Trollish healers

[Elone]

I went all the way to ID49 and remained in between 48 and 49 and corruption was not as strong as in CoC. I know what I'm saying.

This is from GB, and it's a spoiler.

In the Infinite dungeon, N is 20 for levels 10-29, 15 for levels 30-49, 10 for levels 50-69, 5 for levels 70-89, and 2 for levels 90 and above. For other areas, N is 20 for DL 10-19, 15 for DL 20-29, 10 for DL 30-39, 5 for DL 40-44, and 2 for DL 45 and above.

The N is a multiplier. The smaller the number, the faster the corruption gets. Notice how multiplier becomes 2 when you are above CoC45, and it becomes 2 once you're over ID 90. ID dungeon does not take danger levels (but dungeon levels) into its corruption formula. ID is roughly twice as tolerant and corruption-safe to you, compared to any other dungeon.

[Grey]

The first scar will reduce your Dex and Ap scores. Every subsequent scar will not.

Interesting about the infinite dungeon... Certainly the danger level of monsters seems to follow the same sequence as the CoC. And corruption is still bad in the ID if you're trying to get to level 50 with a troll - I picked up 14 corruptions going from level 30 to level 50 in the ID. Not something most chars would do, but still shows that the ID is not a nice place to hang around. Still, I guess with a buff character going to 48/49 and stair-hopping for threat rooms could be worth a few levels if needed (though at that stage you might as well go finish the game).

[Starhawk]

Well, my troll died. I'm not sure if I'll play another. I loved having all the Str to lug stuff around, 300hp at 16th level and a pile of melee damage... but.... I think being able to level quickly would have been better.

I never did see more than a handful of spellbooks with this character, either. That might have changed things a bit.

Even with a gigantic strength and Wyrmlance, I still got trashed by the ACW in melee. I have never had a character that was able to melee the ACW to death might try a pure melee class like a fighter and see what I can do.

This sucks, too -- had 10x SoCR sitting in the old barbarian's glade waiting for me.

[Grey]

Did you have no healing potions or spenseweed? It's impossible to melee the bugger without doing some major healing every few rounds. Water Orb also helps with that (it corrupts less if you're wearing the elemental gauntlets).

I wouldn't recommend Fighters - they're fairly poor. You're better off with Monks, but just play them as if you were a Fighter (heavy armour and weapons). Barbarians are the best for outright brutality. For fast levelling gnomes outstrip everything by leaps and bounds, though hurthlings are very good too. Also remember that Barbarians, Monks, Rangers, Paladins and Fighters need 20% more xp than most other classes. Priests are quite good if you want decent melee but still want to find spellbooks - just take care with them at the very start as they're initially quite weak (though high elves start with elven chain and a long bow, which is extremely handy).

[Starhawk]

The ACW stacked a couple crits on me in quick succession and took out my last 200hp before I could trigger off the Orb. Massively unlucky.

I've beaten the game with a gnomish priest (my only victory). I had to creep through D:50 for a wands of destruction ending. I was hoping to build a character that could take on the balors and their leader and close the gate properly, then maybe after that try for some ultra endings.

Not sure what kind of character will really do the job though. I like the melee/spellcasting ability of the priest; wizards die like flies, and straight melee characters aren't really flexible enough (so little spellcasting). I was hoping the healer would be a nice new hybrid - but I got very little spells and my melee was (relatively) wimpy, even with maces of destruction, Tactics skill, etc etc.

[gut]

> I loved having all the Str to lug stuff around, 300hp at
> 16th level and a pile of melee damage

and

> Even with a gigantic strength and Wyrmlance, I still
> got trashed by the ACW in melee.

So you were doing the ToEF at exp. level 16? Remember,
most PC's would be doing the Pyramid at that level. This
is the scenario in which trolls benefit from the ID threat
rooms. It wouldn't have taken long to navigate to a rather
deep ID level, if you use the 'stairhopping' diving method.
The troll would have gained much needed exp. levels, with
very little corruption. When trolls do gain exp. levels, it
makes a BIG difference.

For the Wyrm, I do believe the best tactic is to stun him.
Just get a 'meat shield' between you and the ACW (demons
work nicely), and zap some wands of stunning until you
get him. If you have the stun ray spell, all the better. You
can also use disabling potions to great effect. Confusion is
best, but blindness/cursed invis works good too.

[Grey]

So you were doing the ToEF at exp. level 16? Remember,
most PC's would be doing the Pyramid at that level.

Quite normal for a troll to be honest. I've cleared the Tower with great ease with a level 17 troll before (and that was pretty short on equipment too). 300 HP and Wyrmlance is almost a guarantee of success in there. Taking over 200 damage in one round is simply bizarrely unlucky. Not that extra levels would have hurted, but I think he really was quite ready.

[Starhawk]

Anyone know if a potion of sickness would've worked on the ACW? My Stun Ray spell kept bouncing off...

I did the Pyramid the instant I hit level 13 and it was a cakewalk, and I didn't have too much of a problem with the skeletal king -- I think I just handled the ACW fight badly and had poor luck.

[gut]

The ACW is capable of deciding to fight to death
in a blind rage. That means he can get extra turns
on top of being horribly difficult. If you are going
to melee him, you should either be at a very high
exp. level, or find some method of disabling him.

Recently, I tried to stun the ACW with a stun ray
spell, effectivity 1. It took seven bolts with a
wizard, so I imagine that it would take more with
a non-wizard. With my next wizard though, I trained
the spell to effectivity 7, before entering the tower.
It then only took one stun ray to disable him.

[riktikticheck]

hehe my recent win, the bard meleed the ACW to death and i don't think i headled more than once during that fight....

i think i had about 250-300 hp about 50-60 DV with 30-35 PV so he missed a few and his average hit only caused a small amount of damage, can't really be sure now, but as i remember it the deamons hit me more with punching trough armor than the ACW ever did - same goes for the other orb guardians to, they rarely penetrate armor, even if they have high to hot, so stock up on the PV gear and you feel alot safer.

i especially remember with warmth the ecro with str of atlas and moloch armor, the stone beast didn't damage me once, and then i died as i forgot to renew the atlas but the point is the grues penetrate armor easily, the guardians don't, they do crit but you are well protectedby your armor.