The Tavern

(Note: For all aspiring air elementalists, there's are some of the most basic patterns mentioned, for instance, here, by Siegurt.)

For what it's worth, I started to pay more attention to my early game AEs again, trying to review my movement habits. I discovered a pattern that I haven't really used much before; but once I started to look out for it, it comes up so often that I regard it as one of the basic patterns. I havn't seen it mentioned before, so I'm posting it here, in case I'm not the only one who missed it (as a basic pattern to look out for, that is).

The basis is this (aiming at the single wall tile):



Since Shock has a reach of 7, all the *s are double zapped without afflicting the player. One way in which this comes up quite often is in corners and T-sections of tunnels:



As with all bizap patterns, this becomes intuitive with practise. This one allows to get up to three bizaps in before the monster has a chance to hit, without any hassle and without much moving around:



(Aiming at the X.) Also, occasionally it comes up while chancing on a pack after opening a door. In this case it may do up to 6d9 damage per MP.

I have found that occasionally when aiming broadside at a wall, it will bounce like I'm aiming at a corner. I don't recall exactly, I think it's something like this:


In which I expect that aiming upward will broadside off the horizontal surface and come back down for a bizap, but instead it goes off diagonal to the left. If I were diagonal to the corner, sure, but I'm aiming at the side of the last wall segment before the corner perpendicularly and I expect it to come back at me.

No, that one comes straight back, bizapping the monster in front of you. You probably mean something like this:

(Aiming straight up.) That's because the wall tile straight up doesn't count as part of a horizontal wall. You get something similar for instance with diagonal walls. It's a bit weird, but one gets used to it.

I think you're right. It also happens in corridors that have a dog-leg in them.

There's also the ####.#### If you're above or below it at the proper angle, and aim for the wall where the gap is located; it will bounce back and forth between the two walls where the . is indicated. This also seem to apply to any interstection or turn in a path.

IIRC miltizap is capped at two zaps now.