OK, so I've been thinking a little about builds relying heavily on archery and skills to help with staying out of trouble. The problem is early game, those first few DL where you just don't have the resources for making a lot of bolts, or even lower if you have crappy luck... An example of what I'm thinking would be Archery Tinkering Alchemy Rogue Scientist Perception Artful Dodger Burglary/Archaeology/Pirate with some character levels and a good supply of higher end bolts it should be fairly devastating... but almost useless until then...
Archery Tinkering Perception That's the core -- and in fact, without mods (or alpha Deadshot), the sum total -- of an archery build. That leaves you four skills to establish your early game and give you other utility. Crafting skills obviously flow naturally with Perception, and with Tinkering, Alchemy gives 2x as many healing potions as well as everything else it does. If you don't take any magic, you can use all your booze for Aqua Vitae, which is golden. So Alchemy is in. That gives us healing, invis, blink, and uncurse without even finding any hidden recipes. So that gives us three skills to build a killer early game. This is cake. Maces synergize with Archery by providing knockback, or if you're feeling defensive, Unarmed can do the same slightly differently. Either way, Shield Savant adds more knockback (and this one comes with a stun.) Practical Geology synergizes by providing ranged daze, which significantly lowers defenses for several turns (allowing archery to be used as a named-mob killer), and Petrification, which can give you plenty of time to get out to your maximum range before shooting a big, dangerous foe as it approaches you again. So: Archery Tinkering Perception Alchemy Maces Shield Bearer Geology. There's a build that can sing. Tinker yourself up a Clockwork Thunderclap or Mace of Windu alongside a Bolt Eruptor or a Clockwork Rail Launcher. Knock people around proc-style with Shield Bearer's capstone 10% proc of Shield Bash plus Mace's Dwarven Handshake, or activatedly with Shield Bash and Ragnar's Meteor. Keep them stunned with Shield Bash and/or Quake. Save your Coal for Invisibility potions, your Zinc for Blink, and your rust for Healing. Be sure to build and save a few Potions of Clear Vision to turn into Potions of Purity for when you get a really nasty debuff. Tinkering can use Black Powder to create Makeshift Bombs to open secret walls and Concussion Bombs to get items off of islands. There's not a lot that this build can't do, actually, and with 3/3/1 Warrior/Rogue/Wizard, you won't be terribly squishy along the way. Just save all of your Clockwork Drill Bombs for Dredmor, and you're golden.
Ragnar's Meteor can do that just better, since it's not a consumable, at least for the 1x1 island surrounded by 3x3 water. ^^
It looks like you might have a bit of trouble with monster zoos there. Lots of ranged abilities, not as many AoEs. I'd suggest swapping Maces for Rogue Science. Sonic Blast and Baromatic Vortex Blast both have knockback at range, Acidical Projector, Alchemical Toxic Contanister, and Baromatic Vortex Blast are all ranged AoEs, and all 4 of them are boosted by and in turn boost the tinkering and alchemy skills you took.
Hmm, some interesting stuff there... gone with a slight variant of Archery Mace Shield Bearer Alchemy Tinkering Perception Rogue Scientist This... should get interesting
Suggested levelup order: [ Maces 2, Shield 3] in any order for knockbacks and to decrease squishiness -- >Perception 2 to double your lewt --> Tinkering all the way to the top --> [Rogue Scientist 2, Archery to the top] in any order --> go from there. Just my thoughts.
Well got through a double zoo on DL 2 with some careful use of a door, sonic pulse wave, and once i got the first level up doing it, acid spray.
Actually, I would strongly suggest dropping Alchemy in favor of Battle Geology. Rogue Scientist gives you 2, which is enough for your healing, invis, and teleport potions. You won't have them the first couple levels, but that doesn't matter much. In other words, instead of tweaking Essence's build by swapping Battle Geology -> Rogue Scientist, I suggest swapping Alchemy - > Rogue Scientist. Incidentally it gives you Tinkering levels as well, which has even more synergy with your core archery concept.
Agreed. Geology's lv 1 skill is enough to clear the entire first floor for you, and combined with Maces and Shield Bearer, could probably get you all the way to floor 3 without taking a single useful skill.
True, but the Rogue Scientist's Acid Spray and Gas Canister are enhanced by alchemy level and I've had a higher level alchemy character use them to truly devastating effect.
