teleported away, as well as Khamul (summoned). 2 multi-hued hounds also get teleported after they destroy a pile of treasures. There's only one thing here I really like: an elven cloak of the Magi with +2 intelligence, +4 stealth, +1 speed which is a straight upgrade to the cloak of the Magi I picked up on L31.

L68. 8-7. I attempt to tangle with the Cat Lord but her summons block my spells and she does lotta damage in melee, so I teleport her away again.

In a tiny vault, Vargo, tyrant of Fire, freezes and shatters after taking 19 cold bolts. Nothing of interest in the vault.

Tiny vault #2. Ungoliant gets teleported away, the Phoenix dies after 2 seeker arrows of frost, 6 seeker arrows of wounding, 27 frost bolts, although he gets me down to 32 HP before I duck around a corner to heal.

I notice there's been little of interest for a while now, but actually a lot of danger. I think it's time to start diving faster.

L69. 7-8. A potion of experience found on the floor takes me to CL 43 (718 HP, 344 SP).

Baphomet the minotaur puts up a tough fight. I hit him with 2 acid bolts and 10 arrows of venom before he whittles my HP down to the point where I'm forced to teleport him away. But I soon find him; he dies after taking 5 more arrows and 4 more acid bolts.

In a small vault, killing Dwar, dog lord of Waw requires 15 acid bolts, 1 fire bolt, 7 arrows of flame, 3 explosions. Ankhorahil the blind needs 4 arrows of flame 9 acid bolts. Hoarmurath of Dir 14 acid bolts, 10 arrows of flame, all administered while teleporting his various undead summons away. In the vault is a +10 ring of speed (base speed now 32) and enough stat potions to bring my DEX up to 18/169, I guess handy now that I'm using so much archery?

L70. 7-7. I arrive near 2 small vaults, with Ulfang the Black in my LOS. 13 acid bolts kill him. Omarax, the eye tyrant gets teleported away. I engage Glaurung, father of dragons, but it looks bad when he starts summoning, so away he goes. Ungoliant the Unlight gets teleported. Neither vault contains anything noteworthy.

L71. 5-5. At this point I must face the fact that exploring these levels is more likely to result in my early death, or at least destruction of valuable end-game consumables, rather than any significant power boost. I explore only briefly, then descend.

L72-76. 5-7. Exploring briefly, descending, pausing only briefly to kill Tselakus, the dreadlord with 16 mixed arrows and 19 acid bolts. I reach CL 44 (733 HP, 352 SP).

[Adam]

You don't use meteor swarm or rift at all just acid bolting the uniques? If you are concerned about their resist (Fundin) or summons blocking your spells (Cat Lord) then maybe you could try these out. I know that acid bolt has higher damage/mana but these spells do 2.5x the damage in one round, both affecting multiple monsters and rift also having a chance for teleporting them.
You can calculate if your mana is enough to kill them, i think you can deliver about 4500-5000 hp damage with meteors if you have full mana (which means you need to replenish mana for the top 10-15 monsters if you want to kill them or also use archery/wands).

[Wanderlust]

You don't use meteor swarm or rift at all just acid bolting the uniques? If you are concerned about their resist (Fundin) or summons blocking your spells (Cat Lord) then maybe you could try these out. I know that acid bolt has higher damage/mana but these spells do 2.5x the damage in one round, both affecting multiple monsters and rift also having a chance for teleporting them.
You can calculate if your mana is enough to kill them, i think you can deliver about 4500-5000 hp damage with meteors if you have full mana (which means you need to replenish mana for the top 10-15 monsters if you want to kill them or also use archery/wands).

Yes, I've started to rely on these spells since the last update, they are excellent!

[Wanderlust]

L77. 7-6. Gorlim, betrayer of Barahir drops an interesting set of randart armor: the metal scale mail 'Morthor', which I take as an upgrade, though it's much heavier than my old armor. Basically this armor trade closes resistance gaps in light, nether and disenchantment, but opens a gap in sound. I lose protection from confusion but gain protection from life force drain. My stealth goes from heroic to legendary. I gain an inventory slot since I no longer need to carry a swap item for nether resistance. And I lose a few SP (from 352 to 337) because of encumbrance. I also drop a bunch of not-so-essential stuff to compensate for the extra 15 lb weight, but it'll probably still cost me a speed point or 2, which I don't think is a problem at this point.

Clearing an undead pit nets CL 45 (750 HP, 345 SP), an assortment of useful potions and scrolls to replace some of the ones that have gotten destroyed in fighting recently, and a new randart shield that provides a new source of confusion protection at cost of 1 stealth point.

L78-82. Little to see here, just passing through.

L83. 6-6. I kill Draugluin, sire of all werewolves with a barrage of archery and magic. Along with the hounds he summons, this takes me to CL 46 (766 HP, 359 SP). Maeglin, traitor of Gondolin dies to a combination of archery and Rift, dropping a useless randart.

L84. 6-7. A large vault dominates the middle of this level, very easy to clean this out with legendary stealth. Everything dangerous or annoying gets teleported away; everything else dies. I pick up a few attack wands, a few scrolls of *destruction*, a potions of experience, healing, restore mana, a few more speed rings that bring my base speed up to +38, hmm that seems almost excessive. What seem like swarms of high-powered uniques keep getting summoned in, but I teleport almost all of them away, especially ones that can destroy consumables, as they are too tough to kill in the confines of the vault. But I do kill a few: Thuringwethil with a combo of rift, meteor storm, and a little archery. Atlas the titan with meteor storm. Feagwath takes me to CL 47 (782 HP, 367 SP).

L85. 5-5. A time hound breathes on me, lowering all my statistics! Oh well, only 600,000 XP to go before the next level.

Khamul the black easterling dies to a barrage of arrows and one Rift.

L86. 7-9. There's a wonderful little vault here with individual compartments so I can let the monsters out one at a time. I kill Fundin Bluecloak and Pazuzu, lord of air. I put on the band of Einendor (dropping a speed ring), which has a whole spectrum of stat bonuses and resistances, capped by fire immunity.

L87. 6-6. Kronos and Polyphemus are both waiting in a small treasure room near my entry point. Kronos has frost breath so I avoid engagement, but Polyphemus dies quickly. A red dragon pit brings me to CL 48 (799 HP, 375 SP).

L88. 6-7. Waldern, king of Water is killed easily but destroys a few healing potions.

A spiral vault. It's very easy to walk through, clearing entire corridors with a single Rift spell.

Osse, Herald of Ulmo nearly kills me with a nether bolt that takes me down to 70 HP. Since I resist nether, I was not expecting this and still don't quite understand how it happened. Anyway I managed to teleport him away, heal, then kill him when he came back.

I leave the Tarrasque alone because of its potion-destroying frost breath, but kill the Mouth of Sauron with meteor swarms, rift, and archery.

[Adam]

Damage reduction is random between certain limits in case of high resists. As i remember in worst case only 1/7 of the damage is resisted (at least in 4.1.3, i remember seeing a proposal of this being changed on the feature branch).
Edit: if you don't want to switch from the iFire band you can drop the extra books (15 lbs less to carry).
Your ring in the backpack also looks nice... wielding that instead of the RoS would still leave you at base 20 (30 if hasted), and providing 3 immunities... iCold would help you to preserve potions. Also your helmet slot could be used for anything else if you find something.

[Wanderlust]

Your ring in the backpack also looks nice... wielding that instead of the RoS would still leave you at base 20 (30 if hasted), and providing 3 immunities... iCold would help you to preserve potions. Also your helmet slot could be used for anything else if you find something.

That is very tempting. How much speed is actually enough?

[Adam]

That is very tempting. How much speed is actually enough?

30 speed is enough against anything. Morgoth has that speed and you don't want to give him a chance to double move you (so you should not let haste self wear off if you have that setup).
Above 30 each point of speed gives you less benefit but I can't give you the exact formula.
You also want to have max int but as I see you could even take off the helmet and be at 18/***.

[Pete Mack]

Stealth maxes at legendary--and no monsters will ever wake up. Stealth increases by a multiple of cube root of 3 with each point up until then. With legendary stealth, you can walk safely between a sleeping Huan and Tarrasque.

[MattB]

Stealth maxes at legendary--and no monsters will ever wake up.

Gosh, never knew that. Thanks.

[Wanderlust]

30 speed is enough against anything. Morgoth has that speed and you don't want to give him a chance to double move you (so you should not let haste self wear off if you have that setup).
Above 30 each point of speed gives you less benefit but I can't give you the exact formula.
You also want to have max int but as I see you could even take off the helmet and be at 18/***.

Great, thank you. These hints allowed me to shuffle up my equipment very nicely, with +20 base speed, 3 immunities, and 1 more inventory slot.

[Wanderlust]

L89-91. Little of interest here, I pass through quickly.

L92. 6-6. In a tiny vault I find the hard leather cap of Gulion, which is unremarkable except the fact it grants cold immunity, which enables me to engage Huan, wolfhound of the Valar without risking potions. However, it turns out it only works when you actually wear it. I learn this when he gets close to me and destroys 2 restore mana, 1 healing, 1 life and 2 CCW all in a single round.

An undead pit brings me up to CL 49 (817 HP, 383 SP).

L93. 7-7. In the hallways, I kill The Lernean Hydra; Gothmog, high captain of the balrogs; and Omarax the eye tyrant. Amidst all the fuss, I reach CL 50 (831 HP, 391 SP).

I seriously consider leaving the level because it's gotten very dangerous with massive numbers of awakened and summoned monsters wandering around. There's still a small vault unexplored though, so I clear a path there with a lot of teleport other and inside I discover my last spell book, Kelek's Grimoire.

L94. 7-7. Having CL 50 and mass banish completely changes my attitude, in general I've transcended the need to kill things. And when I do want to kill things, it's a lot easier with Mana Storm. Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst and Qlzqqlzuup both die.

L95-98. It's an eerie feeling walking through the dungeons in absolute silence. Nothing wakes up. There's no need to kill anything. As I pass by, I pause only to kill a few uniques: The witch-king of Angmar. Glaurung, father of dragons. Ancalagon the black. Lungorthin, the balrog of white fire.

L99. 4-3. Wandering around looking for Sauron, I meet and kill the Tarrasque, Cantoras the skeletal lord, and Radagast the Brown.

When I finally find him, Sauron is super-easy to kill. Mana storms and a bunch o' banishing.

L100. 7-?. Morgoth doesn't really have a chance. No need for destruction, anti-summoning corridors, or really tactics of any kind. I just hit him with mana storms, banish or teleport away whatever he summons, heal or teleport him temporarily away when I need some breathing room. He dies. My quest is complete.

[Grotug]

It is my humble belief the game should start out easy, become progressively harder, and by the time you are on DL90 and deeper and CL50 it should be dangerous and ... not easy. But I have been playing the new Angband a little bit, and it's definitely a lot harder. (I die much easier in new angband than the latest official release. I have yet to even make it to the midgame).

[Adam]

Congrats

Side node: Since you were wearing the Ring of Armen you did have iCold. I would assume Huan destroyed your potions with a shards breath.

I agree with Grotug, but I think in all fantasy games mages become more and more powerful as they progress. In Angband 0% fail banish and TO makes the late game less interesting. Maybe magic resistant/immune monsters or anti-magic locations (vaults/special rooms) would make that change.

[MattB]

Gratz on your win, Wanderlust! And nice write-up too.