Artifact Weapons for Priests

[Tregonsee]

I have played Priests most of my time in Angband (3.09b). I usually get a good Holy Avenger weapon, and then wonder what artifact weapon I should get next.

In most cases, they do not cover the holes I would make by leaving the HA, especially the See Invisible and fear resistance, or are totally inappropriate for a Priest.

So what should I be looking for? I currently in this game have a HA Short Sword (1d6) (+11, +13) [+4] (+2)

[Timo Pietilä]

I have played Priests most of my time in Angband (3.09b).

So what should I be looking for? I currently in this game have a HA Short Sword (1d6) (+11, +13) [+4] (+2)

HA Short Sword (1d6) (+11, +13) [+4] (+4)?

[Derakon]

By my reckoning there are 26 priest-friendly (either hafted or blessed) artifacts in the base game:

73:'Glamdring'
74:'Aeglin'
75:'Orcrist'
82:'Ringil'
83:'Anduril'
95:'Osondir'
97:'Aeglos'
98f Orome
99:'Nimloth'
102f Eonwe
107f Wrath
108f Ulmo
122:'Turmil'
111:'Grond'
112:'Totila'
113:'Thunderfist'
114:'Bloodspike'
115:'Firestar'
116:'Taratol'
117f Aule
118:'Nar-i-vagil'
119:'Eriril'
120f Olorin
121:'Deathwreaker'
123f Gothmog
132f Fundin Bluecloak

Of these, some recognizable stand-outs are:

Ringil: duh!
Aeglos: good damage, slays evil, gives WIS/DEX bonuses.
Eonwe: +2 all stats, cold immunity, big damage
Taratol: electricity immunity
Aule: gigantic damage (18d1 + 21!), slays damned near everything
Deathwreaker: one of the legendary uber-artifacts

[Timo Pietilä]

By my reckoning there are 26 priest-friendly (either hafted or blessed) artifacts in the base game:

In addition to that list look out any high-dice HA/extra blows weapons.

Also that failure % penalty doesn't really matter much at the clvl 50, so you can just plain use the best weapon you find.

[PowerDiver]

So what should I be looking for?

You really shouldn't be "looking for" anything. See if you can use what you find.

It is quite likely that at various points in the game your best weapon choice will be one with a pointy penalty. Don't discard pointy objects just because they are pointy, unless you have something else that is nearly as good that has no penalty.

[Tregonsee]

Well, now I do have Totila, but only to switch to when I need rConfusion. My HA short sword still seems better, or am I missing something?

[Derakon]

Depends on what you want from your weapon. Totila probably has better damage, but the HA weapon has See Invisible and the wisdom boost.

[Thraalbee]

I mainly attack with the spells Orb of Draining, Dispel Undead, Dispel Evil, Holy word plus rarely the crossbow. This means light weapons with +3 or +4 wisdom and useful resists or speed boost are my favourites. Melee damage is less important once your mana points has become adequate.

I avoid heavy weapons since you need high Str and Dex to get full number of attacks with those and I prefer Wisdom and Con before Dex. I did use a very heavy random artifact Mace of Disruption with +3 attacks for a while but although damage output was great (845 per round against undead) having to use items to get max Str & Dex and not getting much else useful from the weapon made me leave it at home.

Another thing on Priest attacks - did you know you can attack monsters out of line of sight with Orb of Draining? This is *very* useful against druj and hounds which you don't want to face. You set a target on e.g. a corridor corner by pressing * and then the arrow keys for position and then the t key. Then cast the spell with the sequence p3b5 where 5 is the set target. The orb hurts also in a few spaces close to the target. (This works best with no monster in sight, targetting defaults to closest monster)

[Tregonsee]

I do use indirect targeting for my OODs, thanks for mentioning it for others.

Here is a dump: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=11100

I get three blows with the HA short sword vs. 2 with Totila, so I do not know
which I do more damage with. Of course I still like the HA better because of the increased spell points and possibly better spell failure rate, but is my rationale sound?

[Derakon]

You can 'I'nspect the weapon to see how much damage you'd deal with it. Totila almost certainly does more damage because of its higher enchantment and bigger dice (which translates into more effect from its slays and brands). At this point it comes down to how badly you need See Invisible (remember you have a spell that grants temporary SI in your third spellbook) and how reliant you are on melee vs. spells. I can't answer that for you.

[Siggesigge]

You can 'I'nspect the weapon to see how much damage you'd deal with it. Totila almost certainly does more damage because of its higher enchantment and bigger dice (which translates into more effect from its slays and brands). At this point it comes down to how badly you need See Invisible (remember you have a spell that grants temporary SI in your third spellbook) and how reliant you are on melee vs. spells. I can't answer that for you.

This wasn't implemented in 3.0.9b though, to my knowledge. Is there any reason in particular you're playing an old version, OP? There have been massive UI improvements in the later versions which I would miss immensely if I played an older version again. Assuming all blows hit and my math being correct, this is how much damage each weapon should do:

HA Small Sword:
3 * ((3 * 3.5) + 18) = 85.5 avg. dmg/round VS demons and undead.
3 * ((2 * 3.5) + 18) = 75 avg. dmg/round VS evil creatures.
3 * (3.5 + 18) = 64,5 avg. dmg/round VS others

Totila:
2 * ((3 * 10.5) + 13) = 89 avg. dmg/round VS creatures not resistant to fire.
2 * ((2 * 10.5) + 13) = 68 avg. dmg/round VS evil creatures.
2 * (10.5 + 13) = 47 avg. dmg/round VS others.

So damage wise the Small Sword actually beats Totila except in the cases where the fire brand applies. This will probably change shortly though, when your stats get higher and you get more blows.

The question really is whether you need rConf or sInvis most at the moment. You can get by without neither for at least a while longer with good detection or usage of the spell Derakon mentioned. Personally I would probably choose the Small Sword and keep an eye open for confusers. They don't really become a major problem until a bit deeper in the dungeon.

[Tregonsee]

Thanks for the analysis. I am using 3.09b because I started using that with a download from rephial, and it was the oldest stable version at the time. I plan to try 3.20 after this character wins or dies (the quiver sounds like a great improvement).

Since I have Godly Insights, I use Detection a bit. I have been surprised, but after getting confused, switched to Totila so I would not get confused again and wait the first section out. I hope to get Thengel or the artifact helm with ESP before I go down much further.

[Derakon]

You should be carrying Cure Critical Wounds potions (purchasable at the temple) so you don't have to wait out status ailments. If you get confused, switch to Totila and chug a potion and you'll be back in action that much faster.

If you absolutely cannot take the two turns needed to clear your confusion, carry a Staff of Teleport; it can be used (albeit with an increased failure rate) even when confused.