On Killing Dredmor

Ok, I've spent lots of time exploring and enjoying the game - but now I really judge my builds on how well they can kill Lord Dredmor. I've played tons of random / poor builds very successfully - only Vampirism has really been a problem for me. Any other skill combination I can generally muddle through to Dredmor's level.

But how to actually kill him? High block and ~25 armor is nice - pretty much anybody can get that. But it only helps against his melee attack, which comes very rarely. Dodge is useless against him - and counter-attack is worse than useless.

So what defenses are actually worthwhile? I only know of three:
Health, Invisibility, and magic reflect. (Maybe teleport, though that's more utility than defense).

Resistances are also important - especially Necro and Electric. Drinking Voltaic potions during the fight is a fine idea.

Most of my characters keep anti-magic traps around, hoping to place them under Lord Dredmor.

How can we actually kill him, assuming we can survive long enough to do so? I did it last night with a dual-wield axe character, but that was pretty crazy. He teleports around so much - clearly ranged damage is the way to go. Obvious Firebally works, as does Recursive Curse or a lightning bolt. Some bolts do good damage against him - mostly elemental damages. Skull bolts did just 3 - though I didn't have anything like an optimal crossbow.

I'd like to lay out a solid plan to kill him, which doesn't require any specific skills. Just a list of how much health, how much resistance, and how many bolts / thrown / lucky melee strikes are required.

 

Best way I've found is to use Astrology's capstone and Magic Training's silence. In general, so long as I have a way to:
A) stick to him
B) Heal for ~25 HP / round (i.e. health potion + regen potion + food + 1/round, or fertility, etc.)
C) Damage him for 50+ a round (Astro capstone, good melee hits, etc.) for at least 20 rounds (i.e. 20+ bolts) at a time.

 

Something that works well for any build: buy out the contents of every single Throw! vending maching you encounter in Floors 11-15 and lob the contents at Dredmor until he dies from it. I've done just this on a couple of characters. Using said characters' abilities was pretty much optional.

 

Don't spells also get blocked? Or is that the game using the block sound/animation when the damage is absorbed? Or a combo of both? I've never been clear about this.

Holy Hand Grenades are really good. like 40-50 damage a hit

 

Guess what the only item is that spawns in the Throw! machines on the deepest parts of the dungeon?

 

Clockwork Sawblades also spawn in Throw! machines in the lower levels of the dungeon. I Clockwork Sawblades.

 

Do they do good damage against Dred?
Cause I got like 100, combined with about 70 melee power

 

The first time I beat DoD (GR/PD) was with Clockwork Knight and Throw.

Let's just say that you have enough to kill Dredmor six or seven times over.

They might be a little overpowered, actually.

 

Another good defense for mage characters is to use Unliving Wall. None of Dred's spells seem to work when he's on the other side of an Unliving Wall blockade, but you can still see and cast spells at him just fine. Though, make sure you use instant effect or spellmine spells, and not projectiles.

 

Unliving Wall is nice, but it won't stop a Fulminaric Bolt, so don't let your guard down.

 

Glad this came up in the search as I was just about to make a thread. I successfully reached Dredmor on a RotDG run for the first time with a melee build (my previous success was a mage without the + 5 levels.)

It shocked me just how little damage he took. From the posts I've seen around the place, holy hand grenades and bolts of mass destruction seemed like solid anti-dredmor weapons. After throwing 2 grenades, the bolt, and the communism bomb, he hardly took any damage.

My understanding is that he only takes solid damage from and , astrology provides decent enough , but are there any reliable skills/tips to aid another melee run? Is it worth even attempting to fight him if you don't have a weapon with at least 20 in this damage type?

 

One thing I just realized is that the sonic wands give the dazed status, which is a 8 turn debuff that deals -40 -30 and prevent casting magic! If you worried about dreadmor's magic and don't have emomancy, magical law, battle geology, or magic training then you still have the ability to give the prevent cast status.

If I'm going try to melee dreadmor then I go with the diggle god of digging. The fleshbore status on melee weakens dreadmor's so much that you stand a chance to hurt him.

When you get to about 3/4 your health pop a healing potion. if you need to pop an invisibility items and then use healing items (not skills or you lose your invisible)

 

Enchanted root beer. Always works for goofy loveable underdog heroes against a persistent undead antagonist.

Wait, wrong game? ... Wrong hero?! I guess the other goofball underdog, Roger Wilco, has the real solution. Almost-accidental explosive power.

Before RotDG I used to stockpile Bolts of Mass Destruction. Nowadays, from floors 11-15 I begin stockpiling the most powerful bolts or thrown consumables and just try to turn Dredmor into a fireworks show before he can kill me. Pretty inelegant, though.

 

Oh nice, and I didn't realise you could drink potions while invisible!

Now excuse me for the questions, but even if he blocks, some exotic damage still gets through, correct?

 

My unarmed tank beat him by staying at range (invis potion stockpile...), a pair of mirror shields and spamming those throwable circular saws from YHtNtEP.

 

Block reduces normal damage by 75% and exotic by 50%. If he block you need to deal 91 , , and/or or 45, 31, 21, 37, 57, 21, 37, 56, 35, 28, 1, or 1 to deal just 1 damage to dreadmor. You really want to debuff that block of his. That is why Battle Geology+ Diggle god of digging is really nice. You can debuff him with +5, -140, -65, -40, -20 to -80 and some other stats reduced.

 

Killing Dredmor in melee is a little more difficult than killing him at range, mainly because you have to find a way to approach him without taking five or six hard hitting spells. Invisiblity potions, teleports and inky hoglanterns are all good choices for that.

Dealing damage to Dredmor requires a high EDR, enough to keep his dodge below 20% (so about 40 for RotDG players) and high Critical, which will negate his Counter and let you do full damage through his blocks. Debuffing his block gets you extra damage from your criticals, which is nice but not required.

I recommend fighting him with the Diggle God of Fertility buff, just for the healing proc, health and regen. Using the communism Partisan attack will give you a chance to pause the battle every so often and scarf food, mushrooms and potions to stay healthy and defended, or you can just draw down your stack of invisibility items. Sometimes he'll just teleport away, which is nice because its a chance to heal, but you do have to get close to him again. Utitlize the new stealth mechanics and terrain to make that easier.

Finally, whatever you do, don't mute him if you plan to be in melee. He'll default to his melee attack, which is far mor dangerous than all but one of his spells, and nearly impossible to dodge or block.

 

Emomancy.

I zapped Dredmor with the antimagic field, then rained Holy Hand Grenades and Clockwork Sawblades down on him. BoMDs didn't seem to do much, surprisingly, but the HHG+CS combo - especially the Sawblades - had him (*ahem*) cut down to size in almost no time at all.

 

...Okay, I have got to be out of the loop here somehow.

Do BoMDs ever do anything useful other than digging? Because I swear whenever I use them they don't do much of anything at all.

 

Well, they can be crafted into The Bomb, now...
Btw, just made a build with the intent of spamming high level weapons, armor and bombs:
Tinkering
Smithing
Clockwork Knight
Rouge Scientist
Polearms
Perception
Paranormal Investigator
Allows me to get 7 tinkering for The Bomb, a ton of recipes, very high level throwing items, bolts, armor and weapons.
Also, nice active skills.
And, loot.