Thursday, 9th April 2015, 10:21 by Aean
Hmm, well you've probably already got most of these points down, but...
- For hellfire, with its irresistible damage, you're going to need plenty of health (yeah, obvious, I know). So HP boosting gear is particularly helpful, and I usually try to have a good 15-20 levels or so in Fighting, regardless of character type, by the time I'm in extended. You can also boost yourself a bit by starting with a high-HP species.
- For torment, there are a few good options. rN+++ is quite helpful - it won't eliminate the effect, but it'll mitigate the damage. And an undead species won't have to worry about it. Your best option (unless you're using necromutation or undead) is just resistance, and minimizing time in the line-of-sight of tormenting monsters. Doors, fog, corners, etc. are your friends. Note that rN+++ will also eliminate draining as an issue.
- As a few others have said, smite-targeted abilities/spells, and/or ranged weapons (preferably with portal projectile) are great for taking out particularly dangerous threats the instant they appear. You want to hit the tormenting/hellfiring/mutating monsters before they can hit you.
- Pay attention to the brands you're using. Holy wrath is particularly useful, but particularly in the Hells, you're likely to find something resistant to your primary damage type if you're using flaming/freezing/venom/draining. So a backup weapon with an alternate brand, or something vorpal is a good thing.
- As with the the brands, make sure you diversify your spellset...though if you've made it to Extended, you've probably already done this. Being able to do only one flavor of damage can make put you in serious trouble in some areas.
- Always, always, always be ready, willing, and able to escape. So haste (potion, spell, or wand), blink (evoke or spell), cBlink if possible (scroll or spell), and teleportation (evoke, wand, or scroll)...maybe swiftness if you want a cheap alternative. With all the tormentors, hellfire-ers...mutators, etc., breaking line of sight is even more helpful than usual.
- Remember you don't need to kill everything, and especially with the Hells, it's usually smarter and safer to dive to the bottom instead of clearing every floor. (I'm especially bad about this...). Though if you find TSO's fortress in Pan, it's worth exploring - usually great for collecting cure mutation potions, among other things. Of course, if you're undead/demonspawn, welllll...you might want to avoid that floor.
- rMut for Pan (and to swap in the Hells), area-specific resistances to fire and cold, stasis for sphinxes and giant eyeballs, sustain abilities for the Hells and Tomb, regen for quick-healing between battles.
- Plenty of curing/heal wounds...though you'll probably use these for dealing with rot (and potentially confusion), not healing yourself. With enemies that can do that much damage at once, in-combat healing doesn't do nearly as much good as you might like.
- For Tomb in particular, silence works wonders for any character that's got decent weapon skills. It'll eliminate the torment and the smiting, and you'll mostly just have to worry about death curses.
