Advice for a cl43 Warrior?

[Casio]

I've played on and off (mostly off!) since 1996, and I've never gotten this far. At this point I've made it down as far as dl54 and can readily handle nearly everything I encounter, except for poison breathers -- really need that resist.

Any advice for me? Should I be diving deeper? Am I using the right gear? Any words of wisdom and/or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Character dump: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12152

Thanks in advance.

[Casio]

Some more questions:

* Should I be using Calris? Have gotten it up to -2 to hit. How bad is the aggravate effect?

* I'm still a little hazy on how stats work -- what is the numeric equivalent of 18/***? How do you know how far away you are from it? (E.g. it would be a shame to use a +4 stat item when a +1 stat item with more desirable other effects would also get you to 18/***.)

* There are *so many* so-called excellent items, I'm tempted to squelch them. But would I run the risk of missing something truly great that way? I wish there were more gradations of {ego}.

* What consumables should I be hoarding for the end game? Have started saving !Heal/!*Heal, !Speed, ?Phase Door, ?Banishment, and ?*Destruction* (haven't found any plain ?Destructions, oddly -- assuming there is such a thing.) Do I need all of those? Is there something I'm missing? Is that Staff of Power useful, or is 120 damage too measly to make a difference?

More to come (unless I slip up and get myself breathed on too hard) and thanks again.

[Estie]

You want 18/200 con for maximum hit points. Str/dex you are maxed, rest of stats doesnt matter for a warrior.

I wouldnt use Calris as main weapon, because it aggravates, but consider carrying it as a switch for res disenchantment and dragon pits.

If you go to the objects menu by pressing ~, you get to see all the items you have seen sofar. There among the weapons are Scythe of Slicing, Mace of Destruction and Blade of Chaos. You can, in that menu, tell the game to inscribe those three with !k (which means "dont kill"). They are the 3 best weapon types which can have endgame quality with the right ego. That done, you can safely squelch all non artifact weapons.

You can do something similar with body armours, but you probably havent seen the best dragon armours yet. Some are so rare that they dont appear in every game. If you decide to still squelch ego armours, keep an eye out for purple "[".

Consumables: keep all those you listed, but phase door scrolls are sold regularly in town. Destruction without "*" doesnt exist; maybe earthquake would be this (and btw, you can squelch earthquake staffs; no scrolls of earthquake exist, but diggers who can proc the effect, however its not something I find useful). Staff of power -> squelch.

You dont need rods of curing. Instead, keep a sizeable amount of ccw potions (30+). drinking them cures everything the rod would, also heals a bit and most importantly has no chance of failure. Things of curing -> squelch.

From your armours, I would probably use Rohirrim. Resistance to sound and confusion beats nexus when stats are maxed.

Good luck

[Derakon]

18/*** is equivalent to 18/220. Some stats effectively max out at 18/200 instead -- you don't get any more benefit from the last two points. CON is an example.

Aggravation basically means that you will never see an asleep monster. As soon as you get within a fairly large radius of a monster, it will wake up. There's a number of quite powerful artifacts that are "balanced" by giving them aggravation -- so it can be a good idea for the endgame fights to wear many such items, since aggravation doesn't stack.

If you squelch {excellent} but not {splendid} weapons, I don't think you'll miss out on anything useful. The top-tier ego to look out for is "of Fury", which gives extra attacks. Something like a Blade of Chaos of Slay Evil could also be useful, and would be squelched, but if you mark the top three weapons (Blade of Chaos, Scythe of Slicing, Mace of Disruption) with "!k" as Estie suggested, then they won't be squelched.

Consumables-wise, I carry some !Healing with me for general use (and particularly for taking down the nastier uniques). !*Healing* (and !Life, if you find any) are for the endgame. But usually your best way to heal is to use ?Phase to create some distance and get out of line of sight, then chug Cure Critical Wounds potions. At 60HP apiece they can help you recover quickly so long as you aren't being actively attacked, and they're readily available in stores. Just watch out that you don't overeat.

[Starhawk]

Great advice already given -- although I find a use for Staves of Power around your level... they are very useful for clearing out giant or dragon pits. Fight your way into the doorway, then trigger off three or four bursts from the staff. Rejoice and go sort through the loot.

But, I do think you should be deeper, killing uniques as best you can and searching for endgame loot.

[Casio]

Thanks, everyone. Very helpful!

I'm now cLvl 45 and have gone down to dLvl 59. Have killed 59 out of 60 uniques known -- somehow I encountered Shelob without realizing it, it appears. Still using Eorlingas, though am swapping with Calris as appropriate. I also found a Golden Crown of Lordliness with Hold Life that I swap on to fight exp drainers, but it doesn't seem to be 100% resist -- is that right?

How deep do you think I should be venturing? Is there a level range to just quickly dive past? My current strategy is slow and steady, descending on bleh-feeling levels, but otherwise clearing, and recalling back to the same one.

Oh, and just found the Star of Elendil -- is it me or is the Phial's "A" more useful?

[Casio]

Ack, went down to dLvl 60 and found both Fundin and Saruman there. The level feeling is "Terribly Dangerous, yet there aren't many treasures." Should I just leave it alone?

[Estie]

For a warrior, the illumination is more useful; everyone else casts the cheap light spell. I usually collect rods of illumination for post phial times, but the star is probably not worth switching to, though later lightsources may be.

Edit: yes to leaving that level

[Timo Pietilä]

I've played on and off (mostly off!) since 1996, and I've never gotten this far. At this point I've made it down as far as dl54 and can readily handle nearly everything I encounter, except for poison breathers -- really need that resist.

Any advice for me? Should I be diving deeper? Am I using the right gear? Any words of wisdom and/or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Character dump: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12152

Wield Avavir and use Himring. You gain +1 speed and resist poison and nether. Maybe also Cambeleg instead of Fingolfin to counter loss of STR.

[Casio]

Thanks again everyone. I've updated my character dump:

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12150

Proceeding apace, found a bunch of amulets which each have their merits. Inventory management is becoming a real issue.

Am also starting to dive more quickly; I hope to be hitting the 70s soon.

[Casio]

And woohoo! Just found Celeborn from a Great Storm Wyrm at 3250'! And look, there's a sleeping Sauron over there.

EDIT: Shouldn't Sauron at 3250' cause more than an "anxious" feeling?

[debo]

Ummm... I'm pretty sure Sauron is only supposed to appear on 4950'...

[Casio]

Ummm... I'm pretty sure Sauron is only supposed to appear on 4950'...

Oops, rookie mistake. It was the Mouth of Sauron. I panicked and fled down a level, and now I'm getting an "Omens of Death" feeling. Love this game!

[Casio]

Omens of Death indeed. It was a CRAZY level, with lots of OODs but no uniques. I thought it would be fun to try and take it on as best I could, since there was an excellent treasure feeling. I'd finally decided to recall out, when a black reaver caught up with me. I was meleeing him fine, and then a dreadmaster showed up. Sudden Mana Storm (that's what that "storm of raw magic" was) dropped me to 43 HPs. I should've used a !*healing* or the mass banishment, but I didn't think straight and just used my staff of teleportation.

Lo and behold, teleported right on top of an eye druj I had TO'd earlier, and he nether bolted me to kingdom come.

Maybe next time!

death dump: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12150&ok

[Timo Pietilä]

Omens of Death indeed. ...when a black reaver caught up with me. I was meleeing him fine, and then a dreadmaster showed up.... eye druj

Graveyard?

Sounds like it. Those are the most dangerous thing into dungeon.