Man on the run....well High Elf on the run.

[Fendell Orcbane]

First off I'd like to thank everyone who gave me some solid advice in my first thread. So I've been running my High Elf Ranger http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=10133 for almost 2 months. As you can tell by the name it took 14 tries before I got it figured out. Although I did force quit scum once to try a theory out about teleport other, I'm proud of how far I've gotten this dude. I am planning on getting a totally clean win with my next character, but I feel like I should see if I can get this character to Sauron at least.

When I first started this guy out I played it totally safe. I'd stay on a level until I was at least 4 character levels about the actual level and I'd leave the level if I saw a OOD monster or unique. I kept a lot of light,food and WOR since I lost the a good character to starvation on the sixth level. I kept going this way until I hit the 40's and then I started going down faster because getting all my stats maxed out made it easier to kill most of the monsters and even uniques. However I hit a wall around lvl58. I couldn't handle anything and I went up to get more equipment. Again although tedious it did work and I found some artifacts that made it possible to go down. Honestly other than the speed ring the most helpful item has been the ring of +5 con I found. Then Mordenkain's was a close second. Having rune of protection has enabled me to take out a lot of summoners. Plus getting some free rounds to hit monsters before they break the rune has saved on healing potions.

I got down to lvl 60 and then I needed some advice since I still wasn't powerful enough to kill with impunity. Everyone was all about getting down to lvl75 so I could get some speed. And after a day or two I finally found one. Now AMHD are pretty easy to kill since I can get two full rounds on them. So that brings me to where I am right now...lvl 85 and looking for Tenser's, a high end bow and either boots of speed or another source of speed so that I can wear Narya and hunt down fire breathing dragon pits with no fear. Honestly I'm considering going back to lvl80 or even 75 because its annoying to have to teleport everything away. On the other hand maybe I can get a little deeper and find better stuff with less effort?

Although I DO see the benefit of just going deeper, I feel like staying a bit high is safer because as long as you detect and keep buffed you can kill more monsters. Whereas being lower, you have to be sneaky and hope that the uniques that can all kill you stay asleep. I can't say that I have any solid conclusions as yet. Most people say that deeper is safe since you don't feel safe...but I find that being more relaxed enables me to keep my wits about me when I do get in a tight spot. Most deaths can be avoided if you keep a cool head, and drink healing potions when your characters heal hits yellow rather than being cheap and waiting until you are almost dead. That is just too risky IMO. Better safe than sorry.

This goes without saying but any tips would be welcomed. I'm still a noob and all.

[Pete Mack]

No strong suggestions about that character.
You can use Narya as a swap for RoCON or RoSpeed when clearing red dragon pits. With Fire immunity, you don't need a lot of HP to plow through them.
Ditch Thengel.
Possibly carry Aeglos as a swap.
And keep an eye out for good ego bows. At dl 85, you are very likely to find one better than Amras.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

No strong suggestions about that character.
You can use Narya as a swap for RoCON or RoSpeed when clearing red dragon pits. With Fire immunity, you don't need a lot of HP to plow through them.
Ditch Thengel.
Possibly carry Aeglos as a swap.
And keep an eye out for good ego bows. At dl 85, you are very likely to find one better than Amras.

Well I just got Tenser's and that along with Narya is a game changer. I just took the Phoenix and Uriel down with no worries at all. Before Narya I never would have dreamed of killing either one so effortlessly. I forgot who dropped Tenser's but having a bunch of Branded arrows makes life a little easier. I also took Khamul out using a bunch of arrows. He never even got close. Lucky for me he didn't summon anything, his mana bolt did make me waste a healing potion. Which I'm cool with because over all he did about 500-600 points of damage. Which could have turned ugly if he decided to summon. Hell even if he kept hitting me with mana bolts it might have been a different battle. I probably would have meleed him since I was +25speed. Sadly he didn't drop anything worth taking back. But with Tenser's I'm a bit more relax, but aware of the danger.

Why keep Aeglos as a swap? I find that since its so light I'm not getting criticals.

[Sirridan]

Originally Posted by Fendell Orcbane

Why keep Aeglos as a swap? I find that since its so light I'm not getting criticals.

Melee undead to death, woo!

With branded ammo from tensers, it's not really so necessary now though. Although I'm not sure if all the high end undead are vulnerable to fire arrows, which is why aeglos may still be useful.

[Pete Mack]

Originally Posted by Fendell Orcbane

Why keep Aeglos as a swap? I find that since its so light I'm not getting criticals.

It does something like 90 damage/blow against cold-vulnerable creatures, vs ~65 for Eowyn against Evil. That adds up when clearing dragon pits. And it doesn't cost much to carry, at only 6lb or so.

But with Tenser's, you don't need melee so much.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by Sirridan

Melee undead to death, woo!

With branded ammo from tensers, it's not really so necessary now though. Although I'm not sure if all the high end undead are vulnerable to fire arrows, which is why aeglos may still be useful.

Actually I have used Eowyn on some of the higher end undeads like dreadlords and Archliches. Although I do soften them up a lot with branded arrows first. Undeads are kinda tricky I find making an Anti summon niche, works wonders. However a lot of times I have problems with running low on mana and the undeads swarming in. I've been TO a lot since I came down past lvl68. You can't fight everything...but you can avoid most everything except for annoying hounds. For those I just destruct them if I can't run or fight them. Frankly hounds are one of the worse monsters in the game. Time hounds almost got me in the mid 50's. I'd hate to have a chaos hound breath on me...Or some of the other high lvl hounds.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

It does something like 90 damage/blow against cold-vulnerable creatures, vs ~65 for Eowyn against Evil. That adds up when clearing dragon pits. And it doesn't cost much to carry, at only 6lb or so.

But with Tenser's, you don't need melee so much.

Good point. Once I find a high end bow I'm pretty much sticking to shooting arrows since you can't be touched if you are careful. Phase door, some seeker arrows and Narya made killing a Greater Balrog pretty simple. Being so low is teaching me how to fight better: )

[Sirridan]

Originally Posted by Fendell Orcbane

Good point. Once I find a high end bow I'm pretty much sticking to shooting arrows since you can't be touched if you are careful. Phase door, some seeker arrows and Narya made killing a Greater Balrog pretty simple. Being so low is teaching me how to fight better: )

Yeah, but some monsters are better to kill with melee, just because you don't have to shoot them, and therefore don't waste arrows.

However don't melee liches, balrogs.. they drain charges which can be irritating. If no charges though, go nuts.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by Sirridan

Yeah, but some monsters are better to kill with melee, just because you don't have to shoot them, and therefore don't waste arrows.

However don't melee liches, balrogs.. they drain charges which can be irritating. If no charges though, go nuts.

Oh I know about Balrogs and liches. I tend to dump stuff if I know that I'm going to attack either one. Usually in another room if I can. Only probelm is that I sometimes forget that I had something in the first place. But at lvl 90 staves and wands don't do much damage. I just tend to keep TO wands to get rid of annoying monsters.

[Pete Mack]

There are useful staves at dl 90, but they don't generally do damage.
*Heal (for Warrior/Mage/Rogue/Ranger)
*Speed (for warrior/Priest/Paladin)
*Destruction (for all classes except Mage & Ranger -- priest/paladin *Destruction* spellbook exists, but is very rare)
*Magi (for all classes except Warrior)