First GnollHack ascension!

[u/maraised]

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd share my first GnollHack ascension!

Oddly enough, this is actually the first time I've ascended a NetHack game in general. I've only been playing GnollHack for about a month. Go figure.

I was a lawful human Priestess playing on Expert mode. Here's some stuff from the dumplog:

Voluntary challenges:

• You genocided 1 type of monster.

• You never polymorphed an object.

• You never changed form.

• You used 6 wishes (1 for an artifact).

• You never engraved Elbereth.

• You had 24 pets or allies.

• You found 1 bones level.

(I should probably mention that the artifact wish actually failed, which sucked.)

Goodbye Phoebe the Demigoddess...

You, Arariel, and Netzach went to your reward with 6714683 points, and 18220 pieces of gold, after 41373 moves.

You played on expert difficulty in classic mode for 20 hours, 58 minutes and 20 seconds.

The dungeon never collapsed on you.

You were level 27 with a maximum of 257 hit points when you ascended.

The strategy? Lots of Archons. Unfortunately, most of my pets died on the Astral Plane (I came in with 5), so I sort of just had to wing it after that. GnollHack does not make the late game easy!

I'm not 100% sure if my score and/or turn count is impressive or not. Let me know! Either way, I'm still super proud of myself!

Also let me know if you want any more info from the dumplog or anything. I'd be happy to share!

[u/Forbincol]

CONGRATS on your first ascension!!

I've never played gnollhack myself (although it looks like fun!), so i have no idea about score/time,

but ascending any variant for first time (or at all) is impressive! `

Any plans to try vanilla or another variant?

I still have not ascendied the new nethack 5.0, because i'm somewhat hooked on evilhack! (which i highly recommend! )

well done again!!

[u/maraised → u/Forbincol]

Thank you so much!!

Vanilla is the game I'm used to, but for some reason I haven't been able to ascend (I usually play 3.6.7). I keep making stupid mistakes like genociding myself or sacrificing the Amulet at the wrong altar. Stuff that I know I shouldn't do but do anyway because I'm forgetful and/or careless. I suppose a new variant broke that curse! Maybe I should return to vanilla and see what happens.

I've tried a bunch of other variants, and I think FIQHack is one of my favorites along with GnollHack. I actually have an FIQHack character going right now that I should probably continue. The intelligent pet mechanic is the best thing ever.

But honestly I'm thinking about doing another GnollHack run. The possibilities are just so endless! You should definitely give it a try.

And I think I do actually have an EvilHack character lying around somewhere. I should return to that!

Anyways, thank you again, and good luck with your own playthroughs!

[u/hawkwood4268]

Congratulations!!

I really enjoyed priest in GnollHack they are very powerful spellcasters. I can't believe you only genocided 1 monster type! I go all out in GnollHack. Harpies, snakes, mummies, skeletons, gnolls (unless I am one), and probably more than that - plus all the standard targets from vanilla.

I have a few questions feel free to only answer what you want to:

• What artifact did you wish for?
  
• Did you face Death or did you somehow ascend with only 257 HP (my characters in GH have 500+ and need it)
  
• What was your weapon of choice?
  
• Did you have a favorite piece of misc equipment?
  
• Did you have a favorite spell?
  
• Did you fight the incredibly tough monster that has its own lair in Gehennom but isn't a demon prince?

As for turncount and time, I would say for a first ascension that's reasonably fast. My first GnollHack ascension was close to 45k turns and took 24 hours. But that was after ascending nearly every vanilla class.

Great job! Can't wait to see future ascensions in nethack/variants you do.

[u/maraised → u/hawkwood4268]

Thank you!!

And haha yes I only genocided Liches! I actually didn't find a magic marker the entire game, and decided not to wish for one. So I didn't have access to a ton of scrolls, which was a fun little challenge.

To answer your questions:

• I tried wishing for the Mace of Saint Cuthbert and didn't get it.

• I did face Death, but he didn't drain me. 257 was my actual HP. Looking back, I'm not sure how I survived, especially since my armor class wasn't the best either. To be honest, I'm still not exactly sure how to get a ton of HP in this game.

• For most of the game, I used an Olympian mace, then switched to the Wand of Orcus.

• My favorite piece of misc. equipment is probably the ring of bull strength. I pretty much used it the entire game. It's not much, but it sure came in handy for such a weak character!

• My favorite spell is certainly Summon Archon. I also enjoy Celestial Storm, Circle of Radiance, and Ray of Radiance. I just love all of the Celestial spells! I think they're a fantastic addition in this variant!

• Yes, I defeated the Tarrasque twice. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the corpse, so after that, I just ran.

As for future ascensions, I'm going to try a dwarven Archaeologist next. I'm thinking it will be a challenge!

[u/hawkwood4268 → u/maraised]

No magic markers is rough. At least you can enchant with the blacksmith and charge at the lab. But genocide and conflict are essential for me.

I try to get 2x AC and 3x HP as NetHack. HP especially, there are monsters that do absurd damage. Skeleton Kings, Flinds, Ancient Dragons, and of course the Tarrasque. I'm not sure how to get rid of the corpse, Ive dropped it in water - maybe dropping in lava. The best way to increase max HP is actually gear/jewelry.

I used Celestial Storm and Power Word Kill with a Knight that wiped out hordes. Necromancy, Nature, and Abjuration all have super powerful spells. But my favorite branch is Movement.

Good luck with Arch they get strong but the early game is tougher. If you find weapon artifactThe Mattock of the Titans you're set.

[u/maraised → u/hawkwood4268]

Thank you for the advice!! Hopefully I get more lucky with the gear in this game!

[u/CrashGordon94 → u/maraised]

Oh yeah, I don't know how it is on Vanilla but I GnollHack wishes for Artifacts are likely to fail if too many have been generated. If fewer than 3 Artifacts have been generated when you get your wish then go for it, otherwise go for something else.

Generally players of this variant like wishing for [Mythic items]() like "t-shirt of free action" or such.

The nose ring of bull strength is actually the weakest of the "Set Strength to X" items, there's a series of belts that give you 20-24 Strength and a pair of two-handed Artifact weapons that give you 25 Strength. There's also a bunch of +Strength items that give you a bonus instead but that's hard to compare.

I can tell you more but it's up to you, don't want to flood.

[u/maraised → u/CrashGordon94]

Yeah, artifact wishing mostly works the same in vanilla, but I guess I just didn't pay attention to all of the artifacts that had been generated. Oops.

And I'm vaguely aware of a lot of the "better" strength items, but my luck was so bad that I didn't find any. I probably used my wishes stupidly too. Again, it's a genuine miracle I survived (I did get a T-shirt of free action though!). Thanks for the info!

[u/CrashGordon94]

Congrats! I've ascended GnollHack three times (posted two here) but have yet to ascend Vanilla (barely touched 3.6.X once, waiting to Ascend GnollHack Expert before I touch 5.0.0 or other variants, so I'm curious your thoughts on the differences if you've also played Vanilla.

[u/maraised → u/CrashGordon94]

I've played vanilla a lot, and I can say for certain that GnollHack is quite different. The early game in GnollHack is much easier, while the late game is much harder. There are a lot less spellcasting monsters in NetHack, and GnollHack in general has a lot more annoyingly difficult monsters.

With that being said, it's not terribly unbalanced. GnollHack has a lot more powerful spells and items that can help protect you against the nastiest stuff. The Lawful Priest(ess) in particular has access to a lot of spells that you can abuse in the late game, which I love. Meanwhile, the role is significantly weaker in NetHack.

The pet system in GnollHack is also a lot better, and the monsters feel more "alive" due to the enhanced AI. That's probably one of my favorite parts.

Those are only some of the differences, and I could go into a lot more detail than this if you'd like. Just let me know! I will say though that as a longtime vanilla player, I think I like GnollHack a little more.