Complete N00b's Journey Character #5: Duntir, the Dunadan Ranger

[wizard44]

Thanks again for the answers everyone. So Duntir has managed to dive to D:60, but still hasn’t found a source of Chaos Resistance, despite finding a few more items of interest.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 5-7

I put on the elvenkind armor, wore the helm of telepathy and stashed Holhenneth and the Chain Mail of Arvedui to get more inventory space. I then recalled back to D:52, where I failed to disarm a chest of its traps, which spawns a buttload of dangerous unique monsters close to me (including the phoenix), prompting me to teleport the hell out of the level and descend to D:53. After having a giant close call with a giant roc, I quickly find the stairs and descend to D:54, where I find myself next to a demilich and reload the level to avoid getting killed by it. The new level was a maze level, where I use-id’d a scroll of *Enchant Weapon* towards some mithril arrows that I picked up in the last part and eat-id’d some mushrooms of Sprinting. I then find the stairs and get to D:55, where I kill an ancient blue dragon and quaff the Potion of Dexterity that it drops and then proceed to kill Boldor, King of the Yeeks without too much trouble. I then kill a sorcerer and quaff the Potion of Strength that it drops, and kill Angamaite of Umbar, who drops nothing, and Sangahyando of Umbar, who drops Raal’s Tome of Destruction, which I pick up. Upon descending to D:56, I get placed next to Scatha the Wurm, forcing me to do another reload of the level, which puts me next to the Balrog of Moria. After reloading the level yet again, I get the Glaive of Pain (+0, +30) and kill Lorgan, Chief of the Easterlings with a bit of hassle from his summons and get to level 31 and also acquire the Halberd ‘Osondir’ (3d5) (+16, +12). Upon descending to D:57, I find a ring of Poison resistance that I happily replace my ring of strength with. I find nothing else, however, and proceed to D:58, where I get level drained by a master vampire and am forced to quaff quite a few curing potions to outlast it. I descend to D:59, where I find a Short Bow of Extra Might (x3) (+10, +20) <+1 Shooting power>. I also get my equipment damaged by the breaths of mature multi-hued dragons on that level. I then descend to D:60, where I find a staff of *Destruction*, 30 Mithril Arrows of Wounding and recall with a Rod of Recall that I found in the dungeon since my pack is full again. I then deposit my potions of Healing, *Healing*, and Speed, Osindir and the Glaive of Pain, and get back the Chain Mail of Avredui since I found a Ring of Resist Poison to cover my base while stashing my Elvenkind armor. I also get another rod of detection and Mithril arrows (+2, +4) and end the part.

I’m thinking the next goal is to get to D:65, and not go any further until I find a way to get to +10 Permanent speed. I also plan to get some more points in strength, and get a source of Chaos Resistance, as these are the holes that I see that need patching up soon.

I think I keep my current artifact spear as my carry weapon because of the +3 speed boost. Are the other artifact weapons that I acquired worth using later in this dive, or should they be ditched?

Is Raal’s Tome of Destruction worth carrying? Or should it be ditched?

“Mordenkainen’s Escapes” spellbook is currently being sold in the black market… should I get it?

Duntir’s status has again been updated, and I welcome any answers and tips to improve its survival … it’s already gone deeper than 3 of the 4 previous characters so far, and I’d like to get it to Sauron at the very least!

[Estie]

I think I keep my current artifact spear as my carry weapon because of the +3 speed boost. Are the other artifact weapons that I acquired worth using later in this dive, or should they be ditched?

Yes, for now speed spear is best; keep the glaive, with more str/dex it does good damage.

Is Raal’s Tome of Destruction worth carrying? Or should it be ditched?

“Mordenkainen’s Escapes” spellbook is currently being sold in the black market… should I get it?

Raals has the offensive spells which only the mage can really use - ditch. Mordenkainens, otoh, has the very excellent create stairs spell. Get it by all means.

What do you want chaos resistance for, and what is it you so love about Arvedui ?
+2 stealth and sustained strength is worth more than nexus and shard resistance, though it doesnt really matter - neither is important. The ring slot though is the most valuable of all; the beauty of that elven armor is that it allows you to pick offensive modifiers for all other slots. You can use strength ring, a second damage or speed ring, whatever you you find when you find it. Using the ring slot for poison resistance is usually only done when that is the only way to get poison resistance.

[wobbly]

I would much prefer to fight Morgoth wearing Arvedui then elvenkind leather, though by then you're likely to find better. Rpoison appears on Haradrim, elvenkind shields, trickery amulets, Vilya, some other things - all reasonable in an endgame setup. Though admittedly the AC advantage of Arvedui doesn't matter so much for a ranger who doesn't actually need to fight in melee range of Morgoth.

[Estie]

Ah, the AC - well, the combat system is such that even with 300 AC, you still take damage from Morgoth, and from 0 to 300 its basically linear; so 130 (your current) or 100 AC (with elven leather) makes very little difference.

Lesser monsters get filtered more, but the melee attack of harmless monsters is really the last thing to be concerned about.

[wobbly]

The difference in the accuracy component is small but there, the difference in damage reduction component is 25% -> 32.5% which I'd hardly call negligible. Personally prefer to take as little damage as possible though both suits of armour have there strong points.

[Pete Mack]

But he is a ranger with truly lousy melee. Yeah, if the choice is a ring of strength, it is mostly a wash, though losing the stealth hurts. But he will soon find a good ring of CON, and get his base con up enough to actually have some HP. At that point, he can't waste a ring slot.

Raal's is useless except to a mage. You do want the other books though, especially Resistances and Transformations.

[Derakon]

Yeah, as a ranger, if you're not fighting Morgoth with your bow then something has gone seriously awry.

[wizard44]

Estie: One of the guides that I read say that Chaos resistance is vital for depths below D:54, as the chaos breaths can screw up a character’s run quickly. I also thought that Stealth maxes out at Superb, based on what I read, at least for this version. Or can it go even further?

To Everyone: Thanks for the input folks. Pretty helpful for this guy’s survival. Duntir has made it to D:65 and gotten a few more items to cover up some weaknesses, but things are still getting pretty nervous for the guy.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 5-8

Dropped Osondir and the Raal’s Tome of Destruction, and got Mordekainen’s Escapes Tome. I got an amulet of ESP from the black market, allowing me to equip Holhenneth as my helmet again and cover up some more of my resistances. I then recalled back to D:60, where I found nothing of note and went down to D:61, where nothing else of interest was found. D:62 had Saruman of Many colors, prompting a level reload. The new level had a greater titan, which chased me as I rush to the downstairs, where I run into Fundin Bluecloak, prompting me to carry out another level reload. In that level, I clear a vaults, where I nearly lose my live to Itangast, the Fire Drake’s breath before I teleport it away, blow up a staff of speed when it runs out of charges, and get an Elven Cloak of the Magi [6, +13] <+2 Int, +4 Stealth, +1 Speed>, which was better than my Cloak of Stealth, AND solved my hold life problem. D:63 was where things got hairy, as I lost a point of strength due to quaff-id’ing a potion of Contemplation. D:64 had nothing of note, though I did kill a great crystal drake. Upon reaching D:65, I began my stairdancing regime in an attempt to improve my strength.

The stairdancing regime sees me finding and quaffing a Potion of Wisdom, then killing Adunaphael the Quiet to get Mithril Shod Boots of Speed [8, +4] <+6>, a ring of Speed <+7>. I then find two potions of Dexterity, which I quaff, and get to level 32 and learn the Stair Creation spell. I then find and quaff a Potion of Constitution, another Potion of Dexterity, and kill Ji Indur Dawndeath, who drops the Mithril Shod Boots ‘Stormwalker’ [8, +24] <+6 speed>, and Uvatha the Horseman, who drops a heavily cursed Amulet of Trickery. I then find a Potion of Constitution, and made a stupid mistake and run into a bone golem, who disenchants my short bow of extra might and weakens my strength, although the second shortcoming was fixed by quickly finding a Mushroom of Vigor. I then get to level 33, uncurse the Amulet of Trickery, find a Potion of Strength to reverse my strength loss, and kill Bullroarer, the Hobbit and Golfinbul, the Hill Orc Chief, the latter which drops an Iron Crown of the Magi to produce a better source of telepathy. I then perform a recall, having run out of arrows and having a full pack and drop off my Potions of *Healing* and Speed and proceed to wear the Amulet of Trickery and Crown of the Magi, and Ring of Speed. I then buy out the temple’s Potions of Cure Serious Wounds and Cure Critical Wounds and get enough missiles to get back up to 80 shots before I end the part.

The next goal: Get to D:71 and try to get another point of strength (since we technically broke even in this dive) and at least another point of constitution, since our HP is still rather dreadful. I this a reasonable goal, or should I aim for something deeper than D:71 at this point?

Is the items that Duntir’s wearing the correct setup that he should follow? Or is there some other attribute that I should prioritize? I could see myself wearing the elvenkind armor again if persuaded to do so.

Duntir’s status has again been updated, and any input to promote this guy’s survival is welcome.

[Pete Mack]

Keep an eye out for a decent ring of constitution. One more potion, and an extra few points will make a huge difference. CON is currently by far your biggest weakness. Better speed would help too, as would a couple more dungeon books. But the CON is much harder to work around.

[Derakon]

Guides that tell you you need to have X ability by Y depth or you're automatically dead are lying. Especially if they're talking about high resists (everything except fire/cold/acid/electricity). Few monsters deploy high-damage attacks that use the high elements, so it's "merely" a matter of knowing which can kill you, and not fighting them.

(Poison does get a special mention because it has by far the highest damage cap of the high elements at 800HP, and one of the monsters that can sling high-damage poison attacks is mindless, non-evil, and shows up around about the middle of the dungeon)

The side-effects of chaos are confusion, hallucination, and experience drain. They're not great, but they're definitely survivable. I do not prioritize chaos resistance. Back in the day it used to give confusion resistance as well (back when confusion was an element in addition to a status effect). It was considerably more valuable back then.

[Estie]

One of the guides that I read say that Chaos resistance is vital for depths below D:54, as the chaos breaths can screw up a character’s run quickly. I also thought that Stealth maxes out at Superb, based on what I read, at least for this version. Or can it go even further?

Stealth; every 3 points of it halve the chance of waking up a sleeping monster. Running around with legendary stealth is quite the experience.

Chaos: there are dangerous chaos breathers like great wyrms and jabberwocks, but youre not going to engage those yet whether you have resist or no - they would kill you. Luckily they are usually asleep, especially when you have good stealth.
More dangerous are chaos vortices, as they are always awake, hard to detect, fast and find you from all over the map. They are completely harmless with chaos resitance but can be annoying without - it might be worthwhile to teleport them away instead of fighting even though they have very few hitpoints. As usual, frequent detection is the solution to not getting into trouble.

So, chaos resistance is certainly nice to have, but so are rsistance to disenchantment or pconf. All of these are luxury resists.

Is the items that Duntir’s wearing the correct setup that he should follow? Or is there some other attribute that I should prioritize? I could see myself wearing the elvenkind armor again if persuaded to do so.

I would certainly wear the elvenkind for the stealth, but it is a small matter. Your current setup is fine, too.

The bonus from constitution is non-linear; with low base value, adding more does very little, but as you approach character max, it increases. If, by changing equipment around, you can get over 600 hp, thats worth very much because it basically gets you out of 1-hit country. So +1 to what Pete said.

[Estie]

One more thing: make use of that new book. Make your own staircase down to below 90, only stopping if a really good opportunity presents itself. You can stairdance between 97 and 98, collecting floor items and killing small fry that drops items like small dragons and ghouls. The stuff that drops there is exceptionally better - experience potions, mithril arrows, scrolls of mass banishment, youll be ready for endgame in no time.

And for that purpose, stealth is superior.

[wizard44]

Thanks again for the tips everyone. Duntir has made accomplished the proposed goal in the previous part with flying colors, and has collected enough speed items to get to more than +30 on demand. So with that, I bring you:

Complete N00b's Journey: Part 5-9

I was convinced about switching for the Studded Leather Armor of Elvenkind and put it back for this dive in order to get my stealth to Heroic level. I then recalled back to D:65, found nothing of note nearby, and quickly descended to D:66, where I decide to play the roulette and quaff a potion of Toughness, which thankfully deducts my wisdom for the Constitution boost. Funnilly enough, I also find a potion of Wisdom to get back my lost wisdom. I also find an Amulet of Weaponmastery (+4, +3) <+3 STR> before I descend to D:67, where running into the cat lord forces me to teleport and escape in a newly created staircase that I build to D:68. On D:68, I find and quaff-id a Potion of Experience, althought it does not take me to level 34. Nothing else was found except a scroll of *Enchant Weapon*, which I put towards my arrows to little effect, as they only gained +1 to hit and nothing else. On D:69, I find two Potions of Wisdom and drink them, wishing they were potions of Strength before I find the staircase and descend. D:70 had a spare Rod of Teleport Other, which I enthusiastically take before heading to D:71. It is there that I take out Akhorail the Blind, who drops nothing of note to make up for the loss of arrows that I spent wasting on this guy. I do get to level 34 from the kill though. I also find the Resistances of Scarabtrices on the level, which provides me with much needed temporary resistance spells and proceed to D:72, where I finally waste Khim, Son of Mim, who drops a Caestus of Free Action (+0, +3) [5, +10]. I also find the Lance of the Eorlingas (3d8) (+13, +21) <+2 STR, +2 DEX, +2 speed>, which could be a decent weapon if I was to find more strength. D:73 had virtually nothing nearby, so I quickly descended to D:74, where an acid dragon room spilled out and threatened to overwhelm me, prompting me to teleport away and get to D:75, pronto. D:75 had a vault that contained Harowen, the Black Hand and Ungoliant the Unlight, both of which I teleport away to explore the vault. The vault contained a Potion that was a Potion of Life when quaff-id'd, a Long Bow of Extra Might (x4) (+24, +15) <+1>, and a Potion of *Enlightenment* that allowed me to find the presence of two Potions of Healing, which I use when I get cornered by a group of chaos hounds, a Potion of *Healing*, and a Potion of Experience, which I quaff. I then create a staircase to D:76 and descend, where I *finally* find and quaff a Potion of Strength. I then proceed to D:77, where I find 24 desperately needed Arrows (+6, +3) and descend to D:78, where I find a stack of mithril arrows and kill the Balrog of Moria to get to level 35, who drops the ring of fire 'Narya' (+2, +2) <+1 all> <+5 speed>, filling my pack to bursting. After killing a Dracolich, I then decide to Recall back to deposit my items and refill on my consumables.

Since right now, I have access to over +30 speed if temporary speed boosts are included, I think the plan is to get to D:98 and collect the following in preparation for the final battles:

10 Potions of *Healing* (So I should get at least 4 more than what I have)
3 Potions of Life
5 Scrolls of Mass Banishment
4 Scrolls of *Destruction*

I also plan to get to level 40 before taking on Sauron before the final battle since I really need the extra shot ability granted at that level.
I do not think I accomplish any of the above goals in this run, since we’re talking about covering 20 dungeon levels that I might potentially stop to collect items along the way. But I think I'm pretty confident that this character can do it PROVIDED I DO NOT SCREW THIS UP. Once I get to D:98, I will stairdance like hell and hope that I don'€™t get instagibbed by any of the uniques that I run into.

The ladder has been updated with Duntir'€™s status, and any input to refine this strategy is welcome.

[Adam]

Narya grants telepathy so you can switch to Holhenneth for pConf + pBlind (you lose 1 INT but it's worth). It also gives iFire so no need for extra copies of the books.
As others said your biggest weakness is CON, too many monsters can instakill you. Besides a CON ring, also dwarven shields or one of the artifact shields Thorin/Elros/Haradrim would help (it's pretty unusual that you still use a simple "good" shield).
Potions of Life are rare, so I would not make it a goal to accumulate x of them. If you find them it's nice, but if not, don't worry.

[wobbly]

I've never used life in the final fight. Those few !life take a slot that could fit multiple !heal or !*heal so there's an argument for hoarding !heal and carrying !life for emergencies.