30 hours of gameplay and I've gotten to level three, never past it. I'm considering turning permadeath off or stepping down from medium to easy, but I still haven't been able to bring myself to do that. Honestly the only thing I can think of that would be bringing me down is the fact that I've avoided the crafting system like the plague. Keeping that crap in my inventory to me is not fun at all, becayse I'm one of those who HAS to pick everything up and either use it, sell it, or Lutefisk cube it. Therefore, if I kept crafting materials on me, I would be running back and forth to Brax every 5 minutes. I also don't like the idea of learning all the recipes and figuring out what I need and don't need. That said, I don't think crafting is an ESSENTIAL part of the game. I think there's something else I'm doing wrong, but I simply can't figure out what. I've tried a few builds out, but so far I've been getting the best results with this one: Weapon Skill (I've gone back and forth, honestly, with a focus on swords lately) Dual Wielding Killer Vegan Perception Werediggle Curse Archaeology Berserker Rage I max Killer Vegan first, for the stat boosts, then from there I generally put two points into Perception for the dodge and trap bonuses. Sometimes I put a point into Archaeology for It Belongs in a Museum, but I've pretty much come to the opinion that this doesn't give THAT much bonus EXP and is generally not worth it. That said, I'm actually considering switching out Archaeology altogether. Anyway as far as equipment goes, I try to prioritize dodge chance, nimbleness and damage overall. I usually end up with a Fedora, a Poncho With No Name, and whatever else I can find. I dunno what else to say here, so feel free to ask me questions or point out flaws in what I've already posted. Thanks!
The stat boosts from skills don't apply while you are in Werediggle form. Only stats from equipment apply. So, if you plan to stay in Werediggle form often, I'd say drop the weapon skill and Killer Vegan for something like Master of Arms.
I didn't know that. I may have to drop the curse, then. Thoughts on Artful Dodger? Might switch that in instead. I'm thinking it seems better for my build to increase my dodging ability than to take Master of Arms. Am I looking at it all wrong? Thanks for the advice.
I would say definitely turn off permadeath until you're more used to the game. There is also no shame in playing on easy. It is useful to play through at least once on easy without permadeath so that you know more of what to expect later in the game, and can plan for it from the start. I think I killed Dredmor 2 or 3 times on easy before i switched to dwarven moderation. I still don't play with permadeath, primarily because I die a lot. Frequently deliberately for amusement. If you don't already, try playing with no time to grind on. If nothing else, you'll see more of the game faster Archaeology becomes more worth it later in the dungeon when you find better artifacts. You can easily get 19K+ exp from a single item. Based on my scores after killing Dredmor, taking Archaeology and sending all artifacts I find to the museum can easily result in 3 - 4 times the amount of exp than you get without it. That's without buying artifacts from Brax. The downside is that you have less cash, but you can go the whole game without spending a single zorkmid so it's no great loss. Give Emo a try ... for one point investment you get a curse cure that also heals you a decent amount. Around dungeon level 3 or so curses/debuffs can become a bit problematic if you haven't been lucky with zodiac wands or potions of purity. The heal is a life saver too. Even if you are playing a melee build, it's worth taking one or two caster skills. They can save your ass from a distance when going toe to toe would get you dead. Promethean is good and will help you clear zoos quicker. Necro is awesome and can clear smaller zoos in 2 casts, but it's not for the feint of heart since it can be just as good at killing you as it is at killing monsters. Looking around for other people's builds may be worthwhile. It tends to take quite a bit of experimenting to find viable builds that you find fun. Hope that helps a bit.
Honestly, in my opinion, if you're going Warrior and your intentions are really Melee Combat TO THE MAX... you need more Warrior skills. The rogue skills you have now are not the greatest compliments for melee either (except perhaps Archaeology, which is nutty with whatever.) I would recommend you ditch the curse and Perception in favor of Burglary and Blacksmithing. I'd also recommend Big Game Hunter over Killer Vegan- that skill looks powerful but getting full value from it is very difficult. Dodging looses value quickly in late game and Burglary gives you a better teleport skill anyways. If you're dead set on being a werediggle I'd recommend swapping Archaeology for Master of Arms and putting one of the skills I've recommended above in the place of your weapon skill.
What stops you from getting past floor 3? Do you die from: Attrition (e.g. running out of food)? Being overpowered (e.g. a boss monster criting you)? Being overwhelmed (e.g. can't survive a zoo)? If it's attrition, try: Take an out-of-combat healing skill Alchemy / Fleshsmithing / Psionics / Fungal Arts Be sure to save all your cheese and craft Cheesy Omelets Recipe: Egg + 3 Shredded Cheese You'll need a Elven Ingot Grinder and Dwarven Ingot Press If it's being overpowered, try: Saving all your ranged weapons for boss monsters Always keep emergency items like Spatial Instability Potions and Blink Dust Take an emergency escape skill: Artful Dodger / Mathemagic / Burglary (teleport) Golemancy / Fungal Arts (summon next to the enemy to distract it) If it's being overwhelmed, try: Always fight a Zoo in a corridor where only one monster can hit you Take an in-combat healing/protection skill (vital for surviving Zoos in melee) Necronomiconomics (pact of fleeting life) Demonology (celestial circle gives 5 - get another 1 from somewhere and you'll heal 1 per turn) Try to become immune to some of the monsters on each floor Assuming you have enough armor to block all mundane ( ) damage Floor 2 Find a copper ring or copper plate boots to get 2 for Electroblobby immunity Find something with to make Deths easier Floor 3 Get 3 and some to be immune to Unfriendly AIs Get 1 to be immune to Djinns
Oh, one more thing ... If you take Blood Magic and Emo, Hermetic Phylactery (4th blood magic skill) will give you a consumable that will heal you, give you mana and remove curses. It's on a 100 turn cooldown but it's easy enough to stockpile while you're wandering around killing stuff. Casting Hermetic Phylactery will give you a nasty debuff that lasts forever and stacks up to 20 times, but the Emo curse cure will remove it. It's probably only worth going that route if you use enough mana that the earlier Blood Magic skills are worthwhile. However, once you have stockpiled enough you can ditch all your food, booze, health potions and mana potions which will free up loads of inventory space. It's still worth picking up a few Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, since they give you the Syzergy buff for free. If you can keep it up without running out of mana then you only ever need one of them, but it's worth keeping 1 or 2 on hand just in case. PGGBs usually only spawn in higher dungeon levels, but sometimes you can luck out and find one in a drink vending machine or Brax shop early on.
Weapon Skill (Axes are best late-game, Swords are best early-to-mid game.) Dual Wielding Killer Vegan Archaeology Berserker Rage So far, so good. Then... Perception --> This skill, honestly, doesn't go well with anything except a hardcore ranged-fighter build. You're generally better off with Astrology for Radiant Aura (which also grants +sight). Werediggle Curse --> As mentioned, this doesn't work well with anything weapon-use-y. I would take that exact build and add on Master of Arms and Burglary. Master of Arms will start you with an Iron Cuirass, which goes a long way toward surviving the first few floors, and if you put some points in it will give you some decent defensive buffs as well. Burglary + Archaeology will let you handle almost every trap on the first few floors, and if you put a point into it will give you all the lockpicks you'll ever need, which means more exp, which means more levels per floor. Try leveling up like this: Burglary 2 for the lockpicks. Weapon skill 2 for the proc. Weapon skill 3 because you want weapon skill 4. Weapon skill 4 for the activated ability. Berserker Rage 2 for the when-hit proc. All the way up Vegan for the stats. Burglary 3 for the Trap skill. Weapon Skill 5 because you want Weapon Skill 6. Weapon Skill 6 for the giant pile of stats. Then, if you've taken Swords, straight up Dual Wielding for the Counter chance. Or, if you've taken Axes, straight up Master of Arms for the defenses. Just my #humblebrony suggestion
I mostly concur with the above if your trying to go meele. What you were doing wrong was taking werediggle curse and rogue skills. The werediggle form ALSO disables the vegan buffs (radiant damge/flash) but not the peneltys. If your taking burglary, the only other thing I would recomend considering is swapping arcelology for fungal arts. It's a pain to use if you don't level it due to having to constantly get spores and use them, but the mushroom buffs are increadably powerful, and the fairywodger healing is excellent, and helps top off the high hp vegan gives you and helping counteract the low healing from vegan foods.
Can this player actually "swap" skills as suggested by various people? Edit the save file? Or are folks basically telling him "make a new character, the one you've got is gimped"?
