05-07-2003, 07:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-07-2003, 08:04 AM by the Langolier.)
Warriors can be the most fun class of them all, but they are also the slowest to gain experience. Sorcerers and rogues can rely on powerful spells to level, something along the lines of: *teleport* *fireball* *fireball* *fireball* *teleport* etc. Warriors require the most skill to play and most tatics call for a lot of retreating and patience.
But what if you just want to level up as fast as possible? What if you could level up as fast as a mage (ok... almost)?
The idea is nothing new. Equip stealth items and clear hell. Most normal characters don't tend consider it, but when you come from the right angle (literally) it can be suprising how fast a warrior can clear hell. Here is what you will need:
-80% light radius
8 scrolls of infrasion (per game)
haste weapon
High AC and/or good blocking
minimum one slvl 15 spell
Equipment setup 1 (no resistances with high block / high AC):
Gotterdamerung
Kings sword of haste
Armor of precision
(or Awesome FPM <of precision> if you want AC)
Awesome shield of the tiger
<Dragons> Amulet of perfection
<Dragons> Ring of perfection
Ring of the dark
Equipment setup 2 (resistances):
Thinking cap
Kings sword of haste
Obsidian armor <of suffix>
Emerald shield <of suffix>
Dragons amulet of the lion
Ring of the dark
Ring of the dark
Enter a new level with your stealth items equipped. Select an slvl 15 spell in the speedbook, then cast an infrasion scroll from your belt. This will cast a level 15 infrasion, which will last for 7 minutes 43.5 seconds (with the thinking cap, the duration will increase by 2 minutes per scroll). Although you can't see the geography of the level, you will be able to find a group of monsters easily. This group will lead to another group, then another, and so on. The majority of the level can be cleared this way with some occasional castings of Town portal / firewall to light up the level, and can be cleared easily in two scorlls if infravision. None of this is new of course. When you take advantage of a feature of stealth, however, you can many times dispatch a group of monsters in a one-way battle.
Stealth doesn't actually lower the activation radius to 1 tile; it works a bit differently. In the N W S E directions, a monster will actually be activated two tiles away. Also, enemies to a diagonal (or up, right, left, down with respect to the monitor) will not be activated even a single space away. Interestingly, when you attack them (you will have to hold shift) you can even hit them without activating them.
You will be able to kill most enemies in a single group using this tatic of attacking from the diagonal. Occasionally it will be necessary to activate one or two monsters due to the their formation (with 2 tile activation radius. With a little practice, you will be able to quickly decide how you need to approach a group to activate the least number of monsters. Take the ones you activate one at a time. Melee attackers should be no problem one on one. Don't worry about activating witches. They will be caught in an endless loop - first moving closer to be within attack range, then moving away because of their AI. They will rarely fire a bloodstar, and with no resistances you will be able to block it. Lazurus' chamber is a pushover. Only lazarus himself needs to be activated to clear the chamber. You will want to stone curse him to avoid his powerful fireball, especially if you choose to go with no resistances.
The only enemies that will prove a challenge are advocates and balrogs (if you don't have fire resistances). Try not to activate them if you can avoid it. When activating monsters, you will have a choice to activate one monster or the other - many times the other enemy will not be a balrog. As for advocates, never allow them to be more than one square away from you. Once activated, they will shoot fireballs at you even if they teleport away beyond 1 tile. It is a better idea to teleport to a tile and activate three at the same time (each one next to you) than it is to activate only one that will shoot fireballs at you.
I have found that Hell/hell can be cleared roughly in 35-40 minutes solo, including time indentifying drops and buying potions (personally, this is not much slower if not equal to the time it takes me to clear hell with my mage). Each hell/hell clear also gives over 5 million points of experience, so you can roughly gauge how much time it takes to get a certain amount of experience. Don't forget you will have to spend time shopping for scrolls of infravision too.
This build isn't the most exciting and not very difficult. It can just be used to gain experience much faster than normal (who doesn't occasionally like to level up quickly). Plus, looking at the equipment requirements, most of it is normally used anyways, so the only extra equipment that may be needed is a gotterdamerung and a ring of the dark (perfect block or high AC is not really required when facing one enemy at a time). On top of everything, you don't have to chase down those damned witches! Unless, of course, you like that sort of thing.
Edit: LOL can a mod. please fix the title?
But what if you just want to level up as fast as possible? What if you could level up as fast as a mage (ok... almost)?
The idea is nothing new. Equip stealth items and clear hell. Most normal characters don't tend consider it, but when you come from the right angle (literally) it can be suprising how fast a warrior can clear hell. Here is what you will need:
-80% light radius
8 scrolls of infrasion (per game)
haste weapon
High AC and/or good blocking
minimum one slvl 15 spell
Equipment setup 1 (no resistances with high block / high AC):
Gotterdamerung
Kings sword of haste
Armor of precision
(or Awesome FPM <of precision> if you want AC)
Awesome shield of the tiger
<Dragons> Amulet of perfection
<Dragons> Ring of perfection
Ring of the dark
Equipment setup 2 (resistances):
Thinking cap
Kings sword of haste
Obsidian armor <of suffix>
Emerald shield <of suffix>
Dragons amulet of the lion
Ring of the dark
Ring of the dark
Enter a new level with your stealth items equipped. Select an slvl 15 spell in the speedbook, then cast an infrasion scroll from your belt. This will cast a level 15 infrasion, which will last for 7 minutes 43.5 seconds (with the thinking cap, the duration will increase by 2 minutes per scroll). Although you can't see the geography of the level, you will be able to find a group of monsters easily. This group will lead to another group, then another, and so on. The majority of the level can be cleared this way with some occasional castings of Town portal / firewall to light up the level, and can be cleared easily in two scorlls if infravision. None of this is new of course. When you take advantage of a feature of stealth, however, you can many times dispatch a group of monsters in a one-way battle.
Stealth doesn't actually lower the activation radius to 1 tile; it works a bit differently. In the N W S E directions, a monster will actually be activated two tiles away. Also, enemies to a diagonal (or up, right, left, down with respect to the monitor) will not be activated even a single space away. Interestingly, when you attack them (you will have to hold shift) you can even hit them without activating them.
You will be able to kill most enemies in a single group using this tatic of attacking from the diagonal. Occasionally it will be necessary to activate one or two monsters due to the their formation (with 2 tile activation radius. With a little practice, you will be able to quickly decide how you need to approach a group to activate the least number of monsters. Take the ones you activate one at a time. Melee attackers should be no problem one on one. Don't worry about activating witches. They will be caught in an endless loop - first moving closer to be within attack range, then moving away because of their AI. They will rarely fire a bloodstar, and with no resistances you will be able to block it. Lazurus' chamber is a pushover. Only lazarus himself needs to be activated to clear the chamber. You will want to stone curse him to avoid his powerful fireball, especially if you choose to go with no resistances.
The only enemies that will prove a challenge are advocates and balrogs (if you don't have fire resistances). Try not to activate them if you can avoid it. When activating monsters, you will have a choice to activate one monster or the other - many times the other enemy will not be a balrog. As for advocates, never allow them to be more than one square away from you. Once activated, they will shoot fireballs at you even if they teleport away beyond 1 tile. It is a better idea to teleport to a tile and activate three at the same time (each one next to you) than it is to activate only one that will shoot fireballs at you.
I have found that Hell/hell can be cleared roughly in 35-40 minutes solo, including time indentifying drops and buying potions (personally, this is not much slower if not equal to the time it takes me to clear hell with my mage). Each hell/hell clear also gives over 5 million points of experience, so you can roughly gauge how much time it takes to get a certain amount of experience. Don't forget you will have to spend time shopping for scrolls of infravision too.
This build isn't the most exciting and not very difficult. It can just be used to gain experience much faster than normal (who doesn't occasionally like to level up quickly). Plus, looking at the equipment requirements, most of it is normally used anyways, so the only extra equipment that may be needed is a gotterdamerung and a ring of the dark (perfect block or high AC is not really required when facing one enemy at a time). On top of everything, you don't have to chase down those damned witches! Unless, of course, you like that sort of thing.
Edit: LOL can a mod. please fix the title?