CIP - VaEn of Kiku - Weapon advice needed (now YASD)
Posted: Saturday, 29th September 2012, 23:32
I have a somewhat successful VaEn going and I would like some weapon selection input.
I have killed off many VaEn's and I decided to try out Kiku with this one intending to use a Pain branded weapon. I found an early Vampiric dagger and that is what I am using for my primary weapon, with an electrocution dagger as a backup if I don't kill via stabbing.
What is my best weapon option for the short term? Should I stick with my vampiric/electrocution combo? Or should I pain brand a dagger and use pain/elec? Or should I use vamp for stabs since the damage bonus means greater healing and then use pain/elec as a backup depending on vulnerability of the opponent?
I have kept this vamp alive by staying full or above. Assuming at some point I begin to go bloodless at some point for stealth/resistances will the vampiric dagger become invaluable for healing? Or will it not make that much difference?
Are pain and vamp different enough to justify carrying them both around? I don't know enough of the mechanics to know what situations would be better for each weapon. I believe that elec is noisy, so that is why I am not using it for stabbing. Other weapons I have available are a cold shortsword, speed shortsword, and a greatsword of slicing.
As far as pain-branding goes, is it worth holding out for a quickblade? I almost never see one until elves. If not, do I do a dagger for stabbing, a sabre for stabbing/damage, or just branch into longswords and do something like a greatsword? I have thought about trying to identify daggers until I find a pain brand (I sometimes find one in orc) but that is tedious and risks a distortion turning up. If I found one I could wait to use my pain brand until I had a quickblade or something.
Long term, what is my best weapon option if I plan on going extended (assuming I live that long)? My understanding is that the vampiric and pain brands will both begin to lose their impressiveness because foes will be immune. Will I be able to stab much in extended, or will I be mainly using spells and melee? My only other 15 rune victory was a MfSk of TSO so stabbing in extended is foreign to me.
If stabbing's usefulness declines am I better off going longswords in the long run?
Any other advice for someone relatively new to Vamps?
Character dump:
I have killed off many VaEn's and I decided to try out Kiku with this one intending to use a Pain branded weapon. I found an early Vampiric dagger and that is what I am using for my primary weapon, with an electrocution dagger as a backup if I don't kill via stabbing.
What is my best weapon option for the short term? Should I stick with my vampiric/electrocution combo? Or should I pain brand a dagger and use pain/elec? Or should I use vamp for stabs since the damage bonus means greater healing and then use pain/elec as a backup depending on vulnerability of the opponent?
I have kept this vamp alive by staying full or above. Assuming at some point I begin to go bloodless at some point for stealth/resistances will the vampiric dagger become invaluable for healing? Or will it not make that much difference?
Are pain and vamp different enough to justify carrying them both around? I don't know enough of the mechanics to know what situations would be better for each weapon. I believe that elec is noisy, so that is why I am not using it for stabbing. Other weapons I have available are a cold shortsword, speed shortsword, and a greatsword of slicing.
As far as pain-branding goes, is it worth holding out for a quickblade? I almost never see one until elves. If not, do I do a dagger for stabbing, a sabre for stabbing/damage, or just branch into longswords and do something like a greatsword? I have thought about trying to identify daggers until I find a pain brand (I sometimes find one in orc) but that is tedious and risks a distortion turning up. If I found one I could wait to use my pain brand until I had a quickblade or something.
Long term, what is my best weapon option if I plan on going extended (assuming I live that long)? My understanding is that the vampiric and pain brands will both begin to lose their impressiveness because foes will be immune. Will I be able to stab much in extended, or will I be mainly using spells and melee? My only other 15 rune victory was a MfSk of TSO so stabbing in extended is foreign to me.
If stabbing's usefulness declines am I better off going longswords in the long run?
Any other advice for someone relatively new to Vamps?
Character dump:
- Code:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10.3-5-gf0cc9df character file.
Ninja the Jinx (Vampire Enchanter) Turns: 17904, Time: 02:04:38
HP 75/75 (77) AC 13 Str 7 XL: 12 Next: 55%
MP 25/25 EV 18 Int 21 God: Kikubaaqudgha [******]
Gold 926 SH 0 Dex 14 Spells: 6 memorised, 2 levels left
Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : + a - +2 orc dagger (vamp)
Res.Cold : . . . Warding : + . f - +2 leather armour {MR}
Life Prot.: + . . Conserve : . (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . (no helmet)
Res.Poison: . Clarity : . (no cloak)
Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . o - +1 pair of dwarf gloves
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . R - +1 pair of boots {Stlth+}
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . W - amulet of warding
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . u - ring of protection from magic
Saprovore : . . . Ctrl.Flight: . t - +4 ring of protection
@: regenerating quickly, very resistant to hostile enchantments, extraordinarily
stealthy
A: bottle blood, fangs 3, see invisible, unbreathing
a: Bottle Blood, Receive Corpses, Torment, Renounce Religion
You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Kikubaaqudgha.
Kikubaaqudgha is exalted by your worship.
You are full.
You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 17 of its levels.
You have visited 1 Labyrinth.
You have visited 1 portal chamber: ossuary.
You have collected 906 gold pieces.
Inventory:
Hand weapons
a - a +2,+2 orcish vampiric dagger (weapon)
b - a +2,+1 dagger of electrocution (quivered)
m - an uncursed runed blowgun
P - an uncursed runed blowgun
Missiles
d - 13 +1 darts
A - 56 poisoned needles
E - 12 poisoned needles
Q - 4 poisoned needles
Armour
f - a +2 leather armour of magic resistance (worn)
o - a +1 pair of dwarven gloves (worn)
R - a +1 pair of boots of stealth (worn)
Magical devices
j - a wand of confusion (7)
p - a wand of flame {zapped: 1}
q - a crooked fluorescent wand {zapped: 6} {tried by monster}
w - a twisted brass wand {zapped: 2} {tried}
I - a wand of digging {zapped: 1}
O - a wand of draining {zapped: 1}
Scrolls
g - a scroll of fog
k - 2 scrolls of teleportation
n - a scroll labeled NYCSAPN SIHO
H - 2 scrolls of remove curse
L - 2 scrolls of identify
M - a scroll of detect curse
Jewellery
t - a +4 ring of protection (left hand)
u - a ring of protection from magic (right hand)
W - an amulet of warding (around neck)
Potions
h - 2 potions of blood
i - 4 potions of curing
l - 2 potions of heal wounds
z - a potion of restore abilities
F - a potion of magic
Skills:
+ Level 2.0 Fighting
+ Level 4.6 Short Blades
- Level 0.7 Throwing
- Level 0.2 Armour
* Level 11.4 Dodging
* Level 13.0 Stealth
- Level 13.0 Stabbing
* Level 1.7 Shields
- Level 2.0 Traps & Doors
- Level 6.0 Spellcasting
- Level 13.0 Hexes
- Level 3.1 Charms
* Level 6.8 Necromancy
- Level 1.0 Ice Magic
+ Level 1.0 Evocations
You have 2 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:
Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger
a - Sure Blade Hex/Chrm ######.... 1% 2 None
b - Ensorcelled Hibernat Ice/Hex ######. 1% 2 None
c - Confuse Hex #######.. 1% 3 Strawberry
d - Animate Dead Necr N/A 10% 4 Honeycomb
e - Enslavement Hex #######.. 1% 4 Honeycomb
f - Invisibility Hex #######.. 10% 6 Ration
Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations
Branches:
Dungeon (13/27) Temple (1/1) D:7 Orc (0/4) D:11
Lair (3/8) D:12
Swamp: Lair:2-5 Shoals: Lair:3-6 Snake: Lair:3-6
Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
The Shining One
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
Lugonu
Shops:
D:5: =
Annotations
D:4 exclusion: statue
D:9 exclusion: 4 oklob saplings
D:12 exclusion: oklob plant
Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations
Your natural rate of healing is unusually fast.
You can bottle blood from corpses.
You have razor-sharp teeth.*
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
You can survive without breathing.*
Message History
You drop 2 scrolls of remove curse.
You drop 5 scrolls of identify.
Items here: )))))
a +2,+2 dagger of protection; an uncursed great sword of slicing; an uncursed short sword of speed
an uncursed runed dwarven dagger; a short sword of freezing
Things that are here:
a +4 ring of dexterity; an uncursed ring of invisibility; an uncursed ring of magical power
You drop an uncursed amulet of stasis.
Items here: )))))
a +2,+2 dagger of protection; an uncursed great sword of slicing; an uncursed short sword of speed
an uncursed runed dwarven dagger; a short sword of freezing
Things that are here:
a potion of berserk rage; a potion of brilliance; a potion of agility; 4 potions of blood
Items here: !!!!! ??????
There are several objects here.
Pick up a scroll of detect curse? ((y)es/(n)o/(a)ll/(m)enu/*?g,/q)
M - a scroll of detect curse; L - 2 scrolls of identify; H - 2 scrolls of remove curse; n - a scroll labeled NYCSAPN SIHO
k - 2 scrolls of teleportation; g - a scroll of fog; F - a potion of magic; z - a potion of restore abilities
l - 2 potions of heal wounds; i - 4 potions of curing; h - 2 potions of blood
Unknown command.
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...###...#..P..#....f#
......#.##........#.##
..............:#"#..#
..##..#......./[)##.###
..............!?!#..#.#
#.##....#......<@.....##
..##....#.##.P.#.#.....#
..(.......##..........##
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..........#.#.#.# #..#
..........P####.# ##.##
.#.####..### #.# #..#
.#.# ##.## #.# #.##
..<# #..# ### #.# #.#
.#.###.+###.###.# ##.#
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There are no monsters in sight!
Vanquished Creatures
A minotaur (Lab)
2 hydras
Pikel (D:7)
Joseph (D:10)
3 hill giants
Urug (D:11)
A cyclops (D:12)
An elephant slug (D:12)
A hill giant zombie (D:13)
4 spiny frogs
2 ugly things (D:13)
Psyche (D:8)
An elephant (D:12)
2 komodo dragons (Lair:2)
A spriggan (D:11)
2 trolls
A two-headed ogre (D:13)
2 blink frogs (Lair:3)
A basilisk (D:13)
9 yaks
A fire drake (Lair:2)
A hungry ghost (D:12)
14 war dogs
3 hippogriffs
A necrophage (D:6)
4 ice beasts
A slave (D:7)
8 orc warriors
A phantom (D:7)
A black bear (Lair:3)
8 centaurs
5 ogres
2 sky beasts
4 water moccasins
6 crocodiles
49 big kobolds
4 water moccasin zombies (Port)
3 agate snails
10 giant frogs
2 gnoll sergeants (D:9)
A basilisk skeleton (D:12)
8 killer bees (D:11)
4 jellyfish (Lair:1)
2 big kobold zombies (Port)
4 crimson imps
A goliath beetle (D:12)
5 quasits
A hound skeleton (D:11)
10 hounds
A hound zombie (D:9)
3 orc priests
A shadow (D:10)
3 porcupines
2 scorpions (D:10)
3 worker ants
2 iguanas
10 orc wizards
2 worker ant zombies
5 jellies
2 mummies (Port)
16 adders
A giant centipede zombie (D:13)
22 gnolls
15 green rats (Lair:2)
An adder skeleton (D:4)
3 adder zombies (Port)
2 giant mites
An iguana zombie (D:8)
A scorpion zombie (D:7)
2 giant centipedes
2 iguana skeletons (D:6)
2 giant eyeballs
9 gnoll zombies (Port)
10 giant geckos
3 oozes
47 orcs
2 ball pythons
15 bats
15 goblins
9 hobgoblins
28 jackals
49 kobolds
6 quokkas
4 giant cockroaches
7 giant newts
A giant spore (D:10)
5 hobgoblin zombies (Port)
A kobold skeleton (D:11)
7 kobold zombies
An orc skeleton (D:10)
7 orc zombies
23 rats
8 ballistomycetes (D:10)
A fungus (Lair:1)
A plant (Lair:1)
5 toadstools
568 creatures vanquished.
Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills)
An ugly thing (D:13)
A centaur (D:8)
A yellow wasp (D:8)
A sky beast (D:10)
2 big kobolds (D:12)
An eye of draining (D:12)
A killer bee (D:11)
A big kobold skeleton (D:13)
An orc wizard (D:8)
A worm zombie (D:12)
16 orcs
A hobgoblin (D:8)
3 kobolds
A toadstool (D:12)
32 creatures vanquished.
Vanquished Creatures (others)
2 giant frogs
A big kobold skeleton (D:12)
7 big kobold zombies (D:12)
A worm (D:7)
4 orcs
5 kobolds (D:12)
8 kobold zombies (D:12)
An orc skeleton (D:10)
2 rats (D:7)
48 toadstools
79 creatures vanquished.
Grand Total: 679 creatures vanquished
Notes
Turn | Place | Note
--------------------------------------------------------------
0 | D:1 | Ninja, the Vampire Enchanter, began the quest for the Orb.
0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 13/13 MP: 4/4
377 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Hexes
436 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 19/19 MP: 3/5
440 | D:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Ensorcelled Hibernation
928 | D:2 | Reached skill level 1 in Ice Magic
1079 | D:2 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 24/24 MP: 7/7
1514 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 30/30 MP: 6/9
1519 | D:3 | Learned a level 3 spell: Confuse
1632 | D:3 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh.
1673 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Hexes
2207 | D:3 | Reached skill level 5 in Stealth
2207 | D:3 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 35/35 MP: 8/11
2630 | D:4 | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
3013 | D:4 | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
3069 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
3081 | D:5 | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin.
3299 | D:5 | Found a sand-covered staircase.
3303 | ossuary | Entered a tomb
3543 | ossuary | Reached skill level 1 in Traps & Doors
3543 | ossuary | Reached XP level 6. HP: 29/41 MP: 13/13
3557 | ossuary | Learned a level 2 spell: Sure Blade
3801 | ossuary | Reached skill level 5 in Stabbing
3801 | ossuary | Reached skill level 7 in Hexes
3801 | ossuary | Reached skill level 1 in Charms
3882 | ossuary | Reached XP level 7. HP: 39/46 MP: 15/15
4403 | D:5 | Found Rigeas Edem's Jewellery Emporium.
4764 | D:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Enslavement
4837 | D:6 | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon.
5221 | D:7 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna.
5630 | D:7 | Reached skill level 8 in Hexes
5680 | D:7 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 52/52 MP: 18/18
6189 | D:7 | Noticed Pikel
6200 | D:7 | Killed Pikel
6200 | D:7 | Reached skill level 9 in Hexes
6373 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting
6416 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 55/57 MP: 17/20
6482 | D:7 | Reached skill level 10 in Hexes
6608 | D:6 | Paralysed by a potion of paralysis for 6 turns
6916 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple.
7396 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
7418 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Kikubaaqudgha
7469 | Temple | Learned a level 6 spell: Invisibility
7735 | D:6 | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One.
8073 | D:8 | Reached skill level 11 in Hexes
8090 | D:7 | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's first power
8090 | D:7 | Received a gift from Kikubaaqudgha
8344 | D:8 | Noticed Psyche
8352 | D:8 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 55/63 MP: 4/23
8359 | D:8 | Killed Psyche
8569 | D:8 | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin.
9116 | D:9 | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's second power
9215 | D:9 | Found a burning altar of Makhleb.
9270 | D:9 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas.
9372 | D:9 | Reached skill level 10 in Stabbing
9497 | D:9 | Reached skill level 12 in Hexes
9891 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon
9912 | D:10 | Noticed Joseph
9920 | D:10 | Killed Joseph
10140 | D:10 | Found a labyrinth entrance.
10155 | Lab | Entered a Labyrinth
10932 | Temple | Learned a level 4 spell: Animate Dead
11169 | D:10 | Reached skill level 13 in Hexes
11497 | D:10 | Reached skill level 10 in Stealth
11497 | D:10 | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy
11545 | D:11 | Noticed Urug
11557 | D:11 | Killed Urug
11557 | D:11 | Reached XP level 11. HP: 66/66 MP: 21/24
11823 | D:11 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines.
12231 | D:11 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging
12878 | D:12 | Noticed an agate snail
12881 | D:12 | Found a staircase to the Lair.
12886 | D:12 | Killed an agate snail
12887 | D:12 | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's third power
12887 | D:12 | Received a gift from Kikubaaqudgha
12896 | D:12 | Reached skill level 1 in Evocations
13581 | D:12 | Reached skill level 5 in Necromancy
13846 | D:12 | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's fourth power
14302 | D:12 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting
14604 | D:13 | Reached XP level 12. HP: 73/73 MP: 25/25
15163 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts
15422 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging
15806 | Lair:1 | Got a heavily jewelled robe
16302 | Lair:1 | Identified the +0 robe of the Mutiny (You found it on level 1 of the Lair of Beasts)
16312 | Lair:1 | Identified a scroll of acquirement
17037 | Lair:2 | Reached skill level 1 in Shields