SE Build Help

[chrysalis]

Hi guys a little background; I'm working on 15-runers for all races and next up is the Sludge Elf. Thus far I haven't got a single rune in about 5 deaths

I have chosen a transmuter as my build to benefit from SE's fighting, dodging, unarmed combat, transmutations and spellcasting aptitudes. I have also dabbled in throwing, but it has so far been underwhelming.

As far as the gods go, I have tried sif muna, okawaru, and nemelex. I have heard that you can use spider form with no punishment from chei so I'll try him out on my next run.

My hang up is that once I reach the lair, my power level doesn't seem to keep up. I have tried both blade hands and ice form and while the damage is actually pretty good, the lack of any defense whatsoever makes it impossible for me to clear any branches.

Are there any of you out there with SE 15-runers? What god's/builds did you use?

Also some side questions if anybody would care to enlighten me:
Is throwing worth it? Can its damage potential rival bows or xbows? I can't seem to find any formulas/info on ranged weaponry also...
After blind drawing with the deck of wonders for the first time I realized that it wasn't too dangerous for the hybrid character (stat shuffling/focusing) and the mutations were not a problem (weighted towards no positive/negative change even at power lvl0). My only problem was that it was nearly impossible to get decks. I turned on only decks of wonders and regularly sacrificed food/potions/scrolls that I didn't need and I hardly got any decks and only got to *** piety with a amulet of faith on. I guess next game I'll try to turn on decks of destruction too, but with the ratio of consumables that I can afford to sacrifice compared to weapons, I don't think I'll get any decks of wonders.

Anyway, thanks for any help and hopefully I'll clear this SE challenge soon!

[One-Eyed Jack]

Why is your defense bad? SE have lowish hp but good dodging apts and dexterity as well as good fighting.

I strongly recommend Okawaru. Heroism is very strong in general and especially so on a Tm

This guide http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Sludge_Elf/Merfolk_Transmuter_Guide is pretty good

For ranged attacks I would use magic - Tm don't usually spend all their mp on form spells or buffs or whatever. Se are good at casting too. Fire or earth would be my go-to; I just won a SeWz spending about 80% of the game spamming fireball or iron shot

[chrysalis]

I suppose I could just turn into a straight caster and cast fireballs and such (which would in no way be good enough for extended endgame), but I have this dream of being able to use a more hybrid transmuter build to get there, and beyond.. Maybe its just not possible? Is the general consensus that a transmuter hybrid melee not strong enough to tackle endgame?

[One-Eyed Jack]

You can do the extended endgame with an unarmed character, so of course you can do it with a transmuter. I was just recommending getting a ranged spell instead of using throwing weapons (although 0 skill javelins are effective for much of the game)

[KoboldLord]

Javelins don't usually work as a primary damage source because of weight issues. They do lots of damage, and you'll probably kill whatever you throw them at, but eventually you're going to have a bunch of guys come after you at once and there'll be more of them than you have javelins. They're fine as support, though.

Sludge elves can make do with throwing if they get some good javelin drops, but javelins are pretty rare and it's almost a shame to waste their stellar aptitudes. Agony will chip down normally-dangerous monsters really fast before they can get to melee, and necromancy supplies enough useful support magic that it won't be wasted. On the earth front, you're not only busting out Stone Arrow and Rapid Deconstruction, you're also building to Stone Form, which is a very solid late-game form.

It depends on what drops, really. If you don't want to depend on random drops, I suppose there's always Makhleb.

[crate]

You can also just not worry about ranged damage. If you want, carry some wands for killing hellions/tormentors who are hiding behind other enemies, but I've done a few allruners with no real ranged damage output and not had problems. It's not like demons flee, after all.