I personally use... -Maces (knockback is great, I might use swords cuz there are so many good ones) -Dual Wielding (obviously) -Burglary (free lockpicks, free teleport, free stuff, and free invisibility without a penalty? win!) -Berserker Rage (I like procs) -Archaeology (mostly for Kronian Ritual and It Belongs In a Museum) -Smithing (extra support early on, throwing weaponry later) -Alchemy (extra iron ingots/rust from smithing is nice for getting mountains of health potions) It won me GRPD once on vanilla and GRPD once with ROTDG.
I usually find some 2 skill combo I want to try out and then random until I hit that combo, along with somehting that isnt completely horrifyingly bad (like Big Game Hunter, Vampire and Vegan for instance)
Right now, I'm a big fan of this build: Viking Magic Battle Geology Tinkering Alchemy Rogue Scientist Demonology Burglary
Funny, I just yesterday put up a new list of builds on my strategy guide. Enjoy! http://strangedesign.typepad.com/st...redmor-strategy-guide-part-6-more-builds.html
Necronomiconomics Unarmed (find two tomes early and you have enough necro resist) Killer Vegan Emomancy Leylines Archaeology Burglary
Most recent one was: Werediggle Assassination Archeology Big Game Hunter Berserker Rage Viking Wizardry Smithing Werediggle and Big Game Hunter (diggle army) are probably more important than the other skills. Viking Wizardry doesn't need any points since lightning beak/poke/thing works really good. Question about werediggle: do Burliness bonuses from Smithing apply to it? If not i'd probably swap Smithing for Burglary to get infinite lockpicks..
Burliness from Smithing does NOT apply to your werediggle form. Burglary is a good swap for it, since you can still get a bit of trap removal skill, and lockpicks work great in either form. However, since your werediggle form is very dependent upon equipment, I still think Smithing is a (slightly) stronger choice overall.
Fax: Try swapping out Viking Magic for Astrology some time - I've been having good games with Astro instead of Viking on my gishes.
Mr_Strange, re: your strategy guide: don't you get double ingots from Tinkering just like you get them from Smithing? I thought that the Ingot Press worked off of whichever of the two was higher... Anyway, a build I can't seem to get enough of: Runecaster Vampirism (yup!) Artful Dodger Rogue Scientist Bushido Unarmed Kung Fu It's basically a full-on Shadowrun build. The addition of Vampirism (which synergizes well with heavy armor, Bushido's Mt. Self, and Batty Stance's vampire bite proc) and Runecaster (which lets you occasionally dump all of that useless extra mana you have sitting around into useful defensive effects including a healing rune that really helps Vampirism out that much more) turn this into an entirely different game. Also, the ranged-combat options you get from Rogue Scientist enable you to soften up enemies before you have to start kicking them, which is nice. Needful Things: get at least 3 levels into Rogue Scientist in order to pick up a level of Alchemy for to craft Potions of Healing. Get at least 2 levels into Runecaster to pick up Mass 1st-Circle Runes; you'll be using them a lot. Get at least 2 levels into Artful Dodger to pick up a controlled Teleport -- Rune of Displacement is nice, but sometimes you just need to get onto that island. Get at least 2 levels into Bushido to pick up Mt. Self, but don't bother with more than that because Mind Like Meatloaf is a dead level (you don't benefit from HP Regen). Similarly, Kung Fu is great for Batty Stance and Gnome Stance, but you don't get the healing benefits of Tuber Stance or Carroty Stance. On the other hand, the +6 Armor of Stone Golem Stance is pretty useful. Finally, you actually want to drive up the Vampirism tree on this one; the extra mana you get from Psychic Vampire will enable more runecasting and the Wizard levels you get from it will make your runes stronger. DON'T run up Runecaster, though -- 1st and 2nd circle runes will cripple your inventory enough as it is. If you do go for Mass 2nd-Circle Runes, don't think that means that you have to use 3rd-circle runes, too.
Personally I really like this one. Staves Dual Wield Necro Astrology Blood Magic Burglary Fungal Arts Staves gives stun effects on melee, which are huge for defense. Dual Wield is pretty obviously for using two staves at once, I don't think I've ever been far enough in a game to spend a single skill point on it though. Necro is pivotal. Pact of Fleeting Life is your bread and butter for both self-healing and damage output (magic power = huge damage on melee). Tenebrous Rift is THE zoo killer and/or any packed room killer and/or a single mob killer if you so desire to cast it. Eldritch Inhabitation is pretty bomb too especially against anything that doesn't move and thus stands in the fire - with enough magic power it is a pretty nasty DoT too. Finally Mark of Chthon is a nice melee buffer but you'll probably have trouble keeping it up until later in the game. Astrology is fantastic, not for the necro resist, but for the defensive stun proc. Not only that, the blinding flash your first buff can proc does great damage at the beginning of the game and still decent damage midgame as your magic power scales up. It is really all about the stun though. Later on, blinding flash can act as an on demand area stun if you get surrounded and Syzygy and Celestial Aegis are just two more melee buffs to stack on later in the game. Also the aetherial resist is pretty nice. Blood Magic, of course, provides you with tons of mana as well as some magic boosting buffs on kills. Also the Phylactry, even with the nerf, is an amazing heal which you can easily afford to go around with one stack of the debuff up late game giving you two consecutive heals on demand. Burglary really fills in the utility slots. It gives you that needed trap sight and disarm skill, lockpicks... precious lockpicks... and a much needed teleport. Fungal arts is all about the mushrooms. Tons and tons of mushrooms. The pets are decent as distractions also and can even be used to heal yourself with necro at no mana cost.
I am so going to have to try out some of the builds in this tread - they sound awesome. I got the Astrology/Necronomics by chance a while back while randoming for the Unarmed/Throwing combo and was blown away - and that was without any other skills to back it up (well I got Leywalker but that is hardly worth anything against zoos). And the other ones look like great fun as well
Berserker Rage - Killing Blow Crossbow - Max for Ammo recovery. Archeology - Krong, but take It Belongs in a Museum early. Smithing- Max. Fill gear gaps. Search for hidden recipes for artifact generating items (Crafting Emerald Necklace is like crafting EXP) Demonology- Celestial Circle and Abyssal Fire, or Infernal Pact. Maxing it out before the fire floor is a good idea, but watch out for Fish Paladins. Astrology- Celestial Shield Piracy - Up to Mists of the Corsair. Not a very high priority Astrology, Archaeology, Berserker Rage and Piracy are all strong starters. Getting gems to drop early helps with quickly building fund and buying gear. Use proceeds from gems to buy upgrades and artifacts to sacrifice for EXP using Archaeology. Keep a store of Emeralds for Emerald Encrusted Gold Rings(Early on, they're a significant health and recovery boost). Astrology provides bonus additional damage and a solid defensive effect on its first rank, and can be left alone until later in the game. Berserker Rage also provides damage proc bonuses and durability bonuses with it early on, so you can skip it for later. Put a point in Archaeology, and move on(Pick up Krong later.) I normally put a point in Smithing afterwords and pick up some basic gear, and level 2 smithing opens up access to Emerald Encrusted Gold Rings. Pick up Celestial Circle as soon as possible next. Frevor is a nice proc ability that boosts your damage when you get hit, but Celestial Circle(45+ Block, 70+ Resist) will be one of you best friends between floors 2-6, and will still be vital as you reach closer to Dredmor. You can keep leveling Demonology and pick up Infernal Pact for a 4 summon spawn ability that works as a great distraction. When you reach your first zoo, find a bottleneck(an area accessible only from 1 side, or 2 sides(Front and back) and use Celestial Circle. Kill enemies that come out looking for you. Keep drinks handy to help fuel your Celestial Circle. Don't move from where you are, and you should be alright. If you managed to find gold on the early floor, and plundered some emeralds, Celestial Circle and 2 Emerald Encrusted Rings will make you very hard to kill, on top of your other abilities. Start building on Berserker Rage and pick up Killing Blow as soon as you can after Celestial Circle. Killing Blow grants a bonus 100 crit until you perform a melee attack. However, the bonus is also conveyed to Crossbows and Thrown weapons, but will not remove the buff. Keep an eye out for a tinkering craft tool(You should find plenty of them.) When you can, convert Copper to Bronze and Iron to Steel(Black Pearls from Piracy help quite a bit, since you can grind them into chalk). The crafts produce 2 ingots per useful ingot, and produce stronger arrows when crafted with the tinker tool. Stock up on ingots when you can, because you'll need them until you Max Crossbow. Plastic bolts are great for clearing weak enemies out, so don't turn your nose up to plastic ingots or plastic ore. Build Crossbow and pick up your recovery. Keep an eye out for strong tome items for later levels, especially artifact tomes with bonus damage. Rifle through Bolt Dispensers for special bolts, especially Squid and Mass Destruction bolts. Acid Bottle and Poison Bottles are also pretty awesome. Keep Squid Bolts for blasting zoos, and Bolts of Mass Destruction for Dremor. Acid Bottle Bolts and Poison Bottle Bolts are good for breaking down choked off areas, but alternate them with other arrows, since the area effect will persist without you needing to spam them too often. Scythed bolts are incredible damage dealers, and will carry you through the late levels while using 'Killing Blow' As you reach further down, keep an eye out for Bolt Eruptors and Golden Crossbows. Golden Crossbows are great for hitting monsters from Evil Chests, then running away and letting the Doomhit effect kill them. Bolt Erruptors have built in AOE, and deal a fairly massive 20(10 pierce, 10 fire) damage. Artifact Bolt Erruptors, especially those from Evil Chests, can be insanely powerful.
Oh, heck, I'll bite. Glass Cannon Mage-y Type™ Burglary Ley-walker Blood Magic Magic Training or Wands Insert 3 Spell Schools here Tanky McTankerson™ Burglary Master of Arms Mastering Shield Bearer Fungal Arts/Fleshsmithing *weapon skill of choice* Pick 2 from pool of Assassination, Smithing, Berserker Rage, Artful Dodger, Perception, Archaeology, or a Weapon Skill Glass Cannon Rogue-y Type™ Burglary Dual-wielding Assassination Berserker Rage Fungal Arts/Fleshsmithing Pick 2 from pool of Master of Arms (Mastering), Artful Dodger, Perception, and Archaeology, or a Weapon Skill For this build, try wearing only "Rogue" or "Leather" or "Mage" type armors - basically, nothing that decreases , , , etc. Good Luck! I can't even do it half the time and it's one of my favorite builds to fail with play. =p
And thus I'll join the discussion with my "Kazeto lacks sleep once again" build, which is this: Burglary (because lockpicks and related OCDs) Tinkering (because I'm a masochist) Clockwork Knight (I don't even know why) Shield Bearer / Master of Arms (randomly) Big Game Hunter (for healing, because all hail hyper-metabolism) Assassination / Tactical Mod (for the higher offensive abilities without using the benefits of the two crafting skills I chose and actually choosing a weapon skill) Smithing (see position #2) You may officially call me insane...
I call this build I Hate My Inventory: Smithing Tinkering Wandcrafting Alchemy Rogue Scientist Clockwork Knight Archaeology
I think you should switch Archaeology with Ruigi's Runecrafting if it's supposed to be as backpack-breaking as possible.
Let's see, right now I'm playing this and having a ton of fun on DL 13 or so of beta. My first run through in a long while. 1) Unarmed 2) Shield Bearer 3) Master of Arms 4) Fleshsmithing 5) Blood Magic 6) Veganism 7) Battle Geology While Battle Geology is pretty useful, I'd probably swap it out for something else if I make another run with a similar build. I really like the seismic uppercut though, it's basically nerve staple + a melee attack (if you do it at range 1) on a CD of 12. And it's hard to justify going unarmed again when this run I found like 8 staffs of godwin on DL 11 and 12. But still, I hit pretty dang hard in melee with a tome and shield and all the overpowered gear you find. I really love fleshsmithing right now though. You get a pet first level, a heal that can heal most of my 170 hp, and a zoo clearing miasma. The other spells might suck, but what you do get is great. Now that block prevents crits, a 100% block build with the ability to cast spells is pretty invincible. A dual staff build has to be insane right now.
[10:12] <FaxCelestis> this is a lunatic random build [10:12] <FaxCelestis> but I'm going to do it because I hate my inventory [10:12] <FaxCelestis> alchemy, wandcrafting, archaeology, smithing, tinkering, clockwork knight, rogue scientist [10:12] <Mining> You forgot Runecrafting.
Runecaster isn't even something to joke about in reference to your inventory. 14 empty slots -- JUST FOURTEEN, INCLUDING YOUR BELT -- after you get 4th-circle runes...and I hear Ruigi's considering adding a couple of new runes to the mix. That's not 'I hate my inventory', that's 'this skill damn well better do everything I need to do or I'm shafted.' Fortunately, it does.