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(8) Tactics & strategy ====================== (8.1) Preparing the inventory for diving into the dungeon --------------------------------------------------------- Depending on your character level you will always want to stock up on certain items before entering the dungeon. Here are some guidelines for your inventory: Beginners (level 1) ------------------- + Some Rations of Food, one or more Flask of Oil Know that there are traps that can empty your stomach or drain the fuel of your light. If you don't have supplies then you might be doomed. + Potion of Heroism because it can approximately double the hitpoints of level 1 characters (depending on race/class) for a short period of time as well as greatly improve the chance to hit the opponent, which will raise the fighting potential for example against enemies like Farmer Maggot's dogs. Even if your character has a decent amount of Hit Points, these potions raise your fighting abilities a good deal, compare (4.11b). + Potion of Cure Light Wounds They become useless quickly while you gain some character levels since they don't heal very many HP (Hit Points). At the beginning they are very helpful however. + Scroll of Phase Door This one does a short range teleportation, allowing you to escape if you are surrounded or get some distance between an enemy and yourself, allowing you to shoot him on distance using a ranged weapon. Since Phase Door teleports randomly, you might have to read several of them quickly after each other until you come out in a good position. + Maybe a scroll of Word of Recall If read in the dungeon it will far-distance teleport you back to the town. This allows you to quickly "dive" deep and gain levels and find items that can be sold for good cash, then read Word of Recall to quickly get back home with all the loot without having to start an annoying search for the staircases leading upwards back to town. Low level character (up to 15) ------------------------------ + Several Rations of Food or Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger, some Flasks of Oil + Some Potions of Heroism + Some Potions of Cure Serious Wounds / Critical Wounds Note that Potions of Cure Wounds also remove certain effects like blindness and confusion, depending on the exact potion type (light/serious/critical). + Several Scrolls of Phase Door + Some Scrolls of Word of Recall + Some Scrolls of Identify These will allow you to identify unknown items that you may find! + Archers might find rods/wands/staves of light useful to create LoS (line-of-sight) opportunities for killing monsters from afar down hallways. Medium level character (up to 25) --------------------------------- + Some Flasks of Oil. Replace rations of food with "Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger" These will always fully satisfy your hunger and they are not eaten by rot jellys ;) Lembas (elvish waybread) are also nice but very rare. + Many Potions of Cure Critical Wounds, maybe some Potions of Healing. + Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes). These potions work similar to heroism, but they rise your strength instead of your hit chance, allowing you to deal greatly increased damage, compare (4.11b). Unfortunately they are quite rare. If they are used together with potions of speed the result can be devastating. + Several Scrolls of Word of Recall + Several scrolls of Identify Since you will encounter the more nice (or more dangerous..) loot the deeper you descend, you will need a bunch of identification scrolls to find out what is worth being kept and which items should be thrown away. + A potion of Restore Life Levels. It can be very annoying if a monster drains your experience (its colour will turn from light green to yellow to indicate that it's been drained) and all the monsters you subsequently kill yield almost nothing in experience since it's all pouring into refilling the drained amount. These potions instantly restore all drained experience! (Note that scrolls of Life also restore experience, same as this potion.) Most monsters that drain experience are undead and the first ones you will probably encounter are liches and vampires. Bloodletter demons drain too. A notable low-level monster is the grape jelly. But then again you shouldn't fight stationary melee-specialist monsters in melee in the first place.. + Some Potions of Speed These will temporatily boost your global speed (movement/attack/cast) by +10. In case you are moving at normal speed this means that your speed is doubled, effectively doubling your combat power as well since you can shoot and hit twice as fast now. These potions also allow to quickly retreat... + a Staff of Teleportation This neat baby is your ticket out of most hazard situations where Phase Door wouldn't help at all. However keep in mind that staves can be destroyed. So if you consider a situation very dangerous and your staff of teleportation is suddenly burned to ashes, you should think about reading Word of Recall! Unfortunately staves of teleportation are very expensive. Staves can be used even while blind or confused! It's not a good idea to use staves if your character isn't quite good at 'Magic Device', press 'C' to check your character screen. It's a good idea to try the staff a few times in town before relying on it. If needed you could increase your 'Magic Device' skill, see (7.2). + You should have found some "Rods of Trap location" Keep 2 or 3 of those with you. If you encounter a pit or vault you can easily detect all the nasty traps inside. Rods of Door/Stair Location can also be helpful. + Especially for clearing vaults you might find a staff of light, a wand of trap/door destruction and maybe a wand of teleport other useful. However, that would be 3 more inventory slots less to pick up loot :) + Potions of curing insanity (all types). If you find these, pick them up and store them in your house! If you encounter a sanity-blasting monster you will want to have these to restore your sanity after the fight. Higher characters (up to 35) ---------------------------- (If you came this far, good work!) + Some Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger or some Lembas if you can find enough. Some flasks of oil if your light source needs those. + Lots of Potions of Cure Critical Wounds (20..40 for example), if possible Potions of Healing instead of cure crits. + Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes) + Several Scrolls of Phase Door + Some potions of Restore Life Levels, probably, depending on how often you get annoyed by experience drain. If you're fighting a lot of undead, for example in the "Paths of the Dead" dungeon, you probably want a bunch of these potions. + a Rod of Recall A rod cannot be destroyed by fire or acid, and you won't have to buy new scrolls of WOR since the rod never runs out. A rod of recall is especially useful to travel between towns, so you won't burn through a lot of scrolls just for visiting all the town stores. + Lots of Scrolls of Identify (up to 99!). If you're great at handling magic devices, maybe get a Rod of Perception. It does the same thing as a scroll of Identify, but you might want one 'of charging' or 'of the istari'. + Several Potions of Speed + Some Potions of Resistance, since they stack with resistance from items. Always quaff these when fighting dragons, demons or hounds. + Potions of Healing These potions heal you way more than pots of cure critical wounds. However, they are more expensive. + Maybe rods for support: Trap location, disarming, detection. + Some Scrolls of Teleportation. + a "Sprig of Athelas" This one cures "Black Breath", which you can get infected with if you fight a Nazgul (ring wraith)! Normal high undead monsters have a very slim chance too to give you Black Breath. You can leave the sprig in your house since Black Breath saps your soul very slowly, so there should be enough time to finish business in the dungeon and recall to town afterwards to eat a sprig. (See (1.3a) for more information about Black Breath.) + Scrolls of *Remove Curse*. These are expensive in the black market, but are sometimes sold in the temple cheaply, so always check the temple when you come by. You will want these for getting rid of heavily cursed items, such as Nazgul rings of power that you don't use. + Potions of curing insanity. If you find these, pick them up and store them in your house! If you encounter a sanity-blasting monster you will want to have these to restore your sanity after the fight. Very high characters (36 and above) ----------------------------------- + Satisfy Hunger scrolls or Lembas + Potions of Healing + Potions of Speed, if you don't have magic providing this + Potions of Resistance, if you don't have magic providing this + Scrolls of Teleportation + a Rod of Recall (mainly for travelling between towns). + Support rods, such as Trap Location, Detection or Disarming (especially useful for clearing vaults). + Sprigs of Athelas, scrolls of *Remove Curse*, potions for curing insanity (these supplies can be stored in your house, no need to carry them with you).
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