YAVP: My First Win (DSBe)

[Doc Brown]

After losing with well over a hundred spellcasters of all shapes and forms, I finally decided to try some melee characters. The first two were a TrBe and MDFi, both of which died before the lair. This was the third:

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0-a0-5951-g8f09abf character file.

1297948 Detritus the Axe Maniac (level 27, 334/334 (339) HPs)
             Began as a Demonspawn Berserker on Apr 19, 2011.
             Was an Elder of Trog.
             Escaped with the Orb
             ... and 3 runes (of 3 types) on Apr 20, 2011!
             
             The game lasted 11:36:00 (137023 turns).

Detritus the Axe Maniac (Demonspawn Berserker)                     Turns: 137023, Time: 11:36:00

HP 334/334 (339) AC 32     Str 38      Exp: 27/1460035 (119962)
MP  25/25        EV 42     Int 21      God: Trog [****..]
Gold 2486        SH 34     Dex 23      Spells:  0 memorised, 28 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + +   See Invis. : +    G - +10,+6 mithril axe "Arga" {god gift, speed
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : . .  r - +7 dragon armour
Life Prot.: + . .   Conserve   : .    x - +1 dwarf shield {AC+3}
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    t - +3 helmet of the First Snow {rPois}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .    I - +0 cloak of Starlight {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlt
Res.Elec. : +       Spirit.Shd : .    n - +3 pair of gloves of Stras {rN+}
Sust.Abil.: + .     Stasis     : .    (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : +       Ctrl.Telep.: .    y - amulet of Cowardice {rMut Str+1 Dex+2 Int+
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    O - ring "Mnymuom" {SustAb Str+3 Int+5}
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    M - ring "Fekistam" {Wiz SInv}

@: brilliant, agile, berserking, very slightly glowing, hasted, very quick, incredibly
resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: talons 3, repel missiles, conserve scrolls, demonic guardian 3, fire resistance 1, hurl
hellfire, magic resistance 3, EV +4
a: Hellfire, Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Brothers in Arms, Renounce Religion


You escaped.
You worshipped Trog.
Trog was extremely pleased with you.
You were completely stuffed.

You visited 11 branches of the dungeon, and saw 71 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 2 times.
You visited 1 bazaar.
You visited 4 portal chambers: sewer, spiders nest, bailey, wizlab.

You collected 8084 gold pieces.
You spent 5618 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 G - the +10,+6 mithril axe "Arga" (weapon) {god gift, speed, MR Str+2}
   (Trog gifted it to you on level 2 of the Swamp)   
   Attacks with this weapon take half as long, but cause less damage.
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
Armour
 n - the +3 pair of gloves of Stras (worn) {rN+}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   It protects you from negative energy.
 r - a +7 dragon armour (worn)
 t - the +3 helmet of the First Snow (worn) {rPois}
   (You acquired it on level 1 of the Swamp)   
   It protects you from poison.
 x - a +1 dwarven shield of protection (worn)
 I - the +0 cloak of Starlight (worn) {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlth--}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 7 of the Dungeon)   
   It affects your evasion (+4).
   It protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It makes you much less stealthy.
   A cloak woven of pure light beams.
Magical devices
 e - a wand of teleportation (8)
 U - a wand of teleportation (2)
Comestibles
 m - 14 royal jellies
Scrolls
 d - 2 scrolls of magic mapping
 F - 10 scrolls of teleportation
Jewellery
 f - an uncursed ring of teleport control
 w - an uncursed amulet of the gourmand
 y - the amulet of Cowardice (around neck) {rMut Str+1 Dex+2 Int+2}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Elven Halls)   
   [amulet of resist mutation]
   It affects your strength (+1).
   It affects your intelligence (+2).
   It affects your dexterity (+2).
 M - the ring "Fekistam" (left hand) {Wiz SInv}
   (You found it on level 23 of the Dungeon)   
   [ring of wizardry]
   It enhances your eyesight.
 O - the ring "Mnymuom" (right hand) {SustAb Str+3 Int+5}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Elven Halls)   
   [ring of sustain abilities]
   It affects your strength (+3).
   It affects your intelligence (+5).
 V - a +2,+4 ring of slaying
Potions
 g - 2 potions of agility
 l - 2 potions of healing
 v - a potion of speed
 A - a potion of resistance
 B - a potion of heal wounds
Orbs of Power
 h - the Orb of Zot
Miscellaneous
 a - a decaying rune of Zot
 b - a serpentine rune of Zot
 c - a silver rune of Zot


 You had 119962 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 19 Fighting
 * Level 27 Axes
 - Level 2 Throwing
 + Level 11 Armour
 + Level 19 Dodging
 - Level 3 Stealth
 - Level 2 Stabbing
 + Level 14 Shields
 + Level 4 Traps & Doors
 - Level 6 Unarmed Combat
 + Level 1 Spellcasting
 - Level 3 Evocations


You had 28 spell levels left.
You didn't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (27/27)            Temple (1/1) D:6             Orc (4/4) D:6
    Elf (5/5) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:13          Swamp (5/5) Lair:5
  Slime (0/6) Lair:6        Snake (5/5) Lair:6         Hive (2/2) D:14
  Vault (8/8) D:18          Blade (1/1) Vault:5       Crypt (0/5) Vault:2
    Zot (5/5) D:27       


I expected the endgame to be a lot more difficult than the last time I reached it, which was as a SpVM. This expectation probably stems from the old RPG trope that wizard types start out frail but get much more powerful by the endgame than pure fighter types. It definitely doesn't seem to apply to DCSS, as berserking was still as much of a win button in the late game as it was early on. Not that I'm complaining, clearly not all combinations are meant to be the same difficulty and playing spellcasters opens a lot more possibilites for a new player to make mistakes. Still, monsters like Ancient Liches and Orbs of Fire weren't even remotely threatening once I got deep enough to encounter them, which was a bit odd considering that I started the Orb Chamber at L25.

It might be due to its placement, but I always find the Spriggan Forest to be the most challenging part of any game. The first time I got there in this game I was quite underleveled (L16 in D21) and hadn't found my ring of teleport control yet. I got in trouble when I was exhausted and two Spriggan druids came around a corner. I teleported away and landed inside a vault, surrounded by the Enchantress and her cronies. Oops. I must have burned through nearly a dozen ?teleport before I was able to escape. When I returned a bit later, I brought all the wands of fire that I had found, and watched in delight as the forest was burning.

On a sidenote, Trog has a rather unique sense of humour: He kept gifting me weapons of distortion, the first one of them sent me from D:15 straight to the abyss. By the end of the game I had 7 of them IDed.

[mageykun]

Congrats on the first win! Sweet mutations- demonic gaurdians 3 + borthers in arms must have murdered anything you couldn't just mele yourself. The ridiculous MR certainly doesn't hurt either. Did you use hellfire at all? I didn't find it to be particularly effective the few times I've gotten it, especially with the hp cost.

Pure mele characters do suffer somewhat in the endgame- your problem was you didn't go endgame enough. Some of the extra areas are definitely harder if you can't cast, even with Trog in your corner.

If you find the main dungeon leveling up faster than you are, that's when you should be checking out the side branches, collecting more xp and loot. Although certain vaults can certainly give you a run for your money even if you were keeping up.

[fnwc]

Congrats!

LOL @ Demonic Guardians 3 + Brothers in Arms.

My favorite mutation.

[fnwc]

What is the Spriggan Forest? A vault?

[KoboldLord]

What is the Spriggan Forest? A vault?

It's a super-vault that only appears in the lowest Dungeon levels. As the name suggests, it has trees everywhere, and is infested with spriggans of various types. The Spriggan Forest is so large that it takes up the ENTIRE level, all by itself.

[XuaXua]

Should be a branch so we can NOT go there. Hate spriggans that aren't controlled by me

[Doc Brown]

Congrats on the first win! Sweet mutations- demonic gaurdians 3 + borthers in arms must have murdered anything you couldn't just mele yourself. The ridiculous MR certainly doesn't hurt either. Did you use hellfire at all? I didn't find it to be particularly effective the few times I've gotten it, especially with the hp cost.

Thank you! The mutations easily make demonspawns my favourite race to play, even though surviving long enough to get them can be quite difficult for casters due to the low starting MP. Demonic Guardians definitely was a game changer, not only because they killed off nasty critters and helped cover my retreats, but their mere presence alarmed me when tension was rising, something I'm not experienced enough to recognize by myself in many situations. As for Hellfire, I really wanted to find it useful just because it's so thematic, but never got into a fight where the HP loss was worth it in the end.

Pure mele characters do suffer somewhat in the endgame- your problem was you didn't go endgame enough. Some of the extra areas are definitely harder if you can't cast, even with Trog in your corner.

That's a fair point. I did see a bit of the post-endgame with my SpVM of Nemelex who ended up dying to an orb guardian, but he still felt quite powerless at that point and I ended up grinding XP way past reaching L27. My DSBe on the other hand just rushed into the orb chamber as soon as he could and had no trouble fighting multiple orbs of fire and ancient liches at the same time. I suppose the fact that my SpVM didn't have a source of rMut made the orb chamber unnecessarily hard, but he just felt outmachted at every point of the game. Oh well, I just might have to roll up another spellcaster and see for myself.

If you find the main dungeon leveling up faster than you are, that's when you should be checking out the side branches, collecting more xp and loot. Although certain vaults can certainly give you a run for your money even if you were keeping up.

I tend to dive deeper into the main dungeon than I probably should early on. For some reason it always takes a near death experience to convince me that I should go back up and clear some side branches first.

What is the Spriggan Forest? A vault?

As KoboldLord said, it's a vault that takes up the whole level. The enemies are mostly spriggans of various backgrounds (firefly riders, air elementalists, berserkers etc.) and animals, although I've seen some Hell Knights there, as well. I don't know with what frequency it comes up, but I had it in all of my games that got past D:20 (grand total of 3, so not really saying much). The spriggan druids make trees adjacent to your @ attack you, so you can't really fight them in corridors/alleys, something I find quite interesting gameplay wise. What I like the most about it are the nifty details like the spriggan bakery. Whoever came up with that level, I salute you!

Also, what is up with all these blood fountains? I thought spriggans were herbivores.

[joellercoaster]

Vicious, bloodthirsty herbivores.

[Doc Brown]

Vicious, bloodthirsty herbivores.

Heh.

[Stormfox]

Because if they were fountains of water, the spriggans would drink from them and dry them up. Making them blood fountains ensures that they keep on flowing.