Complete N00b's Journey Character #3: Anwe, the Hobbit Warrior

[Adam]

Thanks for the details, Nick!

About pConf and pBlind: Rohirrim would be good if you can cover rPoison elsewhere. Caspanion (also a body armor) covers both rPoison and pConf (and an additional +3 CON).
There is a helmet (Holhenneth) which covers both but telepathy is more important (as I remember if you are blinded you still sense most monsters through ESP). Actually I'm not sure how important SI is once you have ESP, I think most dangerous invisible monsters are shown by it (someone will probably correct me if i'm wrong).
Lanterns of True Sight provide pBlind and SI and are quite common.
If you are lucky you can find an amulet with either pConf or rPoison (an artifact or Trickery), infravision is not really useful anyway. Or amulet of ESP + Holhenneth would also be an improvement (just don't throw away the ESP helm in case you need to free up the amulet slot for something better).

How much do you suffer from these two missing protections? CLW is good for curing both and it's always available, and now you can carry them. Also rods/staves of curing are quite common.

[Estie]

I'm still missing blindness and confusion resistance … what are the items that could help me the most in covering these weaknesses?

For pblind, you are likely to find a lantern of true sight soon which gives pblind and sinv. But with ESP, geting blinded loses some of its danger. If you really want pconf, carry Rohirrim and swap according to the situation.

Things I really need are potions of Healing and a Staff of Speed. Where are the best levels to get them?

The best level to get anything now is 98. With ESP, life becomes much safer and you can start looting vaults. Small vaults are usually better than greater ones, you will learn the various types as you go. Just continue taking downstairs while picking low hanging fruit along the way.

I plan to ditch Turmil unless I am convinced otherwise. Do the staves of *Destruction* stay at home, or should I take them with me?

I wouldnt bother with Turmil - dragons arent that profitable - but feel free to play with it if you are willing to sacrifice the slot and see for yourself.
*Destruction* staff is good; its main use is to get rid of stuff you dont want to fight, like a pack of nether hounds or a dreadlord or a summoned troupe. A secondary use is to decimate the population of a vault filled with nasties; but beware, it destroys items in the area as well. Aim carefully.

Your next big upgrade is permanent speed +10. Boots or ring are the most likely candidates. There are tons of artifacts and ego items better than what you have (only Thorin is definite endgame material); the way to get at them is to loot vaults, the deeper the better. You still have to be super careful, but the end of the tunnel is in sight - with +10 speed and ~700 hp you can walk around more freely, at any depth, and the diving phase is over.

Oh and you can ditch detect evil now.

[Pete Mack]

You should be able to kill ancient red dragons by now, though you are kind of crippled by such bad CON as a warrior. You must be eating through a lot of arrows. Also: Get rid of that ring of Strength and replace it with CON. Your strength is plenty high now.

[wizard44]

Once again, thank you so much for the input folks. The run actually consisted of two dives, as I was not exactly successful in getting a Healing Potion or better in the first go-around. The character is still alive, but is still sort of vulnerable to a few niche elements.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 3-11

I began by stashing Turmil in the home for now, as the inventory was already packed as it is. Bought a ring of Constitution <+3> in place of the ring of Strength. I then Recalled back to D:55, where I detected the presence of Shelob and stayed away from her due to my lack of dark resistance. After a tangle with a death knight and his summons, I get my strength drained by an Erinyes, reminding me to be careful since I no longer had sustain strength. I take out an emperor wight and get a second rod of Teleport Other, and face Scatha the Worm after quaffing a Potion of Resist Cold and a Potion of Speed. I get Scatha’s health to half before I am forced to read a Scroll of Phase Door and quaff potions of cure serious Wounds. Scatha goes down to arrows of Slay Dragon and Wounding and drops the Ring of Barahir <+1 to all stats>, which covers my poison and dark resistance, which would be useful for the next run when I get my other artifact armor. I also kill an ancient gold dragon, which drops a potion of Intelligence for me to quaff. I kill a Dreadmaster to get to level 35. Seeing a grand master mystic up ahead, I then proceed to D:56 since I did not want to encounter another potential headache, especially with Shelob in the same room. D:56, however, had the Phoenix, in which I had barely enough time to quaff Potions of Resist Heat and Speed before I faced it. Even then, the Phoenix nearly cost me my life, and I ended up escaping in the upstairs after quaffing my potions of Cure Serious Wounds. After reloading D:56, I reverted to my cautious approach and restricited myself to exploring rooms close to the stairs. I read-id’d a scroll of mass banishment, and kill a Death Drake to get a Scroll of Acquirement, which gives me the Phial of Galadriel. I also find the Cutlass ‘Gondricam’ (+10, +11) [+50] (+4 DEX, +2 Stealth) on the same level. Going to D:57, I get my dexterity drained by a Demilich, and go toe-to-toe with Itangast the Fire Drake after quaffing a potion of Speed and Resist Heat. Upon killing Itangast, it drops the Zweihander ‘Zarcuthra’ (4d6) (+19, +21) <+4 Strength, +2 infravision>. I also kill Vargo, Tyrant of fire with the same precautions and shoot it with arrows of Wounding before finishing it off in melee. Unfortunately, it did not drop anything upon its death, causing me to waste even more Potions of Cure Critical Wounds for nothing. I somehow realize that one of my staves of *destruction* and one of my rods of magic mapping were destroyed in the fights, causing me to pay more attention to what happens to my items. Upon descent to D:58, I feel hungry, signaling that I should return to the surface. Upon arrival, I deposit Gondricam, read a scroll of Satisfy Hunger, bought a fresh Rod of Magic Mapping and Scroll of Banishment from the Black Market, and did a fresh recall to D:58 for a through explore. I land in a midst of inertia hounds, forcing me to teleport next to a demilich and Barrow Wights. I take out the barrow wights, which drop a potion of Constitution (which I quaff), use a rod of teleport Other to take out a Dark Elven Druid, and begin my stair-dancing. The stair-dancing regime yields a mushroom of Vigor (which restoers my drained strength and dexterity), another Rod of Teleport Other, 2 Rods of Magic Mapping and a potion vault where I quaff a Potion of Wisdom, a Potion of Dexterity, the Iron Helm of Dor-lomin [7, +20] <+4 STR, +2 DEX, -1 Stealth> and 2 Potions of Augmentation. I also take out Uldor the Accursed, who dropped nothing, and Azog, King of the Uruk-Hai, who dropped the Broad Sword ‘Orcrist’ (2d5) (+10, +15) <+1>. Finally, after getting a potion of *Healing* and going to level 36, I decide to do a conclusive Recall and head back to the town, dropping my potions of resist cold to make room for the items in my backpack. I buy 5 potions of Cure Serious Wounds, 7 scrolls of Phase Door, 4 Scrolls of Enchant Armour to enchant up my cloak, and finish the part.

The next goal is to reach D:65 and hopefully try to get some Healing potions (and some more *Healing* potions) to cover up my main weakness. Hopefully I also get a ring of speed.

Questions for you guys:

Is Zarcuthra’s higher damage to evil monsters a better artifact weapon, or is the aggravate monsters mechanic too much of a deal breaker here?

I plan to ditch Orcrist and Gondricam. Which other artifact weapons should get the boot at this point? And which equipment setup is optimal?

Is there anything that can kill me instantly in my dive to D:65? Do the double resistances offered by the potions I carry have any use here?

Any tips and answers to the above questions are appreciated. I've updated Anwe's status on the ladder. Really feel this is a winnable character, folks, as long as I don’t screw up.

[Estie]

Is Zarcuthra’s higher damage to evil monsters a better artifact weapon, or is the aggravate monsters mechanic too much of a deal breaker here?

Aggravation is dangerous and annoying, especially when you still live in 1-hit country. Its damage is good enough for the end fights though (where you dont care about aggravation), so store it for now. None of your other weapons are worth holding onto. Your setup is good.

Is there anything that can kill me instantly in my dive to D:65? Do the double resistances offered by the potions I carry have any use here?

Jabberwock might, some "U"s; greater titan, bonegolem, all this is stuff you dont want get get LOS to when they are awake.

The ability to get double resistance is always useful; whether you want to carry the potions or not depends on what the alternatives are.
You can free a slot by leaving your illumination rods at home (and use the phial´s activation instead), but dont ditch the rods - you might find better light sources without that activation later. Another thing I would store (not ditch) are the scrolls of teleportation - you have the staves for that purpose; if the situation is such that the chance of failure becomes a concern, use a teleport level scroll. Doing that should leave you with enough room to keep the resist potions.

The increase in danger as you go deeper is relatively minor. There will be more things that you have to avoid, but the gameplay remains the same.

[Pete Mack]

You are nominally safe from instakill by all monsters except a couple high uniques that breathe nether for 550. That said, your speed is still so low that a number of monsters can still kill you in a single turn, even hasted, let alone at normal speed. Generally 550 is a pretty good over/under for fragile/robust. But you still need to be very picky in choosing fights. Normal speed is by far your biggest risk now. And yes, stash Zarcuthra. You aren't remotely strong enough to aggravate. Other the rest of your backup weapons are now pretty much obselete.

Beware of high undead. A lot of them will disenchant, and that is particularly bad for a warrior. You have already lost 12 damage per turn. One encounter with a nightcrawler could pretty much destroy your weapon in a single fight.

Here is the breakdown
Nether: 550 from 2 or 3 uniques; 510 from Dracoliches
Fire/Cold/Elec: 533 (single resist) from deep demons, uniques. Hell wyrm doesnt have enough HP, but Greater Balrog and Put Fiend do
Chaos: 500, Jabberwock. Beware the Jabberwock my son, since it is his only spell or distance attack, and he is particularly fast. Great wyrm of Chaos, maybe a few more, but not as dangerous.
You can take 500 damage from most high elements except dark and light which top out at only 400, and which have more reliable resistance.

[Sphara]

One creature that is particularly deadly for this character, is Gelugon. They don't appear naturally on lvl58 yet but aren't very far off. Don't go near one with low speed and no shard resistance.

Same goes for almost every unique you meet. Mouth of Sauron, for example, is a complete no-no.

Wand of stun monster and rod/wand of slow monster are extremely good at debilitating monsters. Slow doesn't give them -10 speed but takes few actions away from them nevertheless. Consider carrying slowing or stunning stick.

[Pete Mack]

DL ~60 is a bad place to be. Speed rings are native to DL 75, where they show up anywhere on the floor; at DL 65, they will show up in special rooms (not just vaults.) There is no reason at all to spend time in levels between DL ~50 and ~65. It is the best place to use ?deep descent. DO: look for Great Swamp Wyrms. They do max damage of 266 (single resist), and don't destroy your gear. Also: Smaug, who will destroy stuff, but has a pretty good drop. Since you have ESP, there are no dangerous monsters that can sneak up on you; you also need a new amulet.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

DL ~60 is a bad place to be. Speed rings are native to DL 75, where they show up anywhere on the floor; at DL 65, they will show up in special rooms (not just vaults.) There is no reason at all to spend time in levels between DL ~50 and ~65. It is the best place to use ?deep descent. DO: look for Great Swamp Wyrms. They do max damage of 266 (single resist), and don't destroy your gear. Also: Smaug, who will destroy stuff, but has a pretty good drop. Since you have ESP, there are no dangerous monsters that can sneak up on you; you also need a new amulet.

I guess if Great Swamp Wyrms are to be targeted then Great Bile Wyrms are even better since Thorin provides iAcid.

[wizard44]

Thanks again for the input guys. Managed to get to D:65 and complete my goal, but barely due to Saruman and the Mouth of Sauron creating a tense situation there.

Complete N00b'€™s Journey: Part 3-12

Stored Zarcuthra, the Rods of illumination, ditched Orcist, Turmil and Gondricam, as well as my boots of Free Action. I then bought 4 potions of Resist Cold and recalled back to D:58, where I took out Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain, who dropped nothing of use. I find another potion of Strength on the level and quaff it to further improve my potential damage. D:59 has a Rod of Restoration, which I keep for now. I decide to take on an ancient multi-hued dragon in the level after quaffing all three types of resist potions. The Dragon fell to melee takes soon enough, and drops a much-needed Potion of Healing. Descending to D:61 put me next to Arien, Maia of the Sun, which forces me to reload the level. The new level put me in a rematch with Ren the Unclean, who went down to melee after quaffing a Potion of Speed and a Potion of Resist Fire. I get to level 37 from the kill, but get no useful items from the ordeal. Descending to D:62 put me next to a jabberwock, causing me to reload the level again. This time, I deal a group of Impact hounds to get to a Potion of Augmentation, which I quaff to further improve my stats, and a rod of Detection. Killing a group of young blue dragons give me some more Potions of Healing, while dealing with a vampire lord gives me a Potion of *Healing*. D:63 had a staff of speed, which I *badly* needed and happily ditched my rod of Treasure location for. I also picked up a Lantern of True Sight, which I drop my potions of Resist Heat for. D:64 had a scroll of *Enchant Weapon*, which I used to partially bring back my artifact Scimitar to what it was before, although its damage output was unaffected. My staff of speed was destroyed from a stray 11-headed hydra’s fire breath, however, putting me back in my former nasty position of no speed boosts besides my potions (*sigh*). A vault, however, gives me 3 Potions of Constitution and a Potion of Intelligence, all of which I quaff. Upon descending to D:65, Medusa, the Gorgon makes trouble for me by summoning her kin. I kill her, though, and get to level 38. I run into Saruman the many colors and the Mouth of Sauron, and decide to Recall to get the hell out of here and do some inventory management. Before that, I read a teleport level to get out of the way of the Mouth of Sauron'€™s summons. Once back at town, I buy up 6 Potions of Cure Critical Wounds, 14 Potions of Cure Serious Wounds, and stash my potions of *Healing*. I then buy 10 scrolls of Teleportation from the Black Market as well as some scrolls of Enchant Weapon To-Hit, and Enchant Weapon To-Dam to enchant up my Mithril Arrows before concluding the part.

So the next goal for us: Get to D:71. And try to find items such that I can get to +20 Speed in an instant.

Do Staves and Potions of Speed stack? Or do they only stack with worn items?

I’m definitely not going toe-to-toe with the Phoenix, or Saruman, or the Mouth of Sauron. Which Uniques are okay for me to dispatch without too much trouble?

Which is a better light source: The Phial of Galadriel, or the Lantern of True Sight? I'€™m thinking the Lantern of True Sight, since I do need blindness resistance.

Is Nether resistance vital? If so, what is the best way to go around getting it?

I've updated the ladder with Anwe's latest status. As always, tips and answers to the potions of the above questions are appreciated.