Slime Squisher
Posts: 419
Joined: Monday, 12th September 2016, 16:25
Sunday, 30th April 2023, 15:56
YAVP: 5-rune (with Tomb) FDAs of Kiku
https://crawl.montres.org.uk/morgue/dam ... 222416.txt
Won again. I splatted a DsSk, four TeWz, two OgMo, and a FDAs to get here; I play each random combo the RNG hands me until I get one to the Lair, which helps to cut down on easy starts getting much more play than difficult ones (otherwise I might start a MiBe, win, start a NaWz, splat on a D:1 gnoll...).
FDAs is a pretty miserable start, like most non-book faerie dragon starts (although slightly less so now Short Blades favour Dexterity); I took Kiku in a D:6 Temple simply in order to get some spells to use my excellent aptitudes on. (Also, last time I won with Kiku was 2019, so they were due another visit.) As such I owe thanks to ceb, one of the other Stoat Soupies, who has been playing a lot of FDNe and could give some useful advice about spells.
However, it became a significantly less miserable start if you acquire the Vampire's Tooth in an ossuary on D:5 - especially if it's the pre-nerf +12 version; I'd use it most of the game until demons and undead became the most dangerous adversaries.
Kiku spat out a book on D:8 - took Animate Skeleton immediately (which I'd use basically forever until Death Channel; Kiku never gave me Animate Dead and I found it pretty late in my own right, late enough to be leaning entirely on Death Channel and Infestation), Regeneration as soon as I could, and then found a Book of Changes for Beastly Appendage. FD can only wear hats so I could leave Beastly Appendage on all game.
I'd turn Death Channel off in the Tomb; arguably, I should have amnesiaed it out to free spell slots for Animate Dead for use with Receive Corpses and the handful of corpseful monsters in Tomb, then swapped back again for Zot. I had loads of amnesia scrolls for this kind of thing.
Lair was on D:10 - late, and with a death yak guarding it, but no problem. Learned Ozo's Armour, Velakast's Disruption (better known as Dispel Undead, but in a game with permabuffs it is confusing for the spell list to say "Dispel Regeneration" "Dispel Beastly Appendage", "Dispel Undead"...), and Blink in the Lair. Lair 2 was a unique party with Sonja, Gastronok, and Nergalle - those curare darts came in handy.
By the end of the Lair I'd have found an amulet with {Spirit *Drain rElec rC+++} - I'd use this all game, and it was an excellent match with {+Blink rPois rC- Str+10 SInv}. The Str didn't do me any good until I was using a demon blade, but the rPois and SInv were worth it alone. I had serious trouble with entropy weavers on Lair:6, but survived; learned Death Channel which would soon be online.
Azrael gave me a nasty time of it; really all game I'd lack for rF (with worrying implications for Zot) with no better option than a +4 short sword with holy wrath and rF++ I acquired in Shoals, my second rune branch - all very well unless I wanted to have rF and melee anything that wasn't vulnerable to holy wrath - like, say, fire giants, fire dragons, OOFs...
Saint Roka also nearly collected me on O:2; I didn't realise he was at the back of the orc pack until too late. I learned BVC which I'd lean on all game, and Agony which I'd amnesia out later (it's a good spell, but I mostly forgot it existed).
First rune branch was Snake, second Shoals; no serious problems there, and learned Yara's. Then down to D:15, killing Rupert, learning Isk's Battlesphere (I had Magic Dart to cycle it, and would rely on this combo until the point where the battlesphere was constantly being obliterated by ranged attacks) - and finding the ring of the Mage! Excellent; my spell failure chance was not being helped by a +5 kite shield of reflection, and with FD's small size and -3 apt I had no prospect of eliminating the penalty or reducing it to an insignificant amount, but my not-dying chance very much was reduced. The wizardry on the ring of the Mage let me use high-level spells effectively. I did then find two manuals of Shields, which also eased the pain considerably.
Elf was next (since I'd just found two more pips of MR); some deep elf demonologists came out of the room of bastards and gave me a nervous moment, summoning three Fiends and two Tzitzies. Less loot than I'd hoped for, but it's all XP.
Vaults was next; Mennas showed up. I knew he would obliterate a murder katamari made of spectral things, but I read a scroll of summoning; he rather politely refrained from silencing me, so I could BVC him and let the summons squash him.
I learned Haunt in Vaults but would soon amnesia it out - good spell, but too many spells competing for too few spell slots. I also learned Necromutation and amnesiaed _that_ out for spell slots for Infestation after a while.
I went to Depths after V:4 - Jory proved astonishingly feisty - but midway down I learned Infestation and since I had a trove that wanted to be shown the slimy rune, I decided to try and take on TRJ with it. What I didn't know is that you can't infest the jellies TRJ spits out; I had to flee upstairs from that one. What TRJ didn't know is that I could turn all the slime creatures in the rest of Slime:5 into death scarabs and then fight it; it went down pretty easily to that. The loot included Shroud of Golubria and the opportunity to completely forget why I had gone there in the first place, so I went back to Depths.
I learned Necromutation a second time. At the end of Crypt I'd amnesia it out a second time; with Kiku's torment protection, Statue Form's AC, HP, and ability to quaff my stacks of potions was more attractive, and it's easier to cast. The slow spellcasting isn't ideal, but for big fights where I was using it, I was generally popping a couple of Infestations then hitting monsters to get the katamari rolling, rather than wanting to spam spells. Additionally, the lower spell level meant I could just squeeze in Iron Shot.
Depths had the Fleshworks (easy if you can turn all the lab animals into death scarabs), XTAHUA, Frederick, and the opportunity to remember about the trove. It was an evocables trove; at this point I had Evocations 4, so not a great find, but it did have a manual of Evo which I cashed, and that let me get reasonable mileage out of wands and my lamp of fire.
V:5 was ridiculously easy with Infestation and Death Channel; assemble a huge murder katamari from the initial ambush, make a huge amount of noise in the centre, and when the katamari starts to fade teleport away to where all the monsters aren't anymore.
Next was the Crypt, which theoretically I would have used Necromutation in except there were no curse skulls; I swear the damn things only turn up on characters who are ill-equipped to fight curse skulls. After that I swapped Necromutation for Statue Form and took Iron Shot - one thing I was really lacking was a good way to do damage at range which wasn't "hope my battlesphere is still up" or "BVC plus time".
Then to Tomb. Tomb:1 had Mara, but he kindly brought along some other monsters to Infest, so that was it for Mara. I acquired a ring with {Wiz rN+ MP+9 Stlth+} which, with decent MR from other sources, finally replaced the ring of the Mage. It also had a manual of Necromancy, and more spellpower on Death Channel never hurts.
Tomb:2 was fine to the point I could meet the initial ambush and just fight it, Infesting then using scrolls of fog to control LOS until the point where I had an irresistible wave of death scarabs. The corridor of bastards on Tomb:1 was more of a problem; summons can't be Infested, and the greater mummies don't bring friends to plant your death scarabs in. However, with Kiku and Statue Form I could take ridiculous amounts of torment and laugh it off. It would lead me to learn Aura of Abjuration before Tomb:3, a decision that paid off.
Tomb:3 was more of the same - hairier than Tomb:2 but I could still Infest and hammer away. I had to retreat upstairs once, but didn't have any trouble getting to the stairs, and on the second trip around got to the end of the waves of mummies. That said, Boris turned up and was surprisingly effective.
To Zot! I guess I could have gone for more runes, but after Tomb I usually think I've proved my point. I learned IOOD for a second thing to use on OOFs, although thankfully I saw no OOFs until Z:5, and even Z:5 didn't have many - one went down to IOOD + Iron Shot, one to a murder katamari I had rolling, and one got two box beasts dropped in front of it so I could bravely run away. Tiamat turned up, but bringing a huge pack of allies to fight someone who has Infestation and Death Channel up is just making a rod for your own back.
Once I left that OOF behind, I had no serious issues on the orbrun. Next the RNG has given me GrAK.
Won again. I splatted a DsSk, four TeWz, two OgMo, and a FDAs to get here; I play each random combo the RNG hands me until I get one to the Lair, which helps to cut down on easy starts getting much more play than difficult ones (otherwise I might start a MiBe, win, start a NaWz, splat on a D:1 gnoll...).
FDAs is a pretty miserable start, like most non-book faerie dragon starts (although slightly less so now Short Blades favour Dexterity); I took Kiku in a D:6 Temple simply in order to get some spells to use my excellent aptitudes on. (Also, last time I won with Kiku was 2019, so they were due another visit.) As such I owe thanks to ceb, one of the other Stoat Soupies, who has been playing a lot of FDNe and could give some useful advice about spells.
However, it became a significantly less miserable start if you acquire the Vampire's Tooth in an ossuary on D:5 - especially if it's the pre-nerf +12 version; I'd use it most of the game until demons and undead became the most dangerous adversaries.
Kiku spat out a book on D:8 - took Animate Skeleton immediately (which I'd use basically forever until Death Channel; Kiku never gave me Animate Dead and I found it pretty late in my own right, late enough to be leaning entirely on Death Channel and Infestation), Regeneration as soon as I could, and then found a Book of Changes for Beastly Appendage. FD can only wear hats so I could leave Beastly Appendage on all game.
I'd turn Death Channel off in the Tomb; arguably, I should have amnesiaed it out to free spell slots for Animate Dead for use with Receive Corpses and the handful of corpseful monsters in Tomb, then swapped back again for Zot. I had loads of amnesia scrolls for this kind of thing.
Lair was on D:10 - late, and with a death yak guarding it, but no problem. Learned Ozo's Armour, Velakast's Disruption (better known as Dispel Undead, but in a game with permabuffs it is confusing for the spell list to say "Dispel Regeneration" "Dispel Beastly Appendage", "Dispel Undead"...), and Blink in the Lair. Lair 2 was a unique party with Sonja, Gastronok, and Nergalle - those curare darts came in handy.
By the end of the Lair I'd have found an amulet with {Spirit *Drain rElec rC+++} - I'd use this all game, and it was an excellent match with {+Blink rPois rC- Str+10 SInv}. The Str didn't do me any good until I was using a demon blade, but the rPois and SInv were worth it alone. I had serious trouble with entropy weavers on Lair:6, but survived; learned Death Channel which would soon be online.
Azrael gave me a nasty time of it; really all game I'd lack for rF (with worrying implications for Zot) with no better option than a +4 short sword with holy wrath and rF++ I acquired in Shoals, my second rune branch - all very well unless I wanted to have rF and melee anything that wasn't vulnerable to holy wrath - like, say, fire giants, fire dragons, OOFs...
Saint Roka also nearly collected me on O:2; I didn't realise he was at the back of the orc pack until too late. I learned BVC which I'd lean on all game, and Agony which I'd amnesia out later (it's a good spell, but I mostly forgot it existed).
First rune branch was Snake, second Shoals; no serious problems there, and learned Yara's. Then down to D:15, killing Rupert, learning Isk's Battlesphere (I had Magic Dart to cycle it, and would rely on this combo until the point where the battlesphere was constantly being obliterated by ranged attacks) - and finding the ring of the Mage! Excellent; my spell failure chance was not being helped by a +5 kite shield of reflection, and with FD's small size and -3 apt I had no prospect of eliminating the penalty or reducing it to an insignificant amount, but my not-dying chance very much was reduced. The wizardry on the ring of the Mage let me use high-level spells effectively. I did then find two manuals of Shields, which also eased the pain considerably.
Elf was next (since I'd just found two more pips of MR); some deep elf demonologists came out of the room of bastards and gave me a nervous moment, summoning three Fiends and two Tzitzies. Less loot than I'd hoped for, but it's all XP.
Vaults was next; Mennas showed up. I knew he would obliterate a murder katamari made of spectral things, but I read a scroll of summoning; he rather politely refrained from silencing me, so I could BVC him and let the summons squash him.
I learned Haunt in Vaults but would soon amnesia it out - good spell, but too many spells competing for too few spell slots. I also learned Necromutation and amnesiaed _that_ out for spell slots for Infestation after a while.
I went to Depths after V:4 - Jory proved astonishingly feisty - but midway down I learned Infestation and since I had a trove that wanted to be shown the slimy rune, I decided to try and take on TRJ with it. What I didn't know is that you can't infest the jellies TRJ spits out; I had to flee upstairs from that one. What TRJ didn't know is that I could turn all the slime creatures in the rest of Slime:5 into death scarabs and then fight it; it went down pretty easily to that. The loot included Shroud of Golubria and the opportunity to completely forget why I had gone there in the first place, so I went back to Depths.
I learned Necromutation a second time. At the end of Crypt I'd amnesia it out a second time; with Kiku's torment protection, Statue Form's AC, HP, and ability to quaff my stacks of potions was more attractive, and it's easier to cast. The slow spellcasting isn't ideal, but for big fights where I was using it, I was generally popping a couple of Infestations then hitting monsters to get the katamari rolling, rather than wanting to spam spells. Additionally, the lower spell level meant I could just squeeze in Iron Shot.
Depths had the Fleshworks (easy if you can turn all the lab animals into death scarabs), XTAHUA, Frederick, and the opportunity to remember about the trove. It was an evocables trove; at this point I had Evocations 4, so not a great find, but it did have a manual of Evo which I cashed, and that let me get reasonable mileage out of wands and my lamp of fire.
V:5 was ridiculously easy with Infestation and Death Channel; assemble a huge murder katamari from the initial ambush, make a huge amount of noise in the centre, and when the katamari starts to fade teleport away to where all the monsters aren't anymore.
Next was the Crypt, which theoretically I would have used Necromutation in except there were no curse skulls; I swear the damn things only turn up on characters who are ill-equipped to fight curse skulls. After that I swapped Necromutation for Statue Form and took Iron Shot - one thing I was really lacking was a good way to do damage at range which wasn't "hope my battlesphere is still up" or "BVC plus time".
Then to Tomb. Tomb:1 had Mara, but he kindly brought along some other monsters to Infest, so that was it for Mara. I acquired a ring with {Wiz rN+ MP+9 Stlth+} which, with decent MR from other sources, finally replaced the ring of the Mage. It also had a manual of Necromancy, and more spellpower on Death Channel never hurts.
Tomb:2 was fine to the point I could meet the initial ambush and just fight it, Infesting then using scrolls of fog to control LOS until the point where I had an irresistible wave of death scarabs. The corridor of bastards on Tomb:1 was more of a problem; summons can't be Infested, and the greater mummies don't bring friends to plant your death scarabs in. However, with Kiku and Statue Form I could take ridiculous amounts of torment and laugh it off. It would lead me to learn Aura of Abjuration before Tomb:3, a decision that paid off.
Tomb:3 was more of the same - hairier than Tomb:2 but I could still Infest and hammer away. I had to retreat upstairs once, but didn't have any trouble getting to the stairs, and on the second trip around got to the end of the waves of mummies. That said, Boris turned up and was surprisingly effective.
To Zot! I guess I could have gone for more runes, but after Tomb I usually think I've proved my point. I learned IOOD for a second thing to use on OOFs, although thankfully I saw no OOFs until Z:5, and even Z:5 didn't have many - one went down to IOOD + Iron Shot, one to a murder katamari I had rolling, and one got two box beasts dropped in front of it so I could bravely run away. Tiamat turned up, but bringing a huge pack of allies to fight someone who has Infestation and Death Channel up is just making a rod for your own back.
Once I left that OOF behind, I had no serious issues on the orbrun. Next the RNG has given me GrAK.
Ascension reports with too many words since 2016.
