Precrowned with Wyrmlance ...

[magpie]

... as a level 8 High Elf assassin in the Village Dungeon (lucky enough to have a tension room generated right near the altar, and down stairs generated near the tension room).

This is pretty good, right?

It's just that this is the first time I've managed a pre-crowning ... usually I either have the right alignment for crowning, or simply lose interest before I manage to be pre-crowned. So I'm quite happy about this. I think this bodes well for the rest of this game ... assuming, of course, that I manage to not screw this up. ;)

[GordonOverkill]

Wyrmlance is definitely cool! A nice boost so early in the game! Just don't get careless or play as if you were invincible ;-)

[Singbird]

From my experience there are only some artifacts that really bode well for the rest of the game. Preserver and Bracers of War for example. Wyrmlance is in the "that's nice" category as it's really quite a marginal weapon in the end (as I don't like having so much DV loss and it has no special properties apart from dragon slaying). But very nice of course for the tower when the wyrm wanders around aimlessly.

[GordonOverkill]

Tower is still far, far away. It's absolutely great for this bloody dangerous early game!

[Singbird]

Yes, perhaps I was overly negative. You can indeed kill most things before they can hit you in early game, which is great. : )

[anon123]

level 8 High Elf assassin in the Village Dungeon

At this point in the game, virtually any artifact is very welcome. You can get picky when you delve deeper and arm yourself with other options :p

[Carter]

From my experience there are only some artifacts that really bode well for the rest of the game. Preserver and Bracers of War for example. Wyrmlance is in the "that's nice" category as it's really quite a marginal weapon in the end (as I don't like having so much DV loss and it has no special properties apart from dragon slaying). But very nice of course for the tower when the wyrm wanders around aimlessly.


I'd reckon if you get precrowned with executor, bracers, preserver you should pretty much win the game 9/10.

wyrmlance i've always found kinda useless. Its good for the wyrm, good for the dragon caves and pretty much stock for everything else.

[JellySlayer]

Wyrmlance has good damage and quite high to-hit. This makes it a pretty decent weapon early on... there are few weapons that are likely to be better than it available to you for some time. The main downside is that you will be missing the DV from your shield. This will make you more vulnerable and you will need to be somewhat careful. Its powers aren't too special--it basically functions the same as an eternium 2-handed sword.

[AlterAsc]

And it also trains you in polearms. I had a UNE ranger which got wyrmlance as early precrowning gift and used it all the way until it got TotRR.
With dodge skill you get decent DV, so inability to use shield isn't that bad.

[Blasphemous]

I don't mind wyrmlance as a precrown artifact, but recently I got it on my lvl 12 duelist. Understandably, my adamantium sabre of swiftness stayed in use.
It's a good weapon for many classes but imho, I think only classes that don't specialize in narrow melee weapons, otherwise, it might not fit you.
Of course, a farmer would surely benefit from having it and I had wizards that used it as well as some pure melee classes like barbs or assassins.
Still, in many cases, some single handed artifacts are vastly more useful, especially if you find good shields.
As for wyrmlance - axe of the minotaur emperor is better in sheer damage output, even against dragons and wyrms. It's downsides are of course high weight and availability only at higher levels and even then the process is quite demanding, but I'd take it anytime over wyrmlance.

As for precrowns, my recent wizard (who got paralyzed by mimic hivemind and killed a bit later) I got the artifact shield protector. That 20 dv is huuuuge, even with some puny melee weapon. With a good spear at 9-10 proficiency, you're looking at 30-40ish dv on berserk. Nice.
I'd take that over wyrmlance anytime too.

[grobblewobble]

I'd be happy, it's not in the top 10 artifacts but not in the bottom 10 either.

[Silfir]

I would also "take" the axe of the minotaur emperor over a great many things. Unfortunately, "taking" comes with having to complete the minotaur maze. With a precrowned Wyrmlance in hand I would never, ever bother. (Actually, I've never before bothered and I'm not sure I will ever start, even in ADOM 1.2.0; I'll do the Minotaur Maze with the goal of having done it maybe.)

Wyrmlance is an eternium halberd that straight up brutalizes dragons. It's very much worth using until you get something better, like everything else. In the case of polearms, the existence of the rune-covered trident and to a lesser extent the TotRR even ensures that your training won't go to waste if you manage to get to late game.

Either way, for a level 8 PC who is quite a way off from finding eternium weapons of any kind, it's amazing. Twice so for an assassin, who survives by killing things before there is a chance of getting bogged down in a prolonged fight. (That and throwing daggers at everything.) It's not one of the hallowed circle of artifacts that are straight up better than anything you could place in their respective item slots, like Preserver or the bracers of war, but it's something. Comparing it to the many artifacts in the game that are a) clearly better and b) not in your possession is a bit of a pointless exercise. (Then again, as roguelike nerds posting on an ADOM forum we get off on that sort of thing.)

[Tyrnyx]

I was recently precrowned with the Iron Crown of Havlor due to similar circumstances on a beastmaster. Early game artifacts really change the situation. Also, that artifact is in my top 10 now. Can't beat the +DV/PV. I also got wyrmlance, grod, and skullcrusher in that game so it got back at me for my choice of class. Also, I finally found that eternium two hander of penetration... or as beastmaster, a very large phase dagger.

Wyrmlance was generated as a surge of power on a Fire Greater Vault. Really hurts to be a beastmaster... I died to a Red Wyrm... don't get cocky!

[Singbird]

It's not one of the hallowed circle of artifacts that are straight up better than anything you could place in their respective item slots, like Preserver or the bracers of war, but it's something. Comparing it to the many artifacts in the game that are a) clearly better and b) not in your possession is a bit of a pointless exercise. (Then again, as roguelike nerds posting on an ADOM forum we get off on that sort of thing.)

For sure. For someone wandering about in village dungeon, puppy cave and unremarkable dungeon it's an amazing piece. The point was simply that it's not one of those items that greatly help you in many situations like gauntlets of giant strength, red dragon scale mail or spellbook of acid ball. Thus it doesn't bode that well for the rest of the game, as you probably won't use it in most critical situations. It does bode well for the early game and mid game too probably.

[Tyrnyx]

It's hard to judge, for me at least, if early game Artifacts are really the game changer or if it's because if you get one you get so excited that you play more cautiously and judiciously to not lose that character.

It'll may last until the rune-covered trident. I usually go Raven if I want that so I'm not really sure. 36 might be pushing it unless he runs into a dragon vault or jumps down to the BDC (risky). That is provided he gets passed a whole host of other issues.

Rune-covered trident makes D50 easily doable especially with the marks in polearms already.

[JellySlayer]

At level 8 I'd take Wyrmlance over a spellbook of acid ball in a heartbeat, even if I were playing a wizard or priest, and I'd certainly take it over gauntlets of strength (did you mean girdle of giant strength?), and probably over RDSM. Acid ball isn't really all that useful until you gain some levels because the PP cost is fairly high and you don't get many castings until you're higher level. RDSM is nice in the early game for the PV; though it's not that hard to get 8 or so PV from armor early on, so it generally only adds a couple points unless you're really down on your luck armor-wise. The gauntlets (girdle) add damage and carrying capacity; Wyrmlance probably gives you a lot more of the former against pretty much any non-artifact weapon you're likely to have found except maybe a bloody dagger. Carrying capacity is not so important, generally. Also, this is an item that's easily damaged.

Generally, an item that can get you through the earlygame/midgame is much, much better than an item that can get you through the endgame. The survival multiplier effect for great stuff is so much higher in the early game.

[magpie]

Thanks for the advice. I'm sure you can all guess the punchline ... ;)