Advice for my ex-Death Knight Minotaur

[Sealer]

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0 character file.

Sealer the Cleaver (Minotaur Death Knight)         Turns: 11294, Time: 00:37:48

HP  83/83        AC  7     Str 18      Exp: 10/7166 (1630), need: 3697
MP  17/17        EV 13     Int 10      God: Lugonu [*.....]
Gold 51          SH  0     Dex 10      Spells:  0 memorised,  9 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .    a - +2 hand axe (elec)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : . .  K - +2 orc leather armour {rPois}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .    (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    (helmet restricted)
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : +    I - +0 cloak
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    V - +0 pair of gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    (no boots)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .    (no amulet)
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    p - +0,+6 ring of slaying
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    P - ring of sustenance

@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: horns 2, clarity, fast metabolism 1, Int -1
a: Depart the Abyss, Renounce Religion


You are on level 10 of the Dungeon.
You worship Lugonu.
Lugonu is most pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 1 branch of the dungeon, and seen 10 of its levels.
You have visited the Abyss 1 time.
You have visited 1 Labyrinth.

You have collected 419 gold pieces.
You have spent 388 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +2,+2 hand axe of electrocution (weapon)
 y - a +1,+1 spear (quivered)
 M - an uncursed glowing elven trident
 O - an uncursed runed orcish hand axe
 S - a +0,+2 hand axe of distortion
 Z - an uncursed runed orcish trident
Armour
 I - a +0 cloak (worn)
 K - a +2 orcish leather armour of poison resistance (worn)
 Q - a +2 robe of cold resistance
 V - a +0 pair of gauntlets (worn)
Magical devices
 b - a glass wand
 f - a wand of draining {zapped: 1}
 w - a wand of flame (7)
 A - a gold wand
 B - a wand of polymorph other {zapped: 5}
 J - a worn fluorescent wand
 L - a wand of flame
Comestibles
 c - 5 bread rations
 d - an orange
 h - a banana
 m - a royal jelly
 T - a slice of pizza
Scrolls
 e - 4 scrolls of detect curse
 g - a scroll labeled RAXKOE TWEIF
 j - a scroll labeled FYROSH AWNOVI
 r - a scroll of identify
 s - a scroll labeled WAHEFFE NIAPT
 t - a scroll labeled FOSOQANIYSU
 x - a scroll labeled STREOV EPLE
 z - a scroll labeled UNNEONL NENIET
 C - a scroll labeled OCSUZO TONWYM
 E - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon II
 F - a scroll of teleportation
 N - a scroll labeled JIPLAD KHOAT
 X - a scroll labeled ENTIMOSIUSU
Jewellery
 i - a +2 ring of intelligence
 p - a +0,+6 ring of slaying (right hand)
 u - an uncursed ring of wizardry
 P - a ring of sustenance (left hand)
 W - an uncursed ring of ice
Potions
 l - 2 potions of might
 n - a potion of magic
 o - 4 potions of healing
 q - 2 potions of invisibility
 v - a potion of restore abilities
 D - a murky inky potion
 G - a potion of heal wounds
 H - 2 potions of agility
 R - a fuming brown potion
Books
 k - a wide leatherbound book


 You have 1630 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 7 Fighting
 + Level 10 Axes
 + Level 5 Polearms
 - Level 3 Armour
 + Level 7 Dodging
 + Level 1 Stealth
 + Level 2 Unarmed Combat
 + Level 7 Invocations


You have 9 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (10/27)            Temple (0/1) D:7             Orc (0/4) D:6
  Lair: D:8-13     

Altars:
Cheibriados
Fedhas
Trog

Shops:
D:7: [  D:8: !*=%*


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You have a pair of horns on your head.
You possess an exceptional clarity of mind.
You are dopey (Int -1).
You have a fast metabolism.


Message History

You destroy the wraith!
Lugonu accepts your kill.
You start resting.
HP restored.
Search for what [Enter for "axe", or ? for help]? axe
Wield which item (- for none, * to show all)? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
Okay, then.

....#       ##.###
#####        #...#
             ###.##
               #..#
               ##.#
            #####.##
            #......#
        #####......#
        ........@..#
        #####......#
            #......#
            #......#
            ######.#
                  .#
                  .#
                  .#


There are no monsters in sight!


Well this has been a funny game so far - I've found a hand axe of distortion early in the game and for a while I did not remove it because of fear of the abyss but at some point I realized I'd have to swap anyway to be able to deal with hydras efficiently + several other disadvantages (exp cost together with yred minions, hand axe as a base weapon type) and of course I ended up in the abyss. After escaping from efreets, liches and several types of unpleasant demons I ended up by Lugonu altar with 12 hp left. Of course I switched to survive, and am still alive and kicking after an almost lethal labyrinth fellow minotaur encounter and leaving gastronok a level below. My dillema now is 2-fold:
1. Which weapon should I currently be using? Is it worth wielding the hand axe of dist again instead of electrocution brand?

2. I started up with polearms as my weapon skills, then of course switched to axes. There's a cheap bardiche of freezing in the shop nearby, should I train polearms and switch to bardiche later?

Any other advice will be appreciated as well.

Sealer

Edit: Should I get a ranged weapon and,

Steam Dragon armour, is it worth it? I'm hoping to branch into some easy spells later on.

[absolutego]

1. at XL10 you'd want something better than a hand axe base type for a melee character, actually. feel free to try out the axe of distortion (some like it, some don't), since you can escape the abyss if required (even though it costs piety), but it's a poor base type and it's not heavily enchanted, so you'd better use the axe of electrocution and a ranged weapon. but you'll need something better soon.

2. stay away from the bardiche of freezing for now: it has a delay of 200:
http://crawl.develz.org/info/index.php?q=bardiche
and you have very few polearms levels, so it'll be very, very slow, and get you killed. it may be worth it *very* later on.

3. yes, get a ranged weapon. a sling if you plan to use shields, a bow or a crossbow otherwise.

4. actually, a steam dragon armour has no evasion penalty at all:
http://crawl.develz.org/info/index.php? ... gon+armour
so it's a good option if you want to branch out to spellcasting. whether you should, or not, is another question. minotaurs are terrible at it and lugonu already gives you some utility invocations (blinking, banishing), so you may want to forget about it and go with heavy armour. (not that evasion is not feasible, because it very much is, and a bit of stealth can be very useful.)

[Sealer]

KK About bardiche of freezing = I'm asking if I should start training polearms to grab it later on, I could as well start now. I do know about the weapon base types + delay.

Thanks for answers, mate.

[fnwc]

Polearms are one of the worst weapons in the game. You'd be better off using a war axe and a shield, or an executioner's axe for 2h.

I'd generally stay away from polearms unless you happen upon a very, very good randart.

[KoboldLord]

1. Which weapon should I currently be using? Is it worth wielding the hand axe of dist again instead of electrocution brand?

Hand axes are basically rubbish. Dip into the Orcish Mines and see if you can find yourself a better axe. War axes are decent, broad axes are ideal. The two-handed sorts of axes are even better until you find a shield. Preferably find one with a useful brand, but once you've ground up some Lugonu piety you can distortion-brand it, which is pretty solid if you can mitigate the risk of blinking enemy monsters behind you.

Until then, you probably want the electrocution brand. It'll kill weak orcs easily enough, but run far away if you see a knight, warlord, or top-end caster. Once you have your big axe, you probably don't want to continue with Orc, although the piety is good. Stay off Orc 4 even if you get no good axes at all.

2. I started up with polearms as my weapon skills, then of course switched to axes. There's a cheap bardiche of freezing in the shop nearby, should I train polearms and switch to bardiche later?

Bardiches are extremely high-damaging, but they are incredibly slow, too. I wouldn't bother picking one up unless it was an artifact with absolutely startling benefits attached.

Edit: Should I get a ranged weapon and,

Yes. Slings are good if you find a broad axe, and crossbows are good if you decide to go with a two-handed axe. Throwing is potentially strong, too, but javelins can be pretty hard to find.

Steam Dragon armour, is it worth it? I'm hoping to branch into some easy spells later on.

Not really. If you want to branch into low-level spells later on, find a mid-level dragon and skin it. Swamp dragons, regular dragons, and ice dragons are all good and are usually available. It isn't too hard to grind through the armor penalty for casting in them, and they're roughly as good as resistance-branded plate defensively. If you want to go light armor, robes are only 4AC below steam dragon armor and can provide MR, rC+, rF+, or even rC+ AND rF+. Leather is only 2AC below steam dragon armor and can provide rPois, and troll leather is the same AC and provides regeneration.

I recommend you identify your consumables as soon as possible, and stash it somewhere until you can do so. Unidentified loot is little better than the trash you leave on the floor.

[Sealer]

Thanks for all the advices, I'm not planning on shields, and since I already started training dodging I'll stick with it and hope I can overcome terrible mi casting apts (Or I'll just give up halfway ). Btw I'm hooked on polearms, but since this char looks so promising and has found elec brand by now I'll stick with axes + probably crossbow. Will probably die somewhere in lair/mid game but hey, I've learned something.