Diving for Identify Scrolls

[normkewl]

I have been playing for a few years off and on. I think the deepest that I have ever gone was about DL60.

My question for the forum community is this: In version 4.2.2, at what DL's are Scrolls of Identify generally found?

I would love to amass a bunch of scrolls, go diving, find a bunch of unidentified items, then go back to the town, identify the stuff, put on the best gear, then repeat.

[Nick]

Identify changed in 4.1 - you can now only identify scrolls, potions etc by use, or by selling/giving them to shops. There are scrolls for learning properties of weapons and armor; these are called Identify Rune, and should be findable from DL5 down.

[Estie]

Id scrolls start appearing fairly early, maybe dlvl 15(?), but there are a few issues with your perception:

1. Id scrolls are rare no matter the depth. There is no good way to farm them, just keep any you find.

2. You identify most of the stuff by trying it out. All consumables cannot be identified by scroll, only trial or selling to shop.

2. Even most of the things that scrolls work on can be guessed/identified without using scrolls. Equipping will identify some (like SI, ESP), hitting a susceptible monster with a weapon will id brands/slays, a shield (?) which has identified fire and cold resistance will also have the missing res acid and lightning of a shield of resistance (but possibly also some yet unidentified curses).
An cursed item (?) with no magic properties showing after equipping will probably have more, yet unidentified curses and can be vendored to learn them.
Finally, when you have, say, a *thanc and find a weapon (?) that doesnt reveal anything when wielded, its going to be a measly slay X weapon and you can identify it by selling.

The few accruing id scrolls can then be used on what remains.

So your proposed procedure is a very good one, just leave out the id scroll farming and make do with what you find naturally.

[normkewl]

Thanks Nick and Estie.

On my next visit to the town, I just kept diving. I started finding those Identify Runes around DL9, and kept trying to come up with some good gear. I finally died to a plasma vortex around DL32, and I was CL27 Hobbit Rogue.

I think I am going to try Ranger again.

[Ancient Yeek]

I'm currently playing mage and they learn Identify on the 2nd spell book so it's not a problem for that class. When I play other stuff I would recommend only using identify when it's something difficult to identify. Selling/giving stuff to the shop is a great way to identify things if you have a good hunch they're no good.

Pro Tip if you find any ammo early on with an ego it's almost always slay animal. You can throw it at the nearest animal to identify it even without a bow.

Armor with 2 res like fire and ice is almost always protection and will have electric and acid as the other two. You can then identify the others "safely" on some relevant hounds or jellyfish etc.

I try personally to save identify for higher res stuff like poison, Chaos, Nether etc stuff where testing is a bit more tricky. I don't run out nearly as often like this.