Difference between revisions of "Escaping from (and avoiding) trouble"

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==Introduction==
 
==Introduction==
  
Sometimes you can't win a fight, and the best thing to do is to run. Knowing how to escape from a deadly situation (such as an unexpected monster wandering into view when you're low on [[HP]], or a situation that has spiralled out of control (such as an enemy caster summoning a large number of deadly [[demon|demons]]) is a vital skill to survival in Dungeon Crawl.
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Sometimes you can't win a fight, and the best thing to do is to run. Knowing how to escape from a deadly situation (such as an unexpected monster wandering into view when you're low on [[HP]], or a situation that has spiraled out of control (such as an enemy caster summoning a large number of deadly [[demon|demons]]) is a vital skill to survival in Dungeon Crawl.
  
 
Crawl offers a number of escape options, as well as means of healing, disabling monsters, and many other things which just might save your life.
 
Crawl offers a number of escape options, as well as means of healing, disabling monsters, and many other things which just might save your life.
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The following are varying escape options, roughly in order of how common they are
 
The following are varying escape options, roughly in order of how common they are
  
* Teleport, which is however delayed and may be risky if uncontrolled. This can be combined by other means, such as teleport, then healing until it kicks in, blink+teleport, or teleport+control teleport, ring or spell.  Controlled teleports will cause glow.
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* Teleport: after a short delay of a few turns, translocates you to a random habitable square on the same level. It is risky when done in mostly unexplored levels, so only use it if you think your situation can't get much worse. (Dying is always the worst. If you think you will die, always try to escape.) This can be combined with other means of escape, such as the [[Blink]] spell or, even better, [[Controlled Blink]] or a scroll of blinking, then healing until teleport kicks in.
* Heal wounds/wand of healing, which will heal but only around 25 HP. Many monsters can deal more damage than that in one turn.  Wands are lighter and more durable, but unreliable if you're confused.
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* [[Potion of heal wounds]]: Heals approximately 25 HP. In the early game, is a significant boost, but in the end-game, you will likely be receiving more than 25 damage in a single turn.
* [[Potion of curing]], only heals for a few HP but removes most negative status effects, which may be critical to escape.
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* [[Potion of curing]]: heals a few HP and removes most negative status effects, removal of which may be critical to escape. [[Confusion]] is a notable example of such an effect.
* Scroll of blinking/controlled blink, which (on teleport-controllable levels) can allow you to instantly blink to any visible square. Causes glow.
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* [[Scroll of blinking]]/[[Controlled Blink]]: allows you to instantly translocate yourself to any visible square (barring locations rendered inaccessible by transparent walls). This causes minor [[magical contamination]], preventing extremely frequent use. The high-level spell may miscast, but the reliable, easily-found scroll never does.
* Uncontrolled blink, which moves you to a random visible square. Beware of spell/evocation failure!  Can make the situation worse; generally, only try it if you can do so several times in a row.
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* Uncontrolled [[Blink]]: instantly translocates you to a randomly blink-accessible square within LOS. This can easily make the situation worse (imagine blinking from the edge of an orc pack to the center). In general, only use this if you can reliably make use of it several times in a row. Beware of miscasts/evocation failure.
* Semi-controlled blink, which comes from having teleport control and casting the blink spell, or casting controlled blink on a non teleport control level. Lets you choose the general direction of your blink.  Causes glow.
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*[[Scroll of fear]]: might help you if you are surrounded. It does not work on all monsters, but still could be enough to allow an escape route.
* Speed, possibly from potion of speed, wand of hasting, Haste spell, Swiftness spell (better if combined with Flight), or Tengu flight. This will let you run away but you will be subject to ranged attacks in the mean time. The wand of hasting and Haste spell cause glow.
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*[[Scroll of fog]]: might help you cut line of sight to monsters that attack you from range.
* Berserk, which will haste you and add 50% temporary HP... but when it runs out, you will be ''slowed'' instead, and you won't be able to berserk again for a while! It can be used either to kill the monsters or run away. To run away or if you are not sure about the outcome, only use when near stairs.
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* Speed (from [[potion of haste]], [[Swiftness]] spell): allows you to run away, though you will be susceptible to ranged attacks until you break LOS/leave the level. Hasting oneself causes magical contamination. Speed boost have nice synergy with [[scroll of fog|scrolls of fog]], allowing you to quickly break LOS.
* [[Spider Form]] speeds up most races (although spriggans actually get slower), improves evasion greatly so ranged attacks are more likely to miss, plus you can cling to walls for escaping over lava or deep water.
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* [[Berserk]]: hastes (and strengthens) you and add 50% temporary HP... but when it runs out, you will be ''slowed'' instead, and you won't be able to berserk again for a while! Mostly useful for killing things (thus precluding the need to escape in the first place) or sprinting to stairs. (Do ''not'' use berserk as a poor man's swiftness! The slowness will last much longer than the quickness, and is only useful for short sprints - generally to the stairs.)
* Lugonu's banishment. This will save your life immediately but reduce your max HP.
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* [[Lugonu|Lugonu's]] Enter the Abyss: removes you from any situation immediately, leaving all pursuing monsters behind, but reduces your HP. Keep in mind that you will then be in the Abyss, so it still might not "save your life".
* Borgnjor's Revivification spell. This will fully heal you but reduce your max HP.
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* [[Borgnjor's Revivification]]: fully heals you but reduces your max HP.
* Zin's sanctuary. This will protect you but prevents attacking. Combine with another method to get away.
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* [[Zin|Zin's]] Sanctuary: protects you from nearly all attacks, but prevents attacking yourself. Combine with another method to get away.
* Elyvilon's healing powers.  They are much more powerful than even a wand of healing, but use piety and a lot of food.
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* [[Elyvilon|Elyvilon's]] healing powers: more powerful than potions of heal wounds, but use piety and a lot of food.
* Death's Door spell. This will make you invulnerable but leave you with very little HP. Tradeoff like berserk, but you can act and you are much more likely to die if it expires in a dangerous place.
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* [[Cheibriados]]' Step from Time: Moves you to nowhere and lets time pass. During that time, monsters wander away and may even forget about you.
* Paralyze/confuse/slow/fear at the enemy. This will be effective in the early game, but in the late game, most dangerous monsters will resist them. Outside of the early game, it's best to act on yourself.
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* [[Nemelex]] worshippers may draw upon their [[deck of escape|decks of escape]]. 
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* [[Death's Door]]: makes you invulnerable but will leave you with very little HP. This tradeoff is similar to berserking, but you can act and you are much more likely to die if it expires in a dangerous place. Note that after the spell's effect expires, you won't be able to cast it again for several turns.
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* [[paralyze|Paralyze]]/[[confuse]]/[[slow]]/[[fear]] (applied to enemies): effective in the early game, but in the late game, most dangerous monsters will resist them. Outside of the early game, it's best to act on yourself.
  
 
==Magic - Useful Escape Spells==
 
==Magic - Useful Escape Spells==
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Mephitic cloud is very effective for keeping most low-level creatures from pursuing or harming you.  Creatures with poison resistance are immune to its effects, and creatures with 100+ HP tend to shrug its effects off as well.
 
Mephitic cloud is very effective for keeping most low-level creatures from pursuing or harming you.  Creatures with poison resistance are immune to its effects, and creatures with 100+ HP tend to shrug its effects off as well.
  
If you are poison resistant or are wearing an [[amulet of clarity]], you can use it anywhere without fear of affecting yourself.  Even if you're not poison resistant, mephitic cloud can be used against an adjacent enemy in most cases (aim at the *):
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If you are poison resistant or have a source of [[clarity]], you can use it anywhere without fear of affecting yourself.  Even if you're not poison resistant, mephitic cloud can be used against an adjacent enemy in most cases (aim at the *):
  
 
  .........  .........
 
  .........  .........
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  .........  .........
 
  .........  .........
  
By targeting diagonally beyond the yak, you can catch it in the cloud radius without catching yourself.
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By targeting diagonally beyond the yak, you can catch it in the cloud without affecting yourself.
  
 
Also note that risking self-[[confusion]] is sometimes worth it. If worse comes to worst, you can always drink a [[potion of curing]] (which you might have been wanting to do anyway). Most enemies can't, and even humanoids are unlikely to be carrying more than one potion.
 
Also note that risking self-[[confusion]] is sometimes worth it. If worse comes to worst, you can always drink a [[potion of curing]] (which you might have been wanting to do anyway). Most enemies can't, and even humanoids are unlikely to be carrying more than one potion.
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===[[Conjure Flame]]===
 
===[[Conjure Flame]]===
  
Conjure flame is very, very situational. At best, it's irreplaceable. At worst, it's a waste of slots and of the turns spent casting it. Experiment with it and get a feel for it and when (if ever) you wish to invest in it. Understanding who fears flame and who doesn't is important here. Practice when you're *not* in a crisis.  It works best when you can hold a stupid enemy in the flame, by either meleeing them yourself, blocking them with servants (or their buddies), or confusing them in tight quarters (so they repeatedly wander through the cloud).
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Conjure flame is situational. Experiment with it and get a feel for it and when (if ever) you wish to invest in it. Understanding who fears flame and who doesn't is important here. Practice when you're ''not'' in a crisis.  It works best when you can hold a stupid enemy in the flame, by either meleeing them yourself, blocking them with servants (or their buddies), or confusing them in tight quarters (so they repeatedly wander through the cloud).
  
 
===[[Swiftness]]===
 
===[[Swiftness]]===
 
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Reduces your movement delay for a short time before slowing you, usually enough to get you to the stairs.
Cheap at twice the price. <strike>Note that levitation, which handily is present right alongside it in the Book of Air, doubles its effect.</strike> Levitation or Flight used to double its effect.
 
  
 
===[[Passwall]]===
 
===[[Passwall]]===
  
A spell people love to underestimate (though for good reason -- it *looks* at first glance to be a crap spell). If you notice your trouble early enough, though, and you've mapped out your area beforehand (deep dwarves!) and found a 1-thickness wall to pass through towards safety, this is like a controlled teleport, thousands of turns before you could cast controlled teleport.
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A spell people love to underestimate (though for good reason -- it ''looks'' at first glance to be a crap spell). If you notice your trouble early enough, though, and you've mapped out your area beforehand (deep dwarves!) and found a 1-thickness wall to pass through towards safety, this is like a controlled teleport, thousands of turns before you could cast controlled teleport.
  
===[[Slow]], [[Confuse]], and [[Enslavement]]===
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===[[Slow]] and [[Confuse]]===
  
 
These take a big investment in [[Hexes]] to be worth the turns and MP it takes to cast them.  Worthwhile only if you can do that, or are already doing so ([[Enchanter]]s).
 
These take a big investment in [[Hexes]] to be worth the turns and MP it takes to cast them.  Worthwhile only if you can do that, or are already doing so ([[Enchanter]]s).
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Several summoning spells are great for defensive purposes even if they're useless for offense.  You can exchange places with allies automatically, but an enemy will have to fight through or walk around them to get to you.  This means that even a lowly rat can open up that vital one-square space for a stair escape!
 
Several summoning spells are great for defensive purposes even if they're useless for offense.  You can exchange places with allies automatically, but an enemy will have to fight through or walk around them to get to you.  This means that even a lowly rat can open up that vital one-square space for a stair escape!
  
The best spell for defensive purposes is [[Summon Butterflies]].  It instantly surrounds you with a two-tile thick layer of butterflies that interfere with your enemies' travel and ranged attacks.
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The best spell for defensive purposes is [[Summon Butterflies]].  It instantly surrounds you with butterflies (numbers increasing with spellpower) that interfere with your enemies' travel and ranged attacks.
 
 
==Cards==
 
 
 
Whether you use melee or magic, don't forget your [[decks]] of cards! Even an unidentified one can occasionally be the least risk*expense solution for a problem.  Note: this should be a last resort for those not following Nemelex, as a [[shuffle]] or [[Damnation card]] can be much worse than whatever is threatening you.
 
  
 
==Escaping Trouble==
 
==Escaping Trouble==
  
===Monsters with a slow weapon===
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===Run early===
 
 
At first you can use the rule-of-thumb "hard-hitting = slow" (or refer to the [[weapon]] page and check its speed); later you can fine-tune this perception based on your own knowledge of weapon speeds. Monsters are affected by these just like you are, so it can happen that they take significantly more than 100% of a round to take a swing. Thus if you're lucky and if you judged right, you can take a quick action (like a weapon swap) while giving that e.g. [[halberd]]-wielding gnoll a chance to swing, then step back, and open up that vital one space of distance on the next turn, so you can flee up a staircase unfollowed. It helps to be relatively close to the stairs by this point, so you can be fairly sure that nothing else will come up during the trip. Don't be too close, though, as sometimes this method can take a couple of tries.
 
 
 
Note that clubs qualify -- just barely -- as weapons slow enough for this trick.
 
 
 
===Weird stairs continuum===
 
 
 
As of b26, it was possible to use the weapon-speed trick even against fast-weapon monsters by heading upstairs, some of the time. I never got a hang of what made the difference. Not sure it still applies in Stone Soup either.
 
 
 
===Traffic control===
 
  
With some maneuvering, you can sometimes influence which monster is next to you, so you're adjacent to a [[rat]], and not an [[orc warrior]]. It's hard to explain; just practice. In some cases, you can even do this while pillar dancing (see below).
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Once you've learned from experience that a certain monster type or monster-pack type is dangerous, run before it gets into melee, and re-enter the level from another place.
  
 
===Pillar dancing===
 
===Pillar dancing===
  
"The escape without having to escape." Sadly, pillar dancing is still powerful and often even necessary in Crawl, though both facts apply only in the early game. Find a "circular" path to follow, trying to make a wise compromise/choice between closeness of the path's start to where you are, its unobservability, and escape routes in case something wanders in in the opposite direction (which tends to conflict with unobservability), and ring around that rosie.
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If you find yourself in melee range with a monster of normal speed in the early dungeon when you're at your weakest, you can regenerate health and magic in an emergency by leading the monster around a pillar for a while. Be aware that monster movement has a random element, which might allow the monster to hit or close on you at some point. Other monsters might also become aware of you, so choose your spot carefully!
  
 
===Poison and pillar dancing===
 
===Poison and pillar dancing===
  
 
Keep on the lookout for a way to poison your enemies early on, even if it's a weapon you know you will not be using in the long term. In just a few turns of melee, or even none ([[blowgun]]s), you can cause enough poisoning to kill that nasty foe. (Go for one level of "even sicker"; renew if the enemy "seems more healthy.")
 
Keep on the lookout for a way to poison your enemies early on, even if it's a weapon you know you will not be using in the long term. In just a few turns of melee, or even none ([[blowgun]]s), you can cause enough poisoning to kill that nasty foe. (Go for one level of "even sicker"; renew if the enemy "seems more healthy.")
 
===Zapping and pillar dancing===
 
 
The best way to zap down a monster with a wand or a spell that is not stopped by hitting the monster (e.g. [[wand of lightning]]) is to zap at it at the corner of a pillar with a wall behind the monster. Due to reflection the monster can be hit at least two times. The [[Multizap]] page has information on how best to to double and triple zap enemies.
 
  
 
===Leading them up===
 
===Leading them up===
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Triple visitation means entering a level by all three staircases before you start exploring it in earnest.  This is only really worth the tedium on the first few levels (or if the three down stairs are close together), but it ''can'' be a lifesaver.  That way, if you get into trouble far from where you last entered the level, you may see a closer staircase to retreat to than your staircase of last entry.  On the other hand, whenever you go down stairs there is a risk of being put adjacent to a very dangerous creature, making this technique best for stealthy, swift, or invisible adventurers.
 
Triple visitation means entering a level by all three staircases before you start exploring it in earnest.  This is only really worth the tedium on the first few levels (or if the three down stairs are close together), but it ''can'' be a lifesaver.  That way, if you get into trouble far from where you last entered the level, you may see a closer staircase to retreat to than your staircase of last entry.  On the other hand, whenever you go down stairs there is a risk of being put adjacent to a very dangerous creature, making this technique best for stealthy, swift, or invisible adventurers.
 
===Run early===
 
 
Once you've learned from experience that a certain monster type or monster-pack type is dangerous, run before it gets into melee, and reenter the level from another place.
 
  
 
===Bypass===
 
===Bypass===
  
(This relates to the last item, and sort of segues into the next section.) Just because it's generally advantageous to clear a
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Just because it's generally advantageous to clear a level completely before descending doesn't mean it's universally the right way to go. Encountering [[Sigmund]] or a particulary nasty pack of orcs on the first few levels of the dungeon are good examples. You can always come back later when you have the necessary equipment and experience to deal with them.
level completely before descending -- see "leading things upstairs" above -- doesn't mean it's universally the right way to go. Sigmund is the classic example here. If you use auto-exploration -- which you should -- then you can block off "trouble here!" areas using
 
excludes: visit the level map, cursor to the epicentre of the trouble, and hit 'e', making sure you are really on the level map. Hit 'e' while cursored-onto an exclude to cycle among three exclude sizes. (In older versions than Stone Soup 0.5, use 'Ctrl-x' and 'x' instead of 'e'.)
 
  
 
===Use your abilities===
 
===Use your abilities===
  
This is an obvious one that's normally forgotten. Are you a [[berserker]]? A berserk rage gives you speed, which is just as useful for clearing the 5 or 6 squares to the stairs as anything else. Worship [[Okawaru]]? Use your heroism and finesse powers, and try to kill that monster before it kills you. Got any [[artifact]] weapons or armour? Check to see if any of them have invokable teleport or blink abilities - a sling that lets you blink is often an incredibly useful artifact, as it takes one turn to equip and then one turn to blink, rapidly getting you out of melee and giving you enough time to teleport. Using bows? Arrows of [[Dispersal (brand) | dispersal]] can send an enemy just far enough away for you to finish it or flee from it.
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When you're facing an emergency situation, slow down. Stop and think about every item and ability at your disposal. Often times players forget to use their spells, god abilities or even consumables when it matters the most. You can even save your game, ask for advice from other players and come back later!
 
 
It's astonishing how many characters worshipping [[Cheibriados]] forget to use Slouch or Step from Time when they're in trouble.  Use it or lose it.
 
  
 
==Keeping out of trouble==
 
==Keeping out of trouble==
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The best way to survive a troublesome predicament is keeping out of trouble in the first place. Let's see...
 
The best way to survive a troublesome predicament is keeping out of trouble in the first place. Let's see...
  
===Engaging ranged attackers around corners===
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===Don't move towards enemies===
  
Ranged attackers will merrily follow you around a corner where you can merrily melee them - the idea being that rather than them being 10 squares away, each one of which gives them a chance to fire at you, you take two steps to hide in a corridor nearby, wait for them to appear, then take a step or two to reach them - thus drastically reducing the number of turns they get to fire at you before you reach melee distance.
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Instead of running into the unknown, where more dangerous monsters might be waiting for you, let enemies come to you and use those turns to reposition youself more advantageously or to soften up the enemy. Orcs are a case in point: a single orc might seem like an easy kill, but then when you get close to it you realize there were two orc priests in the dark just waiting to smite your ass.
  
===Engaging fast monsters by retreating===
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===Explore only when at full health===
  
Doing this will keep them from getting a free hit.
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Unless you're going for a high score, you win nothing by exploring at anything less than full HP and MP. Always rest up, there's plenty of food in the dungeon so you don't need to fear starvation.
  
===Softening things up===
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By pressing the '''5''' key, you can rest till your HP or MP are full again.
  
On the first few levels, collect [[dart]]s, [[sling]]s, and throwables ([[Throwing net|net]]s, [[javelin]]s, [[dagger]]s, [[spear]]s and [[hand axe]]s), even if you don't plan to go with them in the long run (and indeed, you usually shouldn't). Turn off the relevant skills when they reach level 1 if you must, but soften the tough things up! Note that often an early retreat followed by re-approach from another staircase will be precisely what makes this feasible.
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===Engaging ranged attackers around corners===
  
===Don't get surrounded===
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Ranged attackers will follow you around a corner where you can melee them - rather than them being several squares away, each one of which gives them a chance to fire at you, you take two steps to hide in a corridor nearby, wait for them to appear, then take a step or two to reach them - thus drastically reducing the number of turns they get to fire at you before you reach melee distance.
  
Duh, but it still bears mentioning. Especially important against packs of fast enemies. Don't forget the ability of your [[Wand of digging|wands of digging]] and [[Wand of disintegration|disintegration]] to create a corridor for you on the fly!
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===Engaging fast monsters by stepping away from them===
  
===Retreat towards the known===
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Doing this will keep them from getting a free hit, or in the case of [[bat]]s, ending their turn away from you.
  
It's often tactically tempting, because of the enemy's angle of approach, to flee "into the black." Try to resist the urge, and retreat towards a known area, even at the cost of taking a free hit or two. Retreating towards a known staircase or escape hatch is also wise, especially one in a tight corridor if you're being chased by multiple enemies - only enemies on squares directly next to you can go down stairs with you, so in a tight corridor only one of a group of monsters can follow you down a flight of stairs.
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===Softening things up===
  
Also, if you are fighting a quick enemy, fight the urge to chase after them into an unexplored area if they flee. If you can spare a hit or two from an enemy you know will run (usually non-intelligent foes), maneuvering yourself into a position that will cause them to run into known areas is useful.
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On the first few levels, collect [[stone]]s and other throwables, even if you don't plan to go with them in the long run. [[Hunting sling]]s coupled with [[sling bullet]]s are especially lethal even at zero skill. You should also be liberal with most wands you find: even a [[wand of random effects]] can be very useful with some luck. Just keep a set of stairs nearby in case you accidentally haste or berserk a monster with it.
  
===Fight as far from the black as is feasible===
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===Don't get surrounded===
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Getting surrounded is never a good idea, no matter how big of an axe you're wielding. Retreat to a corridor or create your own with a [[wand of digging]].
  
This is a corollary to the previous rule. Just as you should flee through known areas, don't advance upon unknown areas to start a fight. As you are exploring new territory, new enemies will appear 'out of the black'. Let them notice you and move into known territory, instead of automatically moving forward to attack. You don't know what's behind them, and are running the risk of getting swarmed and overwhelmed if your new foe has undetected friends.
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===Retreat towards the known===
 
 
The farther back from the black you are when the fight starts, the fewer surprises you must wrestle. You really want to avoid both the 800 lb gorilla and the attrition battle.
 
 
 
The 800 lb gorilla is the overwhelming out of depth monster who wanders over as you are beating up his little rat buddy. You might have seen the gorilla in normal exploration and decided to slink away without waking him up. But if you pick a fight next door to his lair, you will probably wake up the gorilla without ever knowing he was there. Assume Godzilla lurks in each unknown square, and you'll keep yourself much safer.
 
 
 
The attrition battle is the fight that just doesn't end. A steady stream of monsters keep jumping into the fight, so you don't get a chance to rest and replenish your fighting capabilities. There's nothing more agonizing than dying to an 'easy' monster who came upon you in an depleted state.
 
  
So it's smart to lead new opponents away from the black before engaging. Be doubly smart. Always head directly towards the the nearest stairwell when choosing your path. If you find yourself facing either a gorilla or a losing attrition fight, you are already heading in the right direction.
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It's often tactically tempting, because of the enemy's angle of approach, to flee "into the black." Try to resist the urge, and retreat towards a known area, even at the cost of taking a free hit or two. Retreating towards a known staircase or escape hatch is also wise, especially one in a tight corridor if you're being chased by multiple enemies - only enemies on squares directly next to you can go up or down stairs with you, so in a tight corridor only one of a group of monsters can follow you.
  
 
===Noise is never your friend===
 
===Noise is never your friend===
 
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Try to always be aware of the noise you're generating, keeping a close eye on the noise meter. The less noise you make, the less likely you're going to be drawing in too many monsters at once.
There are two places where noise happens. The first is where you are standing when you launch a noisy attack. The second is your target's location, as the attack hits home and/or the enemy shouts, roars or squeaks.
 
 
 
It's not enough to consider just where YOU are when the fight starts. To avoid adding additional monsters to a fight, you want your target far away from the black, too.
 
 
 
When launching noisy ranged attacks, try to do so near a corner where you can duck out of sight. You would greatly prefer that new monsters attracted to the scene are standing around, thinking "I thought I heard something, but apparently I was mistaken." Much better than new monsters saying, "Oh, it was that fellow over there who disturbed my sleep, I'm rather cross with him."
 
  
 
===Specialize before you generalize===
 
===Specialize before you generalize===
  
It's often said, but untrue in the long run, that Crawl penalizes generalists. It *is* true in the opening, though. Make sure that your skills of choice have power to spare before investing in any others. Many troublesome situations are simply due to not having enough killing power; this will make that problem less frequent. Turn skills off to this end if you must... though don't forget to turn them back on again once your engine's running, if they're useful in the long run -- e.g. dodging and stealth for a conjurer.
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It's often said, but untrue in the long run, that Crawl penalizes generalists. It ''is'' true in the opening, though. Make sure that your skills of choice have power to spare before investing in any others. Many troublesome situations are simply due to not having enough killing power; this will make that problem less frequent. Turn skills off to this end if you must... though don't forget to turn them back on again once your engine's running, if they're useful in the long run -- e.g. dodging and stealth for a conjurer.
  
 
===Learn to use marginal tools to non-marginal effect===
 
===Learn to use marginal tools to non-marginal effect===
  
Scrolls of fear and immolation are often pooh-poohed, yet they can save your life. Don't toss them until you're sailing smoothly! A situation solved with one of these means you've saved an instance of your simpler-to-use tools for later. You may likewise be tempted to ignore resistible wands or wands of random effects, and the same goes here, but even more strongly; these are on the contrary useful until well into the mid-game. Afterwards, much less so; all the more reason to burn them early, so you're not left with depleted stocks of top-tier wands (and scroll/potion stocks) and unused resistibles right when the latter start being useless.
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[[Scrolls of fear]] and [[scroll of immolation]] are often pooh-poohed, yet they can save your life. Don't toss them until you're sailing smoothly! A situation solved with one of these means you've saved an instance of your simpler-to-use tools for later. You may likewise be tempted to ignore resistible wands or wands of random effects, and the same goes here, but even more strongly; these are on the contrary useful until well into the mid-game. Afterwards, much less so; all the more reason to burn them early, so you're not left with depleted stocks of top-tier wands (and scroll/potion stocks) and unused resistibles right when the latter start being useless.
 
 
===Explore only when at safe levels of HP and MP, even if it costs food===
 
 
 
One of the most important lessons in becoming a good novice Crawler is learning to conserve resources. One of the most important lessons in becoming an intermediate Crawler is learning to "waste" resources. Start with food: Burn food to keep your hit points (HPs) and magic points (MPs) at safe levels before exploring new areas.
 
 
 
So what's a safe level for HP? Using extreme caution, always rest until you get to full HP before exploring.
 
 
 
If you find you are too impatient to heal completely before exploring, at least follow some simple guidelines. By default, the game colors your HP stat to give you simple advice. "Green is pretty safe, but don't explore or pick a new fight in yellow status, and leave combat and start running for safety at red." However, the game thinks below 50% HP is yellow, and below 25% is red. In practice, most players will be happier with yellow at 75% (or higher), and red at 50% (or higher). Edit your .rc file appropriately, and never explore unless your HP stat is colored green.
 
 
 
Note that the quickest way to trade HP for food is via regeneration, as long as you aren't tied to a crippling food clock. If your build is not heavy AC, a simple [[troll hide]] turned into [[troll leather armour]] is the most reliable way to obtain regeneration. A [[ring of sustenance]] or an [[amulet of the gourmand]] can make constant regeneration viable even for races with major food concerns.
 
 
 
Of course, having HP without MP is tantamount to suicide for many classes: A wizard without MP is generally a pretty crappy melee fighter. Again, the game thinks MP levels are unsafe at a pretty low level. Update your .rc to warn you when MP drops below 50% (or more), and never explore unless your MP level is also green.
 
 
 
===Play online and engage in ##crawl IRC===
 
 
 
If your game's online (crawl.akrasiac.org or crawl.develz.org) and you're on chat, it's usually no problem to find someone experienced who's in the mood to advise you when you're in a tight spot.  
 
  
 
===Using corners on large pillars===
 
===Using corners on large pillars===
  
Even when you don't have corridors at your disposal, you still may have *corners*, a.k.a. corridors lite. Consider the lowly octagon-level bigpillar:
+
Even when you don't have corridors at your disposal, you still may have corners, which can help you split up packs and fight one enemy at a time. For example, the following 3x3 pillar with two yaks. The yaks want to fight together, so when you turn a corner the one further out gets left behind, leaving you fighting only one yak.
 
+
 
  ...@..
 
  ...@..
 
  .XXXY.
 
  .XXXY.
  .XXXY.
+
  .XXXY.
  .XXX..
+
  .XXX..
 
  ......
 
  ......
 
+
Not only will fighting in this position give you a free round of fighting only one of the yaks in this example at a time, but also the
+
You can repeat this for every corner of the pillar until the pack is reduced to just one yak.
mechanics of monster movement are such that you can repeat this once for every corner of the bigpillar until you're down to one-on-one.
 
 
 
===Keep your buffs on===
 
You won't have time to cast [[Repel Missiles]] when that centaur appears out of nowhere -- keep it on in the first place.  Keeping [[levitation]] on (or better still, [[fly]]ing) will keep you from falling into [[shaft]]s. 
 
 
 
Wear a [[ring of teleport control]] or keep [[control Teleport]] on at all times -- if you need a controlled blink in a hurry, you'll have it, and if you hit a teleport trap, you won't be dumped into the middle of a bloodthirsty horde.
 
 
 
==The Lantern of shadows==
 
 
 
The [[Lantern of shadows]] is an unholy device that can be very useful to escape from trouble. When wielded, it soaks up the light of the dungeon and cloaks the user in a field of darkness. In addition, friendly [[shadow]]s keep spawning from it as the lantern is indeed a direct connection to the eternal darkness. These shadows are mindlessly attracted to their source during their limited lifespan.
 
 
 
In practice, this means if you just keep on running away while wielding the lantern, the friendly shadows will become your rearguard, blocking off and fighting the pursuing monsters. The Lantern of shadows is especially useful for adventurers trying to escape [[the Abyss]], as the allied shadows can at least stall quite a number of enemies.
 
 
 
[[Category:Strategy Guides]]
 

Revision as of 15:16, 18 April 2018

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Introduction

Sometimes you can't win a fight, and the best thing to do is to run. Knowing how to escape from a deadly situation (such as an unexpected monster wandering into view when you're low on HP, or a situation that has spiraled out of control (such as an enemy caster summoning a large number of deadly demons) is a vital skill to survival in Dungeon Crawl.

Crawl offers a number of escape options, as well as means of healing, disabling monsters, and many other things which just might save your life.

Options when in immediate danger

The following are varying escape options, roughly in order of how common they are

  • Teleport: after a short delay of a few turns, translocates you to a random habitable square on the same level. It is risky when done in mostly unexplored levels, so only use it if you think your situation can't get much worse. (Dying is always the worst. If you think you will die, always try to escape.) This can be combined with other means of escape, such as the Blink spell or, even better, Controlled Blink or a scroll of blinking, then healing until teleport kicks in.
  • Potion of heal wounds: Heals approximately 25 HP. In the early game, is a significant boost, but in the end-game, you will likely be receiving more than 25 damage in a single turn.
  • Potion of curing: heals a few HP and removes most negative status effects, removal of which may be critical to escape. Confusion is a notable example of such an effect.
  • Scroll of blinking/Controlled Blink: allows you to instantly translocate yourself to any visible square (barring locations rendered inaccessible by transparent walls). This causes minor magical contamination, preventing extremely frequent use. The high-level spell may miscast, but the reliable, easily-found scroll never does.
  • Uncontrolled Blink: instantly translocates you to a randomly blink-accessible square within LOS. This can easily make the situation worse (imagine blinking from the edge of an orc pack to the center). In general, only use this if you can reliably make use of it several times in a row. Beware of miscasts/evocation failure.
  • Scroll of fear: might help you if you are surrounded. It does not work on all monsters, but still could be enough to allow an escape route.
  • Scroll of fog: might help you cut line of sight to monsters that attack you from range.
  • Speed (from potion of haste, Swiftness spell): allows you to run away, though you will be susceptible to ranged attacks until you break LOS/leave the level. Hasting oneself causes magical contamination. Speed boost have nice synergy with scrolls of fog, allowing you to quickly break LOS.
  • Berserk: hastes (and strengthens) you and add 50% temporary HP... but when it runs out, you will be slowed instead, and you won't be able to berserk again for a while! Mostly useful for killing things (thus precluding the need to escape in the first place) or sprinting to stairs. (Do not use berserk as a poor man's swiftness! The slowness will last much longer than the quickness, and is only useful for short sprints - generally to the stairs.)
  • Lugonu's Enter the Abyss: removes you from any situation immediately, leaving all pursuing monsters behind, but reduces your HP. Keep in mind that you will then be in the Abyss, so it still might not "save your life".
  • Borgnjor's Revivification: fully heals you but reduces your max HP.
  • Zin's Sanctuary: protects you from nearly all attacks, but prevents attacking yourself. Combine with another method to get away.
  • Elyvilon's healing powers: more powerful than potions of heal wounds, but use piety and a lot of food.
  • Cheibriados' Step from Time: Moves you to nowhere and lets time pass. During that time, monsters wander away and may even forget about you.
  • Nemelex worshippers may draw upon their decks of escape.
  • Death's Door: makes you invulnerable but will leave you with very little HP. This tradeoff is similar to berserking, but you can act and you are much more likely to die if it expires in a dangerous place. Note that after the spell's effect expires, you won't be able to cast it again for several turns.
  • Paralyze/confuse/slow/fear (applied to enemies): effective in the early game, but in the late game, most dangerous monsters will resist them. Outside of the early game, it's best to act on yourself.

Magic - Useful Escape Spells

Blink

Blinking can also be used to give you time to teleport: blink, activate a teleport and then start running away -- even if the monsters are faster than you, they can only gain one square a turn if you're running, giving teleport time to kick in.

It is also useful to remember that Lugonu grants you the ability to 'Bend space around yourself' which is effectively the blink spell.

Mephitic Cloud

Mephitic cloud is very effective for keeping most low-level creatures from pursuing or harming you. Creatures with poison resistance are immune to its effects, and creatures with 100+ HP tend to shrug its effects off as well.

If you are poison resistant or have a source of clarity, you can use it anywhere without fear of affecting yourself. Even if you're not poison resistant, mephitic cloud can be used against an adjacent enemy in most cases (aim at the *):

.........  .........
...###...  ....###..
...#*#...  ....#*#..
...##Y...  ....Y##..
....@....  ....@....
.........  .........

By targeting diagonally beyond the yak, you can catch it in the cloud without affecting yourself.

Also note that risking self-confusion is sometimes worth it. If worse comes to worst, you can always drink a potion of curing (which you might have been wanting to do anyway). Most enemies can't, and even humanoids are unlikely to be carrying more than one potion.

Conjure Flame

Conjure flame is situational. Experiment with it and get a feel for it and when (if ever) you wish to invest in it. Understanding who fears flame and who doesn't is important here. Practice when you're not in a crisis. It works best when you can hold a stupid enemy in the flame, by either meleeing them yourself, blocking them with servants (or their buddies), or confusing them in tight quarters (so they repeatedly wander through the cloud).

Swiftness

Reduces your movement delay for a short time before slowing you, usually enough to get you to the stairs.

Passwall

A spell people love to underestimate (though for good reason -- it looks at first glance to be a crap spell). If you notice your trouble early enough, though, and you've mapped out your area beforehand (deep dwarves!) and found a 1-thickness wall to pass through towards safety, this is like a controlled teleport, thousands of turns before you could cast controlled teleport.

Slow and Confuse

These take a big investment in Hexes to be worth the turns and MP it takes to cast them. Worthwhile only if you can do that, or are already doing so (Enchanters).

Summoning

Several summoning spells are great for defensive purposes even if they're useless for offense. You can exchange places with allies automatically, but an enemy will have to fight through or walk around them to get to you. This means that even a lowly rat can open up that vital one-square space for a stair escape!

The best spell for defensive purposes is Summon Butterflies. It instantly surrounds you with butterflies (numbers increasing with spellpower) that interfere with your enemies' travel and ranged attacks.

Escaping Trouble

Run early

Once you've learned from experience that a certain monster type or monster-pack type is dangerous, run before it gets into melee, and re-enter the level from another place.

Pillar dancing

If you find yourself in melee range with a monster of normal speed in the early dungeon when you're at your weakest, you can regenerate health and magic in an emergency by leading the monster around a pillar for a while. Be aware that monster movement has a random element, which might allow the monster to hit or close on you at some point. Other monsters might also become aware of you, so choose your spot carefully!

Poison and pillar dancing

Keep on the lookout for a way to poison your enemies early on, even if it's a weapon you know you will not be using in the long term. In just a few turns of melee, or even none (blowguns), you can cause enough poisoning to kill that nasty foe. (Go for one level of "even sicker"; renew if the enemy "seems more healthy.")

Leading them up

Just because heading up staircases while followed is not a full escape doesn't mean it's not useful. Dealing with a nasty on a "cleared" level is much less troublesome than on one where your escape routes will often lead into unexplored territory, or wake up monsters lurking within it who can leap out to block your retreat. And teleporting on an unexplored level, that can be nasty!

Some monsters can even be fully abandoned this way at little resource cost: imps and phantoms. You may want to lead them two levels up instead of one, so they're not in the way in case you need to lead something else up afterwards. Can be tedious, though.

Triple visitation

Triple visitation means entering a level by all three staircases before you start exploring it in earnest. This is only really worth the tedium on the first few levels (or if the three down stairs are close together), but it can be a lifesaver. That way, if you get into trouble far from where you last entered the level, you may see a closer staircase to retreat to than your staircase of last entry. On the other hand, whenever you go down stairs there is a risk of being put adjacent to a very dangerous creature, making this technique best for stealthy, swift, or invisible adventurers.

Bypass

Just because it's generally advantageous to clear a level completely before descending doesn't mean it's universally the right way to go. Encountering Sigmund or a particulary nasty pack of orcs on the first few levels of the dungeon are good examples. You can always come back later when you have the necessary equipment and experience to deal with them.

Use your abilities

When you're facing an emergency situation, slow down. Stop and think about every item and ability at your disposal. Often times players forget to use their spells, god abilities or even consumables when it matters the most. You can even save your game, ask for advice from other players and come back later!

Keeping out of trouble

The best way to survive a troublesome predicament is keeping out of trouble in the first place. Let's see...

Don't move towards enemies

Instead of running into the unknown, where more dangerous monsters might be waiting for you, let enemies come to you and use those turns to reposition youself more advantageously or to soften up the enemy. Orcs are a case in point: a single orc might seem like an easy kill, but then when you get close to it you realize there were two orc priests in the dark just waiting to smite your ass.

Explore only when at full health

Unless you're going for a high score, you win nothing by exploring at anything less than full HP and MP. Always rest up, there's plenty of food in the dungeon so you don't need to fear starvation.

By pressing the 5 key, you can rest till your HP or MP are full again.

Engaging ranged attackers around corners

Ranged attackers will follow you around a corner where you can melee them - rather than them being several squares away, each one of which gives them a chance to fire at you, you take two steps to hide in a corridor nearby, wait for them to appear, then take a step or two to reach them - thus drastically reducing the number of turns they get to fire at you before you reach melee distance.

Engaging fast monsters by stepping away from them

Doing this will keep them from getting a free hit, or in the case of bats, ending their turn away from you.

Softening things up

On the first few levels, collect stones and other throwables, even if you don't plan to go with them in the long run. Hunting slings coupled with sling bullets are especially lethal even at zero skill. You should also be liberal with most wands you find: even a wand of random effects can be very useful with some luck. Just keep a set of stairs nearby in case you accidentally haste or berserk a monster with it.

Don't get surrounded

Getting surrounded is never a good idea, no matter how big of an axe you're wielding. Retreat to a corridor or create your own with a wand of digging.

Retreat towards the known

It's often tactically tempting, because of the enemy's angle of approach, to flee "into the black." Try to resist the urge, and retreat towards a known area, even at the cost of taking a free hit or two. Retreating towards a known staircase or escape hatch is also wise, especially one in a tight corridor if you're being chased by multiple enemies - only enemies on squares directly next to you can go up or down stairs with you, so in a tight corridor only one of a group of monsters can follow you.

Noise is never your friend

Try to always be aware of the noise you're generating, keeping a close eye on the noise meter. The less noise you make, the less likely you're going to be drawing in too many monsters at once.

Specialize before you generalize

It's often said, but untrue in the long run, that Crawl penalizes generalists. It is true in the opening, though. Make sure that your skills of choice have power to spare before investing in any others. Many troublesome situations are simply due to not having enough killing power; this will make that problem less frequent. Turn skills off to this end if you must... though don't forget to turn them back on again once your engine's running, if they're useful in the long run -- e.g. dodging and stealth for a conjurer.

Learn to use marginal tools to non-marginal effect

Scrolls of fear and scroll of immolation are often pooh-poohed, yet they can save your life. Don't toss them until you're sailing smoothly! A situation solved with one of these means you've saved an instance of your simpler-to-use tools for later. You may likewise be tempted to ignore resistible wands or wands of random effects, and the same goes here, but even more strongly; these are on the contrary useful until well into the mid-game. Afterwards, much less so; all the more reason to burn them early, so you're not left with depleted stocks of top-tier wands (and scroll/potion stocks) and unused resistibles right when the latter start being useless.

Using corners on large pillars

Even when you don't have corridors at your disposal, you still may have corners, which can help you split up packs and fight one enemy at a time. For example, the following 3x3 pillar with two yaks. The yaks want to fight together, so when you turn a corner the one further out gets left behind, leaving you fighting only one yak.

...@..
.XXXY.
.XXXY.	
.XXX..	
......

You can repeat this for every corner of the pillar until the pack is reduced to just one yak.