I joined the Tavern earlier today, so I thought I would do a writeup of my current character, which is a BaHu^Gozag. I have since won the character, so here’s the log: https://cbro.berotato.org/morgue/Patrick2011b/morgue-Patrick2011b-20260317-202504.txt
The run to Depths
Barachi has a unique synergy with ranged weapons: Its LOS is 1 tile larger than normal, so ranged weapons can be fired from farther away. Given that and Barachi’s generally good apts, I decided to play a Barachi Hunter. On D:1, I took a faded altar and got Gozag, which is generally useful even if all my previous Gozag wins were melee.
Soon after, I got shafted to D:4 and managed to get back to explored territory, blind-quaffing a potion of mutation along the way. Fortunately, I got Will+ and rElec from the potion, and I haven’t been malmutated since. After I got back, I bought a randart leather from a D:1 shop, which wasn’t much, but at least it had +2 enchantment.
In Lair, I acquired a +3 triple crossbow of flaming, which I didn’t use right away due to its significantly higher delay. I started using it more as I trained Ranged Weapons. I got shafted from Orc:1 to Orc:2 and had to teleport several times to get to safety, but I was eventually able to clear Orc and buy a manual of Dodging. This, combined with 2 rings of dexterity and placing all stat boosts in Dex pumped my EV pretty high (it’s 43 at the time of posting).
For the S branches, I did Swamp, then Spider. I found a +2 robe of resistance somewhere in the Swamp, which was nice. Spider had an ambush bad enough to force me to teleport on entry, but I didn’t have too much trouble after that. Xak’krixis forced me to reset once after the phantom mirror didn’t work as well as I hoped, but my triple crossbow made quick work of them the second time. I ended up leaving the Mad Mage’s Maulers in Spider:4 because I wasn’t doing melee, but since I’ve avoid spellcasting so far, maybe I should’ve picked it up for the AC bonus (my current gloves are a +0 randart of infusion with rF and Int+4).
The closest I’ve gotten to death was in Elf:3, when I fought too many elves at once and dropped below 15% of my max HP. I don’t remember exactly what it cost to get away from that, but I eventually managed to clear it and get a randart amulet I’m using now (reflection with Str+3 and Stealth+). Vaults:1 had a wizlab, which turned out to be Yara’s Duelist Academy. I got acid dragon scales from a spriggan air mage there, and the head instructor died pretty quickly to my triple crossbow. In Vaults:2, I got fire dragon scales from Margery, but they were unfortunately +0, and I only had one ?ea to spare, so I need 4 more to open a trove I found on D:14.
The title refers to Zephyr, which I found at the end of Vaults:4. There was a vault with an orange crystal statue in the center, and it was guarding a bunch of loot, including Zephyr.
About Zephyr
Zephyr used to be a +8 longbow of speed with SInv and Dex+3, but it was reworked at the start of 0.35 to replace the speed brand with salvo as well. The enchant and Dex bonus were also buffed, and Fly replaced SInv. I don’t remember ever using the old Zephyr, but the change seems like a buff, since salvo shoots at up to 5 targets at once, as long as none of them are obstructed. This means it could be really good against groups, while a +9 triple crossbow of flaming might perform better against single targets. Entering Depths, I had a 67 damage rating with Zephyr, while the triple crossbow had a damage rating in the 90s and slower shooting.
The rest of the run
I did Depths and Crypt, and Zephyr is indeed really good against groups, especially when they’re coming from multiple directions. It’s arguably not as good as the triple crossbow against single targets, but it proved to be good enough. Depths:4 was a big encompass vault, though it wasn’t especially treasure-filled. I killed Boris there and got a +4 randart robe with rN among other things. I also discovered that gloves of Dex are better than the other gloves I have, since my high Dodging skill means I get a bunch of EV from Dex.
I then dipped into Zig, hoping to get one more ?ea, but I never got that. I did get randart boots with +6 Slay. Between that and the 2 Dex I got for reaching XL 27, I got up to a 78 damage rating with Zephyr. The salvo really shines in Zig, as the wide open space allows the monsters to spread out. I could’ve gone further in the zig, but I decided to go to Slime after Zig:11. There, I used scrolls of immolation to kill TRJ. Unfortunately, the Slime loot didn’t have what I was looking for, so I just went to Zot after that. I full cleared the first 3 levels without too much trouble, even from a couple orbs of entropy. After that, it was all bribe the rest of the way.