Why do Warpers start with Apportation?

[DracheReborn]

When or how do people use Apportation on their early game Warpers? I've read that Apportation is useful for things like ninja'ing runes/the Orb, but I can't figure out a good use for it in the early game. Maybe to pick up darts after you throw them, ok, but autoexplore does that easily enough with less key strokes.

What do more experienced players do with that spell? It seems, well, pretty useless to me, at least in the early stages.

In contrast, I find all 3 level 2 spells in the starting book very useful. I'd rather free up that L1 slot so I can get all 3 L2 spells faster!

[crate]

it's not very useful early on

[DracheReborn]

Then why start with it memorized? Skalds start without memorized spells after all.

[crate]

Sk starts without spells memorized because there are no level 1 spells in the sk book.

I mean if you want you could say that no class should start with its level 1 spell memorized (and in fact I remember a time when necromancer did not, and also when transmuter did not, and it was awful in both cases).

[cjo]

Apportation is pretty specialized, but it's not 100% useless in the early game.

-rescue a spellbook from being destroyed by Trog
-snatch loot from near an oklob when you're not tough enough to take it on
-ditto for various statues
-ditto for loot near electric eels, if you're not up to tangling with the eel yet
-rescue an item about to be eaten by a jelly
-grab an item off a teleport trap

I've actually done all these. They're not exactly game-defining, but they feel good. My favorite is rescuing spellbooks from Trog. It doesn't come up much, but whenever it does, I feel so smug.

[crate]

My favorite is rescuing spellbooks from Trog. It doesn't come up much, but whenever it does, I feel so smug.

have you checked the contents of those spellbooks recently
you might find it amusing to do so

[dpeg]

crate: But it makes full sense: You can tear apart Trog's spellbook to make room for another spell from your starting Warper book!

I always regarded the (non) pre-learned spells as a balancing screw.

[cjo]

My favorite is rescuing spellbooks from Trog. It doesn't come up much, but whenever it does, I feel so smug.

have you checked the contents of those spellbooks recently
you might find it amusing to do so

No, not lately...

[reaver]

The book in the Trog book burning vaults is always a randart book with Apportation as its only spell. It use to be a random book. I think Apportation is the only way to get the book.

Also, one of the major things the skald revamp is going to do is give them a whole new book, including a Level 1 spell memorized.

[DracheReborn]

Apportation is pretty specialized, but it's not 100% useless in the early game.

-rescue a spellbook from being destroyed by Trog
-snatch loot from near an oklob when you're not tough enough to take it on
-ditto for various statues
-ditto for loot near electric eels, if you're not up to tangling with the eel yet
-rescue an item about to be eaten by a jelly
-grab an item off a teleport trap

I've actually done all these. They're not exactly game-defining, but they feel good. My favorite is rescuing spellbooks from Trog. It doesn't come up much, but whenever it does, I feel so smug.

Thanks! Now that you mention it, I've run into similar situations myself, but of course I never have Apportation during those times.

[DracheReborn]

The book in the Trog book burning vaults is always a randart book with Apportation as its only spell. It use to be a random book. I think Apportation is the only way to get the book.

Some dev has a twisted sense of humor

Also, one of the major things the skald revamp is going to do is give them a whole new book, including a Level 1 spell memorized.

I was going to ask this in GDD... but, shouldn't a new L1 spell be considered for Warpers as well? Apportation seems common enough that you would find it by the time it's more useful. I guess the problem is that there's only 1 L1 Tloc spell...

[Magipi]

Apportation is a curious spell. In a normal 3-rune game it is practically useless. In the extended endgame, it is almost invaluable. I guess it should be lvl5 or 6 instead of lvl1.

[Lasty]

Having Apportation memorized a L1 allows Warpers to train Translocations at L1. Of course, they probably shouldn't.