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

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Sometimes, you can't win a fight, and sometimes the best thing to do is to run. Knowing when and how to escape a deadly situation is an essential part of playing ''Crawl''.
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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.
  
==Introduction==
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==Avoiding 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...
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*'''Don't move towards enemies.''' In unknown territory, ''anything'' could be there. You might find a single [[orc]] easy prey, but an [[orc priest]] can be waiting in the shadows. Even if it was a lone orc ''this time'', there is always the risk of 2 priests being there. And if fighting [[Ijyb]] was bad enough, you could always be adding [[Sigmund]] to the mix.
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: Use those turns to reposition yourself, retreat into known territory, and/or use ranged attacks to soften up the enemy. Even at 0 Throwing skill, [[stone]]s, [[boomerang]]s, and poisoned [[dart]]s can do some damage.
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*'''When retreating, head towards known territory.''' It's often tempting to flee "into the black", directly away from the enemy. But, as mentioned above, you might find a dead-end or inconveniently placed monster. Retreat towards known areas, even if it means taking an extra hit or two. And make sure your route is actually safe - you don't want to be running away, only to come across even stronger enemies.
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*'''Explore only at full HP & MP.''' If a monster is dangerous when you have 100% HP, it's even more dangerous when you have 75% HP. By pressing the '''5''' key, you can wait until your HP/MP are full again. This consumes a lot of [[turn]]s, but don't worry. Unless you're going for a [[high score]], or really want to get into a timed [[portal]], you win nothing by saving time.
  
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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*'''Use tactical positioning.''' The layout of the Dungeon can be used to your advantage. For example, you can lead enemies into corridors in order to fight them one by one. That way, you avoid taking 8 hits at once! Even as a beefy [[axe]] user, being surrounded is a perilous situation.
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**'''Line of sight management:''' Enemies cannot ever attack you from outside ''your'' [[line of sight]]. Use this to your advantage against ranged foes. Take a corner as an example. You could charge directly into a [[centaur (monster)|centaur]], giving it several turns to fire at you. Or, you can take 2 turns to duck behind a corner, wait for it to come to you, then step up into melee.
  
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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*'''Watch out for noise.''' If an enemy hears [[noise]], it will come to its location. Try to always be aware of noise. The less noise you make, the less likely you're going to be drawing in a monster mid-combat.
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:Noise, in a highly advantageous position, can be helpful. It can lure enemies in. You can bring packs into a corridor, or bring monsters to [[stair dance]].
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*'''Skipping the floor is an option.''' You don't have to kill everything in ''Crawl''. While it's usually good to clear each level, sometimes it isn't. [[Sigmund]] or a pack of [[orc priest]]s are good reasons to skip D:2 or D:3, for instance. You can always come back later - when you have the items and experience to deal with it.
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*'''[[Specialization|Specialize]] before you generalize.''' Make sure you can actually kill things with your skills of choice, before investing into others. Many troublesome situations can arise from not having enough "kill power" to fight basic enemies. If you have to blow a [[potion]] for every [[cane toad]] you see, you're gonna run out of consumables. Don't forget to put your non-killing skills once you have enough power (e.g. for a caster, train Fighting, Dodging, Stealth after getting spells to a low failure rate).
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*'''Triple visitation.''' Triple visitation means entering a level by all three staircases before you start exploring it in earnest. If you get into trouble, you may see a closer staircase to retreat to.
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**Note that this strategy is not without risks. Every time you go down an unknown stairs, there's a chance of instantly losing a game (say, being next to [[Sigmund]] or [[Grinder]]), or being put into an extremely dangerous situation. Therefore, this is best used on stealthy or swift characters.
  
 
==Options when in immediate danger==
 
==Options when in immediate danger==
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While its best to prevent danger, sometimes it is unavoidable. Whenever you get [[shaft]]ed, or see an out of depth monster, or a dangerous pack of monsters just after finishing a fight, you can find help with various escape options:
  
The following are varying escape options, roughly in order of how common they are
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These are just some of the more useful, immediate tools at your disposal. Many more items might solve lethal situations. For example, a [[potion of might]] may give you the damage you need to handle a dangerous enemy. However, the Might status is not likely to help you when you are at low HP (beyond a last resort).
  
* Teleport, which is however delayed and may be risky. This can be combined by other means, such as [[blink]] or better [[controlled blink]], then healing until teleport kicks in.
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===Potions ('''q''')===
* [[Potion of heal wounds]]/[[Wand of heal wounds]], 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 berserk rage]]: hastes (and strengthens) you, and adds +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 sprint to a staircase a few (2-3) tiles away. Do ''not'' use berserk as a poor man's swiftness! You will be slowed much longer than the berserk will last.
* [[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 ambrosia]]: Leaves you confused, but recovers both HP and MP as long as its confusion lasts. Useful when it'll be a few turns before the next monster comes, or if you need a quick MP heal.
* [[Scroll of blinking]]/[[controlled blink]], which (on teleport-controllable levels) can allow you to instantly blink to any visible square.  Causes [[magic contamination]].
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* [[Potion of curing]]: heals a few HP and removes [[poison]] and [[confusion]], which may be critical to end.
* 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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* [[Potion of haste]]: allows you to run away, though you will be susceptible to ranged attacks until you break LOS/leave the level. The speed boost has nice synergy with [[scroll of fog|scrolls of fog]], allowing you to quickly break LOS. Also allows for kiting tactics.
*[[Scroll of fear]] might help you to break free if you are surrounded. Even if it does not work on all monsters, it might be enough to create an escape route.
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* [[Potion of heal wounds]]: Heals approximately 25 HP (minimum 10 HP). In the early game, it is a significant boost, but slowly loses effectiveness throughout the game.
* Speed, possibly from [[potion of haste]], wand of hasting, [[Haste]] spell, [[Swiftness]] spell. 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 [[contamination]]. You can combine it with a [[scroll of fog]] to not be the target of pursuing monsters.
 
* 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.
 
* [[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.
 
* Lugonu's banishment. This will save your life immediately but reduce your max HP.
 
* Borgnjor's Revivification spell. This will fully heal you but reduce your max HP.
 
* Zin's sanctuary. This will protect you but prevents attacking. 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.
 
* 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.
 
* 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.
 
  
==Magic - Useful Escape Spells==
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===Scrolls ('''r''')===
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*[[Scroll of fog]]: might help you cut [[line of sight]] from monsters that attack you from range. This can range from making a [[centaur (monster)|centaur]] get into melee range, to preventing an [[Ice Fiend]] from tormenting you during the [[orb run]].
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*[[Scroll of fear]]: helps in warding off packs or threats. It checks [[willpower]], so may not be successful against all monsters, but it may give you enough leeway to escape. Does not work against undead or nonliving creatures.
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* [[Scroll of silence]]: Prevent enemies (and you!) from casting both spells and godly abilities. Make sure to check them ('''xv''') to make sure that silence can actually effect them! Very risky, but eases up many threats (such as [[Nikola]] or [[List of deep elves|deep elves]]).
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* [[Scroll of teleportation]]: after a short delay of a few turns, translocates you to a random habitable square on the same level. This can be combined with other means of escape, then healing until teleport kicks in. Teleport early; if not to survive the delay, to survive if you get into another dangerous position (or even right next to where you were!). Beware of teleporting in unexplored levels, or where there is a dangerous [[vault]] (such as [[Elf]]:3 or the end of a rune branch).
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*[[Scroll of butterflies]]: Knocks enemies back and creates a mass of butterflies, which must be killed or move out of the way for enemies to attack you. Does not generate if a scroll of summoning is generated, and vice versa.
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* [[Scroll of blinking]]: allows you to instantly translocate yourself to any visible square (transparent walls are treated as solid). Extremely powerful, a great "jail out of free card", but not infallible. See its page for when it doesn't work.
  
===[[Blink]]===
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===Quiver ('''Q''')===
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Includes wands ('''V''') and throwables ('''F''') (most other options may also be quivered).
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* Uncontrolled [[Blink]]: instantly translocates you to a random blink-accessible square within [[line of sight]]. This can easily make the situation worse: imagine blinking from the edge of an orc pack to the center. But consider that you can blink from the center of an orc pack to the edge. LOS management is critical - for example, you can use a [[scroll of fog]] in conjunction so you ''can't'' see tiles near the enemy. Even stepping into a hallway can help your chances. In general, only use this if you can comfortably live wherever you land.
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* [[Paralysis]]/[[Wand of polymorph|polymorph]]/[[Slow]]: very effective in the early game, where few enemies can resist. Outside of the early game or [[Formicid]]s, it's best to act early (or buff yourself). Sources include [[wand]]s, [[curare]] [[dart]]s, and the [[Hexes]] school of magic.
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* [[Wand of iceblast]], [[Wand of roots]], [[Lightning Rod]]...: Attacks that can't miss, be shrugged off, or disabled. You run the risk of rolling low, but enemies with low HP will likely die.
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*[[Throwing net]]: Traps an enemy in a net, forcing them to waste turns breaking free. Even though spellcasters can still cast in a net, they often won't; monsters tend to "move" rather than cast.
  
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.
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===[[God]]s ('''a''')===
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As you should expect, you won't get a god's abilities if you aren't worshipping the god in question.
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* [[Zin|Zin's]] Sanctuary: protects you from nearly every attack, and scares away monsters. Combine it with other escape options, with healing, or use it near the stairs.
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* [[Lugonu|Lugonu's]] Enter the Abyss: removes you from any situation immediately, leaving all pursuing monsters behind, but costs both HP and all of your MP. Keep in mind that you will then be in the Abyss, so it still might not "save your life".
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* [[Elyvilon|Elyvilon's]] healing powers: more powerful than potions of heal wounds, but are limited by piety.
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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.
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* [[Dithmenos]]' Shadow Form: Transforms you into a [[Shadow Form|shadow]], which reduces damage taken by half, makes you invisible, and grants a few resistances.
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* [[Nemelex]] worshippers may draw upon their decks of escape. The [[tomb card]] can block any enemy not already close to you, the [[cloud card]] can act like a scroll of fog, and the [[elixir card]] can heal you. Combine with Triple Draw or Draw Four in order to get the most success.
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* [[Ru]]: all the abilities can be used in dicey situations; two are more obvious (Draw Out Power is a heal, Power Leap opens up a gap). Apocalypse is very loud, but deals massive damage and gives statuses to anything still alive.
  
It is also useful to remember that [[Lugonu]] grants you the ability to 'Bend space around yourself' which is effectively the blink spell.
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Many gods also have offensive abilities that can help in tough battles. It's better to use [[Okawaru]]'s Finesse early than a [[scroll of blinking]]!
  
===[[Mephitic Cloud]]===
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===Escape Spells ('''z''')===
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====[[Translocations]]====
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Translocations are designed in order to manipulate movement. Most of them can be used to solve some dicey situations, though some more than others.
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*[[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. Has a cooldown unless at max power.
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*[[Passage of Golubria]]: Creates two portals, one targeted, and another just beside you. Limited to open enough areas, and at low spellpower, short distances. But even a single tile gap will let you reliably get away from monsters to climb the stairs. The portals last for a moderately long time, so you can cast PoG, run/teleport away, cast it again, and end up at your original destination. This spell can also teleport monsters, assuming they are willing to get into the portal.
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*[[Iskenderun's Mystic Blast]] / [[Dispersal]]: Both spells will force enemies away. IMB deals damage, is at a much more reasonable spell level, but has a chance to fail based on [[size]]. Meanwhile, Dispersal, if you succeed a [[willpower]] check, will cause a full [[teleport]], but will always at least create a few tiles of distance.
  
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.
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====Other Movement Spells====
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*[[Swiftness]]: Reduces your movement delay for a short time before slowing you, usually enough to get you to the stairs.
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*[[Passwall]]: A spell people love to underestimate (though for good reason -- waiting multiple turns is always risky). If you notice your trouble early enough, and know the map layout, it can create a lot of space in only 2-3 turns.
  
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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====Disabling Tactics====
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*[[Cigotuvi's Dreadful Rot]]: Very situational spell. It creates a cloud of poisoning miasma on your tile, but temporarily [[drain]]s your max HP. Since most early-game monsters won't enter the cloud, it can be used to block hallways. Can also use a [[potion of attraction]] to drag enemies into the miasma, dealing heavy poison damage and the [[slow]] status. Beware that [[undead]] and [[nonliving]] creatures are immune to miasma.
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*[[Hexes]]: Hex spells like [[Slow]], [[Ensorcelled Hibernation]], and [[Confusing Touch]] take a significant skill investment to be worth the turns and MP. A good option for [[Enchanter]]s, who already use these spells for their day to day killing. Most of these allow a clean escape, and clean [[stab]]s.
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*[[Mephitic Cloud]]: Confuses foes, which is very effective when it works. Creatures with poison resistance are immune; monsters with 100+ HP will also often resist. Even without immunity, Mephitic cloud can be used against an adjacent enemy in most cases (aim at the *):
  
 
  .........  .........
 
  .........  .........
Line 47: Line 88:
 
  ....@....  ....@....
 
  ....@....  ....@....
 
  .........  .........
 
  .........  .........
 
By targeting diagonally beyond the yak, you can catch it in the cloud radius without catching 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.
  
===[[Conjure Flame]]===
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====Other====
 
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* 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!
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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* [[Death's Door]] and [[Borgnjor's Revivification]]: high level, emergency Necromancy spells. Death's Door makes you invulnerable for a short time, but will leave you with very little HP. Borgnjor's Revivification restores your health to the maximum; at the cost of permanent maximum HP. Use these when you know you have to; and have the Necromancy to spare.
 
 
===[[Swiftness]]===
 
 
 
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]]===
 
 
 
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]]===
 
 
 
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).
 
 
 
===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 a two-tile thick layer of butterflies 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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*'''Prepare early.''' Once you know that a certain monster type or pack is dangerous, act like it's dangerous. Run before it gets melee, be ready to use consumables/god abilities quickly, etc.
 
 
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).
 
 
 
===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.
 
 
 
===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.")
 
 
 
===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===
 
 
 
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: [[imp]]s and [[phantom]]s. 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.
 
 
 
===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===
 
 
 
(This relates to the last item, and sort of segues into the next section.) Just because it's generally advantageous to clear a
 
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===
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
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==
 
 
 
The best way to survive a troublesome predicament is keeping out of trouble in the first place. Let's see...
 
 
 
 
 
===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. 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.
 
 
 
By pressing the `5` key, you can rest till your HP or MP are full again.
 
 
 
===Engaging ranged attackers around corners===
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
===Engaging fast monsters by retreating===
 
 
 
Doing this will keep them from getting a free hit.
 
 
 
===Softening things up===
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
===Don't get surrounded===
 
 
 
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!
 
 
 
===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 down stairs with you, so in a tight corridor only one of a group of monsters can follow you down a flight of stairs.
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
===Fight as far from the black as is feasible===
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
===Noise is never your friend===
 
 
 
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===
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
 
 
===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===
 
  
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:
+
*'''Stair dance.''' "Stair dancing" is a tactic used to separate monsters. Since only adjacent monsters follow you up, stairs can be used to split groups of monsters.
 +
:There's a huge difference between "fighting 2 [[orc]]s, resting, and fighting 3 orcs", and "fighting all 5 orcs at once". Also, fighting a nasty monster on a "cleared" level is much less troublesome than an unknown one. On a cleared level, it's much less likely to encounter new monsters during the fight, and [[teleport]] becomes much more reliable as an escape option (teleporting on an unknown level can be nasty!)
 +
:Keep in mind that going up a stair takes 2.5 decaAut, meaning adjacent monsters will get 2 or even 3 attacks on you. Depending on the layout of the upstair, you may have to take extra attacks in order to get a better position.
 +
:Enemies with [[Blink]] (as rare as it is) can be left on the upstairs with little resource cost; lead them up, let them blink, and go back down. Leave them 2 levels just to be safe.
  
...@..
+
*'''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!
.XXXY.
 
.XXXY.
 
.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
+
*'''Use marginal tools to non-marginal effect.''' Items like the [[scroll of noise]] or [[scroll of immolation]] are often pooh-poohed, yet they can save your life, or at least save you from using better consumables. Using that [[wand of paralysis]] early might mean saving a [[potion of heal wounds]], [[scroll of blinking]], etc. for another situation. Don't toss them until you're sailing smoothly... or even at all!
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===
+
*'''Engage fast monsters by stepping away.''' Fast monsters can get 2 turns for every 1 of your turns. If you wait, the enemy could get a free hit (move -> attack). Stepping away means they'll have to spend 2 turns moving towards you. In the case of [[bat]]s, they won't have the chance to move away from you.
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.
 
  
[[Category:Strategy Guides]]
+
{{Guides}}

Latest revision as of 03:18, 28 December 2023

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
This article contains advice from other players, which may be subjective, outdated, inaccurate or ill-advised. Take advice as you see fit, and read at your own risk!

Sometimes, you can't win a fight, and sometimes the best thing to do is to run. Knowing when and how to escape a deadly situation is an essential part of playing 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.

Avoiding 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. In unknown territory, anything could be there. You might find a single orc easy prey, but an orc priest can be waiting in the shadows. Even if it was a lone orc this time, there is always the risk of 2 priests being there. And if fighting Ijyb was bad enough, you could always be adding Sigmund to the mix.
Use those turns to reposition yourself, retreat into known territory, and/or use ranged attacks to soften up the enemy. Even at 0 Throwing skill, stones, boomerangs, and poisoned darts can do some damage.
  • When retreating, head towards known territory. It's often tempting to flee "into the black", directly away from the enemy. But, as mentioned above, you might find a dead-end or inconveniently placed monster. Retreat towards known areas, even if it means taking an extra hit or two. And make sure your route is actually safe - you don't want to be running away, only to come across even stronger enemies.
  • Explore only at full HP & MP. If a monster is dangerous when you have 100% HP, it's even more dangerous when you have 75% HP. By pressing the 5 key, you can wait until your HP/MP are full again. This consumes a lot of turns, but don't worry. Unless you're going for a high score, or really want to get into a timed portal, you win nothing by saving time.
  • Use tactical positioning. The layout of the Dungeon can be used to your advantage. For example, you can lead enemies into corridors in order to fight them one by one. That way, you avoid taking 8 hits at once! Even as a beefy axe user, being surrounded is a perilous situation.
    • Line of sight management: Enemies cannot ever attack you from outside your line of sight. Use this to your advantage against ranged foes. Take a corner as an example. You could charge directly into a centaur, giving it several turns to fire at you. Or, you can take 2 turns to duck behind a corner, wait for it to come to you, then step up into melee.
  • Watch out for noise. If an enemy hears noise, it will come to its location. Try to always be aware of noise. The less noise you make, the less likely you're going to be drawing in a monster mid-combat.
Noise, in a highly advantageous position, can be helpful. It can lure enemies in. You can bring packs into a corridor, or bring monsters to stair dance.
  • Skipping the floor is an option. You don't have to kill everything in Crawl. While it's usually good to clear each level, sometimes it isn't. Sigmund or a pack of orc priests are good reasons to skip D:2 or D:3, for instance. You can always come back later - when you have the items and experience to deal with it.
  • Specialize before you generalize. Make sure you can actually kill things with your skills of choice, before investing into others. Many troublesome situations can arise from not having enough "kill power" to fight basic enemies. If you have to blow a potion for every cane toad you see, you're gonna run out of consumables. Don't forget to put your non-killing skills once you have enough power (e.g. for a caster, train Fighting, Dodging, Stealth after getting spells to a low failure rate).
  • Triple visitation. Triple visitation means entering a level by all three staircases before you start exploring it in earnest. If you get into trouble, you may see a closer staircase to retreat to.
    • Note that this strategy is not without risks. Every time you go down an unknown stairs, there's a chance of instantly losing a game (say, being next to Sigmund or Grinder), or being put into an extremely dangerous situation. Therefore, this is best used on stealthy or swift characters.

Options when in immediate danger

While its best to prevent danger, sometimes it is unavoidable. Whenever you get shafted, or see an out of depth monster, or a dangerous pack of monsters just after finishing a fight, you can find help with various escape options:

These are just some of the more useful, immediate tools at your disposal. Many more items might solve lethal situations. For example, a potion of might may give you the damage you need to handle a dangerous enemy. However, the Might status is not likely to help you when you are at low HP (beyond a last resort).

Potions (q)

  • Potion of berserk rage: hastes (and strengthens) you, and adds +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 sprint to a staircase a few (2-3) tiles away. Do not use berserk as a poor man's swiftness! You will be slowed much longer than the berserk will last.
  • Potion of ambrosia: Leaves you confused, but recovers both HP and MP as long as its confusion lasts. Useful when it'll be a few turns before the next monster comes, or if you need a quick MP heal.
  • Potion of curing: heals a few HP and removes poison and confusion, which may be critical to end.
  • Potion of haste: allows you to run away, though you will be susceptible to ranged attacks until you break LOS/leave the level. The speed boost has nice synergy with scrolls of fog, allowing you to quickly break LOS. Also allows for kiting tactics.
  • Potion of heal wounds: Heals approximately 25 HP (minimum 10 HP). In the early game, it is a significant boost, but slowly loses effectiveness throughout the game.

Scrolls (r)

  • Scroll of fog: might help you cut line of sight from monsters that attack you from range. This can range from making a centaur get into melee range, to preventing an Ice Fiend from tormenting you during the orb run.
  • Scroll of fear: helps in warding off packs or threats. It checks willpower, so may not be successful against all monsters, but it may give you enough leeway to escape. Does not work against undead or nonliving creatures.
  • Scroll of silence: Prevent enemies (and you!) from casting both spells and godly abilities. Make sure to check them (xv) to make sure that silence can actually effect them! Very risky, but eases up many threats (such as Nikola or deep elves).
  • Scroll of teleportation: after a short delay of a few turns, translocates you to a random habitable square on the same level. This can be combined with other means of escape, then healing until teleport kicks in. Teleport early; if not to survive the delay, to survive if you get into another dangerous position (or even right next to where you were!). Beware of teleporting in unexplored levels, or where there is a dangerous vault (such as Elf:3 or the end of a rune branch).
  • Scroll of butterflies: Knocks enemies back and creates a mass of butterflies, which must be killed or move out of the way for enemies to attack you. Does not generate if a scroll of summoning is generated, and vice versa.
  • Scroll of blinking: allows you to instantly translocate yourself to any visible square (transparent walls are treated as solid). Extremely powerful, a great "jail out of free card", but not infallible. See its page for when it doesn't work.

Quiver (Q)

Includes wands (V) and throwables (F) (most other options may also be quivered).

  • Uncontrolled Blink: instantly translocates you to a random blink-accessible square within line of sight. This can easily make the situation worse: imagine blinking from the edge of an orc pack to the center. But consider that you can blink from the center of an orc pack to the edge. LOS management is critical - for example, you can use a scroll of fog in conjunction so you can't see tiles near the enemy. Even stepping into a hallway can help your chances. In general, only use this if you can comfortably live wherever you land.
  • Paralysis/polymorph/Slow: very effective in the early game, where few enemies can resist. Outside of the early game or Formicids, it's best to act early (or buff yourself). Sources include wands, curare darts, and the Hexes school of magic.
  • Wand of iceblast, Wand of roots, Lightning Rod...: Attacks that can't miss, be shrugged off, or disabled. You run the risk of rolling low, but enemies with low HP will likely die.
  • Throwing net: Traps an enemy in a net, forcing them to waste turns breaking free. Even though spellcasters can still cast in a net, they often won't; monsters tend to "move" rather than cast.

Gods (a)

As you should expect, you won't get a god's abilities if you aren't worshipping the god in question.

  • Zin's Sanctuary: protects you from nearly every attack, and scares away monsters. Combine it with other escape options, with healing, or use it near the stairs.
  • Lugonu's Enter the Abyss: removes you from any situation immediately, leaving all pursuing monsters behind, but costs both HP and all of your MP. Keep in mind that you will then be in the Abyss, so it still might not "save your life".
  • Elyvilon's healing powers: more powerful than potions of heal wounds, but are limited by piety.
  • Cheibriados' Step from Time: Moves you to nowhere and lets time pass. During that time, monsters wander away and may even forget about you.
  • Dithmenos' Shadow Form: Transforms you into a shadow, which reduces damage taken by half, makes you invisible, and grants a few resistances.
  • Nemelex worshippers may draw upon their decks of escape. The tomb card can block any enemy not already close to you, the cloud card can act like a scroll of fog, and the elixir card can heal you. Combine with Triple Draw or Draw Four in order to get the most success.
  • Ru: all the abilities can be used in dicey situations; two are more obvious (Draw Out Power is a heal, Power Leap opens up a gap). Apocalypse is very loud, but deals massive damage and gives statuses to anything still alive.

Many gods also have offensive abilities that can help in tough battles. It's better to use Okawaru's Finesse early than a scroll of blinking!

Escape Spells (z)

Translocations

Translocations are designed in order to manipulate movement. Most of them can be used to solve some dicey situations, though some more than others.

  • 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. Has a cooldown unless at max power.
  • Passage of Golubria: Creates two portals, one targeted, and another just beside you. Limited to open enough areas, and at low spellpower, short distances. But even a single tile gap will let you reliably get away from monsters to climb the stairs. The portals last for a moderately long time, so you can cast PoG, run/teleport away, cast it again, and end up at your original destination. This spell can also teleport monsters, assuming they are willing to get into the portal.
  • Iskenderun's Mystic Blast / Dispersal: Both spells will force enemies away. IMB deals damage, is at a much more reasonable spell level, but has a chance to fail based on size. Meanwhile, Dispersal, if you succeed a willpower check, will cause a full teleport, but will always at least create a few tiles of distance.

Other Movement Spells

  • 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 -- waiting multiple turns is always risky). If you notice your trouble early enough, and know the map layout, it can create a lot of space in only 2-3 turns.

Disabling Tactics

  • Cigotuvi's Dreadful Rot: Very situational spell. It creates a cloud of poisoning miasma on your tile, but temporarily drains your max HP. Since most early-game monsters won't enter the cloud, it can be used to block hallways. Can also use a potion of attraction to drag enemies into the miasma, dealing heavy poison damage and the slow status. Beware that undead and nonliving creatures are immune to miasma.
  • Hexes: Hex spells like Slow, Ensorcelled Hibernation, and Confusing Touch take a significant skill investment to be worth the turns and MP. A good option for Enchanters, who already use these spells for their day to day killing. Most of these allow a clean escape, and clean stabs.
  • Mephitic Cloud: Confuses foes, which is very effective when it works. Creatures with poison resistance are immune; monsters with 100+ HP will also often resist. Even without immunity, Mephitic cloud can be used against an adjacent enemy in most cases (aim at the *):
.........  .........
...###...  ....###..
...#*#...  ....#*#..
...##Y...  ....Y##..
....@....  ....@....
.........  .........

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.

Other

  • 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!
  • Death's Door and Borgnjor's Revivification: high level, emergency Necromancy spells. Death's Door makes you invulnerable for a short time, but will leave you with very little HP. Borgnjor's Revivification restores your health to the maximum; at the cost of permanent maximum HP. Use these when you know you have to; and have the Necromancy to spare.

Escaping Trouble

  • Prepare early. Once you know that a certain monster type or pack is dangerous, act like it's dangerous. Run before it gets melee, be ready to use consumables/god abilities quickly, etc.
  • Stair dance. "Stair dancing" is a tactic used to separate monsters. Since only adjacent monsters follow you up, stairs can be used to split groups of monsters.
There's a huge difference between "fighting 2 orcs, resting, and fighting 3 orcs", and "fighting all 5 orcs at once". Also, fighting a nasty monster on a "cleared" level is much less troublesome than an unknown one. On a cleared level, it's much less likely to encounter new monsters during the fight, and teleport becomes much more reliable as an escape option (teleporting on an unknown level can be nasty!)
Keep in mind that going up a stair takes 2.5 decaAut, meaning adjacent monsters will get 2 or even 3 attacks on you. Depending on the layout of the upstair, you may have to take extra attacks in order to get a better position.
Enemies with Blink (as rare as it is) can be left on the upstairs with little resource cost; lead them up, let them blink, and go back down. Leave them 2 levels just to be safe.
  • 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!
  • Engage fast monsters by stepping away. Fast monsters can get 2 turns for every 1 of your turns. If you wait, the enemy could get a free hit (move -> attack). Stepping away means they'll have to spend 2 turns moving towards you. In the case of bats, they won't have the chance to move away from you.
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