Any tips for a newbie?

[Pete Mack]

@rob-
Yeah there are a number of monsters that just aren't worth fighting, notably Tarrasque, top nonunique demons, black reavers, night crawlers, and Balance wyrms (although with a suitable slay weapon like Doomcaller, those calculations change. Obviously you can take down any dragon easily with that.)

Otherwise:
Use more archery
Use !CCW for stamina fights like dragon and Maia pits
Use full buff spells (Hero, berserk, haste, elemental protection and shield)

Pillar dancing and LOS abuse other than what you can get for free just are too much trouble except for very weak characters.

[Pete Mack]

= will take you to option menu. Q will take you to quality squelch menu.

[robbiodobbio]

How do I switch on the auto-discard (magical) items thing?

[Bogatyr]

Well there are a lot of strategies for using less or no healing potions. If you have teleport away, then just fight until you can't take another hit or two, and TO the monster, heal up, and repeat. As long as you heal faster than the monster, you'll make progress. This can be slow going against opponents who hit hard.

You could use hockey stick corridors (asymmetrical LoS) if you have distance attacks, or pillar dancing if you're fast enough (even only marginally faster, but you must get the move rhythm down perfectly, and sometimes it's an alternating # of moves). If you execute these perfectly, your opponent will never get any attacks on you at all. Doing that for a whole game (as I did for my first several mage wins) for all tough opponents gets sort of boring, though, after a while. You also need a large supply of stone to mud, or a high tunneling ability, to set up an advantageous set of hockey sticks so you can phase door in between them.

[robbiodobbio]

Ok, gonna keep diving, don't seem to be finding enough healing potions, is it worth just trying to avoid fighting completely and just try to stock up on potions? At the moment I'm finding a few but having to use them almost straight away,

[Pete Mack]

You are good to go, especially with Doomcaller. I might swap Evenstar+Nenya for Carlammas/Dwarves+Damage, but it's a matter of taste (or simply Evenstar for Weaponmastery.) Vs Sauron, Evenstar is probably better because of Darkness Storm attack. But not vs. Morgoth.
Edit: Didn't realize Glaive of Pain was as good as Doomcaller vs. Evil. Go ahead and use it. Don't forget full buff with Tenser's: Not only an increase in to_hit, but in damage as well for big-dice weapons.

[robbiodobbio]

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19694

[robbiodobbio]

Managed to clear out a greater vault, accidentally equipped "Doomcaller" and everyone went for me but managed to ride it out.

Found a new ring of speed +12, up to +20 Fast unhasted now.

How many uniques are there? I'm finding at least 3 or 4 on every level now, killing them pretty quickly, just wondering if they're going to start thinning out soon.

Still no artefact bow so far, holding out for something better than my crossbow of extra shots.

Everyone's always talking about the pillar dance technique, anyone care to explain?

[Derakon]

Don't put Doomcaller on near a pit or vault unless you are in a position to fight them all in a row.

Nitpick: monsters in pits are always awake. Otherwise this is excellent advice.

[Carnivean]

One more thing, just found some deep descent scrolls, currently on dl73, good idea or not?

There's not a lot of difference between 73 and 98 in terms of danger, but in terms of loot, 98 wins hands down. Head down there, avoid dangerous situations that could get out of hand, and enjoy the extra loot.

Don't put Doomcaller on near a pit or vault unless you are in a position to fight them all in a row.

[robbiodobbio]

Took a deep descent down to the 80s and it's a whole different ballgame down here, so many stat drainers.

I've got ring of Barahir which gives +1 to everything so I get more HP and SP and an extra blow with the Glaive of Pain but overall damage is lower with less blows than with my +12 damage ring. Which is better?

[Pete Mack]

Rob--just looked at the ladder. That char is strong enough for Sauron if you use "Trickery and Doomcaller. (Use spell to offset armor penalty.) You really need a better speed ring. They are native to dl 75 so one should turn up if you just start going down stairs.

[Pete Mack]

Doomcaller is a good weapon. Would probably not use it for just wandering around. Would certainly use it against big uniques and bosses. If you can kill Ungoliant, you can kill Sauron. She has more HP. (You will probably want to use an anti summoning corridor)

Deep descent is a fine idea. Get down to dl 99 and win. You can use create stairs too.

[robbiodobbio]

One more thing, just found some deep descent scrolls, currently on dl73, good idea or not?

[robbiodobbio]

Glaurung also met his maker, he was surprisingly easy, Ungoliant on the other hand, that was a looong battle, used all my potions, I was down to about 200HP and she still had 2 red blobs but I kept my nerve and she ran away so lit her up with bolts of flame.

Also found Tensers Transformations, it's full of all the enchantment spells! Is there a catch here? Is my glaive of pain just going to explode if I try to enchant the s*** out of it myself?