Wormtongue and Smeagol

[steeg1234321]

Hey I keep running into Smeagol and I recently ran into Wormtongue. I found the latter on dlvl 10 and he robbed me of about 3k gold... I'd like to kick his ass but I can't find him. Any tips on how to find monsters that can blink like Smeagol and Wormtongue?

[steeg1234321]

UGH! I just found Smeagol again! I drank a potion of brute strength, hit him 6 times, got him down about 2 *'s and he robs me of 600 coins and runs... SOMEBODY HELP >=(

[Pete Mack]

Hey I keep running into Smeagol and I recently ran into Wormtongue. I found the latter on dlvl 10 and he robbed me of about 3k gold... I'd like to kick his ass but I can't find him. Any tips on how to find monsters that can blink like Smeagol and Wormtongue?

If you can't kill them fairly easily, ignore them and go onto the next level. Their drops get better the deeper you go. Basically, don't fight them if you can't do one of:

a) 30+ dam/turn melee, with a pretty high AC.
b) 20+ dam/turn archery, with sufficient phase door. For Wormtongue, some healing is likely to be needed.

!Heroism and ?Bless help with both AC and accuracy. They make a difference fighting these opponents.

It also helps to have some form of detection. (Detect Evil or Detect Monsters.)

[steeg1234321]

Thats depressing... I've been trying to kill smeagol for a long time and now wormtongue jacked ~3k gold... Well fine I'll get them later hopefully

[Pete Mack]

If you still have plenty of gold, buy +to_dam scrolls for your longbow. (Don't use a light XBow--they are too heavy for a starting character.)

It only takes +5 to_d to do 20 dam/turn. Also, if you are playing a character with decent STR (18+) and DEX, make sure to use the best weapon that has the most blows. That is often a main gauche. It is never your starting sword. A reasonable Warrior should be getting 3 blows. A very strong starting Warrior will get 4.

[roustk]

Hey I keep running into Smeagol and I recently ran into Wormtongue. I found the latter on dlvl 10 and he robbed me of about 3k gold... I'd like to kick his ass but I can't find him. Any tips on how to find monsters that can blink like Smeagol and Wormtongue?

For Smeagol in particular, you want to be able to See Invisible creatures (most likely with a potion), or have very long infravision (say 80'). Wormtongue is not invisible so this isn't an issue.

Then, you can use an enchanted longbow (or crossbow), average ammo, and a lot of phase door to blink around on them -- don't let them touch you and these two can't blink away. Note that Smeagol is faster than you, getting double moves even if you aren't overburdened.

There are several other creatures (variations on thieves) that can steal gold and blink away. And there are many creatures who can use either phase door or teleport themselves, so you will want to work on more general strategies for dealing with them. (Detect monsters is quite useful. Also, both Smeagol and Wormtongue are evil. Finally, if you ignore them for long enough, you will likely find highly enchanted weapons or armor with even better detection powers, although that may not happen until much deeper than 1000', level 20.)

One nasty surprise awaits you -- the gold that is stolen in this way is lost forever. If a monster picks up or takes an item, they will drop it when they die.

Kevin

[steeg1234321]

I was afraid of that... Oh well gold is only gold, and I can always make more of it... They just better drop something nice when I kill them lol

[Pete Mack]

I rarely have enough gold to take that kind of loss early in the game. I put essentially all my gold into:
1. CSW/CCW. Get 5 ASAP, then get up to 10+
2. Staff of Teleportation
3. Scrolls of +to_dam, up to +7. Then scrolls of +to_hit. Eventually both weapons will be (+7,+9) to (+9,+9)
4. Anything useful and affordable in the Black Market. Always buy Teleport Other, Teleport Level. Other valuable scrolls and potions if they show up.

Also, a stack of ?Phase Door, but that's cheap.

With that gear, you can go to 1000', no sweat. Even deeper, once you have Free Action. And you should.

[Anne]

Yep, I chased that Smeagol all around the dungeon, losing 6,000 gold in the process, figuring I'd get my money back. I don't remember what he dropped, but it was piddling. Lesson learned.

[Mondkalb]

Wormtongue usually drops nice stuff, if you can't use it you can still sell it.
Smeagol did use to drop something usefull too, but I have a feeling that his drops aren't worth chasing him anymore in 3.09.
In the beginning Smeagol is really annoying if he takes all your hard earned money. I try to leave the level as soon as possible if I met him too early to kill him.

[zaimoni]

For Smeagol in particular, you want to be able to See Invisible creatures (most likely with a potion), or have very long infravision (say 80'). Wormtongue is not invisible so this isn't an issue.

50' infravision (V dwarves) is adequate. I'm not sure how low the range has to be before you want See Invisible badly (Detect Evil burns mana way too fast to be convenient).

Then, you can use an enchanted longbow (or crossbow), average ammo, and a lot of phase door to blink around on them -- don't let them touch you and these two can't blink away. Note that Smeagol is faster than you, getting double moves even if you aren't overburdened.

Triple moves without a !Speed, although it may not be that obvious as Smeagol has very random movement. I would not use !Speed on Smeagol, however.

I usually avoid Smeagol until I have enchanted up a Death Bow (+7 damage). Most players are concerned about weight (or are playing Rangers), so I'd usually recommend enchanting a Long Bow for this purpose.

[roustk]

Triple moves without a !Speed, although it may not be that obvious as Smeagol has very random movement.

Zaimoni is right -- Smeagol is three times faster than normal. I said double (without checking) because I remembered that I have to PD if he is two spaces away: @..h

50' infravision (V dwarves) is adequate.

At 50' infravision, you can have this sequence and not be able to get a safe shot:
@..... (can't see Smeagol at 60' away, so stand)
@..h.. (finally can see him, so take a shot)
@..... (he steals gold and blinks away)

At 60' infravision, it always takes Smeagol two full turns before he can steal gold, so that you can take a shot and then PD. At 80' infravision, it often will take 3 turns, giving you two shots per PD. Going the other way, with 30' infravision you never have a safe shot.

80' is achievable for most races with a potion of Infravision (and average 5 safe shots for every 3 phase doors). Half-elves can reach 70', but Humans and Dunadan can only get 50' (2 shots for 3 PD).

Kevin
(Edit in red)

[steeg1234321]

Cool thanks! I'll remember that and start using ranged attacks more often lol.

[momo125]

If you really want to kill them early, I have a lot of luck with - of wonder. Not 100% but get 1 blast of dragon breath and you got them.
Also Smeagol seems to slow down a bit if you shoot him because he ends up running arround picking up ammo.

[Narvius]

Alternatively you may use -slow monster or !Speed.