CIP and a couple of questions

[dassem]

I was going to post this in the short question thread, but it grew into a CIP post.

After my ice-based 15-runer, I wanted to try a fire-based caster and I finally got a fire-based wizard going after a lot of false starts.
Wizards are so much easier than fire elementalists to start, and octopodes are tough! So I went back to demonspawn...

2 main questions:
(1) Is it worth learning ring of flames?
(2) I just cleared Orc:4 and I'm in the shops at the bottom. Now, what should I buy?

  Code:

a - a +3 chain mail of poison resistance                     1069 gold
b - a +2 robe of the Archmagi                                 394 gold
c - a +2 robe of resistance                                   318 gold
d - a +3 scale mail of poison resistance                      891 gold
e - a +0 leather armour                                        37 gold
f - the +3 pair of gauntlets of War {Acc+3 Dam+3}             646 gold
g - a +0 pair of orcish gloves of strength                     79 gold
h - a +0 robe                                                  18 gold
i - a +0 animal skin                                           12 gold

You have 525 gold pieces.
Welcome to Veurph's Armour Boutique! What would you like to do?


I am sure I want the gauntlets of War, but for robes, should I get Archmagi, resistance, or stick with magic resistance?
There are some other bucklers about that might have some resistances, so I'm fairly sure that Archmagi is the way to go, although being certain of rF+++ rC+++ already would hold some appeal.

With that and a staff of wizardry, I think I'll have fire storm castable before Elf:5.

My other equipment is:

  Code:

 s - the +0 helmet of Midwinter (worn) {rF+ rC+ Str+2 Dex-1}
 t - a +1 dwarven buckler (worn)
 u - a +1 pair of elven gloves (worn)
 v - a +1 pair of elven boots (worn)
 N - a +2 robe of magic resistance (worn)
 P - a +0 cloak of poison resistance (worn)

 m - the ring "Jeol" (right hand) {cTele Str+4 Int+3}
 o - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
 L - a ring of magical power (left hand)

 a - the +1,+2 trident "Grum" (weapon) {elec, rF+ rC+ Dex+3}


Not bad for XL14, IMO! Most of the good stuff was purchased in shops or a bazaar. (Which is why I am low on $$$. I also have a bad orc layout, so I'll need to return with mapping or dig to clear Orc: 2 and 3.)

The trident is awesome in 0.10! I get resistances + reaching + electrocution! Hehehe!

I was really pleased with a bazaar on Orc:4. I had to dodge some orcs to get in, before clearing the level, then had to choose between some really good options: Should I buy the unidentified helmet (on a DS, still awaiting some mutations) or go for the known ratskin cloak (that would have been a very convenient rPois)? I really lucked out with the helmet and an unidentified glowing cloak.
The ring Jeol was in the same bazaar, and the choice was that or the amulet of Air, which was very appealing for a character who will soon have to visit the shoals. So that was another tough choice.
From a gameplay perspective, I love getting early timed bazaar portals: There is such a dilemma over what to choose. Nice!

[DemiFiend]

1: Ring of Flames isn't gonna knock your socks off, but it's a decent spell. Depends on your playstyle, I guess.

2: Go with the robe of resistance. Archmagi gives you a little extra spell power, resistance gives you a lot of damage shaving against common elements.

[dassem]

Still going! At level 27 and spamming firestorm onto anything threatening. I don't think I've ever enjoyed Elf:5 or Slime so much.

Ok, RoF is quite nice in that it blocks some icy attacks, and provides extra damage while melee-ing.
I found a really nice leather armor with +3dam +5Int, so I'm wearing that over the resists. Main strategy is to kill anything dangerous before it can hit me. I've got enough firepower that that should work until Pan / Hells, I think. Then I'll have to change something.

Though, I must say that the RNG is trying to annoy me:

• Mostly crappy mutations.
• I don't think I've seen dispell undead yet. I had 4 runes before I got dig.
• Decide to try tridents. What are the odds of finding a decent demon trident? Pretty small.
• The early ghosts had fire-resistance. Seriously. (Albeit, maybe not enough ).
• Ran into my first Greater Mummy, Boris and Khufu all at once. (Could quaff a !brilliance to get firestorm castable, so that was good XP, but still...)
• First orb of fire mutated me, despite an amulet of rMut, to have small antennae. This caused me to lose my helmet that was my major source of resists, which was annoying enough that I quaffed my last (of only 2!) !cure mutations. Did it work? Well, I had +1 int and that. Guess which one went?
• Buckler of resistance? Not a chance. Slime trashed my buckler of protection during the few seconds before all the acid blobs were firestormed.
• I think I only got 3 scrolls of enchant armor after 4 runes and 1 level of zot.
• Lots of potion / scroll trashing.

Ho hum. At least I think it hasn't tried to kill me totally unreasonably, but this is harder work than it should be.

[bobross419]

Decide to try tridents. What are the odds of finding a decent demon trident? Pretty small.

Go take an extended jaunt through the Abyss, kill Hell Knights or whatever the blue and red guys are that carry demon weapons, cast freezing brand, vorpalize.

Just a suggestion though

[dassem]

To continue my complaining about the OOF fight, I should add that about 5 casts of shadow creatures got me 4 moths of wrath and left me without enough MP to finish it. My own fault, as I should just have blinked away and firestormed instead. Doh!

Go take an extended jaunt through the Abyss, kill Hell Knights or whatever the blue and red guys are that carry demon weapons, cast freezing brand, vorpalize.

Of course, that would need a scroll of vorpalize weapon, which is another thing I haven't seen yet .
Although I think I have enough ?amnesia and magic skills that this is a really viable option, especially since I struggle a little against fire-resistant creatures. Hmmm, I could probably trade out poisonous cloud for freezing cloud too, (and maybe even ice storm later) which would give me lots of post-endgame flexibility later.
Thanks!

[dassem]

Zot is now cleared, so thanks for the suggestions!

Another OOF gave me beserkitis (again, despite rMut!).
It takes a LOT of firestorms to kill them... However, only 2-3 orbs of destruction will do the job a lot cheaper. Wish I'd realized that earlier. Sigh. So provided you can lure them into the open, then that's probably the easiest way to deal with them.

I only need a few more levels of Ice and I expect to have both Fire and Ice storms castable.
So, now I need potions of cure mutation, and to buff up a little before Pan in case I start in a tough spot. I think I'm off to the abyss before the hells!

Questions:
Has summon shadow creatures been nerfed in 0.10? In Zot, I seem to get mostly moths of wrath, whereas in 0.9, I'd get a far higher percentage of dragons.
Does Silence do anything against nasties that will torment me?
I need some way to regenerate HP fast too. I'd have to buy a book for regeneration. I haven't seen a wand yet. Ist there a better route?

[slowcar]

demons, and quite some other high level creatures, are immune against silence. knowledge bot shows the !sil flag for them.
regeneration is a good way to get hp quickly, rings or troll armour also help.

[dassem]

knowledge bot shows the !sil flag for them.

Ah, so that's how to check...
It could be quite effective for tomb, I suppose.
I've got a few rods and decent evocations too.
Although I suspect that not being able to blink and firestorm my way out of trouble might mean that this is just an elaborate suicide plot...

[slowcar]

Ah, so that's how to check...
It could be quite effective for tomb, I suppose.
I've got a few rods and decent evocations too.
Although I suspect that not being able to blink and firestorm my way out of trouble might mean that this is just an elaborate suicide plot...

silence is powerful, but similar to berserk, only situational to use safely. you have a certain time to kill your foes, after that they may well be outside of the silence radius while you are still hindered.
if something goes wrong you have very little means of adjusting the situation. i like to use the spell in elf 5, for example, as most adversaries are squishy and harmless when silenced, in tomb i would be a bit hesistant i guess. a single mummy priest on the edge of los can summon enough demons to get you in trouble, you can be slowed by a death curse, and priests outside the silence can smite you.
still, with abjuration now single target iirc, it may be better to have them summoners silenced before they gate in the 1s...

[dassem]

Now YASD!

I had 5 runes and had cleared Zot, but lost it to Antaeus and severe stupidity.
I had to take a break just before this (sadly work and life take time away from playing) and just hadn't got back into Crawl-think.

In some ways it was the classic Crawl mistake of thinking: I can take him; let's see what happens with just one more hit.
In other ways, I was a bit psychologically worn down by rot, item destroying effects trashing all my scrolls and potions, and by annoying mutations, acquired despite having a lovely amulet of rMut. Those meant that I couldn't wear the helmet that had been the main source of most of my resistances, and also that I had beserkitis. I did have plenty of consumables back in my stashes, but they were a long distance away and I think I got a bit bored ferrying them about.

Here's why it was dumb:
There was only one part of Coctys that I had not explored. I meleed something worthless (to save the MP) and got bezerked. Since this was Hell and I didn't have Regeneration, waiting around was a bit risky. So, I decided to open the nearby door anyway. Doh!
I found a bunch of ice fiends... Charge!
Bezerk ended and I was slowed. Uh oh!
Firestorm! No more fiends.
So, did I retreat and heal? No, I poked my head around the corner to see what was there. Of course it was a wounded Antaeus.
What would I do? Did I try to blink away? Did I cast haste? (Which I had...) Did I zap a teleport, just to be safe? No. I tried to finish him. I'm still not sure what I was expecting would happen.
In my final turn I went from about 115 HP to -3.
If I'd had my full resistances or even not been slowed, I would have survived. I had lots of escape options that I just didn't use. Doh!
To be honest, I don't recall many real life-threatening situations with this character, other than when I died. The only really risk was a YASD while annoyed or distracted.

Overall lessons:
Don't play while distracted or annoyed.
Polearms with reaching and conjure flame are a wonderful starting combo for fire elementalists in 0.10.
Firestorm is great. I got it early and used it to clear Elf:5, Vaults:8 and most of crypt. That maybe saved my life when I stumbled onto a Greater Mummy, Boris and Khufu all at once.
Orb of destruction is great. This was my most efficient way to take out orbs of fire.
Summon shadow creatures now just gave me moths in Zot. Either that's been nerfed or I had bad luck. I think I should have tried a different summoning spell for the endgame.
Malign gateway is just ok. It seems to be fairly powerful but too slow. If the tentacle cannot be abjured (?) then it might have some fun applications of casting, then teleporting away...
Ring of flames is ok: The main use was when I got mobbed by lots of things in the abyss, or to step through the flaming clouds from firestorm, which made following me tough!