Zot and mutations


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Lair Larrikin

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Joined: Tuesday, 19th August 2014, 15:58

Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:09

Zot and mutations

I'm playing an XL27 Mf of Ash, melee focused. I've got three runes and have got as far as Zot 5 but I entered it with trepidation because I haven't found any rMut. I've had a couple of encounters with OoF so far and have picked up the following:

    You tend to lose your temper in combat.
    Scrolls take you a little longer to read.
    You are clumsy. (Dex -2)
    Your body sometimes deteriorates upon taking damage.
    You are frail (-10% HP).
    You are occasionally teleported to nearby monsters.
    Your spells are a little easier to cast, but a little less powerful.
Of those, the one that seems the most dangerous is teleportitis. I haven't cleared Zot and the orb chamber likely still contains some nasties. I have three potions of cure mutation. My inclination is to chug them until I get rid of teleportitis and press on (and hope I don't get re-mutated too badly).

Any advice?

Sar

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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:15

Re: Zot and mutations

blurry is pretty bad too, I would quaff it

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Nebuchadnezzar, Rast

Lair Larrikin

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Joined: Tuesday, 19th August 2014, 15:58

Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:40

Re: Zot and mutations

Sar wrote:blurry is pretty bad too, I would quaff it

You're right, it's not good.

I'm sure I've read comments here before that said "don't worry about going to Zot without rMut it's not going to make any difference so late in the game" but it seems to me there's every chance I'm going to get remutated - and potentially killed as a consequence. Should I be doing anything to mitigate the risk of that or is down to the RNG? (Being melee-focused obviously means I have limited options for trying to pick OoF off from a distance.)

Slime Squisher

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:47

Re: Zot and mutations

First, regarding mutations - I find teleportitis highly dangerous in recent versions, because the mutation tends to teleport you close to the monsters. In Zot:5 this translates to getting teleported into one of chambers. You should definitely get rid of teleportitis if you can. Even if you get new mutations, they cannot be worse than this one. Unless you're very unlucky, you shall be able to clear teleportitis and still keep one or two potions in case of emergency.

Regarding strategies, if you have rMut amulet, wearing it against OOF is something you want to do (unless you have rF amulet). If you don't, then everything that helps you kill OOF fast is a good strategy. Bear in mind that OOF needs clear line of sight to malmutate, so scrolls of fog / waiting around a corner / summoning friends can reduce the time you're exposed to threat.

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Nebuchadnezzar, Sar

Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:55

Re: Zot and mutations

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:I'm sure I've read comments here before that said "don't worry about going to Zot without rMut it's not going to make any difference so late in the game"


Stop reading those authors, they basically wrote "I play OP characters or I am so great that I win with any mutations" and it is not a helpful advise for other players.

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Berder, dowan, Nebuchadnezzar

Abyss Ambulator

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 13:59

Re: Zot and mutations

I would rate the top three worst mutations from most bad to least bad as

1. Teleportitis
2. Berserkitis
3. Blurry Vision

Cure them asap, even if (in most cases) you have a means of mitigating the first two (stasis,clarity). Deformed body (depending on your build) and the new one that cuts your god powers are close runner-ups.

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Nebuchadnezzar, Sandman25

Lair Larrikin

Posts: 22

Joined: Tuesday, 19th August 2014, 15:58

Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 14:02

Re: Zot and mutations

Thanks for all the comments. I quaffed rMut and got rid of all the mutations except blurred vision, which I decided to take a chance on. Bart's advice on using scrolls of fog was useful so I did that. I picked up some new mutations but nothing too horrible.

Sar

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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 14:06

Re: Zot and mutations

@daggaz: he's with Ash so berserkitis doesn't do anything.

@Nebuchadnezzar: the advice about not needing rMut is true since firstly, you probably have some cure mut potions since they aren't that rare and you don't need them in normal game and you are about to win so you don't need to preserve them. However, if you lack rMut it's also important to use the tactics Bart described - minimize the time you are in orb of fire's line of sight, both by breaking it with fog or by movement and by killing it as fast as possible, using haste, might, other buffs if you have them.

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Lasty, nago

Cocytus Succeeder

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 14:23

Re: Zot and mutations

+1 About teleportitis being very bad - in zot:5 is probably the worst thing you can have: I recently had a extremely powerful char who landed in one of the lung a couple of time before grabbing the orb - and nobody likes to see 3 or 4 oof and aliches at same time - and what's worse, after I grabbed the orb I was forced into the orb chamber like 6/7 times, a couple even with stairs in sight. Almost got killed by that, despite the power of that fellow and survived only through heavy use of consumables .

And the fact is often said rmut isn't necessary against oof it's because most of time they are only in Zot:5 lungs and usually only some (like 2, or 3) needed to be faced.
If applying the tactics mentioned by Sar and Bart, it's extremely unlikely to get lots of mut (unless having a underleveled char, but in that case I'd be still more scared of fireball and bolt of fire). And then usually some cure muts pots are avaiable, often more than necessary. Even if cure muts aren't enough, most of bad mutations have very limited and secondary effects - enough resolved\balanced though object or consumables - to let win a good developed char without too much hassle.

Then yes, it's possible to play some corner case, like getting stairs in zot:1-4 in a vault filled by oof, not having rmut nor cure mut pots and getting some extremely wicked muts which can outright fuck your char (like teleportits, or berserkitis and so on) if missing the right piece of equipment. But that's despite being possibile, it can happen so rarely, I wouldn't worry about getting rmut (or more cure mut pots) before entering in zot, but only if spotting\getting a situation in zot that makes clearly desirable to find either of two.
screw it I hate this character I'm gonna go melee Gastronok

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Lasty, Sar
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Abyss Ambulator

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 14:32

Re: Zot and mutations

The things you should worry about curing are:
Teleportitis
Berserkitis (you do not want to be slow in Z:5)
Things that interfere with healing (mp wands and no device heal)
Blurry vision
Frail

You have 4 out of 5 of those so I would chug those cure muts. In Z:5 you should make use of your buff potions to kill enemies as fast as possible to minimize your chances of getting mutated, and don't bother exploring Z:1-4. Just rush to 5.

I actually think teleportitis is the mutation I least want to see in any game, even over frail, berserkitis, etc. I really don't like getting teleported into areas full of enemies without any preparation.
remove food

Shoals Surfer

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Post Friday, 19th June 2015, 16:09

Re: Zot and mutations

Also just don't fight OOFs unless you have to.

Abyss Ambulator

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Post Monday, 22nd June 2015, 08:21

Re: Zot and mutations

Man. I have irridescent scales, bony plates, fire resistance, and one other decent mutation I cant remember, after finding a whole stack of beneficial mutation pots in an ice-cave. Then I got zapped by an eye in slime, through my rMut amulet.

blurry vision.

Character is a tank with a wand of teleport, I'm thinking of riding this one out.

Swamp Slogger

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Joined: Wednesday, 15th June 2011, 17:39

Post Monday, 22nd June 2015, 10:15

Re: Zot and mutations

daggaz wrote:Man. I have irridescent scales, bony plates, fire resistance, and one other decent mutation I cant remember, after finding a whole stack of beneficial mutation pots in an ice-cave. Then I got zapped by an eye in slime, through my rMut amulet.

blurry vision.

Character is a tank with a wand of teleport, I'm thinking of riding this one out.


Note that currently ?blinking works literally everywhere apart from the orb run. Having an instant 'get out of jail free' card might be worth a few AC and rF.

Tomb Titivator

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Joined: Sunday, 23rd June 2013, 15:20

Post Monday, 22nd June 2015, 10:44

Re: Zot and mutations

Or wear stasis. Its a bit of a hassle and a huge annoyance not being able to wear Regeneration for example, but its only on Z:5 and perfectly doable.

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