Surviving abyss

[MrDizzy]

I almost always die in abyss even with high-level characters.

How do you survive long enough to get out?

[Sprucery]

Being stealthy helps, even though monsters are generated awake. If you spot something dangerous but it didn't notice you, you can go to the other direction.

Teleport early, when dangerous stuff is getting to you. Don't stay in view of multiple starcused masses.

Kill the monsters you can easily kill, as eventually an exit will be generated when you've killed enough. Of course you can also just find an exit.

Don't go voluntarily deeper in the Abyss.

[Siegurt]

I would further advise "don't kill things you don't need to kill" if you can outrun it or ignore it safely, definitely do so. Always keep moving and never try to hole up and rest unless you've recently teleported and haven't seen anything. A source of regeneration to heal you while you are on the move helps a lot too.

Generally try to move in one general direction, preferably diagonally, kill things that block your path, or are dangerous, but never go back *towards* them, and wait for ranged stuff around corners for them to come to you.

Once you've killed something vacate the area *immediately* more stuff will be headed towards the spot where you killed whatever it is, avoid making noise you don't have to make.

Also knowing what's threatening and what's not helps a lot, there's a lot of abyss-specific stuff that has weird behavior that changes how and when it's dangerous.

If you get cut off so you're going to have to fight for a while in the same place, it's probably going to go south, so consider reading a teleport at that point. Teleport takes a really really long time in the abyss, but it does eventually get you out of there, you have to read it before you get into trouble, which makes it hard to decide when to use it, but being "stuck" and unable to move (being surrounded, even if you're at full health and might be able to kill everything you can see even if you would take damage from it is probably a good indicator you should read tele before you end up somewhat injured with even more dangerous critters on the way)

[Sorcerous]

Survival in Abyss tends to be more about avoiding your threats and getting away before they build up into something extra lethal. Wiping the threats out works too. I prefer an overwhelming attack capacity to stealth, but both are good if you don't get complacent. This video was linked to in an earlier thread. Despite having a lot of DCSS experience, and a multitude of options to choose from, this trip was a wreck. Don't rush your decisions when in a bad situation, especially in Abyss.

Try not to stay within LOS of any of the following without reliable escaping or killing methods:
1) Starcursed masses
2) Spatial maelstrom
3) Wretched stars

Burn up blink scrolls when there is no better way out, however many are necessary. Same goes for wand charges, evokable summons, ambrosia, everything. Seriously, no amount of consumables is good when your char gets slaughtered. It also never hurts to have a few fog scrolls on hand, they're beyond useful in any branch.

[TheMeInTeam]

Per the above, it's mostly a matter of moving/not drawing too many enemies on you. When I was still a newbie I usually died in abyss, then one time I just went there with a TSO character and practiced until I got used to it.

If you get sent really early, like XL 12 or less, you're probably going to die (but not necessarily). A bit higher and survival starts getting more plausible. A recent crawl cosplay challenge forced us to take draconians into elf at XL 15/16 and the constant lack of MR meant I got abyss'd nearly every attempt. I don't think I actually died in the abyss at all during that week though, the other parts of it were significantly harder.

[svendre]

Stealth (helps)
Don't use noisy spells (use melee)
Teleport scrolls (early before things get out of control)
Blink spell (learn how to improve your odds to get further away based on what is visible)
Boots of running
Always kill splitting blobs first (usually)
Wear a regeneration amulet and other regen items, they help enormously
Move diagonally a lot

I tend to take the approach of killing everything (usually) so that they do not pile up, instead of always trying to run away from stuff and then getting a chain of monsters building up on your tail.

When you spy a buildup situation or a vault, don't be shy about quaffing a set of potions to buff up.