Talk:ARCHIVED Hybrid's Kobold Berserker guide

I would just like to make note, in the lair, watch out for snapping turtles, they attack like they have a weapon of reaching and are the bane of my existence in the lairHeadache 23:59, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

If i'm correct those should only generate on a level with the shoals entrance if at all. --Cymrean 05:44, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

I had no idea about that, then I've gotten fairly unlucky with the number of shoals I have to put up with.

Yeah, you don't see those around routinely. If you got a good weapon (like venom or an elemental/speed brand) you should be able to berserk against them and kill them (assuming no water). --Mr. K 14:42, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Weapons

I'm very thankful for this guide, as I knew there were strategies for this game, I could just never get the other characters I tried to work. I'm following this guide almost exactly, and an additional weapon + skill that I've been using for late early game / early mid game:

• Throwing skill at level 4
• Enchanted blowgun (mine is +2 right now) + lots of poison darts + the occasional curare dart

Works wonders with stealth for softening up enemies, catching the ones that flee as I have yet to come across a venom weapon. Jeremyosborne 19:01, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Yup, curare/poison is actually a good reason to start out with Kobold Assassin instead and pick up Trog at the Temple (the background also starts with stats, skills and weapons better suited to Kobolds' aptitudes) The one thing I would recommend is: don't train Throwing past level 7. At level 8, Trog will start gifting you LOTS of ammo. Good if you want to go for the needlestab strategy entirely, bad if you want other, more useful gifts, since it means less of them. -Ion frigate 01:14, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Does it matter now that Trog's gifts are more random whether you focus on a ranged skill?

Armor

Due to this guide, I'm farther in Dungeon Crawl than I've ever made it before. An interesting item I'd add is the Shield of Reflection, if one happens upon it. I don't normally like the heavier shields, but if the berzerker happens upon one it can perform as a deflect missiles for those annoying situations of being caught in the open or surrounded by ranged fire enemies (yaktaur captains + lackies, statues, too many mages, etc.). It's a long shot to plan a character around a single item, but the Shield of Reflection has added quite a bit of flexibility to my toon.

Two things:

• Reflection is a brand. It exists on bucklers and large shields as well; it's most commonly seen on shields because Donald, a unique who I believe is generated in every game, has a very good chance of carrying one.
• The brand doesn't help at all in protecting you. Rather, it simply reflects blocked projectiles back the way they came - you still have to block it. You're probably noticing that a shield is more effective than a buckler, especially if you have decent Shields skill (21 to make it without penalty, 14 to make it mostly so).

Basically, it's not the game-breaking item that it is in Nethack (I don't know if you've played that, but in Nethack "reflection" protects infallibly against all ray-based attacks, and a shield of reflection is a common source of it) -Ion frigate 16:53, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

That is probably what I'm seeing. I've played a lot of Nethack, and a lot of my time playing crawl seems to be spent unlearning Nethack habits. Jeremyosborne 18:29, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Short blades vs. maces/flails

In 0.9.1, a Kobold Berserker will start with Maces & Flails at 3 and Short Blades at 0. The racial bonus to Short Blades is +3, so either I can focus on getting M&F to 4 or SB to 1 with the same result, +4 to my preferred weapon. I don't see why it's not a valid strategy to focus more on strength and M&F if you happen to find a good M&F weapon early on.

The racial bonus applies to the skill's aptitude (i.e. how fast a skill levels), not to its value. While it's a perfectly viable choice for a KoBe to carry multiple types of weapons (especially since Trogg now seems to be erratic in his gifts) focusing on Short Blades gives you the highest return on experience invested in the long run. Also, Kobolds have high natural Dexterity, and gain additional Dexterity as they level; since Short Blades are better for the dexterous, it ends up as the obvious choice. --Mr. K 02:24, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Actually, i highly disagree, and i have ascended quite a few KoBe. Weapon skills you just need to raise them until you reach Minimum delay, after that XP is best put anywhere else. Since the best one handed weapon is a demon whip, with a delay of 11, and you need 12 skill to get that to minimum delay, that means that with maces and flails you wont be going way over 12th level, wich is a pretty light XP investment in the mid-run. Without a good slaying bonus short blades are underwhelming in the late game, and the investment difference between going Short blades and maces and flails is laregely irrelevant. I seriously recommend going Maces and Flails over Short blades, because demon whips are guaranteed, and in the meanwhile the other maces arent half bad.

--Svankensen 17:57, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Why short blades over long?

+3 vs -2 apt. Tends to matter a lot. --Soyweiser 22:40, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Yep, although the higher stabbing damage is worth considering too (Kobolds are naturally quite stealthy and get a lot of stabbing opportunities). Having said that, if you decide to take your KoBe to the late-game, you'll definitely have level 27 in Short Blades, which, due to cross-training, means you'll get a constant +4 bonus to Long Blades for a net aptitude of +2 -- which is not bad at all. --Mr. K 23:54, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Do you bother with training stabbing?