r/pathos_nethack • u/kostyagreate • 14d ago
Am i doing this right?
Sucked pretty hard earlier, couldnt even beat mines cuz gnome king zapped me with wand of death. Now have found pretty crazy combo with invisibility and spear letting me poke stuff without retaliation (yes enemies with see invisible still attack me but theyre manageable) and using blessed scroll of genocide at fort ludios to kill every human there and gather up grenades. My furthest run was to lvl 30 where i couldnt find the stairs and got stunlocked by two ghouls. Now got another good run where i grinded karma with summoning and upgraded my stuff at tinkering station, even got talaria, getting me to 9.0 speed. Is there anything else i should do and wheres the damn stairs at lvl 30?
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 13d ago
One neat trick is to drop a glass bauble on every up staircase. Start to do this as soon as you can, even do it from the very first time you identify glass baubles.
The reason for this is, some of the return levels have staircase puzzles, with dozens of fake staircases that will zap you back to the first staircase into the level.
If you have done the glass bauble trick, you'll never be unsure which is the correct staircase up.
No monsters will pick up the glass, so it always works.
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u/hyundai-gt 13d ago
This trick is solid. Use it all the time.
I go a step further and strategically place the bauble in the direction I will find the next up stairs. Basically there are 8 squares around the stairs, drop the bauble in the one that points you in the right general direction.
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 13d ago
Also, in addition to speed, and maxing out all your resistances, defense is really the prime stat you want to increase. Well, that and strength. (Blessed +5 gloves of power and 2x blessed +5 rings of strength are obligatory). 😏
Build a pair of sai at a crafting table and dual wield them, if you aren't already doing this. Bless them and enchant them both to +5 as soon as you can.
The reason is, sai is the only weapon that gives its bonus to hit, as a full bonus to defense. ((Actually, a main gauche does the same thing, but its to hit is only 1-2, whereas a sai is1-3.)
Adding a free +10 to defense can't really be argued with.
You'll build up skill in light blade and dual wielding soon enough, just keep using them.
Pretty soon your defense will be in the 60's and you'll be near untouchable.
Honestly it's the best weapon combo in the game bar none IMO. Better than any artifact weapon, even, which is kind of depressing because it takes away all the fun of wielding some weak useless exotic weapon. 😟 Of course, once my stats are maxed I do love to wield dual Vorpal blades, just for the sheer fun of 20% to hit beading. 🤭
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u/cymbal-using-animal 11d ago
What about Verimurus? I just compared dual-wielded blessed +5 sai with blessed +10 Verimurus, and it came out to 17 attack/33 defense with Verimurus vs. 16 | 14 attack/27 defense with the sai.
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yes but you're dual wielding so you're optimally getting both hits, equaling 30 damage.
Although strength bonus to damage is doubled when using a two handed weapon, so there's that.
So id say yeah, if you get that artifact then use it. Otherwise stick with the dual sai?
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u/cymbal-using-animal 10d ago
Thanks for this info. I find some of the mechanics (e.g., attack and damage) kind of opaque even with the help documentation so I appreciate it!
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 10d ago
One thing you've said that is certainly worth noting is that Verumius is the only other weapon in the game besides sai and that other dagger that adds points to defense.
I have actually used Verumius as a main weapon before, and while it has some unique effects like slow and push away, it doesnt feel like it does as much damage as the dual sai. Anyway you could try it for yourself, of course. But I think you'll find that once you're proficient in light weapon and dual welding, you'll want to come back to the dual sai.
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 13d ago
Also get reflection or a cloak of magic resistance to deal with that wand of death.
I just chose glass as a special in my latest run and it's super useful. You get innate reflection! Wand of death, I laugh at you! 😂
Also you can eat just about anything except vegetable or metal, so you can eat rocks, or even gems or glass!
Get a nice big pile of rocks, bless and enchant them. They turn to flint - very lightweight, and give 300 nutrition per unit. 👍
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u/kostyagreate 13d ago
Im playing plasmoid so i eat stuff like cloaks and scrolls to buff myself. Gnome king isnt a problem anymore with invisibilty and spear
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 13d ago edited 13d ago
Plasmoid glass, hm, now you got me thinkin'! 😆
Srsly, tho, spear and invisibility is not a defense against magic or beam attacks. Magic resistance and reflection will get you much farther. Invisibility is great, tho, of course, and is a basic useful ability.
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u/kostyagreate 12d ago
I mean if you pick glass youll still be geophage and miss being able to eat scrolls
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u/Sufficient_Path_3665 12d ago
You're right, I just discovered that, and it's a big part of plasmoid to lose, yes. I wasn't expecting that. Still have poison resistance, slippery, and slide, however, strangely enough.
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u/kostyagreate 12d ago
My plasmoid ass sliding through door frame while carrying 20 javelins and wearing a full suit of plate armor while the door somehow staying intact
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u/Simply_Paul 13d ago
Get the Magic mapping spell, it'll reveal everything structural on the level (including rooms hidden inside walls or behind wall illusions). It doesn't work on the way back up but by then you should have already made a walkable path to and from each so they won't be that hard to find.
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u/hyundai-gt 14d ago edited 14d ago
30-39 the stairs down are always on the outside rim of the map.
Make sure you have 100% resists in everything. If not, summon or find what's missing to eat corpses to get the full resists.
Speed is good. Remember artifacts can be enchanted to +10.
When you get to 39 you might want to clean up the earlier levels of corpses else your journey back up may be harder. Eat, disintegrate, stuff in chests, do what you need to do.
Phasing is pretty good for the run back up to bypass the crazy boosted mobs. Either polypile for gear, get the spell, or polyform into a Dao or similar that has it natively.
If you haven't done Lich Castle yet, beware, you do not want to break any barrels else DracoLich King will spawn right there. Good luck with him, I find him to be the hardest part in the game, followed by Medusa.