Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK


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Snake Sneak

Posts: 94

Joined: Sunday, 10th February 2013, 21:40

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 18:09

Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

So, I've been playing a lot of DrAK because that's what !next wants ... Typically, I get to the lair rune branches, then fall apart. I've never asked directly for advice on a specific character, just general advice, but if anyone has thoughts on what I'm doing wrong (other than being a bad player, which I readily admit to), here's the latest iteration. If nothing else, what weapon should I be using -- is it worth cross-training for the lajatang? should use the demon whip? Any other advice on skilling, as I'm struggling to stay alive in any of the branches I have available.

  Code:
Strat the Spry (White Draconian Abyssal Knight)    Turns: 79686, Time: 05:29:08

HP 151/151       AC 21     Str 14      XL: 18   Next: 25%
MP  31/31        EV 23     Int 15      God: Lugonu [*****.]
Gold 1686        SH  0     Dex 15      Spells:  5 memorised,  2 levels left

rFire  . . .     SeeInvis .     (no weapon)
rCold  + . .     Clarity  .     (armour unavailable)
rNeg   . . .     rCorr    .     (no shield)
rPois  .         rRot     .     (helmet restricted)
rElec  .         Spirit   .     F - +2 cloak
SustAb .         Warding  .     O - +0 pair of gloves
rMut   +         Stasis   .     j - +2 pair of boots
Gourm  .                        y - amulet of resist mutation
MR     ++...                    n - ring of protection from magic
                                w - +4 ring of protection

@: drained, very resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: breathe frost, unfitting armour, cold resistance 1, spit poison 1, weak 1,
cold-blooded, AC +10
a: Spit Poison, Breathe Frost, Depart the Abyss, Bend Space, Banish, Corrupt,
Enter the Abyss, Renounce Religion


You are on level 2 of the Elven Halls.
You worship Lugonu.
Lugonu is extremely pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 7 branches of the dungeon, and seen 38 of its levels.
You have visited the Abyss 1 time.

You have collected 3207 gold pieces.
You have spent 1521 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 b - a +2 blowgun
 t - a +1,+1 great mace
 z - a +4,+4 dire flail of protection
 K - the +3,+6 demon whip "Spellbinder" {antimagic, MR+}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Shoals)   
   
   It disrupts the flow of magical energy around spellcasters and certain
   magical creatures (including the wielder).
   
   It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments.
 P - a +3,+2 lajatang of pain
Missiles
 u - 59 poisoned needles
 G - 2 javelins (quivered)
 H - 4 tomahawks
 Q - 5 throwing nets
Armour
 j - a +2 pair of boots (worn)
 s - a +0 buckler
 F - a +2 cloak (worn)
 O - a +0 pair of gloves (worn)
 S - a +0 buckler of positive energy
Magical devices
 k - a wand of disintegration (4)
 r - a wand of paralysis (4)
 E - a wand of heal wounds (2)
 I - a wand of enslavement (12)
 L - a wand of hasting (4)
 W - a wand of polymorph
 Z - a wand of frost {zapped: 2}
Comestibles
 i - 4 bread rations
 q - 4 meat rations
 T - a royal jelly
Scrolls
 h - 5 scrolls of teleportation
 l - 2 scrolls of fog
 A - a scroll of recharging
 B - 9 scrolls of remove curse
 C - 2 scrolls of amnesia
 J - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon I
 N - 7 scrolls of identify
 V - a scroll of enchant weapon II
Jewellery
 a - a thick malachite amulet
 e - an uncursed ring of stealth
 g - an uncursed ring of positive energy
 m - an uncursed amulet of rage
 n - a ring of protection from magic (right hand)
 p - an uncursed ring of see invisible
 w - a +4 ring of protection (left hand)
 x - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 y - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
Potions
 c - 2 potions of brilliance
 d - 6 potions of curing
 v - 2 potions of restore abilities
 D - a potion of cure mutation
 M - 2 potions of flight
Books
 o - a book of the Warp   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Control Teleport                  Charms/Translocation         4
   Phase Shift                        Translocation                5
   Warp Weapon                        Charms/Translocation         5
   Dispersal                          Translocation                6
   Controlled Blink                   Translocation                7
   Disjunction                        Translocation                8
Miscellaneous
 Y - a lamp of fire


   Skills:
 - Level 11.5(11.1) Fighting
 - Level 16.3(15.8) Maces & Flails
 + Level 17.2(16.6) Dodging
 - Level 2.7(2.3) Stealth
 - Level 8.0(7.6) Shields
 - Level 7.9(7.5) Charms
 - Level 9.4(9.0) Necromancy
 - Level 3.2(2.8) Translocations
 + Level 10.4(10.0) Invocations
 - Level 9.8(9.3) Evocations


You have 2 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Control Teleport      Chrm/Tloc      ###.......   34%         4    #####..
b - Repel Missiles        Chrm/Air       ##....       12%         2    ###....
c - Swiftness             Chrm/Air       ##......     12%         2    ###....
d - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      ###.......   2%          3    ####...
e - Animate Dead          Necr           N/A          8%          4    #####..
Last edited by Strat on Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:16, edited 1 time in total.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 18:20

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

That demon whip is end-game weapon, I would not switch to lajatang.
What problems do you have? If lack of defense, you can use a shield, you even have some levels there. Train more Fighting, 11 is low for XL 18 character. Also you can train a couple of levels in Air Magic for Repel Missiles and Swiftness.
Do you use Lugonu's abilities?

Snake Sneak

Posts: 94

Joined: Sunday, 10th February 2013, 21:40

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 19:14

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

Thanks for the response, Sandman25. I've followed some of your challenge characters with interest. I do use Lugonu's abilities (maybe too much -- I was down to 3* in Snake) -- mostly banish, though; I still don't have a good handle on when to corrupt. Yeah, the shield was an oversight to start with -- only had a buckler and overtrained at that point, but if I'm going to use the whip, I'll pick up a shield. So you think Fighting is low? I used to train it much more, but at some point I thought the general advice was that 10 was about enough for most 3-rune characters -- I'll try to pick up some more now. In general, my problem is probably just that the character seems like a basic melee guy, but isn't as robust as Be, Fi, or Gl, so things that I'm used to not having much problem with on those characters are a threat here (lack of AC from Dr, partially, too). Again, thanks for the input.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 19:56

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

While it is possible to win with 10 Fighting (one of my challenge characters was Sp with fighting 1.1 and I couldn't get more because of autotraining), I would recommend to have at least 15 even for casters like DEFE and 20 for melee characters like your current one. Dr have Fighting aptitude +1 and cannot rely on heavy armour so high Fighting is a must for melee Dr IMHO.
I am not a Lugonu expert but I've heard that Lugonu allows to unwield distortion weapon in trunk easily so you can bless any whip and enjoy using anti-magic and distortion depending on your needs vs specific monster.

Snake Sneak

Posts: 94

Joined: Sunday, 10th February 2013, 21:40

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:16

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

Thanks for your response -- I just got poisoned to death in snake (no curing, no rP in game). Maybe I should have switched to Shoals at this point -- it is usually harder for me than Snake, but the specifics this time probably would have convinced a better player to adjust. I'll definitely shoot for more Fighting on my next DrAK. It was a frustrating game, equipment-wise, but still player error in the end.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:18

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

Sorry about the character. Yes, despite it's "widely known" that rPois is not needed in Snake/Spider, I've spectated some top player exploring Shoals before Snakes and the player switched to Snakes immediately after finding ring of rPois in Shoals.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 6454

Joined: Tuesday, 30th October 2012, 19:06

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:25

Re: Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

There's a big difference between "Not absolutely required" and "is made much easier by" Snake and spider are certainly doable without rPois, however rPois does make them way easier and somewhat safer. You should always make a value judgement on "what is easiest for me to be working on right now" finding a rPois ring certainly shifts the difficulty level of those branches down by a good margin.
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Sandman25

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 8786

Joined: Sunday, 5th May 2013, 08:25

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:25

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

Sandman25 wrote:I've spectated some top player exploring Shoals before Snakes and the player switched to Snakes immediately after finding ring of rPois in Shoals.
i did that because snake is really annoying without rpois, not because snake is really hard without rpois (it isn't) and i was going to have to do shoals anyway

can you please stop using my games to "support" your terrible advice

thanks

(rpois does make snake:5 significantly better since poison arrow will do half damage, but for everything else in the branch it just makes it less annoying (same for spider except spider doesn't have greater nagas so the poison arrow thing isn't an issue either))

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:29

Re: CIP -- Advice for DrAK

duvessa wrote:i did that because snake is really annoying without rpois, not because snake is really hard without rpois (it isn't) and i was going to have to do shoals anyway

can you please stop using my games to "support" your terrible advice

thanks


Sorry, I thought it would be better to give an example from top player experience instead of from mine. I will stop doing it.
Yes, I do the same thing very often. Not because Snake 1 is "really annoying" but because it's more dangerous than Shoals 1.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 8786

Joined: Sunday, 5th May 2013, 08:25

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:38

Re: Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

You're not giving an example from a top player's experience, you're taking a piece of a random person's game completely out of context and bullshitting about it until it looks like it supports your preconceived conclusion. You said you'd stop doing it before, and you didn't, so I'm not being polite about it anymore.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 11111

Joined: Friday, 8th February 2013, 12:00

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:40

Re: Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

duvessa wrote:You said you'd stop doing it before.


Could you please point where I said that? My memory does not seem to serve me right.

This is my last post in the thread, I don't want to make it another hot topic. Sorry about offtopic, Strat.

Snake Sneak

Posts: 94

Joined: Sunday, 10th February 2013, 21:40

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 20:49

Re: Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

I suspect that my problem was exacerbated by the fact that my whip was causing miscast on enemies, including a lot of poison clouds while fighting greater nagas, so it was hard to stay unpoisoned. It was a constant question of backing out of clouds, which I didn't do once too often (as the Naga had been hit by my anti-magic whip it was probably safer than usual to back away because it couldn't immediately cast, right?). So, stupid death, but anyway, thanks for the input. Maybe next time with DrAK.

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 8786

Joined: Sunday, 5th May 2013, 08:25

Post Monday, 9th June 2014, 21:29

Re: Now YASD -- Advice for DrAK

Sandman25 wrote:
duvessa wrote:You said you'd stop doing it before.


Could you please point where I said that? My memory does not seem to serve me right.
My mistake, it looks like you never did say that you would stop until now. Sorry about that.

For this message the author duvessa has received thanks:
Sandman25

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