YASD 3.3.0, need advice

[biini]

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=15622

Hello!

I've been grinding and shamelesly store/level scumming, since I got hit by nexus hound ambush at 1100'. Basically I was left with very pretty and intelligent HT-Priest but with zero Con and Wis. Also, it took me forever to find Free Action item.

Anyways, after couple of weeks I've found some useful items and got some wis and con potions and I think I'm ready to dive deeper. Any advices what I should be looking for and what to avoid? I think I can go as deep as 1750' without poison resistance (was instantly killed at that depth by ood greater basilisk last time), anything else I need before that?

Also, is there major changes in Artifact generation system since 3.0.2, I've seen only that Phial I'm wearing. I recall earlier versions throwing daggers and lesser armor every now and then below 1000'. I have randarts on.

[Timo Pietilä]

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=15622

If you find a good RoSTR I think combo HA + Lordliness would be more useful. Lack of DEX really hurts. You are actually having -1 DEX now, so to get even to +-0 situation (actual 3 DEX) you need +4 and only after that it starts to affect. I think game is not counting that, so you need +11 DEX to get any added blows with your melee-weapons: 3 -> 10 DEX is +7 DEX, and I think that is kind of threshold where DEX starts to affect anything to blows

Your STR however is OK. +18/170 -> 18/220 STR increases your melee-damage by six points, so compared to your RoDam +9 that's only three point loss in damage/blow and you gain more blows. So RoSTR +5 would be really nice about now.

Your current equipment is good for at least 1750'. Even if playing safe you should go at least two levels down, because 1500' is where stat-potions become native depth items. I hope you have not been long at 1400'.

[Timo Pietilä]

BTW YASD means "Yet Another Stupid Death". You want YACD which is ...Character Dump.

[Thraalbee]

Lack of rPoison is not fun but you have FreeAction - never loose that! - and rAcidElecFireCold too which is important unless you know what you do. As long as you keep using -detection and detect monster *a lot* you should be ok at this depth. Avoid nexus and poison breathers. Be very careful with uniques you don't know you can kill and at all cost, avoid Kavlax! If you see him ("d") just ?tele level or do whatever you are sure will take you far away from him. You need much better gear before you can fight Kavlax. Drolems ("g" if I recall correct) equals death until you have rPoision, they are not that frequent but cold blooded so won't show up on infravision. Many headed hydrae can be quite painful too, some breathe poison and 9+ heads are *very* tough at this point of the game.

Still, I'd try to go closer to L40 to get better yield on stat gain potions - you need quite a few !dex and !wis potions. Also I'd check the shops for =rPoison, I often get one from the BM. If you do, just swap one of the =damage. You could also look for !resist poison, these are useful until you get rPoison but won't save you from a drolem surprise breath from out of sight.

I'd use the xbow and orb of draining as much as possible to kill, but your melee is much better than expected with effective Dex 3. Heavier weapons are probably less useful until dex is up (or not?)

Since you don't have rConfusion you should make sure to have 10+ cure serious/critical wounds at any time. If not, recall and resupply. Or you can bring a _teleportation which you can use even when confused but not with 0% fail rate so if confused and out of cure/heal, teleport *before* you are critically low on hp - you may have to try more than once.

As you probably already have noticed, speed is a life saver *and* makes you able to kill much faster. Soon you'll start to find items with speed boosts. But the deeper, the better chance to find really good speed items. Until then, save some !speed for emergencies. Eventually you'll need to be at 30+ speed for an entire fight. Also buy all !speed and _speed you can in the shops and ?recharging when available. Footwear can give 10+ speed but usually you first find items that give +1 to +3 which together will help a lot. Rings can get very high speed boosts but more than +12 is not very common, at least not until you are way deeper down.

GLHF!

[biini]

BTW YASD means "Yet Another Stupid Death". You want YACD which is ...Character Dump.

Haha, naturally :-)
Thanks for the advices, I'll keep on exploring the dungeon a bit deeper.
Eventually this thread will match the topic :-)


E: ALLMOST struck gold. ?Aquirement ... gave me Lead Filled Mace of Slay Undead (4d3) (+6,+5) :-)

[biini]

I ran into Mim, Betrayer of Durin and teleported away. When it is safe to kill it? I remember him disenchanting gear, so I guess speed + bow + ood would be the way to go? I have rDisen in my main weapon, but I guess that wont help much?

[Derakon]

If you have resistance to disenchantment, then his melee attacks can't harm your gear. He's still a pretty tough foe though. But yeah, phase door + ranged weaponry is the way to take down basically all of the pre-2000' uniques, since they largely lack effective ranged weaponry.

[biini]

Thanks, I'll try to find him again. Actually I cleared a small vault and got some nice stuff so I guess I'm ready for him now :-) Also found a very decent bow, a Heavy Crossbow of Extra Might (x5) (+9,+20) <+1>

[biini]

Finally found =rPoison, now I guess I can go safely a bit deeper :-) Dump updated also

[fizzix]

Yup, feel free to dive quite a bit. With poison resist and 550 HP, you can take out almost everything for quite a while. The one thing to look out for are monsters that hit to confuse. Nightmares are the earliest ones, you'll want to avoid those. Once you get both rconf and rblind, ditch the staves of teleport and carry scrolls instead. Keep an eye out for those in the black market.

[biini]

Does resistances add up in 3.3.0? So is it any use to wear two rPoison thingies? How much will resistance to something cut damage on breathers?

[Derakon]

Permanent resistances do not stack. Having a permanent resistance in combination with a temporary resistance does stack, though. So wear something that gives you poison resistance, and drink a Potion of Resist Poison (or cast Resist Poison, Resistance, etc.), and the damage you take from poison attacks will be cut by 1/3rd twice, so you only take 1/9th normal damage. The same holds true for the base elements (acid, fire, electricity, cold).

The "high" elements can only be single-resisted, and the amount of damage reduction you get is dependent on the element and may in fact be randomized. And the damage caps are also dependent on the element (e.g. nether is 550 while light and darkness are 400). For the ones with randomized damage reduction, I believe you take anywhere from 1/7th to 6/7ths normal damage.

[krazyhades]

Wait, darkness resistance doesn't protect against darkness storms? Ungoliant can use darkness for 400 or darkness storm for 475.

[Derakon]

Oh, sorry, the damage caps I quoted are for breath attacks. Spells ignore damage caps, since their damage is calculated based on a more sane number (the monster's level, not its current HP).

[biini]

TYVM, when I should start worrying about Light and Dark resistances? Everything else expect those and sound are now covered.