DS Ar of xom ... or other ?

[Thomus]

Demonspawn artificer of xom sound nice to me ... but no idea how hard is it since each are challenging separately ?

How to play artificer without Nemelex ?
How to manage bad Xom playing ? basic survive tips ?
Is both will work together ?
Is a demonspawn is not too bad for that ?

In one hand I look for a caster or a fighter or both who heavily use the support of evocable items in other hand Xom way of life look a good alternative of a MiFi for me ... but maybe I must play separately a SpAr of Nemelex (or other advises) and a GrCK (or other advises).

I don't even know if I'm realistic and clear but hope you understand my goal and can help me surviving my choices !

[Sandman25]

I would not count on wands/rods. My LOCK didn't receive any evocables except 2 wands of HW (cleared Lair, Mines and 2 lair branches, died in Elven Halls 3).

[Sar]

Artificer is a "melee dude" who starts with good wands.

[rebthor]

An Artificer start will teach you how good random effects is.

[A spy]

Artificer is not really a "challenging start". They get really good wands (seriously, enslaving a dude is BETTER than an insta-kill), and their starting evo is not wasted even if they don't go nemelex (wand of enslavement, +inv artifacts, good misc items...). Actually, since they have such a strong start, they go pretty well with Ds.