Unexpected drop!

[robbiodobbio]

Originally Posted by Bogatyr

This game is finally coming together. After Nenya, Haradekket came along and now I can finally deal out some decent melee damage. But yeah, gotta stay on my toes this game, I don't want to throw this one away.

Haradekket is the bomb, loving it.

[Bogatyr]

Originally Posted by robbiodobbio

Haradekket is the bomb, loving it.

I'm heading into the endgame and wishing for a bigger damage dealer. I hope to come across DeathWreaker or the Trident or at least a HA MoD. I have a Scythe of Slicing of *Slay Evil* that I'm holding in reserve as well.

[Pete Mack]

Sos of *Slay Evil* IS an endgame weapon. What it isn't is something to mow down lots of monsters to scum for loot. I got that in current game for killing Sauron:

Mace of Disruption (5d8) (+14,+26) <+1>
... Sustains your life force
Slays everything 498 per turn; 518 fully buffed.

Yeah it's not "endgame". But it was a *perfect* melee weapon for a mage. I managed to melee Titans, no problem.

[Bogatyr]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

Sos of *Slay Evil* IS an endgame weapon. What it isn't is something to mow down lots of monsters to scum for loot. I got that in current game for killing Sauron:

Mace of Disruption (5d8) (+14,+26) <+1>
... Sustains your life force
Slays everything 498 per turn; 518 fully buffed.

Yeah it's not "endgame". But it was a *perfect* melee weapon for a mage. I managed to melee Titans, no problem.

The SoS *SE* is still sort of "meh" because it has a relatively low +dam. I don't seem to have any configuration that goes above 450 average for anything in melee, and I'm playing a rogue clev 47. If I wear every conceivable strength and +todam I have I end up with a lot of critical holes, like loosing pConf. A downside to the ring of power is that I've come to depend on it for so many things, that my second ring must be a speed ring instead of a =Damage, which limits my damage output

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Bogatyr

The SoS *SE* is still sort of "meh" because it has a relatively low +dam. I don't seem to have any configuration that goes above 450 average for anything in melee, and I'm playing a rogue clev 47. If I wear every conceivable strength and +todam I have I end up with a lot of critical holes, like loosing pConf. A downside to the ring of power is that I've come to depend on it for so many things, that my second ring must be a speed ring instead of a =Damage, which limits my damage output

pConf isn't vital. I've won games where I had none of pConf/Blind/Stun due to randart screwery. You just need to make sure you're never in a situation where you can't afford to take a turn to drink Healing or *Healing*.

[Bogatyr]

Well my weapon issue is now solved after mowing through an Ainu pit on dlev 99: Scythe of Slicing (Holy Avenger) with big +toDam (actually came from ?Acquirement, dropped by an Ainu), *and* a beefy Cestus of Power.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19624

The only holes are shards, light, and electricity. Only +1 str needed to get to 18/200 for all of str, dex, and con. May switch to Hammerhand for that but that will again leave a hole on pConf. But maybe that's OK as Derakon noted. Switching to Hammerhand may allow me to wield Anarion and keep 18/200 con and give me full sustains. Anarion will also plug the lightning hole. I could always swap to Caspanion for pConf but I like the way I look in Artifact Adamantite Platemail

Time to head home for my seeker arrows of Acid which I've saved up for Sauron .

[Pete Mack]

You don't need any of those resists to fight Morgoth. You have temp elec resist for any summons. Light and shards are not common, and light only does 400 damage. (For Sauron, you need them even less if you use an ASC.
Gloves of Power are nice, bot gloves of combat and crown of might really give flexibility; the latter are better than almost all artifact head gear in the end game. I end up with one in roughly 50% of wins.

Edit: Fighting Sauron is the one time that nexus resist really can be crucial. He has teleport level he's about 50% he's likely to cast when he's low on HP. You have a 12% chance of failing your save which is pretty high.

[Bogatyr]

I chose the power over the combat because it doesn't aggravate, and gave substantially higher damage output from the STR (and the +todam was higher).

Interesting, probably from my affinity for mages, I dismiss crowns of might, but if I come across one I'll check it out.

I forgot to mention that I also got Dal-i-thialon from the Ainu, which while I lost bit of speed (exactly +20 permanent, so still workable for Morgoth), gave me pConf in the boot slot which is pretty good.

Still juggling to try to cover holes and keep melee damage at max, but I think I've got a final fight loadout minus banish consumables now.

[Bogatyr]

....aaand a winner! As usual, over prepared for the final fight. Used:

~8-10 !Healing
~3-4 !*Healing*
1 !Life
1 ,Vigor (only Dex was not sustained, ate this when it dropped below 18/200)
3 ?Mass Banishment (my full supply, I fought on several turns before using it each time)
No use of destruction
Never teleported Morgoth away
1 [Celeborn activate to banish a cloud of "L"s
3 ?Rune of Protection (got me about 8-10 "free" melee rounds on Morgoth, well worth it)

Fought in corridor area because "P" was so close when I arrived on the level, no time to prepare anything else.

Kobold Rogue is a great combo. You find your objects quickly with no wasted searching out red "*"'s.

Finally came across a hefty MoD (*Slay Evil*, +20 to-dam), biggest damage dealer to evil/undead I came across in the whole game.

And just because I love doing it, I fired about 10 mithril shots of Holy Might from a Sling of Buckland, for a nice hefty amount of damage. Several "good" hits was very satisfying.

winning dump: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19624

I wore Nenya the entire game after finding it. Blessing on one hand, on the other, sort of gave me speed vs. damage pressure in the endgame, ring slots are precious!

[ranger jeff]

He said precious, lol