Nightstalker… On a Conjurer. Wow?

[Lord Haart]

Here i am, playing yet another low-level demonspawn, and then i get a mutation i haven't played with before: Nightstalker (-LOS, currently at -1 but it will go to -3 eventually). And i know it's not only THE TheoreticalOptimalPlayer's wet dream mutation, but also legitimately very cool for, say, any melee character ever. And also THE mutation to have in Extended, where there are all kinds of monsters that enjoy just having LOS to you. And opens up some cool combos, like with Disaster Area.

Problem? This DS is a Conjurer (no deity yet). And the way i'm used to playing those, they kinda prefer to have more squares between them and the enemy, not less. Bolt of Fire is usually recommended for having bigger range than other bolt spells, and Vehumet's range boost is well-regarded both by the community and by me personally. So i'm now perplexed: is Nightstalker still the best thing ever? Or does it clash with the playstyle to the point of being of negligible help (or worse)? Is it so strong that i should immediately hybridise into a stabber, or is it better enjoyed for incidental benefits while staying a strong caster character? Will it make autoexplore moderately more annoying/dangerous, or incredibly more annoying/dangerous? And in general, what are the experiences of people who played a Nightstalker DS as an offensive caster?

Not looking for a specific character advice as much as just curious in general.

[Majang]

Not all conjurations get you to the edge of LOS. The strongest ones are the ones with irresistible damage, but these usually have a much reduced range. Throw Icicle, Stone arrow, Iron Shot, Bolt of Magma, later LCS - all these will go to LOS with your level 3 mutation, at least with Vehumet's help, so they really lose their disadvantage. Throw Icicle, Stone Arrow and even Iron Shot are not that noisy, so you won't wake up much outside your LOS by casting them (LCS is very noisy, though). With this in mind, you can now attempt to develop into some kind of sneak conjurer - one-shotting many napping monsters from range, before they wake up and call reinforcements. When (inevitably) the hostile crowd thickens, you then either retreat to come back from another angle, or you unleash your noisy AOE-spells to take care of the situation.
If you don't wear any heavy armor, your mutation should already give you considerable stealth. If not, you may want to train a few levels to take advantage of your new ability. I would not be unhappy with nightstalker on a conjurer. Firestorm, though, becomes a bit of a problem, because you will always have to cast it at the edge of LOS to be sure that you are not included. In this way you may also fry heaps of unseen monsters, though...
Good luck with your Ds - I keep losing them, mostly, but they are fun, as long as you are not saddled with demonic guardian or spirit shield; those two mutations I dislike when playing an offensive caster.

[duvessa]

Nightstalker's even better for damage spells than it is for melee. It makes it much easier to kill monsters that are out of LOS. The only spell it weakens is IOOD and IOOD is bad anyway. Every other spell is improved by shortened LOS.

I would absolutely not train stealth or transition into a stabber or do anything else that isn't conjurations.

[Lord Haart]

BTW, i've already realised that picking Ashenzari and abusing monster detection would be godlike. But i don't want to win yet another character of Ashenzari so soon, so i'll pass in favour of Gozag.

[MainiacJoe]

It makes it much easier to kill monsters that are out of LOS.

Is this from casting AOE spells at edge of reduced LOS that normally never splash beyond LOS, such a fireball or Freezing Cloud? Or is there another part of this that I'm not perceiving?

[duvessa]

Yes.

[Fingolfin]

Freezing clouds disappear when out of LOS so that doesn't work. Fireball and Fire Storm work great though

[Lord Haart]

Aaand that's the second promising conjurer in three days that died because i got tired/emotionally compromised/distracted and misplaced a Fulminant Prism. I still love that spell, it's very potent and ten minutes ago it killed me Pikel, Erolcha and Erica who tried to gank me by gathering into a merry band. It's just that i need to either git good or learn when to take a break when playing conjurers.

Looking forward to more fully exploring Nightstalker next time.