YAVP: DrCj^Vehumet

[Doctor Shambango]

Decided I'd post this as it's my first ever 15-rune win. It was actually the first time I'd ever set foot in Pan; I'd always been a bit wary as BadWiki says it's so dangerous, but it plays much more like the rest of the game and is a lot of fun. Tomb and Hells have a particular vibe that plays differently. And is less fun.

Black draconian 'breath' weapon is hilarious - like a much better version of that lightning discus thingy.

I think Tornado is my favourite spell in the game. The key, I'd say, is that you need to be quite hardy for a spell-killy guy/gal, as you'll spend a fair amount of time stood next to your opponents. I had mittens of slaying and jabbed at them with Wyrmbane while they all span around me; that seemed to work pretty well. Except with Lom Lobon. Had to run away from him so many times. How do others go about seeing him off?

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.16.1 (tiles) character file.

10874318 Drachen Schaffer the Archmage (level 27, 252/252 (254) HPs)
             Began as a Black Draconian Conjurer on Apr 6, 2015.
             Was the Champion of Vehumet.
             Escaped with the Orb
             ... and 15 runes on Nov 17, 2015!
             
             The game lasted 1day 09:14:39 (154143 turns).

Drachen Schaffer the Archmage (DrCj)           Turns: 154143, Time: 1, 09:14:39

HP:   252/252 (254) AC: 32    Str:  9    XL:     27
MP:   49/49         EV: 23    Int: 29    God:    Vehumet [******]
Gold: 10733         SH: 19    Dex: 14    Spells: 14 memorised, 11 levels left

rFire  + + +     SeeInvis .     b - +18 lance {slay drac, +Rage rPois rF+ AC+5}
rCold  + + .     Clarity  .     (armour unavailable)
rNeg   + + +     SustAb   .     d - +5 shield {rF+}
rPois  +         Gourm    .     Y - +2 hat {MR+}
rElec  +         Spirit   .     C - +4 dragonskin cloak
rCorr  +         Warding  .     y - +3 pair of gauntlets of War {Slay+5}
rMut   +         Stasis   .     w - +2 pair of boots {run}
MR     +++..                    E - amulet of resist mutation
Stlth  ++........               B - ring "Zaese" {rPois rN++}
                                m - ring of Lymolir {rF+ rC+ rN+ Str-3 Int+4}

@: flying, deflect missiles, quick, extremely resistant to hostile enchantments,
unstealthy
A: breathe lightning, able to fly continuously, unfitting armour, big wings,
electricity resistance, cold-blooded, AC +13
a: Breathe Lightning, Stop Flying, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage
0: Orb of Zot
}: 15/15 runes: barnacled, slimy, silver, golden, iron, obsidian, icy, bone,
abyssal, demonic, glowing, magical, fiery, dark, gossamer


You escaped.
You worshipped Vehumet.
Vehumet was exalted by your worship.
You were not hungry.

You visited 18 branches of the dungeon, and saw 97 of its levels.
You visited Pandemonium 4 times, and saw 24 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 4 times.
You visited 2 ziggurats, and saw 28 of their levels (deepest: 14).
You also visited: Ice Cave and Volcano.

You collected 19146 gold pieces.
You spent 8413 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 b - the +18 lance "Wyrmbane" (weapon) {slay drac, +Rage rPois rF+ AC+5}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   It affects your AC (+5).
   It protects you from fire.
   It protects you from poison.
   It lets you go berserk.
 h - the +7 Sceptre of Asmodeus
   (You took it off Asmodeus on level 7 of Gehenna)
Missiles
 G - 22 throwing nets (quivered)
Armour
 d - a +5 shield of fire resistance (worn)
 w - a +2 pair of boots of running (worn)
 y - the +3 pair of gauntlets of War (worn) {Slay+5}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Depths)   
   
   It affects your accuracy and damage with ranged weapons and melee attacks
   (+5).
 C - the +4 dragonskin cloak (worn)
   (You took it off Tiamat on level 1 of the Realm of Zot)
 H - a fire dragon hide
 I - a storm dragon hide
 Y - a +2 hat of magic resistance (worn)
Magical staves
 a - an uncursed staff of energy
Jewellery
 m - the ring of Lymolir (left hand) {rF+ rC+ rN+ Str-3 Int+4}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Tomb of the Ancients)   
   
   [ring of protection from cold]
   
   It affects your strength (-3).
   It affects your intelligence (+4).
   It protects you from fire.
   It protects you from cold.
   It protects you from negative energy.
 B - the ring "Zaese" (right hand) {rPois rN++}
   (You took it off an efreet in Pandemonium)   
   
   [ring of poison resistance]
   
   It protects you from poison.
   It greatly protects you from negative energy.
 E - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
 Q - an uncursed amulet of regeneration
Magical devices
 k - a wand of disintegration (12)
 l - a wand of digging (0)
 q - a wand of hasting (4)
 x - a wand of disintegration (14)
 N - a wand of cold (0)
Scrolls
 f - 32 scrolls of remove curse
 j - 3 scrolls of recharging
 n - 8 scrolls of holy word
 o - 19 scrolls of fog
 p - 6 scrolls of fear
 t - a scroll of magic mapping
 D - 32 scrolls of teleportation
 K - 28 scrolls of identify
 L - 22 scrolls of blinking
Potions
 e - 2 potions of haste
 i - 4 potions of resistance
 r - 2 potions of restore abilities
 s - 2 potions of might
 v - 6 potions of cancellation
 z - 19 potions of curing
 A - a potion of invisibility
Miscellaneous
 g - the horn of Geryon
 F - a lamp of fire
 M - a phial of floods
 O - a phantom mirror
 T - a sack of spiders
Comestibles
 c - 10 bread rations
 S - 23 meat rations


   Skills:
 * Level 21.9 Fighting
   Level 3.0 Short Blades
   Level 11.0(12.0) Maces & Flails
 - Level 11.2(12.1) Polearms
 - Level 8.0(12.5) Staves
 - Level 17.1 Dodging
 + Level 16.5 Stealth
 - Level 19.4 Shields
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 - Level 24.4 Conjurations
   Level 2.0 Hexes
 - Level 9.7 Charms
 - Level 4.0 Summonings
 - Level 8.0 Necromancy
 - Level 6.3 Translocations
 - Level 10.0 Transmutations
 - Level 24.4 Fire Magic
 - Level 6.1 Ice Magic
 - Level 26.6 Air Magic
 - Level 26.1 Earth Magic
   Level 4.2 Poison Magic
 - Level 20.0 Evocations


You had 11 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Apportation           Tloc           ######....   1%          1    None
b - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          1%          2    None
d - Summon Butterflies    Summ           ######..     1%          1    None
o - Ozocubu's Armour      Chrm/Ice       ######..     1%          3    None
p - Phase Shift           Tloc           ######....   1%          5    None
r - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      ######....   1%          3    None
s - Statue Form           Trmt/Erth      #######..    1%          6    None
t - Tornado               Air            ########..   1%          9    #####..
z - Lehudib's Crystal Sp  Conj/Erth      ########..   1%          8    ###....
B - Conjure Ball Lightni  Conj/Air       ########..   0%          6    None
F - Fire Storm            Conj/Fire      ########..   1%          9    #####..
L - Chain Lightning       Conj/Air       ########..   1%          8    ###....
M - Deflect Missiles      Chrm/Air       #######...   1%          6    None
S - Sublimation of Blood  Necr           ######....   1%          2    None


[daggaz]

Lom is a tough nut. Generally you want to buff up with every consumable/spell you have available and then hit him with everything you got, taking care that you can leave in a hurry if need be as well as avoiding drowning in his swimming pool.

[Indianageoff]

I have been running DrCj. Had a black one that did pretty well until I overestimated my abilities vs a Minotaur in the labyrinth. It was a stupid death since I had lots of tools... just did not use them.

When you level up a DrCj, what skills do you focus on and what do you build in the early game and mid game?

[Doctor Shambango]

When you level up a DrCj, what skills do you focus on and what do you build in the early game and mid game?

Well, I'm no expert. I just go with the general advice, which is; focus on killiness first, then get some defences. I focus conjurations exclusively at first (maybe a wee bit of spellcasting for the MP); searing ray will kill pretty much anything in the early dungeon. Once conjurations is about 8-ish I mix in some dodging, fighting and spellcasting. The general advice is to pick up some weapons skill, but as searing ray is quite mana-efficient, and Veh gives back MP on kills, it isn't as important.

By mid-Lair it looks like this:
Rats, and other plankton: zero-skill weapon.
Middling threats; lions and tigers and bears: searing ray.
Real bastards; blink frogs, hydras (hydrae, whatever): battlespere with magic dart.

There's a good thread about the utility of fulminant prism, but I find the above will do till the big, grown-up spells come along.

From there I probably put more points in spellcasting than is considered wise, 'cos I hate to see Veh offer a good spell but I don't have the slots to learn it. I guess the trick is to keep your powder dry till the right spells come along. Something to kill one big nasty; poison arrow/iron shot/iOOD. Something to kill lots of folk/control territory; bolts, clouds, &tc. This guy got conjure ball lightning which kinda works for both situations and is perfect for a black draconian. And is hilarious.

Hope that helps.

[Siegurt]

I always start my cj my training spellcasting to 3, this gives me some mp which is the most important thing on d1, and enough spell levels for a while. Train conjuration and hexes to reduce failure rates to accepable levels, do not put points over that in there.

Train a couple points of fighting early, 2 in fighting will help keep you alive on the first couple levels of the dungeon and make attacking popcorn with an untrained weapon go more smoothly.

[Nebukadnezar]

Except with Lom Lobon. Had to run away from him so many times. How do others go about seeing him off?

Lom Lobon can ruin your battle-plan by healing himself or blinking around to the point where you find yourself without MP left or see your buffs running out.
He can also die just like a random encounter when he decides to cast exactly the spells you're (close to) immune to.

It is a good idea to kill him as quickly as possible with all of your buffs possible as preparation but it is also a good idea to have an escape option if things are not working as planned. Most other fights against bosses are more predictable imo.

I entered his realm once with just regen+haste as buffs and started 2 tiles away from him as a caster.
It ended with him healing/blinking around, me without Mana left and reading >6 scolls of blink to get away from him....and he always followed me until I found a corner where he couldn't see me and regained my mana.
Next try I found him without using his healing spell and he died quickly.