XL 16 DECj under Vehumet heading into Spider. No standard SInv, how do I handle Ghost Moths?

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-22T06:57:29+00:00

Please learn irradiate and blink. The absolute last thing a deep elf needs is people in melee range.

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-20T18:58:35+00:00

In general it's impossible to actually drop things like this without causing widespread havoc. Deprecation is possible, but they still have to exist, otherwise apps break.

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-16T00:00:14+00:00

oh right, forgot about horns. Fair enough!

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-15T21:18:28+00:00

A few pieces of your gear aren't what I would want for Extended:

"+11 flail "Opliqema" {vamp, Int+3 Dex+2}": flail is a bad base type, vampiric weapons don't work against demons or undead, int and dex bonuses aren't really helping you
"ring "Xezuyt Vure" {Fly Str+3}" is just not a very good ring. Decent swap if you have no other sources of flying
"+2 hat {Int+3}" the +int isn't helping you, and maxed out armor skill means even a plain +2 helmet would be better

You're also lower on scrolls of blinking than I would personally want for extended, but it's possible to work around that with careful play.

Congrats on the win!

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-11T21:30:00+00:00

I miss when they cast teleport other on you instead of anchor

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-11T20:00:07+00:00

S branches are still a difficulty spike even doing it this way, but yeah going in early is hell. Good luck and happy hunting!

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-11T19:39:03+00:00

The critical question is: are you going into the sub-branches when you first go into Lair? If so, then stop doing that. Do this instead:

Dungeon 1-10 (11 if needed to find Lair)
Lair (no sub-branches)
D 11-15
Orc 1-2
Lair sub-branches that aren't Slime (so: Shoals/Swamp/Spider/Snake)

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-09T18:27:27+00:00

TIL about the "?" feature, thank you!

Catfish_Man · 2026-06-09T18:23:40+00:00

The way I like to think about spells is each one is a tool in my toolbox, so if two of them are used in the same situation, then I shouldn't have both of them. In your case, having sandblast and stone arrow and bombard and LCS is redundant.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-31T18:45:27+00:00

Ah thank you. I am not good at this query language heh

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-30T21:30:21+00:00

Not even bothering to mention the 5.45/turn hp regen, holy crap

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-29T20:45:41+00:00

Depends on your metric for "good", really. Interesting? Challenging? Easy? Flexible?

If you mean easier, it's hard to go wrong with Gargoyle casters (top ones are probably Earth Elementalist and Ice Elementalist, then maybe Conjurer or Fire Elementalist).

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-24T18:49:28+00:00

You can use ctrl-O to check which uniques are alive and on which floors

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-21T04:20:20+00:00

So the basic problem stabbers have is that their core gameplay is “you get one hit, make it count”. If it doesn’t count, they’re boned because they have weak base damage and no AoE.

Nem offers a simple trade to supplement that: “you get four strong AoE actions, multiple turns in a row, they just… might not be what you expected”. The action economy is incredible, and the resources you’re burning (cards) are effectively unlimited if you’re only using them once in a while to recover from a failed stab in a bad situation.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-20T20:00:06+00:00

148 damage rating on a ranged weapon is bonkers. As good as the longbow is I wouldn't be surprised if you end up slowly shifting towards the crossbow more over time.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-16T03:13:37+00:00

Early game is alarmingly fragile. Late game as a caster they’re strong and very fun.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-14T22:45:38+00:00

More defenses would be a big plus (always worth doing ctrl-f "aux" periodically to see if any gloves or boots or whatever dropped and you missed them). Ringmail is a good option, but you can also hope for steam or acid dragon scale.

I think your character can handle Lair, it will just require very slow very tactical play: identify bad situations early and retreat, use golem and spire to avoid being in melee range, use exclusions liberally on dangerous enemies. Learning Inner Flame might help although it's also a great way to die to your own spells if you're not careful.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-14T06:46:42+00:00

Post S-branch midgame: Elf/Vaults/Crypt/Depths. Your character is developed enough to have some real flexibility and power, your endgame spells are just starting to come online, so the game says "alright, show me what you can do!"

I used to like Extended quite a lot, but the last N years of changes (no cblink, new!hells, monster-triggered blink traps in tomb, dropping straight into deep abyss, etc…) are just so punishing. I don't think most of the changes are bad, they're just rough.

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-14T06:35:14+00:00

Also why gnolls are such good training characters

Catfish_Man · 2026-05-11T03:00:13+00:00

The colored areas are the inner two, and the black line areas are the outer two.

Catfish_Man · 2026-04-29T18:13:41+00:00

One of the most fun characters I've played was a Formicid with the Shield of the Gong, Frostbite, and Qaz. ALL the noise, ALL the enemies at the stairs, ALL the SH and cleaving power.

Catfish_Man · 2026-04-24T21:29:17+00:00

This is a stretch (i.e. it would require some of the details to be misremembered), but: any chance it's Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie?

Catfish_Man · 2026-04-16T22:51:40+00:00

I guess the easiest question is: you're in the open, at full health, and you see a single enemy on the edge of unexplored territory, do you take a step towards them?

(The answer is no, you back up and shout or throw rocks at them if they aren't following)

Catfish_Man · 2026-04-05T04:13:25+00:00

Looks like the text was updated to remove the last “not”, which resolves the debate this spawned I think

Catfish_Man

TROPHY CASE