Finally killed Dredmor using an unarmed/shields/crossbow/perception/steam knight/burglary/tinkerer build. Maxed all my skills except shields (just got duck and cover and left it "for later") and crossbow (started putting point in it after everything else. It is kind of a useless skill set aside from bolt recovery - you get way more from unarmed). Didn't wind up using tinkering much (as usual with my crafting skills) but I guess it was worth the points for the steam knight abilities. Mostly I kicked things that were close and shot things that were far and jumped around monster zoos. But the point is - look at my hat collection. (And proof of finally beating that prick)
Oh, also to note: I had that same syzygy going since the second item I found on the first floor turned out to be a gargleblaster. Hooray for magelessness.