What would you do?

[Neuro]

So I've been trying to do an Iron Man game (my first), and I've come across a bit of a dilemma. I'm running a HE Ranger (probably not the easiest class to Iron Man with, given their weak Pseudo-ID and reliance on ammo), and my first few attempts have ended the same way, me dying about 10-15 levels to something foolish. I've even gotten a good system for starting over: Buy up all the arrows, hang around in town till Farmer Cotton shows up, and hopefully he drops a decent item I can either wear or sell, then I buy whatever supplies I can and then dive.

So this about my eighth restart on this, and Cotton has decided to drop a Lucerne Hammer (Holy Avenger) (+7, +7) [+1] (+4). A fine weapon to be sure, but I'm thinking to myself: "I can get 20k for that from the vendor, and this is the only time in the entire game that I'll be able to spend gold".

I'm almost certainly going to sell it, but I'm not sure this would be the right call. A solid weapon would go a long way toward survivability, but then again, dmg output isn't usually what kills me, it's running out of escapes and other supplies. I know this is the "challenge" of Iron Man, but that much cash would really help me get past the first 20 levels or so without YASD.

So, what would you do? Sell or keep?

[Sirridan]

You already have SI, don't need the wisdom or the rFear. I'd sell it since you can't get many blows with it.

Buy up pots, phase door, mb2 (or 3? I forget which has the teleport self) and all the others tuff you think you need.

[HallucinationMushroom]

I'd sell it and go on a spending spree. Don't forget to check the '3' and the '4' to make sure you get the most moolah.

[Neuro]

I did end up selling it, and with the proceeds I bought m3, m4 (store didn't have m2), every ID and heal pot the store had, and even got a +5/+5 dagger. Bought several ?phase door and ?tele, and even a staff of tele.

Diving fast now, already killed Smeagol and Wormtongue (wormy was nice enough to drop Phial for me). Having all the extra consumables is really helping.

Any tips on doing Ironman as a HE Ranger? I'm worried I'll run out of arrows at some point and be severely handicapped.

[Pete Mack]

As you say, avoid using arrows. Magic Missile can help against weak monsters, and once you do find MB2, you can use lightning bolt to clean out whole halls full of orcs or trolls at once. (In Ironman, this is definitely worth while--once you reach dl 10, you should start killing lots of orcs in hopes of MB2. Oh. Right. Without MB2, you can use wands of light, magic missile and melee.)

[Sirridan]

If you find ammo that Pseduo's as {excellent} save it! The damage you can do with it is obscene.

mb3 will be one of your most important books due to satisfy hunger, make sure you keep more than a few!

Let items pseudo in your bag before you use them. Don't make my mistake and put on some stuff to pseudo it, only to find out that you put on Gorlim... heh.