A little extra guidance please.

[CloudKing]

I have yet to win a game of ADOM.. I think this could be the guy. Can anyone tell me
if they think I am ready for D:50 or if I should level up some more or maybe get
some more equipment or raise my stats some more?. what should I use my wish on?
I just cleared a greater undead vault and the bug temple :) Have not gone much further
down past the temple with the master summoner.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Character Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dritz St:34 Le:23 Wi:25 Dx:25 To:23 Ch:10 Ap:13 Ma:12 Pe:37 L+
DV/PV: 95/40 H: 431(431) P: 122(122) Exp: 33/7824757 M: 159886
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Dritz Race: male Dark Elf Class: Ranger
Star sign: Cup Birthday: 28/Cup (day 268 of the year)
(On the night I was born my long lost brother showed up again)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pole arms 14 +18 +11 +20 Mastery 10087
Bows 9 +18 +13 +3 excellent 320
Crossbows 8 +16 +12 +2 excellent 27
Shields 8 +16 excellent 226
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spells
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acid Bolt : 3, 29pp (Effectivity: +0)
Burning Hands : 336, 8pp (Effectivity: +2)
Calm Monster : 190, 8pp (Effectivity: +0)
Cure Critical Wounds: 259, 15pp (Effectivity: +1)
Cure Light Wounds : 236, 5pp (Effectivity: +0)
Darkness : 786, 4pp (Effectivity: +2)
Death Ray : 11, 189pp (Effectivity: +0)
Farsight : 570, 17pp (Effectivity: +0)
Fire Bolt : 194, 10pp (Effectivity: +3)
Frost Bolt : 588, 11pp (Effectivity: +5)
Identify : 279, 75pp (Effectivity: +0)
Improved Fireball : 12, 56pp (Effectivity: +0)
Invisibility : 191, 10pp (Effectivity: +0)
Knock : 382, 12pp (Effectivity: +1)
Light : 778, 3pp (Effectivity: +0)
Lightning Bolt : 250, 12pp (Effectivity: +0)
Magic Lock : 680, 8pp (Effectivity: +0)
Magic Missile : 994, 8pp (Effectivity: +0)
Mystic Shovel : 198, 100pp (Effectivity: +0)
Revelation : 166, 33pp (Effectivity: +0)
Scare Monster : 254, 12pp (Effectivity: +0)
Slow Monster : 801, 7pp (Effectivity: +0)
Slow Poison : 193, 6pp (Effectivity: +0)
Strength of Atlas : 17, 18pp (Effectivity: +0)
Stun Ray : 761, 8pp (Effectivity: +0)
Summon Monsters : 113, 30pp (Effectivity: +0)
Teleportation : 799, 21pp (Effectivity: +5)
Web : 6, 23pp (Effectivity: +0)
I found a spell book shop in CoC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alertness ................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Archery ..................100 (superb) [+1d3]
Athletics ................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Backstabbing .............100 (superb) [+1d5]
Climbing .................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Courage ..................100 (superb) [+1d3]
Dodge ....................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Find weakness ............100 (superb) [+1d5]
First aid ................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Food preservation ........100 (superb) [+2d4]
Haggling ................. 77 (great) [+2d4]
Healing ..................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Herbalism ................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Listening ................100 (superb) [+3d4]
Literacy .................100 (superb) [+1]
Smithing ................. 59 (good) [+1d5]
Stealth ..................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Survival .................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Swimming .................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Tactics .................. 87 (great) [+1]
Two weapon combat ........100 (superb) [+2d4]
Woodcraft ................100 (superb) [+2d4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effects of Corruption
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have grown a total of 12 eyes (Ap: -6, Pe: +6).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head : blessed crown of regeneration [+0, +3] [55s]
Neck : uncursed amulet of health [3s]
Body : blessed robes of resistance (-4, -4) [+3, +12] {To+5} [60s]
Girdle : blessed girdle of carrying [+2, +0] [15s]
Cloak : uncursed light cloak [+4, +0] [20s]
Right Hand : blessed ebony spear "Bugbiter" (+3, 4d7+3) [+1, +1] {Dx+3}
Left Hand : uncursed tower crystal shield (-2) [+14, +5] [260s]
Right Ring : blessed ring of the High Kings [+2, +3] [1s]
Left Ring : uncursed ring of immunity [1s]
Bracers : blessed rusty bracers of speed [+0, +0] (+4 spd) [10s]
Gauntlets : uncursed iron gauntlets "Ironfist" (-1, +0) [+1, +3] {St+7}
Boots : blessed seven league boots [+1, +5] [30s]
Missile weapon: uncursed heavy crossbow "The Far Slayer" (+18, +18) [350s]
Missiles : uncursed obsidian quarrel "Thunderstroke" (+8, 20d4+8) [2s]
Tool : uncursed Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire {St+10} [100s]
Is this the equipment I should be using?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
uncursed ancient mummy wrapping [+1, +5] {Ap-8} [60s]
blessed elemental gauntlets (-1, +0) [+0, +3] [10s]
uncursed necklace of rapid healing [2s]
uncursed long bow of accuracy (+10, +5) [30s]
bundle of 8 cursed quarrels of construct slaying (+3, 2d6+3) [32s]
bundle of 4 blessed quarrels of humanoid slaying (+2, 2d6+3) [16s]
bundle of 6 blessed quarrels of humanoid slaying (+2, 2d6+3) (p) [24s]
bundle of 9 uncursed arrows of demon slaying (+0, 1d6+3) [18s]
bundle of 5 uncursed quarrels of undead slaying (+3, 2d6+5) [20s]
bundle of 7 uncursed arrows of construct slaying (+3, 1d6+3) [14s]
bundle of 5 uncursed arrows of giant slaying (+3, 1d10+3) [10s]
bundle of 17 blessed arrows of darkness (+1, 1d6) [34s]
bundle of 5 uncursed quarrels of giant slaying (+5, 2d8+3) [20s]
bundle of 7 uncursed quarrels of dragon slaying (+4, 2d6+4) [28s]
bundle of 6 uncursed arrows of demon slaying (+3, 1d6+6) [12s]
bundle of 7 cursed arrows of dragon slaying (+3, 1d6+5) [14s]
bundle of 7 blessed quarrels of undead slaying (+3, 2d6+3) [28s]
bundle of 12 cursed winged quarrels of slaying (+1, 2d6+1) [24s]
uncursed Chaos Orb of Elemental Water {Wi+10} [100s]
uncursed Chaos Orb of Elemental Air {Dx+10} [100s]
uncursed ring of speed [+0, +1] (+5 spd) [1s]
uncursed ring of slaying (+9 melee damage, +6 missile damage) [1s]
uncursed ring of slaying (+7 melee damage, +6 missile damage) [1s]
uncursed ring of djinni summoning [1s]
uncursed ring of invisibility [1s]
uncursed wand of acid (0 charges) [4s]
uncursed wand of teleportation (4 charges) [4s]
uncursed wand of poison (0 charges) [3s]
uncursed wand of death (0 charges) [3s]
uncursed wand of earthquakes (1 charge) [3s]
uncursed wand of acid (2 charges) [4s]
cursed wand of fireballs (10 charges) [3s]
cursed wand of door creation (100 charges) [3s]
cursed wand of teleportation (6 charges) [4s]
heap of 2 blessed potions of extra healing [4s]
heap of 5 potions of holy water [20s]
heap of 4 blessed potions of booze [16s]
heap of 3 uncursed potions of ultra healing [6s]
heap of 5 uncursed potions of raw mana [10s]
heap of 3 uncursed potions of booze [12s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of water [8s]
cursed potion of gain attributes [4s]
heap of 6 cursed potions of ultra healing [12s]
heap of 5 uncursed scrolls of charging [10s]
heap of 3 cursed scrolls of identify [6s]
heap of 6 blessed scrolls of identify [12s]
heap of 2 blessed scrolls of chaos resistance [4s]
heap of 186 uncursed cooked lizards [558s]
heap of 104 blessed morgia roots [208s]
heap of 12 cursed crystals of health [12s]
I also have serpents bite, whirlwind, ankh, black torc, rolfs companion,
big punch, magical writing set(2), anvil, and some ball spell books I cant seem to read.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Killed Monsters
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7106 monsters perished under his attacks.
The following monsters were vanquished:
4 ancient blue dragons
1 Ancient Chaos Wyrm
1 ancient red dragon
1 banshee
1 black druid
1 bone golem
1 bunny master
1 cat lord
1 crime lord
1 emperor lich
1 frost giant jarl
1 goodwife
1 great blue wyrm
1 lich
12 lich kings
19 master liches
1 master necromancer
1 Master Summoner
1 mimic hivemind
1 mummy lord
1 Snake from Beyond
1 undead chaos dwarven berserker
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
He survived for 0 years, 134 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes and 56 seconds (159886
turns).
1 companion was killed during his adventures.
He was the champion of the arena.
He made a little water dragon very happy.
He stopped the generation of nasty bugs.

[GordonOverkill]

Doesn't look too bad to me, still there's maybe a couple of things that you could still increase:
- you can still train your toughness by some points with morgia
- definitely bless and drink the potion of gain attributes
- that amulet of health is not very good. As far as I know it just helps a little against sickness. Necklace of Rapid Healing is definitely better, especially if you bless it... or of course the ankh, didn't see that you have it ;-)
- guess I would maybe chose this nice ring of slaying rather than the ring of the high kings. Your resistances are fine anyway and the extra damage for your crossbow would be helpfull
But I think you can be rather positive all in all. That's a nice char with some nice stuff! Take care in the mana temple, that one's really tricky ;-) You could save the wish for some more turns, just in case corruption could become an issue. You still have two SoCRs, that might be enough, but I can't think of anything better to wish for at the moment.

[rami]

I'd say you are way overprepared. Only doing something stupid can kill you now (like forgetting about death ray resistance for Mana Temple ;))
I'd recommend to save your wish for D50 and use it for wands of destructions if balors prove too hard to deal with.

[Joe]

You're very powerful. Put on the Ankh because it is just the best necklace there is. I'd also put on both the rings of slaying probably (depending if you are resistant to all elements already. Being immune isn't that much better). Use your ammo to kill anything remotely dangerous.
Save the wish for D50. You should be powerful enough to clear the whole level without real danger but maybe you need it for chaos removal or wands of destruction or something else to make things convenient if they prove harder than expected.

[JellySlayer]

Your weapon is terrible. Other than that, you have a great character. If you're strong enough to clear a greater undead vault, it's not likely that there's anything that can stop you. But it would probably be worth your while to get the rune-covered trident once you hit level 36.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

I think you have been a victim of the polearms hype. I'm sure you came across better weapons than that. In fact, Big Punch is one. The OPness of spears shouldn't prevent you from training with other weapons if they are significantly better than the spears you have.

That said, I agree with the others, your character is more than ready for D:50. And getting RCT for the balors is always nice.

[_Ln_]

Why are you guys picking on Bugbiter? It's more or less equal to a sword of sharpness plus much better weapon skill bonuses. Strength bonus and rings of slaying makes base damage redundant in the end-game. The only better things are slayers and it doesn't look he has one (until RCT). Missile capabilities and weapons make up for this anyway.

Seriously, how on Earth is Big Punch better than Bugbiter? 8 less average base damage in exchange for an enormous DV loss?

[Joe]

I like Bugbiter. Missiles are great anyway so you shouldn't be meleeing too much at all imo. It's one of the few things that could get you killed perhaps.

[Silfir]

Serpent's Bite is a slayer, and one-handed, too. I would have used that instead. But it doesn't matter that much with such rock-hard defenses while you're holding Far Slayer.

[_Ln_]

Serpent's Bite is a slayer, and one-handed, too. I would have used that instead. But it doesn't matter that much with such rock-hard defenses while you're holding Far Slayer.

Whoops, didn't notice the dagger. It's probably a better deal on D:50, true. But as you've said - Far Slayer + Thunderstroke/slaying ammo is so much better than melee.

[CloudKing]

Thank you for all the help and advice, I will be switching my rings out for the rings of slaying, and my necklace for the ankh, and I will save my wish for D:50, I will be heading down to D:50 now and training with morgia on the way... wish me luck :)

[Aerin]

Best of luck, that first run to D50 is always stressful. Hope we get to see a post in YAVP.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Seriously, how on Earth is Big Punch better than Bugbiter? 8 less average base damage in exchange for an enormous DV loss?
Bugbiter: 4d7+3

Minimum: 7
Average: 19
Maximum: 31

Big Punch: 8d5+3

Minimum: 11
Average: 27
Maximum: 43

I'll take 8 more average damage (which is probably like double damage in practice, given the monsters' PV) over 20 or so DV in a character that has 95 DV any day.

When you have 30 or 40 DV, some more DV is very helpful, when you have 70 it's not so important. And by doing more damage you get hit less anyway.

[Silfir]

Poison resistance is better than stun resistance though. At this stage, the rune-covered trident is a real prospect, so polearms training does more than mace training (Bugbiter taking a bit of a while to kill things helps reach Grand Mastery, too). Also, Big Punch takes up a bigger chunk of the PC's encumbrance. Also, +3 extra Dx on Bugbiter add to missile damage and to-hit. (In addition to Bugbiter's intrinsically higher to-hit.) Oh, and nevermind DV, Bugbiter adds a point of PV which Big Punch does not.

In the very limited scenario that Cloudking has to resort to berserk mode melee to break through something rather than his assortment of slaying missiles, including Far Slayer-backed quarrels, it is possible eight points of damage might make a difference. I think 90 DV is more better than 70 DV than eight points of damage could balance out, while we're at it. Also, we aren't given the current tactics setting. If it's 90 DV on Normal, that means 70 DV roughly on Very Aggressive, which adds much more than eight points of damage.

[JellySlayer]

If he doesn't have intrinsic poison resistance by this point, he's done something very, very wrong. Multiples aren't necessary. Stun resist, it's possible he might not have, though it's not all that useful anyway. +3 Dx is not going to significantly affect missile to-hit or damage. Probably less than 1 point to each. Stats don't have that big of an effect. Encumbrance doesn't matter, since he's already carrying around both weapons.

Of his weapons, Serpent's bite is clearly the best (aside from Far Slayer). Bugbiter and Big Punch are probably about equivalent in my books, and are both trash at this point in the game. If I had to use one of them, I'd probably use Big Punch, but honestly, you can find better eternium weapons just lying around. Eternium two-hander is twice as good as either of them. Heck, a bloody dagger with a couple scrolls of damage on it is probably better than either weapon for a character with his strength and tactics score.

[CloudKing]

Thank you for the advice.... finally after so long of playing this game I have done it. I WON!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
His further life:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After he leaves the Drakalor Chain he is welcomed by his people with great
honors. They acknowledge his noble deeds, his valor, his cunning and his
great skills that helped to prevent the complete destruction of the world he
knows. He is crowned to be the king of all dark Elves and lives a long and
prosperous life full of power, happiness and pleasure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will post more in a victory post.

[Spellweaver]

Serpent's Bite is most likely better than Bugbiter. But with his zero skill in dagger and mastery in polearms it's going to be worse even after some training.
And currently it's not going to deal any damage to D:50 inhabitants even with 100% crit.
Not to mention he has find weakness, so slaying damage increase is not as significant.

[JellySlayer]

Serpent's Bite is most likely better than Bugbiter. But with his zero skill in dagger and mastery in polearms it's going to be worse even after some training.
And currently it's not going to deal any damage to D:50 inhabitants even with 100% crit.
Not to mention he has find weakness, so slaying damage increase is not as significant.

It'll deal a lot more than Bugbiter would. Find weakness doesn't have that big of an effect compared to slaying. Unless your weapon has an "of penetration" suffix on it, a slaying weapon is always better.

[Spellweaver]

It'll deal a lot more than Bugbiter would. Find weakness doesn't have that big of an effect compared to slaying. Unless your weapon has an "of penetration" suffix on it, a slaying weapon is always better.

You are theorizing, while I actually tried using it on a character trained in polearms and 2H only. It was far from impressive. Don't forget energy cost as well.
My spear was better than Bugbiter, but still.

[JellySlayer]

It depends on your stats. The higher your St, tactics bonus, etc., the less that your weapon damage matters, and the more that critical hits benefit you. With high stats, slaying, +Crit, or penetration will beat out weapons with significantly better damage scores.

Training is important, I agree, but you can get up to level 7 or 8 from 0 very, very quickly. Clearing Darkforge with a brand new weapon will gain you this many ranks on its own, IIRC.

[Spellweaver]

If I count correctly, with Serpent's Bite he is going to have 3d4+24 damage, which is 30 average, +slaying is 60 average.
Bugbiter is 4d7+35, which is 49 average, +find weakness is 59 average.
Which means that currently they are equal.
Also, DV and energy cost of 1000 vs 630. Also, not all enemies are humanoids.
After some training... I never said Serpent's Bite is worse if trained.