From MiBe to HuBe

[Maximus]

So, I switched from playing a MiBe to HuBe and am finding HuBe to be much more difficult. I'm having to berserk a lot more often and there are a lot of fights that I just have to avoid.

Questions:

1. At what point in a fight do you decide to berserk? I tend to wait until I am less than 30% of my HP because I'm trying to avoid eating my perma-food if I can, but sometimes my berserk ends before the fight ends or I get hit by a great mace during my berserk and die anyway.

2. How reluctant should I be to switch weapon types, especially once I get a decent amount of exp into Axes? Enchanted axes seem to be quite rare in the early game. Lots of short swords and maces though.

3. Poisoning is pretty painful early on. So much so that I try to avoid fighting adders and other monsters with poison if I can. Should I put some exp into Throwing early on? At 0, darts and rocks don't seem to be very effective at all.

[Deimos]

1. I don't really do the whole emergency berserk thing; I decide before the fight even begins if I'll need to berserk, and if I do, I'll berserk as soon as I'm in range. It might mean I'll berserk on encounters I didn't need to, but I never have any problems with permafood. Gourmand isn't exactly rare, either.

2. Depends on the stage of the game. Pre-temple, if you find something fancy, don't be afraid to switch. Between temple and Lair is when the choice can get difficult; I usually stick to my first weapon class unless something REALLY good drops, which is so damn rare that it's only happened once or twice in my entire time playing. Lair and post-lair, don't bother. You don't have good aptitudes to get the xp invested quickly, and meanwhile all that xp minds as well be thrown into the abyss.

[rchandra]

1. As Deimos said, early berserks are better. If you do find a fight going poorly and need an unplanned berserk, I'd guess around 60% HP would be a better place. After a few floors food is unlikely to be a problem.

2. Be more likely to switch to maces (or polearms) than short swords, due to crosstraining. For a berserker I'd prefer not to use maces or short blades, going for the maximum damage in polearms/axes/long blades. Longbow/crossbow/sling are also fine weapons and would reward a lower investment in maces/shortblades/staves.

3. Trog's Hand helps at fighting poison. I don't bother with throwing unless I find javelins early, and then around 3-5 points in it.

[KoboldLord]

1. At what point in a fight do you decide to berserk? I tend to wait until I am less than 30% of my HP because I'm trying to avoid eating my perma-food if I can, but sometimes my berserk ends before the fight ends or I get hit by a great mace during my berserk and die anyway.

Either berserk immediately before you hit melee range, or not at all. If you have a reasonable concern that berserk will end before the fight concludes or that you will get lethally damaged even while berserk, you should be running away. Berserk gives a multiplier to hit points and a damage bonus, so every hit you give or take before you activate berserk lowers the benefit you get from that berserk.

You should not worry about food at all. There is ample food in the game for all the berserking you might need to do. Don't activate it for fights that you can easily win without it, but activate it without any hesitation if it will guarantee a victory in an otherwise risky fight. Also use Trog's Hand and Brothers in Arms without hesitation if the situation calls for it. Trog piety gains quick and spends quick, and it's normal to be bouncing up and down over the course of a few levels.

2. How reluctant should I be to switch weapon types, especially once I get a decent amount of exp into Axes? Enchanted axes seem to be quite rare in the early game. Lots of short swords and maces though.

If you find something that is clearly better than what you have, then it is a good idea to switch. Berserkers only have a few skills that are useful, so a little wasted xp isn't as big a deal as it would be for some other builds. Swapping from your starting hand axe to a sabre is probably not worthwhile, but a whip of electrocution definitely is.

And really, you should care less about getting an enchanted axe and more about getting a BIG axe. Battleaxes are pretty common, and even war or broad axes are going to be better than your hand axe. If you see a bigger axe that's +0/+0 and unbranded, you probably still want it.

3. Poisoning is pretty painful early on. So much so that I try to avoid fighting adders and other monsters with poison if I can. Should I put some exp into Throwing early on? At 0, darts and rocks don't seem to be very effective at all.

Adders are pretty much the most dangerous thing that routinely spawns on D1. They are a good time to pull out your berserk. Once you have a couple levels under your belt, poison stops being much of a concern because you have a big pad of hit points and probably some potions of curing as backup. Anyway, the best way to deal with a poisonous monster is to kill it as quickly as possible, and the best way to kill things as quickly as possible with a berserker is to put all your xp into your weapon skill. Darts sometimes help on the approach, but you shouldn't expect them to reliably kill things. They're for softening things up a bit on turns that you weren't doing anything useful anyway. Weapon skill will let you attack faster, getting more chances to hit, and it also provides an accuracy bonus, which makes those hits more likely to actually count.

[Davion Fuxa]

1.One quick thing I think deserves note - Hill Orc have a natural Saprovore 1 trait naturally. Abuse this and consider eating contaminated chunks to handle your food issues. Minotaurs have to be concerned with food do to the high risk of Nausea occuring, Hill Orcs however can take a bit more of a risk; and if they do get Nausea simply run away for a moment. Also as well, don't be afraid to use Permafood when you get to Near Starving or Starving.

2.Note for weapon types, I find that Axes are nice an all but duly consider switching to Polearms or Mace & Flail, if a cool weapon comes your way. Mace & Flail and Polearms specifically cross-train with Axes so it won't hurt you to throw experience at them if you find a nice weapon in those categories - or switch back to Axes if you find a nice Axe later on as well.

3.As for Adders, use your best judgment on what to do - Run, Wands, Ranged Attack, Berserk and hope you don't get Poisoned, Quaff-ID Potions after the fight if you get Poisoned, Quaff Sparkling Water after the fight if you get Poisoned....

But there really is no good solid solution, and sometimes you are just going to die.

[crate]

One thing that a lot of players don't realise is that it's not just when to berserk that's important, but also where. If you lead whatever you want to kill back into a place you've already cleared, and preferably close to some safe stairs, then you can berserk very freely since there's not much chance of something wandering by and killing you afterward. Obviously this isn't great against fast things but most things are speed 10.

Otherwise KL's advice is good. If you have Trog's Hand you can also use that as you try to wait out poison.

[rebthor]

Throw clubs, daggers and possibly spears to soften up things on the approach. Throwing a club does more damage than a dart if I recall correctly. Don't put XP in throwing unless you are going for a needlestab build or are a Tr or Og hunter. I guess possibly a MfHu too, but I'd rather train up polearms.