Path: newserv.ksu.ksu.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!udel!newsserv.cs.sunysb.edu!fwang
From: fwang@cs.sunysb.edu (.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.angband
Subject: Angband Strategy Guide repost
Date: 9 Mar 1994 08:47:05 GMT
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Lines: 1803
Message-ID: <2lk2e9$kp5@newsserv.cs.sunysb.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: sbpub8.cs.sunysb.edu
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Last Update : 29th November 1993
Angband Strategy Guide: version 3.181
--------------------------------------
Note: This all relates only to Angband. Due to the new version, some of this
might be out of date, inaccurate, or unwise. I haven't done any editing, but
figured this would be a good time for a repost.
I do not include any hints for Bangband, Fangband, or any thing else besides
PC Angband.
Please mail all corrections, advice, comments, criticisms, compliments,
rutabagas or cash to: fwang@sbcs.sunysb.edu
Table of contents
-----------------
0. Introduction and Disclaimer
1. Character Generation
a. Warriors
b. Mages
c. Priests
d. Rogues
e. Rangers
f. Paladins
2. General hints for each character class
a. Warriors
b. Mages
c. Priests
d. Rogues
e. Rangers
f. Paladins
3. Shopping
a. First time
b. Should almost always buy
c. Descents below 150 feet
d. Descents below 300 feet
e. Descents below 1000 feet
f. Other shopping tips
4. Techniques for 'regions'
a. How fast is too fast?
b. Basic Pointers
c. Skills for all levels
d. Techniques for 0-1000 feet.
e. Techniques for 1000-1700 feet.
f. Analysis of levels > 1700 feet.
g. Strategies of various winners
h. Things to do if you're about to die. (i.e. last ditch efforts)
5. Fighting....dealing with groups/ pits/ uniques
a. Monster Rooms
b. Spiffy Rooms
c. Uniques
d. Rough Monsters
e. Invisibles
6. Classic, simple, and useful tips.
7. Noteworthy things.
8. Contributor list.
0. Introduction
------------
Greetings, fellow Angbanders. It occurred to me that it would be a very
interesting idea to gather all the neat tricks, tips, and hints that
experienced players use in one giant strategy list.
So began the Angband Strategy Guide. It began as a thought, but with support
has grown into a pretty useful document. I can't say "a definitive guide to
winning angband", since most of the hints are for early levels, but hopefully
this will change.
I'm trying to get this organized, and could probably use all the help I can
get. All comments are welcome, -especially- criticisms. (Well, constructive
ones). What don't you like, what do you like, what you'd like to see more of.
If you have any tips that you don't see, please e-mail them to me. I will add
the tip and your name to the Contributors list (unless you don't want me to).
Also, keep in mind a few things. Some tricks don't work on some versions of
Angband. (For example, some Angbands don't have autorolling or targetting
code). So, keep that in mind when you read. Also, no strategy is any good
unless the player is careful. -The- fastest way to die is by not watching
your hit points, and no strategy will help you at all if you don't watch out
for yourself.
Disclaimer
----------
This guide is not a step by step method of how to win.
It is not a inventory list of what your characters should carry at what parts
of the game, in order to win.
Rather, it is a list of all things that are considered useful, and what tricks
are used by players. I doubt there is a single player that carries -all-
objects mentioned, and follows -all- strategies mentioned. It is simply not
realistic. Some ideas may be good at some times and not others.
What you, the player, need to do, is to find a tempo of playing that makes
you comfortable. If you like to play safer, ditch the offensive options and
buy more armor. If you like to play rougher, then go down levels faster, and
choose better weapons over better armor. It's your game.
I add this disclaimer because I seem to be receiving mail with things like
'I don't think you need xxxxx'. If you don't want it, don't use it. It is
listed for those who haven't considered that possiblity.
In the rare event that there is a statement that says, "I think....." or
is in first person, that was likely an accidental inclusion from someone's
e-mail. It should be changed - notify me. The 'I' could be from any one
of the contributors and does not necessarily express my opinions.
Down with Morgoth!
- Frank Wang
fwang@sbcs.sunysb.edu
1. Character generation
--------------------
Basically, Warriors are easier at the beginning and hardest to win with.
Mages are hardest to start with, and easiest to win with. Priests have
less offensive spells than mages, but do get really cool heal spells later.
While a mage can begin with an offensive spell, a priest will not get an
offensive spell until level 9 - Orb of Draining (a very good spell).
Rangers are easy to start and play when first learning the game. You get
the toughness and durability of Warriors, with a few mage spells to help
out along the way. You might like to try a Half-Elf or Elf Ranger to start.
High elves and Dunedain (yes, it's plural - Dunadan is singular) make
good characters of any class, but they have the slowest rate of going
up levels. They are good when you are first learning the game, but
are very slow to win with.
Gnomes : Their free action intrinsic more than compensates for the lousy
hitdice, at least for spell casters. They get good racial adjustments to
most stats except hand-to-hand melee.
Dwarves are reasonable characters as well, especially as Priests or Warriors.
If you use the autoroller, then remember that 18/01 is entered as 19, 18/50
as 68 (i.e. 18+50) and so on. Generally, you can put two stats close to
their maximum on the autoroller with little trouble. Three is much more
difficult (essentially the other three stats have to be close to their
minimum), so you can wait days. If you want to set minimums on three stats,
you should make at least two of them several points below their maximum
(above 18 you should drop by about 20 - or perhaps just a bit less - to
count as a point). If it takes more than a couple of minutes, hit ^C and
try again with lower values.
Also, when considering Autorolling, recognize the fact that there are only
certain 'ranges' that make a difference. A starting Intelligence of
18/89 is the same as a starting Intelligence of 18/70 in terms of mana.
Of course, since 18/90 is the next 'step up', you could go for 18/80 and
then try to buy a ring of intelligence (+1). But a starting constitution
of 9 isn't much different from of 14. So don't waste your autoroller's
time trying to reach a maximum for a stat that won't make a difference.
This of course depends on your version of Angband. Check the spoiler sheets
for your version.
The lower stat will make it take longer to max out your stats, but it really
shouldn't make any difference in the long run.
1.a. Warriors
Warriors get through the early levels easily, and make a good choice
if you want to learn the game. This will be frustrating until you get a
good intuition of where hidden doors are, so your first character should
be a Ranger.
If you are trying to go as a Warrior, then Half-trolls, Dunedain or High-
elves are good choices...You can almost guarantee a STR > 18/50 with one
of these, and the last two can give you a DEX > 18/50 with luck, thus
giving you TWO swings with that broadsword at the start of the game.
This extra advantage makes up for the slow advancment of the last two
races.
A High Elf warrior with 18/57 Str and 18/50 Dex can get _four_ hits with
a 5lb weapon.
A Human warrior goes up levels _fast_. Take a high dex and strength for
multiple hits with light weapons.
Enchant your weapon as quickly as you can and look for rings of damage or
slaying, etc.
Also, look for high CON (no less than 14), and not too low WIS or INT (you
will need to use wands and staffs)...Furthermore, these last two will help
your pseudo-ID work faster.
1.b. Mages
High-elves make good Mages. They generally have better abilities, and a high
stealth. Starting attributes: 18/80 intelligence, and 10 strength.
Less than 10 strength really puts a limit on what you can carry. With a 18/80
intelligence, a single ring of intelligence (+1) can put you into the big
bonus mana region.
Gnome mages are really good too, since they can still get the highest starting
mana ratio with 18/70 intelligence, and best of all, have innate free action.
1.c. Priests
Priests are somewhat easier because of their heal spells (especially the
200hp and the full heal). By healing 200 hp whenever you lose this many
you are less likely to die from any big breath attack (cf. mage with potions
thinking how much can so and so breath for if I have this, this and that?).
A priest can get a lot of heals out of one lot of mana!
Suggestion 1: Play a dwarf priest with 18/50 wisdom, other stats
don't really matter - go for a decent strength and/or con. You could
also try a Dunadan with similar stats.
Suggestion 2: Play a Half-Troll priest. Seriously. Those extra
hit points come in -handy-. Try either: a) 18/12 Str, 14 Wis, 10 Dex, 18 Con
and wield a whip (2 hits - double the plus!); b) 18 Wis and 18 Con and
wield the heaviest damage weapon you can use; or c) 18/?? Str and 18 Wis.
In either case play the early levels like a (weak!) warrior.
1.d. Rogues
Rogues are among the best fighters and are experts at the Art of Not
Being Seen. If the monster doesn't see you (/wake up), it won't hit you.
Suggestion 1: Hobbit Rogue. Infravision is very nice and you
can sneak around well. Monsters often won't even notice you until you
tap them with your sword (very hard of course). Also, being able to
disarm traps and locked doors is handy.
Suggestion 2: Half-Orc Rogue. This is really a totally different
character than the Hobbit Burglar: a Half-Orc Rogue has lower Stealth, but
good fighting, and some limited spellcasting. In a way, the character is a bit
more like a Warrior with some spellcasting ability.
1.e. Rangers
Rangers have good bow skill, and have reasonable magic device, disarm, etc,
and fight better than mages and priests. They get all but the most powerful
magic spells. Because they are reasonably effective fighters, they gain
levels more quickly than mages early on (mages need to run away more often).
They make an excellent compromise between the early might of the warrior,
and later power of a mage. Rangers should take advantage of their missile
weapon skill.
Suggestion 1: High Elf Ranger. This is one of the slowest characters
to advance, but See Invisible, combined with high Str, Int, Dex make their
survival during early levels very good.
Try: a) Str 18/02 Int 18/50 Dex 18/01, which makes a more
'mage-like' Ranger, for 2 x mana and 2 hits with a Sabre (18/10 for 2 hits
with a Trident);
b) Str 18/32 Int 18 Dex 18/01, for a ranger that fights better
- 1.5 x mana and 3 hits with a Sabre. If you are a little more patient you may
be able to get both the higher Str and Int.
Suggestion 2: Human Ranger. This is a much faster character, and
you'll have spells by the time you finish your first trip down.
Try: Str 18/12, Int 18, Dex 10. Two hits with a Sabre, and 1.5 x mana make
quite a powerful character.
1.f. Paladins
Paladins fight almost as well as Warriors. They get spells right from the
first level as well.
Suggestion: Dunedain Paladin. Try: Str 18/12, Wis 18, Dex 10, for the
same benefits as the Human Ranger above. Find a light weapon to wield for
for multiple attacks / round.
Half-Elves make excellent Paladins, since they have slightly improved
Stealth and Searching---the weaknesses Paladins have.
Humans make playable paladins as well. If you have not played a human
before, a Paladin might be a good one to try.
2.0. General Character hints for each class
---------------------------------------
For all characters:
Watch your hit points. Don't let them get too low. Rest as soon
as possible after every fight, to get your hit points and mana (if any) to
maximum. You have nothing to gain by running around with your guns half
loaded. If you need more convincing, try counting the number of times
you've survived with zero hit points, or cast your last spell with just
enough mana. It shouldn't happen, but it does.
Also, missile weapons (aka bows/crossbows) are a pain, take a lot of
inventory space, and are heavy (including ammo), but they are also very
devastating weapons that can dish out a -lot- of damage. They are very handy.
Also, you can use flasks of oil as relatively cheap and effective missile
weapons.
For Spellcasters:
Don't take every spell the moment you are allowed to. If you 'G' to learn
a spell and there is nothing you really need right now, press . You
can learn an extra one later. If you get in a spot, and need a spell you
might have learned but didn't, it only costs a turn to learn - you have a
lot more flexibility if you have an unlearned spell or two up your sleeve.
Sometimes you have more than one spell you would like to learn at once -
if you 'save up' a couple, you can get them all right away. It is also
handy to have a couple spare for when you find the special books - e.g.
Resistance of Scarabtarices as they have some handy lower level spells.
If you are a mage with 18/50 or higher Intelligence, you may be better
off learning the spells and getting the experience for casting them
while still at low levels. Even for a character like this, however,
getting all three 7th level mage spells at 7th level might be
worthwhile for survivability.
For pseudo spellcasters - (rangers/rogues/paladins)
Until you are VERY high level, do NOT rely on your magic to get you out of
tight spots, since their failure rate will be too high for emergency usage,
and you won't have enough mana to really cast them more than once.
2.a. Warriors
Really easy - Go in and kill. Rest after every battle (if necessary).
You *should* be able to get down to 200' on the first trip without problems
(assuming no out of place monsters), but returning to town may be tough.
A possibility is to start with two complete trips to 100', collecting
everything, digging out all treasure. By this time, The character is around
5-6th level...all depends on what you find.
Most Warriors should have multiple hits (often a lighter weapon can do more
damage *per turn* than a heavy one, if it gets more hits). Watch for anything
to increase your damage. A Strength of 18 gives you +3 immediately. Enchant-
to-Dam scrolls can take your damage up further and are readily available.
Watch carefully for rings of damage, rings of slaying, gloves of
slaying, etc (I once got all 3, and a total of +33 to damage for each of
three hits before going down as far as Wormtongue!). Even a total of +10 to
damage (when counted three or four times) makes most uniques on the low
levels easy. Jellies usually don't get a hit in.
Use the Warriors' pseudo-ID all the time. After the first few levels,
drop any weapon or armor that you dont need that gives you a Average or Cursed
id. NOTE that if the p-ID message says "You feel that [ ] is terrible." then
this is a SPECIAL cursed item, possibly a cursed artifact. KEEP THIS until
you have complete ID.
Collect all wands that are beneficial to you. After 500', start
carrying a ranged weapon with you. Remember that you are the worst class at
high levels...always have a WoR and some ability to ID items (Staff of
Perceptions) at these low levels.
DO keep magic items onhand--but you should prefer the more obvious
Scrolls and Potions---since these can't fail due to low Int (I think).
Useful Rods are Recall, Illumination, and Restoration. These may
(and probably will) fail a lot, but use them when in a "bare" area
cleared out by yourself (of monsters).
DO get a bow/arrow quickly---this is your ONLY reliable distance
attack, and you'll NEED it against acid-breathers/spitters (e.g.
Green Naga/Worm).
2.b. Mages
In general, keep your mana up. Don't run out of mana.
Cast Detect Monster and Find Hidden Traps/Doors everytime you sneeze.
(turning on the 'stop between screens' option guarantees that you don't walk
into any offscreen traps, if you cast detect traps as soon as the screen
changes. It is pretty safe to disable that option to speed gameplay, but it
is recommended to avoid Murphy's Law and re-enable it if you are on a special
level, lest you be running down some corridor and fall into an offscreen trap
door) Avoid or prepare for large groups of monsters.
Learn escape spells as soon as possible. (i.e. Phase Door and
Teleport) learn to use them efficiently.
Stinking cloud is a very handy spell. Fantastic for taking out flies
or fleas. It is a pretty powerful early spell, and it's a ball spell, so
you can do very handy things with it. You may do more raw damage with
Lightning bolt (which has the -highest- damage/mana ratio of almost all the
spells) but can only affect one at a time, and you can't shoot -over- anything
with a bolt spell.
Also, learn to use Sleep and Spear of Light, as mentioned in various
parts of this document. They are very useful relatively low level spells.
2.c. Priests
If you've played Moria before, the first 9 or so levels of the priestly
life in Angband play very similarly.
Many of the same rules for mages apply. Watch your mana. Cast Detect
prayers, especially Evil and Traps, whenever the screen changes. These
prayers cost a fair amount of mana, compared to the mage spells, (Detect
Doors and Detect Traps are two different prayers, for one thing), and so
you will want to take it fairly slowly.
At low levels, melee bites, even though your mace is much better than a
mage's dagger. Be prepared to phase door around a lot.
Don't count on Cure Light Wounds to work, especially below level 10.
Carry a few potions of same at all times. You can't cast Cure Light
Wounds while you are blind - but you can quaff the potion. Of course,
if you can retreat to a safe spot, Cure Light Wounds is a good prayer.
Once you get above level 10 or so, you can reasonably cast it "on the
fly", so to speak, but still be careful.
Aside from the Detect and Cure prayers, most of the low level prayers
are pretty useless. Create Food and Portal are notable exceptions.
Basically, below level 9 you will be playing like a warrior, but a
damn wimpy one. Don't overexert yourself. At level 9 you can get
... Orb of Draining! Then life becomes much easier.
When you get to level 7, *stop* taking prayers when you gain levels.
[If you have 18/50 Wisdom you can stop at level 8.] You want to do
this because you can "force" your gods to give you Orb of Draining.
You want this prayer. Badly. It does 3d6 plus your level damage,
double to evil (which is good), is a ball spell (very good), and
(best of all) there are no monsters that resist it, unlike with the
mage spells. Here's how:
1) Get a copy of Chants and Blessings, the prayer book with OoD in it.
2) When you get to level 9, do the following:
a) Go up to town and drop all your copies of the first two books
(Beginners' and Words of Wisdom) in your home. You could do this in the
dungeon, but this way they won't get stolen or inadvertently lost.
b) Take your copy of Chants and Blessings.
c) Hit 'G'. Voila! You should now have all three 9th-level
spells: Neutralize Poison, Orb of Draining and Cure Serious Wounds.
Use Detect Evil to find hidden Ghosts (its only advantage is that it DOES
detect invisible critters), and if you're not high enough level, RUN AWAY
(some low-level ghosts drain Wisdom).
To save ID scrolls, use the priest's ID, Remove Curse. Try on any
armor, rings, or amulets you find lying around. If they're cursed, you can
de-curse them and drop them, thus keeping you from burning ID scrolls on
useless stuff. Note that priests eventually get Identify as a prayer, but
it's in Godly Insights, which is pretty rare above 2000'.
Caveats. 1) Don't try this with weapons. Morgul weapons cannot be uncursed
with the standard grade Remove Curse. In most current versions of Angband,
reading a scroll of enchant to-hit or to-dam will zap any curse on a weapon,
allowing you to take it off. This at least allows you to get rid of it.
However, this seems to be a bug, and it may be removed from later ports or
versions.
2) Wait a few levels after getting Remove Curse before
using this. That way, if you have a high WIS, allowing you to gain more
than one prayer/level, and you put on an Iron Helm of Wisdom (-5) or
something, you won't lose the Remove Curse prayer when your WIS plummets...
In theory, one could get the One Ring of Power, which cannot be de-cursed by
any means, this way. However, this is so unlikely at pre-Godly-Insights
levels that I've neglected that possibility. [Some people think
that the One Ring could be very useful back then....]
The very high level prayer Elemental Brand can be used to make very deadly
bolts/arrows by wielding the bolts and branding them.
2.d. Rogues
There are two kinds of rogues, the tough rogues (like a Half-Orc) and
the sneaky rogues (like a Hobbit). The 'standard' rogue is the 'sneak'.
They are often able to walk right through a room without waking things
up. Rogues get some good detection spells (but essentially no offensive
spells), and combined with the ability not to be noticed, they can
often avoid damage. If you see something nasty when you peek in a room,
you can often quietly close the door without waking it up.
If you do fight, try to do it from a distance when you can.
Rogues can also fight well in the conventional sense. You will want
to use the spell Detect Traps heavily, and probably won't need to use
many other spells all that much (until you get Identify and Recharge spells).
The 'tough' Rogues are essentially played like Warriors in the early levels,
but later they get some helpful spells as well.
Play these guys a bit more cautiously than a Warrior. Be sure to
have a starting Dex of 18/50 (AT LEAST) and a starting Int of 18 (so
you can cast more of your key spells). Also, beware of FUN group
monsters---use the Mage strategy at high levels---you need to rely
HIGHLY on your Stealth and a few scrolls of Teleport to get you out
of messy situations, since your spells aren't that reliable for quite
awhile. Halflings tend to make superb Rogues---the Rogue abilities
compliment the Halfling's ones beautifully (also Halflings get Dex
sustained---a Rogue's prime stat).
Also, gain the spells soon---and cast Detect Treasure/Objects on
every screen. These two lovely spells will let you find the treasures
buried on levels (MASSIVE amounts of cash you can dig up when you get a
nice Pick). Use these detection spells A LOT, since they give you the subtle
edge in combat. Also, you should get a Bow as soon as possible---as with
Rangers, you're excellent with Bows, and you should be using Bows as your
distance attack.
2.e. Rangers
Play a Ranger like a warrior at the start, but don't forget you are
weaker - stand back and use your good bow skill more. Keep plenty
of Phase Door scrolls and Cure Light Wounds potions handy, and Flasks
of Oil are especially useful until level 3 or 4. You won't need oil as
a weapon after that.
DO get some enchant-weapon scrolls and make your Bow more deadly---
that should be first thing to buy after the first major trip down (
around level 5 or so), since Rangers are excellent with Bows/Arrows
they should rely on THESE for the primary effects---their magic isn't
as powerful as a Mage, and hardly ANYTHING can resist a
missile attack outright.
Keep your mana up. Use spells to complement your fighting ability -
for example, cast a Magic Missile or two before closing for the final
blows. If you time it right, the opponent will be killed by your
first turn (so you often won't get hit by weaker creatures). This
way you don't have to swap weapons like you do with a missile weapon.
At later levels you start getting some really good spells. However, you
don't get identify and recharge until _much_ later than a mage, so you
need to carry scrolls and staves for longer, and you only get the
weaker pseudo-ID, and it is very slow, so more cleverness is needed.
Don't ID everything the second you get it. Pseudo ID might still kick in.
Wait until you have to drop something. Don't ID something underground
just to find out its charges if you aren't about to drop it - that can
wait for the town. If you are careful, a single Staff of Perceptions
and just a few scrolls of Identification (not too many, as reading the
last one frees a slot) should be enough, since you'll pick up some ID scrolls
while you are down there. Read the scrolls _first_.
2.f. Paladins
Basically, you are ALMOST as good a fighter as a Warrior (without ANY
special bonuses--REMEMBER THAT). You should be relying on your good
hand-to-hand fighting, rather than bows/arrows, since you're not that good
at them. Use a hit-and-run technique, since you don't have the special
bonuses Warriors get which enable them to stay in a fight with even
dangerous critters for a decent amount of time.
Play like a Warrior to begin with. You get Orb of Draining _much_ later
than a Priest (not until level 17), but you should be tough enough to make
it until then. As with a Priest, you can force OoD by not learning spells
for a level or two before, and dropping the earlier books (*DON'T FORGET
TO PICK THEM UP AGAIN*). Use detection spells a lot - they help you make
the most of your fighting ability. A Paladin with OoD is a formidable
sight. Also Protection from Evil is extremely useful.
3.0 Shopping
--------
3.a. First time in the stores
------------------------
Oil / lantern(?). Not essential, but refilling your lantern
get much less annoying than re-wielding torches. Also, oil makes a good,
cheap missile weapon. The torches you start with can usually last long
enough until you find a lantern in the dungeon. However, if you are the type
of player that likes to go down levels fast, you won't necessarily find one.
Buy one if you need to.
Shovel/Pick. A necessity of life. Without a shovel, you will
have to work -much- harder than necessary for cash, because a large porportion
of the money is embedded in walls, and requires a 'digging implement' to get
(the only exception is a very strong character can tunnel fairly quickly
for embedded metals - but for granite you really need an implement).
This should be your first purchase. Since you have the repeat command, buy a
shovel since it is cheaper and lighter. Just go in the dungeon, rest a while
come back up and check the stores again.
Note that nonmages will still want a digging tool once they get down to
greater-vault depth, since they will have to tunnel around to get at the one
portion of wall that isn't permanent rock. This is VERY different from
Moria, where once you got deep enough to find mithril lying around on the
floor, you could ditch your pick.
Phase Door Scrolls - get a good number of these for your
first trip or two. (At 50' I've run into baby MHD's, Tengu, pseudo-dragons,
and many other things far too deadly to take on right at the start - an
escape route is essential - and one Phase Door is not enough. They work
best from a corridor.
Cure Light Wounds potions - restores hit points and cures
blindness. If you can afford it get a Cure Serious Wounds or two. (After
the first few levels, you will want to go for at least Cure Serious.)
Armor - This depends on your class, and playing style. Long
range fighters don't need them for a while (especially mages who can phase
door
away from melee). Spend your spare money on cheap items, for now. Helms,
boots and cloaks are very cheap per point of armour.
Weapons - Even the weakest player should consider changing to
a damaging light weapon like a Trident or Sabre. These are two of the most
important weapons for characters with high Strength and/or Dexterity as well,
since they can get multiple attacks with light weapons. Multiple attacks
make every plus on an enchanted weapon that much more powerful, and mutiple
attacks with one weapon can do more damage/round than single attacks with
heavy weapons.
If you can only get one hit with the Sabre, you will probably be best
off with the biggest damage weapon you can wield, unless you are so
weak that carrying capacity is a major issue (say STR<10). If you only
get single hits but have reasonable strength (>10 say), a Battle Axe
is a good choice, or a Two-Handed Sword if you can get/wield it.
Any time you have more than one hit, watch out for rings of damage, etc -
anything that will increase your damage.
3.b. Should probably buy whenever you get a chance
---------------------------------------------
From the Black Market: Potions of Speed - Handy things to have
to kill off those speed 2 uniques.
Potions of Healing - Good stuff.
Potions of Experience - easy experience levels
(if you can afford them!)
Some form of teleportation if you can't cast the spell.
(a) Scrolls of teleport/Phase Door are cheap, and you can
carry multiple scrolls without hassle (in case one burns). However, you can't
use them if you are blind or confused. Potions of Cure Serious cures either
situation.
(b) Staffs of teleport - Carrying multiple staves will eat up
a lot of inventory. You run the risk of it getting burnt and destroyed.
However, you can -always- use it, even if confused or blind. Recharge scrolls
will extend the life of your staff collection (but there is a small risk -
only recharge when empty so you don't waste charges).
It's probably a good idea to stock up on Cure Serious potions,
Potions of Restore Life Levels, Potions of Restore Mana (if applicable) and
any Mushrooms of Restoring you find or buy from the Black Market. They are
good to have when you need them.
3.c. For trips more than 150 feet
----------------------------
A bunch of Cure Serious Wounds potions. They cure blindness,
cure wounds, cure confusion, and are cheap - get a dozen. Cure light wounds
are cheaper, but don't cure the bigger danger of confusion and are not that
much cheaper. A quick way to die is to get blinded and then wander randomly,
and get beat on by multiple monsters at the same time. Or, get confused, and
then get whaled on by some bad thing. Starving to death while blind is no fun
(you can't Create Food if you're blind - and sometimes you are blind for a
long time). These scenarios are easily avoided and should not happen if you
are careful.
A Staff of Perceptions seems expensive compared to identify scrolls,
but if you sell the empty staff before you buy the next one, an identify
from a staff is about half (or even less!) of the cost of a scroll.
They usually work out at about 25 gold per ID from the staff.
3.d. For trips more than 300 feet
----------------------------
A scroll of Word of Recall or two. To make your trips up and down
into the dungeon much saner. You might buy these earlier dependent on how
patient you are doing down and up. You could use the only for going up since
down staircases are easier to find. Keep extras in case they get destroyed by
something.
Light Crossbow, and bolts. Enough enchant scrolls to get to (+8,+8).
The chances of enchanting higher are pretty small, and get smaller the higher
you enchant. +9 is possible but not likely. +10 almost impossible. A quick
way of buying large numbers of enchant scrolls is to buy all you can, then go
down to 50 feet. Rest for a thousand turns to allow the stores to reset their
inventories. Go back up. etc. This is also a good way to stock up on bolts.
Missile weapons are often overlooked due to the hassle. But they are great.
Try them and decide for yourself.
It's a very good idea to buy a Staff of Teleportation the first
chance you get. It can be used anytime at all. Good for getting out of very
bad situations.
One of the handiest items is the Rod/Wand of Teleport Monster. It
teleports all monsters in a straight line, much like a Spear of Light.
Getting rid of a monster (or a bunch of them) is much safer than teleporting
to a random location.
See Invisible - You can get this from a variety of sources. You
should get this before you start encountering invisible creatures that drain
(drain stats or drain experience).
3.e. For trips below 1000 feet
-------------------------
Potions of Restore life levels - You'll need these around
1000 feet and below - pesky Ghosts.
Resistance things - You will need to get the four standard
resistances. In order of usefulness: Fire, Lightning, Acid, Cold. Rings,
amulets, artifacts all grant resistance. You can also sometimes buy armor 'of
resistance' which is resistant to all four. It costs a lot, but saves ring
space, which will be quickly filled. You will need to buy poison resistance
later, too, or face a quick death via breath weapon/stinking cloud.
Free Action - You will need free action to prevent instant death by
paralyzation. If you keep searching the Black Market, you can usually buy
Boots of Free Action. At higher levels you will be getting See Invisible from
at least a few items. Free action is usually harder to use, since free action
is harder to get. This results in having to shuffle other objects around
whatever is giving free action. (Gnomes are very nice in that free action is
innate)
3.f. Other shopping tips
-------------------
Selling unidentified scrolls and potions are a cheap and easy way to
identify low level potions and scrolls. You should identify staffs and
wands before selling, since you get more if you know how many charges an
object has. In the early game, buying identify scrolls and identifying wands
before selling is very profitable (even if the first few are unsellable).
If you sell a wand with an unknown number of charges, you'll get offered
the same money as if it had none.
Note that in the UNIX version selling unidifentified scrolls and potions is
a quick and easy way to get barter in the shops. (Any version where you
leave haggling on.)
If you want to save on ID's, here's a neat trick for missile weapons:
drop one of a group, put the rest in your house, pick the single one
back up again, and sell it. If it was cursed, you can sell the others
still. If it was enchanted, then it is usually worthwhile to buy it back,
because as soon as you pick up the rest from your home, they all get
ID'd as well. If you want to use the rest and don't want to buy the one
back, you can inscribe the rest to tell you what they are. But it is usually
worthwhile to buy the single one back, and a lot cheaper than an ID
from scroll or staff of perceptions. [This is best for characters without
a fast pseudo-ID.]
If you have an amulet / ring /whatever that raises your charisma, it is
useless to you downstairs. However, on the town level it pays to wear one.
Keep anything that increases your charisma in your home, unless you are
desperate for cash - the price difference a good charisma can make is
huge. Sometimes an amulet of charisma can pay for itself after only a
few purchases. However, this depends on how close your Charisma is to the
'key' points. Increasing a Charisma of 18/01 doesn't do anything until
you go above 18/50. Then the next marker is 18/70. So, if you have an 18
charisma, don't bother. On the other hand, raising a charisma from 17
to 18/10 can make quite a difference. Every point below 18 is a key point.
A good idea is saving money for buying a great object from various
shops. These items include Holy Avengers, defenders, weapons of westernesse
and elven armor that ocasionally show up in the weapon and armor shops.
Armor of resistance is great to buy from the armor shop, if you have money.
Some of these weapons are better than almost any artifact the player is likely
to find down to 1000 ft. However, most of these cost around 50,000 gold
pieces so start saving up soon. This is a fairly consistent way to get Free
action / See Invisible.
4. General Survival tips
---------------------
4.a. "Going down the dungeon - how fast is too fast?
----------------------------------------------
Different people play differently, so there is no one answer, but
here are some suggestions for different styles of play. If you are
less familiar with the game, the risk is higher, if you are more
familiar with the game, the risk is lower.
In other words, people who have played longer can go down faster and still
die less. So, find the speed that is right for you.
The fastest reported player plays at 50 feet per level + 100 feet, which can
be safely done for the first 1000 feet with mages - with proper care, of
course.
But other speeds have been recommended, ranging all the way down to
5 experience levels per 50'.
If you aren't sure, then I suggest the following method:
For each level, follow the border of the dungeon and explore each room on the
outside of the dungeon. (i.e. not the middle). If you had no problem, then
go down a level. If you did, stick around.
This is still pretty slow, but is still reasonable for first timers.
4.b. Basic Pointers
--------------
Okay, let's start with basics.
(1) Don't even so much as sneeze unless you have full hit points and full
mana. There's just no reason to explore without full health.
(2) Don't invite trouble. That is, when in a room with two sleeping monsters
attack one, kill it, then the other. Sounds stupid, but there is a
very close scenario: When fighting groups of monsters, fight them
-one- at a time. don't run in the room and invite group beatings.
An elaboration on this: if you are being attacked by a group, get into
a hallway and fight from there. That way, you -can- only be attacked
by one at a time:
#.....CCC..........#
#....CCCC..........#
#######C############
#@#
# #
In fact, you should almost never be beat on by more than one monster
at once. you can always run into a tunnel, or attack from around a
corner if the monsters you are fighting have breath weapons.
(3) If you see a monster you're not sure if you can beat,then -don't-
attack it. Why take the chance? Also, put your ego aside, and
run away if you start losing a fight. Try not to run away at the
very last minute, in case your teleport spell happens to pick a
bad time to fail. Also, be ready to run if you attack a fire type
monster - and don't have any fire resistances. Same for many others.
(4) Probably the quickest way to die can be summarized in one thought.
"All right, I've been hitting this guy a few times, he should
be almost dead... OH NO! I have no more (hit points/mana)!
*dies about 5 turns later*.
Don't run out of mana. Don't run out of hit points. If you start
running pretty low, then leave. Don't say 'Well, I'll just save
my last 6 mana points to teleport away' cuz if you roll badly, and
are stuck in a fight with no mana, you die. (Mages, anyway).
Note, though, that panic spell casting can save your hide. You have
nothing to lose if you're gong to die anyway. See section 4.e.
(5) It is wise to kill all the easy monsters you can before taking on the
harder monsters, i.e. kill any monster you see. If you clear out
lots of area, then if you have to run from a fight, you will have
more clear areas to run to. (and teleport to. A troll may be
no big deal when you are at full strength, but if some unique is
beating on you, and you teleport to a room with a troll in it,
odds are you'll have to run from the troll in this case).
(6) Check stores often. Check all stores everytime you are on the town
level. You never know when something will be on sale. It pays
to keep valuables in your home rather than selling them right
off - you never know when a 'bargain' could turn up.
(has anyone seen a ring of speed +1 {to clear}? how much was it?)
(7) When you're going to attack something, you can always get first blow
if you are careful. If your opponent is also moving (and at the same
speed), then if there is a single space between you, don't move into
it. Wait on the spot for one turn (if you search rather than do
nothing you may pick up an adjacent trap at the same time). Your
opponent will move next to you, giving you the first blow.
@.R <-- wait!
@R <-- hit! =)
If your opponent moves at double speed (like a cave spider), you
would move away from it if there was only one square between you,
and stay still if there were two squares.
Using Fang as the example :
@..C <-- wait!
@C.. <-- Hit!
@.C <---if you waited, Fang moves and bites. So, take a step back,
@C.. <--- hit!
Of course, if you are using a spell or missile weapon, you can shoot
at any time. But you can always know whether or not your opponent
will be able to hit you on the next turn and act appropriately.
(8) When you find a chest, don't open it in a corridor. If it isn't in one
already, take it to a big room. Make sure the floor isn't all
cluttered with rubbish. Always search chests for traps. If you don't
find any, search some more. Disarm the trap before opening the chest.
(Note: if you just cast disarm trap, you don't need to even search for
the trap in the first place.)
If you are just about ready to go down another level when you are
thinking of opening a chest, wait, and take it downstairs with
you. You will improve your chances of getting good stuff, since the
value of the stuff in the chest is related to the depth of the
level that you open the chest on. Don't open a chest in the town.
(9) Common locations of secret doors.
When you see either of these two patterns, search for secret doors at
the place marked ".":
########## ############
'.' '.# (in any orientation, of course)
########## ##########'#
# #
Also, almost all 'dead' ends have secret doors. In general, there are
usually doors near doors when in corridors.
Common dead ends which are a waste of time to search:
# #
# #
# # ####
# # ### ###
# # # # # #
####### ### ########## ########### r #'########
# o '
########### ########## ########### o #'########
# # m # #
# # # #
# # # #
# # #### #
### ###
Some quick short tips from rec.games.moria
------------------------------------------
(10) Summon Monster/ Polymorph Other will eventually pull up something you
can't handle unless you can handle anything.
(11) Your Glyph of Warding / Rune of Protection will break.
(12) Just 'cause you teleported away does not mean you're out of danger.
(13) It is better not to be breathed upon. (Most all the time.)
(14) Your Detect Monsters/Evil spell does not pick up all your opponents.
(15) It is better not to be touched.
(16) Always have some form of healing.
(17) Always leave yourself a way out.
(18) Give yourself some form of long range attack.
--- end of moria list ---
(19) Look at creatures A LOT, since you get "strength" information that
tells you how close the critter is to death. This is ESSENTIAL for
Priests/Mages as well---since if you're running low on mana, you need
to know if it's about to die, or you are.
4.c. Skills for all levels
---------------------
Okay, you're fighting a bunch of monsters, and the room is getting filled
with garbage! This is bad - a monster surrounded by junk can't drop new
treasures. (don't kill Wormtongue if he's surrounded by arrows! Wait 'til
he takes a few steps into free space). There are a few techniques for getting
rid of treasure:
(1) Quaff any useless potions, read any useless scrolls (if safe).
(2) Keep retreating as you fight, so the monster you kill next is
over 'blank' areas.
(3) Take the treasure, and throw it in a corner of the room. In
fact, stand either in the corner or a square away from it,
and throw items towards that corner, like so:
#jj where the j means some junk object.
#@j
####
An item thrown towards the corner will fall onto another object, and
dissapear. So, you can get rid of as many objects as you want by just
throwing them into this self-made garbage disposal.
(4) If you have the Create Door spell, stand in the middle of a
pile of treasures, cast Create Door (a door will destroy any object on the
space that it was created on), and then cast remove door. Any object adjacent
to you is now gone. Repeat for the rest of the pile.
Don't forget that traps take up space just like treasures.
If you run into a fire or acid breathing monster and there is a good scroll,
staff, or whatever nearby that you can't pick up right away then move
away from it!!
If you have a WOR scroll and run short on room to carry things then
ditch food if you have any (after eating). You won't starve as long
as you can get back to town. However if you only have _one_ Word of Recall
you are taking a big risk. What if it gets fried or stolen?
Stinking Cloud is great for Filthy Urchins, but not absolutely necessary:
If two can attack you at once, back around the corner of a building.
They only come around one at a time (don't walk into them!!). If you
suddenly get two together, don't risk it, just back away ('round the next
corner). If you get in a real jam, Phase Door. Better than losing about
10% of your cash.
If you are a spellcaster with a recharge and an identify spell (eg mage,
ranger), or the priestly equivalents, and you have a couple of wands
or staves of the same kind, and you can't carry both, then rather than
just dropping the one with the fewest charges, recharge it. It does
not matter if the recharge has a high chance of failure. If successful,
identify it. Keep going until it has more charges than the other wand
of the same type. Now recharge the other wand. Keep recharging and IDing
the one with the lowest charges until one is destroyed. You can often
get a great many charges on a wand this way. A character who does this
will have really full wands, and so a better survival chance.
Of course, you must be in a relatively safe place to do this.
Useless items aren't always useless:
The power of junk: If monsters that steal objects annoy you a lot,
fill your inventory free space with junk. Once in a while, you'll just lose
rubbish. This can be quite a pain, however. Learn to kill thieves from a
distance.
Don't throw that Wand of Clone Monster away! Instead, search for a
monster you can destroy fairly easy and which drops some nice treasure.
Choices are '$' for low-level characters, 'd' for mid-level and 'D' for
high-level ones (no Dracoliches of course, but perhaps Ancient Blues or
Whites...).
Great Storm Wyrms, Ice Worms, or Hell Wyrms drop better treasure. This is
especially nice when you have immunity to whatever they breathe (e.g. if
you've got Narya, clone Hell Wyrms etc).
Then, when you are alone in a room with that monster, hit it until it
is nearly dead, clone it and kill the one you hit before. Hit the new
monster until nearly dead and so on until the wand is exhausted. The Wand
of Clone Monster is recharged very easily (low chance of losing it).
You will get lots of money, some nice items and many experience points.
There is ONE major time it's useful to let a critter breathe on you:
If there are a slew of weaker critters that are picking at you, AND
you are resistant to its type of attack, encourage it to breathe. This
will wipe out all of these weaker critters, so you can thank the
breathing critter by destroying it. (that's gratitude for ya)
There are times when a Wand of Wonder can be used quite safely (two
illustrations from recent encounters):
# #
###########@############
# # #
# # ####### d
# # @ .
# # ################
# n.o #
########################
If you don't actually target any of the creatures, but off to one side,
then they can't be hasted, healed, or (worse!) polymorphed. Targetting
is a major help, but the idea still works without targetting. In the above
diagrams, you would aim at the dot. You miss out on line-of-sight effects
like lightning bolts, but all the ball effects still work - and there
don't seem to be any bad (for you, at least) ball effects. About the worst
that will happen is nothing. There is a vanishingly small risk that you
have an invisible creature lined up - though High Elves should be safe from
this as well.
[Also see Section 6, #10 for uses for Heal Monster and Haste Monster wands!]
4.d. Survival at low level (0-1000 feet)
-----------------------------------
If you are willing to save up for a Wand of Drain Life (via the black
market), it can make many monsters much easier, but you might not get
enough charges to make this worthwhile. This wand doesn't work on
undead, though.
Once you get the hang of it, the first 1000 feet is a fairly safe area.
It can be played as fast as one experience level per 50'. This is pretty
fast, however.
You stand a chance of dying a few times if you play this way:
level 2 - Fang and Grip can be a pain if you're only level 2.
If you stay at full health you shouldn't be at much risk. Use Magic Missiles,
potions of oil, and/or missile weapons.
level 8 - Wormtongue is easy to handle if you buy yourself a light
crossbow, reasonably enchanted, and quaff a potion of speed before you attack
him. Kill him with room around him so he has room to drop his stuff.
Flasks of oil can also be used effectively against Wormy.
(Again, don't be dumb. If the first thing Wormtongue does is frost bolt you,
LEAVE. You haven't done any damage yet, and you're not at full strength
anymore - why bother?) Wormtongue can dish out a -lot- of damage quickly if
you get unlucky. Just leave before he kills you, and try again.
If you are fighting things like baby dragons, where you can take one breath
weapon, but not 3-4, then you are often better off fighting toe-to-toe than
from a distance. At least getting clawed and bitten won't fry your potion of
speed. They breathe much less often when they also have the choice of
biting and clawing you.
Besides that, the first 1000 feet isn't too bad. Most uniques can easily be
taken out with a few phase doors, the (+8,+8) light crossbow, and bolts.
4.e. Survival at mid level (1000-1700 feet)
--------------------------------------
Things get progressively harder and harder from here on.
Expect more and more groups of monsters. Especially hounds. Take out all
that you can, then teleport away, heal, then come back and kill as many more
as possible. It's nice to keep beating on the same group of monsters, rather
than waking up a number of groups of monsters (it becomes very hard without a
unique weapon to kill a group in one attempt, but a good missile weapon can
do the trick).
Keep Potions of Speed at all times - there are a lot of speed 2 monsters,
who can -really- dish out the damage.
Stay the same, keep scanning with Detect type spells before you go forth
into uncharted areas. Learn as much as you can about where you're going
before you actually go there. Retreat if you drop to 1/3 hp or Mana and still
haven't taken out the same creature you started fighting. If a creature drops
you more than half your HP in one `turn', retreat and re-think strategy or
better prepare.
Teleport Away items are no longer optional, they're essential. Save an
inventory slot for a Rod of Teleport Away. Two or three if you're a
warrior. Keep an eye out for Wands of same. If you're a priest, keep your
eyes open for the prayer book Ethereal Openings -- it's the first of the
"special" prayerbooks, is reasonably common below around 1200', and has a
Teleport Away prayer in it.
The failure rate is a bit high when you first get it to rely on this spell.
4.f. Analysis of levels > 1700 feet
------------------------------
There seems to be a substantial jump in nastiness at around 1750-2000'.
Sort of like in Moria. By here you'll want at least the elemental
resistances (fire/frost/acid/lightning, and poison if possible)
2000 - 2500 ft. Like 1000 - 1500 it seems; progressively nastier but no real
sudden onset of nastiness. Watch for speed items and good armor, e.g., DSMs.
They're uncommon, but, with the general increase in treasure here, quite
possible. Spiffy rooms, of varying degrees of spiffiness, become common
here. That's where you'll see most of the really nasty monsters.
2500 - 3500. Over this 1000 feet or so, there is a big jump in general
nastiness. Hell Wyrms (and worse), Chaos/Nether/Ether Hounds, high level
undead (Nightcrawlers, Black Reavers, etc). These monsters will frequently
appear outside of spiffy rooms (aka vaults). Undead pits, VERY difficult
and dangerous even for high level players, become common about here.
Undead pits are probably best avoided, especially when you first enounter
them. They are usually not worth the hassle. However, there are some hints
for tackling them elsewhere in this guide. The unique angels also appear
around this depth and are probably worth avoiding.
3500 - 4950. Except for high level uniques, pretty much anything that can
happen in the 4000's can happen in the high 3000's. This is because the
highest level non-unique monsters are about level 75. So it doesn't get
wildly nastier, although nasty monsters get progressively more numerous as
you descend.
4.g. Strategies of various winners
-----------------------------
~From: Guy Evans :
Having hung around at 1000ft for free action I am usually around level 25 odd.
I then tend to dive fairly rapidly to around 1500-1600ft for the gain stat
potions. This is when the game gets hard and interesting :-) I stay at
around this depth till all my stats are maxed - I find this a very boring
part of the game.
Once my stats are maxed I dive again, this time to around 2500ft making
money by selling extra gain stat potions and any dragon scale mails etc.
Once I have around 1.3 million buy a ring of speed. Don't go below 2500
without a speed item. Usually by now the character is fairly gross and can
drop at a reasonable rate to 4950ft. Note my last 2 completions didn't find
boots of speed till they had hung around at 4950ft for a _long_ time (you need
to have 2 to kill Morgorth as a gnome mage). That is it's easily possible to
survive with only 1 speed item for the majority of the game (slowing down to
fast when killing Tiamat is always interesting though!).
4.h. Things to do if you're going to die the next turn
-------------------------------------------------
These are things you shouldn't do on a regular basis. But, if you're about
to die, the rules change.
(1) Cast a teleport/phase door spell, even if you don't have the
mana. You might pass out and die, but more likely, you'll teleport out, and
maybe lose a constitution point. Much better than dying.
(2) Do a last minute Bash. You might even stun the monster.
(3) Shoot the monster with a Wand of Polymorph.
(4) Shoot the monster with a Wand of Wonder (risk of Clone or Heal).
(5) Read some unidentified scroll/potion in hopes that it is a
teleport scroll or healing potion.
(6) Put on a teleport ring. Teleport rings don't work instantly, but
you could put it on and hope it teleports you away -soon-. You can even
carry an uncursed teleport ring around for such circumstances.
5. Fighting....dealing with groups/ pits/ uniques
----------------------------------------------
5.a. Monster Rooms / Monster Pits
----------------------------
Generic Tactic
--------------
Most monster rooms can be approached from the side or behind (behind meaning
'near the wall opposite the wall with the door'). But if you are forced to
approach the room via the entrance side, then here is one method:
Monsters have a limited detection range - roughly 15 spaces. Assume
it is. The basic strategy is this. Come within 15 spaces of the door. take
one step forward, and 5 steps back. Then, only the closest few monsters
noticed your presence, and they will come out of the room, and attack you.
You can dispose of them, and then come back to wake up the next closest ones.
Specific rooms
--------------
Jelly pits - Probably safest to leave them alone. They can eat through
armor, and are worth little experience. Very easy to take out if you
have resist acid armor, though. (hide your weapons first)
Orc/Troll pits -
(1) Rod of Light / Spear of Light is a good way to do lots of damage
to many orcs at once.
(2) Sleep III can be used to put almost all the orcs to sleep at
once. (multiple casts might be necessary). You can then take out row by
row via light damage in (1). Most trolls are immune to sleep, but a few
are not (e.g. I think Forest Trolls aren't), so while you can't do this
for a whole pit, the sleep trick (see below) will work if you do it right.
Priest trick -
Orc, troll, and giant pits (and, at higher levels, demon and dragon pits)
are among the best of priest's friends, once they get:
i) Dispel Evil (from either Exorcisms and Dispelling or Wrath of God)
ii) Some form of speed (temp. or permanent),
iii) Protection from Evil.
a) Find a pit, by casting Detect Evil. Get as close to it as you can.
Cast Protection from Evil a couple of times. If you can get to the door,
great, go to step c) below and open it.
Otherwise, try to work your way to part of the pit's wall.
b) Make a hole in the wall (dig or Stone to Mud). A monster will probably
block the hole, unless you hasted yourself first and were able to time it
right.
c) Using your speed (temporary or permanent), kill the monster in the
hole/doorway, or perhaps just teleport it away. Step into the hole with
your haste to see all the monsters in the room.
d) Cast Dispel Evil repeatedly. The Protection from Evil will reduce
or stop melee attacks. This should allow you to easily kill almost all of
the monsters. (you might have to go in and clean up).
If you have only speed 1, or can't get close enough to dig a hole, but do
have Ethereal Openings, do this:
Kill or (better) teleport away about 1/3 to 1/2 of the monsters first.
Teleport away is best since it removes more monsters at a time. Then you can
use Blink to try to get into the pit. Once inside, you can dispell
at will. Note that you will want to cast Protection from Evil before
Blinking around, and that the killing/teleport steps are required to free up
some space in the pit. This will probably take several tries, but it is
worth it.
At high levels, Demon and Dragon pits can be handled the same way. You
should prepare by having the appropriate resistance. MultiHued Dragons
just do too much damage compared to the others, and you might want to
take them on one by one. It is probably not worth the bother of trying
to take out a multihued pit.
This is NOT a good technique to use against graveyards (undead pits)!
You can easily die if several drujs decide to cast nasty spells at you at
once.
Undead pits are hard, but kind of fun. Don't try them without some way to
get to speed 3, some form of Hold Life or Nether Resistance, Free Action,
and lots of heal items. A Helm of Telepathy or some other source of ESP
is also very helpful. A good general procedure: a) kill all the monsters
that phase through walls. They'll be the first to escape. Then kill b) the
others (wraiths, wights, skeletons, vampires, etc.) One or two at a time --
lure them 'round a corner. Really nasty guys like Black Reavers,
Nightcrawlers, etc. should probably be teleported away and fought elsewhere.
Finally, when all of the mobile guys are dead, c) kill the drujs (they don't
move). The ball-against-the-wall works, as does a direct target through
a hole, but try to avoid being in their line of sight unless you have at
least speed 3. Also try not to let more than one or two see you at any
given time.
Note that Black Reavers can "eat" walls, so when fighting an undead pit
be *very* careful not to walk near any such holes and into the line of sight
of the drujs before you're ready to go after the drujs.
Undead pits can be so dangerous as to make it worth your while to avoid
them. Think (and prepare) very carefully before even thinking of taking
one on.
5.b. Spiffy rooms (aka vaults)
-------------------------
a) Lesser vaults. These are things like the round rooms, "inner rooms" with
oddly-shaped inner rooms, and (probably the most common) the squarish rooms
with two large diagonal walls. These contain good treasures and monsters,
but usually they are not wildly out of depth -- i.e., the monsters are
created as normal for the level, although the large concentration of monsters
makes the odds of finding a fairly nasty one (or three :-) quite good.
b) Greater vaults. These are the huge rooms that fill half the screen and
contain lots of very good objects and lots of out-of-depth monsters.
Many of these are deliberately created out of depth
c) Incredible vaults. This is a subset of b). It's the "graph paper" room
of crypts with one monster+treasure per crypt. These make type b) vaults seem
like a piece of cake. Unless you've killed most of the uniques -- unlikely
except near the very end -- expect to find LOTS of uniques, at least 6 or 8,
with essentially no restriction on level. The treasure is equally incredible.
I guess that about half of them contain at least one artifact when they're
created.
One of the simplest ways to deal with these rooms is by using a wand of
teleport monster to get rid of the really tough ones. However, a really
tough monster would probably be faster than you are, which means they could
also breathe on you the same turn you dig through the wall. You have been
warned. These rooms are -very- dangerous.
The simplest way by far to deal with these rooms is to avoid them.
Much better to be alive and without _ANY_ artifact than dead.
To give you an idea of how dangerous, the source code states that monster in
these rooms can be up to -40- levels out of depth. That's 2000 feet!
5.c. Uniques
-------
By far the best way to deal with most of the uniques is the pillar trick.
Indeed, this is so effective I think it's a bit unbalancing. Fighting Tiamat
at speed 3 in an open space is difficult. Fighting Tiamat at speed 4 by
chasing her around a pillar turns out to be pathetic. Perhaps this should
be reworked.
At higher levels, when you have multiple attacks, big plusses to damage
and possibly some other advantanges, just beating on the monster can
be effective. But not all uniques are killed by these two approaches:
In the early going, I don't think there's a single unique other than
Farmer Maggot who a player who's slightly aggressive will be able to
beat by just whaling on. I subscribe to the pummel them and then retreat
(phase door, teleport, whatever) rest and hit again - it takes longer
since uniques regenerate quickly, but it's much more successful. At
high levels, just straight forward pummeling works much better - that's
what my 45th level priest does. And I've yet to use the pillar trick
on _any_ unique. Again, if you drop levels at any sort of a decent
rate, you're rarely going to have speed advantage on the uniques.
Everything else, yes, but I can only get temporarily faster than
uniques, and that's not enough for the pillar trick. I'm usually
the same speed or, if anything, slower.
5.d. Rough Monsters
--------------
An emperor lich has 1520 hit points, plus anything additional that it
gains by draining mana (6 points per mana point drained) and charges (40
points per charge). Never let it attack you in melee, because it can
destroy your wands, healing itself in the process, as well as draining
your experience and dexterity.
If you can get to speed 3, faster than the lich, it is easy to kill;
just fight, move back, fight, move back, and so on. You will still need
a lot of cure wounds potions, unless you let it chase you around a
pillar, as in the AMHD technique.
Note (for people familiar with Moria) that an emperor lich is (relatively)
less nasty than in Moria.
5.e. Invisibles
----------
One tactic, which is dangerous but still worth thinking about is fighting
an invisible creature, and a group of monsters at the same time. Since only
one monster can be in a position at a time, suspicious 'gaps' in the middle of
groups of monsters can show you where these annoying pests are.
6. Classic, simple, and very useful tricks
---------------------------------------
***** Useful Trick #1 : Running in a circle. *****
Find an area with a relatively small path that goes in a circle.
The path should be smaller than 1/3 of the screen (like one of those large
room in a room rooms). If you are fighting, you can run in a circle, and
they will happily chase after you, and your hit points and mana will slowly
creep up. You can then beat on whoever, and start running again. This
doesn't work if the monster is faster than you are, or can do damage from a
distance.
***** Useful Trick #2 : The pillar trick. *****
Find a monster slower than you are. Find or make a pillar. A pillar
would be a single block of wall with one open space on all four sides. When
the monster is right next to you, hit the monster. Then next turn, move to
the other side of the wall. The monster will follow you. Hit the monster.
Move to the other side of the wall. Continue till the monster is dead. This
doesn't work with two monsters at once, btw.
Example of pillar:
.
.#.
.
***** Useful Trick #3 : taking advantage of stupid monsters. *****
Monsters always attempt to take the straight path towards you. So,
if there is a wall between you, the monsters won't move, cuz they're trying
to move straight towards you (towards the wall). This makes it easy to
take out a group of monsters.
An example is best. Let's say you're fighting a bunch of Ogres.
OOOOOOOOO
##############'###
@
The O's will stay right where they are, since they're all trying to stay as
close to you as they can. Notice the door off to the right. If you walk
towards the door, you will reach this point:
OOOOOOOO
##############O###
@
Where one ogre has gone far enough right to go through the door. Now go
left again:
OOOOOOOO
##############'###
@ O
The one ogre that made it through the door will follow you, the rest will
stay on their side (duh). You can take out that single ogre, and repeat
as many times as you want. You can vary this a bit, and let two ogres 'out'
if you can take on two at a time with no problem.
The only annoying thing with this method is that the dead monsters tend to
leave a lot of treasure you need to clean up, to give the other monsters a
chance to drop treasure too, but it's a good safe method. Works really well
with telepathy, too.
Subnote: corridors like this make phase door a lot safer, since if you
end up on the other side of the wall, you're (usually) completely
safe, unless the other monster can go through walls or something.
***** Useful Trick #4 : The sleep spell in the corridor trick *****
A sleep monster wand or "Sleep I" spell is required for this tactic
effective against group monsters. It has been used to deadly effect
against orc pits and troll pits, but is handy before then at times:
In a room: In a corridor:
####+### # # #################
# oooo### # ppppppppxppp@ #
# ooxooo @ # ############### #
# oooo##### # #
########
These represent some typical situations. In either case you sleep the
first creature in the corridor. You then cast a ball spell (or use a
wand of stinking cloud/frost ball/...) over their head and past by
three or more spaces (at least to the 'x' marked in each case). This
prevents the damage spell waking up the slept creature. If you run out
of mana, duck around the corner to rest. Periodically the slept
creature will awaken, so you may need to sleep it again.
If you don't have ball spells, you can always just beat on the first guy, and
then sleep the 2nd, rest, then beat... etc.
You can often destroy large numbers of creatures with little risk this way.
If you have lots of hit points, the sleep spell itself may be unnecessary.
Just let the one creature hit you - but then you don't need to be careful
not to wake the front guy up either. You can always sleep the first creature
and rest.
Note - for monsters that shoot some sort of missile/ball weapon (like rangers
or dragons), you need to do it so only the first creature can see you -
#p#
#p#
#p#
#p#
#p##########
# @
############
If you stood in the corner, the creatures behind the slept monster would shoot
some weapon, which would wake up that monster, and screw it all up.
variation : using a Rune of Protection to block the first monster.
***** Useful Trick # 5: The easy way to kill any non-moving creature *****
To start, a little background info. Playing around with the
targeting option in Angband (e.g. PC version 1.31 and later)
I noticed that I could aim for a particular spot on the floor.
Ball type spells affect an area, not just that spot on the floor.
Now, if you cant see the monster, but you can target a spot next to
the monster, the ball spell's area of effect will encompass the
little sucker, and damage it. I'll show you a pretty usual setup.
##########################
#........................#
#.######################.#
#.# #.#
#.# #.#
#.# s. <-target that #.#
#., dot!! #.#
#.# #.#
#.##### ################.#
#........................#
####### ##################
# #
# #
# #
#@# <- You are here.
# #
Now, through experience, Korash the Dwarven Priest (who is my
alter personality!) knows where the Druj is (detect monster)
and he knows that the monster can't see him! But, he also knows
that by targeting the spot marked, Orb of Draining or whatever
you choose to use will hit the Druj!. This way, you can kill them
off, your mana will recover quicker than its hitpoints. And for
a high level character the Druj dies while you still have some
mana left. I know that for Korash, about 10-15 Orb of Draining
shots and a Hand or Eye Druj is dead. That works out to be about
70-100 mana. A bit .. but not too much.
This of course, require detection, ball spells, and likely a digging
tool to make the tunnel to shoot through, so might not be easy for
the warrior types to use.
***** Useful Trick #6 : The Close the door trick: *****
When low on hit points and being pursued, you can't always set up the
'go round in a circle' trick, but wandering around can be dangerous.
Here is the alternative to the 'run in a circle' trick:
##########
ooo
####'#####
#@#
If you can get 1 space ahead of your pursuer(s), and on the other side
of a door, then close it. Yes, the pursuer is just going to open it
again, so you don't seem to have gained much - but you have - you
have gained one free turn of rest. Close it again...and again. Soon you'll
see your hp (and mana if you have it) going up.
If they don't open it for a turn, you have to decide whether to steal the
extra breathing space by running, or wait. In the arrangement above,
if the front orc moves left at some stage, they will have a chance of
getting through after you. Some other arrangements are safer, like this one:
###
####
o'@
####
###
Note: This won't work at all against monsters that are faster than you are.
***** Useful Trick #7 : Keeping a tight lid on possible explosions. *****
If you ever encounter a swarm of exploding somethings that you can't
kill, one simple way to take care of it is to simply close a few doors, and
lock them in a room. Since they can't multiply outside of this room, you
can leave. This works well for Giant Fleas that run rampant, too.
##################
#w ww ww w w w w
#########w ww ww wwww
.......@+www ww ww w www
######### wwww ww www w
#w w w w
################
In addition, this is an easy way to get easy experience at early levels.
Since worms are easy to kill, they are easy experience. You can let worms
multiply, and then open the door, kill a few, and then close the door at
little to no risk.
Be sure not to lock yourself in a dead end - trying to run through a room of
white worms can kill a character quite easily.
***** Useful Trick #8: Death by Rune of Protection. *****
Runes of Protection are portable walls (almost).
If you have Rune of Protection scrolls (or the Glyph of Warding prayer), you
can set up a configuration like this:
# #
# #
#########N#
....@...^^#
###########
where N is a generic Nasty and the ^'s are Runes.
First, you place Runes in a corner as shown. Then, you find some way to
lure N into the corner. Perhaps tossing a spell at it, then running away.
Even better, ironically, is an item of Aggravate Monster, because then you
can cause a distant monster to wake up, start pursuing you, and walk right
into the corner. Remember to take the damn thing OFF after a couple of
turns (unless it's Deathwreaker/Zarcuthra/The One Ring...).
Here, in this setup, N:
a) cannot cast spells/breaths. It can't see you.
b) is pinned between a rock (its move algorithm that tries to move it
towards you) and a hard place (the Runes).
In other words, it's stuck. So just use the splash-the-ball-spell-
off-the-wall trick, previously described, to kill it. This is a natural
for priests, as they have the Glyph/Orb combo.; other classes will have
to scrape around for the Rune of Protection scrolls.
**BIG CAVEAT** Remember that Runes can break! There is a LEVEL/550 chance
(LEVEL is the monster's level; the 550 is specified in CONSTANTS.H in the
source) that a monster can break a Rune on any given move. If either rune,
especially the one nearest you, breaks, then you may want to leave.
Thus, you shouldn't use this technique unless you (a) have a good escape
spell/item and (b) can handle one attack of whatever the monster can throw
at you. Note that this is not a good thing to use against high-level,
high-speed monsters. . .
***** Userful Trick #9: Dealing with monsters that summon. *****
This is restricted to relatively high-level characters.
Monsters that summon - quylthulgs, many higher-level uniques, etc - summon
monsters in spaces adjacent to you. As a result, if these spaces are
already filled, the summoner can't summon any more. If summoning is the
monster's main attack, as with Quylthulgs, then you can wait for the
summoner to summon ONCE, then target the summoner and toss ball spells
at it. You need ball spells or wands/rods to do this, since the summoned
monsters will block bolts, and prevent melee attacks against the summoner.
A gnome priest winner killed Qlzqqlzuup this way - its only spells are
summons, and so he simply Orbed it to death.
Of course, this only works if the first summon gives relatively harmless
monsters. Ant, reptile, spider, and hound summons often give relatively easy
to deal with monsters, especially if you have lots of resistances and a
reasonable way to heal yourself. In any event, eyeball the summoned
critters before plunging in. If you find yourself surrounded by Chaos
Hounds or Greater Undead, it's a good time to teleport out and try again
later.
Alternatively just telport them away as soon as you seem them!
(targetting is useful here). I killed one of the uniqe Q's when it
was in a large pit:-
###########
# @
###########
#Q
##########
Dug diagonally then orb of drained it to death. These pits are nice for
killing monsters that summon since you can also just telport them away
with one spell..only problem is they have limited space to drop items.
***** Useful trick #10: Using an immobile/weak monster as armor *****
Heal monster allows you to hit a fairly weak creature with an
area effect rod or spell without killing that creature. This is handy
when there is a much more dangerous monster behind the weaker one.
##########
@ mp
##########
For example: You are in a hallway with a brown mold and a ninja.
The mold is two spaces to your right. The ninja is behind the mold,
three spaces to your right. You can cast heal monster on the mold a few
times, then hit the mold with fireballs from your rod until the
adjacent ninja dies.
This tactic is, of course, not always useful. Spellcasting and
breathing monsters will ignore your barricade. Harmless monsters do
not always appear when needed (though they can be encouraged with speed
monster). Your blocking monster may die on you, if you aren't careful.
Also, you need a reusable area-effect attack.
Haste monster can be used on a relatively weak monster so as to
block a much nastier creature. Here's an example:
You are in a room with a kobold and a night mare. By casting Haste
Monster on the kobold two or three times, you may (depending on their
locations) be able to get the kobold, rather than the night mare, next
to you when you run from the room.
###########
# q #
# k #
# #
#####@#####
# #
# #
This buys you time to run up some stairs or get some mana back. If
you have a rod of light, you can blast the night mare repeatedly, without
needing to face its attack. Slow Monster can be used if the kobold
is doing significant damage.
There are many limitations on this tactic. Breathing and
spell-casting monsters are best dealt with in other ways. You need a
conveniently placed wimpy monster. And you do, of course, end up with a
kobold on your trail.
7. Levels where object X becomes common and other noteworthy things.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There are spoiler sheets for this, but remember the standard levels for
gain stat potions:
1500 - 1600 feet - the other stats besides Charisma. Charisma potions
aren't particularly necessary, and are cheap, so don't hang around 1000
feet merely for Charisma.
1500 are physical stat potions - STR, DEX, CON
1600 are mental stat potions - INT, WIS
At 2000 or so (I forget) there are Augmentation potions, but it's a pretty
rough jungle down there.
8. Contributors
------------
A special thank you goes to Glen Barnett, who has put a lot of time and
effort into fixing various things that I kept putting off till tomorrow.
- C9036991@cc.newcastle.edu.au
- petitc@nuge112.its.rpi.edu
Nathan R. Ashworth - ashworth@zapotec.math.byu.edu
Glen Barnett - barnett@agsm.unsw.edu.au
George Bell - bell@uswest.com
John Boelter - boelter@cwis.unomaha.edu
Andrew Brecher - ST000039@BROWNVM.brown.edu
Christopher Camfield - ccamfiel@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Joseph DeVincentis - devinj@weiss.che.utexas.edu
Guy Evans - Guy.Evans@brunel.ac.uk
David G. Kahane - dgk4@po.CWRU.edu
Chris Koeberle - koeb8249@utdallas.edu
Mark Mandt - mem@fusion.umd.edu
David Nash - dnash@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Michael Neylon - mneylon@engin.umich.edu
David Skreiner - dskreine@metz.une.edu.au
Jon Vessey - jvessey@husc.harvard.edu
Frank Wang - fwang@sbcs.sunysb.edu [Moderator of this list]