"mixed blessing" items and speed question

[GreyWolf]

I have recently started playing again and I am fascinated by some of the "mixed blessing" items. Many (ring of open wounds, etc) seem fairly useless but one Im finding pretty often early on is Ring of Teleportation. The +2 speed early on is great, not a full turn but I can get in the occasional extra movement spot or extra blow. Also the random teleport can be pretty useful for getting around the dungeon, as long as I remember to take the ring off when im resting or want to stay somewhere!

On a related note any other sources of speed boost I should look for pre dungeon level 50? i don't have haste self yet and speed potions in the shops are rare.

Found my favorite angband tagline of late: "It points at you, screaming the word DIE! You resist the effects!"

-Greywolf

[Hariolor]

Rings of escaping +4 are also pretty great in the right situation

Reasonably often, maybe 1/50 games (based on my perception) it's possible to find boots of speed fairly early.

There are also a number of good artifacts that turn up in the first half of the dungeon that provide various speed boosts.

And never underestimate the value of !speed, which turn up from DL1 all the way down. I absolutely love drinking !speed when I get knocked down to almost zero, before I drink healing. It isn't always advisable, but what it allows me to do against most early enemies is get an extra turn, so the process goes:

1) @ drinks !speed
2) @ drinks !CCW (or whatever I have)
3) monster attacks again (I hopefully survive)
4) @ drinks !CCW (or runs away)
5) @ runs away
6) monster is sad

doesn't work as well against packs or fast-moving foes, but that pattern has saved my butt a number of times

edit: this isn't tested thoroughly with the move to fractional blows in 3.2, so take with a grain of salt

[Magnate]

Originally Posted by Hariolor

Rings of escaping +4 are also pretty great in the right situation

Reasonably often, maybe 1/50 games (based on my perception) it's possible to find boots of speed fairly early.

There are also a number of good artifacts that turn up in the first half of the dungeon that provide various speed boosts.

And never underestimate the value of !speed, which turn up from DL1 all the way down. I absolutely love drinking !speed when I get knocked down to almost zero, before I drink healing. It isn't always advisable, but what it allows me to do against most early enemies is get an extra turn, so the process goes:

1) @ drinks !speed
2) @ drinks !CCW (or whatever I have)
3) monster attacks again (I hopefully survive)
4) @ drinks !CCW (or runs away)
5) @ runs away
6) monster is sad

doesn't work as well against packs or fast-moving foes, but that pattern has saved my butt a number of times

edit: this isn't tested thoroughly with the move to fractional blows in 3.2, so take with a grain of salt

It's ok, monsters don't get fractional blows, so the pattern above should work as well as it ever did - each of @'s actions is a full 100 energy.