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.

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.