Hehe
I see what you did there
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Stair dance works, but the fleeing tactic normally doesn’t help so much cause enemies runs faster than me … Start fleeing when mana is not full depleted, I’ll try it
Once you get a good enough build, faster enemies become less of an issue because everything dies to Firestorm or Plasma Beam/Coupling/Chain Lightning or Shatter/Polar Vortex or that new badass lvl8 alchemy spell.
But bees get utterly wrecked by IMB. Run from them if you don’t have a corridor to fight from, and when they get within a tile, push them away (and deal tons of damage) with IMB. It has a 2 tile radius without Veh, and with enough Veh piety 3 tile. It will take out a whole swarm of bees very very quickly.
It is really a skill to learn, but if I’m out in the open I’m typically running towards stairs while fighting. Sometimes I will take a very advantageous position and fight from there, but I need to be overwhelming confident that I can kill everything with the mana I have.
Now I’m dying alot with DECj, basically I don’t reach a safe point where I can cast IMB or prism without miscasting them too much, but I’m understanding the limit of the species/class and trying to avoid bad situations.
Non Dj casters are really good because you can build up whatever you want selecting the correct spells (eg.: one of my last run the Mephitic cloud become a very useful crowd controlling system), I even see that some melee can works too (in one run I found an unique 2h sword with drain and a passive that could insta-kill low health enemies). I love this kind of customization, at the moment (obviously ) I miss the knowledge to understand what is the best selections, but I’m improving this part of the tactics 
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The only spell that I equip on every build is Irradiate. It is incredible for clearing away enemies that you’ve allowed to get too close. You can only cast it 2-3 times in a row without risking mutations. But those three times are super powerful.
New run, new me.
I tried DECj but I need alot more practice, but to don’t be so angry about my faults I’m doing a DjCj^Chei run.
https://underhound.eu/crawl/morgue/Yukuai/Yukuai.txt
I want to explain how I’m playing, so maybe some of you can help me understand where I’m doing bad.
SKILLS
focused on magic first,
I gave some love to dodging (is 11 a good level?)
Shields (found a kite shield so trained 8.9 cause I think Chei already help with STR bonus reducing the % of miscast)
Armour (improving now, cause I found the +10 plate)
Invo for the invos.
I think that after invo will reach 11 and so armor, I’ll give 11 to evoc leaving Fighting and spells on +.
Equip
Not a good run for the equip that is quite standard.
I’m looking for a Reflect, cause the regen is granted by my mutation. Can you confirm that for a DjCj is better Reflect than Repulsion?
I’ve got a +10 plate that I intend to use (because I think that with Chei the “ponderousness” is not a bad omen)
Is a good idea to use the ring of fire instead of the rN one? I’m using fireball, but that ring will me bring back to a rC-. Suggestions?
And what about a +3 hat with rF+++ Str-2 Int+4 Harm? rF is not appealing for a Dj, but +3 armor and +4 Int seems nice, my doubt is: and Harm? Is it good for a caster?
Wands
Never used one.
Based on the ones I’ve got, how/when you’ll use them with this DjCj?
Branches
Currently I’m on O2, going to E.
After that I’ll go for S-branches and then V4
At that point, if I’ll be alive, I’m a little bit confused: V5 is really RNG (I mean: if I can dance stair is easy peasy, but if some warden lock me out it’ll be really hard to come out alive, suggestions?), maybe is good to do U?
Spells
Magic dart for kite/poke
Prism for large groups or rF enemies
ISM for spacing/groups
Tukima’s Dance what a wonderful magic. I love to disarm really hard opponents and see them be killed by the weapon. Really useful against ranged or red ones
Hoarfrost I don’t use them, maybe is a good idea to deploy them when facing groups?
Fireball: boom boom baby
Starbust: I’ll not use it due to have already a Fireball
Idea or suggestions about what I’m thinking?
Little update: did Spider and Shoal, now I’m going to do V4 … then I don’t know what is the safest route 
I’m trying to follow this:
D → Lair
Do all of Lair
D → 11 or 12, depending on what I run into
Do all of Orc
D → 15 / S branches, order depending on what I run into
Do all of Elf
Do Vault 1-4
Crypt / Depths, order depending on what I run into
Do all of Slime (carefully!)
Do V5
Do Zot
the bold ones are done, now Depths … I fear slime because I never did it (only once, but I was ^Jivaa :-D)
Okay, I can offer a few suggestions.
Gear:
Ring of Fire vs rN+++ 6 Int 3 Dex. Try on both and look at the spell info to see the dmg range. Fire should be a bit higher, but probably not by much. I’d wear the Dex/Int one while running around and swap onto Fire if I felt I really needed it.
Hat. I would not wear that hat. It’s basically 3 AC, a bit of INT for a Chei dude that’s already got a ton of INT, and Harm vs ~2.5 AC (+1 helm plus Armor skill). (Note, Armor doesn’t help hats because it goes off the base AC and hat’s base is 0.) Half a pip of AC when I have 32 isn’t worth the increased risk of getting a bad dmg roll. Dmg in Crawl can be swingy. And a bad roll can become really bad with it’s 20% more incoming. It’s just not worth it for me.
Wands:
You’re getting past the point where Hex wands are really strong. Poly is great vs early enemies with nasty gear/spells (e.g., Orc Warrior, Nessos, Snorg), some low HD but dangerous critters (e.g., elec eel, hornet). Paralysis is useful vs the same things and can also be good for escaping: (e.g., swarm of killer bees coming at you in a corridor, freeze the first one, it blocks the rest while you run away). I spam Mindburst through the first 2 S branches. Most things can’t withstand it and because it checks Will, it becomes less useful past mid-game so I don’t care if I run out.
Roots is good all game. It does okay damage, but more importantly, it can freeze things in place for a few turns. If you weren’t Chei, that’s enough to get away. Even with Chei, it reduces the enemy’s EV to like 0, so they become really easy to hit.
Light is good for blinding stuff. Blinding is like inviso. It’s a great opener if you want to fight a unique–disables a bunch of their attacks, makes them easier to hit. Pretty good piercing dmg too.
Flame is an early spammer. It is particularly good vs enemies in water, since it creates steam (which can do more dmg and maybe break LOS). Again, it falls off so I don’t care if I run out. Maybe save like 6 charges if you get Shoals.
Digging is good for escaping (esp on Orb run), and for melee types, creating a kill hole (a V where only one enemy can see you at a time. Also good in places like Slime where you want to connect areas.
V5 vs Slime:
V5 is really dangerous. I think more so with Chei because you move so slowly. Stairdancing can work–esp since you can Blink. To deal with Warden risk, I’ll do: (1) Haste (which, alas, you can’t do with Chei, sucks), (2) read Tel, (3) go down, (4) read Revelation, (5) wait to Tel, (6) hope I land somewhere with chokepoints and be ready to Tel or Blink or Fog or Poison once I land. Yes, that costs several good consumables. But I look at it as trading 1 Haste, 1 Map, say 3 Tels, for all that loot in V5 (and the odds are good that in that loot will be replacement Haste/Map/Tels).
I find Slime easier than V5, but that is because I’ve done it dozens and dozens of times. And never with Chei, so this might not work for you. But generally, what you need to watch out for going down are: (a) Shining Eyes that mutate you (block their LOS with Prism which will also kill em); (b) Quicksilver that engulf you so you can’t cast or god, so don’t spare MP/piety/ammo killing them, absolutely go all out; (c) Rockslimes that knock you off stairs (watch out for this–I have seen it kill a lot of people; one trick for a Cj is to place a prism directly behind you so it can’t push you back then climb up).
TRJ is waiting on Slime 5. Usually in the middle, but also often just cruising around. Do NOT ever move towards it. Each time you hurt it, it spawns more jellies so you will quickly get surrounded and then die. A popular way to kill it is: (1) Haste as soon as it shows up (again, suck to be Chei); (2) hit it hard from as far away as you can (Starburst, Orb, maybe Fireball); (3) watch the spawns show up and read Immolation: (4) hit the mob with some kind of heavy AoE (Slouch can be good here); (5) watch everything explode and cook the TRJ; (6) leave by either stairs or Tel–don’t stand there and fight the survivors, come back and take em on a few at a time (from a different set of stairs, for example); (7) enjoy the fat loot.
Spells:
Hoarfrost is good in pretty much any fight with room. Even 1-on-1. It gives good return on dmg vs MP spent.
Don’t forget about Bombard vs rF enemies. If they are dodgy, Root em first.
Orb is great, if you are familiar with how to use it: open space, enemy far away coming towards you. It does irresis dmg and can’t be dodged. Don’t fire two in a row because they might hit each other and blow up in your face. Also don’t fire vs anyone with Reflect.
Starburst is better than Fireball at close range and it does more dmg on avg. Not 100% sure about this, but I think it is much quieter too (which is very good). Use over fireball where you can.
You are Chei, so you move like a slug. Don’t forget Blink and Gell’s if you need to change position.
Good luck with your run!
I think that you are using Prism too conservatively. On my last DECj run once I got it online I basically never cast magic dart or Searing Ray again.
Prism is just an incredible spell. The main thing I like about it is that it can kill enemies off screen, and it is very scalable. You see an orc near a corner, cast it close to the corner and kill will kill 4 or 5 enemies that you haven’t even seen. It could be high threat priests and wizards that you just never have to deal with.
The old cast and retreat thing also give you time for MP regen and you are scooting to a more secure and scouted location, while bringing your enemies to your more secured and scouted positions.
edit: It is also super super mana efficient. It does lots of damage to a big area.
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Thanks for all the useful informations!
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I killed TRJ but his blobish friends killed me too
It was a fun run 
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Best way to avoid that is to clear Slime:4 and pop ?tele as soon as TRJ goes down. You’ll still have to kill them but they’ll come in batches instead of all at once already surrounding you while your pants are down.
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Thinking about that run, a nice idea could be use the phantom mirror to create mine TRJ … too late to think about that, but maybe next time …
@Sobieck a question about DECj: at the beginning you focus only on Cj leaving the rest off?
I’m trying to bravely run off bad situations but the mail problem is that the big guns (IMB and Prism) take ages before become useful, so maybe I’m doing something wrong?
I focus Conj to 12, focus spellcasting to 14, and train alchemy to 7 with nothing else on. This is in my RC file. Once Prism is castable I enable translocations to like 4 or so.
Oh, I don’t enter slime unless I have ignition up. I just find v5 easier because it is what I know. But ignition is really helpful against swarms of jellies.
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Seconding this. I have different targets, but I focus the same skills and in the same order.
I turn everything off and set Stealth to 3 first. That costs just 3 kills.
Then I buy Spellcasting to 4. Then I turn on Conj and see what the Floor Gods give me. I might pivot to another school if I find something useful & cheap: e.g., spammal.
If nothing shows up by xl 4, I’ll focus Conj, turn on Spellcasting and Alchem, until Prism comes online. By then it becomes game specific.
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Ok, last run I did better, at least I saw the full potential of Veh with lower miscasting and the +1 range, but my run was stopped by a yaktaur captain that bi-shotted me to death.
I think that with DECj is better to do D10/11 and then L1-5 (instead of D15).
Another thing that I need to understand are the spells I need to memorize: last run Mephitic clouds helped me in bad situations (uhm, maybe I had to cast it on the Yaktaur?) but I found tons of spells and is really hard to understand what to use.
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I recommend GrEE of Vehumet, gives you a bit of that RNG as well as MP on kill, which helps with both of your issues. Gargoyles are one of the best species, and make great melees and casters, and you won’t have to adjust to deal with poison, as gargoyles are immune. Earth elementalist is also quite good, no worries about pesky resistances. Definitely my caster of choice. Also, for mana, you can use mana potions in a pinch.
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Yeah, GrEE are my 2nd favorite and a bit more forgiving. But part of the reason I like DE is that they cause you to hit the bricks which is the best thing you can do as a caster. Gr have less access to spell than DE, but that isn’t saying much. Earth alone will get you through a 3 rune game and Shatter makes you feel godly.