CiP: weapon choice?

[starhawk]

So I've got a HOGl of Ash, the farthest I've ever gotten an Ashenzari worshipper.

Currently trained up to ~14ish in Axes, got through the early game with a lucky find (+2 hand ax of electrocution). After some recent finds, I'm in Lair:5 with a dilemma of what weapon to move forward with to try and secure my second win.

Complications:
1. I just found my first Brand Weapon scroll and there are currently zero enchant weapon scrolls in game.
2. Since I'm with Ash, I can move XP to a new weapon group, right? Never done that before and would welcome advice.

My current weapon choices:

+6 war axe of draining (my current weapon. should i re-brand it? should i switch?)
the +9 rapier "Vutoiffi" (freeze, rF+)
+0 double sword
+2 demon trident of freezing


If I go to the 2H sword, can I transfer out my Axes XP and then my Shields XP? (Been rocking an artifact shield)

[Siegurt]

Drain is very good for a very long time, that being said, battleaxes are very common (particularly in orc), and worth branding.

I'd keep the war axe of draining for now, and when you find a battleaxe, brand it and go from there.

a +6 war axe of draining will last you past lair and orc and through most of the Dungeon (it'll start to wear thin in vaults)

Given that you already have 14 in axes, I'd probably hold out for a bigger axe, and spend XP on defense in the meantime (and possibly a nice ranged attack of some sort)

** Note, you'll need to find some other method to deal with hydras, since a war axe of draining will not go well for you, but wands and ranged weapons or just plain running away usually does the trick.

[starhawk]

Thanks for the input. I've been stomping hydrae with that demon trident of freezing (i'm playing 0.16 trunk, so have half-skill with Polearms) and it's been working just great.

Per your advice I'll keep an eye out for big axes... I must admit to a little trepidation about ditching my shield though. Alas, the shops in Orc:4 were garbage. Going to try and get the Shoals / Snake runes before ditching my war axe/shield combo, which maybe gives me time for something spectacular to drop.

[starhawk]

Does your advice to stick with Axes still hold if I found the +14 Plutonium Sword on Shoals:5?

My choices now are a +6 draining broad axe, a +6 battleax of electrocution, or the Plutonium Sword.

It's time for me to tackle Depths and Vaults so probably time for me to stop juggling kit and make a tough choice, especially since remove curse scrolls are a wee bit limited.

[njvack]

The "I want to win" answer is probably to keep hitting things with axes. The thing I would do is use the plutonium sword because it's great and when's the next time you're going to see it? Skill transfer will make it not horrible to train.

[Siegurt]

An an elec battleaxe is pretty damn awesome, maybe not quite as awesome as the plutonium sword though.

Agree with njvack. elec battleaxe for the boring but effective win. Plut sword with skill transfer for because Plut sword is rare and fun (even if it would be slightly more optimal to use that xp on defense). Either will be fine through the end of the game.