Yet Another Endgame Advce Thread

[bio_hazard]

It took FOREVER for Kelek's to drop- finally got it just now from a remarkably easy graveyard.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18236

Also starting to get a decent stack of consumables for the end-game- could probably use more *Healing* still.

how important are staves of *Destruction* now that I have Kelek's? Worth keeping?

I'm trying to decide whether to stick with the fire immunity randart armor or switch to the dwarven balance dragon armor- so far it seems like a wash since I'd likely need to switch out the dwarven shield for elfikind to cover rFire and I wouldn't gain any con. Also, I'd hate to lose telepathy and need to keep the helm instead of the amulet because trickery is giving me rPois. I have randart fire immunity boots at home but I don't have enough speed to switch out my current boots, and I'm really loving the +4 stealth which is probably worth the 1 point of speed compared to the +10 basic speed boots.

I feel like I'm pretty close to maxed out on available egos- so hopefully the last 3 CLs won't be totally devoid of randarts. I've seen quite a few but they seem less common now. Next game I'll definitely fire up 4.0.3

[brbrbr]

how important are staves of *Destruction* now that I have Kelek's? Worth keeping?

Not for endgame. It has charges, they can be drained by monsters to heal.
Scrolls of *Destruction* are better. People ditch away any staves for endgame.

Also, if you are going to use bow or magic for killing Morgoth, you will need distance, lot of free space. Destruction ruins free space. In my final Ranger battle I didn't use Destruction at all.

[Carnivean]

I'm trying to decide whether to stick with the fire immunity ... rFire ... rPois.

Keep in mid that neither Sauron or Morgoth have any elemental attacks.

[Zikke]

I generally keep a stack of depleted stack of Staves of the Magi that I can charge up and burn through for mana between Morgoth teleports. Very helpful if I run out of !RestoreMana or want to save them to quaff during fights. I make sure to spend all charges by the time he gets back to me (which is usually only about 2 or 3 charges anyway).

[bio_hazard]

Wow- I'm definitely not ready for Morgoth- Maeglin almost ended this run real quick. Cute trick hollowing out the walls around my runes then filling it with purple guys.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Wow- I'm definitely not ready for Morgoth- Maeglin almost ended this run real quick. Cute trick hollowing out the walls around my runes then filling it with purple guys.

Maeglin is sometimes called the "mini-Morgoth" precisely because of his tunneling and summoning.

[Timo Pietilä]

Keep in mid that neither Sauron or Morgoth have any elemental attacks.

Sauron has fire ball, nether ball and darkness storm (and bunch of unresistable ball and bolt spells).

Darkness storm equals manastorm in power unless you have resistance.

Morgoth does have nether ball too, but at that depth damage from that is so small that you are happy he doesn't use any other spells from his arsenal.

I have a feeling that original intent for deep monster nether ball was that it equals darkness storm or at least rivals high-element breath weapons. Maybe we should have a bit stronger version of that spell.

IMO there should be "storm" versions of ball spells for pretty much all elements.

[Bogatyr]

It took FOREVER for Kelek's to drop- finally got it just now from a remarkably easy graveyard.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18236

Also starting to get a decent stack of consumables for the end-game- could probably use more *Healing* still.

how important are staves of *Destruction* now that I have Kelek's? Worth keeping?

I'm trying to decide whether to stick with the fire immunity randart armor or switch to the dwarven balance dragon armor- so far it seems like a wash since I'd likely need to switch out the dwarven shield for elfikind to cover rFire and I wouldn't gain any con. Also, I'd hate to lose telepathy and need to keep the helm instead of the amulet because trickery is giving me rPois. I have randart fire immunity boots at home but I don't have enough speed to switch out my current boots, and I'm really loving the +4 stealth which is probably worth the 1 point of speed compared to the +10 basic speed boots.

I feel like I'm pretty close to maxed out on available egos- so hopefully the last 3 CLs won't be totally devoid of randarts. I've seen quite a few but they seem less common now. Next game I'll definitely fire up 4.0.3

Even with Kelek's, keeping a Destruction item can be handy as an escape if you fail a save vs. mental attacks like amnesia which temporarily boost your spell fail rate really high which can be fatal for a mage. Scrolls are better as others have noted. Fire immunity is not useful for the final fight.

[Nick]

IMO there should be "storm" versions of ball spells for pretty much all elements.

I rather like the way Oangband does this, where the ball/storm spells get more powerful and sometimes additional effects the more powerful the caster.

[Timo Pietilä]

I rather like the way Oangband does this, where the ball/storm spells get more powerful and sometimes additional effects the more powerful the caster.

I'm talking about monster spells. Player spells should be more flexible, but there should be some sort of predictability for monster spells where effects don't vary too much.

[PowerWyrm]

IMO there should be "storm" versions of ball spells for pretty much all elements.

It's called "breath"
Morgoth could breathe nether instead of casting a ball, that would make him way more dangerous.

[Timo Pietilä]

It's called "breath"
Morgoth could breathe nether instead of casting a ball, that would make him way more dangerous.

I prefer spells for spellcasters. Not affected by HP you could give "weak" sorcerer a really hurting spell.

Darkness storm and Manastorm have same equation. No other spell comes even close to those two in damage.

[Nick]

I'm talking about monster spells. Player spells should be more flexible, but there should be some sort of predictability for monster spells where effects don't vary too much.

I was talking about monster spells too. So for example darkness storm in O has larger radius and greater damage (and more impressive messages) the more powerful the caster.

Two things to note:

1. Monsters are given a spell power, which is used where level is used in V. This gives more control over how powerful you want a caster to be
2. Some monsters (powerful undead, Sauron, Morgoth) get the MORGUL_MAGIC flag, which means their dark attacks may have other effects including:
   • Paralysis from fear
   • Poison
   • Experience drain
   • Disenchantment (of objects, or removing player buffs)
   • Amnesia
   • Black breath (constant experience drain until it's removed)

I'm not saying we necessarily should do all those things, but this sort of thing allows more progression later in the dungeon and diversity in the monster list.

[bio_hazard]

Rats- took some shards to the face fighting Huan, down to -1HP. So close! I was starting to get a little too comfortable after taking out a lot of other high tier uniques with very little trouble. He would have put me up to CL50. Still- my best char so far.