Tartarus Sorceror
Posts: 1774
Joined: Tuesday, 23rd December 2014, 23:39
Berder's melee octopode formula
1. Use long blades
2. Long blades to 14, fighting and dodging to around 10, more fighting than dodging
3. All points in dex
4. If you happen to find a shield then wear it, and train shields to eliminate shield penalty.
5. Use proper luring tactics on everything, like you'd do any time you want to not die.
6. Pre lair, the following are extremely dangerous and should never be fought without buffs and backup plans. A lot of your early fighting power comes from constriction so be extra wary around enemies you can't constrict.
- Jellies
- Ice beasts *unless rC
- Ogres
- Invisible things like some orc mages (kills your ev defense)
- Other things that are obviously dangerous to any character, such as centaurs and orc warriors
7. Obviously, make extensive use of a blowgun if you find one. Also if you find a +Inv item then train evo to make use of it (40% fail or so).
8. Worship Dithmenos
9. In lair, use shadow step to plants in order to escape things. Do not fight hydras, mark exclusions if they're asleep. Be extra careful around the usual lair dangers (in ascending order of difficulty: spiny frogs, black mambas, komodo dragons, blink frog packs).
10. When long blades reaches 14, turn it off and train throwing 100% to 10 throwing. Pick up tomahawks and javelins. With about 10 throwing, tomahawks, and occasional shadow step to plants, you can handle lair hydras safely.
11. When lair starts becoming a dangerous pain, and certainly before lair:8, go back and do orc. Extra careful about orc sorcerer paralysis there
12. Unseen horrors are particularly deadly if you can't see them since invisibility kills ev. Teleport if you can't kill it immediately.
13. After you have 10 throwing, get more dodging and fighting. A small amount of invo to reduce fail rate on shadow step might be worth getting too.
14. If you've found any nice low level support spells like spectral weapon now is a good time to get them.
15. Always acquire jewelry. It will often/usually be something you'll wear or carry for the rest of the game, and sometimes be an artifact ring.
16. shoals/swamp before spider/snake. In spider, fear getting webbed or paralyzed. In snake, fear getting constricted. These attacks murder ev defenses.
17. Train mostly fighting / long blades / dodging / throwing for the rest of the game. But get statue form if possible. And a little stealth doesn't cost much.
18. 1h/2h endgame weapon is up to you, but I recommend 1h if you can find a good one, especially if you've put much skill into shields. Maybe scum elf2 (carefully!) for a weapon at this time.
19. Do elf3 after vaults:4 for the rings.
20. In depths and vaults, be aware that LRD from deep troll earth mages is particularly deadly since you have poor AC. Also fear anything that can paralyze you.
21. Carry a dagger for sleeping enemies, since you're so stealthy. But don't use shadow step too much; stay around max piety for the shadow mimic passive ability.
22. Third easiest rune is abyssal rune due to your stealth. Wear a ring of tele and run away from enemies.
23. Use great caution in zot5. Keep running back to the stairs and re-exploring the outside as you clear the lung, to make sure the path to the stairs remains clear.
251 total wins Berder hyperborean + misc
83/108 recent wins (76%)
guides: safe tactics value of ac/ev/sh forum toxicity
- For this message the author Berder has received thanks: 6
- Dungeoneer, godzillablitz, Rast, Styro, ThreeInvisibleDucks, Turukano