Need some advice before diving further

[Wraitheist]

My last priest died at '2500 by going down the stairs into a pack of plasma hounds. My current priest is at '2000. I'm working on maxing stats, but then I'm considering juts diving all the way down as I've seen many here suggest. I'm going to max my stats first and I already have the basic 4 resists, poison, shards, and fear resist, free action, and see invis. I have +3 speed from my armor.

Once my stats are maxed, is there anything else I should make sure to have before diving? I always carry a good supply of Tele Other, !CCW, staves of teleport, phase door, and *destruction* when I can find it. I also only have Etheral Openings...haven't found the others yet.

[Zikke]

I'm not familiar with priests, so you might have as a spell, but be sure you have a staff of Object Detection so you can find goodies on the map. I imagine that is why you would be diving.

[awldune]

Would be nice to have Godly Insights book, a rod of Detection, or ESP so you can detect non-evil monsters.

I don't consider RFear to be a priority at all, especially for praying classes with Remove Fear spell.

RSound is much more important than RShards.

I would want to get my CON up and have at least 600hp before diving below 2200 or so. Watch out for AMHD, and Drolems (non-evil, not detected by ESP) once you get below 2400.

You want 18/200 WIS as soon as possible to get 0% failure on prayers (plus a ton of SP).

[Wraitheist]

Thanks for the advice. I know that rShards and fear aren't all that important, I just happen to get it from my current equipment. I haven't found ESP or rSound yet, unfortunately. My stats will be maxed before I move on, too. What is AMHD?

[awldune]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

What is AMHD?

Ancient Multi-Hued Dragon

[Zikke]

If you're going to really start diving, I would say ESP would be required. There is no better tool for knowing exactly what's about to come around that corner. Much better than waiting for them to come around that corner. Also it is invaluable when assessing whether or not to go into a vault.

[Wraitheist]

That sounds like good advice. What are my chances of attaining ESP at dl 2000?

[Mondkalb]

Originally Posted by Wraitheist

That sounds like good advice. What are my chances of attaining ESP at dl 2000?

Actually not bad.
The Cap of Thranduil is native to dlvl20/1000ft, and there are more sources like headwear of telepathy or amulet of esp and some ego weapons with random abilities.
Headwear of telepathy or esp amulet might be found in the armor shop and/or the black market.
Always try weapons of Gondolin or blessed weapons with hidden ability. (ESP/telepathy needs of course no identification, you will usually notice it by wearing the item).
There are also some artifact weapons with esp.

[Wraitheist]

Good to know, thanks!

[aeneas]

Originally Posted by awldune

I would want to get my CON up and have at least 600hp before diving below 2200 or so. Watch out for AMHD, and Drolems (non-evil, not detected by ESP) once you get below 2400.

This might be a controversial piece of advice, but I'd say that if you are going to wait to get 600 HP before passing 2200' you should wait for 600hp, or close to it, before passing 1600'. It will take a long time in either case, but you are much less likely to die from boredom at 1600', even if you are more bored. The game changes qualitatively right after that. If I'm much deeper than 1600' with 200 some-odd hp, I want to get as deep as I can, to minimize the amount of time my hp are that low. This obviously depends a bit on race/class.