Early Game Help

[Blitzcrank]

What are some good places to gain exp. in the earlier game? I am a level 13 barbarian and am in Dwarftown, I haven't completed any of Thrundarr's quests, but in my experience, the quests up to the arena don't give a ton of exp, and I want to be almost level 16 when I go to the pyramid, and I want to get the wrappings before I take the arena just in case I fight the ogre magus, but I am not sure where to get exp in the meantime. I could do the infinite dungeon, but I tend to not know where to stop and end up getting myself killed.

Also, do you have any advice for the CoC graveyard? Last time I did it, I ended up losing a lot of my strength and toughness, any level suggestions? I got crowned with vanquisher, so maybe it will go better, but I want to be careful...

Finally, is there anything that I should be wary of at this point? I am just inexperienced and would like all the help I can get.


Sorry if this is messy, and thank you for any help!

[ghostjghost]

Experience in this game is completely based in killing monsters so anywhere is about the same, I recommend hopping between floors 8 and 9 of the infinite dungeon to keep the danger level around your present level and also so you won't have to wait for more monsters to spawn.

If you've got good PV and good fire resistance you can go to darkforge - steel golems give good experience.

For the graveyard - use ranged weapons, and have good willpower (to avoid liches confusion). Willpower can be trained by eating Morgia herbs.

Be wary of Elementals, grues, gorgons, molochs, and titans, thier are certaintly others to watch out for but I cant think of them at the moment.

[JellySlayer]

What are some good places to gain exp. in the earlier game? I am a level 13 barbarian and am in Dwarftown, I haven't completed any of Thrundarr's quests, but in my experience, the quests up to the arena don't give a ton of exp, and I want to be almost level 16 when I go to the pyramid, and I want to get the wrappings before I take the arena just in case I fight the ogre magus, but I am not sure where to get exp in the meantime. I could do the infinite dungeon, but I tend to not know where to stop and end up getting myself killed.

Some options:

-You could do some of the random overworld dungeons. R4 and R6 are probably too hard for you, but the others should be okay.
-Griffyard area is a good choice here. It's nice if you have some cold resist, but not required. Barbarian should have a ton of HP anyway so you can probably tank a few ice bolts if needed, and Vanquisher will make short work of the enemies here. Loot here is very good as are the artifact rewards.
-With Vanquisher crowning, you can honestly probably tackle Darkforge as long as you have some external healing source, fire resist, and a fireproof blanket (or leave your vulnerable gear in the barbarian glade). You won't need to kill more than a handful of the golems to get up to at least level 15.
-For CoC graveyard, I normally just travel across the top, then dig down from the end of the first hall to the stairs. You can clear it, but it's rarely worthwhile unless you really need to do a bunch of gravedigging. You should definitely do Griffyard first. Vampires are very nasty stat drainers and somewhat common, and spectres are also pretty bad in this department. Your low DV from Vanquisher will not really help you here--you can try using Defensive tactics, but you'll still probably get hit more often than you'd like. Definitely take enemies one-at-a-time and don't get surrounded. Especially for the vampires, you might just want to kill them with missiles... you can outrun them easily with barbarian speed.

Finally, is there anything that I should be wary of at this point? I am just inexperienced and would like all the help I can get.

With Vanquisher, your biggest risk is your low DV. Never let yourself be surrounded, and definitely avoid fighting multiple stat drainers or paralyzing monsters at once (unless you can get the resistance in the latter case). Gorgons, stone oozes, dorn beasts, etc. are very bad for you. Avoid getting yourself doomed unless you want to accidentally die to a carrion crawler. You honestly shouldn't really have any trouble with the Pyramid... most of the enemies there you can probably one hit kill.

[Overheat2]

What are some good places to gain exp. in the earlier game? I am a level 13 barbarian and am in Dwarftown, I haven't completed any of Thrundarr's quests, but in my experience, the quests up to the arena don't give a ton of exp, and I want to be almost level 16 when I go to the pyramid, and I want to get the wrappings before I take the arena just in case I fight the ogre magus, but I am not sure where to get exp in the meantime. I could do the infinite dungeon, but I tend to not know where to stop and end up getting myself killed.

Also, do you have any advice for the CoC graveyard? Last time I did it, I ended up losing a lot of my strength and toughness, any level suggestions? I got crowned with vanquisher, so maybe it will go better, but I want to be careful...

Finally, is there anything that I should be wary of at this point? I am just inexperienced and would like all the help I can get.


Sorry if this is messy, and thank you for any help!

Stone Oozes are way more dangerous than they sound.

If I were you, I would clear out the upper level of the Dwarven Graveyard at least, probably the lower level as well. It drops good stuff for this point in the game. Also, a level 13 with Vanquisher should be able to beat the Pyramid. If you see something really rough on the top level, you can always go down the stairs and come back at level 16. If you have one blessed potion of extra or ultra healing, you will be fine. Invisibility helps a lot as well. I understand your wanting to be careful though, but Vanquisher is really, really good on a barbarian.

You could also head to the level above Darkforge and see how easily the Steel Golem on the stairs goes down.

[Blitzcrank]

Thank you for your help!

[Harkila]

Some further thoughts:

Vanquisher is awesome, but like previously mentioned, your DV is quite poor. Fighting on defensive or very defensive mostly is a good idea. When killing nasty creatures, go berserk to take them down as quickly as possible. Also avoid the mighty / tremendows blows since they allow monsters to punch you many times in return. Berserking normal attacks is a better option. Find a means of paralyzation resistance, such as an amulet of free action.

Make sure to keep good piety with your god and remember to pray if needed. Also you are very quick at retreating and running away, make use of that.

You should have an easy time doing the pyramid by now. But, Thrundarr's second quest gives the wand of fireballs, which is very useful on the top level of pyramid. Ideally you should now take Thrundarr's first two quests, then go for Pyramid, wear the ancient mummy wrapping do two further Thrundy quests, then trade golden gladius for training with Bart. You'll want the tactics skill when fighting with Vanquisher.

All in all you have a character which can kill everything in the game, so your main concern should be to protect yourself from being counter-killed.

[mjkittredge]

You could farm The Big Room for XP and herbs. If you have a pickaxe you can dig out a tunnel in the walls surrounding the level - monsters get stuck in it so there are fewer wandering around interrupting you her picking. If you got pickpocketing, train it up to 100 and that can get lots of extra items. Right now I'd focus on getting higher DV/PV, the Ring of Ice from Dwarven Mystic, and Wand of Teleportation from the dull cave. Doing Thrundarrs early quests can get you a blessed Wand of FIreballs with a lot of charges which can help clearing out the pyramid or just generally saving you = go into coward mode and cast it a few times.

Be wary of elemental bolts and explosions that can do tons of damage. And the ensuing item destruction.