Temple Termagant
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Joined: Sunday, 4th September 2011, 03:14
Mountain Dwarf Fighter Guide
Recently, I finally managed to get my first win with a Mountain Dwarf Fighter. While there is currently a guide up on the wiki on how to play this combination, I don't think it explains things well enough or covers the things that a new player needs to know. This guide will not always recommend the most optimal strategies but the easiest and safest to execute. Also, since I'm still relatively bad at this game, I am hoping the community could make some suggestions that could further improve on it.
Mountain Dwarf Fighters At a Glance
Equipment:
Weapon: Holy Scourge (Demon Whip w/ Holy Wrath band)
Shield: Large Shield w/ brand or artifact
Armor: Golden Dragon Armor
Others: Emphasize resistances and conservation over offense
Skills:
Fighting: Max
Armor: Max
Shields: Max
Maces & Flails: 12
Invocations: 10~16 (Cast "Summon Divine Warrior" at Excellent)
Evocations: 10
Traps & Doors: As high as you can manage but do not emphasize early
God:
The Shining One
Why Fighters instead of Berserkers?
Why should a player bother choosing a fighter over a berserker? Even at a glance the Berserker package is stronger. They begin with Trog and can begin building piety for gifts and invocations with their first kill. They have a panic button and trump card in berserk. Before they even make it to the temple they can easily have yet another panic button in Trog's Hand which gives both magic resistance and regeneration on demand.
The best answer I could find is that the fighter package is built for players who want a head start on creating a defensive juggernaut. If the Berserker's aim is to become the unstoppable force, the Fighter's aim is to become the immovable object. The uniqueness of fighters is that they have the flexibility to take maces & flails early and begin with a shield and all of the defensive skills they will need for the rest of the game. Exploit this.
Philosophy of the Strategy
Fighters are an incredibly item dependent character class. They cannot have any functionality outside of an item that they possess on them. It's for this reason why I go with the Shining One as soon as possible. He provides rN+++ (Life protection 3) and see invisible for free at the highest piety levels. This takes care of several pieces of equipment that we can devote to other resistances. He also allows you to summon decoy angels and if things really do go south, has a chance to save you from death.
In addition when choosing between items to equip, focus on AC, SH, and resistances of all kinds. If the enemies cannot hurt you, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to kill them. You are losing nothing while they are slowly losing more and more. That said, it's impossible to truly become invincible in this game, caution is the better part of valor. Always try to optimize your defense by fighting as few enemies at a time and run if you think that you cannot win a fight.
Dungeon Crawl Rules of Thumb
1. Dying isn't worth it
2. You don't have to clear every floor the moment you see it
3. When in trouble - run away
4. The last floor of branches are much harder than previous floors. Come back later for these
5. If you can't run away make use of everything at your disposal: wands, potions, and scrolls
6. Fight as few enemies at one time as possible
7. Early game, SH and AC are more important than resistances.
8. Late game, resistances are more important than SH and AC.
9. Establish a stash to protect your consumables. Do not carry all of them on you.
Mini-Walk Through
This is a small guide on how to get a basic 3 rune win with a Mountain Dwarf Fighter.
Character Creation
Select Mountain Dwarf, Fighter, and Maces. You'll find yourself at the front door of the dungeon open up your skills menu (lowercase m) then hit manual training and focus (tab and /) and click on Maces & Flails to emphasize it. Leave everything else on.
Why No Axes?
Mountain Dwarves make incredible axemen with their +2 aptitude (the same as with Maces & Flails). However, this guide emphasizes defense over offense and axes are not as shield friendly as maces and flails. Holy scourges require 4 fewer levels to max out their base attack delay than broadaxes, are more accurate, and similar damage. Eveningstars require the same skill investment as a broad axe but also the same damage and better accuracy. Finally, maces and flails are able to kill hydras without the using a flaming brand. This allows for a smoother progression through the dungeon and requires that one less piece of equipment.
Early Game Goals
1. Begin worship of the Shining One
2. Find poison resistance
3. Fill out your equipment slots with platemail, boots, gloves, helmet, cloak, rings, and an amulet
4. Acquire a couple branded weapons, a whip of electricity with another type of branded morningstar or mace is preferable
5. Identify scrolls of identify, remove curse, and teleport. Identify potions of healing and/or heal wounds.
In the early game scour the dungeon for equipment. Any non-cursed item that fills the boots, helmet, gloves, and cloak department will do. Even if these items are only +0, each one will give +1 AC. Combined with platemail this will form the basis of your defense into the later part of the game.
In particular, pay attention to any item that offers poison resistance. As soon as you find this item, equip it and leave it equipped. The most dangerous status ailment you'll generally face in the early game is poison. In addition most of the mid-game branches and enemies almost mandate that you have this resistance if you don't want to die.
If you can get a whip of electricity, this will be your main weapon for most of the early and mid game. Carry a second branded weapon in case you come across any enemies that have electrical resistance. I tend to like to have morningstars of crushing (vorpal) as my back up. It's not optimal but it's reliable.
You can usually find an altar to the Shining One in the Ecumenical Temple which is found between Dungeon levels 4 to 7. If the Shining One's altar isn't there, you can find it somewhere between floors 2 and 9.
Finally, identify potions of healing, heal wounds (if you have any), scrolls of teleport, identify, and remove curse. These will be your basic panic buttons and provide basic dungeon functionality. Scrolls of identify and detect curse are very common so try using those first when you're blinding guessing. Potions of healing are likewise the most numerous potion. I like to do my two big use random potions and scrolls checks when I clear out Dungeon floor 3 and when I find the Ecumenical Temple.
Early Game Dangers and Uniques
1. Sigmund - If you see him, run away. Come back for the early game Grim Reaper when you're around level 7 to 9 for an easy kill.
2. Grinder - Blinking imp that has a good chance to keep you paralyzed while he beats you to death with flail. Come back later for this guy. 7 to 9 should be possible.
3. Ogres - You can typically take these guys one on one when you're level 6 or 7. Run away before then.
4. Duvessa and Dowan - Try to fight them one at a time in a narrow corridor so Dowan can't support Duvessa with spells. Also watch out for Duvessa's berserk. I've found I can typically take them when I meet them around levels 7 to 11
5. Prince Ribbit - Run away. He hurts. Come back when you're level 10 to 14.
6. Jessica - You can take her the moment you see her. Rarely is she dangerous.
7. Terrance - You can usually take him the moment you see him too.
8. Edmond - A bit more dangerous than Terrance, but not much of a threat. You can usually take him the moment you see him.
9. Orc Priests - Break vision as much as possible and aim for them first. They can smite from long range that does about 15 or 16 damage that you cannot resist. Exercise extreme caution with them, especially when there are multiple of them.
10. Orc Wizards - They like to spam magic while they turn themselves invisible and blink around. A danger before you have a halo from the Shining One, but afterward much less of a threat.
11. Ijyb - Most of the time, this guy is harmless and you can kill him without batting an eye. However sometimes he has a powerful wand and will blast you to kingdom come. Watch out for that.
Early Game Order
1. Dungeon till you find the Ecumenical Temple
2. Dungeon till you find the Lair of Beasts
3. Clear Lair until level 2
4a. If you have poison resistance, Dungeon till Hive and then clear the Hive
4b. If you don't, continue to clear the Lair until level 5 then dungeon till Hive
5. Lair to level 5 if you haven't. Clear the Hive if you haven't.
6. Orcish Mines until level 3.
7. Finish Lair
8. Finish the Orcish Mines.
Skill Notes
By the time you get to the Lair, Maces & Flails will be at 12. The moment it hits 12, turn it off and begin developing Evocations, Invocation, and Traps & Doors. Do each of these 1 and at time. Emphasize Evocations and Invocations until you can use those abilities at Excellent. Once you can, turn them off and leave Traps and Doors on.
Middle Game Goals
1. Obtain 3 runes
2. Get a Holy Scourge
3. Find electrical resistance
4. Emphasize resistances over stats and offense
5. Max out piety with the Shining One
The middle game to me is best represented as clearing out the other branches of the game - the Swamp, the Shoals, the Snake Pit, Elven Halls, Vault, Hall of Blades, and Crypt. Of these, the Vaults, Shoals, Swamp, and Snake Pit contain runes, but only 2 of Shoals, Swamp, and Snake Pit will spawn in any given game.
Branch Order
0. Clear Dungeon to floor 18 if you still do not have poison resistance. Pray that you find some.
1. Swamp to 4.
2. Snake Pit to 3.
3. Shoals to 4.
4. If you have high magic resistance* - Elven Halls to 4.
5. Vaults to 7
5a. Feel free to the Hall of Blades when you see it
6. Swamp final floor
7. Snake pit final floor.
8. Shoals final floor.
9. Crypt to level 4 (Can do earlier)
10. Vaults final floor (You will need electrical resistance)
*The status screen will read uncannily resistant or almost entirely resistant to hostile enchantments
Just a few notes on this. From the Vaults onward, you will need electrical resistance. There are several enemies that specifically come to mind. These are Storm Dragons (they breath lightning), Titans (they throw lightning), and mages (they shoot lightning). These all hurt and will easily do 1/3rd of your total health in damage per hit. Do not fight them unless you can mitigate this electrical damage.
The Swamp and Snake Pit mandate that you have resist poison. You will not survive without it. I've tried. Even with poison resistance, the poison spit the Nagas use in the Snake Pit will pierce your defense by a third. Mind your health and try not to fight too many of them at once.
The Elven Halls can be dangerous if you do not have high magic resistance. Every monster there can and will cast spells. Having good fire and cold resistance will also be useful. However, once you can close the distance on them, the Elves fall over because they next to no health. Be careful though. Many of the high level Elven spellcasters love to use banishment. You may or may not be able to survive the Abyss at this point.
The vaults are an assortment of fire breathing bruiser types that suddenly switch over to dragons toward the bottom. Decent fire resistance will be helpful. The lower floors are nastier with various types of dragons. Storm dragons are the ones to watch out for while normal Dragons and Ice Dragons are dangerous if you cannot get rF++ or rC++ when fighting against them. Shadow Dragons are a completely joke to you. The Shining One protects you from their breath.
To get a holy scourge, you need to equip a demon whip and pray at an altar to the Shining One when your piety is at 5 or 6 stars. You can typically find a demon whip on the 8th floor of the Vault on one of the Vault guards.
Finally, the Crypt is a treasure trove of piety for you. The Shining One will make this area a joke with maxed out life protection. It's also a good place to stock up on piety that you'll burn through with summons in Zot.
Mid Game Dangers and Uniques
1. Rupert- He's a berserker who loves to spam confuse and paralyze. Extremely dangerous.
2. Storm Dragons - They're faster than you and without electrical resistance will chase you to the ends of the dungeon spamming their breath at you. You can take them in melee combat though.
3. Nessos - He shoots poison/fire arrows that you can't fully resist. Try to back him into a corner so you can melee him to death. In tight corridors you can take him. In open areas you can't.
4. Nikola - Without resist electricity you will die to him. With it, he's a joke.
5. Titan - Strong at range and in melee. Resist electricity is almost required to run away from him. You can probably take them starting around level 22 or so.
6. Ilsuiw - Aquamancer that summons a ton of Water Elementals and converts tiles into shallow and deep water. If you see her, you will need levitation as to not drown/become helpless in the water. Don't be afraid to run.
7. Deep Elf Annihilator - They can dish out alot of damage with Lehudid's Crystal Spear.
8. Deep Elf Demonologist - These guys themselves are not dangerous. It's the tier 1 and 2 demons that they summon in great packs and spam Torment that are dangerous. Kill them quickly and run if there are too many demons around.
9. Deep Elf Sorcerer - They can and will spam Banishment and Hellfire. You need high MR if you don't want to find yourself wandering the Abyss. Nothing you can do about the Hellfire though except stay next to them since their hellfire can hit them if you are next to them.
10. Hydras - Can be exceptionally dangerous if they have 6 or more heads. Requires a flaming bladed weapon or maces & flails to kill. Chopping off heads makes them grow 2 more.
11. Orc Sorcerers - The Shining One will protect you from many of their necromatic spells, but not banishment.
12. Orc High Priests - They're like Orc Priests but tougher and more dangerous.
13. Black Mambas - They're incredibly fast and have a powerful poison that seems to last forever. Do not fight them if you do not have poison resistance, otherwise they aren't much of a threat.
14. Elephants - These guys are tough, do alot of damage, and can push you out of narrow corridors so their herd can surround you. Do not fight them until you're level 16~18.
15. Norris - Imagine an ex-surfer who has the ability to channel the wrath of god (smiting), eat your brains (stat drain), turn invisible, confuses, paralyzes, and then just to be a bitch about things, heals himself. He's bad mojo. Stay away. He's a living example of rule #2.
Late Game Goals
1. Get Golden Dragon Armor
2. Identify and stash as many potions of cure mutation that you can
3. Try to find and artifact with Conserve on it. You need your potions and scrolls to survive.
4. Get the orb and escape.
Late Game Order
1. Dive to Dungeon 27
2. Clear Zot to level 4
3. Take Zot 5 little by little
4. Prepare for the ascent before taking the orb
5. Run like hell and escape
Slowly make your way to the bottom of the dungeon. Remember to keep your resistances up. There will slowly be more dragons, demons, and high level spell casters on the way down. It's also around here that you will find more and more Zot traps. These traps cast a random spell, one of which will be banishment.
You should be strong enough to run around for as long as you have food and fight whatever you come across (as long as there are not too many high level demons). Mutations and starvation are more likely to be a threat.
The entrance to vault is usually heavily guarded with different types of dragons. Take them one at a time. There will be Gold Dragons amongst them and now is a great type to skin one for a hide and enchant it into armor. Also if you have enough scrolls of enchant armor, try to get it up to +5 to prevent corrosion.
Zot itself is manageable if you take it slowly and use the terrain to fight enemies one at a time. It's easy to be overwhelmed and die here. Take it slow and don't be afraid to run away.
Zot 5 however is a different story. This place is one giant death trap. Use a scroll of magical mapping to get the layout. You will need to pull enemies as few at a time as possible in order to do this safely. Ancient Liches are dangerous and if they summon a horde, run. You will not survive. Retreat up the stairs and rest a few times so their summons go away and try to take them out quickly.
After clearing out the rooms, go and get rid of any mutations you may have. In particular, if at any time you acquire Teleportitis immediately get it cured. You will not be able to clear Zot with that mutation. It's probably the deadliest in the game.
After Zot 5 is cleared, prepare everything you will need for the ascent. Potions of healing, speed, berserk, resistance, and scrolls of blink and teleport will be necessary. There is a chance for incredibly high level monsters to spawn all around you as you ascend.
Take the quickest route that you can to get to the next floor. Just keep going. Fight if you have to, but if you can break line of sight and run, go for it.
Once you make it to one of the exits, congratulate yourself. You've escaped with the orb and won.
Late Game Dangers and Uniques
1. Orbs of Fire - This is the worst enemy you will ever encounter. In one on one combat, you should win against them without too much difficulty. No, that isn't what makes them evil. Unless you have mutation resistance you will end up 4 to 6 different mutations, all will be bad. These guys are bad news and the primary reason why you need so many potions of cure mutation.
2. Ancient Liches - These high level spell casters can do all sorts of evil things to you. The most dangerous of which is to summon an army of tier 1 demons who will spam irresistible spells such as hellfire and torment. Also they can banish you to the Abyss which by now is more of an annoyance.
3. Hellions - Strong demons that spam Hellfire, an irresistible damage AoE nuke that will easily take off 20 to 30% of your health a hit.
4. Tormentors - They spam torment. Even with your rN+++, you will take 35% of your health in damage with every cast.
5. Saint Rokka - Watch out for the orc pack he spawns with. If you can get to him before he and his priest buddies smite you to death, you'll be fine. The way to fight him is to get rid of his pack first and then charge him when he's alone.
6. Neqoxec - Spellcaster demons that drain your intelligence and summon other demons for the mass demon party.
Useful Equipment
Ring of Teleport - This is probably the most generic panic button you have. If you think things are going bad, equip this and begin running. It will randomly teleport you which is exactly what you need if you're low on health and don't have time to evoke it.
Ring of Teleport Control - If you combine this with scrolls of teleport or a ring of teleport you have the ultimate you escape mechanism.
Ring or Boots of Levitation - Keep this in your backpack for when you need to levitate. This is most useful in places like the Swamp and Shoals. It's also great for the Abyss with its random deep water and lava patches.
Amulet of Conservation - Try to get an artifact with one of these on it. Alot of the more powerful items in your utility belt are vulnerable to sticky flame and cold attacks. You need those potions and scrolls in a pinch. This lets you have it.
Amulet of Berserk - Who needs Trog when you have one of these? Berserk is a great thing to hit when you know you can't escape and have to kill what's in front of you to survive.
Wands of Cold/Fire- Level 6 spells at your finger tips. These are great for finishing off running dragons.
Scrolls of Blink - These are good for tactical retreats and getting into choke points. Remember to always to fight as few enemies at one as possible.
Scrolls of Holy Word - More of a late game thing, but this lets you do tremendous damage and stun packs of demons and undead.
Resist Corrosion and Resist Mutation - These are incredibly useful for later in the game when enemies will actively try to corrode your equipment and turn you into some frail duck billed teleporting freak of nature. Try to get them as properties on artifacts for gloves, rings, helmets, and amulets.
Rings of Slaying - These greatly enhance the damage you do. If you can get +DMG on artifacts that have resistances, you've struck gold.
Following the Paladin's Code
Many people cite this as one of the primary reasons why the Shining One is bad to have early on. The second being that his piety gain is so low. In actuality, the Paladin's code can be summarized into a few points.
1. No poison or evil weapons or spells (necromancy + pain/torment/draining)
2. Don't stab people in the back.
3. No Donner party antics, ever.
The first is obviously what will hurt you the most. Venom branded weapons are amazing in the early game. Only the regeneration restriction from no necromancy will ever cause any problems for you. Since you will be using a holy scourge as your weapon, which is statistically better than demon whips, the no demon weapons bit doesn't really bother you.
You're a loud, brightly shining Dwarf covered in metal. You aren't stabbing anyone. The only time this becomes an issue is when you fight "intelligent" creatures. But here's the rub, the only intelligent creatures that you aren't allowed to kill that have a habit of running away are shape shifters, giants, and draconians. Orcs, Elves, and Ogres will stand and fight you to the death. Animals, dragons, demons, abominations, and undead are perfectly find to chase down and kill. So honestly, this is a minor inconvenience at worst.
Lastly no eating your race and drinking blood. I can count on one hand how many dwarven enemies I have seen in any given play through so this never comes up.
Commentary on How Gods Compare
I see the choice of religion an augment to your core fighter. You want something that provides extra utility and covers your weaknesses or give you an edge in a particular field.
Okawaru
Many people cite this god as incredibly overpowered, but I disagree. He has 3 abilities, Heroism, a light buff. Finesse, a great attack speed buff. And gifts, random pieces of equipment that may or may not be useful.
The problem I see with Okawaru is that he does nothing to shore up a fighter's gear dependence. Going with Okawaru is trusting the RNG to give you something that can help you. There's nothing consistent you can plan around with him.
Pros:
- Fast piety gain
- Finesse is awesome
- Gifts can be incredibly powerful and turn the tide for your character
Cons:
- Heroism is lackluster
- Many gifts are absolutely worthless.
- Gifts are inconsistent.
- Very low late game power
Trog
All of Trog's abilities are useful and give some consistent basis to work around. Berserk, Trog's Hand, and Summons are all abilities that a fighter can count on. Gifts have the same randomness issue that Okawaru has, but the other abilities make up for this.
However I can't help but think, why are you playing as a Fighter? A Berserker starts with Trog and gains all these things that much faster. A fighter turning to Trog feels like a waste.
Pros:
- Berserk is awesome
- Trog's Hand is great protection for tricky situations
- Summons can help take heat off
- Gifts can be incredibly useful
Con:
- Weakest summons of the 4 melee oriented gods
- Berserk requires experience. Berserking at the wrong moment will kill you.
- Gifts are inconsistent
Makhleb
Makhleb gives a fighter a consistent heal that can help him pull through sticky situations. He also grants a fighter a ranged magical attack that is useful for finishing off running foes. Finally he lets the player bring in some... inconsistent summons to help take fire off of him.
I love the the healing that Makhleb provides but his summons run a huge risk in sticky situations. He requires a big investment into Invocations to help alleviate everything.
Pros:
- Free healing
- Random conjuration spells
- Summons
Cons:
- The spells are random and can end up being useless
- Summons can turn on you
- Carries some margin of risk with whatever ability you use from him
The Shining One
If anything, I consider this guy to be the most overpowered melee God. He gives huge, consistent advantages. His natural piety gain over time also makes him perfect for slow, cautious crawls through the dungeon.
The biggest thing he offers is the free rN+++. This is utterly amazing. The free summons and see invisible are just icing on the cake. His Cleansing Fire ability is also amazing for times when you're completely surrounded by summoned demons or just surrounded. It will easily kill most enemies in two to three castings. Throw in Angel and Daeva summons, a free holy wrath brand, and a random chance to protect you from permanent death and I don't see any reason to not pick this guy.
The Paladin's code that you must follow is at worst a slight annoyance. No poison or regeneration hurts, but not a big issue. For most of the annoyingly fast running enemies, he has no problems with blasting them in the back with a wand or crossbow (animals and dragons).
Pros:
- Free rN+++
- Free See Invisible
- Random protection from death
- Huge AoE nuke
- Powerful, loyal summons
- Free Holy Wrath brand that can upgrade some weapons
Cons:
- Paladin's code restricts options
- Very slow piety gain. You cannot spam his abilities.
- Requires high piety to really make the most of him
Understanding Weapons
One of the most important things you can do as a fighter is to pick the best weapon that you can. It's the basis of your offense and with a bad weapon, you will be forced to run away more than you should. Take this as a hypothetical weapon:
+3, +5 Whip of Electricity
Damage Rating: 6
Base Attack Delay: 110%
The first number, the +3, is the accuracy modifier. This increases how likely the weapon is to hit by that amount.
The second number, the +5, is the damage modifier. This isn't as important as it would appear. On every successful attack the whip will do anywhere from +0 to +5 damage per hit. In addition, whenever this second number is +5 or higher, it gains immunity to corrosion.
The "of electricity" is what's considered the brand of the weapon. These are added effects that modify the damage type and amount or provide status effects on each successful attack. One important thing to remember is that if you are using a branded weapon all of the damage will be considered of that type. For example if you attack a Frost Giant with a Freezing weapon, you will do no damage.
Base damage of the weapon is the most important factor in determining its damage. The higher the better. While the +X, +Y of a weapon doesn't affect this, rings of slaying or +DMG found on other pieces of equipment do. In one of my games I had enough +DMG from equipment such that my Holy Scourge was hitting as hard as an Executioner's Axe.
Probably the most important statistic on the weapon is its speed. This is represented by Base Attack Delay given in a percentage. A base attack delay of 110% means that the character attacks once every 1.1 turns. It's possible to lower this rating by a few methods. The first is by raising the appropriate weapon skill. The second is through the speed brand, which cuts this in half (even if you've maxed out weapon skill delay reduction). The final one is abilities such as haste which increase your character's speed.
The basic rule for weapon skill in delay reduction is that for every 2 levels, delay is reduced by 10%. This reduction can continue until the weapon is at half its delay or when its reached 70%. So a whip can be reduced to about 50% delay (11/2 = 5.5 then rounded down) while an Executioner's Axe (base 200% delay) caps out at 70%.
There are a few exceptions. Quickblades at 30% and Sabers at 50% come to mind. In addition a weapon cannot have its delay reduced below 25%.
About Brands
Understanding what brand does what is absolutely vital. This is not an exhaustive list and focuses on melee weapons only, but includes the ones that are useful or worth mentioning. They are split into three categories: Multiplicative brands, additive brands, and other brands.
Multiplicative Brands
A multiplicative brand is one that increases the damage of a weapon by X%. These are more useful with slower weapons with high damage ratings.
1. Holy Wrath - +75% damage to undead and demons
2. Flaming - +25% fire damage on every attack. Less if the enemy is resistant.
3. Freezing - +25% cold damage on every attack. Less if the enemy is resistant
4. aVrpal - +12.5% damage to all enemies (called weapon of crushing for maces & flails)
Additive Brands
Additive brands add damage or effects depending on whether the attack connects or not.
1. Electrocution - 33% chance to do 10 ~ 24 electricity damage on a hit. Makes noise and does AoE damage if used on opponents in the water (can hit you too)
2. Venom - 50% chance to poison the enemy (TSO bans these).
Other Brands
The remaining brands provide other effects rather than extra damage.
1. Distortion - Attacks either do extra damage or teleport enemies away from you or to the Abyss (no exp gain). Also unweilding will give translocation miscast effects such as being banished to the Abyss.
2. Protection - Adds more AC when wielding.
3. Speed - Halves base attack delay but reduces damage rating by 10% (best brand in the game)
Understanding Armor
Armor is typically divided into two rough categories, light and heavy. As a Mountain Dwarf Fighter, your goal is to wear the biggest, heaviest armor that you can get your hands on. To determine the "heaviness" of your armor, look to its evasion penalty. Penalties of -2 or greater are considered heavy armor.
The most important value that we care about when it comes to armor is the AC value. The highest the better. As we're not training dodging or relying on evasion at all, we do not care about how a particular piece of armor hurts our evasion. However the -EV does tell us how much strength we need to use a piece of armor without penalty. Multiply the -EV by 3 to find this value. Here are some common strength requirements:
1. Platemail: 18 strength
2. Crystal Platemail: 24 strength
3. Golden Dragon Armor: 27 strength
Finally the enchantment of a shield, the +X that is attached to it, increases the AC given by the armor by that amount. So Platemail+5 offers 15 AC. Enchantments of +5 or greater prevent armor from being corroded.
Understanding Shields
Shields offer what is known as shield value. For small, medium, and large shields this value is 5, 8, and 13 respectively. They also give an evasion penalty of -1, -3, and -5. This works like EV penalties mentioned in the armor section.
In addition the shield skill has some interesting effects on shields. Depending on the race of shield and user, each point of skill shield will give different bonuses. The following is what each point of shield skill will give:
1. Normal Shields - +5%
2. Divine Shield - +5%
3. Dwarven Shields - +13%
4. Dwarf using Dwarven Shield - +27%
5. Elf using Elven Shield - +7%
6. Orc using Orcish Shield - +13%
7. Orc follower of Beogh using Orcish Shield - Up to 30%
Finally enchantment values, the +X's attached to a shield, increase the base shield value by 1. If these enchantments are +5 or greater the shield is immune to corrosion. One last note: do not use shields of reflection when following the Shining One. He doesn't like it when you reflect evil spells back onto people. (thanks to CommanderC for mentioning this)
Understanding Your Skills
This section will primarily focus on the key skills of a fighter type - Maces & Flails, Shields, Armor, and Fighting. All skills are capped at level 27.
Weapon Skill
Your weapon skill does 2 things primarily. The first is that it increases the accuracy of the given weapon. Most of the time this is negligible and should not be an issue. The second and more important use is that for every 2 levels, it reduces base attack delay by 10%. The weapon section above goes into more detail about how this relates to weapons.
Armor Skill
Your armor skill also does two things. The first is that it lowers the penalties for using heavy armor. These affect your evasion penalty. While the penalty to EV is something we don't care about, it also slows down how fast we can attack. Something we do care about. The second and more important bit is that for every 1 skill level into armor, AC is raised by 4%. At level 27 this is an additional 108% AC.
Shield Skill
Your shield skill lessens the penalty for using one. Shields slow down attack and lessen damage. They come in 3 sizes, small, medium, and large. For normal sized characters like our Mountain Dwarf, a shield skill of 5, 15, and 25 will cancel out these penalties respectively. In addition each level increases the base shield bonus by X%. I go into more detail about this in the section above.
Fighting Skill
Raising your fighting skill provides bonus damage in melee and increases your max hp. For every level of fighting skill that you have, your HP will increase by 1 for every 5 experience levels that you have.
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