Tactical strike

[robinjohnson]

Didn't want to leave this vault unlooted on level 39. Unfortunately it contained a Great Worm of Chaos at almost the exact centre, which is an it-breathes-you-die for me without Chaos resistance. (*Of course* I have an elven armour with CR in my home, and of course that's the resistance I chose to forgo in my kit shuffle before beaming down to this very level.) Cleared out the rest of the level, including the Balrog of Moria and a smaller vault with four capital D's, but found no anti-Chaos gear or Banishment.

So it's down to digging myself exactly 15 squares away from the GWOC and using my Staff of *Destruction*. Let's hope the remaining three quarters of the vault are worth it.

(Sorry about the bad image quality, the attachment thingy said it had to be inside 620x280, and then seems to have converted my png to a jpg)

[sffp]

Sadly, my guess is that most of those walls are Perma- and won't be affected by your *Destruction*
Sometimes it's best just to walk away...

[robinjohnson]

Sadly, my guess is that most of those walls are Perma- and won't be affected by your *Destruction*
Sometimes it's best just to walk away...

The perma-walls weren't affected, but as the screenshot shows, the monsters and objects in range vanished and new walls/minerals got placed as usual.

[Estie]

That map has 2 cells in the center, sealed by granite walls. You could have looted all the vault and just let the cell containing the wyrm untouched.

Looking more closely, it seems the wyrm is not contained in a cell - however, the map is yin-yang like shaped and you can loot one half.

[robinjohnson]

That map has 2 cells in the center, sealed by granite walls. You could have looted all the vault and just let the cell containing the wyrm untouched.

Looking more closely, it seems the wyrm is not contained in a cell - however, the map is yin-yang like shaped and you can loot one half.

The screenshot is from right after I zapped the staff, so the wyrm is already gone. You might be right - it would have been directly north of me, at the top point of the destroyed area, in a cell opposite Ar-Pharazon (who I didn't let out.) I was afraid of granite-chomping beasties letting it out, though. I seem to be remember it being directly adjacent to other monsters before the blast, but I could be wrong.

[Nick]

(Sorry about the bad image quality, the attachment thingy said it had to be inside 620x280, and then seems to have converted my png to a jpg)

The best thing to do is take a screenshot with ')' and post it to the screenshot gallery.

[kineahora]

The screenshot is from right after I zapped the staff, so the wyrm is already gone. You might be right - it would have been directly north of me, at the top point of the destroyed area, in a cell opposite Ar-Pharazon (who I didn't let out.) I was afraid of granite-chomping beasties letting it out, though. I seem to be remember it being directly adjacent to other monsters before the blast, but I could be wrong.

So are ya gonna tell us what loot you got?

I'm guessing since you havent already stated it, Narya, PDSM, a big ring of speed, Ringil, and Feanor were not among the prizes

[robinjohnson]

So are ya gonna tell us what loot you got?

I'm guessing since you havent already stated it, Narya, PDSM, a big ring of speed, Ringil, and Feanor were not among the prizes

The Trident of Ulmo, the first time I've seen it - in a mage game, of course, but even so it's made melee nothing to worry about it (418.4 vs dragons, 321.6 vs animals, 224.8 vs others)

Belthronding - I make my own missile attacks and don't want to spend an inventory slot on mundane ammo, but the speed and stealth bonuses are nice

And some Ethereal Slippers of Speed <+5>, which I've since upgraded to <+8> Steel Shod Boots of Speed.

Didn't get Wizard's Tome of Power, though, which I'm basically in slot machine mode for now. In my last mage game it got dropped by some apprentice on about D5, then much later I got breathed to death by Carcharoth in a vault. Didn't know he could breathe Sound.

Current status: XL42, max depth L50, speed 16, still wielding Ulmo (just found Aglarang, which is tempting for the +5 speed, but the immunity and bonkers damage makes Ulmo a keeper, I think; Wrath, Anduril and Taratol at home); wearing an Amulet of Trickery with +2 speed, Metal Scale Mail of Elvenkind with Chaos, Cloak of Protection, Small Metal Shield of Elvenkind with Sound, Hammerhand, Cammithrim, and the +8 speed boots, rings of Speed +6 and Constitution +5; 546 HP, 239 SP; now in town shuffling my gear to see if I can keep all the resistances *and* wear this Helm of Telepathy I just found.

[kineahora]

The Trident of Ulmo, the first time I've seen it - in a mage game, of course, but even so it's made melee nothing to worry about it (418.4 vs dragons, 321.6 vs animals, 224.8 vs others)

Belthronding - I make my own missile attacks and don't want to spend an inventory slot on mundane ammo, but the speed and stealth bonuses are nice

And some Ethereal Slippers of Speed <+5>, which I've since upgraded to <+8> Steel Shod Boots of Speed.

Didn't get Wizard's Tome of Power, though, which I'm basically in slot machine mode for now. In my last mage game it got dropped by some apprentice on about D5, then much later I got breathed to death by Carcharoth in a vault. Didn't know he could breathe Sound.

Current status: XL42, max depth L50, speed 16, still wielding Ulmo (just found Aglarang, which is tempting for the +5 speed, but the immunity and bonkers damage makes Ulmo a keeper, I think; Wrath, Anduril and Taratol at home); wearing an Amulet of Trickery with +2 speed, Metal Scale Mail of Elvenkind with Chaos, Cloak of Protection, Small Metal Shield of Elvenkind with Sound, Hammerhand, Cammithrim, and the +8 speed boots, rings of Speed +6 and Constitution +5; 546 HP, 239 SP; now in town shuffling my gear to see if I can keep all the resistances *and* wear this Helm of Telepathy I just found.

I seem to be finding Aglarang a lot, current paladin is wielding it. It's GREAT for paladins since you just cast *slay evil* spell and **Slay demon** makes Greater Balrogs go poof!

You got Ulmo, Belthronding and +5 speed slippers--that is a *nice* haul at 39!! totally worth the thought and the tac-nuke! Don't think I have found Ulmo in years. Have never found Deathwreaker, bladeturner, razorback. Been many many years since I found Ringil or Fingolfin, or one of my fave weapons: Aule!

[robinjohnson]

I seem to be finding Aglarang a lot, current paladin is wielding it. It's GREAT for paladins since you just cast *slay evil* spell and **Slay demon** makes Greater Balrogs go poof!

You got Ulmo, Belthronding and +5 speed slippers--that is a *nice* haul at 39!! totally worth the thought and the tac-nuke! Don't think I have found Ulmo in years. Have never found Deathwreaker, bladeturner, razorback. Been many many years since I found Ringil or Fingolfin, or one of my fave weapons: Aule!

In my first win I found Power Dragon Scale Mail in the first few levels, which I had no idea was an ultra-rarity until I read it in some back-post on here.

This game, I've now switched back to the Trident of Wrath after finding the shield of Thorin, and got all my stats and ESP thanks to Thranduil. Still can't juggle things to wield Taratol and have two immunities. Of course, whenever I throw something out to save space in my house, it turns out to be exactly what would combo with the next artefact I find...

[Pete Mack]

Taratol is pretty special purpose: blue dragon pits which are so rare in recent versions as to be nonexistent.

[kineahora]

Taratol is pretty special purpose: blue dragon pits which are so rare in recent versions as to be nonexistent.

Seems like I find Taratol every game. I always save it in my home thinking there will be a time I want to carry it for the immunity--but lightning immunity just isnt worth much, you often end up with massive permanent speed so the activation isn't that great, and the weapon is medium big, but not to compete with endgame weapons.

PDSM I have found exactly *once* in all my years playing this game--my very last character, who unsurprisingly won.

I have Aglarang again, I wonder if I will find Aule or Ringil and end up tossing aside Aglarang. Previous versions of Aglarang were nice, but the addition of +5 speed is a big deal, and the combo with paladin spells make it endgame material.

[robinjohnson]

PDSM I have found exactly *once* in all my years playing this game--my very last character, who unsurprisingly won.

I went on to win this game after finding Nenya, Varda, and Dwarven Balance DSM, alternating a bit between Ulmo and Wrath depending on whether I needed Ulmo for the Nether resistance or Wrath for the Light/Dark. Then I made the dreadful mistake of playing on to try and find the One Ring by scumming for massive vaults. Once all the uniques are dead and you have Mass Banishment and a few Staves of the Magi for effectively infinite mana, the only thing that can kill you is a typo. I did find PDSM and Ringil, then typo'd my way into an overspent-mana coma and got ate by time hounds. Which was frankly a mercy.

[kineahora]

I went on to win this game after finding Nenya, Varda, and Dwarven Balance DSM, alternating a bit between Ulmo and Wrath depending on whether I needed Ulmo for the Nether resistance or Wrath for the Light/Dark. Then I made the dreadful mistake of playing on to try and find the One Ring by scumming for massive vaults. Once all the uniques are dead and you have Mass Banishment and a few Staves of the Magi for effectively infinite mana, the only thing that can kill you is a typo. I did find PDSM and Ringil, then typo'd my way into an overspent-mana coma and got ate by time hounds. Which was frankly a mercy.

Ha that's funny. My paladins of course can't wear The One Ring.

What the heck is "Varda"? is that a new artifact to the game? I never heard of it. My PDSM character had Vilya but used a Holy Avenger Scythe of Slicing over all the artifacts he found, close 2nd being the Lance of the Eorlingas.

Current character just gave away Taratol to the weapon smith--I now recognize it as something not really worth keeping... the only immunities that really matter are acid and fire. I have Thorin again this game which is nice. Would be cool to find Narya.

[Pete Mack]

This still counts as a win. The most epic AAR win I recall was a FAA character that killed M and died to a Great Sky Wyrm in the same turn. IIRC, he'd run out of consumables and it was make or break.