CIP - DDNe of Makhleb - help me zig!

[mathmaestro]

Hi Guys,

I have a couple of wins under my belt across a mix of species/god combos, but I have never had a true zig runner. I have had a couple of 15-rune GrFi characters with Shatter that were relatively comfortable in most of a zig, but I never felt like taking a chance and going for multiple zigs. I have also had a 15-rune DECj with Necromutation and Fire Storm+Glaciate, but again: when it got tough in the first or second zig, I would just bail and ascend.

I wanted to build a true zigrunner, so I started with a DDNe of Makhleb (his name, of course, is Zag). I also had never really played a DD or a Makh game, so I was excited to try, and the gods of crawl did not disappoint. I have had somewhat ridiculous luck with gear and spells, the only true downside so far being that the only additional source of Necromancy spells is a Book of Death for sale for 980g. But I could, right now, memorize and start training lots of useful spells, including:
- Deflect Missiles
- Shatter
- Tornado
- Silence (I will probably have to deal with ALiches before being a caster myself)
- Statue Form (to pave the way for Necromut later)
- Earlier Conj spells like Fireball, Ignition, Freezing Cloud, Iron Shot, Summon Ball Lightning

In the past, I have screwed up good melee chars by hybridizing improperly, and that's where I need your help! I have had situations like getting into early Zot or even late Depths to find that I have neglected melee skills for so long (in favor of getting spells online) that I no longer can kill stuff efficiently in melee, but the kill spells are not online yet. Then I can't kill anything, and have to try to survive the abyss for a while to scum for xp, but more likely I just tilt and die. I don't want that to happen to this guy, partly because he's been so darn lucky that it would be demoralizing, and partly because I want to get to the fun zig part ASAP.

tl;dr
I know what this guy needs to look like when he's actually a zigrunner, and he is a good mid-game character right now, but I don't know how to bridge that gap with him so that he remains viable the whole time.

Thanks, everyone. You guys really helped me get that OpTm win about a year ago, I'm hoping for some similarly clutch advice.

Chardump follows.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.20-a0-809-gaf7f668 (webtiles) character file.

zag the Peltast (Deep Dwarf Necromancer)           Turns: 56575, Time: 04:32:05

Health: 186/186    AC: 28    Str: 13    XL:     19   Next: 52%
Magic:  32/32      EV: 21    Int: 23    God:    Makhleb [******]
Gold:   120        SH: 15    Dex: 13    Spells: 21/38 levels left

rFire    + . .     SeeInvis .   r - +9 mace "Ilooqi" {venom, rN+}
rCold    + + .     Gourm    .   A - quicksilver dragon scales
rNeg     + + .     Faith    .   t - +2 shield of Resistance {rF+ rC+ MR+}
rPois    +         Spirit   .   O - +2 helmet
rElec    +         Reflect  .   R - +2 cloak {rC+}
rCorr    .         Harm     .   o - +1 pair of gloves
MR       ++++.                  j - +0 pair of boots
Stlth    ++........             f - amulet of the Air {Inacc +Fly rElec EV+5 RMsl}
Regen    0.0/turn               z - +5 ring of protection
MPRegen  0.3/turn               q - ring of poison resistance

@: non-regenerating, repel missiles
A: damage resistance, heal wounds, negative energy resistance 1, sense
surroundings 3, no regeneration
}: 2/15 runes: decaying, serpentine
a: Heal Wounds, Minor Destruction, Lesser Servant of Makhleb, Major Destruction,
Greater Servant of Makhleb, Renounce Religion, Evoke Flight


You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Makhleb.
Makhleb is exalted by your worship.
You are full.

You have visited 7 branches of the dungeon, and seen 34 of its levels.
You have also visited: Ice Cave.

You have collected 3536 gold pieces.
You have spent 3416 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand Weapons
 r - the +9 mace "Ilooqi" (weapon) {venom, rN+}
   (You found it on level 4 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It poisons the flesh of those it strikes.
   
   It protects you from negative energy.
Missiles
 H - a throwing net
 J - 7 javelins (quivered)
Armour
 j - a +0 pair of boots (worn)
 o - a +1 pair of gloves (worn)
 t - the +2 shield of Resistance (worn) {rF+ rC+ MR+}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It protects you from fire.
   It protects you from cold.
   It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments.
 A - quicksilver dragon scales (worn)
 O - a +2 helmet (worn)
 R - a +2 cloak of cold resistance (worn)
Jewellery
 d - an uncursed ring of see invisible
 f - the amulet of the Air (around neck) {Inacc +Fly rElec EV+5 RMsl}
   (You found it on level 7 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [amulet of inaccuracy]
   
   It reduces the accuracy of all your attacks.
   It affects your evasion (+5).
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It lets you fly.
   It protects you from missiles.
 q - a ring of poison resistance (left hand)
 z - a +5 ring of protection (right hand)
 M - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 P - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
Wands
 F - a wand of iceblast (5/15)
 G - a wand of disintegration (15/24)
 L - a wand of acid (10/15)
Scrolls
 a - a scroll of fear
 l - 2 scrolls of holy word
 p - 19 scrolls of remove curse
 s - 4 scrolls of blinking
 x - 4 scrolls of identify
 B - 10 scrolls of teleportation
 T - a scroll of fog
Potions
 b - a potion of haste
 e - 4 potions of cancellation
 g - 4 potions of heal wounds
 h - a potion of brilliance
 k - 12 potions of curing
 n - 4 potions of resistance
 u - 5 potions of agility
 v - 3 potions of ambrosia
 w - 6 potions of mutation
 N - a potion of flight
 S - a potion of invisibility
Miscellaneous
 C - a phial of floods
 D - a crystal ball of energy
 K - a box of beasts
 Q - a lightning rod (4/4)
Comestibles
 c - 23 bread rations
 i - 18 royal jellies
 m - 26 fruits


   Skills:
 - Level 15.0 Fighting
 + Level 14.7 Maces & Flails
 - Level 5.0 Throwing
 - Level 10.0 Armour
 - Level 10.0 Dodging
 - Level 5.0 Stealth
 - Level 15.0 Shields
 - Level 10.0 Spellcasting
 - Level 5.0 Summonings
 - Level 10.0 Necromancy
 - Level 5.0 Translocations
 - Level 15.0 Invocations
 - Level 10.2 Evocations


You have 21 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Pain                  Necr           ####         1%          1    None
b - Animate Skeleton      Necr           N/A          1%          1    None
c - Vampiric Draining     Necr           ######....   1%          3    None
d - Summon Butterflies    Summ           ####....     1%          1    None
e - Animate Dead          Necr           N/A          1%          4    #......
f - Control Undead        Necr           ######....   1%          4    #......
g - Apportation           Tloc           ####..       1%          1    None
h - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          1%          2    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/15)            Temple (1/1) D:6            Lair (6/6) D:10
  Swamp (4/4) Lair:2        Snake (4/4) Lair:2        Slime (0/5) Lair:6
    Orc (2/2) D:11            Elf (2/3) Orc:2        Vaults (0/5) D:14
 Depths (0/5) D:15       

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Dithmenos
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Gozag
Hepliaklqana
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Qazlal
Ru
Sif Muna
Trog
Uskayaw
Vehumet
Wu Jian
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
The Shining One
Jiyva

Shops:
D:9 (   D:10 =   Orc:2 (=[*?   Elf:2 :   Snake:2 %(=   Snake:3 }=}
Snake:4 %}?*


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are resistant to damage.
You can heal yourself by infusing magical energy.
You resist negative energy. (rN+)
You passively map a large area around you.
You do not regenerate.


[tasonir]

Is that mace still working out well for you? It seems a good bit weak by this point, have there not been any morningstars/eveningstars yet? Or a demon whip? Also poison is rarely a problem for DD's since shaving means they have to be pretty heavily poisoned to take damage, you might want to consider wearing the rF ring, although the second pip isn't as important, it might save you a few hp and as a DD that's a (theoretically) limited resource.

If you're looking to get into shatter/tornado then I'd look at what your current spell selection is now and start working towards that. With DD's +3 earth and -3 air, start with earth, especially if you have access to stone arrow/LRD/iron shot, which will give you a solid damage ranged attack, and help with anything that the mace isn't strong enough to kill quickly. You could certainly use statue form but it likely isn't that critical for your build, you'd rather have necromutation in a zig and you likely won't need statue form prior to the zig, although you could use it in extended if there's a lot of torment. I'm not sure I've done DD in extended ever, because torment will take a lot of health. Then again, there's also a lot of demons, so healing from makhleb might scale up to cover it.

In short: look for a better second ring, a better melee weapon, and start to branch into earth magic IF you have some good earth magics in game. Even with earth +3, getting iron shot going isn't cheap. Consider learning some translocations if you have the experience to spare, but be wary of the experience cost. You already have blink, but Cblink is incredibly powerful in ziggs, and there's no levels that prevent controlled blinks anymore.

[Airwolf]

There's infinite XP in the Abyss & particularly Pan to turn your 15-runer into a ziggger. Build for what you need in the short term in order to survive to get to the long term.

So here, do as tasonir suggests. Improving your weapon should be the first priority.