Playing High-Elf Rogue, can I get some tips?

[Knight]

So I started a new char (my fourth or fifth High-Elf rogue) a few weeks ago with the idea that I would try to beat Angband. I've done a pretty good job of it so far with the new char, named Lord Teluin II (dump). I hit dlvl 86 and I'm clvl 46, so I'm doing pretty decent, I think. I've got no_sell and rand_arts turned on for for the first time ever because I got bored of lugging all my useless same-old same-old artifact daggers back to the store, and that's been pretty fun so far. I've got some great speed boosting artifacts (I walk around with a permanent +23 speed and a temp speed of +33), some absolutely great activations (activating my cap removes all non-uniques within 20 squares of me and my Arkenstone reveals the map on activation) and the most powerful artifact weapon I've ever seen*.

I've got all the base resists covered, except for rPois, which I cover by spamcasting Resistance. That's not going to work, obviously, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a source of rPois. I've also killed almost all the uniques I've met (79/84 so far) but a few are worrying me, specifically Glaurung, Father of the Dragons, The Witch-King of Angmar, and Feagwath the Undead sorcerer. Any tips on them? Ungoliant went down after a tough battle and the Mouth of Sauron nearly killed me several times before he went down too. Atlas the Titan went down without touching me once, but Polyphemus was a pain in the hindquarters. I hate his destruct-upon-hit power.

So, anybody have any comments/tips? Is there anything I should have before hitting dlvls > 90? Also, what does having multiple resists to a single element do?

*My epic weapon:

The Mace 'Imogrie' (6d4) (+13,+14) [+7] <+2>
Dropped by a Nightwing at 3050 feet (level 61).

+2 attack speed.
*Slays* undead.
Branded with flames.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis.

Combat info:
7.0 blows/round.
Average damage/round: 693 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 924
vs. undead, and 462 vs. others.

[Estie]

Res poison is a big hole which I would fill at almost all costs, for example by using a ring instead of that damage ring. With your weapon, you can do very well without the damage ring anyway.

While that mace is awesome, it is not well suited for the end fight. You can find weapons with more damage to evil rather easily, and if you havent beaten the game before, I suggest you wait till you find such a one. That and make sure you have your physical stats sustained. I would keep killing uniques (should be easy with the mace) and see what turns up. Other than the aforementioned poison res, you are fine for any depth.

Multiple resists from equipment do nothing. What does help though is a buff from spell or device on top of a resistance from items; in that situation, damage gets reduced further. So using your resist spell before engaging anything that dose elemental base or poison damage is very very worthwhile.

One more thing: you are probably using your adamantite plate for its AC; while that is nice to have, consider other armour options with lower AC. For example, a green dragon scale mail would be preferable.

[Knight]

Why isn't it well suited to the end fight? Because it only does like 462 damage to monsters resistant to fire (as I assume M is)?

Oh, so multiple equipment resists do nothing? That's great to know, means I can start replacing some of my stuff I kept around for the extra resists only. :]

Why do you say the extra AC isn't that useful? I mean, higher AC = more blows avoided, right? So why isn't that very useful? I'll keep an eye out for GDSM though.

Thanks a lot for the tips! That's really helpful to know.

[ghengiz]

Why isn't it well suited to the end fight? Because it only does like 462 damage to monsters resistant to fire (as I assume M is)?

Oh, so multiple equipment resists do nothing? That's great to know, means I can start replacing some of my stuff I kept around for the extra resists only. :]

Why do you say the extra AC isn't that useful? I mean, higher AC = more blows avoided, right? So why isn't that very useful? I'll keep an eye out for GDSM though.

Thanks a lot for the tips! That's really helpful to know.

more AC is never bad, of course, but Estie probably means that sometime it can be useful to trade AC for some other bonus provided by a piece of equipment, for example ESP or speed, or to cover more resists. It really depends on what you do have and on what you are fighting against.

[Knight]

Ah, right, of course. Thanks!

[Estie]

Why isn't it well suited to the end fight? Because it only does like 462 damage to monsters resistant to fire (as I assume M is)?

Oh, so multiple equipment resists do nothing? That's great to know, means I can start replacing some of my stuff I kept around for the extra resists only. :]

Why do you say the extra AC isn't that useful? I mean, higher AC = more blows avoided, right? So why isn't that very useful? I'll keep an eye out for GDSM though.

Thanks a lot for the tips! That's really helpful to know.

Yes, 462 damage is not stellar against Sauron/Morgoth. And what ghengiz said; getting hit a bit more often is very preferable to eating big poison breaths.

[Derakon]

I'd be happy with 462 damage/round, personally. I mean, sure it's not the most damage you could deal, but it's enough. The main thing about Morgoth is having enough consumables on hand.

[Estie]

Yes that kindof damage is enough, but the fight will last disproportionally longer the less damage you do. Seeing as he hasnt fought M before, I suggest for him to wait a bit for a better weapon to pop up (which shouldnt take long).

[Knight]

Hmm, yeah, I'll wait for a better weapon to pop up. I updated my dump on the ladder. I got a GDSM, so that's all good. I'm pretty happy with the amount of consumables I have, too. I'm going to drop off a few at my house so I don't risk losing them.

How strong is Glaurung, Father of Dragons? Should I risk taking him on with my current character? Thanks again for all the help!

Oh, had a scare. The Tarrasque took me down to 315 health in one turn earlier: how'd he do that? Mana storm? I freaked and ran and didn't check the messages before they left my buffer.

Finally, I found a glitch. I searched, disarmed, opened, and began checking out the loot from this chest. Then it attacked me, being a chest mimic. 0.0 I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but it said something like "The large wooden chest {empty} {squelch} is really a monster!" and attacked me. Glitch, no?

[Derakon]

You should be able to page back in the message buffer. The Tarrasque can breathe fire, cold, or disenchantment. With only single resists, fire and cold top out at 533 damage. Disenchantment does 400 unresisted. The Tarrasque is also very fast and breathes on average every other turn, so it's very easy to get double-breathed by him if you're at less than +20 speed.

[Starhawk]

I'd be happy with 462 damage/round, personally. I mean, sure it's not the most damage you could deal, but it's enough. The main thing about Morgoth is having enough consumables on hand.

Seconded. My only winner (a warrior) was doing damage somewhere in the 450-500 range.

[Philip]

In case you don't want to be hit in melee by a monster(polyphemus, atlas, and troll uniques come to mind), shootn'scoot or shootn'phase is as valid late game as it is in levels 1-10.
Otherwise, don't go as deep as you are comfortable with, go deeper. You have good detection, should have failsafe escapes(get !CCW, ?teleport, ?teleport level, _teleport, -teleport other if possible). Soon you will feel good there too, just don't try to kill everything and if stuff wakes up, get away from the level as soon as possible.(Gauntlets of Slaying, for example, are worthless if you are dead, so is saving a scroll of teleport level)
EDIT: You're a high-elf rogue, at clevel 30 you can handle dlevel 98. Now, I'd look for consumables, level up to 50, kill Sauron(watch out, he can deal 595 damage in one round if you have 20+ speed, 1190 if you have less. That means you have to have 20+ speed and always have over 595 hitpoints. If there are other dangerous monsters around get yourself away or you get them away.