Priest endgame hints?

[Adam]

Hello, after half a year i picked up Angband again - this time trying to win with a priest.
Character dump is at http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=20873
I have mostly mage experience but to be honest my priest seems to be weak when it comes to killing things. The problem is probably that I play like a mage - blink and orbs. This was due to the fact that till about DL80 I only had +1 base speed so I did not really want to let monsters near me
I could take a visit to Sauron but I'm hesitant. I do not have Wrath of God and my melee weapon also does not look like endgame quality (even if I max out dex, only ~280/turn).
I know that hanging around to collect consumables and gear may be more dangerous than facing the bosses - but still, is orb a viable strategy against the bosses? Or should I go for a better weapon? I do have a few acid arrows + holy might bolts but far from enough. The lack of mban also makes me worry.
Any comments on changing my gear is also welcome.
I do have 2 extra rules for myself: not using glyphs and not tunneling asc to prevent summons. Those make the game much less interesting for me.
I'm still on 4.0.3, though i'm not sure if that makes a difference.

[wobbly]

You can orb the final bosses. I'd be a little unhappy about the lack of rpoison but perhaps it's ok. By mban you mean mass banishment? My priest win never used it, but then again I had about 5 destruction staves.

[Thraalbee]

I would feel underprepared for the final fight considering you are not using glyphs. Still it seems doable at this is point. Personnaly, I would keep doing L98 a while first but as you mentioned this may lead to yasd too. Also I'd get rPoison even if I'd have sacrifice speed before the end game.

[Adam]

Thanks. I do have rPoison as a swap Robe of Elvenkind on the armor slot, I would lose rDis with the change. If I choose Himring I would also gain rChaos.
Currently I prefer Celeborn for the free banish.
Using a ring slot for rPoison seems to be a waste to me.
Finding a trickery and use Amrod for regen could also be an option probably (that would also cover my rNexus hole but I would lose some sustains - but if I do not melee the bosses that's not a problem).
I thought Mass Banishment will be needed because there are too many summoner uniques alive - in such situations even my mages do use mass banish scrolls. Good to hear that you don't find it necessary
This is my first priest in the deep zone so I have really no experience what to expect. I know that for killing Ungolianth I needed 2 mana potions and she did not summon anything so the final 2 must be much harder.

[Derakon]

Wrath of God has Banish Evil, which teleports away all evil monsters in line-of-sight. So it's completely unlike the other Banish effects, but it's still amazing. Wrath of God also has Word of Destruction, so you can teleport Morgoth away and then blow up his summons. Between the two of those, you'll have great panic buttons for the final fight. All you really need beyond that is a good stock of Restore Mana potions, and Orb of Draining. It's a very slow, but safe fight. To the extent that fighting Morgoth can be considered safe anyway.

Wands of Annihilation are also a decent source of damage for priests, though your recharging spell isn't as good as the mage recharging spell (and is thus more liable to blow up the wands).

[Pete Mack]

A. Find a top-notch melee weapon.
B. Don't plan to rely onBanish Evil vs M.it purely sucks when there are earthquakes everywhere. Mass Banishment is a lot more reliable.

[Derakon]

B. Don't plan to rely onBanish Evil vs M.it purely sucks when there are earthquakes everywhere. Mass Banishment is a lot more reliable.

Mass Banish is more reliable, sure, but priests can't cast it, so your only option for it is scrolls. Banish Evil is just as reliable as Teleport Other (assuming that you get it to 0% fail of course). Just don't be tempted into assuming that it'll grab everything nearby.

[Patashu]

I did Morgoth as a dwarf priest a while ago and basically as long as you're carefully it's a safe fight. Key points:

1) As long as you're Speed 30+ and have all the important resistances (rBase + rPois, rBlind/rConf, frAct, sustains if you want to melee) you can't take more than 600 damage from one enemy in one turn. Make sure to not get double moved on the turn you dip below 30 speed if you're using potions of speed to get above it. Also, bring ESP if you can, and if not detect whenever you're not sure where Morgoth is, his awareness is super good even through walls.

2) As a result of 1), if you're in range of only Morgoth (or only one scary enemy) and you're below 600 health, always spend the turn healing to above 600 health.

3) If you're in range of Morgoth and one or more other scary enemies, and they could feasibly kill you in one turn from your current health, instead of healing consider one of the following options:

3a) Phase Door (or even teleport) away (especially if you're in an area created by *Destruction*, which you should strongly consider doing, as it means breaking LoS is super easy). Morgoth is fast and will reach you before anyone else, and won't summon anything else unless he can see you. (Note that if you've recently used Teleport Away on scary things, and then use Teleport, you are likely to land near them!)

3b) Use Teleport Away on either Morgoth or the single other scary enemy.

3c) Use Banishment/Mass Banishment to get rid of every scary non-Morgoth.

4) Pay attention to when your mana is running low. Use Restore Mana and don't get caught with your pants down.

5) For actually KILLING Morgoth you have a variety of choices depending on your mood: Orb of Draining, melee (if you find a good weapon), ranged (bow/crossbow with good ammo), Wands of Annihilation. If you pick something besides melee, look up hockey stick techniques, but note that some of them don't work or are harder to set up due to Morgoth being able to eat walls. What you actually use is up to personal preference, as long as you have the resources. I used melee.

6) If you totally screw up and need to retry, use Teleport Level to get away from Morgoth, or *Destruction* to despawn him.

7) Oh, and don't cast anything that isn't 0% fail by mistake. (If it's not 0% fail, check your WIS stat, and check if you're stunned or not. If you are stunned, drink !ccw or bigger potion which is guaranteed to fix stun and heal you.)

[wobbly]

As a side note some of those resists aren't strictly necessary as you have a 100% save. As long as your wisdom is sustained, you won't for instance need rconf.

[Sideways]

Can't Morgoth do more than 600 damage in melee in freak circumstances?

(If Morgoth's first shatter attack hits you, there's an earthquake, you are pummeled with debris, there are no safe grids, you take extra damage, because there are no safe grids you are not pushed away and therefore Morgoth can keep attacking you... and his second shatter attack hits you, you get pummeled with debris, there are no safe grids and you take extra damage again.)

[PowerWyrm]

Can't Morgoth do more than 600 damage in melee in freak circumstances?

(If Morgoth's first shatter attack hits you, there's an earthquake, you are pummeled with debris, there are no safe grids, you take extra damage, because there are no safe grids you are not pushed away and therefore Morgoth can keep attacking you... and his second shatter attack hits you, you get pummeled with debris, there are no safe grids and you take extra damage again.)

Yes, if you're extremely unlucky, Morgoth lands his two 20d10 shattering attacks for 20x10+300=500 damage, and you're down if you have less than 1k hps (not mentioning the third 10d12 attack that could also hit).

[Pete Mack]

Does he actually get a second blow in the case of a max damage SHATTER attack? I thought the roof falling stops the melee cycle. That still allows 10d10*2+300

[Sideways]

From my look at the code, it's not the roof falling that stops the melee, it's the player being pushed to a different square; and the extra 300 damage is contingent on there not being any safe square to push the player to, so the melee won't stop.

IIRC, one of my winners did actually survive suffering ~750 melee damage from Morgoth in one (non-double) turn of melee; though that was in an earlier version (3.5.1), so the relevant code might have changed since then.

[Adam]

Thanks for all the hints!
It was too tempting to go for the low turncount so i gave it a go and Sauron's summons killed me. Stupid of me, I did not realize that a Bile Demon (poison breather) was summoned so I did not switch... I can blame only myself.
Maybe next time

[Patashu]

Ok, that's some useful information - I didn't know Morgoth melee could hit above 600 damage. I guess I got lucky in my own win then!