onomastikon wrote:So I want to try something new and am having some difficulty understanding Ashenzari. I find little indication of what exactly he does and requires in game.
Gods aren't "he".
1. The wiki says boni Ash gives increase the more slots you have partially or fully bound. The majority of the table listed there is taken up with "armour", for which I assume this means the body armour slot. But since you cannot get light, medium, or heavy encumberance on any slot but body, my question is this: How is partially or fully boundness judged for the other armour slots (assuming you can fill them)?
Slots aren't partially or fully bound. You are partially bound in armour if
more than half of the armour slots you actually have are cursed. You are fully bound if all the slots are cursed. (This is the same rule used for jewellery).
Which skills are boosted is then based on the encumbrance of your body armour. (No body armour counts as "light" encumbrance, something I've updated the wiki to reflect.)
2. Since Ash apparently only appreciates exploring and (in my limited experience with him her it) doesn't appreciate any kills, how are you supposed to use the more expensive skills later in the game without becoming an apostate? Once you use the more expensive skills (transfer knowledge), are you supposed to go to the abyss and wander around as much as possible once mid-game is over and progression is slower?
You rarely want to use Transfer Knowledge very many times, and you're certainly not "meant" to go abyss-scumming. I'm not sure what progression is slower once the mid-game is over - there are still new levels to explore and you are likely to have cursed most or all of your gear maximising piety gain.
There isn't really a difference with exploration gods here, especially with the 0.21 removal of monster spawns; an unexplored level represents a fixed quantity of piety whether your god values kills or exploration.
i (...) see a +0 mask of the dragon being sold in a shop that might suit me well, but it doesn't say in the in-game description if this is considered a hat (as you might imagine a "mask" to be) or a helmet (as the flag is listed) and I am short on cash for experiments.
Useless items are shown in dark grey. If this item is not shown as useless, you can wear it. If it is useless, Ctrl-F won't find it unless you explicitly show useless items.
But I did read the Wiki site on Ash and it says (...) that "The bonus respects skill aptitudes, so a higher aptitude skill will get a better bonus, all else being equal."
That was in error (my error, I fear) and has been corrected.
Ascension reports with too many words since 2016.