Any tips for a newbie?

[robbiodobbio]

Shield of Thorin or shield of Celegorm?

[robbiodobbio]

Rob--it's easier to read the character dump if you post it to the ladder.

Ok, will do. I just killed Smaug! He was surprisingly easy, I've got speed +16 now so he never even got close enough to touch me. He breathed a couple of times but with the resist spell (INT is up to 15 now) it didn't do too much.

I've picked up some new stuff now, gonna post on the ladder.

So should I wear the crown of Gondor but carry the ESP helm, or swap them out for battle?

[Pete Mack]

Drop Holhenneth. Gondor is strictly better. Drop the *thancs and Maedros. They are for early characters only. Barrukheled is your best weapon, for sure. Drop the MoD. Gloves of Slaying are junk.
Ring of Dex is worthless. You can only ever really need 18/150.
I'd say use helm of ESP. That's something you don't want to do without. That and Barrukheled.

[Pete Mack]

Rob--it's easier to read the character dump if you post it to the ladder.

[robbiodobbio]

Just killed Medusa and Scatha the Worm, I've got an artefact bonanza on my hands. Dunno what to wear! Any suggestions?

[robbiodobbio]

It got burnt by a fire hound, along with my banishment scroll

[Pete Mack]

When you would otherwise die. It's an excellent guaranteed escape. Eventually you will want to stash some of them (and the two banishment scrolls and possibly Rune) for the final fight.

[Derakon]

Just found a scroll of *Destruction* is that the one that wrecks a big chunk of the level? When is it best to use it?

Yes, it is. Use it when you're in a situation where you have no other safe escapes; it's almost an ideal panic button. You can't use it when blind or confused (hence the "almost"), but otherwise it'll buy you at least 10 turns of safety and probably a lot more. In addition to wrecking the level, it will delete all monsters and items in the area of effect -- they're completely gone from the level (but not marked as killed, in the case of uniques).

If you never encounter a panic situation, they're still useful in the final fight, where you can use them to delete Morgoth's summons, after having teleported Morgoth away -- he can be deleted by the effect just like any other unique.

[robbiodobbio]

Just found a scroll of *Destruction* is that the one that wrecks a big chunk of the level? When is it best to use it?

[robbiodobbio]

Fly, you fool!

Beautiful, just beautiful.

I'm gonna take that advice.

[Pete Mack]

I don't generally kill it til much later. He hits to burn and drain charges, so he is hell on equipment. Once you get Tenser's spell brand ammo and a good bow (and especially fire immunity), he is an easy kill.

[Bogatyr]

I'm on the same level as the Balrog of Moria!

Can it one-hit kill me? Should I take it on? Or leave him be?

Fly, you fool!

[robbiodobbio]

I'm on the same level as the Balrog of Moria!

Can it one-hit kill me? Should I take it on? Or leave him be?

[Estie]

As a general rule, use the weapon that you deal the most damage with. The only case when you want to use Westernesse is when it allows you to equip +damage gloves instead of free action or such.

When examining a heavy weapon like MoD, look at the blows/turn; if they are significantly lower than your alternative weapons, that will probabyl be alleviated once you get more str/dex. Estimate what the MoD will do with 5 blows/round, then decide if you want to keep it based on that.

[robbiodobbio]

Ok, great, cheers.

Got another one, I've got this 40lb Mace of Disruption that does 450 damage to undead but only 180 to other monsters (less than my artefact battle axe) should I carry it around and swap it in whenever I fight undead?

I'm amassing quite a collection of weapons of Westernesse that although they don't do as much damage as my battle axe, do give some nice stat boosts and other resistances like paralysis. What to do.

Gear juggling is tough.