My Necromancer covets your arkenstone

All the artifact lights they find hurts their spell casting abilities

Although - not anymore:

c) the Ring of Mirith <+6, +5, +2, +4, +8, +1>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 4450 feet (level 89)

+6 intelligence.
+5 dexterity.
+2 constitution.
+4 searching skill.
+4 infravision.
+8 speed.
+1 light.
Provides immunity to Acid, Fire, Cold.
Provides resistance to Lightning, Dark.
Provides protection from fear, blindness.
Cannot be harmed by Lightning.
Sustains intelligence.
Prevents paralysis. Sustains your life force.

coupled with this:

b) the Heavy Crossbow 'Ancal' (x4) (+11,+23) <+3>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 4250 feet (level 85)

+3 strength.
Provides immunity to Lightning.
Provides resistance to Light.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.

gives him base immunity

I've never seen more than two.

Thats a sweet ring. Most fighter types want damage and couldnt care less about int; youre not supposed to find this as a necromancer.

I was close enough to endgame that the Con was more important to Int (I was already maxed out on Int) But it was worth 100+ HP

Going into the level I was wearing a ring of CON +6 and a ring of Speed +11
Leaving I had to artifaces that added up to the same :)

prevents teleportation ...

So, err, when my latest @ died an unfortunate death, I looked at the randarts and saw this:

the Mace of Disruption 'Celdach' (16d8) (+17,+28) <+2, +3>
----------------------------------------------------------
A giant's weapon, enchanted with shattering power that breaks bones, bodies,
and spirit.

+2 intelligence.
+3 wisdom.
+3 constitution.
+2 extra blows.
Slays dragons (powerfully), demons (powerfully), undead.
Branded with weak fire.
Provides resistance to Acid, Poison, Light, Dark, Nether.
Provides protection from fear.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Speeds regeneration. Grants the ability to see invisible things. Blessed by
the gods (combat bonuses for holy casters).


Min Level 100, Max Level 127, Generation chance 1, Power 1056, 40.0 lbs
Random hafted of power 1056.

I guess Ill have to make another paladin now, though this thing is not going to turn up early.

That's got to be a record - far more powerful than Grond even!

This damage output looks incredible even for more high power variants like Zangband branches.

Really wish this was actually usable as anything but an 1-turn ESP button...

Remember that you can remove curses with scrolls, you should check what power these have to see if you can remove them.

I have to question Carindore's personal hygiene if, long after his boots have become legendary, they can be used to initiate a poison gas attack.


the Pair of Leather Boots of Carindore [2,+20]
----------------------------------------------
These are calf-high boots of flexible leather, laced from heel to calf.

Provides resistance to Dark.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Feather Falling. Speeds regeneration.

When activated, it fires a ball of poison gas with radius 3, dealing 12 damage
at the centre, which your device skill increases by 20% for an average of 14.4
damage.

you can remove the first 4, but cannot remove no_tele

This ring is quite a confidence booster for a mid level HE blackguard:
the Band 'Haril' (+7, +1) <+4, +5, +1>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1600 feet (level 32)

+4 intelligence.
+4 dexterity.
+5 tunneling.
+1 light.

Provides immunity to Fire
Provides resistance to Acid, Lightning, Cold, Dark, Sound, Nexus, Chaos, Disenchantment.
Provides protection from fear.
Cannot be harmed by Lightning.
Slows your metabolism. Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis. Sustains your life force.

When activated, it breathes a cone of acid, lightning, fire, frost or poison gas with width 20 degrees, dealing 250 damage at the source.
Takes 164 to 240 turns to recharge.
Your chance of success is 96.1%

And +7 to hit helps a little with the launcher.

@Estie--
Blackguards only ever carry stat sticks after the very early game. +7 is not going to make a difference for truly abysmal shooting ability. (The only use is knight's moves against druj, Wiruin, and Q, and for that accuracy is of lityle importsnce.)

Well I made heave use of range despite abysmal hit chance, carrying both bless and berserk or heroism; many shots miss but its still competitive with equally terrible melee.

So yes, +7 is not the reason to equip that ring, neverthess I dont say no in that worst phase before the spells come online.

So I was wearing a nice little main gauche of lightning for a while doing ~30 points of damage

when I ran into this this and this in rapid succession

d) a Ring of Damage (+0,+9)
Dropped by a mind flayer at 1150 feet (level 23)

s) a Scimitar (Holy Avenger) (7d2) (+13,+9) [+3] <+3>
Dropped by Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman, at 1150 feet (level 23)

+3 wisdom.
Slays undead, demons, evil creatures.
Provides protection from fear.
Sustains strength.
Grants the ability to see invisible things. Blessed by the gods
(combat bonuses for holy casters).



a) the Main Gauche 'Goren' (1d5) (+6,+8) <+4, +3, +1>
Found lying on the floor at 1150 feet (level 23)

+4 intelligence.
+3 dexterity.
+3 stealth.
+1 light.
Slays undead, animals.
Provides immunity to Acid, Fire.
Cannot be harmed by Acid.

Combat info:
2.8 blows/round.
With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would get 3.1 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 3.3 blows
Average damage/round: 87.4 vs undead, 78 vs animals, and 68.6 vs.
others.

I like the damage to evil I was getting from the HA and it was my source of FA (although I can swap in boots of FA for stealth)

But look at the double immunitiy on the main Gauche

Provides immunity to Acid, Fire.

wow

SAME LEVEL (6-7 btw)

b) a Heavy Crossbow of Power (x4) (+3,+23)
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1150 feet (level 23)

0) 26 Bolts (1d5) (+6,+6)
Combat info:
When fired, hits targets up to 140 feet away.
Average damage/round: 129.2.
20% chance of breaking upon contact.

less impressive but still quite useful

c) a Ring of Dexterity <+2>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1150 feet (level 23)

+2 dexterity.
Sustains dexterity.



And two Dex potions!

@sftp--
Double immunity makes an OK weapon for mage or ranger. But without extra attacks, high damage bonus, a brand, or even slay evil it's junk as a blackguard weapon. Blackguard biggest weakness early on is in damage. That weapon makes the problem worse.

Interesting.
I find my BG's dying (almost all the time) around 1500-2000 because I run out of Cure potions/escapes. I probably need them because I'm not doing enough damage. What raw number do you think they need btw? I've got this Main Gauche doing around 143/round at 1800' btw

Here's one that plugged a few holes. It let me dump a whole bunch of not quite good enough armor, and poison resistance+ CON really eased constraints on other equipment.

In contrast, my main weapon is a not-quite-great ego weapon.
For paladin, blows trumps brands and slays because of slay evil and kill demon spells. Off weapon weak brand helps too.

Arguably what you want is any big dice weapon, preferably with a brand, but even an unbranded BoC, Mod or SoS should be up for contention.

The venom brand spell will give a bigger boost on a higher dice weapon. Obvious not so great against anything with poison immunity, but when the weapon is already branded, then there's a much lower chance that they resist both elements.

Werewolf form and bloodlust increase blows, again there is more of a boost from these with a heavier weapon.

His trouble is getting out of stat gain. And for that, any weapon that does the most damage per turn against most monsters. Haradekket would be ideal--good dice, about the right weight, and extra attacks. But weapon choice is more of a lottery for BG than for any other class.

a) a Scythe of Slicing (8d4) (+0,+0)
Found lying on the floor at 650 feet (level 13)

Well ok, it needs enchanting and you don't get venom brand till clvl 28. stats aside its 2 blows with whirlwind at clvl 20 and 3 at clvl 35.

And oh so fitting.

This one is interesting in the sense that the recharge time on the activate is shorter then the effect length.

Classic LOOT!!!
 

o) the Band 'Elduinur'
Dropped by Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman, at 500 feet (level 10)

Cannot be harmed by Lightning.
Aggravates creatures nearby.


My first ring!

Wish I was playing a ranger for this one. Still, my warrior is making good use of it.

the Long Bow of Elpion (x4) (+7,+29) <+5, +3, +1>

+5 strength.
+3 dexterity.
+1 searching skill.
+1 shooting power.
Slays evil creatures.
Branded with cold.
Provides resistance to Acid, Lightning, Light.
Provides protection from fear.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Sustains intelligence.
Prevents paralysis.

When activated, it fires a ball of acid with radius 2, dealing 120 damage at
the centre, which your device skill increases by 23% for an average of 147.6
damage.
Takes 279 to 341 turns to recharge.
Your chance of success is 95.4%

Nice one; now hope you dont find a Lothlorien with ESP :P

+5 strength, +3 dex - useful for just about anyone

True — it'd be helpful for a lot of classes to carry even if they rarely used it.

In this case, I can confirm that it was quite helpful in knocking off Morgoth. :D

I was really lucky with artifacts with ESP this game. Ended up with three different randart helmets with it, along with some other nice characteristics. Spoiled for choice, really. Quite a contrast from some other recent games where I was scrambling for it.

once you get to DL90 ESP is pretty much on everything, if not on randarts, and for some reason you cannot free the head slot, cloaks of the magi have it, and so do lothloriens. cloaks are vastly more abundant, and i find that the randart cloak slot tends to have alltogether less bonuses than other slots.

Found in a vault just after killing Morgoth with a warrior (used MoD HA). Never seen +20 speed on a weapon before... Now I don't want to retire the character!

a) the Mace 'Eitharn' (8d4) (+7,+15) [+2] <+1, +4, +20>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 5000 feet (level 100)

+1 wisdom.
+4 tunneling.
+20 speed.
Slays undead, demons, giants, orcs, evil creatures.
Branded with poison.
Provides immunity to Fire.
Provides resistance to Acid, Lightning, Cold.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Sustains dexterity.
Speeds regeneration. Grants the ability to see invisible things.


When activated, it breathes a cone of acid, lightning, fire,
frost, or poison gas with width 20 degrees, dealing 250 damage at
the source.
Takes 688 to 1008 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 95.6%

Combat info:
6.0 blows/round.
Average damage/round: 790.2 vs undead, demons, giants, orcs, and
creatures not resistant to poison, 637.8 vs evil creatures, and
485.4 vs. others.

Thats a nice one. Now you can equip 2 damage rings!

Ended up at +51 speed and went back down to slaughter the remaining Uniques... Ancalagon, the two dogs and the Tarrasque.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=25614

Sounds like a bug to me... weapons should not have +20 speed.

Occasionally the game creates a weapon with a 4 digit pool worth of attributes.
This weapon has a low probability to be created. It is also likely to have a minimum depth of 100, which makes it extremely unlikely to show up before you kill Morgoth.
Then normally this weapon ends up being not the best weapon in the game; for example, it might be a whip 3d3 base and have a long list of defensive stats.

I have seen (as in, read in the file after the game, not found) many of these and I have never seen double speed. I cant remember having seen ~10 speed either, but I may just not remember it. I assume the chance for +20 speed, provided the game decides to put speed on the weapon and the property pool is high enough, is the the same as for a ring to get +20 speed.

So, sometimes there is an enourmos fish down in the depth. I dont know if thats a bug; but finding big fish is the main reason for me to play, so I wouldnt want them removed.

The log for concocting that particular artifact is attached. The target power was 862. It received a supercharged speed bonus of 18 (chance of 5/139 to get that in this case - boots are more likely to get). The base supercharged bonus is 4+1d6 speed. There's a 1/2 chance (not dependent on item type) the base bonus is boosted to 4+1d6+1d3. There's a 1/6 chance (not dependent on item type) that base bonus is boosted to 5+2d6. In this case both bonuses were applied (1/12 chance) for a bonus of 5+2d6+1d3 (1/8 chance of being +18, 1/16 chance of being +19, 1/48 chance of being +20). The speed bonus was later adjusted to +20. The final power of the artifact was 851 with 400 of that coming from the speed bonus. As Estie guessed, the artifact's minimum depth is 100.

Very interesting - but I dont think boots can get more than 10 speed, only rings.

4 + 1d6 would fit the boots range; if that is supercharged values, then what do not supercharged speed boots look like ?

Anything above 10 speed is either a ring or an artifact.

Hmm I looked at that log; half of the actions are calculating value for the artifact property of being immune to elements. And very particular values - immunity to acid is worth 3, to lightning 1. There is a value assigned for each element and that value is taken into account multiple times in the process of creating the artifact.

This seems not a very economic approach when all we want to achieve is to make artifacts indestructible - there is no need to assign a value to that property if every artifact gets it anyway.

So this is how those early artifacts with no actual properties get created, then.

Here's the entry from my Randart log...

# Random hafted of power 851
name:'Eitharn'
base-object:hafted:Mace
level:20
weight:120
cost:30000
alloc:17:100 to 127
attack:8d4:7:15
armor:0:2
flags:SUST_DEX | REGEN | SEE_INVIS
values:WIS[1] | TUNNEL[4] | SPEED[20]
values:RES_ACID[1] | RES_ELEC[1] | RES_FIRE[3] | RES_COLD[1]
slay:UNDEAD_3
slay:DEMON_3
slay:GIANT_3
slay:ORC_3
slay:EVIL_2
brand:POIS_3
act:DRAGON_MULTIHUED
time:160+4d20
desc:Random hafted of power 851


And yes, it was found at 5000' in a GV, just after killing M.

Cost is 30K, which is ridiculously low. The cost per se doesn't matter, but this thing should guarantee item LF 8 at least.

artifact? or BoS?
artifact boots can have more than 10 Spd.

It gave a 9 feeling, also found a decent randart RoP next to it in the vault.

I've seen +14 on randart boots before, but nothing to match standart Feanor (+15). Best RoS I ever found was +22.

For some reason above message doesnt count towards the post minimum, so I have to add stuff.

So, started a new dwarf priest to play along with the borg. The first artifact I found, at dlvl 17, dropped by Orfax, was Wrath. Which would be worthy of a post except I wanted to set randarts and apparently havent. So I post anyway, and restart.

I think these are together the highest bonuses to hit and to damage I've seen on gloves. No attribute bonuses but fortunately I've got enough of those elsewhere.

The Set of Leather Gloves of Tauru (+17, +9) [1, +10]
Provides resistance to Cold, Dark, Sound.
Provides protection from fear.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Sustains dexterity.

If only it was (+9, +17).

It's still roughly equivalent to a ring of damage +16...without wasting a ring slot. In my current game I two-fisted RoD for +25 damage,til I finally found a weak speed ring--with 2 real curses +1 useless!--at DL 67. Fortunately I had 4 *remove curse.* One failed at power 62; two succeeded. Meaningless poison curse still remains.

I figure it's roughly equivalent to a +9 RoD and a perpetual heroism spell, or something like that. Still higher than any gloves I've seen before.

Its in the same ballpark as Fingolfin and Cambeleg, but yes, that quality of gloves is rare in randarts. I usually end up using "of Combat" for the last fights when aggravation doesnt matter any more. Those go up to +11 damage if the base is cestus.

How do you arrive at that estimation ?

Damage is roughly equal to half accuracy, except for priests and especially mages. (And a ring of +16 damage is astonishingly good in any case--I have never seen better than +13.)

10 years ago, I used to think that to-hit was worth half as much as to-dam for melee, but the last few times I cranked through a calculation it was worth much less. I don't know whether I was wrong then or if the game changes shifted the utility a lot.

I don't think hit probability it has changed in my memory. I would like to see the calculation.

By gut feeling, Id say to hit is worth less that 1/2 damage. It is difficult to use calculations for several reasons.
Firstly, the effect depends on the AC of what you are fighting (and here I would love to see a function of how average damage depends on enemy AC).
Secondly, not all fights are equally important. I would think, but I am not sure, that important fights typically involve above average AC.
Thirdly, in case of overkill damage in 1 round, extra to hit is very welcome. For example, imagine a situation where nexus hounds are trickling out and a survivor is likely to run with potential to cause trouble.

I did a calculation for a CL 42 Paladin vs AC 150 doing 505 damage with Ulmo vs animals (and evil with a spell.) +20 with buffs increases effective damage from 363 to 386, equivalent to 5 nominal damage per blow. That is, accuracy is about 25% as valuable as damage for a melee class. If for some reason you wanted to melee Morgoth as a mage, it would be significantly more, possibly close to 50%.

funny, i think the highest Damage i have seen was a +15, with +13s being abundant. But assuming +13 is equal to a Ring of Speed +10 in rarity, i've seen RoS +14 (and more, but +14 isn't insanely rare) and higher but never any Damage higher than +15.

started this HE Mage yesterday, today closed the deal.
Decided to Rune & melee Morgoth because:

the Blue Dragon Scale Mail of Hillome (-2) [12,+39] <+3, +2>
------------------------------------------------------------
+3 intelligence.
+2 attack speed.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, poison, light, shards,
nexus, nether, disenchantment.
Provides protection from fear, blindness.
Slows your metabolism. Prevents paralysis.

When activated, it restores all your stats and your experience points.
Takes 139 to 187 turns to recharge.
Your chance of success is 98.6%


Min Level 87, Max Level 127, Generation chance 18, Power 603, 10.0 lbs
Random dragon armor of power 603.

+13 Damage is conditionally equivalent to a +10 RoSpeed. If you've got base speed 25, yes. If you have an midgsme weapon or an ordinary endgame weapon yes. But if you've got +2 attacks MoD with Slay Evil spell, or some massive damage randart, no.

There was a massive change. Just notice that armor values are double what they were in 3.0.

I remember it being significant. I'd forgotten it was huge. Abolishing the shield spell for 50% of the classes makes up for some of it. Abolishing a number of other buffs makes up for more. (I rarely have double cold resistance anymore, and only sometimes have double fire resistance.)

the Mace of Disruption of Arfearth (9d8) (+9,+11)
Dropped by Saruman of Many Colours at 3000 feet (level 60)

Slays undead, demons, orcs.
Branded with cold.
Provides resistance to cold.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

Combat info:
1.6 blows/round.
With +6 STR and +0 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
Average damage/round: 282.1 vs undead, demons, orcs, and creatures
not resistant to cold, and 119.6 vs. others.

I'll start wielding it when my wis gets a little higher.

i wonder how much damage would a hydra take from this thing.

At the current damage, 376 DPT. At 4.0 blows, 940 DPT. At 4.7*, 1107 DPT.

* IIIRC this is the most possible with a MoD.

Max MoD blows are 5.2 for warriors, 4 for pure casters and 5 for everyone else (not sure about BG).

This is pretty good.

g) the Law Dragon Scale Mail 'Livrast' (-2) [40,+26] <+3, +2>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 3400 feet (level 68)

+3 wisdom.
+2 speed.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, poison, light,
dark, sound, shards, nexus, nether.
Provides protection from fear, blindness, confusion.
Sustains intelligence, constitution.
Feather Falling. Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis.

When aimed, it breathes a cone of sound or shards with width 20
degrees, dealing 230 damage at the source.
Takes 175 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 94.5%

Same character, playing a warrior...I mean, what even is this?!!!!

a) the Mace of Disruption of Elpel (5d8) (+20,+30) [+2] <+5, +2> (charging)
Dropped by Pazuzu, Lord of Air, at 4400 feet (level 88)

+5 intelligence.
+2 extra blows.
Slays undead (powerfully), dragons (powerfully), demons
(powerfully), trolls, animals, evil creatures.
Provides resistance to dark.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
Sustains your life force.

When activated, it destroys an area around you in the shape of a
circle radius 15, and blinds you for 1d10+10 turns.
Takes 343 to 420 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 92.0%

Combat info:
7.2 blows/round.
Average damage/round: 1561.5 vs undead, dragons, and demons,
1149.3 vs trolls, 943.2 vs animals and evil creatures, and 737.1
vs. others.

And again, same character as the last two...3 immunities on one ring! V4.2.5

x) the Band 'Tirmen' <+3>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 4600 feet (level 92)

+3 wisdom.
+3 constitution.
+3 stealth.
Provides immunity to acid, lightning, cold.
Provides resistance to poison, nether, disenchantment.
Provides protection from fear.
Cannot be harmed by lightning.
Slows your metabolism. Grants the ability to see invisible
things. Prevents paralysis.

When activated, it heals 1200 hit points, cut damage, and cures
stunning, poisoning, blindness, and confusion.
Takes 573 to 772 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 95.7%

Grond without the penalties...

*Grotug bows before the God of Angband.*

I keep playing Ranger to get an insane launcher, but I only get good or very good launchers, but no broken launchers. That Mace is the absolute dream. Like the perfect weapon. High dice, high enchantment, and all the slays. When a weapon doesn't hold back in any metric of damage. Even a mage could rearrange their kit to kill morgoth with that.

I was certainly happy with it...went on to find the One Ring on Level 99 for some extra speed and +15 damage too! Quickest fight ever against Morgoth, was doing just over 1000 damage per round vs Evil.

YOU WHAT ???

omg no noooooo

Well Sauron was already dead at this point, so he had no further use for it!

tsk tsk tsk.

https://www.google.com/search?q=can+sauron+be+killed

.....
....
...
..
.

Not too shabby!

p) the Pair of Steel Shod Boots 'Ainath' [7,+10] <+11>
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 3650 feet (level 73)

+11 speed.
Provides resistance to acid, cold.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
Grants telepathy. Prevents paralysis.

Boots of Free Action with a few optional extras. I'd take them!