First time attempting to go for Zot

[brandie]

Hey all! I'm pretty new to this, and this is my first time I have a serious chance at beating the game. But I don't know where to go. I've tried searching for what to do and how to be prepared for endgame, but nothing seems to be very helpful. Should I use my enchant scrolls now and on what? How do I even do a character dump here for people to help me out? My character still feels really weak, but I've got three runes and I want to finally try to win this. Any serious, thoughtful help appreciated. Thanks!

By the way, I'm NaWz of Chei, mostly a summoner but also some poison and fire. Chei is really letting me down of late, even with an amulet of faith.

[pratamawirya]

Press '#' to make a character dump file. Search for it in the "morgue" folder. You paste it here, and use the [code] tag.

[Jiokuy]

Once you have the Orb it is a race to the top. If you have armor worth enchanting (not artefact, you plan on using it in Zot) then use them, same with weapons.

Have a crapton of backup available, for a che-naga you cannot run manually so you best have Blink+Control Teleport or Controlled Blink.

Shadow Creatures can get you through most of Zot i1-4 f your careful. remember to lure as few enemies as possable into an already explored area then mob them with shadows.

Be very cautious of noise, sure Shadow Creatures can let you take on 3-4 enemies at a time easily, but the noise from that can draw another 10+.

various resistance armors (Fire Dragon, Ice Dragon) (assuming you can take the casting hit) will make it easier to stack across the board resistances e.g. for Orb of Fire. Relec and Rpois are very nice. rF+++ is very very nice.

But really fight 1-2 and spam shadow creatures for one of the easiest zot's in the game.

Now Zot 5, Zot 5 is a pain.

It's like Zot 1-4 only with sooooooooo many more enemies. Tiamat is very very dangerous, but will fall to Summoned Orbs of Fire.

TL;DR / Recap: Get as bulky as you can and spam shadow creatures for the Orb. (Potions of Resistance are nice but should not be solely relied on, Clarity is useful as well)

EDIT: A traps and doors skill of 10 is also good for avoiding Zot Traps.

[brandie]

Thanks. Of course I went and died right after posting this. It's been that sort of day. I will remember your helpful tips for the next time I get this far.

[tormodpwns]

It's like Zot 1-4 only with sooooooooo many more enemies. Tiamat is very very dangerous, but will fall to Summoned Orbs of Fire.

Hm, why does everyone seem to say that Shadow Creatures summons OOFs? Shadow Creatures only summons normal monsters, not out of depth monsters. I'm pretty sure that all the unique stuff on Zot:5, like OOFs, Killer Klowns, and Orb Guardians are considered OOD. Shadow Creatures on Zot:5 summons good stuff like Golden/Storm Dragons and draconian packs.

[pratamawirya]

Have a crapton of backup available, for a che-naga you cannot run manually so you best have Blink+Control Teleport or Controlled Blink.

Orb run is -ctele, so control teleport is useless.

[Jiokuy]

It might have been changed at some point, I haven't played a summoner in a while. It would make sense to limit the posable summons though.

[Blade]

I think it's the assumption of "orbs of fire are in zot, so shadow creatures must give orbs of fire." You're right that it doesn't. Dragons and draconians are plenty good enough, though.

[pratamawirya]

You can also summon Electric Golems and Curse Toes.

[mageykun]

It's like Zot 1-4 only with sooooooooo many more enemies. Tiamat is very very dangerous, but will fall to Summoned Orbs of Fire.

Hm, why does everyone seem to say that Shadow Creatures summons OOFs? Shadow Creatures only summons normal monsters, not out of depth monsters. I'm pretty sure that all the unique stuff on Zot:5, like OOFs, Killer Klowns, and Orb Guardians are considered OOD. Shadow Creatures on Zot:5 summons good stuff like Golden/Storm Dragons and draconian packs.

Quick wizmode test, spamming shadow creatures away. You seem to be able to get pretty much anything but orb guardians, orbs of fire, and liches (draconians, dragons, monstrosities, moths, electric golems, cobs, clowns, toes, mummies). Though I could have sworn I had one game where I ran away from a fireball slug-fest between a natural and summoned OOF, as they incessantly pounded away ineffectually on one another. So maybe this is a new restriction? Or they're just really rare to roll? Or I'm just delusional.

[Deimos]

Lots of teleportation will do you wonders. Don't be stingy with it. Even if you can only take out a handful of enemies before having to tele away, it will eventually lead to you clearing Zot:5.

Zot: 1-4 isn't too tough. Have at least a star or two of resistance in most things and you should be OK. Most of it is narrow corridors, so its easy to funnel them and get away should things get nasty (just have a summon hold the dracs down for a few turns). Zot: 5 (or at least, the one I encountered) is mostly dracs and dragons around the stairs, but them it gets nasty with Klowns, Orb Guardians, and Orbs of Fire as you get closer to the Orb. You reeeaaallly want good rF (In fact, you don't want to spend a single turn fighting a Orb of Fire without rF+++, but luckily you have Shadow Creatures to help you), you can probably sacrifice some of your other resistances for it once you clear away the dracs and drags away from the stairs.

Good luck! Remember that if you don't bring something to conserve your pots and scrolls, there is a good chance you will leave Zot with none at all. So plan on not having whatever you need!

[lucy_ferre]

Quick wizmode test, spamming shadow creatures away. You seem to be able to get pretty much anything but orb guardians, orbs of fire, and liches (draconians, dragons, monstrosities, moths, electric golems, cobs, clowns, toes, mummies). Though I could have sworn I had one game where I ran away from a fireball slug-fest between a natural and summoned OOF, as they incessantly pounded away ineffectually on one another. So maybe this is a new restriction? Or they're just really rare to roll? Or I'm just delusional.

I managed to summon a couple of ancient liches in Zot:5. I didn't get orbs of fire or orb guardians though.

[evilmike]

Quick wizmode test, spamming shadow creatures away. You seem to be able to get pretty much anything but orb guardians, orbs of fire, and liches (draconians, dragons, monstrosities, moths, electric golems, cobs, clowns, toes, mummies). Though I could have sworn I had one game where I ran away from a fireball slug-fest between a natural and summoned OOF, as they incessantly pounded away ineffectually on one another. So maybe this is a new restriction? Or they're just really rare to roll? Or I'm just delusional.

You can't get orb guardians because these don't actually *spawn* in Zot. They are only placed by the Zot:5 vault. Liches are also only placed by the vault (although, they can spawn in branches like Crypt).

All those other monsters can be summoned though. It's based on how rare they are as spawns, so you aren't going to see orbs of fire much at all. You should get lots of draconians and dragons, and some moths.

[moocowmoocow]

Thanks. Of course I went and died right after posting this. It's been that sort of day. I will remember your helpful tips for the next time I get this far.

Shucks, what happened? Yeah I would say use up any stockpiled scrolls and potions you've been saving. If you have any wands of heal wounds, teleport, and haste... ID those suckers (to determine # of charges) and use recharge scrolls on them. Bring an amulet of resist mutation too because orbs of fire will mutate you. Amulet of Rcorrosion is good to put on too for yellow draconians.