How to Kill Morgoth: Playing Angband - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Huinesoron · 10-01-2025, 04:33 AM

So first up: ahahahaha, Imgur is now blocked in the UK, so I can't see my own pictures. That's ellipsis awesome. No idea where I'm going to post to replace them, WHATEVER.

(EDIT: I've rehosted the portraits onto Google Docs. While I was there, I added the portrait of Irime II I apparently completed, and drew a new one for Lavender I. The portraits are up to date!)

Secondly, I am back in the dungeon and reviving an old character: Celebestel III is a High Elf Mage, currently on character level 38 / dungeon level 51. Her predecessor back in the day hit CL 33 / DL 40, so we're already a lot deeper.

I'm not going to do a full character rundown, because that inevitably ends with me dying three minutes later, but she's doing okay. I've finally found the first dungeon-exclusive spellbook (and the second, on the same level), ending a LONG run of having to bounce between different elemental spells. Now I have Mana Bolt, though, which... Mana Bolt does 28d8 damage. My next most powerful attack, Acid Spray, does 19d8. Unless I encounter something weak to acid (not just 'does not resist'), Mana Bolt is better.

Celebestel III has taken a leaf from Gribblins' book: she has a Rod of Magic Mapping and a single spell, Detection, to see everything around her. She also has telepathy, currently from Theoden's axe, so she should never walk through a door into the face of an Ancient Dragon. She has both Banishment and Recharging as spells, and while her Stave of Speed blew up a while back, she's just found a Ring of +10 Speed that means she's finally able to match the monsters for speed.

Let's see how far she goes.

hS

Huinesoron · 10-06-2025, 04:07 AM

Celebestel III

... is not dead! She's at DL 57 / CL 40, which means she's just unlocked two of her final three spells: Thrust Away, which knocks back a single enemy, and Mass Banishment, which deletes every non-unique enemy in a 20 space circle around her.

One of those is more useful than the other.

She reached CL40 on the single most insane level I have ever seen. I can't share the screenshot (grrrr Imgur), but the monster list started like this:

[U] Gothmog, the High Captain of the Balrogs
[U] Lungorthin, the Balrog of White Fire
1 greater Balrog
[U] Ancalagon the Black
[U] Cantoras, the Skeleton Lord
1 great wyrm of chaos
[U] Glaurung, Father of Dragons
1 great swamp wyrm
[U] Tevildo, Prince of Cats
1 osyluth
[U] Smaug the Golden
1 grand master mystic
[U] Ar-Pharazon the Golden
2 dracolisks
1 ancient multi-hued dragon
2 hasty ents
1 death drake
[U] The Balrog of Moria
2 ancient blue dragons
3 ancient white dragons
1 great crystal drake
1 lesser Balrog

Luckily, Teleport Other works on everything. ^_^ I think I picked up three different artefacts on that level, and left at least two more, it was crazy. I did actually kill the Balrog of Moria and ol' Smaugy, because I got them alone in long corridors and just pelted them to death with Mana Bolt as they slowly approached me. Glaurung got in one shot, which took half my health with double fire resistance and turned the entire corridor to lava; then I teleported him away.

The current level is a bit less unfriendly. I know Ar-Pharazon is around, because I tried to fight him and he teleported me away. I killed Draebor the Imp earlier. And there's a whole pseudo-vault up in the north-west that I haven't even looked at yet.

hS

Huinesoron · 10-13-2025, 09:45 AM

Celebestel III

... is still not dead! She's at DL69 / CL43, and has just killed Tevildo, Prince of Cats, to claim the Dragon-Helm of Dor-lomin, which is apparently so unutterably cool that it significantly reduces my stealth because all the monsters are coming to look.

She's doing quite well in terms of resistances: she resists everything that can be resisted except Nether and Disenchantment. That won't help against raw magic, which a worrying number of things can hit her with.

She also has a nice high Constitution, meaning she currently has 639 maximum life. Against the type of raw-magic-casting monsters I've been seeing, that means she can take a hit.

One hit.

Her usual battle tactic is to haste herself (to Speed +20) and cast Resistance (for extra protection against common elements), use either a Rod or Staff of Slow Monster(s), and then hit whatever's coming at her with either Mana Bolt, or a wand of Drain Life (which she can recharge). She has a quite nice spell Thrust Away, which flings back a single monster that has caught up with her, but it's still over 30% failure rate. And of course, really scary stuff gets Teleport Other to the face.

Her wish-list right now is an improved light-source (currently she has the Phial of Galadriel, which every character gets by about DL20), Poison resistance on something other than a ring (which would let her swap in a Ring of +9 Speed), and any artefact ring, cloak, or gloves. Oh, and she'd quite like to kill Morgoth and retire, buuut we know how that goes.

hS

Huinesoron · 11-03-2025, 08:44 AM

Celebestel III

... is somehow down to DL80 (!!!) / CL 48. She has 600 life (yes, it dropped from some equipment changes), almost 400 spell points, +23 base speed (+33 when she uses her Staff of Speed, which is faster than Morgoth) and resistances to everything that can be resisted except Chaos.

A couple of levels back I pulled out a spreadsheet and figured out the 'best' equipment for her needs, from everything she was wearing or had stashed. I think I've done that twice now? This deep in the dungeon, those resistances are essential, even at the cost of other things. Not having to worry about actual attack stats (she hasn't intentionally hit anything for 70 levels) is very freeing.

She has killed 71 unique monsters, including five Ringwraiths (including Khamul, one of only two with an actual canonical name!). She routinely takes on Great Wyrms of various elements, which as far as I know are the strongest non-unique dragons. Her Mana Storm spell averages 400 damage, when most uniques are around 4000 health.

But for all that, she is still incredibly fragile, and there are many things in Angband that could kill her in two hits. I just have to make sure they don't get them.

Wish list... hasn't changed, I think. I found another light source, but it was the Star of Elendil and only added See Invisible, which she natively has. Poison resistance is still a ring. The only artefacts she's currently using are her weapon (Theoden's axe), bow (Belthronding), light source (Phial of Galadriel), and armour (Isildur's). Would a Ring of Power be too much to ask...?

hS

Huinesoron · 11-04-2025, 09:19 AM

Celebestel III

Welp.

One level further down, no changes to anything, she killed Maeglin. Then she tried to fight Ancalagon. And Ossë.

At the same time.

Lesson fatally learned.

Oddly enough, it was Ossë who did the damage, despite being much weaker as a monster. He hit her with one Water attack (not resistable), one Disenchantment (resisted), and then a second Water that took her from 300+ health to dead in one hit.

She's my best character to date, and I learnt a lot. I'll try and get a portrait done, and think about what, if anything, I want to play as next.

hS

10-01-2025, 04:33 AM	#1
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,973	So first up: ahahahaha, Imgur is now blocked in the UK, so I can't see my own pictures. That's ellipsis awesome. No idea where I'm going to post to replace them, WHATEVER. (EDIT: I've rehosted the portraits onto Google Docs. While I was there, I added the portrait of Irime II I apparently completed, and drew a new one for Lavender I. The portraits are up to date!) Secondly, I am back in the dungeon and reviving an old character: Celebestel III is a High Elf Mage, currently on character level 38 / dungeon level 51. Her predecessor back in the day hit CL 33 / DL 40, so we're already a lot deeper. I'm not going to do a full character rundown, because that inevitably ends with me dying three minutes later, but she's doing okay. I've finally found the first dungeon-exclusive spellbook (and the second, on the same level), ending a LONG run of having to bounce between different elemental spells. Now I have Mana Bolt, though, which... Mana Bolt does 28d8 damage. My next most powerful attack, Acid Spray, does 19d8. Unless I encounter something weak to acid (not just 'does not resist'), Mana Bolt is better. Celebestel III has taken a leaf from Gribblins' book: she has a Rod of Magic Mapping and a single spell, Detection, to see everything around her. She also has telepathy, currently from Theoden's axe, so she should never walk through a door into the face of an Ancient Dragon. She has both Banishment and Recharging as spells, and while her Stave of Speed blew up a while back, she's just found a Ring of +10 Speed that means she's finally able to match the monsters for speed. Let's see how far she goes. hS __________________ Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera Last edited by Huinesoron; 10-01-2025 at 08:02 AM.

10-06-2025, 04:07 AM	#2
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,973	Celebestel III ... is not dead! She's at DL 57 / CL 40, which means she's just unlocked two of her final three spells: Thrust Away, which knocks back a single enemy, and Mass Banishment, which deletes every non-unique enemy in a 20 space circle around her. One of those is more useful than the other. She reached CL40 on the single most insane level I have ever seen. I can't share the screenshot (grrrr Imgur), but the monster list started like this: [U] Gothmog, the High Captain of the Balrogs [U] Lungorthin, the Balrog of White Fire 1 greater Balrog [U] Ancalagon the Black [U] Cantoras, the Skeleton Lord 1 great wyrm of chaos [U] Glaurung, Father of Dragons 1 great swamp wyrm [U] Tevildo, Prince of Cats 1 osyluth [U] Smaug the Golden 1 grand master mystic [U] Ar-Pharazon the Golden 2 dracolisks 1 ancient multi-hued dragon 2 hasty ents 1 death drake [U] The Balrog of Moria 2 ancient blue dragons 3 ancient white dragons 1 great crystal drake 1 lesser Balrog Luckily, Teleport Other works on everything. ^_^ I think I picked up three different artefacts on that level, and left at least two more, it was crazy. I did actually kill the Balrog of Moria and ol' Smaugy, because I got them alone in long corridors and just pelted them to death with Mana Bolt as they slowly approached me. Glaurung got in one shot, which took half my health with double fire resistance and turned the entire corridor to lava; then I teleported him away. The current level is a bit less unfriendly. I know Ar-Pharazon is around, because I tried to fight him and he teleported me away. I killed Draebor the Imp earlier. And there's a whole pseudo-vault up in the north-west that I haven't even looked at yet. hS __________________ Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera

10-13-2025, 09:45 AM	#3
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,973	Celebestel III ... is still not dead! She's at DL69 / CL43, and has just killed Tevildo, Prince of Cats, to claim the Dragon-Helm of Dor-lomin, which is apparently so unutterably cool that it significantly reduces my stealth because all the monsters are coming to look. She's doing quite well in terms of resistances: she resists everything that can be resisted except Nether and Disenchantment. That won't help against raw magic, which a worrying number of things can hit her with. She also has a nice high Constitution, meaning she currently has 639 maximum life. Against the type of raw-magic-casting monsters I've been seeing, that means she can take a hit. One hit. Her usual battle tactic is to haste herself (to Speed +20) and cast Resistance (for extra protection against common elements), use either a Rod or Staff of Slow Monster(s), and then hit whatever's coming at her with either Mana Bolt, or a wand of Drain Life (which she can recharge). She has a quite nice spell Thrust Away, which flings back a single monster that has caught up with her, but it's still over 30% failure rate. And of course, really scary stuff gets Teleport Other to the face. Her wish-list right now is an improved light-source (currently she has the Phial of Galadriel, which every character gets by about DL20), Poison resistance on something other than a ring (which would let her swap in a Ring of +9 Speed), and any artefact ring, cloak, or gloves. Oh, and she'd quite like to kill Morgoth and retire, buuut we know how that goes. hS __________________ Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera

11-03-2025, 08:44 AM	#4
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,973	Celebestel III ... is somehow down to DL80 (!!!) / CL 48. She has 600 life (yes, it dropped from some equipment changes), almost 400 spell points, +23 base speed (+33 when she uses her Staff of Speed, which is faster than Morgoth) and resistances to everything that can be resisted except Chaos. A couple of levels back I pulled out a spreadsheet and figured out the 'best' equipment for her needs, from everything she was wearing or had stashed. I think I've done that twice now? This deep in the dungeon, those resistances are essential, even at the cost of other things. Not having to worry about actual attack stats (she hasn't intentionally hit anything for 70 levels) is very freeing. She has killed 71 unique monsters, including five Ringwraiths (including Khamul, one of only two with an actual canonical name!). She routinely takes on Great Wyrms of various elements, which as far as I know are the strongest non-unique dragons. Her Mana Storm spell averages 400 damage, when most uniques are around 4000 health. But for all that, she is still incredibly fragile, and there are many things in Angband that could kill her in two hits. I just have to make sure they don't get them. Wish list... hasn't changed, I think. I found another light source, but it was the Star of Elendil and only added See Invisible, which she natively has. Poison resistance is still a ring. The only artefacts she's currently using are her weapon (Theoden's axe), bow (Belthronding), light source (Phial of Galadriel), and armour (Isildur's). Would a Ring of Power be too much to ask...? hS __________________ Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera

11-04-2025, 09:19 AM	#5
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,973	Celebestel III Welp. One level further down, no changes to anything, she killed Maeglin. Then she tried to fight Ancalagon. And Ossë. At the same time. Lesson fatally learned. Oddly enough, it was Ossë who did the damage, despite being much weaker as a monster. He hit her with one Water attack (not resistable), one Disenchantment (resisted), and then a second Water that took her from 300+ health to dead in one hit. She's my best character to date, and I learnt a lot. I'll try and get a portrait done, and think about what, if anything, I want to play as next. hS __________________ Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera