Any tips for a newbie?

[Bogatyr]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

@derakon-Undead pits was just the most obvious answer. Between *Destruction* AND branded ammo AND 3 shots AND 5 distinct buffing spells AND Rune of protection, high level rangers are just ridiculous. Sure rogue has the ammo, the buffing, and godlike stealth, but that doesn't come close to the same degree of dominating the environment

Yeah but you pay for it by being a wimp not really good at anything for a considerable chunk of the game. I still haven't figured out how to survive as a ranger. Now that I've won a bunch as mage and rogue and a few warriors and (hopefully soon) as a priest, I guess it's time for ranger.

[Pete Mack]

Originally Posted by Bogatyr

Yeah but you pay for it by being a wimp not really good at anything for a considerable chunk of the game. I still haven't figured out how to survive as a ranger. Now that I've won a bunch as mage and rogue and a few warriors and (hopefully soon) as a priest, I guess it's time for ranger.

They used to be easier, since it was easy to enchant the starting bow to (+7,+7). But it really isn't hard to get to Cl 20 as any half-casting class. At that point all it takes is a longbow of Power or the like.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

They used to be easier, since it was easy to enchant the starting bow to (+7,+7). But it really isn't hard to get to Cl 20 as any half-casting class. At that point all it takes is a longbow of Power or the like.

Yeah, I've noticed that Enchant Weapon no longer appears in the store. That actually seems like a pretty big nerf to Ranger's early game. I don't scum in other ways, but when I was playing for turns I would save some gold from point allocation and restart if the starting shop didn't have them.

With a +4 or +5 Long Bow (I'll object to +7 if you mean before descending at all, but I'm guessing you don't) a Ranger could dive to long bow depth, maybe encounter and kill Wormtongue, and hope for an ego bow, on the first trip. My fastest starts ever in Angband were done that way, and a couple of them (out of hundreds of games) were fast indeed.

Failing a decent bow from Wormtongue, a quick +8 bow from shop scrolls would take you a ways as Ranger even if you had bad bow luck otherwise.

[robbiodobbio]

Just found a sling of Buckland!!! 3 shots a round!

Also found Isildur's platemail but Rohirrim still gives me better resistances.

[robbiodobbio]

Sling of Buckland is ridiculous! No one even gets near me.

[robbiodobbio]

How useful are rune of protection scrolls? Should I be collecting them? Potion stockpiling is coming along nicely. Might have enough for a shot at Sauron soon.

[Pete Mack]

If you have room keep them. They save about. 3 rounds combat each w Morgoth. Holy Might ammo (or Wounding/slay evil shot for sling) is likely more valuable.

[robbiodobbio]

Sauron is down. Epic battle but not too hard in the end. He summoned a s**tload of uniques though so it got pretty interesting.

The hardest part was trying to get back to the spot where I killed him afterwards to grab the loot. Had to travel through a unique infested mess only to find that he didn't drop any decent stuff!

Morgoth next, need to do a bit of stock-piling first, any tips?

[Pete Mack]

Angel pits and dragon pits. Even undead pits, especially with a MoD +2 attacks, rNether, and full sustains. Not demon pits. They have too many HP

[Severian]

I've been playing a lot of Dota lately, and playing carry in Dota is a bit like playing Angband- the first commandment is "don't die." How do you avoid dying? Well, don't put yourself in a position where you might die. It kind of is that simple.