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» (0) Quickstart
» (1) Introduction
» (2) Installation & setup
» (3) Creating a character & starting to play
» (4) The world
» (5) Item and flag details, elements
» (6) Monster details
» (7) Character details
» (8) Tactics & strategy
» (8.2) Preparing the equipment for diving into the dungeon
» (9) Miscellanous

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(8.1) Preparing the inventory for diving into the dungeon
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(8.3) Surviving critical situations
(8.2) Preparing the equipment for diving into the dungeon                       
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Depending on your character level you will need to equip certain items before
entering the dungeon. Here are some guidelines for your equipment:


Beginners (level 1)
-------------------
+ Lantern
  because it provides light within a radius of 2 fields instead of 1 field of
  a torch.
+ A ranged weapon as soon as possible (a boomerang if you use martial arts).
  Don't forget the ammunition ;)
  Try to get a sling or even better a long bow as soon as possible,
  especially if you are weak at hand-to-hand combat.
  At the beginning a ranged weapon can make all the difference and help you to
  proceed quickly. Enchant the bow to (+hit,+dam) where +dam helps a lot to
  increase the total damage you inflict on enemies, since it's multiplied by
  the bow's power factor.
  Note that martial arts users can only use boomerangs, other ranged weapons
  will nullify their Martial Arts skills.
+ An appropriate melee weapon (except if using martial arts, eg Druids!)
  Check out how many blows per round you get with a light dagger, whip,
  cleaver or spear, depending on your favourite weapon class. If you get more
  BpR than with your starter weapon, switch!
  If your character has only one blow per round even with light weapons, choose
  a heavy weapon that can deal more damage in one blow. If your character is
  low on strength, pay attention that you don't buy a weapon that is too heavy
  to use at all. You can press 'x' in shops to examine weapons (and all other
  items), to check if you can benefit from buying it or not.
  If you have only 1 BpR, make sure to dual-wield if your character can do that
  because that will give you a bonus BpR. Don't forget that you cannot dual-
  wield with heavy armour. Rogues should always be dual-wielding.


Low level character (up to 15)
------------------------------
+ Enchant the damage of your melee and/or ranged weapon a bit using "Scrolls
  of Enchant Weapon To-Dam"
+ Get some armor. Note that certain armor can decrease your dexterity or
  spellcasting abilities, partially because it is too heavy. Also some weapons
  will become less powerful if used together with a shield, and some weapons
  cannot be used at all in conjunction with a shield. A fighter should have
  approx. 30..45 AC or more.
  Before buying a piece of armour in a shop, press 'x' to examine it. This will
  tell you if you'd get encumbered wearing it.
+ Buy a fire resistance ring as soon as possible because many monsters can use
  fire spells early on. Also get an acid resistance amulet maybe, since acid
  damage is especially nasty to your inventory and equipment.
  If you're an Ent, early on fire resistance is absolutely mandatory.


Medium level character (up to 25)
---------------------------------
+ Enchant your melee and ranged weapons to at least +8 to damage! Best would
  be (+9,+9) or maybe even (+10,+10). Going over +10 is not feasible with
  normal enchant scrolls, you can use *enchant* scrolls later on.
  You could also ask a high level character if he/she helps you by taking your
  weapons, armour and ammunition to one of the shops that offer an enchantment
  service. Those shops can enchant the items quite high, depending on the level
  of the customer. It's costly though..
  Don't sell scrolls of *enchant weapon* or *enchant armour* if you find those,
  but use them to enchant your items above +9 and up to +15!
+ A fighter should have approx. 40..70 AC or more.
+ Get "Fear Resistance" also know as "Boldness".
+ Get Free Action. You should have this before going much deeper than 1000 ft.
  It prevents you from being paralyzed by traps or monsters.
+ Get the 4 basic resistances, which are: Lightning/Electricity, Acid,
  Frost/Cold, Fire/Heat.
+ Consider buying a small house to store backup equipment or special items
  instead of carrying them around with you.
+ If you manage to find an item that lets you telepathically sense trolls, keep
  it. Use it to locate troll pits, those tend to give a lot of experience!
  Typical items that provide troll-ESP are dwarven helmets or weapons of
  *slay troll*. (ESP = extrasensory perception, ie the ability to sense a
  presence telepathically without a direct line of sight).


Higher characters (up to 35)
----------------------------
+ A fighter should have approx. 65..100 AC or more.
+ Try to get a lantern of Brightness or even *Brightness*, a Dwarven Lantern
  or a Feanorian Lamp. These provide more light and/or don't need to be fueled
  and cannot be extinguished. They may also have some special abilities like
  preventing you from getting overwhelmed by fear!
+ Get "See Invisible" if possible. Some very nasty monsters are invisible and
  "cold-blooded", that means they cannot be seen by infra-vision.
+ Get Poison Resistance! For example Boots of Mirkwood provide poison
  resistance. Also Elven armour often provide it. If you are trained in the
  art of mimicry, you could try to use the form of a monster which has poison
  resistance intrinsically. Drolems and other monsters might insta-kill you
  without poison resistance.
  Elven armour also provides base resistance and has a chance to provide an
  additional 'high' resistance, so it's really useful to get your resistances
  covered. Elven armour is not that expensive and not that rare. If you can't
  find any, ask other players or check the player stores (there tend to be a
  lot of player stores around the town of Gondolin) for offers!
+ Try to Get Confusion Resistance, so you can always read teleport scrolls!
  Note that chaos resistance also provides confusion resistance.
+ Get Nexus Resistance. Nexus attacks can scramble your body, swapping your
  stats, which can mess up your character. (See (5.6).)
+ Try to get Blindness Resistance, so you can always read teleport scrolls!
  Helmets or Caps of seeing give this!
+ Before venturing into Mordor you should have basic (fire/cold/lightning/acid)
  and poison resistance and 'free action' (paralysis resistance).
  Confusion resistance and nexus resistance are a plus.
+ Try to get Hold Life.
  This prevents your life force from being drained, making you lose experience
  and going back in character level. Cloaks of Teleri Hold Life and provide
  Free Action too.
+ Try to get items that provide ESP.


Very high characters (36 and above)
-----------------------------------
+ A fighter should have at least 90 AC. He might also have already AC as hhigh
  as about 130 at level 36 if he is lucky.
+ Get as many high resistances as you can.. You will want Nether, Nexus,
  Disenchantment, Chaos, Sound for example. Note that Saruman and many high
  undead monsters (L and W) have disenchanting melee attacks that waste your
  equipment pretty badly if you don't resist disenchantment.
  Sound resistance will prevent stun effects, which if they accumulate can even
  knock you out completely, leaving you unable to do anything at all!
  Also, your damage and spell casting chance are reduced while stunned.
  Notorious for k.o. are Water Hounds, Impact Hounds, to some extent Gravity
  Hounds, and *especially* Plasma Hounds.
  Note that "Feather Falling" provides resistance to gravity damage.
  ('Levitation' automatically includes feather falling, by the way.)
  Nether and Chaos drain your experience if not resisted (can be cured with a
  potion of restore life levels or according magic). The great thing about
  chaos resistance is that it includes confusion resistance! So if you were
  wearing a ring of confusion resistance, just replace it with a ring of chaos
  resistance and you are set.
+ Get "See Invisible", various nasty monsters are invisible.
+ Get items that sustain your stats, for example a Robe of Permanence if you
  wear light armour, or a kolla (it's a cloak) if you're a fighter class.
+ Get full ESP: Crowns of telepathy typically provide these.
  Some classes have an ESP spell available so they don't need ESP items.
+ Get Randarts (randomly generated artifacts) or Artifacts (predefined
  artifacts / static artifacts) for melee weapon:
  You will have to fight ring wraiths. Normal weapons, even those from
  Gondolin or the most powerful *Defenders* will quickly shatter if they come
  in contact with those corrupted creatures of terror and hate.
  Your only way to fight them is to equip an artifact since these resist ring
  wraiths greatly - their chance of getting destroyed when striking a Nazgul is
  1 in 1000, compared to a few hits for non-artifact weapons.
  (Note that the 'Stormbringer' counts as an artifact in this regard.)
+ You will want items that permanently increase your speed!
  +10 speed or +20 speed will make you approximately twice or three times as
  fast as you usually are. Note that the curve will become flatter the higher
  your speed is, so at some point, increasing your speed any further might be
  less beneficial to you than boosting your attack speed (items that give extra
  attacks) or your critical hit chance (items that give critical hits).
  Use the target dummy in town to test your actual damage output and compare,
  the /tym (test your might) command may prove useful.
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(8.3) Surviving critical situations