The single most effective tactic I've found to boost my early survivability is closing doors to force intelligent melee enemies (mostly Orcs) to enter corridors single file. Normally, unless you're severely wounded they will hover just outside the mouth of any corridor to force a 3-vs-1 standoff (use this to regain health if needed), but if there's a door at the end of the corridor and you close it they will always move to open it if possible and sometimes enter the doorway as a result, at which point you can pick them off one by one at your own leisure. Mix this up by shooting arrows into whoever opened the door's face should they opt to keep the 1-tile distance for fun and profit.
In addition, Archers will never open doors knowing you're behind them which means that you can break los to regain hp as long as you don't stray too far into rooms (giving you time to plan out cornering them). Don't forget that you can also close doors in order to single out lone archers from the pack in order not to end up a pincushion whilst bludgeoning them to death. Seriously, Doors are imba.
This leaves being sandwitched inside of corridors as my main cause of death (along with midgame criticals..), which can be somewhat alleviated either by spending early points into stealth (meh) or always trying to arrange your fights (retreating past enemies if needed) so that you're positioned in a short corridor with your enemies on another side of a closed door ahead of you and a lit room (with multiple exits) at your back to secure your escape in case something wanders in. This should take you to 500' or so relatively often, at which point you'll die to new and exciting things such as not having resistances, shafts separating you from the stairs or being chased down by quick monsters that pack an actual punch.
Oh yeah, and last tip: your bow. Use it. There's a lot of enemies even deepish into the dungeon (eg Giants) that are easy enough to hit even with the 1-point archery investment (for the free careful shot) with Noldor, which incidentally makes your {special} stacks last longer. Don't forget to purchase sprint once G's and R's show up and marvel at how easy they are to kite inside a cleared part of the level.
In addition, Archers will never open doors knowing you're behind them which means that you can break los to regain hp as long as you don't stray too far into rooms (giving you time to plan out cornering them). Don't forget that you can also close doors in order to single out lone archers from the pack in order not to end up a pincushion whilst bludgeoning them to death. Seriously, Doors are imba.
This leaves being sandwitched inside of corridors as my main cause of death (along with midgame criticals..), which can be somewhat alleviated either by spending early points into stealth (meh) or always trying to arrange your fights (retreating past enemies if needed) so that you're positioned in a short corridor with your enemies on another side of a closed door ahead of you and a lit room (with multiple exits) at your back to secure your escape in case something wanders in. This should take you to 500' or so relatively often, at which point you'll die to new and exciting things such as not having resistances, shafts separating you from the stairs or being chased down by quick monsters that pack an actual punch.
Oh yeah, and last tip: your bow. Use it. There's a lot of enemies even deepish into the dungeon (eg Giants) that are easy enough to hit even with the 1-point archery investment (for the free careful shot) with Noldor, which incidentally makes your {special} stacks last longer. Don't forget to purchase sprint once G's and R's show up and marvel at how easy they are to kite inside a cleared part of the level.
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