Ring of Speed <+9> question

[fizzix]

[QUOTE=Oramin;77581]
With the Gnome Mages (CLVL1 and Winner)...,/QUOTE]

With mages, you actually get a lot of play through devices. It's better to buy a couple wands of MM from the store than try to arch or sling things to death. The only problem is the expense of buying wands. Eventually you start finding them on the floor though.

[Derakon]

Indeed -- remember that you get a bonus to your damage from wands of (magic device skill - level of wand)%. I don't think this is told to you anywhere in game, but it is quite significant, to the extent that an endgame mage should definitely consider using Wands of Annihilation against Morgoth. The DPS of wands in general usually doesn't quite manage what you can pump out with your direct-damage spells, but they're far more efficient mana-wise assuming you can find some breaks in combat to cast Recharge Item.

[Oramin]

Again, good points in general; I used Wands of Annihilation on Morgoth. Also, the high end wands (Wands of Dragon Flame, etc.) should actually do more damage than most of your spells.

However, trust me on this, I ran the numbers for my specific character and the sling(s) worked out better at the beginning (IIRC, one of them was a decent enchantment Sling of Extra Shots).

Edit:

I checked and apparently I was also shooting arrows at Morgoth with my Gnome Mage

Victory!!!

I killed Morgoth this morning. I swapped out Thorin for the Shield of the Haradrim. With my various equipment tweaks (including equipping The One Ring) this meant I left a hole of Sound Resistance. This isn't normally a big issue and I carried it along as a swap anyway. The Haradrim Shield has a bunch of combat bonuses which meant that I was more likely to hit Morgoth with my Arrows of Holy Might and 2 shots/rd from Belthronding.

For those of you wondering why a Mage is using a bow on Morgoth, the damage potential looked to be better than Mana Storm and about equal to the Wands of Annihilation with my device bonus.

I cleared out the area first and then did what I did with my Priest. Shoot Morgoth on approach, Teleport him away when he gets too close, use Banishment and Mass Banishment when he Summons, chug Healing or *Healing* potions when he attacks, recharge Mana when too low.

What can I say, it works.

[Cutestory]

Originally Posted by Oramin

I personally find Rangers easy to play (as long as I don't get surprised by out of depth Ancient Multi-Hued Dragons breathing into my only resistance hole).

You've gotta love a game that produces phrases like "...out of depth Ancient Multi-Hued Dragons breathing into my only resistance hole." I actually lol'd.

I don't want any AMHDs breathing into any of my holes, resistant or not.

[Cutestory]

I've decided to start again from scratch and die a few times with another character before going back to my RoS <+9> character (who will eventually die, I know). I don't want to "waste" such a good roll on "figuring things out."

[Elbereth]

Originally Posted by Cutestory

I've decided to start again from scratch and die a few times with another character before going back to my RoS <+9> character (who will eventually die, I know). I don't want to "waste" such a good roll on "figuring things out."

Don't... the zero-th rule of Angband says Never Get Fond Of Your Character. The more you treasure him/her the more his/her death by a white icky thing will hurt when it comes
The RNG doesn't like it when you try to fool it.

I made that mistake and grew very fond of my last good character, who was killed by a dark elven lord. My curses could be heard from Proxima Centauri.
The RNG didn't like my lack of faith and has been punishing me since then with lousy drops. I am really tempted, at this point, to order a T-shirt that says "I killed Farmer Maggot and all I got was a stupid slime mold".

[David B]

Originally Posted by Elbereth

Don't... the zero-th rule of Angband says Never Get Fond Of Your Character. The more you treasure him/her the more his/her death by a white icky thing will hurt when it comes
The RNG doesn't like it when you try to fool it.

I made that mistake and grew very fond of my last good character, who was killed by a dark elven lord. My curses could be heard from Proxima Centauri.
The RNG didn't like my lack of faith and has been punishing me since then with lousy drops. I am really tempted, at this point, to order a T-shirt that says "I killed Farmer Maggot and all I got was a stupid slime mold".

Actually, I *did* kill Smeagol, and all I got was a wooden torch.

[Elbereth]

Originally Posted by David B

Actually, I *did* kill Smeagol, and all I got was a wooden torch.

I think I got a dagger with no bonus this time around...
Ah, the good old times when Gollum always carried the Phial... I haven't been able to find it a single time since 3.0.9 or thereabouts. The RNG really doesn't like me

[Elbereth]

No, I hadn't killed Gollum yet... just did and got 26gp

[Chud]

Lately I've been trying leave smeagol, farmer maggot, and his dogs alive as long as possible. The dogs are usually the hardest, since they won't leave you alone so sometimes you have to kill them if you want to still take care of something where you are, but sometimes they last awhile. Not too long ago I still saw Grip at DL38 or so (not a good place for a doggie...) :-)

Eventually even the uniques will start to run away from you if your level is enough higher than theirs, which helps if you can spare them that long.