H2H Necro - Shadow touch

[Booster]

I just lost a run where a tried to play a H2H necro using shadow touch to drain all my victims - I played as a Troll who was aged to death with 2 hits from a ghost lord (summoned by a Lich King at the Dwarven graveyard). I didn't manage to reach level 25 to unlock shadow touch but it was a fun run, although I had a few questions to help me maximize my chances next game.

1) Is there a list of strength levels to bonus damage anywhere on the wiki/forums? i.e. 20 strength adds +3 hit/damage, 25 strength adds +5 hit/damage, etc.
2) I foolishly didn't make potions of longevity - is there any way to reduce the chances of aging attacks? Not digging up graves for starters
3) What would be the best way to increase base H2H damage? Anything other than brass knuckles / GoGS / rings of damage? Would blessing gloves help for double damage to undead/demons?
4) Will raising slaves via necromancy train my max mana potential, or are potions/Garth the only way?
5) Is there a way to "dual wield" fists so you punch twice per attack? As it stands there is no downside to using a shield with H2H.

[Soirana]

1) Is there a list of strength levels to bonus damage anywhere on the wiki/forums? i.e. 20 strength adds +3 hit/damage, 25 strength adds +5 hit/damage, etc.
2) I foolishly didn't make potions of longevity - is there any way to reduce the chances of aging attacks? Not digging up graves for starters
3) What would be the best way to increase base H2H damage? Anything other than brass knuckles / GoGS / rings of damage? Would blessing gloves help for double damage to undead/demons?
4) Will raising slaves via necromancy train my max mana potential, or are potions/Garth the only way?
5) Is there a way to "dual wield" fists so you punch twice per attack? As it stands there is no downside to using a shield with H2H.

1. you get +1 on St 3-5-7-9-14, after that +1 for two points of St (16-18-20-...). I think to hit bonus i something similar
2. Invisibility -- none of the ghosts see invisible.
3. Blessed gloves would help, gloves of smiting, but knuckles are probably better. Thorns corruption improves base dices to 3d3, I think.
4. Garth respects potential, not so sure about slaves, I think shadow touch eventually will go through roof.
5.Shield interferes with unarmed skill

[Booster]

Amazing - thanks for the info Soirana.

Regarding #5 - how do shields interfere with unarmed skill?

[Soirana]

Amazing - thanks for the info Soirana.

Regarding #5 - how do shields interfere with unarmed skill?

unarmed DV is halfed (shield makes for it...), monks and beastfighters convert to base dice instead of their typical stuff. To hit and to damage for non-monk/non-beastfighter I am not sure.

[Blank4u47]

1. you get +1 on St 3-5-7-9-14, after that +1 for two points of St (16-18-20-...). I think to hit bonus i something similar
2. Invisibility -- none of the ghosts see invisible.
3. Blessed gloves would help, gloves of smiting, but knuckles are probably better. Thorns corruption improves base dices to 3d3, I think.
4. Garth respects potential, not so sure about slaves, I think shadow touch eventually will go through roof.
5.Shield interferes with unarmed skill

3. Blessed gloves don't help, but brass knuckles give a flat +3 to unarmed dmg.
5. Shield skill has 0 effect on unarmed skill. Wield a massive shield freely as you wish.

[_Ln_]

Here's how I did it:

Rollscum characters with a ring of damage. If you find an early holy water pot, bless it. Brass knuckles is an amazing find early on. Taking Agressive -> Natural Berserker is a good start.

I would advise against playing Trolls, the high St is nice, but generally not worth the slow levelling & age problems. Get yourself a Drake. Depending on your game restrictions, it would be nice for ToEF.

Shields definitely don't do anything to damage output, but you may want to decide for yourself how "pure" your run should be R/P-wise.

[Blasphemous]

Me and Bloody Lemon used to play this stuff months or years ago, it's a nice challenge.

I just lost a run where a tried to play a H2H necro using shadow touch to drain all my victims - I played as a Troll who was aged to death with 2 hits from a ghost lord (summoned by a Lich King at the Dwarven graveyard). I didn't manage to reach level 25 to unlock shadow touch but it was a fun run, although I had a few questions to help me maximize my chances next game.
1) Is there a list of strength levels to bonus damage anywhere on the wiki/forums? i.e. 20 strength adds +3 hit/damage, 25 strength adds +5 hit/damage, etc.

Not sure about this one but the really relevant part is draining, everything else is secondary. There is some stuff that you will have to deal with using magic as some creatures simply are not too suitable for touching.
Me and LN additionally employed the no-offensive-spells rule, which had the additional bonus of training H2H skill quite well. Once shadow touch has been obtained, H2H was already in mastery.

2) I foolishly didn't make potions of longevity - is there any way to reduce the chances of aging attacks? Not digging up graves for starters

Since you're playing a H2H necro, you will have to switch between normal and very aggressive tactics settings which will affect your DV negatively.
Either find armor with lots of DV or play an elf.
Preferably dark elf for find weakness synergy.
They are the toughest of elves and long-lived so ghosts should no longer be an issue.
If you're adamant about playing a brute force race, you will have to rely on alchemy.
There is no way to decrease chances of aging attacks other than through not getting hit.

3) What would be the best way to increase base H2H damage? Anything other than brass knuckles / GoGS / rings of damage? Would blessing gloves help for double damage to undead/demons?

Hmmm, interesting note about blessed gloves. I didn't think about this one but LN experimented with gauntlets of smiting which added some flat damage. Aside from that, it's just pure scaling with strength.
Rings of slaying and of damage are obviously useful, so is the fire orb and gogs. Gauntlets of strength or Ironfist might be nice as well, plus girdle of strength until you get gogs.

4) Will raising slaves via necromancy train my max mana potential, or are potions/Garth the only way?

With shadow touch and at full HP, you will be draining mana from enemies once in a while. If mana is at its maximum, your potential will increase instead.
Necro slaves are useful for capping mana before shadowtouch activates.

5) Is there a way to "dual wield" fists so you punch twice per attack? As it stands there is no downside to using a shield with H2H.

Yeah, shield is advised. I believe only monks and beastfighters get some benefits from being dual-unarmed. Monks are fine with weapons but beasties will suffer penalties if they wield something (AFAIK).
I seem to recall experimenting with and without shield and the consensus was that H2H necros should wield a good shield at all times.

[_Ln_]

With shadow touch and at full HP, you will be draining mana from enemies once in a while. If mana is at its maximum, your potential will increase instead.

Pretty sure it simply ignores the potential, giving a straight increase. At least that's what I remember happening (and I played after potential nerf).

[Blank4u47]

Pretty sure it simply ignores the potential, giving a straight increase. At least that's what I remember happening (and I played after potential nerf).

Just confirming, This is true.

[Blasphemous]

Just confirming, This is true.

Interesting. I smell another H2H necro on the way.