Should I brand distortion on vampiric glaive?

[nordetsa]

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13-a0-2859-gb62c5ab (tiles) character file.

Nordetsa the Impaler (Demonspawn Abyssal Knight)   Turns: 31119, Time: 02:23:51

HP 110/110       AC 18     Str 20      XL: 15   Next: 52%
MP  18/23        EV 12     Int 14      God: Lugonu [*****.]
Gold 1534        SH  0     Dex 18      Spells:  1 memorised, 13 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   z - +4,+3 glaive (vamp)
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : .   D - +5 scale mail "Orig Fie" {Str+4 Dex+3}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : +   f - +2 wizard hat
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   r - +0 cloak {MR+}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (gloves unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   (no boots)
Res.Rott. : .       Flight     : .   s - amulet of resist corrosion
Saprovore : . . .                    u - ring of protection from magic
                                     k - +3 ring of evasion

@: very resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: claws 3, hooves 1, horns 1, cold resistance 1, conserve potions, demonic
guardian 1, augmentation 2
a: Depart the Abyss, Bend Space, Banish, Corrupt, Enter the Abyss, Renounce
Religion


You are on level 4 of the Swamp.
You worship Lugonu.
Lugonu is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 5 branches of the dungeon, and seen 31 of its levels.
You have visited the Abyss 1 time.
You have also visited: Ossuary.

You have collected 3250 gold pieces.
You have spent 1736 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 z - a +4,+3 vampiric glaive (weapon)
Missiles
 l - 4 javelins (quivered)
Armour
 f - a +2 wizard hat (worn)
 r - a +0 cloak of magic resistance (worn)
 D - the +5 scale mail "Orig Fie" (worn) {Str+4 Dex+3}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 9 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
Magical devices
 a - a wand of fireball (6)
 m - a wand of disintegration
 p - a wand of invisibility {zapped: 1}
 x - a wand of fire (3)
 F - a wand of digging (6)
 I - a wand of hasting (5)
 M - a wand of teleportation (2)
 P - a wand of polymorph {zapped: 6}
Comestibles
 c - 6 bread rations
 i - 5 meat rations
 w - 3 chunks of giant goldfish flesh
 N - 6 cheeses
Scrolls
 g - a scroll of enchant weapon II
 h - a scroll of vulnerability
 n - 4 scrolls of remove curse
 q - 2 scrolls of blinking
 v - 5 scrolls of fear
 E - 9 scrolls of identify
 H - 6 scrolls of fog
 L - 8 scrolls of teleportation
Jewellery
 e - the ring of the Ego {cTele rElec rF+}
   (You found it on level 1 of the Swamp)   
   
   [ring of teleport control]
   It protects you from fire.
   It insulates you from electricity.
 j - an uncursed ring of positive energy
 k - a +3 ring of evasion (left claw)
 s - an amulet of resist corrosion (around neck)
 u - a ring of protection from magic (right claw)
Potions
 b - a potion of heal wounds
 d - 3 potions of restore abilities
 o - 2 potions of curing
 B - a potion of agility
 C - 2 potions of speed
 G - 2 potions of might
 J - a potion of resistance
Books
 K - a book of Enchantments   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Cause Fear                         Hexes                        4
   Silence                            Hexes/Air                    5
   Tukima's Dance                     Hexes                        5
   Deflect Missiles                   Charms/Air                   6
   Haste                              Charms                       6
   Discord                            Hexes                        8
Miscellaneous
 y - a lamp of fire


   Skills:
 - Level 9.1 Fighting
 - Level 18.6 Polearms
 * Level 14.1 Armour
 - Level 0.8 Dodging
 - Level 5.2 Invocations


You have 13 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Magic Dart            Conj           #...         52%         1    ##.....


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (14/27)            Temple (1/1) D:5             Orc (4/4) D:7
    Elf (0/3) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:8           Swamp (4/5) Lair:6
 Spider (0/5) Lair:3        Slime (0/6) Lair:6     


Been running another DsAK in hope of getting a non-berserker Ds win. Early weapon of acquirement gave me that vamp glaive, and it has done good so far. However my Lugonu piety is keep dropping from max because I have to use banishment more frequently, and I fear if I don't enchant a weapon soon my chance of getting distortion weapon would be lost.

In addition, even with that vampiric glaive this character feels weak, getting really low wile fighting a single alligator. Swamp is tough, but I think it's better than D:14 and downwards. If I meet a group of skeletal warriors I would be pretty much done for... So, should I distort this glaive now?

[Igxfl]

Part of your problem may be a result of neglecting the Dodging skill. You have good Dex and aren't taking huge armour penalties, so your EV should pick up very quickly with training. You could definitely use some more Invocations -- if you're using the abilities a lot, they might as well pack a punch.

As for distortion, I'd wait. Vamp is quite good through most of the main game, and distortion can get annoying to manage. When you do eventually distort something, a spear or (demon) trident might be worth considering since the brand's damage is additive. Weapon speed is king in that situation.

[nordetsa]

Damn, died after finding a +3 bardiche and getting it distorted. Wonder if I should have left it to freezing? AK really seems hard, or maybe because its DsAK...

[Lasty]

Igxfl is right: your character should have trained some dodging, since you weren't wearing heavy enough armour to get a great AC score. With about 10 levels in dodging, you could have had defenses around 18/20 instead of 18/12, and taken way less damage during each fight. Of course, the XP would have have to come from somewhere, probably from your Armour skill, since you had a relatively light armour on; so maybe 16-17/20 instead of 18/20.

Also, why did you do Swamp after clearing only 14 levels of the main dungeon? You'd probably be safer and get better XP doing D15-18 or so. Meeting skeletal warriors wouldn't kill you, since you could just walk away from them.

[ackack]

Little late to the party, but yeah, I would never distort that glaive. Vampiric glaive sounds like a phenomenal 3-rune weapon. Distortion has its merits but I would try using one for a bit before you change up an excellent weapon.

Part of the reason you were probably burning lots of piety is that your banishment was only at 5-6 invo (or, alternately, you were spending lots of time trying to banish things you shouldn't.) At 11 invo you'll have max banishment power and pretty good success rates on corrupting and entering the Abyss. A good rule of thumb I was given was to not bother trying to banish anything with magic resistance greater than 60. In general, once you're past Lair I would be slow on the banish trigger. There are some threatening or annoying monsters that are easy to banish, but many are not.

The advice everybody else is giving about dodge is good.

[nordetsa]

I've been running another AK (merfolk this time) and focused more on dodge and invocation. Still, I don't know how would AK fare in lower part of the dungeon, considering monsters begin to have higher MR.

[dck]

Remember corruption exists and can kill dangerous things for you with ease.