Particularly hard or challenging builds?


Ask fellow adventurers how to stay alive in the deep, dark, dangerous dungeon below, or share your own accumulated wisdom.

Mines Malingerer

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 01:15

Particularly hard or challenging builds?

What are the hardest or most challenging build you have tried playing the game with? Bonus points if you made it far.

If you won the game multiple times, what is the toughest build you have won with?

Crypt Cleanser

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 03:41

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

muck followed by ddak. Honorable mention: mumo of chei, which was completely miserable.
mikee_ has won 166 times in 396 games (41.92%): 4xDSFi 4xMDFi 3xDDCK 3xDDEE 3xHOPr 2xDDHe 2xDDNe 2xDSBe 2xKeAE 2xMfCr 2xMfSt 2xMiAr 2xMiBe 2xNaTm 1xCeAr 1xCeAs 1xCeBe 1xCeEn 1xCeFE 1xCePa 1xCeTm 1xCeWz 1xDDAs 1xDDCr 1xDDHu 1xDDTm 1xDENe 1xDEWz

Snake Sneak

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 03:44

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

wait, is that a fist using melee mummy all game long?

I like all ogre combos, hunter is probably the easiest starting build along with wizards tho. ogres make me happy.

Slime Squisher

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 04:28

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

A melee mummy of any sort is difficult.
TrCK:
Xom grants you an implement of some kind.
_Something appears at your feet!
4790 gold pieces {god gift}.

DsAr:
You blink. You feel slightly more hungry. Prince Ribbit hits you. You die...
"Hey, that's my toy!"
Xom revives you!

Vestibule Violator

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 15:39

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Kenku (now Tengu) Summoner. They are so fragile + reduced XP makes them really hard if anything sneaks past the summon wall. Made it to the swamp rune vault and died. I could probably do better if I played them now though. My skills have definitely improved but while I like the Tengu race idea, they're too fragile to play as a reaver class and as a pure caster there are better choices.
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Shoals Surfer

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 15:58

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

The hardest build that I've played was a MuCK. The hardest build that I won with was an OgWn before wanderers got improved.

Tomb Titivator

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2012, 20:44

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

tormodpwns wrote:A melee mummy of any sort is difficult.


Go Trog. Seriously, eventhough mummies can't zerk it's not that difficult. I'm trying to all-rune a MuBe of Trog, currently with 11 runes (of 8 types) and counting. Even managed to melee Gloorx. Torment immunity compared with antimagic weapons and Trog's nice magic res. make Pan lords pretty easy (no fear for paralyze-spell). Some people don't appreciate rTorment or immunity that much but I think it's huge for a pure melee fighter. I have some slings and evo but don't bother with them that much at all.

In the early game you have regeneration and not that much later, because of the useless-to-eat corpses, BiA. Just don't get confused :D .

Crypt Cleanser

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Post Wednesday, 18th January 2012, 00:15

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Night2o1 wrote:wait, is that a fist using melee mummy all game long?


Yes. You can read the morgue file if you'd like:
http://crawl.develz.org/morgues/0.8/tar ... 130649.txt
mikee_ has won 166 times in 396 games (41.92%): 4xDSFi 4xMDFi 3xDDCK 3xDDEE 3xHOPr 2xDDHe 2xDDNe 2xDSBe 2xKeAE 2xMfCr 2xMfSt 2xMiAr 2xMiBe 2xNaTm 1xCeAr 1xCeAs 1xCeBe 1xCeEn 1xCeFE 1xCePa 1xCeTm 1xCeWz 1xDDAs 1xDDCr 1xDDHu 1xDDTm 1xDENe 1xDEWz

Snake Sneak

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Post Wednesday, 18th January 2012, 20:17

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

I took a look, neat stuff, lots of spell skills though :D

Slime Squisher

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Post Friday, 20th January 2012, 07:01

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Mankeli wrote:
tormodpwns wrote:A melee mummy of any sort is difficult.


Go Trog. Seriously, eventhough mummies can't zerk it's not that difficult. I'm trying to all-rune a MuBe of Trog, currently with 11 runes (of 8 types) and counting. Even managed to melee Gloorx. Torment immunity compared with antimagic weapons and Trog's nice magic res. make Pan lords pretty easy (no fear for paralyze-spell). Some people don't appreciate rTorment or immunity that much but I think it's huge for a pure melee fighter. I have some slings and evo but don't bother with them that much at all.

In the early game you have regeneration and not that much later, because of the useless-to-eat corpses, BiA. Just don't get confused :D .


Last time I tried a MuBe, I was getting stuck on orc warriors and I couldn't afford the BiA cost every time. With the new %-based failure display it was sad watching my failure for BiA go up by 8% every time I summoned a bear :(

Speaking of versions, you have 11 runes of 8 types? Which ancient version are you playing?
TrCK:
Xom grants you an implement of some kind.
_Something appears at your feet!
4790 gold pieces {god gift}.

DsAr:
You blink. You feel slightly more hungry. Prince Ribbit hits you. You die...
"Hey, that's my toy!"
Xom revives you!

Tomb Titivator

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Post Friday, 20th January 2012, 13:38

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

tormodpwns wrote:
Mankeli wrote:
tormodpwns wrote:A melee mummy of any sort is difficult.


Snip .


Last time I tried a MuBe, I was getting stuck on orc warriors and I couldn't afford the BiA cost every time. With the new %-based failure display it was sad watching my failure for BiA go up by 8% every time I summoned a bear :(

Speaking of versions, you have 11 runes of 8 types? Which ancient version are you playing?


Playing 0.8 so not that ancient. Is it not possible to get more than 1 demonic rune anymore? I think all not-berserking melee characters get stuck with early orc warriors (without using wands, that is, I think they are one of the best targets for them in the early game).

And not to go completely off-topic: If one wants a particularly hard combo, they should switch to 0.6 and try a non-berserk melee ogre. Now that was sucky!

Abyss Ambulator

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Post Friday, 20th January 2012, 16:10

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

minmay wrote:An 0.6 mountain dwarf is probably harder than an 0.6 ogre.


0.10 mountain dwarf is impossible. :P

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Post Sunday, 22nd January 2012, 13:43

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

minmay wrote:An 0.6 mountain dwarf is probably harder than an 0.6 ogre.


The good old days when the "heavy" in heavy armour did not primaly refer to the weight of the armour but to the degree of your PC sucking if wearing that armour.
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Post Sunday, 22nd January 2012, 14:42

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Melee mummies have always been my bane.

IMHO, a mummy of Okawaru is better than a mummy of Trog, you can take advantage of your lack of a food clock to keep piety high with corpses and have heroism up all the time so your lousy skill apts don't hinder you so much when the situation calls for it (especially early on, and later, with higher INV you don't have to refresh it too much). You can also delve into the realm of spellcasting after you establish your melee prowess, which Trog hates with a passion. The things worth mentioning about mummy of trog is you can start as a Berserker but not as a worshipper of Okawaru so you get a decent jumpstart in terms of piety. Also If you don't need to abuse BiA too much early on (I mean around Lair depth), you're bound to get a very cool weapon fast. But as with all god acquirement, you probably shouldn't count on it as a game plan. Regeneration {Trog} is cool but Heroism is much better since it adds to your defences AND your offences. In the end it may be the same difficulty playing Trog or Okawaru, I just think the latter is better for me.

Anyway. What I love about mummies is their lack of a food clock (well, duh). If you luck into the ring of health or an early ring of regen it's so much fun not having to worry about increased food consumption. Or any gear with Hunger/Hunger+ for that matter. Like the Crown of Durovepreva, the Elemental Staff, etc.
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Swamp Slogger

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Post Monday, 23rd January 2012, 06:25

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

DDBe is probably the hardest I've won, most of my wins are easy combos. Managing piety was an absolute nightmare.

Hardest not won is anything En, I can't get remotely far with anything enchanter related ever.

Slime Squisher

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Post Monday, 23rd January 2012, 07:42

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

TehDruid wrote:Melee mummies have always been my bane.

IMHO...


Thing about using Okawaru: it's hard to reach the stage where you can start using Heroism consistently. I usually start off as an Assassin (for the poison + curare + stealth) or Artificer (wands) to stay alive in the early game. Mummies don't get potion options against big threats so you need to pick a starting class with resources. Sometimes I do AK for Banish, but experience becomes a problem because you don't get exp for banishing (and usually you banish enemies that give lots of XP), and you have to spend big exp in Invocations to keep Banish competitive with monster MR.

Dustbin wrote:DDBe is probably the hardest I've won, most of my wins are easy combos. Managing piety was an absolute nightmare.


I agree. Early on it's not a big deal, but in places with low piety/high damage taken like Vaults:8 and Zot, I found myself constantly at *** or lower, not enough piety to use BiA.
TrCK:
Xom grants you an implement of some kind.
_Something appears at your feet!
4790 gold pieces {god gift}.

DsAr:
You blink. You feel slightly more hungry. Prince Ribbit hits you. You die...
"Hey, that's my toy!"
Xom revives you!
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Eringya's Employee

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Post Monday, 23rd January 2012, 11:20

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

tormodpwns wrote:
TehDruid wrote:Melee mummies have always been my bane.

IMHO...


Thing about using Okawaru: it's hard to reach the stage where you can start using Heroism consistently. I usually start off as an Assassin (for the poison + curare + stealth) or Artificer (wands) to stay alive in the early game. Mummies don't get potion options against big threats so you need to pick a starting class with resources.


You couldn't really be any more true, I should have mentioned that you may be so unlucky as to get the Temple really deep so you may actually be at 4 or even 5 stars piety with a Trog worshipping mummy by that point. One time I lucked into finding an Okawaru altar as soon as I entered D:2, then died to a kobold with an elec whip. MuAs is a cool starting package due to Curare, true.

Another great choice for a melee or w/e Mummy is Ashenzari too I guess, but he's limiting so that may not be everyone's cup of tea. I've once managed to clear most of Vaults with a MuFi of Ash that lucked into a rod of summoning (the one with Summon Swarm) around D:3 if I remember correctly. That carried me through lair and I got some more rods (2 rods with ice cloud, one from acquirement, one in Lair:8 catoblepas ending). Binding jewellery boosts Evo so the skill was pretty high by the time I died, around 21 or so.
MuCK;
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Tomb Titivator

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Post Monday, 23rd January 2012, 14:01

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

tormodpwns wrote:
TehDruid wrote:Melee mummies have always been my bane.

IMHO...


Thing about using Okawaru: it's hard to reach the stage where you can start using Heroism consistently. I usually start off as an Assassin (for the poison + curare + stealth) or Artificer (wands) to stay alive in the early game. Mummies don't get potion options against big threats so you need to pick a starting class with resources. Sometimes I do AK for Banish, but experience becomes a problem because you don't get exp for banishing (and usually you banish enemies that give lots of XP), and you have to spend big exp in Invocations to keep Banish competitive with monster MR.

Dustbin wrote:DDBe is probably the hardest I've won, most of my wins are easy combos. Managing piety was an absolute nightmare.


I agree. Early on it's not a big deal, but in places with low piety/high damage taken like Vaults:8 and Zot, I found myself constantly at *** or lower, not enough piety to use BiA.


Guys ever thought of using vampiric weapons, eh? Heavy armoured DDBe with a decent two-hander of vampirism must be one of the easier if not one of the easiest 3-runers available.

Edit. Typos.
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Crypt Cleanser

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Post Saturday, 28th January 2012, 00:00

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Spriggan Summoner of Cheibriados

I can get to the lair, but only with the RNG on my side.
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Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Saturday, 28th January 2012, 04:19

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Nobody mentioned DEBe? :P

I won the game carrying 6 runes and a combination of lethal mutations (which forced me to forget about all-runing).

Crypt Cleanser

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Post Saturday, 28th January 2012, 21:54

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

I didn't have a difficult time with debe - and it certainly doesn't compare in difficulty to muck/ddak, etc.
mikee_ has won 166 times in 396 games (41.92%): 4xDSFi 4xMDFi 3xDDCK 3xDDEE 3xHOPr 2xDDHe 2xDDNe 2xDSBe 2xKeAE 2xMfCr 2xMfSt 2xMiAr 2xMiBe 2xNaTm 1xCeAr 1xCeAs 1xCeBe 1xCeEn 1xCeFE 1xCePa 1xCeTm 1xCeWz 1xDDAs 1xDDCr 1xDDHu 1xDDTm 1xDENe 1xDEWz
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Post Sunday, 29th January 2012, 22:28

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

To be honest, anythig that contains Be (not Beryl, we're not talking Chemistry here) can easily breeze through the early game. Only bad thing is that instead of being able to use your great mana growth and SPC skill to make a huge mana pool and use it with G.Spirit as a mana shield, you can't train the skill or Invocations under Trog. Lame. :P
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Halls Hopper

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Post Monday, 30th January 2012, 09:13

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

Octopode Fighter. So unforgiving of mistakes...
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Crypt Cleanser

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Post Monday, 13th February 2012, 20:28

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

I love the octopode now. Yes it's a little frail, but constriction makes swarm of low HP enemies very fun to crush. Also those bats aren't annoying when constricted.
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Post Tuesday, 14th February 2012, 09:20

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

varsovie wrote:I love the octopode now. Yes it's a little frail, but constriction makes swarm of low HP enemies very fun to crush. Also those bats aren't annoying when constricted.


True dat, although without a bunch of rings of protection after a while you feel how vulnerable you are...
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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Monday, 20th February 2012, 18:53

Re: Particularly hard or challenging builds?

tormodpwns wrote:
Dustbin wrote:DDBe is probably the hardest I've won, most of my wins are easy combos. Managing piety was an absolute nightmare.


I agree. Early on it's not a big deal, but in places with low piety/high damage taken like Vaults:8 and Zot, I found myself constantly at *** or lower, not enough piety to use BiA.



Huh? DDBE is the only combo I have won with :P I found it really easy to maintain piety through vaults:8 and other rune levels, but Zot:5 did kill my first DDBe to make it there, the next got through a fairly easy zot 5 - didn't run into ancient liches, which are imho the hardest mob there for a melee character. Once you get into really heavy armor like a crystal plate mail, you simply stop taking any damage from physical and then you just need resistances in order to stop taking damage all together...Personally I don't use BIA pretty much ever, so perhaps that's the difference? Back up, regen more, and use your own axe :)

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