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

[fph]

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.

From what I understand the main difference is that !life restores stats as well. How do you usually deal with stat restoration during the final fight? Do you use a slot for mushrooms of vigor? Rods of restoration? Do you only fight M when you have all stats sustained?

[Adam]

From what I understand the main difference is that !life restores stats as well. How do you usually deal with stat restoration during the final fight? Do you use a slot for mushrooms of vigor? Rods of restoration? Do you only fight M when you have all stats sustained?

I prefer mushrooms of vigor because it's easier to gather a meaningful number of them (and they don't break to cold/shards attacks). I find max 2-3 !life during a game, even augmentation is easier to collect. Rods of restoration I almost always drop immediately.
Sustain is also not rare, just in this thread @ has STR + CON sustained by Narya and DEX by trickery. And it matters only if you plan to melee M anyway.

[wobbly]

Yeah for melee I want at least at least str/con/dex. My last priest used OOD and it didn't matter. For a ranger it usually doesn't matter. I'm usually low enough level to TO Morgoth away and level up if I really get caught out.

[Pete Mack]

You need better CON. Fast. Speed 24 doesn't help you much at this point, with such lousy HP. You cant possibly kill any monsters with speed 20 or above anyway.

Replace that speed ring with a ring of CON. I am amazed you haven't found one of at least +4 yet.

[Estie]

This is the point where you feel powerful, but you are still very vulnerable due to your low hit points. It is a dangerous time.

At that depth, teleportation is not safe. It can easily land you in a situation where you die before you can react. If you get into trouble and have to leave this instance, use ?teleport level. (Also, collect ?*destruction* when you find them). If you have more than one turn, use _*destruction*. There is another spell of interest in Mord´s - create doors allows you to block LOS on demand.

You next goal is to accumulate a setup that includes enough constitution to survive any of the big 1-hit attacks.
Untill you can do that, stay stealthy and low profile. Now your spear is the best choice not because of its speed, but because of its stealth bonus. That said, look out for weapons with a con bonus. Two points of con can make enough difference for you to want to swap later.

Going from 350 to 450 hps is not worth losing speed and stealth for - 600 is.

[wizard44]

Thanks again for the input folks. A ring of constitution is my top priority, but I have unfortunately not found one as of now. Learned the Create Doors spell upon Estie’s recommendation. So Duntir is at D:90 and in slightly better shape HP wise, but is still in a rather crappy state.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 5-10

Put on the Iron Helm and wore Pauragaen as my gloves to shore up some more resistances. I then recalled to get back to D:78, where I picked up a better Long Bow of Extra Might (x4) (+21, +26) <+1> before heading down to D:79. I evade Omrax, the Eye Tyrant and head to D:80, where I teleport away two archliches and deal with their summons. I then find and quaff a Potion of Strength before I head to D:81, where I encounter Radagast the Brown and make a mad dash to the downstairs before anything bad happens. On D:82, I kill a mature red dragon and quaff the Potion of Dexterity that it drops. I then kill an ancient white dragon, who drops the very first Potion of Augmentation that I have found for this character (which I eagerly quaff), a scroll of *Enchant Weapon* that I use towards my mithiril arrows. Facing extreme danger from Qlzqqlzup, the Emperor Qwylthulg, I descend to D:83, where I am situated next to a vault full of very nasty Uniques, prompting me to reload the level. The new level didn’t have anything interesting, but still contained Saruman of Many Colours for me to escape from. Fortunately, I managed to reach the downstairs to D:84, where I clean out several vaults and get a Potion of Experience (and quaff it), a Potion of Dexterity (and quaff it) and get to level 36 from killing some ancient dragons. D:85 saw problems with a greater draconic qwythulg, and forced me to use some very clever teleportation to get the hell out of that mess and descend to D:86. It is there that I kill Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain and his retinue. I find and quaff a Potion of Constitution from the spoils, which brought my HP above 400, and plenty of arrows of Slay Demon and Slay Dragon (if only they were slay evil …). D:87 put me next to some nasty uniques, so I reload the level and manage to kill Smaug the Golden, a horned reaper, and a Lesser Balrog, none of which drop anything useful. I then go to D:88, where I find nothing of note before I head to D:89. It is there that I kill a chaos vortex to get to level 37 and find a scroll of *Destruction* as well as dispatch a greater balrog and the summons that it comes forth. Doing that took a lot of Slay Demon ammunition and more, but I was rewarded with a Tensor’s Transformations tome, which I used to brand my mithril arrows with venom. D:89 had a blue dragon vault that I cleared, and I picked up another rod of teleport Other, a Potion of Wisdom that I quaff, a Potion of Strength that I quaff among the useful things. I also find Kelek’s Grimoire of Power, which fills my pack and forces me to Recall back up to town to deposit my things. I buy a Potion of Healing and a Potion of Life from the black market, deposit my potions of *Healing* and Speed as well as the scroll of *Destruction*, and end the part.

So the next goal is to accomplish the majority of the following:
Get to D:98
Max out Strength and especially Constitution
Finish out the shopping list, which means getting 2 more Potions of *Healing*, 5 scrolls of Mass Banishment, and 3 Scrolls of *Destruction*
Get to level 40 to get another extra shot from the class benefits

Is the Grimoire of Power better than the Staves of *Destruction*? Or should I keep the staves instead?

I’ve heard that there are no other uniques that could start spawning between D:90 and D:98 … is that true? If so, then I definitely do a dive to D:98 and do some major stair-dancing to get the above items. If not, then I stair dance on D:90 instead.

The ladder has been updated with Duntir’s status, and any answers and tips are welcome.

[Derakon]

Rangers can learn to cast Word of Destruction, right? Having that spell in unlimited quantities is a gamechanger. You can do things like lure enemies out of vaults and then Destruct them without their ever getting to see you, or just try to clip the outer edge of the vault with Destruction -- either way, you get to loot the vault's floor items mostly unopposed and without having to worry that Teleport Other will hit that 5% failure rate. Plus of course being able to freely cast it during the Morgoth fight is always nice.

I don't know what the cost/failure rate look like compared to your current SP and your success rate with the staves. The staves might therefore be worth carrying if you aren't too squeezed on inventory space. But I would definitely learn the spell if it's an option.

[Pete Mack]

Grimoire is better once the fail rate is down, since it has unlimited use and lower fail. In the mean time, staves+ tensers is fine. I see you have all the important spell books now. *Use them*. They make a huge difference, especially Resistance spells and ammo brand spell. But hero/berserk is helfpful too, as is recharge spell, which has a lower backfire rate than the scroll

[Estie]

I’ve heard that there are no other uniques that could start spawning between D:90 and D:98 … is that true? If so, then I definitely do a dive to D:98 and do some major stair-dancing to get the above items. If not, then I stair dance on D:90 instead.

Not entirely sure about the unique spawn, but there is no difference in danger between 90 and 98.

Pauraegen reduces your mana pool by 1/3; its not a good idea to wear that just for the resistances. You need either free action or a dex bonus or alchemist glove base type to wear gloves without penalty as a red book caster.

[wizard44]

Thanks for the input folks. So Duntir has made it to D:98, but has not been able to get all of the things done on the proposed checklist.

Complete N00b's Journey: Part 5-11

Read the posts, and changed my gauntlets back to those of Free Action to enable book casting, and recalled back to D:90, where the only notable thing is a Potion of Wisdom that I quaff from killing a black knight. I foolishly screw up and somehow drop all my Rods of Detection on the level through a fat fingered mistake, which I didn’t notice until I get to D:91 (Drat Drat Drat!). D:91 had a stack of Mithril Arrows which I enchant up and give the Venom brand to it, but nothing else. I did however, have to evade a greater balrog that threatened to catch up to me until I got to a downstairs staircase. D:92 saw me killing Quaker, Master of Earth before I descend to D:93, where I find a Rod of Healing, a stack of Arrows of Wounding, and finally a ring of Constitution <+3>, which I wear in place of the Ring of Speed. I also get to level 38 from killing several dreadlords and find a Rod of Speed. D:95 sees me getting a Mithril Shield of Elvenkind [16, +32] <+2 stealth> and the Metal Brigandine Armour of the Rohirrim [50, +15] <+2 STR, +2 DEX>, forcing me to drop my Rod of Speed to make room for it. D:96 sees me clearing a vault, where I get a Potion of Strength (and quaff it), a Potion of Experience (and also quaff it), and a stack of Seeker Arrows of Slay Demon. D:97 saw me sneaking around a vault, where I get the Short Sword 'Sting', and a Staff of Banishment. I then make a recall to the surface, and create a staircase to D:98 to maximize my depth. I then buy and quaff a Potion of Constitution at the surface and store my items, and come back to D:98 to begin checking things off my proposed checklist.

In the next dive, which was short, I find a Potion of Dexterity and quaff it to max it out, kill Beorn, the Shape Changer, quaff a potion of Wisdom, get to level 39 by quaffing a Potion of Experience, and kill Castamir, the Usurper, who drops the dagger 'Angrist'. I then Recall back up to town, and end the part.

Out of the artifact weapons that I have collected, which will best suit me for facing Sauron and Morgoth? I’m asking this in terms of helping me kill them with my bow, and I think Sting is the tentative choice for this. On that note, do I need a stronger bow for these two guys?

I still need to get to level 40, and get more scrolls of Mass Banishment, *Destruction* and more Potions of *Healing* to satisfy the checklist that I made in the previous part. How many of each item do I need for the final two battles? I can cast Word of Destruction, but the failure rate is far too high for my tastes. I also need to find new Rods of Detection, thanks to my stupid mistake of dropping them all back in D:91. I still need to max out my Constitution, as my HP is still not completely up to scratch (and find a better ring of Constitution as well).

Are there any other items that I need to get before facing Sauron? I looked a couple of guides on how to deal with him, and I think I have all of the bases covered in the checklist.

Duntir'€™s status has been updated, and I welcome any answers and input to preparing this character for the final fights.

[Estie]

Ranger is the class with the easiest time against bosses; lets see:

You want 20 base speed (before haste), at least 700 hp (more is better), enough ammo. Your current bow can do the job, though it is very likely that you are going to find better before youre ready. Acid affects Sauron, so if you find any acid arrows, keep them even if they arent mithril/seeker base. Slay evil also helps, but if you find those they should be preserved for Morgoth.
And of course, level 40 is nice for the additional shot; basically, keep stairdancing for a little and loot a vault or 2. Any GV down there is going to be bursting with useful artifacts and egos since you dont have good gear yet.

Sting is currently your best weapon, because of that +1 con and speed. You shouldnt be forced to melee Sauron, but you can consider wielding the glaive temporarily for easier xp farming with melee.

[wizard44]

Thanks for the input everyone. So after a series of dives, I managed to get close to everything that I need for the final fights. Emphasis on “close to” … I still might be missing several things.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 5-12

Recalled back to D:98, where I got three additional scrolls of *Destruction*, a Potion of *Healing*, a better Ring of Constitution <+4>, and the Amulet of Carlamas from a lesser vault as well as several stat potions to boost my stats. I then recalled to home to drop off the scrolls and potion and ditched the Pair of Leather Boots of Radagast and Angrist and began my second dive. In this second dive, I dispatch the Phoenix with great riddance and get the Bastard Sword of Eowyn, another scroll of banishment, and a heavily cursed ring of Constitution <+5>. A recall back to town reveals that the curse strength is 84 upon attempts to remove it with standard remove curse scrolls, prompting me to ditch it as soon as I begin another run. This run gave me a Rod of Detection, another scroll of *Destruction*, another scroll of Banishment, and another Potion of *Healing*. After depositing my items, I begin another trip to D:98, where I kill a Cat lord to get to level 40, and get another Rod of Detection and max out my constitution. I also kill the Lernaean Hydra and get a Small Dwarven Shield to further boost up my strength and constitution. I also find boots of speed <+8> and leave them in the title. After again going to the town to deposit my stuff, I proceed back once again and this time kill Tselakus, the Dreadlord and get the Short Bow of Amrod. I also take out Ren the Unclean and find Multi-Hued Dragon Scale Mail and another scroll of Mass Banishment. When I come back to the town this time around to stash my items, I ditch Paurhach and the chain mail of Arvedui from the home. I then go back again to D:98, where I kill Dwar, Dog Lord of Waw, get to level 41, and get the Star of Elendil, a Potion of Life, a Potion of *Healing* another rod of Teleport Other, and Seeker Arrows that I brand as Frost. After depositing my items, I return to D:98, where I kill Uldor the accursed and the Queen Ant before recalling for the second to last time. In the last dive, I find an even better Ring of Speed <+10> and kill Thuringweithil, the Vampire Messenger, who drops the Mithril Chain Mail ‘Belegennon’. I do lose my staff of Banishment due to recharge backfiring, but also get a fresh stack of seeker arrows which I enchant up and another scroll of Mass Banishment.

So the next goal is simple: Slaughter the Dark Lord Sauron!

So I updated Duntir’s ladder with the equipment that he has. Given the contents of his inventory and his home, is this the optimal setup if Duntir were to set off to dispatch Sauron? If not, which changes should be made?

I wasn’t able to find any arrows of acid or slay evil, which was a huge, huge bummer. Should I continue stairdancing until I get at least one of those types?

What is the strategy for dealing with Sauron as a ranger? Do you not let him get into melee range, and phae door away from him and risk him summoning some nasties, or do you keep him close to you in an antisummoning corridor and just shoot like hell with your bow?

Once again, Duntir’s status has been updated, and I am looking forward to the correct strategy to roast that summoning bastard.

[Estie]

You are ready for Sauron. The elegant way to kill him is to create a triangle. where you can stand on either corner and have hockey-stick vision on Sauron who moves along the diagonal to get at you. Once he arrives, ?phase and arrange the same setup on the other corner. Or you can simply face him in a long hallway, but then you have to eat his damage and deal with his summons. It works too, but requires more consumables.
Or you can dig an anti summoning corridor and pelt him in melee range; that gets rid of the summoning but you receive his melee damage.

Morgoth is a bit harder to shoot without him getting LOS, but it is possible. Let him aproach through a destructed zone and position yourself as best you can. It takes a bit of practice, but after a while you should be able to harm him without him seeing you. The occasional spot where he can see you you can handle using your consumables.

The only thing that is a bit worrisome is your amount of arrows - if you can collect them and re-use after teleporting him away when he gets close, it should be enough, but things tend to go wrong and an earhquake over your ammunition spread out over the ground can leave you short.

For both fights, buff with everything that increases your to hit rating: scroll of holy chant, spells of berserk str and heroism all stack, and of course speed. Carry a full stack of ?phase for Morgoth, the fight can take a while.

[Adam]

My concern against Sauron would be that he likes to teleport @ away - and I think without rNexus there is a chance you get teleported out of the level so whatever consumables/ammo you used up is wasted. I don't know the probabilities, so the chance may be very low.
If he never sees you then this is no problem of course

If you want to abuse assymetric LoS you can also do it against Morgoth. If you find a big room in the corner of the map you can set up a shelter with create doors and shoot from safety after opening the appropriate ones. If you miscalculate closing one door breaks LoS (hopefully) and you can heal up. When he is close, TO - collect arrows - wait (don't forget to cast haste self again) - start again.

Be aware that both bosses can drain charges of staves/wands and they heal themselves while doing that - so never let them hit you if you have any charges to be drained.

[Grotug]

I do not think you are ready to fight Sauron. My reasons are as follows:

• As Adam points out you have no Nexus resistance. When fighting Sauron this is far more important than rChaos. Before I understood what rNexus did, I would get teleported off the level. Not the worst thing as a warrior or Paladin, but pretty bad as a Ranger when your means for killing bosses is strewn about on the ground.
  
  
• You are still low on consumables; I would acquire a few more *healing*
  
  
• You are only CL41. Go monster hunting and gain a few more character levels.
  Many monsters will drop you worthwhile stuff, too. There are a lot more awesome artifacts you could find that would help your situation, including ones that provide more CON. One great way to find them is to kill stuff on DL98! You will get some worthwhile drops. I often find more good stuff from killing monsters than from the floor/vaults. Unfortunately, the artifact launchers in the standard set are not as good as in the randart set. Your current launcher is pretty good. If you find really good iron shot ammo save it in the event you find a sling of annihilation (AKA slings of buckland).
  
  
• You've gone down to the bottom of the dungeon to find more loot. What's the rush? Might as well have some fun and find some awesome things, too. And nothing's worse that fighting Sauron too early and then having to spend more time preparing for him again. You're still pretty new to the game so it's worth being a bit overprepared before fighting him, which you definitely are not. Unless you've mastered line of sight abuse, I would not fight Sauron right now.
  
  
• Do be aware that spending prolonged time deeper than DL90 is very dangerous! Be patient. Choose your targets carerfully. And don't spend too much time on levels you've been TOing a lot on. And remember that self teleporting after teleporting others away is very dangerous.

I like going after greater undead for experience and drops. You have hold-life, so it should be a good bet for you. Just be aware of the Black Reavers as they like to one shot for near 500 damage. Gelugons and Pit fiends are also not worth fighting. Some of the Nightwalkers or crawlers also deal out 400+ in nether shots, but they have less hitpoints and I think most of them do not resist fire so if you can get some fire branded arrows go honky-tonk on those guys (most Undead do not resist fire). Dreads and dreadmasters are also good targets for consumables and in my experience are not very dangerous relative to other things at that depth. Just about all the unique Undead are good targets, but Faegweath and Vecna can one shot even more damage than black Reavers, so might not be worth fighting them.

It's true, beware the Jabberwock (and Chaos/Balance wyrms) and if you see the Terrasque: Do GTFO of dodge. Mouth of Sauron is another Unique I am wary of, due to his awesome spells, but he's a good tune up fight for Sauron to see how ready you are.

I'd replay DL98/97 about three more times with the aim of gaining some more levels and loot by monster hunting. You should be much more prepared after that.

I like to go into the Sauron fight with 120 highly enchanted mithril/seeker arrows.