CIP : SpWr of Ru (11 runes, need advice for the last 4)

So I’ve been experimenting recently with Spriggan Warpers. I hadn’t tried Warpers in 0.32 yet, and while I found them not that fun to play previously, Maxwell’s Portable Piledriver is really fun, especially with Spriggans that can just run away and reposition great.

I decided I wanted to go all-in on Tloc (maybe not the smartest decision), and acquiring a manual early on in Lair on top of the +4 ability was probably an undeserved reward. Idk how well my game would have gone without that, given that I was quite commited to that plan. Because of that, I decided to worship Ru for powerful abilities that don’t require investing in one more skill. I gave them my left hand first (wasn’t planning on shields or orb, no great rings found), then some Will (BIG mistake to do it that early. I nearly died in Snake:4 when I got hit with dimensional anchor. Now in the endgame, with a lvl27 Spriggan in Death Form, it makes close to zero difference), and my armour skill (lol). I wanted to go for something I really wouldn’t miss for my last sacrifice, like spell success chance, but since I had already refused several I settled for -5AC, thinking my AC was below 5 most of the time so it wouldn’t matter. And then I found a ring of the Tortoise , and a +4 hat to replace my -2 hat ¯_ (ツ)_/¯

MVPs are definitely the Death Talisman (turns out a one-handed Spriggan is a bit short on the slots for resistances), Robe of Vines (which I didn’t notice at first when clearing Elf:3, only found it later after doing all of Vaults, Depths, Crypt and Shoals), and Cloak of Starlight. Now enemies often fail to attack me, if they do anyway they mostly miss me and get blinded, and when they by some miracle hurt me Ru will give them a bad status included paralysis. Thanks to my artifact amulet of MPRegen and my Robe of Vines, I can tank a bit and keep spamming Gell’s Gavotte and Malign Gateway, and I don’t miss potion healing anyway because I gave up the ability to drink.

I do keep other armour and potions if I see something really tough that I need to prepare for. I can outrun most stuff and because of that I have a pretty big stack of Teleport scrolls I can use for the rare stuff I can’t outrun.

Now comes the question : Death Form is ill-suited to Gehenna and Tartarus, and I’m not sure my heavy quickblade will cut it in Dis. Dis also features a ton of damnation that neither Death form nor my 40+ EV will save me from. And then there’s Tomb : I’ve splatted many characters in Tomb recently due to hubris, I would like to not add that one to the pile.

My build can probably be improved a bit :

  • If I’m doing a Hell/Tomb branch while alive, holy wrath would be good. I stupidly did not pick up a eudemon blade in Pandemonium when I had the opportunity, but I could go back (or go to the Abyss) to find another one. Or just use a rapier or quick blade of holy wrath I guess (I’m assuming rapier is better here)?
  • My skills are obviously over the top. i started training spellcasting again because I got a manual so why not. I didn’t even finish the 2nd manual of dodging before I got to 27. I could maybe afford to learn a non-Tloc spell, especially given that I have many spells I almost never use now (Teleport other doesn’t hit much, MPP being single target and requiring setup means it’s only viable for stuff I can kill with my dagger anyway, Summon Forest was very good in Zot but in Hell/Pan the dryad is obliterated instantly, Dispersal is in theory useful as a panic button but Disjunction fills that role better, and I learned IMB (and trained Conjuratrions) thinking it would give me smth to do while Gavotte is recharging but I end up just using Manifold Assault instead for its synergy with Death Form. Any advice for spells that would be good to pick up? I thought maybe Haunt? The problem is that summons other than the tentacle just get abjured…
  • Draw out Power and Apocalypse are both very good (I one-shot Lom Lobon after paralysing them with Apocalypse), but I’m never making use of Power Leap. Is this normal because I’m so fast? I’m just always afraid I’ll be exhausted when I really badly need one of the other abilities. The draining has only ever been an issue once in Cocytus when I was in a really bad spot and needed to use several abilities in a row, otherwise they tend to pay for themselves with little draining left by the end of the fight.
  • I’m mostly using Horn of Geryon, Mirror (on Pan/Hell Lords) and Gravitambourine (to make sure a big bad can’t run away from the tentacle) as evocables, should I just ditch the others? I’m not sure how good a sack of spiders can be in extended, even with 27 evo
 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.32.1 (webtiles) character file.

Subbak the Plane Walker (Spriggan Warper)         Turns: 110668, Time: 13:36:22

Health: 170/170    AC:  4    Str:  8    XL:     27
Magic:  50/50      EV: 49    Int: 32    God:    Ru [******]
Gold:   5647       SH:  0    Dex: 23    Spells: 13/71 levels left

rFire   + . .        a - +9 quick blade (heavy)
rCold   + + .        (shield unavailable)
rNeg    + + +        E - +1 robe of Vines {NoPotionHeal Regen++++}
rPois   ∞            Y - +4 hat "Gisyge" {rElec rC+ Dex+2}
rElec   +            S - +1 cloak of Starlight {*Dazzle EV+4 Stlth--}
rCorr   .            (gloves unavailable)
SInv    +            (boots unavailable)
Will    ++++.        w - amulet of Febid {rF+ RegenMP+ Int+3}
Stlth   +++          (ring unavailable)
HPRegen 3.68/turn    V - +6 ring of intelligence
MPRegen 0.72/turn

%: no passive effects
@: death-form, studying 4 skills, very quick
A: vile attack, siphon essence, torment immunity, poison immunity, negative
energy immunity, undead cold resistance, no potions, very small, no large
weapons, unfitting armour, see invisible, speed 3, missing a hand, inability to
train armour, reduced AC 1, weak-willed 1, agile 1, poison resistance
}: 11/15 runes: serpentine, barnacled, slimy, silver, icy, abyssal, demonic,
glowing, magical, fiery, dark
a: Siphon Essence, Begin Untransformation, Renounce Religion, Draw Out Power,
Power Leap, Apocalypse


You are on level 1 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Ru.
Ru is exalted by your worship.
You are an undying horror.

You have visited 14 branches of the dungeon, and seen 64 of its levels.
You have visited Pandemonium 2 times, and seen 23 of its levels.
You have visited the Abyss 3 times.
You have also visited: Bailey, Ice Cave and Desolation.

You have collected 13015 gold pieces.
You have spent 7368 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand Weapons
 a - a +9 heavy quick blade (weapon)
 b - the +4 quick blade of Sixtel {freeze, rF+ Will+}
   (You acquired it on level 3 of the Depths)   
   
   rF+:        It protects you from fire.
   Will+:      It increases your willpower.
Missiles
 v - 11 throwing nets
 z - 67 boomerangs
 I - 17 atropa-tipped darts (quivered)
 M - 10 datura-tipped darts
 N - 9 curare-tipped darts
Armour
 d - the scarf of Miracles {shadows, rC+ Dex+3}
   (You acquired it in Pandemonium)   
   
   Dex+3:      It affects your dexterity (+3).
   rC+:        It protects you from cold.
 g - the +5 acid dragon scales "Rimaess" {rF+ Will+ rCorr}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Abyss)   
   
   rF+:        It protects you from fire.
   Will+:      It increases your willpower.
   rCorr:      It protects you from acid and corrosion.
 E - the +1 robe of Vines (worn) {NoPotionHeal Regen++++}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   NoPotionHeal: Its wearer cannot be healed by potions.
   Regen++++:  It increases your rate of health regeneration.
 S - the +1 cloak of Starlight (worn) {*Dazzle EV+4 Stlth--}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults)   
   
   *Dazzle:    It may blind those who miss an attack against the wearer in
   melee combat.
   EV+4:       It affects your evasion (+4).
   Stlth--:    It makes you much less stealthy.
 Y - the +4 hat "Gisyge" (worn) {rElec rC+ Dex+2}
   (You took it off Wiglaf on level 2 of the Vaults)   
   
   Dex+2:      It affects your dexterity (+2).
   rC+:        It protects you from cold.
   rElec:      It insulates you from electricity.
Jewellery
 i - a ring of flight
 m - a ring of resist corrosion
 w - the amulet of Febid (around neck) {rF+ RegenMP+ Int+3}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Pits of Slime)   
   
   [amulet of magic regeneration]
   
   It increases your rate of magic regeneration.
   Int+3:      It affects your intelligence (+3).
   rF+:        It protects you from fire.
   RegenMP+:   It increases your rate of magic regeneration.
 P - a ring of protection from fire
 V - a +6 ring of intelligence (right hand)
Talismans
 l - a talisman of death (active)
Wands
 f - a wand of polymorph (22)
 C - a wand of flame (194)
 D - a wand of light (40)
 H - a wand of iceblast (57)
 K - a wand of charming (70)
 R - a wand of mindburst (38)
 T - a wand of digging (20)
Scrolls
 c - 6 scrolls of blinking
 e - 4 scrolls of torment
 h - 4 scrolls of revelation
 j - 14 scrolls of teleportation
 k - 10 scrolls of vulnerability
 o - 9 scrolls of poison
 u - 9 scrolls of fear
 x - 5 scrolls of silence
 F - 6 scrolls of immolation
 G - 15 scrolls of fog
 L - a scroll of summoning
Potions
 n - 8 potions of haste
 p - 4 potions of resistance
 s - 13 potions of might
 t - 8 potions of invisibility
 O - 8 potions of brilliance
Miscellaneous
 y - the horn of Geryon
 J - a Gell's gravitambourine (2/2)
 Q - a sack of spiders
 U - a condenser vane
 X - a phantom mirror
 Z - a lightning rod (4/4)


   Skills:
 + Level 25.7 Fighting
 O Level 27 Short Blades
 + Level 19.1 Throwing
 O Level 27 Dodging
 - Level 10.0 Stealth
 + Level 22.5 Spellcasting
 - Level 7.0 Conjurations
 - Level 12.0 Summonings
 O Level 27 Translocations
 - Level 4.0 Air Magic
 O Level 27 Evocations
 - Level 23.0 Shapeshifting


You have 13 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power      Damage    Failure   Level
a - Blink                 Tloc           100%       N/A       0%          2
b - Maxwell's Portable P  Tloc           100%       (3-9)d9   0%          3
c - Teleport Other        Tloc           100%       N/A       0%          3
d - Lesser Beckoning      Tloc           100%       N/A       0%          2
e - Apportation           Tloc           100%       N/A       0%          1
f - Manifold Assault      Tloc           59%        N/A       0%          7
g - Gell's Gavotte        Tloc           59%        2d(37-56) 0%          6
h - Passage of Golubria   Tloc           100%       N/A       0%          4
i - Malign Gateway        Summ/Tloc      51%        N/A       1%          7
j - Summon Forest         Summ/Tloc      51%        N/A       0%          5
k - Disjunction           Tloc           59%        N/A       1%          8
l - Dispersal             Tloc           59%        N/A       0%          6
m - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj/Tloc      98%        2d19 (+2d10%          4

Your spell library contains the following spells:

 Spells                   Type           Power      Damage    Failure   Level
 Summon Small Mammal      Summ           100%       N/A       0%          1
 Call Imp                 Summ           100%       N/A       0%          2
 Momentum Strike          Conj/Tloc      100%       3d10      0%          2
 Volatile Blastmotes      Fire/Tloc      100%       2d18      0%          3
 Vhi's Electric Charge    Tloc/Air       100%       N/A       0%          4
 Foxfire                  Conj/Fire      100%       2x1d9     1%          1
 Freeze                   Ice            100%       1d10      1%          1
 Kiss of Death            Conj/Necr      100%       2d13      1%          1
 Magic Dart               Conj           100%       1d8       1%          1
 Sandblast                Erth           72%        2d16      1%          1
 Shock                    Conj/Air       100%       1d9       1%          1
 Slow                     Hex            100%       N/A       1%          1
 Soul Splinter            Necr           100%       N/A       1%          1
 Grave Claw               Necr           72%        2d12      1%          2
 Jinxbite                 Hex            72%        N/A       1%          2
 Static Discharge         Conj/Air       100%       3-8/arc   1%          2
 Sublimation of Blood     Necr           36%        N/A       1%          2
 Call Canine Familiar     Summ           85%        N/A       1%          3
 Hailstorm                Conj/Ice       55%        3d11      1%          3
 Mephitic Cloud           Conj/Alch/Air  56%        N/A       1%          3
 Stone Arrow              Conj/Erth      100%       3d13      1%          3
 Summon Ice Beast         Ice/Summ       65%        N/A       1%          3
 Airstrike                Air            28%        2d(5-21)  1%          4
 Animate Armour           Summ/Erth      100%       N/A       1%          4
 Brom's Barrelling Bould  Conj/Erth      55%        2d9       1%          4
 Dimensional Bullseye     Hex/Tloc       44%        N/A       1%          4
 Flame Wave               Conj/Fire      55%        2d13      1%          4
 Fulminant Prism          Conj/Alch      27%        3d14      1%          4
 Martyr's Knell           Necr/Summ      65%        N/A       1%          4
 Summon Blazeheart Golem  Fire/Summ      65%        N/A       1%          4
 Summon Lightning Spire   Summ/Air       72%        3d10      1%          4
 Iskenderun's Battlesphe  Conj           69%        2d12      1%          5
 Summon Mana Viper        Hex/Summ       65%        N/A       1%          5
 Summon Cactus Giant      Summ           42%        N/A       1%          6
 Confusing Touch          Hex            36%        N/A       2%          3
 Frozen Ramparts          Ice            72%        1d11      2%          3
 Fugue of the Fallen      Necr           36%        N/A       2%          3
 Inner Flame              Hex/Fire       36%        N/A       2%          3
 Ozocubu's Armour         Ice            36%        N/A       2%          3
 Sigil of Binding         Hex            36%        N/A       2%          3
 Tukima's Dance           Hex            36%        N/A       2%          3
 Cigotuvi's Putrefaction  Necr/Air       48%        N/A       3%          4
 Fireball                 Conj/Fire      27%        3d12      5%          5
 Freezing Cloud           Conj/Ice/Air   28%        6-21      5%          5
 Irradiate                Conj/Alch      27%        3d20      5%          5
 Monstrous Menagerie      Summ           42%        N/A       5%          7
 Summon Hydra             Summ           42%        N/A       5%          7
 Anguish                  Hex/Necr       18%        N/A       9%          4
 Animate Dead             Necr           36%        N/A       9%          4
 Cause Fear               Hex            18%        N/A       9%          4
 Dispel Undead            Necr           36%        3d15      9%          4
 Ignite Poison            Fire/Alch      36%        N/A       9%          4
 Leda's Liquefaction      Alch/Erth      18%        N/A       9%          4
 Petrify                  Alch/Erth      36%        N/A       9%          4
 Sticky Flame             Fire/Alch      36%        2d8       9%          4
 Conjure Ball Lightning   Conj/Air       31%        3x3d10    14%         6
 Spellforged Servitor     Conj/Summ      38%        N/A       14%         7
 Alistair's Intoxication  Alch           24%        N/A       24%         5
 Borgnjor's Vile Clutch   Necr/Erth      18%        N/A       24%         5
 Curse of Agony           Necr           36%        N/A       24%         5
 Hoarfrost Cannonade      Ice/Alch       18%        3d6/3d13  24%         5
 Lee's Rapid Deconstruct  Erth           18%        3d11*     24%         5
 Metabolic Englaciation   Hex/Ice        18%        N/A       24%         5
 Yara's Violent Unravell  Hex/Alch       18%        3d9       24%         5
 Bombard                  Conj/Erth      27%        9d5       30%         6
 Orb of Destruction       Conj           34%        9d10      38%         7
 Plasma Beam              Fire/Air       24%        2x1d36    50%         6
 Haunt                    Necr/Summ      32%        N/A       52%         7
 Death Channel            Necr           18%        N/A       78%         6
 Eringya's Noxious Bog    Alch           18%        4d6       78%         6
 Permafrost Eruption      Ice/Erth       18%        2x4d5     78%         6
 Sculpt Simulacrum        Ice/Alch       18%        N/A       78%         6
 Magnavolt                Erth/Air       24%        4d13      97%         7
 Dragon's Call            Summ           42%        N/A       99%         9
 Enfeeble                 Hex            18%        N/A       100%        7
 Hellfire Mortar          Fire/Erth      18%        3d12      100%        7
 Ozocubu's Refrigeration  Ice            18%        4d11      100%        7
 Rimeblight               Ice/Necr       18%        2d6 (prima100%        7
 Borgnjor's Revivificati  Necr           18%        N/A       100%        8
 Discord                  Hex            18%        N/A       100%        8
 Fulsome Fusillade        Conj/Alch      27%        (3-5)d11  100%        8
 Ignition                 Fire           18%        3d7       100%        8
 Infestation              Necr           18%        N/A       100%        8
 Lehudib's Crystal Spear  Conj/Erth      27%        10d7      100%        8
 Death's Door             Necr           18%        N/A       100%        9
 Polar Vortex             Ice            18%        12d2*     100%        9


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/15)            Temple (1/1) D:7            Lair (5/5) D:8         
 Shoals (4/4) Lair:2        Snake (4/4) Lair:3        Slime (5/5) Lair:5      
    Orc (2/2) D:9             Elf (3/3) Orc:2        Vaults (5/5) D:13        
  Crypt (3/3) Vaults:2       Tomb (0/3) Crypt:3      Depths (4/4) D:15        
   Hell (visited)             Dis (0/7) Hell            Geh (0/7) Hell        
    Coc (7/7) Hell            Tar (0/7) Hell            Zot (5/5) Depths:4    
 Bailey (visited)           IceCv (visited)         Desolation (visited)      

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Dithmenos
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Gozag
Hepliaklqana
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Qazlal
Ru
Sif Muna
Trog
Uskayaw
Vehumet
Wu Jian
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
The Shining One
Beogh
Jiyva

Shops:
D:6 (   D:7 :   D:9 :   Orc:2 =?[(   Snake:2 [   Snake:4 :   Vaults:3 (
Vaults:4 [   Crypt:3 **   Depths:1 :   Depths:3 ?

Portals:
Hell: Depths:1 Depths:2 Depths:3 Depths:4
Abyss: Depths:2 Depths:3
Pandemonium: Depths:2 Depths:4
Ziggurat: Depths:3

Annotations:
Vaults:4 3 runed translucent doors, Faydane's ghost, veteran HuFi


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are an undying horror.
Your melee attacks drain, slow and weaken victims.
You can torment nearby foes to heal from their wounds.
You are immune to unholy pain and torment.
You are immune to poison.
You are immune to negative energy. (rN+++)
Your undead body is resistant to cold. (rC+)
You cannot drink.
You are very small and have problems with some larger weapons.
You are too small for most types of armour.
You have supernaturally acute vision. (SInv)
You cover ground extremely quickly. (Speed+++)
You are missing a hand.
You cannot train Armour skill.
You take slightly more damage. (AC -5)
You are slightly weak-willed. (Will-)
You are agile. (Dex +4, Str/Int -1)
Your system is resistant to poisons. (rPois)

Update : I did the Tomb. Basically nothing ever hits me in melee, and because I keep spamming Manifold Assault everything around me is slowed. Apocalypse payed for themselves in Tomb:3 when the screen is filled with spellcasting mummies. The only problem is the stat drain from death curses. Halfway through, the strength drains were really piling up so I jaunted to Pandemonium for a quick grind, and there I found a nice artifact ring (rF+, Int +4, Slay+3) inside the digging vault (the one with a bunch of monsters, including Cacodemons, behind transparent rock walls), so I replaced my ring of intelligence with that.
No loot of note in the tomb, aside from the obvious zig figurine. There was a scroll of acquirement but it offered nothing useful.

Aaaaaand I died in Dis. Bad decisions were made. I was stalling for Draw out Power to become available again after my recent apocalypse but I underestimated the amount of danger I was in and should have used Evocables and probably a 3rd scroll of blinking.

https://crawl.xtahua.com/crawl/morgue/Subbak/morgue-Subbak-20241020-185610.txt

Bummer on the loss! Impressive run!

Turns out Dis, being full of constructs, made my strategy of spamming Manifold Assault for slow + weakness simply not work. The fact that it had a living enemies that did not resist draining (in particular the caustic shrikes) did not offset the fact that it did nothing for Iron golems who hit like a truck and have tons of HP + AC. With my weaponry being less efficient on top of that, this meant I had to avoid being hit for way more attacks, and eventually a swarm of enemmies will get lucky.