How the **** to deal with centaurs?

[Jeremiah]

Ok, I'm not quite a noob, I've had a few online wins, though never got 15 runes.

But my patience is wearing a bit thin with early deaths caused by centaurs.

Not just deep elves and other frail characters, but even fairly robust species like MD or Mi can get shredded in the time it takes to close with them - and of course running is pointless because of their speed. And if you are a low-HP caster, then you're dead no matter what as they can quite happily kill you in melee as well as with their bows.

It seems like, if a centaur sees you and you don't have Mephitic Cloud or berserk, it's game over.

It's actually discouraging me from starting any new games because I'm getting tired of playing through D:1-3 again and again, congratulating myself from escaping from Sigmund + Grinder on D:3, then going down the stairs and seeing "the centaur shoots you with a runed arrow. You die."

[snow]

Try to identify all your potions and scrolls early on. A potion of might or healing makes a centaur pretty trivial even if you're playing a fragile character. Also try to get them in melee range ASAP... sometimes just charging at them is easier than trying to lure them around a corner.

[TwilightPhoenix]

Use your scrolls of Blinking and Fog if they cause that many problems. Ducking behind a wall far enough that'd force them to come right up to the corner to see you helps too. Once you get them into melee range, you (usually) win. Also, don't forget the Potion of Agility. It increases your EV which may be just enough to keep you alive.

[dpeg]

Why are the centaurs always awake? At least for my casters, they generally aren't and I can retreat. Do you turn off Stealth at game start?
In my experience, a centaur on D:5 is expected (i.e. not OOD) and can usually be dealth with.

[Jeremiah]

A potion of might or healing makes a centaur pretty trivial

That hasn't been my experience - my last death I used 3 potions of healing, and in each case, the centaur did more damage to me than the potion healed. And that was in melee. Maybe Heal Wounds would have done the trick.

Other things that do have a good chance of working are curare, wands of fire/cold/lightning/fireball, potions of speed, sticky flame if you have good HP, and large rocks if you're a troll/ogre hunter, but all of those things are quite rare or restricted to certain backgrounds etc.

[plantaspoon]

I use a couple things depending on background or what I've found in the dungeon. Meph cloud, swiftness, curare and run, shoot it with the wand of polymorph grinder was carrying, etc. Worse case scenario it's a completely open room that you got shafted into as a lvl 3 DEFE? well, it's usually still worth it to run so they won't get as many shots in on you, and hope you can find a rat to put between you and him so that he will close the distance for you. That's the disadvantage of the background though, you nuke well, but lack escapes. Usually you just die when the RNG rolls against you. As a MDFI in the same situation? Again, running still reduces your arrow intake until you can find a corner. If it bugs you, start with a background that has escape options, or accept that your starting character will require a little luck until it gets enough tools to deal with the situation.

[OdiumTheologicum]

The centaurs rarely bug me. It's the large groups of centaur warriors that do the trick. They also always show up when I'm halfway into a room too...

[speciesxx]

Wait till you meet those archers in the elven halls

[Happy Corner]

A potion of might or healing makes a centaur pretty trivial

That hasn't been my experience - my last death I used 3 potions of healing, and in each case, the centaur did more damage to me than the potion healed. And that was in melee. Maybe Heal Wounds would have done the trick.

Potions of healing aren't actually good for healing HP (unless you're so fragile that the 8-10 HP they give IS most of your HP). They're more like "potions of cure bad status conditions". So yes, potions of heal wounds would be much better.

Back on topic, I rarely have much trouble with centaurs, despite playing berserkers so often. This thread has some good advice as to why not. It especially bears reminding that centaurs have crappy magic resistance and can be satisfyingly fucked up by almost any wand. You don't even need fire/cold/lightning/draining, as even the "lower" wands like flame/frost can hurt them good. They're also quite vulnerable to confuse, enslave, polymorph other, paralyze, and other such wands.

Playing the position game has also been mentioned. Hiding around corners works well, I also like to use other monsters for shelter. If you're already engaged with two or three mobs, centaurs will happy trot around them to close with you in melee. (And remember you can maneuver so that the mobs are between you and the centaur!) I know saying this won't win me any friends, but the AI could actually use a centaur's speed and range advantages more effectively!

The main thing, though, is just to keep track of what you have, identify it as soon as you can, and use it effectively when you face challenges (like centaurs in the early game). The average character picks up all kinds of junk on the Dungeon floor, and it's easy to completely forget about that wand or speed potion or blink scroll or some other item that might save your life.

[speciesxx]

Recently i'm trying fire elementalist, and i must admit, if he meets a centaur it hurts a lot more than a caster with meph cloud. If you lack any kind of croud control these can be a pain. If they catch you in the open and you can't control them, or can't close the gap to them fast its often gg.

Also note that a corridor corner is the best way to lure them close. In a more open area, if you walk around the corner, they are smart enough to keep away from the wall and sneak around the corner, still being away 3-4 tiles ><.
Found out the hard way lol.

[TwilightPhoenix]

When that happens, you go farther back behind the corner. You can usually end up with them being a tile or two closer.

[Grimm]

Remember that doors can be closed. If a ranged attacker swims into your ken and you are near a door, get behind it and close it. If they've seen you they'll come up to the door and open it, whereupon you can step to and clobber them.

[dmurray]

I haven't gotten too far in depth (so I dunno if they appear in groups or not) but I leave stealth on at the start of the game so I can carefully see them and just back off.
If you're actually in a fight... summon anything you can and run. If you have the cloud thing... mephatic cloud (sp), use it. The speed isn't a problem at all for me. I normally play human/DS/Mummy and never got caught off guard. Sure, sometimes I'll barely make it out alive but I've never had many problems.
If you're going as a wizard, just swarm it with imps. That usually works for me since they basically take the hits/distract them for so long and I can just flee in safey, drop down a floor and come back when I'm stronger.