Bast, goddess of cats (sCthangband)

[mwsully]

Hey all,

Newbie here needing some advice on killing Bast in sCthangband. She heals like crazy and blinds me to no end. With the Katana of Groo, 750hp, 179ac and other "bells and whistles", I cannot make a dent.
FYI, I haven't relied on any spells to help me, although I am a mindflayer. I started with the intent of focusing on spellcasting, but the lure of unique armor/weapons tempted me.

Any advice/strategies? Should shift away from melee-heavy to more mindcrafting?

Thanks to all who respond.

[Derakon]

It's been ages since I played that particular variant, but assuming its mindcrafting is anything like Zangband's (which it probably is, being a descendant of Zangband), mindcrafting has one of the best sets of utility spells in the game and is generally very useful. That said it may not help much in direct damage capabilities.

Generally speaking if you're having trouble killing something you should try to deal damage faster. If I recall correctly, Scthangband's melee system has you make one attack per time you "move into an enemy", but you use less energy as your weapon gets lighter and your STR and DEX increase. You want to be making attacks as quickly as possible, so that Bast gets fewer options to cast spells.

Also, you may have a "monsters behave intelligently" option turned on (distinct from "smart packs", assuming Scthangband has that option). This is actually a badly-broken AI system, since it causes monsters to prioritize healing and self-teleportation as soon as they get remotely badly hurt. Considering the lack of constraints on monster spellcasting, this makes healers basically impossible to kill. You might consider turning that option off, if it is on, in the sake of making the game more fun.

[mwsully]

Thanks Derakon for the advice. I think I'll try to turning that option off.