Winning Builds

[Billy Blazes]

Just a little discussion to post builds that you have beaten the game with.

[Haldurson]

I usually don't recall the builds exactly, but I found a post of mine on the GLG forums:

With GR/♥♥, no mods:
Clockwork Knight
Tinkering
Smithing
Burglary
Paranormal Investigator
Perception
Master of Arms
(Also killed Vlad Digula with this build)

If I can dig up any of my other builds, I'll add to the list.

/edit Also found this:
GR/♥♥/NTTG
Egyptian Magic
Blood Mage
Ley Walker
Alchemy
Perception
Staves
Dual Wield

[Corlindale]

I think it was something like Clockwork Knight, Tinkering, Smithing (the holy trinity) plus Master of Arms, Shield Bearer, Fungal Arts and Viking Wizardry. Defeated big D on Dwarven Moderation, and later got to level 15 with a similar build on Going Rogue (though I didn't quite make it).

Crafting is really powerful in this game.

[Haldurson]

Corlindale a écrit :

Crafting is really powerful in this game.

I totally agree. My second victory on GR was a pure crafting build, but I haven't posted it because I don't recall all of the details -- it probably was from before the first expansion (I took all 4 crafting skills, and PROBABLY Burglary and Perception, and maybe Fungal Arts... that's just a guess, though).

Alchemy, imho, is also probably the most underrated skill in the game (unless you are a mage, in which case the value is pretty self-evident). For those like me who love Burglary, Alchemy is a really good substitute, particularly with Mathemagics for the teleport. Plus the best crafted mage gear and some of the best early to mid-game zoo-handling/softening tools (gas flasks) come from Alchemy.

And once you get started with encrusting, the world changes. Mediocre gear becomes really good and really good gear becomes exceptional.

The only crafting skill that is underwhelming, really, is wand lore, and even that has some cool stuff, particularly with regards to encrusting.

[Raz]

Blood mage is a must have if you use magic at all. All that health you get sure comes in handy.
(NEED MORE MANA. DRINK MORE BOOZE)
Also whichever that one is that lets you raise the dead.
Feels so awesome strolling around the dungeon surrounded by zombies. They make a decent buffer for when things get nasty and you need to get outta there.

I made it to level 3 before finally dying from stepping on a frigging trap after a fight. -_-

[Haldurson]

Blood Mage USED to be essential, but Ley Walker is now more often the better choice. Keep in mind that if a pet kills something, Blood Mage won't help you with that. If you are using mana due to a buff or a utility skill, Blood Mage doesn't help.

In the past, Ley Walker was pretty unimpressive, but that was changed a while ago.

Blood mage is still an ok choice for some mage builds, but I'd still usually go with Ley Walker or a combination of the two for really mana-intensive builds (eg. Egyptian Magic/Astrology builds, or Warlock/Astrology builds).

[AgeOfArmageddoส็็็็็]

Just beat it on normal myself.
Swords.
Sheild Bearer.
Smithing.
Perception.
Assassination.
Golemancy.

[Scaff]

Weapon Skill (used Axes)
Fungal Arts
Master of Arms
Shield Bearer
Burglary
Archaeology (never really used it)
Berserker Rage

Beat GR on hardcore with this.

[Biohazard063]

In my let's play I'm using the following build:
Staves (Wizzard build, so it made sense I guess)
Shield Baerer (Duck and cover is amazing; the extra defence doesn't hurt a squishy wizzard)
Mathemagic (That random teleporter has gotten me out of some tough stuff)
Magic training (Again, wizzard build...)
Ley Walker (Mana regen FTW)
Promethean Magic (Dat wyrmling... hmm. The fireball is pretty baller as well)
Perception (I rather see things before they get to me then other way around)

I'm new to this game and this is only my 4th run, the other 3 ended at floor 1 or 2 so...
I've gotten to floor 5 with this build and I think I'm still going strong.
I've got all the DLC, but just found out that "You Have to Name The Expansion Pack" is free and doesn't install by default so I haven't got the chance to use that one yet.

[Haldurson]

Just beat the game (challenge run) with this, on GR/♥♥/NTTG

Skills:
Unarmed Combat
Master of Arms
Necronomiconomics
Magic Training
Assassination
Big Game Hunter
Magical Law

This was Random Run 8 from the Steam challenge group. (Group is dying or dead, it seems)
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/dodcr/discussions/0/648811126322484241/

[dolcedivo]

Sorry to necro, but I have clear something up about this game I've just been playing the last week with three tinkering / smithing focussed builds. Crafting sucks.

Most of the time, by the time you get the ingredients and skill to craft a strong item, you will have already found one that is stronger from loot and chest drops. Or, you don't have the necessary secret recipe to be able to craft it in time. Not to mention, the range of items to craft at top-tier is so limited, every game is pretty much the same. Besides, why craft when you can simply steal the item via burglarly / teleport skill / tourist ultimate skill from the shops? Or just slaughter Brax and take all the items??

So, even when you craft an item that 10% of the time that is better than the one you currently have, in my experience its only marginally better, even when encrusted, than a similar item you already own / can get from shop. So the reason I am so down on crafting is I wanted to love it in this game. But the truth is, its uninspired, limited variety, dirge. Why jump through 50 hoops to get an slightly above-average item when you can just take another skill to enchance your character instead??

Do you know how frustrating it was, towards the end to carry around nearly two inventory rows of ingots every dungeon, with nothing to use them for? I had abouit 20+ copies of each ingot. "Oh sweet, I can make Tesla bolts, at level 13 dungeon, this will be like 0.1% of the monster health, that means I only need make 1000 bolts to kill a single monster, sweeet!" {Or I could just two-hit the monster with my weapon + viking damage boost}.

I have the anger at crafting, because it could have been soo good here... But it sucks. Crafting sucks.

[Haldurson]

I agree that crafting could have been better -- one thing on my wish list was to have the crafting system treat everything in your pocket dimension as if it were available for crafting -- that alone would make things so much simpler. I have no delusions that it's going to happen, but maybe if there's a Dredmor 2...

That said, if you are willing to deal with inventory juggling, and you understand the crafting system really well, then crafting builds are among the strongest builds you can have. The vast majority of my victories on going rogue/permadeath have been crafting builds. You are partly right when you claim that a lot of items you can get via burglary. But shops all too often have crap, especially before you get deep enough that you really need the best gear. In other words, you cannot depend on your luck allowing you to getting the best items from shops, burglary or not. Second, if you've invested enough points into crafting as well as perception, not only can you craft better stuff than you usually find in shops, but you can make such extreme improvements to those items, that whether you crafted them or stole them makes no difference. Certainly, until you have a decent perception, getting the proper mats (especially ores and ingots) will be hit or miss. But with a high perception, you'll be swimming in ore and ingots in no time -- more than you'll know what to do with (unless you are playing with NTTG, in which case all bets are off).

And the reason for that is encrusting. Encrusting, is arguably way overpowered, but it's countered by all of the fiddlyness of the crafting system in general. In other words, it's overpowered in a pure game sense, but not enough people take advantage of it, simply because of the high overhead in dealing with crafting to begin with.

/edit And btw, do not carry around your ingots everywhere -- keep all of your crafting mats in your pocket dimension (I even keep most of my crafting devices there, as well as my excess stacks of food and bolts and so on). Keep separate piles to stay organized -- excess potions that you'll need later in one pile, alchemy mats in another, gems in another, ores and ingots in another, and so on. And before you go to your pocket dimension to craft, drop everything that isn't a crafting mat or device on the ground -- it's really quick to do that, and with autopickup, to pick them up again.

[lionhart]

I found that crafting works best when you couple it with a pure ranger build: Tinkering for crossbows (so you can craft bolts), and Smithing for throwing weapons (so you can craft throwing axes). Otherwise you would run out of ammunition long before you got to the last level. Pure ranger builds are extremely effective when done right -- the runs where I managed to kill Dredmor were all either crossbow or throwing builds.

And yeah, not enough people take advantage of encrusting. It's kind of hidden in the interface; I did not even realize it existed until my fifth or sixth run.

[OpenSheep]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dredmor/comments/2deukx/beat_rogue_dredmor_with_permadeath_with/
here is a post by me after I first beat the game with a vegan vampire build.

[transce]

My winning build. Going rogue with permadeath, 10 levels, fought toe-to-toe with Dredmor using melee. (The levels in parenthesis refer to where I was, not necessarily the best setup.)

* Unarmed (max)
* Shield Bearer (max)
* Berserker Rage (max)
* Master of Arms (3 levels)
* Psionics (3 levels)
* Assassin (max)
* Fungal Arts (max)

I guess I would dub this "spore ninja". It's sort of a theif-fighter build using just the original skills, favoring speed and agility combined with heavy hitting. The fungal arts are key. The mushrooms provide all of the "ninja" powers, shuriken (spores), disappearing (inky hog), health aborption (blunge), increased defense (grunge, lobster, prince), increased attack (fell, plumber), and healing (fairy). Since fairywodger can be slow, crystal healing is there for emengecy situations. Battle mycology guantees a neverending stream of mushrooms which can then be transmuted (moldsmithed) if necessary to keep all the necessary "ninja" supplies fully stocked.

The general strategy is to kick open a door and fire a spore immediatly into the room. While the confused monsters are staggering around drunkenly, pop a greedy blungecap for health drain then stand in the door way unleashing unarmed and shield techniques on the confused monsters that approach. Crossbow bolts are used not so much for damage but to draw monsters into melee range without having to leave a stragetic position. The unarmed attacks' knockback effects, in combination with force push from psionics provide momentary breaks in the fight to re-pump your buffs via mushroom and abilities. Spores should be thrown liberally and periodically to keep the monsters confused, preventing most swarms from ever happening and making the monsters much easier to pick off in smaller groups.

The fungal arts mastery means means complete immunity to the spores, allowing them to be fired at point blank range, often causing significant damage in addition to the daze effect. The greedy blungecap's vampiric effects, in addition to tortoise maneuver and fairywodgers can keep your health up while you take a beating, with additional defence available from suit up, grunge, lobstermane, and prince, depending on the severity of the fight. Don't forget fairywodger, grunge ear and lobstermane can be triple stacked for extra effectiveness. All those consecutive hits ramp up the berserker rage, fascilitating dealing considerable damage, especially in combination with fell power, plumber's strength, and venom. The assassin's blackjack and shiv help give you an additional upper hand in battle.

The build has a couple in-case-of-emergency options. One method is to summon a slime or mushroom to distract the monsters while you make an escape. However, the ultimate method is to pull a disappearing act courtosy of inky hoglanterns. This can get you out of almost any tight situation by simply disappearing to give yourself time to drink potions and eat mushrooms or run out of sight and drop healing crystals for rapid health recovery.

If you choose to try this build, first thing, get the martial arts kick (throwing buffalo), then level fungal arts up to battle mycology. This kicks your mushroom arsenal into full operation. Next acquisitions should be shield bash, viking temperament, and roundhouse kick (grey heron) in whatever order makes sense. Depending on how easily you're keeping your health up, you might get crystal healing first and then those battle enhancements, otherwise go for crystal healing next. Next round of upgrades should be tortoise maneuver and berserker rage in any order, followed by sneaky shiv. Next max out unarmed, shield, berserker, assassin, and put a couple points into armor. Don't bother with the rest of the psionics tree, it's better to keep your mana available for emergency healing crystal use. I favored items that would give me elemental attack bonuses, health regen, armor absorption, agility or dodge bonuses, roughly in that order. The core mushrooms are going to be greedy blungecap, fairywodger, inky hoglantern, and odious puffballs, never transmute these mushrooms or sell them -- they are your life's blood. On the other hand, azure mob-bonnet, mud wen, and night cap are worhtless to this build and should be transmuted as soon as possible. Aggressively transmute your mushrooms even if it means standing in place waiting for the timer to count down so that you always have a lot of your main ones. Chew your odious puffballs in advance so you have lots of "shuriken" ammunition to throw.

That's about it, hope others might find this useful. :)

[lionhart]

transce a écrit :

That's about it, hope others might find this useful. :)

Nice write-up. Fungal Arts is a fun skill and it's interesting to hear how other people use it.