What resistances are actually needed to survive against Morgoth?

[PopTart]

His spells are: mana storms, brain smashing, mana bolts, summoning greater demons and greater undead (which may do any kind of damage), and of course summoning uniques. And he hits to shatter. So things like sound resistance, electricity immunity, etc., are not strictly necessary, right? Seems like the focus should be on speed and maxing out HP? I'm using a ranger so I plan to barrage him with arrows. Does he have resistances of his own?

Also have big stacks of Rods of Teleport Other and Rods of Slow Monster

[malcontent]

I think the main things to bring to the table with Morgoth is stat sustains if there is a chance he can hit you in melee. Also wrt melee, ideally, avoid bringing wands or staves that he can drain.

rNether seems to be the primary (only?) resistance that can be helpful (but depending on what he summons, who knows...). Weapons or launcher amo of slay evil are very helpful, all other brands/slays are not. Anything that increases your attack damage - berserk strength for example, and obviously - extra blows.

Your observation is spot on - most resistances are useful to get you to the table with Morgoth (get you through the pits of Angband), but are not necessary to eat with him.

[PopTart]

Well said. And oh yeah, I have saved several stacks of seeker arrows and mithril arrows of Slay Evil and Holy Might

[malcontent]

Originally Posted by PopTart

Well said. And oh yeah, I have saved several stacks of seeker arrows and mithril arrows of Slay Evil and Holy Might

Nice! I feel like I typically only have one set of holy might/slay evil arrows saved for Morgoth, somtimes none - but for a ranger 400 damage per round is pretty attainable with non-slay evil amo.

Also, the heavy crossbow of Umbar, with a ranger (4.2.4), with any amo, is pretty f-ing fun, aggravation or not.

[PopTart]

I decided to commit to arrows once I got Create Arrows from the second ranger book. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to find other good ammo. Next playthrough with a ranger I might try crossbows or slings. The bow I have now is stupidly powerful, my best arrows averaging over 1000 damage per round against evil monsters. In the early part of the game I was using a sling because the ammo doesn't break

[PopTart]

Okay, nice, I defeated Morgoth. All I needed was 8 Rods of Slow Monster, 10 Rods of Teleport Other and a couple Mass Banishment scrolls for summoneds (probably not necessary), a couple hundred arrows, a couple potions of *Healing* against raw magic casts. Oh, and a couple of zaps from a Wand of Stun Monster. He was barely able to do anything.

One interesting ... feature? of Morgoth is his ability to find you anywhere on the level. This is hugely convenient for when his summonings get overwhelming. Just teleport away and you get to start fresh with him.

[sffp]

Well done!

For my money the ranger is the easiest class to win with because it's almost always done from a distance with arrows. But then - I don't play mages much.

As to your original q - I once tried to go against Morgoth without an elite build that just happened to not include Resist Fire. Of course, he summoned Gothmog AND the Tarrasque and they both breathed on me in the same turn...

[PopTart]

Originally Posted by sffp

Well done!

For my money the ranger is the easiest class to win with because it's almost always done from a distance with arrows. But then - I don't play mages much.

Thanks, I've beaten the game only two other times, both were version 4.2.x with a gnome mage. Play style was not that different from ranger, except mana is a concern.

As to your original q - I once tried to go against Morgoth without an elite build that just happened to not include Resist Fire. Of course, he summoned Gothmog AND the Tarrasque and they both breathed on me in the same turn...

That is bad luck, but now I am thinking that if you have a high enough speed bonus and plenty of teleportation charges and BASIC RESISTANCES :-P, it should be possible to beat Morgoth without having first defeated the last 5-10 uniques...

[Sphara]

If one day you're gonna melee Morgoth:
- everything malcontent said
- melee output against evil or against anything > at least 450 dmg / turn
- heavier weapons give more critical hits: Mace of Disruption, Scythe of Slicing and Blade of Chaos of (+2 attacks or *slay evil*) are rarely outperformed by artifacts. At least if you play with standard artifacts.
- if possible, headgear of Might. Resist stunning is very good. This is mitigated if you have boatloads of healing potions and scrolls of Phase Door.
- if you can get base speed > +20 without another ring of speed, wear a ring of damage. +13 ring of damage easily outperforms ring of speed +10 if you already have over +20 speed (hasted +30).
- use scrolls of Rune of Protection before engaging melee, and fight standing on it as long as he happens summon any heavy artillery. It does not protect against breath weapons or spells.
- any buff is obviously good. Heroism, berserk strength, prayers etc. Just activate them while he cannot see you.

*EDIT*
This is a melee warrior way to go for me. Blackguard and other plausible melee classes may have different approach.

[Sky]

with warriors the biggest problem will always be that you need a amulet of Sustenance or a shield of Preservation, unless you hoarded mushrooms of vitality, because of the stat drain of morgoth's melee. And, of course, scrolls of Rune.

Randarts have MASSIVELY superior damage compared to standarts, because as explained previously .. they are random. You only need to find 1 that has rolled outside the norm and can easily do 700 damage vs evil. MODs will do 550 at most.

I think .. Morgoth has a Darkness storm, so rDark would be a must, although for some reason rDark is super-common on randarts.