Lagduf, the Snaga - First enounter

[Odsoc]

So I bumped into this character for the first time yesterday and, together with his henchmen, tore me to pieces. What should I be equipped with in order to safely deal with him?

[Estie]

A potion of speed. Tactic: hit him, move back 1 square while he follows, hit him, move back and so on.

This tactic works with most early uniques; however, Lagduf is among the weakest and if you wait just a bit longer, a few levels, a magic dagger and rings of reckless attacks enable you to straight up melee him.

In any case, you shouldnt die to him, if he proves to be too strong, just read a scroll of phase door, drink a potion of cure light wounds and make your way to the next stairs.

[Odsoc]

Thanks.

No, I had real trouble with him. I only managed to hit and damage him once. I think I became cornered by his henchmen.

[krazyhades]

If possible when fighting a group of melee monsters, it's best to try and pick a fight in a hallway or otherwise in terrain where only 1 of them can hit you at a time. Taking hits from two, three, or eight monsters at once (say) is a lot harder to heal through, plus the range of possible damage to take in a turn is greater so a sufficiently unlucky turn worth of suffered damage rolls on attacks taken is more likely to take you out.

[Derakon]

krazyhades is right: you should always be trying to set things up so that you're only taking attacks from at most 1 enemy at a time, preferably 0. Every class should be carrying scrolls of Phase Door (though mages and priests can eventually ditch them once their spell hits 0% fail and they have a surfeit of SP) so they can avoid melee. Indeed they're so important that Phase Door is one of the items I make sure to buy at the start of the game.

Most orcs are also vulnerable to the Spear of Light effect (from the corresponding mage spell or from Wands/Rods of Light). It does 6d8 damage and pierces targets; aiming it down a long corridor full of orcs can do a lot of damage!

[Pete Mack]

All of above are right. Minimum kit for going into the dungeon the first time is:
6 ?phase door
6 !Cure light wounds
1 ? recall
1 ! Heroism
2 food
2 torches (1 of them in use)

If you're a warrior, you should have at least three blows with a main gauche, dagger, rapier, or (in desperation) whip. You should be doing around 15 damage per turn, when the strength bonus is factored in.

You can also have around 20AC with miscellaneous cheap armor (leather armor and shield, metal cap iron shod boots for example.)

Obviously, in later trips you'll be improving this kit, so you'll have more and better curing potions and 10+ phase door scrolls. If you run out of either, it's time to recall home.

And DON'T fight lagduf without doing ~30+ damage per turn in melee. For (almost) all uniques, if you can't kill him without exhausting your consumables, it's not worth fighting him.

[Derakon]

And DON'T fight lagduf without doing ~30+ damage per turn in melee. For (almost) all uniques, if you can't kill him without exhausting your consumables, it's not worth fighting him.

Eh, these hard-and-fast "don't do X unless Y" rules can often be bent or broken if you play smart. The main thing with the orc uniques is that they hit hard in melee and have a lot of health. There are absolutely ways to fight them that downplay that. As was suggested by Estie, a potion of Speed makes the fight more or less trivial; so does Phase Door + a missile weapon or, better, a Wand of Magic Missile if you can get Lagduf away from his pals. A Wand of Wonder can take off most of his HP in a single shot if you get lucky -- just be ready with an escape (or a new character) if you end up hasting him instead.

If all else fails, since he has no ranged attacks, you can always just run...

[wobbly]

Alternatively a wand of light will make short work of his companions when enough ?phase & a way to fight him at range will take him down fairly easily.

[Pete Mack]

@Derakon--
I wouldn't waste !speed on lagduf unless there were no other option. I agree about archery: it's a valuable tactic.

[Odsoc]

Thanks everyone, will bear this in mind. On my way down to him now.

[Philip]

I don't think anyone has mentioned not fighting him as a strategy yet. Of course, if he's already found you, then it might be a bit difficult to manage. For Mages and Priests, detection can help avoid that. Other classes might not have the sp available for that. If you don't have useful detection, then stealth can often help you avoid a fight.

The main reason I mention this is that while many early uniques are fight-able with experience and skill (Bullroarer, for example, is nasty, but ?Phase and oil takes him down pretty well), the main experience and skill to learn is that not everything is there to be fought, and you should always be able to run away, since eventually you will have to. Frequently.

[Odsoc]

Good point I guess, but he did hit first. Now that I am delving even deeper I should play a little more carefully and not just confront everyone.

[Pete Mack]

Re Bullroarer: oil, ? phase door, and ! heroism. For early uniques especially, buffing can make a huge difference for classes with poor melee skills.