Advice on First Possible Success

[terminallyCapricious]

So, I'm looking at a character that I think could go all the way (my second great character, so I'm somewhat excited). The problem is that I don't know where to go next. I've cleared Lair and Orcish Mines, but I don't know if I should go through one of the Lair Sub-dungeons or just head further down into the dungeon. Any advice? I'm a SpBe, if that helps at all.

[Megabass]

I'd check out swamp, or snake (if you have poison resistance). Otherwise, just poke down through the dungeon. Just be super careful not to poke into the bottom floors of the subbranches. The difficulty takes a big running leap from the previous floors. Shit be scary as hell.

Also, posts like this should probably go in the YASD/YAVP/CIP forum. They should also probably change the name of said forum to actually include CIPs so more folks notice that.

[terminallyCapricious]

All right, thanks for the advice. I'll also keep that in mind if I need to post something like this again.

[mikee]

spbe should do hive after orc for piety and food.

[Zicher]

spbe should do hive after orc for piety and food.

IMHO, if a SpBe should not touch Orc before actually going to Elven Halls.
Reasons? Exactly those you mentioned. These two branches are excellent piety boosts when exhausted after heavy BIA use. No need to blow that piety too early, SpBe tends to receive gifts before actually finding the staircase to Orc.
The same goes for Hive. Unless your piety dropped below BIA availability, and/or your need for food is really dire, there's little reason to enter.

[mageykun]

Personally, I never had a piety problem with SpBe's, you don't need to leave branches full of squishies for later use unless you plan on spamming BIA through Zot. And if you ever do need a piety shot, you can take a short dip into the abyss (yeah, I know conventional wisdom is the abyss is a resource drain, but for a SpBe of sufficient strength, it's free food and piety).

Also, TC, if you want specific advice, a char dump helps. Sure, we can say go lair hive swamp orc snake vaults elf zot or whatever, but branch order can be highly subjective depending on build and finds.

[mikee]

I've never had problems with piety on any berserker (including mube), and I think even a newer player who might use bia a lot would still benefit more from a possible weapon upgrade early on. Maybe our experiences differ and I'm just greedy about weapons, who knows... but I still think doing hive as soon as you find it will significantly increase your chance of surviving until mid/late game.

[Zicher]

The weapon upgrade point is perfectly valid for Orc, but, as i usually do Lair first, I tend to have a really decent weapon before Hive. Also, food is rarely a problem ever since you find your first bee room. Your mileage may vary, and perhaps it does.

Or I just lucked out with those katana gifts around D:8 .