Best Unarmed Build

[DavidBurnsideZF]

Hey. :) I need ideas to make the best unarmed build possible. I will only be using vanilla DoD. Thanks in advance! :)

[Haldurson]

There are a lot of great unarmed skills, but remember that unarmed is a slow-killing skill, that is focused more on defense than damage. Here's my personal favorite:
1. Master of Arms
2. Unarmed
3. Shield Mastery
4. Vamipirism
5. Burglary
6. Tourist
7. Berserk Rage

This is a build that's been fantastic for me. But if you wish, you can try substituting Communist for, maybe, tourist (?) (I haven't tried it with communist, but in theory, it does have certain advantages).

The things you need to remember about Vampirism specifically, and this build in general is that:
1. The life drain ability increases with health regen
2. Life drain is best vs. Animals, then Demons, then creatures classified specifically as 'Other'. It won't work against plants, constructs, and undead.
3. Save up bolts, and ESPECIALLY thrown weapons for use in combat against the more dangerous creatures, especially those with corruption, and those which your life drain does not work against.
4. You can't eat food (except with the tourist ability 'Sample the Local Cuisine', which allows you to eat just about anything, but really is of very limited value, and pales in comparison to both corpse drain and life drain). BUT you can eventually gain health from corpses (even undead corpses). That ability increases with magic power.
5. Burglary gives you two 'get out of death free' skills -- a teleport and an invisibility. Some people seem to not understand the extreme value of the invisibility skill. Remember that even when invisible, that creatures that you have been fighting will still 'kinda' move towards where they remember you were, and that throws some people off and makes them think that invisibility is worthless. It's not. Use them both wisely, and as needed, and pay attention to their cool-downs.
6. You can get one of the best pet skills in all of Dredmor -- the only summons in the unmodded game which improves with dungeon level (so it's still good in the late game). There are two catches -- first, there's a decent chance that your creature will be hostile, and second, you have no control over the type of creature you will summon. BUT, even a hostile creature can be good for draining the life from (either from the creature itself, or from its corpse). So if you need some health, you can summon one under 'controlled conditions' and use it for some hp.
7. Unarmed works best while wielding shields and/or books, not weapons. I prefer dual-wielding shields with magic reflection and/or resistance, but powerful books are a decent alternative. Keep in mind that some books have unadvertised features, and... drawbacks. So be careful which you use, if you go that route (what you find may have some say in those choices)

If you make good choices and play carefully, you can end up with an incredibly high life drain.