New player. Am I doing it right?

[Timo Pietilä]

As for that crossbow, you're correct: rangers only get extra shots with shortbows and longbows. But they "only" get +2 extra shots, so a Heavy Crossbow of Extra Shots (+2) will match a high-level ranger's output just fine.

I don't recall seeing more than one extra shots on a xbow (unless randart). Buckland slings have that fairly often though.

In fact checking at ego_item.txt it can't have more than one extra shot:

L:1:0:SHOTS

Buckland has

L:d2:1:SHOTS
L:d2:1:MIGHT

So you might get +2 to both making that x4 two extra shot sling.

[Skebet]

Hi. So after you all advised that speed is king, the RNG gods apparently listened. Ringil (+10), Cubragol (+10) and two Rings of Speed (+8 each) dropped in fairly short order.

That took me up to +40 Speed unbuffed and +50 with the Speed spell.

So in my continuing newbitude, the next question is: Is there a point where I should stop stacking Speed? For instance, I could swap one of my Speed rings for a Resist Poison ring (currently unresisted), a +5 CON ring (adding +133 hp) or a Ring of Slaying (+17, +7).

In general, I'm feeling comfortable at the moment. Saruman went down without much trouble. What should I be looking out for next? (clvl 38, dlvl 50)

Full character link: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17208

Thanks again for all the help.

[Nick]

Speed has diminishing returns after +26, and the fastest monster is +30, so +40 unhasted is probably overkill.

As a ranger you get bonus shots with regular bows but not crossbows, so I'd be looking for a nice replacement for Cubragol.

[Skebet]

As a ranger you get bonus shots with regular bows but not crossbows, so I'd be looking for a nice replacement for Cubragol.

Yup I actually had been using Heavy Crossbow of Extra Shots until now, so maybe i'll go back to that until I find a good regular bow.

[mushroom patch]

Uh.. you probably don't want to do that. The point is that you want a good bow, not another crossbow which will be strictly worse than Cubragol. As long as you don't have a good bow option, you should use Cubragol and switch out speed rings, both of them, for useful replacements. Poison resistance would make sense if don't feel confident avoiding big poison breathers and the constitution and slaying rings would also be good options.

Your loot situation seems very good. I would suggest that you start thinking about killing Sauron and Morgoth. Make sure you're collecting *heal* potions, maybe life potions, banishment/mass banishment scrolls, and other top tier consumables for that fight. There's no point hanging around middling depths anymore. I would proceed to level 98 and scum/level until you feel ready to win.

[In fact, after looking at your dump, I would say you have an endgame character already. I suggest that you scum for consumables, get up to maybe 15 *heals*, and gain some levels killing Us. If I were you, I would forget about finding a good bow and make a decision to melee Sauron and Morgoth with Ringil, wearing Cubragol for extra speed to free up your ring slots. You should be able to find a couple damage rings with good pluses to round out your damage dealing capabilities. I would recommended switching from your Dwarf amulet to a Weaponmastery for disenchant resistance and a bit of plus to damage. It would be nice to 1.) get your AC closer to 200 by replacing Hithlomir (not too critical though) and 2.) find a source of sustain int and maybe str. If you've got life potions, that's a decent substitute for sustain str, but if you plan to cast teleport other (which you should), you'll probably want sustain int. This character should easily stomp Sauron and Morgoth once you've got your hp up to 800 or 900 with only minor adjustments to your current equipment setup.]