HaBe: How far to train weapon skills?

[danr]

I'm really liking this HaBe I have going right now. In particular, I'm happy I've made slings part of my arsenal - I've got a +4,+10 sling with Blink that, together with my 20 +5 steel bolts, demolishes just about anything and lets me blink away when they close. The main advantage though is to start killing things when they come into LOS, rather than approaching them for melee and potentially bringing more baddies into LOS. Boots of running are a nice addition too!

Anyhow, my question arises from the fact that a lot of my skills are approaching level 12 or so, and I'm wondering which of the following have diminishing returns at this point, with my current plan indicated with -/+.

+ Fighting
- Short blades
+ Long blades
- Throwing (but I have a manual)
+ Slings
+ Dodging
+ Stealth
+ Stabbing

Which would you turn off at levels 10-12?

[acvar]

Since you are not going the spellcasting route stabbing should have been turned off as soon as you got it. You are just not going to have enough stab attempts to get any real use out of it. Short blades should be turned off at level 4. I would just stick with short blades. What long blade tempted you to move into them? What is your evocations at?

[danr]

Evocations is at 4 or something.

I'm finding the stabbing useful because I'm very stealthy. And I want long blades for the greater base damage. My quick blade is "blindingly fast" but my +4 artifact long sword of speed is "extremely fast" so it must be doing okay speedwise too.

[starless]

If you are talking about stabbing only, short blades do more damage than long blades.

[danr]

I can only stab stuff that I find sleeping, but there's a fair bit of that because I'm extraordinarily stealthy or something like that.

My main question is where is the point of diminishing returns on long blades and slings?

[galehar]

For melee weapons, the point of diminishing return is when you max your attack speed, which for a long sword happens at skill level 14.

[styrix]

For melee weapons, the point of diminishing return is when you max your attack speed, which for a long sword happens at skill level 14.

When does it happen for short blades and slings? Is there a nice chart somewhere?

[galehar]

For melee weapons, the point of diminishing return is when you max your attack speed, which for a long sword happens at skill level 14.

When does it happen for short blades and slings? Is there a nice chart somewhere?

There is.

[styrix]

Having read the delay and attack speed articles, the one detail I have yet to figure out is, if this is a turn-based game, how does attack speed help? Does it mean I can take more attack turns per bad-guy attack/move? I've stored a vorpalize weapon scroll, and a bunch of enchant weapon scrolls, hoping I find a quickblade for my SpEn. Would that be the way to go? Right now I just use a +4 +2 Dagger of Speed and Haste myself. Is the Speed worth it with Haste?

[lucy_ferre]

Having read the delay and attack speed articles, the one detail I have yet to figure out is, if this is a turn-based game, how does attack speed help? Does it mean I can take more attack turns per bad-guy attack/move? I've stored a vorpalize weapon scroll, and a bunch of enchant weapon scrolls, hoping I find a quickblade for my SpEn. Would that be the way to go? Right now I just use a +4 +2 Dagger of Speed and Haste myself. Is the Speed worth it with Haste?

Yes, you get more hits in per turn. A dagger of speed with haste isn't very good, even with might. It'll takes a long time to kill anything dangerous in melee. You'd be better off finding a sabre of speed or a branded quickblade.

[acvar]

Having read the delay and attack speed articles, the one detail I have yet to figure out is, if this is a turn-based game, how does attack speed help? Does it mean I can take more attack turns per bad-guy attack/move? I've stored a vorpalize weapon scroll, and a bunch of enchant weapon scrolls, hoping I find a quickblade for my SpEn. Would that be the way to go? Right now I just use a +4 +2 Dagger of Speed and Haste myself. Is the Speed worth it with Haste?

The game really is not a turn based game, or at least not a turn based game as most perceive a turned based game. In crawl not all turns are of equal length. Most turns take 10 "ticks" to complete. Some take longer. Some shorter. You only interface with the game when your turn is up.