How do I play SpEn?

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 02:56 by FraterFugae

So, since I've only ever played as caster dudes and fighter guys, I'm not sure how to play a stealth character, especially this one. I briefly tried playing as a spriggan or two in the past, but they always died so easily. This guy I kept alive by just always keeping a some focus on stealth, and swapping between hexes and dodging, but I actually don't know what to do or where to go from here. Charms are on right now to try to get ozocubu's, but I'm not sure it's the right move. Any tips?

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.17.0 (console) character file. FraterFugae the Covert (Spriggan Enchanter) Turns: 9599, Time: 01:23:31 Health: 32/39 AC: 11 Str: 4 XL: 9 Next: 74% Magic: 14/14 EV: 28 Int: 16 God: Dithmenos [**....] Gold: 187 SH: 0 Dex: 20 Spells: 5 memorised, 2 levels left rFire . . . SeeInvis + E - +2 short sword (protect) rCold + . . Clarity . D - +2 robe {rC+} rNeg . . . SustAt . (shield restricted) rPois . Gourm . (helmet restricted) rElec . Spirit . B - +0 cloak rCorr . Warding . (gloves unavailable) rMut . Stasis . (boots unavailable) MR +.... z - amulet of faith Stlth +++++++++. K - ring of stealth i - ring of flight @: wreathed by umbra, very quick, somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, incredibly stealthy A: unfitting armour, molten scales 1, see invisible, herbivore 3, speed 3, slow metabolism 2 a: Shadow Step, Renounce Religion, Evoke Flight You are on level 9 of the Dungeon. You worship Dithmenos. Dithmenos is pleased with you. You are not hungry. You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 10 of its levels. You have collected 463 gold pieces. You have spent 21 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand Weapons a - a +0 hunting sling b - a +2 dagger of speed E - a +2 short sword of protection (weapon) Missiles f - 323 stones (quivered) x - 9 exploding sling bullets y - 21 sling bullets of frost G - 4 exploding tomahawks I - 15 poisoned needles L - 19 sling bullets Armour w - a +1 robe B - a +0 cloak (worn) D - a +2 robe of cold resistance (worn) Magical Staves J - an uncursed staff of air Jewellery i - a ring of flight (left hand) n - an uncursed ring of positive energy s - an uncursed amulet of stasis z - an amulet of faith (around neck) K - a ring of stealth (right hand) Wands O - a wand of enslavement Scrolls g - 9 scrolls of remove curse h - 3 scrolls labeled GUUNNAPEFF j - 2 scrolls labeled KEXZYQ QYSSIU k - a scroll of immolation q - a scroll of blinking v - a scroll labeled COOLULLU BIUNT Potions e - a potion of resistance l - 2 potions of ambrosia p - 3 potions of curing r - 2 potions of agility t - a smoky green potion u - 4 potions of heal wounds C - a lumpy green potion Books c - a book of Maledictions Spells Type Level a - Corona Hexes 1 b - Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 c - Confuse Hexes 3 d - Tukima's Dance Hexes 3 e - Dazzling Spray Conjuration/Hexes 3 o - a book of Power Spells Type Level a - Fulminant Prism Conjuration/Hexes 4 b - Iskenderun's Mystic Blast Conjuration 4 c - Venom Bolt Conjuration/Poison 5 d - Bolt of Magma Conjuration/Fire/Earth 5 e - Iron Shot Conjuration/Earth 6 f - Orb of Destruction Conjuration 7 g - Spellforged Servitor Conjuration/Summoning 7 A - a book of Envenomations Spells Type Level a - Spider Form Transmutation/Poison 3 b - Alistair's Intoxication Transmutation/Poison 4 c - Olgreb's Toxic Radiance Poison 4 d - Poisonous Cloud Conjuration/Poison/Air 6 N - a book of Frost Spells Type Level a - Freeze Ice 1 b - Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 c - Ozocubu's Armour Charms/Ice 3 d - Throw Icicle Conjuration/Ice 4 e - Summon Ice Beast Ice/Summoning 4 f - Condensation Shield Ice 4 Miscellaneous H - a plain deck of wonders {drawn: 2} Comestibles d - 4 bread rations m - 2 royal jellies F - 3 fruits M - a slice of pizza Skills: - Level 1.1 Short Blades - Level 10.2 Dodging + Level 14.4 Stealth - Level 3.0 Spellcasting - Level 8.0 Hexes + Level 2.7 Charms - Level 3.1 Ice Magic You have 2 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Corona Hex ####... 1% 1 #...... b - Ensorcelled Hibernat Hex/Ice ###... 3% 2 ##..... c - Confuse Hex ####.... 1% 3 ###.... d - Tukima's Dance Hex ####.... 1% 3 ###.... e - Ozocubu's Armour Chrm/Ice ##...... 17% 3 ###.... Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (9/15) Temple (1/1) D:5 Lair: D:8-11 Orc: D:9-12 Altars: Ashenzari Cheibriados Dithmenos Elyvilon Fedhas Gozag Kikubaaqudgha Makhleb Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Qazlal Ru Sif Muna Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin The Shining One Jiyva Shops: D:5 * Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations You are tiny and cannot use many weapons and most armour. You have supernaturally acute eyesight. You are a herbivore. You cover ground extremely quickly. You need consume almost no food. You are partially covered in molten scales (AC +1). Message History The hound bites you but does no damage. The hound misses you. You hit the hound. The hound is almost dead. The hound barely misses you. You hit the hound. You kill the hound! Dithmenos accepts your kill. No target in view! Unknown command. Saving game... please wait. Welcome back, FraterFugae the Spriggan Enchanter. Dithmenos says: Spread the eternal night. Press ? for a list of commands and other information. Unknown command. You are alive. You are wreathed by an umbra. Your movement speed is very quick. Your attack speed is below average. You are somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments. You are incredibly stealthy. Char dumped to 'morgue/FraterFugae.txt'. Saving game... please wait. ..................# ...................# ...................# ...................# ...................# ...................# ..........†........# ...................# ................@..# .................<.# ...................# ....<..............# .../.............).# ...................# .............####..# .............# ..# .............# ..# There are no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures A trapdoor spider (D:7) A water moccasin (D:8) 4 ice beasts 4 ogres A centaur (D:6) A phantom (D:6) 2 big kobolds (D:7) Blork the orc (D:5) 4 giant frogs 2 scorpions (D:8) A wyvern skeleton (D:7) A giant frog zombie (D:8) 4 crimson imps A giant frog skeleton (D:5) 4 jellies 4 orc priests 8 hounds 6 orc wizards A gnoll shaman (D:8) An iguana (D:5) 4 worker ants 2 hound skeletons A worker ant zombie (D:8) 10 gnolls 4 river rats (D:4) 3 shadow imps 10 adders 4 oozes An adder zombie (D:8) 3 worms An adder skeleton (D:6) 3 giant geckos 19 orcs 4 ball pythons 10 giant cockroaches 12 goblins 5 hobgoblins 11 jackals 18 kobolds 7 quokkas 8 bats A giant gecko zombie (D:5) 4 giant newts A jackal skeleton (D:6) A jackal zombie (D:5) A quokka skeleton (D:3) 14 rats 214 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) A hippogriff (D:7) 3 wights (D:6) A hound (D:7) An orc wizard (D:7) A gnoll (D:5) 7 orcs 14 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) A naga (D:7) A dancing weapon (D:4) A big kobold (D:8) A toadstool (D:5) 4 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 232 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | FraterFugae the Spriggan Enchanter began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 9/9 MP: 5/5 142 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 10/13 MP: 4/7 177 | D:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Ensorcelled Hibernation 592 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Stealth 992 | D:1 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 16/16 MP: 8/8 1403 | D:2 | Learned a level 3 spell: Confuse 1576 | D:2 | Reached skill level 6 in Stealth 1726 | D:2 | Found an opulent altar of Gozag. 1786 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 21/21 MP: 9/9 1810 | D:3 | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One. 2219 | D:3 | Reached skill level 5 in Hexes 2774 | D:3 | Reached skill level 7 in Stealth 2774 | D:3 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 2/24 MP: 6/10 2783 | D:3 | HP: 1/36 [orc/club (3)] 3387 | D:4 | Learned a level 3 spell: Tukima's Dance 3898 | D:4 | Noticed an ogre 4081 | D:4 | Killed an ogre 4081 | D:4 | Reached skill level 8 in Stealth 4081 | D:4 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 28/28 MP: 8/11 4495 | D:4 | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin. 4618 | D:4 | Reached skill level 9 in Stealth 4853 | D:4 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 25/32 MP: 12/12 5150 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 5191 | D:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 5245 | D:5 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru. 5281 | D:5 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 5458 | D:5 | Gained mutation: You are partially covered in molten scales (AC +1). [potion of beneficial mutation] 5464 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Stealth 5561 | D:5 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 5668 | D:5 | Noticed Blork the orc 5670 | D:5 | Killed Blork the orc 5831 | D:5 | Found Fautyopnyff's General Store. 5838 | D:5 | Bought a fruit for 21 gold pieces 6007 | D:5 | Found a viscous altar of Jiyva. 6009 | D:5 | Reached skill level 11 in Stealth 6011 | D:5 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 36/36 MP: 13/13 6140 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 6307 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Dithmenos the Shadowed 6715 | D:6 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 6989 | D:6 | Reached skill level 12 in Stealth 7043 | D:7 | Reached * piety under Dithmenos 7177 | D:7 | Hired Poizilon the naga for 171 gold. 7215 | D:7 | Found a burning altar of Makhleb. 7322 | D:7 | Your ally Poizilon died 7349 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 39/39 MP: 9/14 7386 | D:7 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging 7712 | D:7 | Reached skill level 13 in Stealth 7721 | D:7 | Found a shimmering altar of Xom. 8197 | D:8 | Learned a level 3 spell: Ozocubu's Armour 8241 | D:8 | Reached skill level 1 in Ice Magic 8548 | D:8 | Reached ** piety under Dithmenos 8712 | D:8 | Hired Robbeph the big kobold for 84 gold. 8735 | D:8 | Your ally Robbeph died 8896 | D:8 | Got a turquoise-encrusted ring mail 8911 | D:8 | Found a basalt altar of Yredelemnul. 8911 | D:8 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 8912 | D:8 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 8990 | D:8 | Reached skill level 14 in Stealth 9375 | D:8 | Reached skill level 1 in Charms Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Dagger | 129 | 205 | 127 || 461 Short sword | | | 364 || 364 Fire: Hunting sling | | 6 | 10 || 16 Throw: Stone | 4 | 8 | || 12 Throwing net | | 1 | || 1 Cast: Corona | 12 | 14 | 16 || 42 Ensorcelled Hiber | | 20 | 12 || 32 Tukima's Dance | | 2 | 4 || 6 Confuse | | 2 | 9 || 11 Evoke: Deck | | | 2 || 2 Use: Scroll | 3 | 2 | 6 || 11 Potion | | 3 | 1 || 4 Stab: Sleeping | 27 | 19 | 44 || 90 Distracted | | 2 | 3 || 5 Confused | | 1 | 8 || 9 Eat: Bread ration | | 1 | 1 || 2

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 03:37 by Hurkyl

The main thing is that SpEn's never fight 'fair', except possibly against wimpy targets. In the first half of the game, nearly everything dies to Ensorcelled Hibernation + Stab if you keep spell power up enough to land the hex and you keep stabbing* up enough to kill things in one hit. And most of the rest die to Confuse + Stab, and you can also resort to Dazzling Spray or kiting with ranged weapons if need be. (and avoid Gargoyles like the plague)

*: Stealth and weapon skill contribute equally to the effectiveness of stabbing. A benchmark is that with a decent dagger, you can almost always one-shot a hydra if stealth plus short blades is 16 or more. You'll need a bit more skill than that if you're still using a plain +1 dagger. (or if you've switched to a non-dagger short blade)

Stealth is not the core of how SpEn works -- it's the hexes that ensure everything dies. Stealth is just a nice bonus to help avoid trouble and to get chances to pre-empt fights (and to make casting EH from two squares away a more reliable way to stab).

IMO, the only real 'trick', aside from remembering to keep your stabbing high enough to kill the monsters you face, is to decide when to EH from two squares away, when to EH while adjacent to the monster, and when to have the discipline to stay away entirely. (use your speed; if you want to EH from two squares away and it moves next to you, then retreat! e.g. I do this with adders in the early game, taking a few extra steps away to ensure it doesn't get the chance to both move and attack if it resists EH)

And IMO, the main challenge is to avoid overconfidence. E.g. you'll probably win a fight with your first Orc Priest by moving next to it and spamming EH until it sticks, then stabbing it. But you should avoid the fight anyways, since you have low HP and you can avoid giving it the chance to get lucky. Similarly, you'll probably kill an Ogre by casting EH from two squares away (back off if it gets next to you) and then moving up to stab it. But it's safer to use Tukima's Dance instead, just so it doesn't get the chance to wake up and one-shot you.

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 03:52 by CanOfWorms

Use EH. If EH doesn't work, use Confuse. If Confuse doesn't work, use either Dazzling Spray or Tukima's Dance depending on whether the target has a weapon. If none of those work you should avoid fighting whatever it is. Also, Confuse will disable ranged attacks like smiting, spells and projectiles so use it to prevent those from going off.

Avoid stabbing beefy enemies like ogres, hydras and hill giants until your short blades/stealth is high enough; they can appear early enough to survive an EH stab and potentially kill you.

Stealth is more important to train than Short Blades given the aptitudes, and the fact that your attack speed matters less when you're stabbing things. 12-14 Hexes is enough to handle most threats that can be affected by Hexes, you can train some more if you find stuff like Darkness and Discord.

Since you found the book of Power you can branch into Conjurations for an alternate kill option (which synergizes well with Dithmenos since he'll mimic most conjurations.)

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 06:03 by Siegurt

CanOfWorms wrote:Use EH. If EH doesn't work, use Confuse. If Confuse doesn't work, use either Dazzling Spray or Tukima's Dance depending on whether the target has a weapon. If none of those work you should avoid fighting whatever it is. Also, Confuse will disable ranged attacks like smiting, spells and projectiles so use it to prevent those from going off.

Avoid stabbing beefy enemies like ogres, hydras and hill giants until your short blades/stealth is high enough; they can appear early enough to survive an EH stab and potentially kill you.

Stealth is more important to train than Short Blades given the aptitudes, and the fact that your attack speed matters less when you're stabbing things. 12-14 Hexes is enough to handle most threats that can be affected by Hexes, you can train some more if you find stuff like Darkness and Discord.

Since you found the book of Power you can branch into Conjurations for an alternate kill option (which synergizes well with Dithmenos since he'll mimic most conjurations.)

I would further point out that ogres, orc warriors and the like are tukima's bread and butter, I favor tukima's over confuse against many nasty melee critters with weapons.

Also I've never personally gotten to the point where I found a sleeping hydra and it wasn't one-shottable, but It's certainly possible if you don't invest any points into stealth/short blades.

I would disagree that attack speed is unimportant, for confuse stabs particularly attacking more often means more chances to stab before confusion wears off, being able to attack something twice before it has a chance to move is particularly helpful, for that reason alone I'll often use a dagger of speed for my confusion stabs.

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 06:24 by radinms

My SpEn guide:
http://mars.kmc.gr.jp/~dis/dcss_wiki/in ... of%20Gozag

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 13:00 by MainiacJoe

My SpEn win was my third overall, and my god was Gozag. You aren't going to be eating those corpses, after all. Similarly, you might want to consider Necromancy as a second school.

Saturday, 6th February 2016, 19:20 by Sphara

"My 0.16 SpEn guide: SKILLS: Approximate goals are as follows: 1) 5 Short Blades, 8 Stealth. 2) 4 Spellcasting, 8 Hexes. 3) 3 Fighting, 8 Dodging. 4) 8 Short Blades, 12 Stealth. 5) 6 Fighting/Spellcasting, 10 Short Blades/Hexes, 15 Dodging/Stealth. 6) 10 Fighting, 27 Stealth, and whatever spell skills you want.
SPELLS: Use Ensorcelled Hibernation when possible. Use Confuse against rC+ monsters or if you want a higher success chance. Other starting spells are decent but unnecessary. Invisibility is the best spell in the game if you find it. Other good spells include Haste, Repel Missiles, Dispel Undead, Apportation, Blink, Passage of Golubria, Controlled Blink.
GODS: Ideally you want a god who helps with hard-to-stab monsters. Some good choices: Kiku (pain melee, zombies), Dith (shadow step, shadow form), Jiyva (slimify), Lugonu (corruption, disto melee), Makhleb (greater demons), Ashenzari/Vehumet (conjurations).
WEAPONS: Use short blades, stab high-HP monsters with a dagger. For regular melee, early on look for elec, draining, or venom weapons. Later look for a quick blade and/or pain brand a weapon with Kiku. Distortion is nice also. If you can't find a quick blade and want better melee, demon whips are reasonable. Oh, and get a buckler. STATS: Raise Int or Dex."

Just in case you had not read this. Spriggan Enchanter guidelines by one of the best players in the world, elliptic. Updated for 0.16 version but it is as viable as ever in 0.18 version too.

How do I play SpEn?

How do I play SpEn?

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