Help with character

**Derakon** · March 7, 2019, 21:38

You have pretty good gear, all things considered. Dor-Lomin, Thorin/Gil-Galad, Eol, etc. are all quite strong. What you're missing is damage, speed, and levels. Sting is an OK weapon but not really what I'd consider endgame-quality. Ideally you'd have a stronger weapon that would let you swap out your lesser damage ring for a Ring of Speed +10 or greater. Note that increasing your speed by +10 is effectively a 50% damage boost (because you get 50% more frequent turns), which is more than you're getting from the +10 damage ring currently.

Since you're wearing Eol, you aggravate monsters, meaning that you will never find them asleep. You may want to switch to non-aggravating gloves, which would make it easier to avoid fights. If you decide not to, then you can wear as many aggravating items as you like -- aggravation does not stack.

I'm surprised that you ditched both Belthronding and Bard. They would do substantially more ranged damage than Amros does, at the cost of having fewer stat bonuses. Ranged may not be your strong suit as a paladin but there are plenty of times when it comes in handy.

Your extra higher-level books (Ethereal Openings on up) are unnecessary. They're all fireproof and your DEX is high enough that you're theftproof.

Your Resist Heat potion is unnecessary as you can cast Resist Heat and Cold.

You should have more Phase Door scrolls. I typically aim for having 15 when I go into the dungeon.

You should have Scrolls of Teleport and Teleport Level, to help you escape when things go poorly. Teleport is risky at this depth (it can easily dump you into a dangerous situation), but since Teleport Level can be hard to come by, ordinary Teleport sometimes has to do. Relatedly, since you don't have protection from both blindness and confusion, you should have a Staff of Teleport, which can be used when blinded and/or confused.

Rods of Curing are unreliable, especially when you're afflicted by status ailments. Carry potions of Cure Serious/Critical Wounds instead; they work 100% of the time.

You should be carrying Staves of Speed as much as possible, and hoarding Potions of Speed at home for the final fights.

I prefer to use scrolls of Word of Recall instead of rods, because then I don't have to wait for the rod to recharge before getting out of a bad level. Unlikely but it does happen sometimes.

**Gauss** · March 7, 2019, 21:56

Thank you for the advice. Note that im lvl 33 but in reality im 39 due to xp drain. Those bastard archliches
and the vampire unique drained a lot of xp. I need to carry curing rods due to not having confusion immunity. That makes fights against Radagast and other uniques a nightmare.

**Adam** · March 7, 2019, 23:10

Buying Restore Life Level potions during the game and stashing them in your home exactly for such situations is a good thing. You have items for which I wouldn't waste a slot. Spell books, 2 rings of flames, 1d5 bolts.
You can carry Holhenneth and switch for confusion protection when needed against uniques. Yes, not having ESP can be a problem but you can control where to fight, just lure them into an anti summoning corridor.
If you use Eol and have fire immunity, then the extra copies of the basic books and resist heat potions are also just dead weight.

**Derakon** · March 7, 2019, 23:55

Originally posted by Gauss

I need to carry curing rods due to not having confusion immunity. That makes fights against Radagast and other uniques a nightmare.

Potions of Cure Serious/Critical Wounds will also cure confusion and blindness, and are 100% reliable, unlike the rods.

Don't fight uniques that are hard to kill. That's what Teleport Other is for. More generally, if you're finding out the hard way that an enemy has really unpleasant melee abilities, get out of melee range! That's what Phase Door is for. It's 100% protection against melee attacks that drain stats, drain experience, drain charges, cause confusion, cause blindness, stun, burn, freeze, etc. etc. etc.

If you aren't familiar with the monster list, it's a good idea to carry a Rod of Probing to use on unfamiliar monsters.

**Grotug** · March 8, 2019, 01:32

I agree with Derakon about swapping out your gloves. It looks to me like you are trying to fight everything (one clue is your boots [7, -7], the other is you're aggravating). Fire immunity is nice, but it's generally not worth aggravation. You should at least try out some gloves of power if you can get your hands on some and see how things go that way. You definitely want to get your speed up to +20. If you find a good speed ring, swap out one of the damage rings for sure. Hopefully you'll get a better weapon soon!

It's too bad you threw away Cammithrim as they are great gloves (personally I would be wearing them instead of Eol).

I never fight Radagast; he is just not worth the trouble. I think I made a post not too long ago of all the monsters I avoid.

Ahh... found it.

Help with character

Help with character

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