Weapon choice for Deep Dwarf

[Rast]

Started a new DDGl. I've put all my skill points to Armour and all three stat increases to DEX. XL9, worshiping Mahkleb.

Which weapon should I be using in the short/medium term, and how heavily should I invest in it?
u - a +3,+2 elven spear of freezing
N - an uncursed battleaxe of chopping
T - an uncursed eveningstar of draining
V - a vampiric war axe
Y - a whip of electrocution

What about the long term? I had a lot of fun last game with +6,+6 vorpal elven longbow and 1500 +7 arrows, so I'm biased towards that unless melee is Just Better.

[mageykun]

You're a DD. Vampiric seems the natural choice to me.

[XuaXua]

If you've already beaten the game with a particular weapon style, try not to choose that again for the challenge.

[Southpaw]

A few people around here consider ranged weapons to be overpowered, and in many cases its just better than melee (like that whole not being next to the opponent thing)

You have a vampiric weapon there which can be really useful, especially as a deep dwarf because it provides healing mid-fight whereas Mahkleb will only do it post-kill. Using V and a shield should work out quite nicely for you (until you have the skill to use a high end two handed axe) and could quite possibly get you through a 3 rune game if its enchanted enough.

[Rast]

Update. XL 11, Six stars with Mahkleb now.

Still haven't picked a weapon, though I put a couple points in all the weapon skills to ID them. I don't think that vampiric is worth it on such a crap weapon. Armour is at 17.0


p - a +2,+2 long sword of electrocution (weapon)
l - a +1,+0 whip of draining
m - a +1,+2 trident of freezing
q - an uncursed whip of venom
s - an uncursed spear of freezing
y - a +3,+2 elven spear of freezing
J - a halberd of venom
N - a +1,+1 battleaxe of chopping
T - a -2,-3 eveningstar of draining
V - a -1,-2 vampiric war axe
Y - a +1,+2 whip of electrocution



Armour
d - a +0 dwarven helmet (worn)
j - a +0 cloak of darkness (worn)
O - a +0 orcish plate armour (worn)
P - a +0 pair of gauntlets (worn)
S - a +0 pair of boots (worn)
o - the +6 ring mail "Smikhyt" {+Rage +Inv MR}

I forgot to mention before that the first two monsters I ran into on DL 3 were uniques, and each had a Wand Of Ruin Character:
Your vision is a little blurry.
You cover ground slowly.

But there is a shop with speed boots, and I found a scroll that let me wish for $2500, so I'm heading back to buy those.

[XuaXua]

Let's eliminate some from that list.

KEEP
p - a +2,+2 long sword of electrocution (weapon)
N - a +1,+1 battleaxe of chopping
V - a -1,-2 vampiric war axe
Y - a +1,+2 whip of electrocution

KILL
l - a +1,+0 whip of draining
m - a +1,+2 trident of freezing
q - an uncursed whip of venom
s - an uncursed spear of freezing
y - a +3,+2 elven spear of freezing
J - a halberd of venom
T - a -2,-3 eveningstar of draining

I tossed out draining because of the XP loss and because it's just on a whip and you have an electric whip available.
Ditto for the whip of venom; electric whip trumps that.
I tossed out spears because other than throw-ability, the trident is superior.
I kept the vampiric war axe because you can use it and chop with it and you're a deep dwarf and it's an axe. It sucks that it's negative.

I think it will be between the war axe and the electric whip till you find a demon whip.

My two favorite weapons are whips and tridents because you get the whip speed (and train to demon whip) and tridents have reaching and both are usable with shields (and you can train to demon trident).

If I were playing, I'd toss the war axe because it doesn't allow easy swapping and uses up your permafood, but that's me. I'd prefer if you were full health that vampirism gave you a small amount of sustenance on a successful attack. It's the reason I don't use it.

[Jiokuy]

If you plan to rely on summons in mid-> late game I would suggest the trident. All of my DDNe love polearms due to their ability to reach attack through allies (aka meat shields).
Without summons though e.g. EE with low Invo, Whip will do more damage long term.

I am infatuated with polearms mix of range(safety) without ammunition, so I would vote for the trident personally.

[Rast]

Let's eliminate some from that list.

Thanks. I took the whip of electrocution and advanced it a little, but then I found a flaming longbow and couldn't help but switch (and it turns out to be +3,+3). I've kept the whip in case of ammo issues.

  Code:

 a - Fighting          5.2         -1    j - Stabbing          0.0         -1
     Long Blades       2.5          0    k - Traps & Doors     5.6         +1
     Axes              3.1         +1*+4
 b - Maces & Flails    4.1          0*   l - Spellcasting      0.0         -1
 c - Polearms          2.8         -1 +4
 d - Unarmed Combat    1.7         -1    m + Invocations      10.4   33%   +2
                                         n - Evocations        0.0         +3
 e * Bows              2.9   66%   -3
 f - Throwing          1.9         -1

 g - Armour           19.4         +1
 h - Dodging           2.2         +1
 i - Stealth           0.0         +2
     Shields           1.1         +1

It's a mess, but all the wasted skill points add up to what, one draconian?

  Code:

 b - a +2 pair of boots of running (worn) 
 e - the cursed -2 pair of gloves of the Hanged Man (worn) {+Inv rPois rC+ SInv}
 j - a +0 cloak of darkness (worn)
 p - the +1 helmet "Fuedd" (worn) {rPois SInv}
 H - a +0 orcish plate armour (worn)
 P - a +0 pair of gauntlets


The boots only offset my stupid mutation. The artifact gloves would be amazing on their own, but considering the helmet they kinda suck.

[sir_laser]

Ranged combat calculations are completely different from melee combat calculations. Depending on your Str/Dex, weapon skill may have an effect on weapon delay all the way up to lvl. 27. Therefore, why are you abandoning the whip of electrocution for the longbow when DDs have a -3 aptitude for Bows? M&C @ lvl. 8 will bring that whip down to min. delay.
Also, you should never have more than 2 (there are exceptions, of course, but they don't apply here) weapon skills trained. This includes all ranged skills, as you're just losing XP.