What do you put on the anvil?

What's your strategy for using altars? Do you use different items on every altar? How do you pick which item(s) to use, etc.

Personally, I like to use something that I have no plan on replacing, like a fedora. Then I use it on every anvil. If I don't have archaeology, I generally go for something I won't have any reason to replace for a long time. A good piece of equipment, or a piece of jewelery, etc. If all that fails, I just leave the anvil behind and come back later.

 

I like to try and forge one ring to rule them all...

 

Rings.

Krong it until it's no good anymore and then I craft a new one and start again. Good armor is a damn sight costlier, rarer and more important, so not gonna risk that on an anvil. Krong is such a jerk.

 

See I could never do that because I hate the idea of wasting my previous anvils (as in throwing something away that I've put on the anvil). To each his own, of course.

 

I like to use them on weapons because some of the melee procs you can get are really helpful. The only problem with this is that it takes a while before I find a weapon worth doing that to. While I wait for that, I usually do a ring, or if I have nothing else, a hat.

 

I tend to Krong things I have duplicates of, so if it's a bad Krong I can just swap it out with no loss.

However recently I read this on the wiki (http://www.dredmorwiki.com/wiki/Anvil_of_Krong): "Non-random artifacts (such as the Poncho With No Name) will not gain a random name when upgraded. If a positive enchantment is selected, non-random artifacts will also gain a different amount of enchantments, equal to their Artifact Quality." So it makes it sound like if the item is an artifact with a quality of 5, Kronging it will add a net value of 5 enhancements, at least that's what it sounds like to me. Yet I have the Crownstar Addendum, which according to Dredmorpedia (http://j-factor.com/dredmorpedia/#2372) has a quality of 27. I've Kronged it, and it definitely doesn't gain 27 enhancements. So either I'm interpreting the wiki wrong or one of these sources is incorrect.

 

I also read that on the wiki some time ago. I've tried many, many arifacts, and it doesn't even seem to have much effect.

 

The artifact's quality bonus is only applied once - when the item has random stats generated. All rings and amulets you find (excluding specific ones like 'Ring of Ash') have random stats which means their quality bonus has already been applied.

The best you can get Krong-wise would probably be finding a Staff of Moravic without any random stats.

 

I usually do one of these two things: if I picked archaeology, I krong the fedora like there's no tomorrow, since I want to beat FaxCelestis's almighty fedora. If i didn't, I krong rings or other secondary pieces or armor, just in case Krong decides to mess with me.

 

But wasn't Fax' Maslech found in the dungeon, and thus something with additional bonus? A gift from heavens, or something like that.

And getting back to the topic, it depends. But most of the time I krong the item that has the most useful (to me) bonuses, thus maximising the amount of time I'll spend with it if the bonus is positive.

 

No you cannot find the fedora in the dungeon, only way to get it is through archaeology. So it was all krong bonuses

 

Personally, I Krong crossbows. there are always more out there, but importantly, if you get an on-attack proc on a crossbow, it goes off in melee as well. if I get cursed, I dump it and grab another. if I get blessed, I keep it, and if I get a useful proc, I keep it for a long, long time.

 

I really dislike the anvil of Krong, unless I've got multiple copies of the same item, and I'm looking for one particular bonus, like, say, health regeneration. Otherwise, it's way, WAY too unstable. On average, after 7 consecutive krong enchantments, you'll gain about a 5 to 4 ratio of positive to negative enchantments. It's a net gain, sure, but it's a TINY net gain, and it's so spread out, and some penalties are just unsalvageable. If something gives me -3 trap sight radius, unless I'm swimming in bonuses to that, there's very little that can save it for me.

So what I generally do is wait until I get something really really awesome I'm sure to use for the rest of the game, and then use my first krong enchantment on it. I generally don't trust krong beyond that first free guaranteed beneficial enchantment with anything of value.

 

How does this work? I didn't know about this. I used to use my weapons on the anvils, but after a few curses, I would only risk something that would be easy to replace.

 

The first kronging ever in the given play-through is no-risk.

Only the first one, and switching items you krong doesn't mean every one has a no-risk chance, only the first one.

 

So, would it be better if the last skill of Archaeology would be a 100% guarantee of a positive Krong anvil effect, instead of giving you two enchantments per anvil?

 

FaxHat says otherwise. I think that 1 out of 7 times is low enough to make worth enchanting a good item over and over. Unless you get extremely unlucky, of course...

 

It's 2 out of 7, and the negative enchantments are twice as potent, according to the wiki.

 

I ve been extremely unlucky a few times...

I wish I could create The Hat as well...

 

Did it change? Or did I just get it wrong from the begining? I thought it was just one out of seven...