tasonir wrote:1) Chei doesn't suck
2) why is statue form and chei together dangerous? You'd be moving at about the same speed as a naga of chei, which is an awesome build I've 15 runed with.
It's less an issue of chei sucking and more an issue of Haste being insanely good in comparison.
Naga of chei is definitely not an awesome 15-rune build - you are depriving yourself a 50% boost to character strength and also don't get many useful powers in comparison (heals-on-kills, decks, etc.). There are so many builds out there that are better suited for allruning. That you still managed it speaks either for your quality as a player or for a lack of difficulty in extended (probably both) but not for the strength of the character.
Ely sort of sucks for non-pacifiers nowadays, Zin hates transmutations and Jiyva, and TSO was buffed a lot but won't like Spider Form, so probably just going Jiyva when you find an altar is the way to go if you find a Jiyva game. Okawaru and Makhleb will make for the easiest wins.
Skill build for me would usually be this:
Transmutations till Spider Form (very good early on)
Unarmed till 10
Transmutations/Ice/Spellcasting (not at the same time) till Ice Form
Unarmed till 15
Fighting till 10
and then either Dodging or UC, probably the former.