GREATSHIELD IS MY ARMOR With a few more attempts, I can confirm that the Greatshield is a good replacement for armor. Just make sure to have a +10 Greatshield before entering the Demon Halls. There are ways to find one and with a little luck it can be wielded before Tengu!

Thanks for the tips so far. I messed up with the Monk and gave it a try with “Champion” just to confirm that the Greatshield is perfect replacement for armor.

Besides a Greatshield +13 (defense 0-30) I got a mail armor of entanglement that was cheap to upgrade to +5 (Troll + 1 SoU). Augmented for Evasion since defense is not great anyway, and Entanglement kicks soon enough at +5.

I spared the last SoU to enchant two weapons randomly: Lucky Glaive and Chilling Crossbow, cause the shield was doing great enough at +13. I was hoping for a shocking Glaive or Runic blade but well.

With the Champion’s ability to have the +13 on any secondary weapon it was a relatively easy ride as expected.

This was the kit near the end:

I go in order? 🙂

Thanks for the tip. After burning through a few more times, I used the last SoU to fix it. All was great again but I lost the game due to a stupid error due to lack of attention while targeted by Scorpios and Eyes… Could have used the armor’s Challenge, or a full waterskin, but I did not realize I was on low health!

Damn, I did not think about the SoE! I made 2 stones instead. Blazing without Brimstone is a PITA

With Stone +3 (and FIMA) this Longsword wielding Statue is hitting for 4~12 damage:

Found a Stone Scale Armor at level 9, just what I wanted to try…

A Mail armor of Entanglement has worked quite well around FIMO, dropping it after fighting Tengu to put Evasion + Stone to the test…

Forgot to say that I am playing Duelist. I tried going for evasion but did not manage getting beyond +6 armor. I was getting hit often enough to run out of health. But it was not a very lucky game in terms of support.

Not bad but now I have it coupled with a Corrupting Glaive, and obtained the warrior’s “Lethal Momentum” so I can insta-corrupt a lesser mobs in literally no time 🙂

Yeah. Learned it the hard way! Looks like there is usually a hidden room somewhere not too far from normal walls.

This kind of “argument” brought us down to the current disaster.

Finally on the last corner…

Long live Nethack!

First reforge armor of course, you have gone a long way for those plates! Where are u throwing your SoU? AFAIK the optimal Troll output is to get 3 SoU equivalents: 1 upgrade and 2 reforges. Accuracy ring does not seem a deal breaker for Warlock. Reforge + transmute is risky though: random +3 ring 🙂 I would transmute the cursed ring first, maybe it becomes furor, sharpshooting, wealth… if not worth reforging, you can still come out with a +3/+4 plate

RoA is pretty useless to the Duelist with Twin Upgrades 🙂

Okay I thought +0 was also possible. If +2 is common then it is a fair gamble. How many runs arrive to level 13 without a +1 or better scale mail? That is the case where Smith is a likely improvement. I don’t have numbers but playing Mage with 3 challenges I usually have such armor by level 14. And usually cannot wear a plate yet…

What is the typical depth where players get to Strength 16?

I’ll admit that a run with challenges requires extra work anyway, so there it makes sense to seek 3 plates and backtrack.

I had enough RC for the 3 plates required for the blacksmith to work a +3 or better. Ended up with +4.

Went down to hunt an extra plate, came back to upgrade+reforge to +3, and there is still favor left for another reforge 🙂

I see. Only a +0 plate mail per se is not really “strong”. Most times not even wearable at this level.

As things are it is better to come back later with a couple of plates and do upgrade + reforge.

Smith is still great for a choice of strong weapons. Just not useful for armor IMO.