The Official Bad Advice Thread

[K.I.L.E.R]

The only things you need to beat the game can be found in the general store.

I agree. I killed Morgoth with my starting weapon and no armor.

[Lachre]

So far, I haven't had the misfortune of getting any terrible advice, but I've made enough stupid mistakes on my own to learn a few things. After going through probably two dozen mages (I'm determined to get past level 10 or 12 with a gnome mage) I can say that quaffing unID'd potions probably has more to do with class (or current hp) than anything else. I've been killed twice by quaffing what turned out to be poison. Other than that, being blinded or confused, etc never bothered me since I never quaffed unID'd potions around monsters.

[Dragonboneman]

Wield Calris, then enchant it.

[Melchizedek]

In the early levels, make sure you take out any other monster in the room BEFORE killing the lice or fleas. They're just bugs, don't worry about them.

[Narvius]

Kill every unique you meet.

[Dragonboneman]

... at first meeting.

[Djabanete]

Man, I'm glad this thread got resurrected.

Secret method for making boots of speed:

Place boots on floor.
Place Ring of Speed on floor next to them.
Zap both with a wand of lightning balls, and say the magic words...

[Narvius]

In the beginning, spend all your money on weapon enchantments. You don't need healing and stuff when the enemy has no time to attack you!

[HallucinationMushroom]

If you're fighting a bunch of weaker monsters in a long corridor, just hold the arrow button down, letting the messages fly by, till they are all dead. It's very gratifying and totally safe.

[Djabanete]

If you're fighting a bunch of weaker monsters in a long corridor, just hold the arrow button down, letting the messages fly by, till they are all dead. It's very gratifying and totally safe.

I used to do that all the time, until one day there was a Great Wyrm of Balance on the other side.

[Patashu]

Don't bother looking at items on the ground before walking up to them. Death swords? What a ludicrous concept.

[Pete Mack]

elemental wyrms have good drops and EXP for the amount of danger they represent, so you should generally go out of your way to melée them if you have the appropriate resistance. Great Storm Wyrms are particularly good targets since they can't damage your spellbooks or escape scrolls and staffs.

[buzzkill]

I normally try to quaff potions with I'm very very slightly injured or poisoned, etc. You don't want to quaff a potion of poison when you're at 2 HP though.

or do you???

Personally like to save those scrolls of summoning for the deepest part of my dive. That way, I sure to get some good enemies to fight.

Also drop all means escape and healing, teleports, recall, potions, staffs. Keep only offensive items with you when entering battle. That why you won't have to worry about backpack space when gathering up the post-victry loot. (As an added bonus, if you should die, the monster that killed you won't know where to find your stuff, esp. if you drop it really far away.)

It's really to bad that you can't bury your gold, you know, to keep it safe.

Maybe I'm just not keen on your tougne and cheek houmor Big Al. But me's think'est you had best'st checketh thy thread title once again.

[buzzkill]

You should continue to stay in the fight with a big melee'ing monster like a Great Wyrm as long as you're winning. You'll probably kill it next round, and in the unlikely event that you don't, there's basically no chance it'll hit with *all* of its melee attacks. Or something else will join the fray. After all, this is your last chance to kill a Great Wyrm - and you know it's carrying a tasty Ring of Speed (+18).

I'm really really really really guilty of this. On practically every dungeon level I visit.

[Zikke]

Always remember that a unique monster's possible spell damage is always in-line with their race. Kavlax and Cantoras can breath/cast just as hard as a regular dragon/skeleton.

Furthermore, you can just assume what the monster is by looking at the letter representing it. If you start trying to target or [l]ook at it, the monster will know your hands are off the attack keys and go in for the kill!

Plus there's no chance that Shelob would be hiding in a group of spiders wearing her OWN color. That's just bad fashion.