[Z] Taking on the Serpent of Chaos

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Greetings,

I've been trying to give ZAngband's Mindcrafter class a try, and I'm
doing pretty well. Finally reached plvl 50 last night. I've got all
the critical resistances and +25 unhasted speed (+35 speed whenever I'm
fighting something, since haste is basically free for high level
mindcrafters).

The problem I'm running into is finding a way to dish out enough
damage. All of the deepest dungeons are Horror, Hell, or Grave
dungeons - meaning they're filled to the brim with high level undead
and demons, which are immune to a Mindcrafter's bread-and-butter attack
spells.

All of the undead uniques (except Vecna) are killed off at this point,
but it was getting pretty tough at the end; I was relying on huge
stacks of rods, and basically doing a variation of pillar dancing to
avoid summons.

Those tricks aint gonna work on the Serpent, though. He resists all
the basic elements, making my rods useless. My best attack spell,
mindwave, does a respectable 250 damage, but it will become too much of
a risk once there are demons and undead around - which is sure to
happen quickly if the Serpent summons anything at all, given that I
have to fight him in the aforementioned Hell, Horror, or Grave
dungeons.

Going on, my throwing/shooting skill doesn't seem high enough to even
*think* about using bows. And meleeing the Serpent doesn't seem like a
great idea, either...

Any ideas on how to take down The Big Boss?

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Yeah, pulverise is sound damage (iirc), which is probably unresisted.
Any chance of charming some deep guys to fight with you?

I try hit and run using pulverise and blink/teleport. Perhaps you can
acquire a lot of banish or genocide to deal with the undead/demons?

Joshua

Christophe Cavalaria wrote:

> Roger wrote:
>
>
>>Greetings,
>>
>>I've been trying to give ZAngband's Mindcrafter class a try, and I'm
>>doing pretty well. Finally reached plvl 50 last night. I've got all
>>the critical resistances and +25 unhasted speed (+35 speed whenever I'm
>>fighting something, since haste is basically free for high level
>>mindcrafters).
>>
>>The problem I'm running into is finding a way to dish out enough
>>damage. All of the deepest dungeons are Horror, Hell, or Grave
>>dungeons - meaning they're filled to the brim with high level undead
>>and demons, which are immune to a Mindcrafter's bread-and-butter attack
>>spells.
>>
>>All of the undead uniques (except Vecna) are killed off at this point,
>>but it was getting pretty tough at the end; I was relying on huge
>>stacks of rods, and basically doing a variation of pillar dancing to
>>avoid summons.
>>
>>Those tricks aint gonna work on the Serpent, though. He resists all
>>the basic elements, making my rods useless. My best attack spell,
>>mindwave, does a respectable 250 damage, but it will become too much of
>>a risk once there are demons and undead around - which is sure to
>>happen quickly if the Serpent summons anything at all, given that I
>>have to fight him in the aforementioned Hell, Horror, or Grave
>>dungeons.
>>
>>Going on, my throwing/shooting skill doesn't seem high enough to even
>>*think* about using bows. And meleeing the Serpent doesn't seem like a
>>great idea, either...
>>
>>Any ideas on how to take down The Big Boss?
>
>
> I seem to recall Mindcrafters having a sound attack called pulverize or
> something like that. Also, you have a a good power "Adrenaline Rush" that
> should allows you to fight with a weapon and heal if needed.

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

"Roger" <rogercnorris@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1127346630.791386.313260@g44g2000cwa.googlegroupm...
> Thanks for all the suggestions.
>
> I'm curious about the Dragon Scale Mails, though. I thought it
> wouldn't recharge unless you were weaing it? Carrying a few extra
> would give you a couple extra breaths to start, but then they'd be
> useless for the rest of the fight. Or am I completely off base here?
>
> - Roger
>
You're exactly right about the Dragon Scale Mails. My favorite trick
with the Serpent is to flip through the levels to find one with water.
Bexause of its Fire Aura, the Serpent cannot cross the water. So if
you dig yourself in you'd need only two or three Runes of Protection
against summons.

Willem.

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

That is true, for most of the fight they would be useless. However,
Serpent has 25k HP, PDSM does 1.6k last time I knew? So it would make
for a good opening attack, not to mention that if things get drawn out,
like if you teleport or something like that, then there will be time
for multiple breaths.

I'm not suggesting that you make DSMs your primary or even secondary
attack against Serpent, just that it's worth looking at (and it's also
very useful in earlier parts of game).

In reference to the water post that someone else made, you could also
easily get by with using even less runes of protection. Just stand in
the middle of the water, runes of protection, then push the Serpent
away with Telekinetic Wave (that must be the only useful application of
the ability in the whole game).