Problems with Unique monsters

[Kulana]

Monsters like smeagol and wormtongue kick my ass no matter what I do. I was fighting smeagol on c.lvl 12 d.lvl 8 I think and he still beat me. Wormtongue did the same thing, same c.lvl and maybe d.lvl 9?

Playing a mage, and still pretty new to the game, they both just shrug off most of my spells, and I'll have them down to maybe 1/2 if I'm lucky and I run out of SP.

Any help telling me what I'm doing wrong would be great.

[Philip]

What you are doing wrong is fighting smeagol, who is tough and steals and then gets away unless you blink a lot, and wormtongue, who is tough, steals and has deadly spells.
My warriors do not fight wormtongue unless they have superb gear or are clevel 15 or so. By then i kill him deeper and my chance for a good item are much better. Smeagol is not worth fighting unless you have no money or you can kill him fast. The drops can be nice, but not worth dying or being chased off a level many gp lighter.

[Magnate]

What you are doing wrong is fighting smeagol, who is tough and steals and then gets away unless you blink a lot, and wormtongue, who is tough, steals and has deadly spells.
My warriors do not fight wormtongue unless they have superb gear or are clevel 15 or so. By then i kill him deeper and my chance for a good item are much better. Smeagol is not worth fighting unless you have no money or you can kill him fast. The drops can be nice, but not worth dying or being chased off a level many gp lighter.

I tend to leave both until I end up killing them by accident, bumping into them around a corner somewhere around 3000'. They are definitely not worth taking on in any kind of fair fight.

[Pete Mack]

1. If you intend to fight rather than run, especially vs uniques, play a fighting ass. (warrior, paladin, ranger)
2. Don't fight monsters with lots of hp until you can do real damage. (With an enchanted longbow, or with multiple blows with an enchanted weapon.)

even a mage can take out wormtongue easily with a (+7) damage or better longbow. If you don't have that, your best hope is a wand of wonder and good luck.

[Nick]

play a fighting ass.

...and here's use number 1 for an iPhone keyboard.

[Nightmarjoo]

Wands of wonder will always haste wormtongue on the first shot, I've found. Was a fast fight when the wand used sound wave once. I had another earthquake, allowing him to heal as I ran around the level trying to find a path to him (couldn't tunnel through the tiny wall).

Best way to fight both is to just have a very high ac so that their steal_gold attacks miss and you can keep hitting them over and over.

[dhegler]

Monsters like smeagol and wormtongue kick my ass no matter what I do. I was fighting smeagol on c.lvl 12 d.lvl 8 I think and he still beat me. Wormtongue did the same thing, same c.lvl and maybe d.lvl 9?

Playing a mage, and still pretty new to the game, they both just shrug off most of my spells, and I'll have them down to maybe 1/2 if I'm lucky and I run out of SP.

Any help telling me what I'm doing wrong would be great.

I've found Smeagol on dlvl 3 and killed him with a sling and shots from a distance. It takes a little bit of time and you need to find him when he blinks so he doesn't heal too quick, but if you go after him with missile weapons and phase door as a mage, it shouldn't be that bad... And, who cares if he steals your gold once and a while... You'll get it back when you kill him. As a mage, I would find the first legitimate missile launcher and ammo and always carry it. Slings worked best for me since they were light, easily found and didn't slow me down.

In my current rogue, I haven't even found wormtongue yet at dlvl 30, unless I killed him and didn't notice...

[Derakon]

I generally try to kill Wormtongue when I see him. Granted it's been awhile since I played a V mage, but it sounds to me like you should have some secondary sources of damage with you -- either missile launchers or wands. Chug a potion of Speed and have some Phase Door scrolls with you (you should always carry both with you) and you won't need to worry about Wormtongue's steal attack or his create-traps attack (just don't move except by Phase Door after he casts it). Then it's just a matter of shooting him down before his frost bolts and stinking clouds kill you.

As for Smeagol, he's generally not worth it until you get a source of See Invisible, particularly if your infravision is weak.

[joelsanda]

I just defeated Smeagol at 400' with my 12th level High Elf Ranger. That's about as big a deal, I suppose, as tying my shoes at 43 years old. But I've never made it this deep nor have I ever had a character make it this far. But he's been harassing me since 300', so this is what I had when I just killed him:

AC 28
Longbow +2/+3
Arrows +7/+3
Wand of Magic Missiles

I kept pelting him with my enchanted arrows, which he kept picking up. Once I burned through all 25 of them I hit him with seven magic missiles and that was it.

Prior to this I had a very poor AC +/- 13 and no enchanted arrows. The arrows made the difference, I think, and I only lost three that were broken.

[Arphod]

Any help telling me what I'm doing wrong would be great.

My advice is intended for v3.0.9b

Smeagol:

don't.


Wormtongue is pretty easy:

With mage, 3 potions of speed, 2 potions of resist cold, 5 potions of cure crit, a longbow enchanted to +8+8, some arrows at +5+5, and scrolls of phase door. Maybe a wand of stinking cloud for back-up. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and when he gets beside you, phase door. Rinse, repeat. Fight him in a large room, after making sure there's nobody else around to interrupt you. Don't use mana to attack him. Watch for traps. I routinely kill him at character level 10 or 11. It's the last thing I do before diving to 1600 (stat-gain).

As a side note, all the consumables you need for the fight you should have picked up in your exploration of the dungeon before 500ft, except the !ccw. You should save what you need for the Worm fight by planning ahead for it.

With warrior/paladin/ranger/rogue, potions of speed. Hit him, step, hit him, step, hit him, step. Done. Assuming you have a very light weapon at +8+8 and 2 to 4 blows/round. Bow/crossbow works beautifully as well. You know what? Always have a long bow or a crossbow at +8+8, no matter who you are.

I don't play priests.

Merry Chrismahannaquanzicas.

[Hariolor]

Not sure why people insist on shooting arrows at wormtongue.

A half-decent mage should be able to off him with a couple rounds of acid balls.

As for smeagol - I'm in the "wait for later" camp. His drops suck lately, anyway, so it's not worth the effort.

I do, however, get a perverse pleasure out of buying a ton of !oil until I'm penniless, and then chasing him around DL3, dousing him. It can work, if you're patient.

[Derakon]

In my experience, you won't have access to acid balls when you run into Wormtongue. If you do, you're playing a heck of a lot more cautiously than I do (and, I suspect, than the normal player does). Later on, yes, but usually when I first encounter him my highest-level attack spell is a frost bolt, IIRC.

[Hariolor]

Well, I never suggested trying to kill him the first time I see him, not with a mage anyway.

Then again, I play my mages like mages, not rangers (probably why they die so much), so I am *very* cautious with them. Hence having acid reliably by the time I am serious about challenging wormy.

[Philip]

My advice is intended for v3.0.9b


Wormtongue is pretty easy:

With mage, 3 potions of speed, 2 potions of resist cold, 5 potions of cure crit, a longbow enchanted to +8+8, some arrows at +5+5, and scrolls of phase door. Maybe a wand of stinking cloud for back-up.

3 potions of speed are better used later for when you need to be faster than Ancalagon to kill him.

[Tobias]

3 potions of speed are better used later for when you need to be faster than Ancalagon to kill him.

A mage that can't cast Haste when she meets Ancalagon has bigger problems.

For a Mage, with the cheaper spells now:
Run away from any unique until you have Firebolt. Then Bolt him till he gets close then m1c and repeat.
Run away from any caster/breather until you have the correct resistance. Then bolt him from without moving (especially if he casts traps).
Run away from any resist all guy until you can meteor smash him ( or find a good bow).

don't forget that with some +speed (like 2 rings of escaping)and Regen you get spellpoints faster then most guys regen hp.

For later: Rift and some mana restoreer can chow through almost everything.

I have been playing my current mage as a pure mage. http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=9707
Have killed only half a dozen uniques and some multi hued dragons with arrows.
Pay attention to when I killed Smeagol.