Greater Black Dragon Vault

[nipon621]

Hey guys, have a badass level 24 wizard. Using the most recent pre-release, and cant find the .vlg file anywhere on my computer (anyone know where to find it?) so here's a brief description of what I'm working with.

He's got 3000+ knowledge in all spells other than create item, scare monster, wish, and lightning ball (yes, this includes death ray, with a range of 5). St/To 30+, Wi/Dx/Ma/Pe 40+, HP 288, PP 439, DV/PV 69/46 (normal). Has Suns Messenger, eternium tower shield(s), AoLS (useless outside of saving the dying sage imo), RotMC, RotHK, eternium broadsword of mayhem (and comparable backups), robes of resistance, black and red DSM, 7LB, speed 126 (burdened), and more gold/misc stuff than I can comfortably count (love the gift shop). He has teleport control, intrinsic lightning immunity, intrinsic death ray resistance, and stacking resistances for everything else.

Situation: Ran into a greater Black Dragon Vault. I have less than 40 dragon slaying missiles in stacks of 4-8, and 66% hit probability against these things. The arrows tend to be destroyed by their acid breath, along with all the rest of my equipment.

What is your recommended course of action? I want the experience (and possibly the artifacts), but I dont want to loose my end game equipment in the process. Oh, and I definitely plan on staying invisible.

Some strategies I have considered:

1) Using my outstanding piety to fuel magic shovel to turn the level into an improved fireball shooting gallery and just pumping mana into them until they die (my LOS with farsight is 2/3 of the level width).

2) Luring them out into tunnels and chipping away at their health with normal arrows/quarrels to build up weapon proficiency for later use of slaying ammo.

3) Teleporting in and using death ray, praying I dont die the next turn and teleporting out to heal before trying again.

4) Spending a loooooong time training death ray until I get longer range than their acid breath

5) Using my handy wands of death (no idea what the range on those is though)

Thoughts, suggestions? Let the war room counsel commence!

- Matt

[Joe]

Dump all your valuable/destructable stuff in some corner (also helps against being burdened), put on two shields, make sure you have a good deal acid resistance and then just start bolting them to death carefully? Or maybe Iceballing or just using the slaying ammo, dunno really what works best. In my experience the bolts aren't that dangerous if your resistance is decent.

[Albahan]

I agree with what Joe said. I'd go up a level, drop all the things you care about on the stairs (especially your 7lbs imo) then proceed to bolt the crap out of them. With invisibility you really shouldn't have much of an issue. I'd probably position myself strategically to use lightning bolt or magic missile so that it's bouncing and hitting multiple monsters twice. But really this doesn't seem like it should be too much of an issue for your current wizard.

Edit: I realized I should mention a few things I assumed you knew, just in case you didn't know:
Black DSM will grant you acid immunity
Since you have invisibility you can 's'earch the middle square of the large main room that holds the artifacts until it opens up and then just stand right at the edge of it so that only 1 dragon can attack you at a time, equip both shields and be in coward mode and blast away until you've made a big enough dent. Then position yourself so that you can be double hitting some of the Wyrms, though only if the opportunity presents itself, no need to force it. Also, nothing but the Greater Dragons and Wryms can see you when using only magic.

[nipon621]

So in summary, it is the recommendation of the war counsel that the Wizard is capable of handling this via magic, and should store any unnecessary or extremely valuable destructible items on the stairs of an adjacent level (I dare not store it on a level I will be spending time on), to wear the BDSM (as I had indeed planned on), and chip away at them.

Is there a recommendation for any particular type or form of magic (a particular element or bolt vs ball)?

Edit: Its working like a charm. The death ray is particularly effective, if dangerous. I even have time to regenerate PP as I port all the dropped goodies to the upstairs. I will let you know how things turn out. My wizard is very fortunate to get Iphone reception at D:32, otherwise he wouldnt be able to talk to fellow adventurers XD

[anon123]

cant find the .vlg file anywhere on my computer (anyone know where to find it?)

Try C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\ADOM if you're on Windows 7.

Acid is the most violent element in terms of damage and item destruction, take care.

[Silfir]

I'd have used any of the reguarly effective (no weakness on black dragons, just immunity to acid) bolt spells, especially Frost Bolt or Magic Missile to keep items alive - though if it turns out Death Ray actually manages to kill stuff in your wizard's hands that's just as good as Magic Missile, possibly better depending on success rate.

[nipon621]

So, the technique worked like a charm. Currently taking out stragglers from the last antechamber. Unfortunately I made the mistake of assuming it was a greater vault due to the presence of a named ancient greater black wyrm and relatively large size (however, it was merely a large lesser vault with challenging adversaries). I got 3 magical writing sets out of it, as well as 2.5 levels. Lets just hope I can find a scroll of education somewhere so I can make use of that writing set! If any notable loot comes up, I'll let you know.

Of note, I cannot find the ancient black wyrm and he does not appear in my kill list. Can they flee the level? That could be a nasty surprise...

[anon123]

I got 3 magical writing sets out of it, as well as 2.5 levels. Lets just hope I can find a scroll of education somewhere so I can make use of that writing set!

Merely identifying a scroll is enough to be able to write it. If you've seen one in a shop, you can write it.

Of note, I cannot find the ancient black wyrm and he does not appear in my kill list. Can they flee the level? That could be a nasty surprise...

Nope, they can only do that in the wilderness. If he panicked, he must be in one of the corners of the level.

[nipon621]

Try C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\ADOM if you're on Windows 7.

Thank you!!! If you're interested, I'll post a cleaned up (no inventory junk) .vlg and you can see if there's a way to buff this guy more. I have no experience with the final three temples, much less the metaplane and I would very much like to not die.

Edit: I decided that it would be good to get some feedback, but this may not be the most appropriate place to post so I am posting the .vlg in different thread titled: Pimp My Wizard. Feel free to comment if you like, and thanks again for helping me find the system files

[anon123]

You're welcome. Would love to see the VLG.

PS: with Magic Missile and Acid Ball, D: 50 is a breeze.