Tuesday, 15th March 2011, 00:42 by mageykun
The SpBe is my favorite build so far, hands down. My first three all made it to Zot before death. Eventually, I pulled my first win with one.
I'm almost tempted to write a guide for 'em, except it's not really needed. The whole attraction is they're so straightforward to play.
The first perk is spriggan speed, which is a great help in not getting killed. Then the whole meatless deal translates into infinite Trog piety. You should get your second pip before you leave D:1. Unless you get a D:2 Sigmund, you're almost guaranteed to have brothers in arms by the time you come across your first unique, and berserking summons will fix almost anything. You get your first god gift by the lair, or a little earlier, and just ride the gravy train from there. You also only have to train very few skills (fighting, short blades, evasion, stealth, stab, trapds&doors), which makes you become powerful in mele very fast. Sure, eventually you expand into shields, or long blades, slings, evocations, etc but it's much easier than the juggling a mage or hybrid requires. You also start with enough str that you never have to worry about carrying capacity, and can just dump everything into dex.
The hardest part is deciding if watching a tiny fairy hack and slash with a katana taller than he is is worth giving up a buckler and quick blade speed. XD
Biggest weakness is that with no casting, you're very dependent on the the rng for good evocables. Whether or not you find a wand of haste, the right rod (with repel missles, abjuration, clouds, or divination) can make or break you in some of the later branches. Also- you will always roll the shoals, and be hard pressed to find even evocable levitation.
Edit after Volgon: if you can survive to the hive, food isn't a problem. I generally stop beserking once I hit the lair- I only use it for pre-Temple and pre-Lair emergencies, like orc packs with wizards / priests. As soon as you can, kiting with a sling, or dropping a brother in arms and retreating with spriggan speed are much better options than burning food and putting yourself at risk with a 'zerk (in situations where your conventional hack and slash isn't enough, obviously).
Your char looked pretty good! I would only suggest training long blades up higher before using one as your primary weapon in the swamp- I'll bet your weapon speed contributed to your death. I like to keep a good short handy to switch back to if I encounter a bad situation while I'm still training long up from slow and average.