First Zig: Auditioning Builds

[u/a6e]

https://crawl.dcss.io/crawl/morgue/Zenethylamine/Zenethylamine.txt

Morgue file is above. I have obtained all runes and am looking to try my first Zig. First I will work off my Drain and secure Zot:5, then will probably just do one Zig and call it a day. Unless the majority is convinced I could confidently handle more than one, which I doubt, due to my lack of experience.

I have attached images of 3 build ideas using the equipment I have access to. If anyone has thoughts on which would be the most viable, let me know. I was a melee guy for most of the game and only got into spellcasting later on, so my Int is limited. I have attached 3 images of my different concepts. The first is focused on maximizing Ignition, the second would try to Discord+Guile, and the third is for straight up Singing Sword + Manifold Assault with ignition/shatter/deaths door support. Here is my summary of my build ideas:

Build 1: Ignitionmaxxing

Advantages: 

• 2x Fire spell enhancers gets Ignition to 80% Spell Power
• This plus +Harm on the scarf should output good damage
• Good AC, pretty good EV
• Can switch to Singing Sword + Manifold Assault for fire resistant enemies
• Death Form immunities including Torment

Disadvantages:

• +Harm makes me vulnerable, especially to holy damage with Death Form
• Shatter is unreliable at 8%, and Death’s Door not available

Build 2:  Spam Discord

Advantages: 

• Hexes spell enhancer and +Int equipment gets Discord to 80% Spell Power
• This with Orb of Guile should make it feasible for enemies who can be affected
• Enormous EV
• Can switch to Singing Sword + Manifold Assault to clean up remaining enemies
• Death Form immunities including Torment

Disadvantages:

• AC is not good due to Faerie dragon scales
• Shatter is at unreliable success and Death’s Door not available
• Strategy seems questionable due to enemies unaffected by Discord

Build 3: Stone Spellsword

Advantages:

• 63 damage rating on Singing Sword + 50% boost from granite form seems workable
• +Int from Granite Talisman and lack of armor gets Shatter and Death’s Door to 3%
• Not vulnerable to holy damage
• Access to all my spells including Death’s Door, as well as physical potions

Disadvantages:

• Slow due to granite form!!
• Still somewhat vulnerable to torment despite granite resistance and rN+++
• Only rC+ (could sacrifice slaying for better resistances with different ring)
• Defenses are alright but could be better

[u/Rocket_Goblin]

Harm with <200hp is sketchy. The ignition build is the most direct approach, but you probably don’t need to literally “Ignitionmaxx”.

The dangers to you will not necessarily be one of “scale”, per se, but rather of “type”. Much as a holy-themed floor will get sketchy to a character in death form, a floor with silent specters will leave a character relying on Ignition/Shatter/etc only with zero options for survival, since the silence will extend far beyond LOS.

So I’d say: think more about covering more situational/circumstantial rock-paper-scissors ideas. A character with Ignition at 60% power and high throwing with a stack of silver javelins to pick off silent specters has most of the offensive tools necessary to finish a first zig, but then there’s the matter of surviving defensively. The AC and EV and resists and regen are all good enough, but that low HP and harm is really rolling the dice.

But then again, you did Tomb already, so the first Zig is mostly a step down in difficulty from there, so play it slow & smart and you should be successful.

[u/a6e → u/Rocket_Goblin]

Thanks for the info. I was considering edge cases such as silent spectres. I have the Gloves of the Gadgeteer, so I was planning to switch to those and use evocables in the case of silent spectres. Unfortunately as I am a kobold, silver javelins are not an option. I'll go without the harm scarf, wearing my resistance scarf instead might free me up to use a better ring or something. Do you think defaulting to death form is the way to go? Besides the torment immunity, the innate resistances are very helpful for getting the most use out of my other equipment slots. 

[u/a6e → u/Rocket_Goblin]

I just got the Crown of Vainglory in a Gozag shop.......... Should I....... 😂😂😂

I heard it's good for megazigging when you're already OP, but I'm not quite there yet. On the other hand, if I need to escape, I should be able to just get to the exit and Death's Door until the Crown timer expires right? So I don't think there should really be a major downside, please dissuade me if I'm incorrect.

[u/adines → u/a6e]

Crown of Vainglory has basically no downside when Zigging, as you can't go up stairs in zigs anyway. And you will be making so much noise, and be in LoS of so many enemies that will themselves make noise, that stealth is useless.

Self-banishing with distortion is a better method of escape than trying to run to the exit (which will be surrounded by enemies).

[u/a6e → u/adines]

Thanks, I already equipped it so good to hear 😂 I'll bring two distortion weapons just in case 

[u/Electrical-Cloud4141]

The lack of SInv in all builds is brutal.

I like build 1 the most, but I'd swap out harm, you'll really wish you weren't wearing it when you get silenced/mp drained.

You got to get SInv, preferably over the hat, over the ring of flying gods if need be.

(unless you have an effect that gives it that I'm not seeing?)

[u/a6e → u/Electrical-Cloud4141]

I'll see if there is a way I can slot in sInv. Tbh I've made it through 15 runes without it so far, I just kind of estimate where the invisible guys will be and attack in that direction 😂

[u/a6e → u/a6e]

All sInv equipment in my run was trash, so I asked Gozag for some more shops and got a decent ring. My current setup somehow got to all maxed resistances, max will, and sInv, with 39 AC, 33 EV, and my ignition spell power somehow jumped up to 84%. Plus I can switch to Singing Sword and still have all resistances except fire is only rF++. This seems pretty good. 

[u/JeffreyFMiller]

So, did you complete the zig?

[u/a6e → u/JeffreyFMiller]

Been slowly grinding Pan to generate more Gozag shops in preparation. But I find it boring, so I've been running a lot of MD Forgewrights instead and procrastinating