I really like melee balls to the wall fighter characters. I had trouble with rogue fighter builds, enough of that crap. Is it possible if I boost fighter levels that I make a tank that can bum rush through enemies with pure brute force and careful strategy. All of the builds I was suggested to almost FORCE that I use some cancerous magic build with magic involved. What weapon type would best serve this-spears, swords? I have gotten up to level 6 of the game and I just want to fight him on Elves (easy) difficulty. Is this possible or do I have to resort to pedantic quibbler tactics?
No way, magic isn't necessary to win the game, particularly on Elvishly Easy. Honestly, the hardest part is Dredmor who does heavy damage no matter how you choose to fight him- most people choose to pick him off at range so it's easier to escape if you have to, but it's perfectly viable to fight him in melee, if you plan it properly. I'm thinking something like: Unarmed Combat (you'll want to be using 2 Mirror Shields, so you want some way to improve your damage) Master of Arms (raise Block and AA) Shield Bearer (raise Block and AA) Berserker Rage (makes you stronger in melee, plus you get Magic Resist from one of the skills) Battle Geology (helps to protect you, also gives temporary Magic Resist from some of the skills) Smithing (to allow you to craft the Mirror Shields, plus stuff like armour and rings) -filler- (a skill that can give you healing would be a good idea, but probably not necessary if you're wise about food) You'll want to get items that raise your Block and Magic Resist to 100, which will be pretty essential to winning against Dredmor.
I forgot to mention, the Mirror Shields are important because they raise your Magic Reflect to almost 100, meaning that you will reflect Dredmor's projectile spells right back at him. This won't work on non-projectile spells, which is why you need the Magic Resist.
Do note that, even if you find the recipe, you should either not upgrade your Mirror Shields to Mirror Darkly Shields, or else keep a second pair of "normal" Mirror Shields on hand for the final floor. While Mirror Darkly Shields have better stats (1-2 points each of Pierce Resist, AA, Block, and Magic Reflect), they also give -3 Necromantic Resist -- which is exactly what you don't want when in Dredmor's melee range -- and the "defensive" procs added by the upgrade don't do enough damage to actually harm Dredmor, but can (and will) harm you. You might consider taking Tinkering as your last skill, particularly if you have all three expansion packs. Maxed Tinkering is required to upgrade the highest-grade Smithing armors (Full Plate and Embossed Serpentine Plate) to their Magnetotronic, Imperial Boilerplate, or Imperial Clockwork variants. Magnetotronic (from RotDG) provides the most AA and block by a fair margin, and also gives Voltaic Resist (which helps with Dredmor's Fulminaric Bolt). Boilerplate has a fair spread of exotic resistances, and Clockwork offers a bit of extra Melee Power (both from YHTNTEP). High Tinkering also opens up some nice options for encrusting (from CotW ... I forget if that's one of the things that made it into the core game).
I find that fungal arts is an amazing melee compliment. You get loads of mushrooms that provide tons support and fill in lots of gaps in the build not found in other trees. -Pet to full clear the first floor and get your other skills started. -healing(fairywodger/blungecap) -Early game saves (Prince) -Bonus Damage (Truffle) -Escape (Hoglantern) -Thrown ammo/confusion (Puffball) -Tankiness in a pinch (Lobstermane/Grunge Ear)
I tried this build today and I must say it's pretty epic. Killed Dredmor on DM + PD + RotDG. Almost every hit gives you 5-7 buffs, so in the final floor I had like 170, 50, 30, 80. Dredmor even couldn't corrupt my equipment, and my silver shields reflected every his missile, so killing him was pretty easy.
Battle geology is the secret to melee dredmor. First off debuff with platonic fist, so he almost never critical hit anymore. Then with the seismic uppercut, quake, and petrifaction, you keep him dizzy or encased in stone. He won't be able to cast spells or counter/dodge/block during those time. Pop an invisibility potion when all your skills are on cool down and wait for them to come back. Repeat until he is dead.
If you played with "Realms of the Diggle Gods" checked, then he will appear someplace on level 15. If the box is not checked, then he will appear on level 10 of the dungeon. On level 10, he will have weaker stats (Which is good, because you will likely be a lower level at that point).
You can melee him anyway. I've meleed him with a mage build (dual-wielded staves) because it turned out I was doing more damage that way than with my ranged attacks (I think I had some righteous damage on my staves, which helped, and probably lacked good thrown weapons). It really all depends on whether or not you can survive a few hits from him without dying. No, yoiu do not need ANY particular skills, though some will make it easier for sure.
I can hardly remember how old I am sometimes and I've been known to jumble digits when giving people my phone number. Do you think I could ever reliably remember my stats in a game probably from about a year ago or so? I tend to not pay attention to most numbers anyway when I play. But you did post a 'like' on the post from the thread I had mentioned, so now you know as much as I know about that. (http://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/the-builds-that-won-thread.5363/page-2#post-76491) From what I'm reading (actually, from what I wrote) it appears that the decision to melee him came a bit out of desperation because i was short on everything, and because I got stuck with the Diggle God of Death 'blessing' out of carelessness (which really screws with mage builds). Had it not been NTTG, and had my mana regen not been screwed with, I probably would have been happy enough wearing him down with spells and thrown items. It would have been the more conventional way to go. But NTTG is a severe handicap in the long run, so I did what I did.
