Killing uniques as a mage

[Wraitheist]

When I run into uniques with my warriors, assuming I have a decent weapon, I can take them down without too many problems. But whenever I run a mage, I just can't do enough damage to Smeagol, Wormtongue, and the like. I try to pelt them with magic missile while phasing around with phase door, but I run out of mana too quickly. Am I to rely on an enchanted long bow as a mage?

[ChodTheWacko]

First of all, you shouldn't waste mana on phase door - use scrolls of phase door.
If you don't have enough mana for those two, just wait till later.

If you start off with 18/50 intelligence, you should have enough mana to take them out. But As with all things Angband - if you can't easily kill it now, just wait till later! They'll be back.

[Djabanete]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

When I run into uniques with my warriors, assuming I have a decent weapon, I can take them down without too many problems. But whenever I run a mage, I just can't do enough damage to Smeagol, Wormtongue, and the like. I try to pelt them with magic missile while phasing around with phase door, but I run out of mana too quickly. Am I to rely on an enchanted long bow as a mage?

Wormtongue and Smeagol are tough for mages to kill. For uniques that just like to melee, shoot-and-scoot is a good option, and you can teleport if you start running low on mana/arrows/charges.

As the person above me already said though, the golden rule is to avoid monsters that are hard; once you come back to them the third or fourth time they'll be pushovers, and they'll drop better stuff when they're deeper, too. (Especially Wormtongue and Smeagol!)

[awldune]

IMO early uniques can be taken out without too much trouble using Frost/Fire/Acid Bolt spells. What really gets you in trouble are uniques like Nar who resist all of the elements. You will need a good bow and some enchanted arrows to take these guys out.

Or, you can just use one of the many wands of teleport other you should be saving up.

[kandrc]

Doesn't matter what class you are, you should have an enchanted long bow (if you're strong enough and not a ranger, you might opt for an enchanted crossbow instead). The damage/MP ratio for a bow is pretty high.

Warrior is the only class for which I will enchant my melee weapon before my bow is (+9,+9). For mages and priests, I don't even wield a melee weapon until I find one with a stat bonus. It's not worth the weight for a weapon that is much weaker than a bow. Regardless of class, I suicide if I can't get a least a short bow at the start of the game.

[Garrie]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

When I run into uniques with my warriors, assuming I have a decent weapon, I can take them down without too many problems. But whenever I run a mage, I just can't do enough damage to Smeagol, Wormtongue, and the like. I try to pelt them with magic missile while phasing around with phase door, but I run out of mana too quickly. Am I to rely on an enchanted long bow as a mage?

I like to play gnome mages. And although I don't have success getting past Clev 30 - I manage to take out smeagol, wormy and bully pretty much on my first dive if I see them.

Weight is a great enemy of the gnome mage, and I pretty much don't carry a bow. Maybe if I find something exceptional: huge damage bonus and some decent arrows at the same time.

Thing is, I may be at 1000' by the time I see smeagol, wormy or bully , and I will only try them on within one screen of a > or <.

I first hit them with whatever rod(s) I might have found. Failing that I hit them with a wand of wonder. Any result that helps the unique and I leave the level. It's just not worth losing turncount over trying to win when you have given them a boost.

As mentioned by others, even playing a mage I carry about 15 scrolls of phase door. Sure, use the spell if you are just running for a > and something is in the way, but if you are actually trying to kill something your mana is much too important to waste on the scoot part of shoot-n-scoot.

Even more than the spells, the bonus that magic users have is their fantastic magic device ability. Use it to your benefit and you might get more success against these early uniques.

now, get a bit deeper and the uniques start being almost as resistant to the elements as your @ is... that is when my poor playstyle gives my @ up to the ghosts...

[Wraitheist]

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I dislike not being able to rely soley on magic as a mage. Between low mana and resists, it seems like you have to rely on an enchanted bow...just doesn't feel "mage-like" to me.

[ChodTheWacko]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I dislike not being able to rely soley on magic as a mage. Between low mana and resists, it seems like you have to rely on an enchanted bow...just doesn't feel "mage-like" to me.

But you can. See the previous post.
Especially if you start with 18/50 intelligence, and carry plenty of phase door scrolls, you can rely entirely on magic for a long, long time.

Just don't attack large groups, and if you do, use sleep so you can back away and regain mana.

You will eventually reach a point where monsters resist most basic spells.
But by that time you should have Raals, and can use those spells to keep going.

[Garrie]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I dislike not being able to rely soley on magic as a mage. Between low mana and resists, it seems like you have to rely on an enchanted bow...just doesn't feel "mage-like" to me.

If by "relying soley on magic" you mean the @ and the spell books, Angband doesn't work that way... but remember you rock at devices. That is the biggest strength of a mage, the spells are a bonus sort of.