What 3rd rune is easiest for most characters to get?

[tasonir]

So, which 3rd rune is easiest? I've always done silver, but as other people have pointed out, silver is getting harder with recent changes, and some other runes like slimy aren't too bad with rCorr.

Obviously, it's tough to pick a general one, and it's going to depend on your character. Assume a fairly normal run where you can expect to find things that are common enough to find in every game, so I'd say you have a pretty high chance of getting rCorr, for example. You can assume the silence spell has generated for tomb, although I don't think all characters learn silence, if that's part of your standard 3rd rune tomb kit (and not your 15th rune tomb kit - assume it's the 3rd rune), go ahead and assume you have the book.

If you still object to a general poll, well, there's the objector option

[mopl]

I tried thinking about it, and was about to vote for Silver, but then thought to all my recent characters, and definitely most of them picked up Slimy rune first.

Slime pits with rCorr is easy to dive to level 6, I almost always kill TRJ with ?immolation + evokables, and this is a pretty reliable tech

With my current MuSu, it was really a joke : 2 ?torment, ? immolation, lamp of fire, go get the rune !

[nilsbloodaxe]

Most commonly I get silver, but honestly, I agree with mopl, slimy is actually easier as long as you have rCorr. However, I usually end up getting both slimy and silver, and often abyssal too.

[Bloax]

The abyss is usually not a very rough place after surviving two lair branch rune vaults, and unlike slime it doesn't require any specific items for you to succeed.

[nilsbloodaxe]

The abyss is usually not a very rough place after surviving two lair branch rune vaults, and unlike slime it doesn't require any specific items for you to succeed.

My experience would back this up, except that I so rarely don't have rCorr.

[Magipi]

The abyss is usually not a very rough place after surviving two lair branch rune vaults, and unlike slime it doesn't require any specific items for you to succeed.

Interesting, I always find Abyss:3 much worse than Slime, much worse than V:5, almost as hard as the Hells.

[crate]

well technically slime is the easiest since it's really really easy to just convert to jiyva, but in the spirit of the intended question I think silver is the easiest for most characters

[Magipi]

well technically slime is the easiest since it's really really easy to just convert to jiyva, but in the spirit of the intended question I think silver is the easiest for most characters

If you just convert to Jiyva, Trog will send berserkers to kick your ass, no?

Also, is V:5 really easier than Slime? I wonder.

[crate]

well technically slime is the easiest since it's really really easy to just convert to jiyva, but in the spirit of the intended question I think silver is the easiest for most characters

If you just convert to Jiyva, Trog will send berserkers to kick your ass, no?

yeah but that happens after you pick up the rune, so you've gotten the rune, so the question is answered!

[Turukano]

As Ashenzari is still my favourite god and detection of gates/foes/vaults/rune makes the abyss a lot easier, I usually take the abyssal rune as 3rd.

[KoboldLord]

I've gone for the Golden Rune for my third on four out of six of my last characters, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is representative of typical characters. I would say any of those four are a legitimate choice depending on your character, even the Abyssal Rune which I will never intentionally go for until I already have 14 other Runes.

Vaults 5 used to be clearly easier than the others, now it is less so. Maybe still easier overall, depending on how you care to measure it, but with wardens and sentinels and whatnot there are actual things that can go wrong now.

[TheDefiniteArticle]

Worship Jiyva 4 out of 5 games now. This has the bonus of making the midgame shorter.

Otherwise Vaults is still the easiest third rune, just "put off doing the last level as long as possible" is more obviously a good idea.

[xentronium]

The abyssal rune is pretty safe to go for if you have rmut, lots of teleportation, and restore abilities. More than 4 intelligence helps as well.

[tasonir]

well technically slime is the easiest since it's really really easy to just convert to jiyva, but in the spirit of the intended question I think silver is the easiest for most characters

If you just convert to Jiyva, Trog will send berserkers to kick your ass, no?

yeah but that happens after you pick up the rune, so you've gotten the rune, so the question is answered!

well you'd need to reach 6* piety first. Now if you stash everything on one floor, it's very easy to hit 6* piety immediately, but assuming you didn't lug hundreds of items to one place because that's a huge waste of time, you'll probably get 1-2 packs of berserked things before you can get the free slimy rune

[Bloax]

The abyssal rune is pretty safe to go for if you have rmut, lots of teleportation, and restore abilities. More than 4 intelligence helps as well.

You don't need rMut at all, and you won't be teleporting much unless the game wants to murder you and you keep on moving along.

Most of the abyss (and quite a bunch of the rune vaults) are also populated by far less threatening monsters than the average vaults:5 monsters (with the exception of silly things like the lich locker vault) and don't require you to kill a boss that swarms you with highlevel slimes.

but what the fuck do i know right

[Hopeless]

I posted the objector vote because to my view none are really easy. I still die sometimes in v5 and earlier if I am having a bad day. Though I will admit the wins I have, I grabbed the silver, once after the change and once before it. I bypassed the circle of vault guards entirely by using the trapdoor instead. (And was fortunate in where I landed as I was able to clear the quadrant I was in, then circumspectly clear the next until I found it and skedaddled.

I've never lived to Slime bottom as I've never converted to Jiyva and haven't even entered slime since the changes to corrosion. As an anti-expert (my fingers will never let me play well for long it seems) I considered it folly to do the latter and just haven't had the yen to do the former. I've grabbed the abyssal rune once but usually when I get there my sole goal is escape asap.

[Bloax]

Nobody is asking which one of them easy; the question is which one of them is the relatively easiest of all the available choices.
.-.

[Hopeless]

Nobody is asking which one of them easy; the question is which one of them is the relatively easiest of all the available choices.
.-.

I am sure you can read between the lines of what I said without the snark, thanks.

[Sharkman1231]

I had a demonspawn that got the rot immune mutation. I took the Golden rune 3rd, and it was downright easy. Normally I go abyssal for my third rune.

[partial]

tomb is easy as a gargoyle of tso

[Aule]

In trunk, now, both corrosion and monster-inflicted mutation are temporary, and pretty much nerfed, it seems.

As for the vote, I didn't see my own, which is: to me, neither silver nor slimy is easier, but either of those two is easier than the others.

Technically, I guess, Slimy is easier, even in stable branch, because you can get there quickly, bypassing most of the levels, and you don't even have to kill TRJ to get the rune, if you have the means to break into the chamber. For Silver, once you step into the fifth level, chances are you're locked in for a spell, so it can be more dangerous.

I've only been to the Abyss a couple times, unwillingly, for the record, and while it wasn't as bad as I feared, it seemed like it could get hairy in a hurry. Everything dies pretty quickly in Vaults:5, but there are some seriously tough cookies that can spawn in Abyss.

[crate]

In trunk, now, both corrosion and monster-inflicted mutation are temporary, and pretty much nerfed, it seems.

shining eye muts are unchanged (and weren't a big deal to begin with, since they're slow and have awful defenses)

corrosion is actually significantly more deadly, though less annoying

[tabstorm]

Still think Vaults is easier, with the recent nerfing of rCorr. Abyssal is close, though.

[Turukano]

Oops!...I did it again

... and took the abyssal as 3rd rune in my actual Dg game. And now I voted for it in the table.

[Magipi]

This is very interesting. Whenever I go to Abyss:3, it seems to be around Hell difficulty, much harder than either Slime and Vaults.

[Turukano]

This is very interesting. Whenever I go to Abyss:3, it seems to be around Hell difficulty, much harder than either Slime and Vaults.

Well, there is no easy 3rd rune any longer, and enemies in the abyss can be tough, yes. The point is: when I'm in trouble in the abyss I can run or teleport away with a good chance to get to a safe place.

After all I could have voted "personally I feel better with abyssal as 3rd rune" instead of "it's the easiest".

[duvessa]

Pretty sure you're allowed to run and teleport in slime and vaults.

[Lyrick]

I voted Silver out of habit, but remembered the corrosion changes and mutation changes.

Since there's no permanent equipment damage threat slime seems to be a cakewalk. If you're undead or something I guess golden isn't bad.

I always over prepared for V:5 though. Shadow creatures at 2% no matter what, and iron shot for anything peskier than a vault warden.

[partial]

Abyss w/ rMut is usually easiest ime

[ThreeInvisibleDucks]

Apart from getting bad mutations, Abyss has other threats than can waste a perfectly good character, at least one without high AC. Stasis helps against those paralyzing motherfuckers; lack of Tele can get even a stealthy char in a bad jam; lack of regen and/or healing can make one unable to regain HP in bad spots.

But these are more of a problem for those unfortunate chars that ended up in Abyss not by choice. I lost two promising mid-level chars in a row, who had no problems handling whatever the dungeon threw at them to Abyss. First one survived for 2k turns running around, the 2nd one 1.5k turns. No exit.

[byrel]

I always carry a ring of tele after I find it in case of abyssing. It's the single best item for survival there.

[ThreeInvisibleDucks]

I always carry a ring of tele after I find it in case of abyssing. It's the single best item for survival there.

Unluckily my latest victims didn't find one.

Edit: But when I do, I never drop one just in case I get Abyssed.

Edit2: I even make it priority to buy one instead of some other helpful thing early on just so I have it in my inventory all the time.

[ThreeInvisibleDucks]

Answering to the question of the thread; I play mostly tankish characters, and V:5 isn't that different from any other levels who they have survived earlier. So V:5 I definitely find the easiest.

Abyss difficulty depends much on luck, and the equipment found. For some chars, it doesn't feel hard, but I've lost a number of quite strong dudes there, by far more than I've lost in V:5. Slime depends on rCorr; I've snatched the rune without, but it adds another luck-based factor that the other runes don't have. And in death-is-final games, minimizing the variance is crucial.

So I'd say V:5 is the easiest, because it's more of the same, but in concentrated numbers.

[Aethrus]

Silver Rune I'd put as the generally easiest rune because its the one that's not going to be exceptionally difficult for a given character missing this or that. Slime without rCorr or rMut is painful, and if you can't kill jellies fast enough you can have all your AC disappear anyways. Abyss you want rMut, SustAt, Stealth, and such, and probably some better escape options. I've had an easy time of Tomb with the last couple characters I've taken Tomb early, but they had Shatter, rN+++ and were statues with rRot and rTorment. That doesn't make Tomb easy though!