Good evening Anons. I started playing dcss recently and ive completely become in love with spell casters. I only playing GnCj to get used to the game/spellcasters in general but DeCj seems really fun cause i love the Glass cannon archetype. In short though its still too hard for me so i would appreciate any help from fellow anons.
There’s a couple way to approach Cj, but as a glass cannon you want to avoid having enemies next to you as much as possible. Cj gives you two options for this; Fulminant Prism and Iskenderun’s Mystic Blast. Relying on the latter usually means letting enemies get in close, so we’re going to rely on FP as our main source of damage.
Start off by setting the following skills, focuses and limits:
+ Spellcasting: 5
* Alchemy: 10
* Conjuratioin: 10
Fulminant Prism is going to be our go to for killing just about everything. Practice with it to understand how you can use it to kite an enemy; putting it right in front of them usually doesn’t work. You need to put it either two tiles ahead or a little to the side, so the enemies don’t just clobber through it.
Once you have FP online use it to kill everything. It will pull enemies from offscreen, so practice kiting back to stairs and using alternate staircases.
After you have hit the skill limits put the following skills and limits:
+ Fighting: 5
+ Translocations: 5
Use IMB to make room if you have an enemy wanting to follow you up the stairs, but be cautious you aren’t blasting your prism. Once these two are capped out put some points into Dodge and Evocations unless you’ve found a good bread and butter spell to replace Prism.
For god, I’d say Vehumet. The extended range makes Prism and IMB both even better, but we’re really hunting for the level 6 multi-elemental school spells. If you can get your hands on either Plasma Beam or Permafrost Eruption, either of these spells let you stand on the stair case and blast baddies from across the screen.
Many thanks anon. I would like to then ask some follow up questions.
How deep do you generally go into the 3 defensive stats,fighting dodging and stealth?
I’ve heard that Veh is better for shorter runs like 3-4 runes compared to sif.Is this true? Even if it isn’t why Veh and not sif?
Finally how does my late game look like? LvL 9s?
How deep do you generally go into the 3 defensive stats,fighting dodging and stealth?
Fighting and dodge I would dump points into when I’m not actively leveling to bring a spell online. I don’t put anything into stealth and instead I try to pull the floor to the staircases with loud noises from my boom stick.
I’ve heard that Veh is better for shorter runs like 3-4 runes compared to sif.Is this true? Even if it isn’t why Veh and not sif?
In general, Veh’s powers start helping you sooner meaning you’ll have more options earlier in the run; conversely, Sif’s biggest benefits don’t show up until Vaults-ish depending on how often you burn piety.
More specifically for this build, fulminant prism is already pretty decent mana wise, so Veh’s mana regen turns it into a pretty mana efficient way of killing bad guys. The extra range on FP means you get to kite longer and effectively shuts down some statue vaults. You can get into a good rhythm with the prism that can take you through S-branches if needed. I’ve heard it’s good until Zot, but in my experience falls off around Vault. By then, Veh will have gifted you an L6 spell or two and you’ll have a tool to get you through the rest of the game; Sif might have gifted you a spellbook.
Finally how does my late game look like? LvL 9s?
This is a big it depends. Your bread and butter will still likely be an L6 spell, but you’ll need to supplement with L7-8 in most games. You can sometimes get an L9 online in a 4 rune when Veh lines you up for it or the drops hit just right. Personally, my ideal path is Plasma Beam backed by Ignition and MCC. Permafrost Eruption opens you up for a flex into Polar Vortex or Shatter though. All are great options for standing on a stair case and pulling the level to you. Bombard is the boringest of the bunch, but it can lead you to Magnavolt or Shatter.
Please take everything I say with the disclaimer that I’m discussing this specific approach to DECj and these aren’t really general rules. Current theory crafting says taking the first god you find is the best option, but for the purposes of learning the game the repeatability of going for a specific build can help the learning process. If you were asking about a DjCj I’d be giving you some very different advice.
Ok I’m seeing the picture. So use vehs great early game to survive until later on when I get my LvL 7s o line and then if RNG Jesus doesn’t hate me I can naturally spec into level 8 and 9s as you said bombard and shatter.
One final question Anon.Hileriously enough my biggest threat when playing DeCj is actually ranged enemies.Other than plasma beam or the equivalent of a LOS range spell how do you deal with them?
The majority of goblins, kobolds, centaurs, and orcs are all glass cannons themselves that fall quickly to a prism or two.
The most dangerous ranged things before you get a reliable killdudes are going to be centaur warriors and orc warlords. Both can give you a hard time trying to kite them with prism, but if you keep a warlord at full screen you can usually avoid taking much damage. You can often out DPS with a prism / evocation combo, but imo heavy ranged bad guy is a weakness for this build. Mephitic Cloud is a good counterplay if it’s offered to you.
keep them at edge of LOS. Use corners. I would primarily take them out with Fulminant Prism near the start of the game.
Until you’ve got Fulminant Prism, you can almost allways either run away, or use corners to lure them into Searing ray range.
mid and late game, same tactics apply. Use corners and/or LOS ranged spells.
1 Thank