Does Cerebov have magic points?

[eblip]

I suppose the question would apply to all monsters, but specifically I wanted to know if Cerebov has just spammed 3 fire storms at my various summons, does he only have 1 or 2 left in him? Or can he more or less spam them indefinitely? In one of my previous attempts to take him down this run, it ended up just the two of us, with him chasing me a good distance and not casting anything at all for 10-15 turns. There isn't a number listed on the wiki or in bots for MP, so I'm curious how it's coded. Thanks.

[Tiber]

They don't have MP at all. Every so often, they just randomly choose a spell and cast it. That's why for some of the bots, they list "cantrip", because they water down weaker monsters with a 'spell' that does nothing. The only thing you can do to stop them casting (beyond the obvious answer of killing them) is use a weapon with the anti-magic brand, silence them (but demons aren't affected, so this won't work on Cerebov), or confuse them (and good luck getting through Cerebov's magic resistance).

[eblip]

I'm kind of in a bind, this is my first 15 rune attempt and would be my first ascension with a pure caster (DeFe). With no means of regenerating mana quickly I simply can't bring him down. I have a rod of demonology and rod of summoning I've been using to gather a horde for cannon fodder and just hoping I can get a clean shot for Ice Storm. Even slamming him with 5 Storms doesn't do it.

I do have an anti-magic weapon though, would it be possible to just combo haste/swiftness, equip anti-magic and make a dash for the rune, then control teleport out? I've never tried anything like that, but then again this is my first time in Pandemonium. Would really appreciate any advice.

[KoboldLord]

Simply sprinting for the Rune is actually a standard way of dealing with Cerebov. If your stealth is at all decent, you can probably make it most of the way before he even notices you, and even if it isn't good at all you can carefully lure him out of position before you rush the loot. Note that if you shave off his honor guard before you make your real run for the Rune, they don't respawn.

Had you wanted to kill him, you have to prepare either a way to quickly recover mp or a more mp-efficient way of dealing damage before you enter Pan. Crystal ball of energy or a wall of fat high-level summons are popular examples, although there are many other ways.

Anti-magic weapons don't do what you think they do, by the way. Try hitting spellcasters with them when you're using a heavy armor character. As a primary spellcaster, they aren't even worth picking up on your current character.

[eblip]

Thanks. My stealth is 22, and I have controlled blink, haste/swift/flying, as well as a wand of teleport to make my exit with. While it's good to know my first 15 rune attempt probably won't end in a Fire Storm, it does seem a bit disappointing that the only real "bosses" in the game can simply be avoided by stealth. Thanks again.

[Tiber]

Anti-magic only works when you hit an enemy with it, and sometimes causes them to fail to cast for a number of turns based on how much damage you dealt them. So forget about equipping it if you're not going to fight. It will actually lower your MP.

But yes, using haste/swiftness to grab and run is a completely viable strategy in many cases. Apportation also helps greatly if you have it. Controlled blink is great too, just be careful of getting too much glow by combining it with haste.

I don't know which map layout it is though; Sometimes he appears in front of the rune and it might be hard to run past him in that case. There should be no cTele though, so you might even be able to magic map, guess where the rune is, cTele there, and get out.

As for luring Cerebov out, note that if he loses your position, he will return to guard the rune.

Edit: Anti-magic doesn't hurt your casting success. My bad. But either way you shouldn't use it if you're a caster.

[crate]

Equipping an antimagic weapon doesn't hurt your chances of casting spells. All it does is reduce your maxmp (and current mp if it would be over your new maxmp)