Mage advice

[VeritasAequitas]

Im new to mages, they are a totally different way to what im used to playing (oogabooga, hit things with hammer oogabooga).

Thanks to an early potion of experience, ive actually stabilised fairly well in the mid levels.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=24176

The last few thousand turns ive been bouncing back and forth between dlvl 35-45 gathering consumables and stats.

However, im unsure as to how to proceed from here. I feel like i have no damage vs anybody who has elemental resists (ie, many nasties at this level). If you were this character right now, what would be your top priorities for gear.

Is there something you would absolutely want before you dive?
Am i overgeared for where i am?
Should i have found another spell book by now?
Is there any "oh my, how on earth are you even alive with this at this depth???" glaring holes in my gear?

Any advice is welcome

[Adam]

You have Theoden in your home. Telepathy is huge, I would use that weapon (you lose regen and 2 stealth). With ESP you can plan your moves and pick targets much easier.
I also like to carry at least one healing poition. At DL ~40 CCW is not always enough. Yes, it means it can be destroyed if I'm hit. But if it's at home it can't help me. It's too early to save them for the final fights.

[VeritasAequitas]

thanks, will bear it in mind next run.

Makar the warrior just came through the wall and literally one shot killed me on dlvl45...





edit: on that note, first time encountering him. i think this guy has to be the most nasty of nasties ive ever come across. i mean some you are expecting to get one shot by breath like smaug or whatever and you can prepare in advance, but he literally came from nowhere and brought the level down on my head...

[bughunter]

If you can see him coming, and stay out of melee range, Makar is a piece of cake. His sister, too.

That's why telepathy is your best friend, right up there with speed. Stealth is very helpful too. With those three combined, you can pick the who, when and where of every fight.

I like mages because of the early game challenge. A decent sling or bow is very helpful here so you don't have to spam MM at everything.

Mid and late game they become nigh unstoppable if you gear right:

- Speed (_Speed is nice; gear up to >=20 speed and use the staff for fights)
- Telepathy (A good helm with other bonuses is best; don't forget to use Reveal Monsters for things like vortices and Qthbbtfppblts.)
- Cover all your resists, seriously, all of them. And use Protection when you get it.

- Gather wands and books that give you total offense:

--Fire, Cold, Acid, Poison (the last becomes rather ineffective midgame so you can skip it)
--Drain Life and then later -Annihilation
--Dragon Flame, Dragon Frost

Carry spare books if they aren't fireproof.

A _Slow Monsters helps a LOT in midgame. For late game, only the wand really works on monsters that are real threats. Buff your speed, hit that U twice with -Slow, and then again every time it moves or acts. Between -Slow aims, hit it with the best ranged DPS you have against it. Don't give it more chances to summon more (or Breathe, or Blink) than you have to.

Carry a rod of Magic Mapping or two. Use it. Between that, Reveal Monsters and Treasure Detection, you have a poor mage's !Enlightenment.

For healing, I recommend keeping just one or two inventory slots full of potions, and carrying a _CLW. Use the staff between encounters, and spam it until you're topped off. Save the potions for combat.

You're gonna lose wands and staves to recharging. Keep spares.

If you've been playing fighters, then you'll need to learn to scoot & shoot, and how to use corners.

Also learn how to kite an undead into a clean area of a dungeon so your Acid Balls and Fire Breath don't destroy all the goodies on the floor.

I've gotten closest to winning with a Mage, but never won, so I'll let teh winnars give you final game advice. But getting close to endgame, I found a _Banishment essential with so many summoning opponents. Learn which mobs don't drop diddly squat so you can banish them from a pit without losing any drops. (Q, v, most s, Z, etc...)

I'm playing a Hobbit Rogue now, and it's beginning to look like it may be my first win; it plays a lot like a sneaky mage that (with the right weapon) can lay some melee hurt down if it needs to.

[Although I almost died to the Witch King and two other uniques last night. I knew I should have played a female...]

[bughunter]

ALSO: If you haven't read the LP Archives for Angband, I highly recommend it.

https://lparchive.org/Angband/

Scroll down to "Bryson" for his mage.

Informative, and fun to read!

[VeritasAequitas]

thanks for reply.
ill take a read of the link, looks entertaining

and yeah, i know that there is more nasty nasties, but its the first time ive had one come through the wall undetected, and kill me in a single turn

oh well, on to the next mage i guess...

[Sphara]

If you can see him coming, and stay out of melee range, Makar is a piece of cake. His sister, too.

Measse is a piece of cake? She breathes shards and sound about as hard as Huan, summons shit and heals herself. She's a legitimate endgame threat. Makar, however, can easily be kited if you can isolate him. He has no ranged attacks whatsoever.

Otherwise, good input bh.

[bughunter]

Measse is a piece of cake? She breathes shards and sound about as hard as Huan, summons shit and heals herself. She's a legitimate endgame threat. Makar, however, can easily be kited if you can isolate him. He has no ranged attacks whatsoever.

Otherwise, good input bh.

Hm. I guess the RNG nerfed her on the handful of times I've taken her down. She never did any of that (at least not any worth remembering) to my @s.

A shard breath I would have rememebered. It always seems to be the last resist I pick up.

She falls rather quickly to a -Annihilation, though, so she never got very many chances.

[Monkey Face]

To my mind, THE most important thing in the midgame for a mage is to get the first dungeon spell book (or first 2 if you're playing an older version with 9 spell books). That's where the big damage spells start to kick in.

[archolewa]

Makar, however, can easily be kited if you can isolate him. He has no ranged attacks whatsoever.

He is literally trivial with a Blackguard. Send him flying across the room with Forceful Blow, pepper him with arrows as he approaches, do it again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Great source of endgame artifacts.

Personally, I think he needs some Blackguard spells (like, oh, Leap into Battle)

If you *really* wanted to be nasty, give him Relentless Taunt. When active, players suffer the same side-effect as Bloodlust: they have a chance of meleeing Makar (or moving next to him) without the player's input so long as he is in LOS.

[bughunter]

If you *really* wanted to be nasty, give him Relentless Taunt. When active, players suffer the same side-effect as Bloodlust: they have a chance of meleeing Makar (or moving next to him) without the player's input so long as he is in LOS.

Interesting idea! If there was to be just one candidate for converting a unique into a Blackguard, it would be him...

He's never been a real challenge for any of my ranged combat @s, e.g., Ranger, Mage, Rogue, etc.

[VeritasAequitas]

alright, reviving this temporarily!

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=24212

this is the furthest ive ever gotten with a mage.

[x] - all resistances, confuse, blind etc covered
[x] - ESP
[x] - base speed more than 20
[x] - all spell books found

my current plan of attack is to:
- hunt uniques and wyrmz to get xp for level 45 (for manatorm)
- gather consumables for the final fights
- ????
- call morgoth a coward to his face

what would you do if you were in this character's shoes? see anything in my house/gearswaps that you would want?

...or is my plan of attack flawless

Thanks in advance

[Adam]

It would be good to get that one missing point of CON.

i) a Small Metal Shield of Resistance [5,+18] - this can be upgraded easily. Hopefully Thorin/Elros /Haradrim shows up and that would solve your CON as well. Or maybe you can shuffle equipment later to put on Dor-Lómin or Balli Stonehand. You have at least 25 levels to go where hopefully you can improve your gear a little.

Just out of curiosity: you actively use archery? I see you use 2 inventory slots for arrows/bolts.

[VeritasAequitas]

archery is a significant bit of damage yeah, the mana bolt i have is only about 30(ish)d8 or around, 4.5*30 which is 135 or so on average. the arrows are about 190 so easily the most dmg, even if i miss sometimes.

normally i would use drain life wands but they all blew up

for now archery is by far the best way to deal damage, mages lategame dmg doesnt feel very strong. maybe itll get better once i hit 45? but if i find a good bow/arrows of holy might or something i can see archery being the way to go endgame

[Pete Mack]

Mana storm is the way to do damage ... eventually. Right now what you need is EXP. And you should keep scrolls of Mass Banishment. Min fail on the spell is 3% even at CL50, IIRC. In the final battles, you can give up rAcid for that last point of CON, but you're likely to find Thorin before that.