In need of advice

[Aielyn]

Well, I just broke my previous record for how far into the game I've gotten.

Last (and first) time I made it to the Mana temple, I made the boneheaded mistake of not wearing the AMW, and thus being Death Rayed. Didn't make that mistake, this time. I also made good use of the Detect Traps skill I got from a potion of Education. Made the trip through the outer corridor much safer.

Funnily enough, while I was hacking away at the various lesser foes within the Temple, one happened to drop an amulet of Death Ray Resistance. I found that to be rather humorous.

I actually had a heap of scrolls of power, that I blessed in preparation. Didn't end up using them, though (well, not until I'd beaten him, and wanted enough PP to be able to remove curses and teleport while taking his corpse back to Dwarftown).

Anyway, I'm up to level 35. Am I better off going straight for D:50, now, or should I do some other stuff and get my level up a little higher? I don't think I'll have any corruption issues, as I've got plenty of PoCCs and SoCRs. I also have a wand of destruction that happened to show up in a wand shop quite deep in the CoC.

I actually plan on spending some time intentionally falling into pits in order to then train Climbing at some point. That way, once I've closed the gate, I might go and visit the Library for a bit of an excursion, just for fun, before I get myself cleansed and leave the chain. Sound like a good plan?

[AlterAsc]

Lvl 35 is good enough to win.What matters is what spells you have.
If i'm correct AKW is alive, so you can kill him with invis+MM and if using slow monster on youself and invis on him and get several millions of xp.

[_Ln_]

2. Head back up to Dwarftown, grab the RoDS from my stash in the Ogre Cave, and wish for some SoCR (or, if there's a better option regarding this, I'll be happy to hear it).

Is it only me thinking that wishing for magical writing sets is better in this case. SoCR wish will give you how many? 3-4-5-6 scrolls? Now with writing sets you get 2-3-4 writing sets with 3-4 uses each on average. That will give you more scrolls, I think. Being a wizzie you'll lose about 1-2 mana points per writing - and in the end game it hardly matters, since you'll cast from hp in both MT and D:50. And you can easily get some Ma back if you write more SoCRs than necessary - abusing Mana Orb.

Also, Climbing can be trained at Yergius: train practically and follow with falling into self-made holes, then train theoretically, get 1 level-up and boost it to 100.

[Silfir]

One elemental gauntlets use of the mana orb gives 2.5 corruptions for 3 points of Mana, which you need to get two SoCR at the cost of 1.5 Mana approximately to clear (You stay one half of a corruption ahead) so you get ahead very little if you do that.

I admire your patience - After the mana temple I just go ahead and do D:50. Don't have the patience to delay the inevitable win.

I've actually done the Rift after winning once before, with a barbarian. For sport, I jumped in naked, equipped only with a couple of gnomish candy. Should be very easy to do with a wizard.

[JellySlayer]

Well, I just broke my previous record for how far into the game I've gotten.

Last (and first) time I made it to the Mana temple, I made the boneheaded mistake of not wearing the AMW, and thus being Death Rayed. Didn't make that mistake, this time. I also made good use of the Detect Traps skill I got from a potion of Education. Made the trip through the outer corridor much safer.

Funnily enough, while I was hacking away at the various lesser foes within the Temple, one happened to drop an amulet of Death Ray Resistance. I found that to be rather humorous.

I actually had a heap of scrolls of power, that I blessed in preparation. Didn't end up using them, though (well, not until I'd beaten him, and wanted enough PP to be able to remove curses and teleport while taking his corpse back to Dwarftown).

Anyway, I'm up to level 35. Am I better off going straight for D:50, now, or should I do some other stuff and get my level up a little higher? I don't think I'll have any corruption issues, as I've got plenty of PoCCs and SoCRs. I also have a wand of destruction that happened to show up in a wand shop quite deep in the CoC.

I actually plan on spending some time intentionally falling into pits in order to then train Climbing at some point. That way, once I've closed the gate, I might go and visit the Library for a bit of an excursion, just for fun, before I get myself cleansed and leave the chain. Sound like a good plan?

If you can't use Yergius, you're probably better off (I think) wandering around in the mountains using your climbing set.

Level 35 is fine for D:50, especially for wizzie. If you decide to fight the balors, you'll hit level 50 before you leave anyway. Go for it! Don't forget to cast from HP if you need to.

[Aielyn]

I'd like to thank everyone for their advice.

I've closed the gate, and am currently in Dwarftown. I reached level 38 not long after returning to D:47 (which I decided to explore, since I'd skipped it entirely - happened to have the rune-covered trident delivered to me on this level while exploring, too).

Before heading down, I decided to use one of my, by that time, two wishes (found another RoDS in the same ring shop, after buying everything out to cause a restock). Wished for potions of uselessness (too bad it only works once, but oh well). The artifact I was rewarded with was the Robes of Resistance. Not too bad, overall, but not particularly helpful, since I already had Nature's Companion. I decided that speed was more useful than a little more toughness, and the extra speed would probably counteract the slightly higher DV/PV, anyway.

I used up all my PoCC, but I didn't even touch my SoCR.

For those who were recommending I use a wish on a magical writing set - there was no need, anyway, since I have three stashed away already, with a total of 11 uses between them.

Now that corruption is halted, I'll probably go for an extended walk in the mountains to train up Climbing. Up to 87, now, so it's not far off. If I can get it properly trained, then a single level-up should be enough to get it there. I also already have the thin and nimble corruption, so I could possibly avoid falling by getting the very light corruption through a corruption trap, which would also let me take on the quickling tree, if I felt like it. I have plenty of SoCR to keep trying for it.

[Silfir]

Just to clarify, if you don't jump into the Rift naked and unarmed and with an empty pack (bit of food shall be allowed) I will be very disappointed.

[Aielyn]

Well, I guess I was a little foolhardy, taking on that Titan threat room I'd been ignoring.

I was trying to get myself to level up, and figured it was a good place to get some XP. I was handling them quite well, until the very last one decided to critically hit me, then hit me once more on the same turn. Took out half my max HP and then a bit more, killing me.

I'm going to consider it a win, personally, despite not technically having left the chain, as I did close the gate and return. I'd even set up my final cleansing by killing Riurry. All I needed was that one level up so that I could get my Climbing up to 100 to enter the rift.

So, given the situation, should I be posting it in YASD or YAVP? Or should I just post it in here?

[Guru]

I would've posted it in YAVP. It's a moral and technical win, it says you died AFTER closing the gate, so no problem imo.

Just got a second winner myself (gonna post it tomorrow), decided to explore the Blue Dragon Caves and killing Srraxxarrakex in the process, just to get a feel for it. I met some resistance (couple of Greater Wyrms, Greater Moloch and a Greater Titan), and if I had died there I would've considered it a win.. It's your best chance to explore and try stuff out, so it shouldn't be discouraged!

[JellySlayer]

Well, I guess I was a little foolhardy, taking on that Titan threat room I'd been ignoring.

I was trying to get myself to level up, and figured it was a good place to get some XP. I was handling them quite well, until the very last one decided to critically hit me, then hit me once more on the same turn. Took out half my max HP and then a bit more, killing me.

I'm going to consider it a win, personally, despite not technically having left the chain, as I did close the gate and return. I'd even set up my final cleansing by killing Riurry. All I needed was that one level up so that I could get my Climbing up to 100 to enter the rift.

So, given the situation, should I be posting it in YASD or YAVP? Or should I just post it in here?

If it feels like a win to you, then record it as a win. Too bad about the titans though--they (and greater titans as well) can be really viscious. Dangerous in melee and almost as dangerous with missles. Best thing is to fight them under darkness.