Sil: advice for newbies

[debo]

Related protip: If you aim your horn of blasting down (>) when you invoke it, it will open a chasm beneath you. It's the closest Sil gets to an instant escape, if you are not standing next to a chasm. (It does not work at 950'.)

[Infinitum]

With the exception of the aforementioned artifact sword, nothing at 18 is like to be better than what you will find naturally. Do you have some 1100 xp saved? If so I'd boost smithing by 2 and forge a grace amulet and 2 +3 evasion rings. Oterwise horn of blasting and a couple of +2/Dexterity/Damage rings to tide you over until you'd find something equivalent.

[seraph]

just in case you are unaware, smithing any of the items you mention will drain your stats. it is included in the cost on the right of the screen. for example: making a ring of dex <+1> drains 2 dex. make sure you have an herb of restoration, a stat potion (in this case dex) or are okay with going at a loss for a bit. also you can make a blessed realm <+0> if you want.

edit: in the case of an amulet of grace or blessed realm make sure you smith everything else that you want first, as the grace drain will also lower your smithing.

[Pete Mack]

Another question. Is it worth making a Shield of Warmth, or a cloak of Warmth? I don't have fire or cold resistance, and I foolishly chose not to carry potions of elemental resistance. Noted that young fire drake did massive damage, even from across a chasm.
Currently I'm using a clock of protection and Fingolfin (when I can wear a shield at all.)

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19863

Note: not a clean character. I've been replaying from level 600 for familiarization.

[HallucinationMushroom]

Fire can end your day pretty quick. The easiest solution to fire is a dwarf mask. There are rfire rings, and rfire shields, etc. etc. I usually count on finding a rfire item, but as helms are usually not that integral to a build... dwarf masks are pretty common answer to shit-i-need-rfire.

[Pete Mack]

Ring it is. I have jewelry smithing only, and my rings are +3 accuracy and +3 evasion. I am able to handle all the high serpents, and have taken a couple balrog uniques. But the young fire drake came as a surprise, much worse than the cold drake

[HallucinationMushroom]

I should have been simpler, but yeah, rfire is pretty important. Balrogs, some dragons. Usually dwarf mask just shows up by now. Rfire rings too. I would consider rfire important, but not absolutely necessary, but if you don't have rfire, you better have a shit-tonne of hitpoints, or be a really careful intelligent player (unlike me).

[Pete Mack]

Any idea on what I should drop? My pack is completely full. Have only 49 HP, using the shield of Fingolfin.

Edit: Also, how does zone of control work? Will it add an extra blow for monster moves during a sprinting/flanking encirclement?

[Psi]

You don't have any songs so you can drop !Voice. !Miruvor also replenish voice if you get desperate. I've never used _Majesty so I'd dump that. I'd also lose the Great Axe.

Zone of Control is great against monsters who try to surround you, as you get a blow whenever they step past you. So yes, works brilliantly with flanking when partially surrounded.

[Pete Mack]

_Majesty is a pretty good escape I have found. Crowd fighting is insanely expensive after all the Evasion abilities I have bought, though it would prove invaluable in the same circumstance as ZoC.
Shouldn't I be planning on Song of Slaying in the final fight? Does that require Voice?

[wobbly]

Depends if you use sharpness as well. Slaying by itself probably won't deplete your song fast enough as long as you're buffed with !grace. Slaying+Sharpness will. Crowd fighting is 2000? A raw pt of evasion is 1500. It's not much more & worth more then 1 evasion as soon as you've got more then 1 foe. I'd drop the great axe. They take a lot of str to work well & you've got a pretty nice shield.

By a lot of str I mean 7+charge & power