[FA] Morgoth tips for mage

[Zikke]

So I've spent millions of turns getting my mage as geared out as I can. I constantly hover at dlvl 99 for loot. I can generally take out anything I come across (except Winged Power Dragons). I have killed all the uniques at that level. I even beat Cantoras by stacking Nether resists and doing guerilla tactics (and nearly pissing myself when his first Ray of Death took me to literally 1 hp).

But every time I go against Morgoth, he instantly summons tons of ancient things. Normally I could do a summoner chamber, but the things he summons either go through or destroy walls. And if he gets a melee hit in, the earthquake crushes everything. So after a few shots and blinking around the level, it's filled with his minions and the level is destroyed.

Any advice for a FA mage? I know Banishment would be stellar right about now, but I'm not a necro. I feel like the game went from manageable to impossible real fast.

[Psi]

Obviously this could be potentially spoily, so don't read on if you don't want to - also take it all with a pinch of salt as I haven't been up against Morgoth with a mage (though I have with Necros and Druids in the full caster line).

If you have the Staff of Winds, then use it whenever Morgoth gets close. It flings him away and stuns him, so he is about half as likely to cast at you. It was an absolute godsend for both my Necro wins. I guess the next best thing is the blink monster spell for a mage.

Try not to teleport if you can. Stay where you are happiest. Use a _BanishEvil (make sure you have a few of them handy) whenever Morgoth summons anything nasty. Let him come back to you - and probably without all the nasties who have a smaller detection range. If he summons something weak(er) then leave them to take up valuable grids and stop him summoning anything nastier there.

If he summons anything dangerous and not evil, then TA Morgoth and destruct rather than teleport. Unfortunately this will break up any line of sight for your spells, but is better than landing in a room full of WDoP or whatever...

Make sure you check your inventory whenever he hits you - you need to make sure he hasn't drained all the charges on your _BE and -TA!

If you are ever considering going toe-to-toe with Morgoth then ?RuneofProtection are absolutely priceless to buy you a few turns. Just read them and stand on them whilst attacking.

Obviously make sure you have all your buffs running!

[Zikke]

Damn, I don't think I kept the Staff of Winds that I found a while ago... is it hopeless without this? I'm not sure what the blink monster spell is you referred to.

hmmmm guess I need to start stacking BanishEvil and RoP

[Seany C]

An option that worked for me was clearing a small vault (with permanent walls) quickly and luring M there - the perma-walls mean that M (and his summons can't get through them, and careful placement in a corner should stop most summons from being able to see you...

[Pete Mack]

in V at least I like to start in a roomfree area and let M get a few bashes in to break up
LOS. This means that you need to phase away more often, but it also means you can phase away when he summons and when you need to heal. Then you can use TA on the dangerous summonees one at a time. Leave weak summonees alone to take up space. This is pretty similar to the small vault model mentioned above.

[Nick]

I'm not sure what the blink monster spell is you referred to.

Spell (d) in Incantations and Illusions. I'm rather shattered that you didn't know

[Zikke]

Oh I guess I never found a lot of use for that spell. :-/ The vault idea is a good one too. I wonder how long I could go toe to toe with him...

BTW Nick, I've been thinking that the FA mage isn't underpowered like I thought in the beginning. As far as the "everything except Morgoth" category goes, I can ransack pretty much any level and I basically never run out of mana. At end-game with a rotation of _Healing, greater recharge spell, unresistable spells from Raal's, self-haste spell, rBase spell, Meditate spell, -TA, and creative blinking and teleporting, I can basically stay up forever and keep any number of monsters off me. And !RestoreMana just makes it ridiculous.

I think having Genocide would be overpowered for the mage; it would make levels way too easy to clear(more so than they are). And this nifty Staff of Holding is pretty fun since I found it. Keeps those winged dragons in place nicely.

[Psi]

BTW Nick, I've been thinking that the FA mage isn't underpowered like I thought in the beginning. As far as the "everything except Morgoth" category goes, I can ransack pretty much any level and I basically never run out of mana. At end-game with a rotation of _Healing, greater recharge spell, unresistable spells from Raal's, self-haste spell, rBase spell, Meditate spell, -TA, and creative blinking and teleporting, I can basically stay up forever and keep any number of monsters off me. And !RestoreMana just makes it ridiculous.

That doesn't necessarily mean that a mage is not underpowered though. I think compared to any of the other fullcasters, the mage comes off worse. When you've played with the sheer destructive power of a necro you'll see what I mean!

And this nifty Staff of Holding is pretty fun since I found it. Keeps those winged dragons in place nicely.

I've never actually tried that - sounds interesting. Do you use it just to buy time to escape or rest?

[Zikke]

I use it when somebody summons Ancient Dragons and I still want to stay and kill that person. If I don't want to stay I'll just blink or Dim Door away, but the staff buys me time to kill the summoner. The success rate is high enough to be useful, as is the Hold Monsters spell.

edit: (The staff works on Undead, the spell works on Dragons quite well. I misspoke)

The Staff of Holding is also very nice when something summons nasties in a tunnel. If I hold the front one, all the others have to just sit there for a couple turns and I can shoot balls of justice at the target further down the corridor.

And yes, if I use it right when I'm going to DimDoor or blink away, it gives me a number of turns to Meditate (or whatever the spell is called) to regenerate without having to teleport across the dungeon. The spell cost of DimDoor is made back in about 2 turns of meditation, and this buys me much more than 2 turns.