Requesting newbie tips

[aj_]

These tips helped a lot! I got to level 12 comfortably, entered the cavern of chaos, but died to the ogre magus in the arena . I wouldn't have fought in there but I couldn't descend any further due to a canal blocking the way (swimming skill was too low), so I thought what the hell.

[Jouni]

You should be able to pass one or two water squares quite safely even without swimming. Even low swimming skill should help significantly, as it reduces drowning damage if you fail to swim (IIRC). Not being burdened or strained also helps.

Teleportation is easy way to cross river, so if you can't swim (or don't want to swim for some other reason), you should check if you have some means of teleportation. Uncontrolled teleportation will usually work, but then you should make sure you can teleport multiple times so you won't get trapped to some room or corridor by the river. Wand of trap creation is great for crossing rivers, just create a teleportation trap on both sides and use them to cross river.

[flibble]

1. I'm afraid to equip stuff for fear of it being cursed. This means I'm often running around in my starter gear.

Along with what other people have said, one of the advantages to playing a priest is you can start with Detect Item Status, and quickly train it up to a point where you will immediately know if anything you find is cursed. (I've heard that Merchants can do this too, but I never play them...)

[aj_]

Ok, new char is now 13, and completed all the dwarf town quests except the portal one (yes, I'm reading the guidebook now :P). He also became the arena champ and traded the sword for training (he's a dwarven beastfighter). Thanks to the guidebook I now have all my items identified and heaps of gold (and have offered quite a bit as well to my god). Trouble is, I have a cursed girdle, and my armour was burned a long time ago :P. I can't find any scrolls of remove curse. I remember seeing a scrolls shop, I think it was in the puppy cave, if not there, then the druid cave. Should I go way back there? Also, should I attempt the dwarven graveyard now? Not sure where I should go at this point.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

You can uncurse items (bless them, in fact) by dipping them on potions of holy water. And you can obtain potions of holy water from an altar if your god is sufficiently happy with you. This is usually easier than finding scrolls of uncursing (although if you just want uncursing and you have a scroll of uncursing it's better to use it, since holy water has other uses and you will run out of it if you don't have the awesome TH talent).

[Jouni]

Both scrolls of uncursing and water are quite common and you will find more of them later. I'd use holy water to remove the girdle, if it's the only item you want uncursed or you don't have any easy access to scroll of uncursing. If you have multiple cursed items you would like to uncurse, bless a scroll of uncursing instead and read it, as it removes cursing from all of your items.

At the point of game you are now, I usually go for dwarven graveyard and pyramid. Be careful though, as I have killed several characters in those places earlier, mostly because of overconfidence and poor preparation. This is the place where those undead (or humanoid) slaying ammunition might come useful. Also remember to take some healing equipment along, and don't forget about prayers when in trouble, they can be lifesavers.

[Molach]

If you've sacced enough to your god, simply praying at full health will probably cause God to uncurse item for you.

[aj_]

Didn't think to dip cursed items in the holy water, as it doesn't make much sense :P (well, I guess he could pour it over the item). Thanks for the tip!

Anyway, the dwarf has cleared the graveyard and the pyramid. I went toe to toe with bloodax, but he hit me for so little I got careless and almost didn't notice the huge crit that took me down to 29hp (had 187 total hp, 100ish when I got crit). I backed off and killed him with a few arrows of undead slaying I had. The pyramid was really easy, because I apparently got really lucky and scored a cloak of invisibility (which really increases my food consumption for some reason, so I only put it on in emergencies), so I mostly had to fight the mummies (which couldn't dent me). He's level 15 now and leveling reeaaally slowly. The guidebook isn't really clear on where to go from here.

Also, I blessed a pickaxe I found in the pyramid, tried it on the nearest bit of rock, and it broke on the first hit :x. Where can I go to get it repaired (guy in dwarftown won't do it)?

I'm considering making a copy of my savegame because the bloodax scare made me think of how much time (which I don't have) I would need to get another char back up to this stage if Pwent happened to die.

[Grey]

Next stage should be to go deeper into the caverns of chaos, or maybe finish off all the elder dwarf's quests (be sure to speak to him about "portal" now you've completed that).

To get your pick axe completed make sure it isn't equipped when speaking to the smith. He may charge a lot though.

[fazisi]

First thing to do, go to dwarftown, talk to Thrundarr to open the lower levels of the CoC and get your pickaxe repaired. The dwarf smith can only de-rust or repair items in your inventory, not equipped gear, so make sure your pickaxe is not in your tool slot or in a weapon slot when you talk to him.

Begin diving deeper into the CoC. After you pass a certain dying sage, you will eventually reach a level filled with several undead creatures. Be very careful on this level since many of the undead in the centre of the level are very nasty. There are several which drain stats and age (vampires are my least favorite of the bunch). There are also a few liches which will attempt to confuse you so either have a sufficient willpower stat (attainable through morgia root) or possibly some confusion resistance. If you were able to clear the dwarven graveyard with ease, this should not be very difficult but caution is still recommended.

Further past that, you will find a level with water dripping from the ceiling. This will be the first and easiest elemental temple. If you are already reading the guidebook, you will find some useful tips in there but I will tell you now that with your cloak of invisibility, this temple will be simple. However, you will definately need your pickaxe repaired or use one of the wands of digging supplied to you by NPCs, either from Thrundarr if he gave it to you or one you will get from the dying sage.

Finally, while people discourage save scumming as a means of beating the game, it is probably the most useful tool for learning the game. I can garuntee if it weren't for save scumming, I would still be working on my first win due to my many "what if I do this?" strategies. Best of luck to you.