How important is rConf?

[Sirridan]

So, Valwe is coming along nicely Valwe. Anyway, I saw a bronze DSM in the black market for 60k, since my money is way over that, I picked it up. If I put it on, I gain rconf, but lose rShards, 3 speed, and 1 blow.

Is rConf worth losing that? Just hit dlvl 50. I'm thinking it just might be, a long string of confusion, especially if something is faster than I, could ruin my day.

[Nightmarjoo]

The warrior I was running before my current character died to a lesser titan for lack of res_confu. The first time I had vision of the titan was after he had already hit me once, confusing me. He came out of no where. I had +8 speed I think. Everytime I tried to heal to remove confusion, he hit me everytime, never giving me a break to teleport without confusion, and the few times I tried teleporting while confused failed.

I would keep rConfu, even if it means dropping a blow and 3 speed. You'll get the blow back soon enough, at this point you're just diving and looking for easy targets, good drops, and vaults, where there's not much large-scale fighting, and a lot more teleporting other. Shards isn't a big deal at all imo, it's easy to avoid things that breathe shards, and harder to avoid things that can cast confusion or hit to confuse. Keeping it as a swap is silly imo, because it takes the same amount of turns to teleport something away, teleport you away, and switch your armour.

[Sirridan]

The warrior I was running before my current character died to a lesser titan for lack of res_confu. The first time I had vision of the titan was after he had already hit me once, confusing me. He came out of no where. I had +8 speed I think. Everytime I tried to heal to remove confusion, he hit me everytime, never giving me a break to teleport without confusion, and the few times I tried teleporting while confused failed.

The same thing happened to me almost exactly... bad memories. So yeah, got on Valwe and switched armors out before I left for class just to make sure I didn't forget.

[Hariolor]

It's always better to just have the resist if possible. That being said, one tactic I've used with some success is to always have potions of speed handy. If you get blindsided by something that confuses you (trap, breath, spell, etc), drinking the potion of speed *immediately* will often give you an extra turn or two to quaff a potion or use a staff and then boogey on out of there.

[fizzix]

If I didn't have rconf at that level I probably would be very careful to avoid any monsters with confusion abilities.

Unfortunately that takes out most of the juicy monsters, like ancient dragons. (they're not likely to confuse you twice in a row though, so it's probably ok) However, I also play *scared* I think most players aren't as gutless as I am.

[Therem Harth]

rconf is very important, because saving throw alone isn't good enough, especially at high levels. Confusion/Chaos breath anyone?

[Djabanete]

Once you get into the midgame, lack of confusion resistance can be quite dangerous. At depth 50, I'd go to great lengths to make sure I had it. If you don't resist confusion, monsters that shouldn't be dangerous can be lethal, and it's also quite possible to get into an irreversibly bad situation (for example with Titans, as described above). I find it a lot easier to avoid powerful shards breathers (the only really dangerous ones I can think of are the Great Crystal Drakes) than to avoid monsters that can confuse you --- they're everywhere! I would definitely wear the Bronze DSM and lose a bit of speed, if I were you.

[Sirridan]

Once you get into the midgame, lack of confusion resistance can be quite dangerous. At depth 50, I'd go to great lengths to make sure I had it. If you don't resist confusion, monsters that shouldn't be dangerous can be lethal, and it's also quite possible to get into an irreversibly bad situation (for example with Titans, as described above). I find it a lot easier to avoid powerful shards breathers (the only really dangerous ones I can think of are the Great Crystal Drakes) than to avoid monsters that can confuse you --- they're everywhere! I would definitely wear the Bronze DSM and lose a bit of speed, if I were you.

Yeah, the funny thing is, if I had the extra 3 speed, I may have not been double moved by the fire drake and killed by fire breaths, but then again, oh well. What can I do? Of course, if I had not gone back to switch my gear, I would have had a completely different level, which makes that point moot, lol. In any case, blah.

[tummychow]

I remember I once summoned a Night Mare at character level 30 (I have a bad habit of reading summon scrolls and triggering traps for experience, as a slow-leveling high elf).
It was horrifying. It confused the heck out of me and then repeatedly drained my experience (Even with hold life, it racks up when you can't attack your opponent effectively). Whenever I got close to recovering, it would somehow decide to confuse me again. In the process, it also whacked me several times. I got closer to death than I have ever been at that level, so I'd keep the rconf. One blow is valuable, but you are reaching the point where stat gain potions come in handy. (If you're desperate to get the blow back, you can scum the black market. I did that for most of my stat gains.) 3 speed doesn't make that much diff unless it's adding to at least 5 current speed.
Losing shard resistance is bad in my opinion, because earth hounds can really rack up the cuts. However, cuts are not as bad as confusion (ever so slightly). In addition, shard res is (as I find) easier to get than conf res.

[Sirridan]

I remember I once summoned a Night Mare at character level 30 (I have a bad habit of reading summon scrolls and triggering traps for experience, as a slow-leveling high elf).
It was horrifying. It confused the heck out of me and then repeatedly drained my experience (Even with hold life, it racks up when you can't attack your opponent effectively). Whenever I got close to recovering, it would somehow decide to confuse me again. In the process, it also whacked me several times. I got closer to death than I have ever been at that level, so I'd keep the rconf. One blow is valuable, but you are reaching the point where stat gain potions come in handy. (If you're desperate to get the blow back, you can scum the black market. I did that for most of my stat gains.) 3 speed doesn't make that much diff unless it's adding to at least 5 current speed.
Losing shard resistance is bad in my opinion, because earth hounds can really rack up the cuts. However, cuts are not as bad as confusion (ever so slightly). In addition, shard res is (as I find) easier to get than conf res.

Shards hurt though in the end game, 500/breath and some of the big baddies do it. But it doesn't leave you confused, so you can still escape. I figure once you start hitting depths where Nightmares are common (the first confuser by attack monster I believe) it's time to have it. Titans are especially bad with this, since they can teleport you to them then proceed to put the confusing beat down.

And once you get passed 10 speed or a few hundred hp (400ish?) earth hounds become another joke hound.

[tummychow]

Even some of the insects can confuse by attack. (However they are not too dangerous so nothing much to worry about.)
Besides, there's a critical difference between shards and confusion. In shards, you still have complete control. You can always run or heal. Confusion? It's not always so simple. Magic is impossible in confusion, I think (too confused to remember lol), and you can't steer. Besides, once you start getting into deeper levels you get enough speed to avoid getting hit several times by shards before responding, meaning the cuts can't stack up as easily as they can with troublesome earth hounds (I once met a bunch in a corridor and got breathed on 5-10 at a time. Got a nasty or severe cut in about three to four turns. However, you aren't likely to bump into serious enemies that can both blast shards and appear in groups (and are dangerous). The only such case is earth hounds.