Mega-Zig

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

This article contains advice from other players, which may be subjective, outdated, inaccurate or ill-advised.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!

After completing floor 27 of a Ziggurat, the next ziggurat will be harder and packed with more monsters. By maybe the 4th or 5th ziggurat, most levels will be entirely stuffed with a monster on every square, with the difficulty eventually capping out at 13 floors. These ultra-hard Ziggurats are dubbed Mega-Zigs.

Character Creation

For some of the most difficult areas that Dungeon Crawl can offer, and with the massive number of floors you'll be doing, it's expected that some very specific character builds are required to complete them.

God: Gozag

Gozag is the strongest god for megazigging. For one, your gold aura will practically always be at maximum effectiveness due to how much gold you will create. Also, with that much gold, you can constantly petition for potion effects. Having effectively permanent Haste, Brilliance, invisibility, as well as on demand MP, is incredibly strong - and they work in Death Form, too.

While Gozag is extremely strong, Makhleb, Vehumet, and Uskayaw still remain fair choices for doing multiple (if not dozens of) zigs. Makhleb and Vehumet provide very strong HP and MP regen, respectively, while Uskayaw's Solo Time and Pain Bond will constantly activate and crush foes in the ultra-hectic dance floors of a ziggurat.

The good gods are some of the worst choices for mega-zigs, since they prevent you from using Death Form. They may be fine for doing 1-2 zigs, but after that, it's recommended to switch.

Race: Demonspawn

Demonspawn, thanks to their exclusive mutations, are generally the best race to start megazigging with. Powered by Death provides extremely powerful HP regen. Mana Shield converts that regen to MP, in addition to providing guardian spirit. Robust is a great standalone 3rd-tier mutation, though other muts can work as well. Note that Demonspawn with a perfect mutation set are NOT necessary to complete mega-zigs, other races can do well too. But, chances are, these muts will help if you wanted to complete 2000+ floors.

Yet, unlike god choice, you have a lot more freedom in choosing a mega-zigging race:

• Oni have the highest HP in the game, and have better willpower than Demonspawn.
• Humans have exploration regen, which allows them to quickly recover MP by just moving forward.
• Ghouls have torment immunity while being able to use potions. However, they can't use potions of mutation to get a strong mutation set.

Low HP races like Deep Elves and Spriggans are ill advised - high aptitudes or fast speed don't matter once you're a blaster who has maxed out all your skills.

Background

It's best to use a spellcasting background. You will need to rely mostly on level 8-9 spells in a mega-zig. While background largely does not matter in the endgame, spell casting backgrounds start with more Intelligence -- with Conjurer starting with the most. Stat zero may be a reasonable concern with Conjurer, so you may want to use another magic start instead.

Alternate Items

Which item you get in a set mostly doesn't matter. The most relevant item is the wand of quicksilver, which can let you end Silence from both player ghosts and pan lords (no effect on silent spectres). Arguably the tin of tremorstones is better than the condenser vane.

Spells & Form

In (rough) order: Ignition, Polar Vortex, Shatter, and Chain Lightning, are the essentials. Ignition is an MP efficient spell that explodes in a 3*3 area per monster. Polar Vortex is another MP efficient spell that spirals around you, clearing up anything left alive, or letting you run past monsters. You'll want Shatter against Dis monsters, and Chain Lightning against flying, fire resistant/immune monsters.

Fire Storm can be useful if you don't have Chain Lightning castable yet.

Disjunction helps you avoid chaos monsters in melee. Passage of Golubria can be used for transport. Discord could be used to deal with low will enemies, namely demonspawn warmongers. Most single/limited target spells, such as BVC, Irradiate, and LCS are practically useless, so forget them. (Chain Lightning is great to kill isolated targets.)

Death Form (lichform) is practically required to do more than a few zigs; it provides permanent immunity to torment.

Armour and Jewelry

Have as much AC as you can have, without hurting your spell success rates. 40 AC is enough. When possible, wear equipment that increases your spellpower. You want to have 40-50 Int. That's more than the minimum you need to cast your level 9 spells, but you'll spend a lot of time with your Int drained as much as 10 points, so it helps to have extra.

Past the first zig or two, an orb of mayhem is generally the best item in the shield slot, despite its lack of SH. Having ~50% of the monsters attack each other is a better defense than a tower shield which only blocks 4 attacks. Importantly, a frenzied monster cannot use Silence, a big threat by the time you mega-zig. Characters doing their first few zigs may prefer a shield, to make up for a lack of stats; the shield of the Gong is nice, a randart +10 tower shield is better.

Wear jewellery that bolsters your resistances and/or stats. You want to cover every resistance, including 4 pips of willpower. The amount of loot (thus, artefacts) over many zigs means that you will eventually find amazing gear in every slot. The amulet of Vitality can be useful if you don't need anything in the amulet slot.

Weapons

Hitting things with a weapon is never preferable, even when silenced. Silver javelins are the preferred tool to stop silent spectres and annoying pan lords. Nevertheless, you can carry strongest axe you can find (typically Arga or a great randart). If you aren't whacking things anyway, you can hold various stat sticks: randart elemental staves, or the Elemental Staff, depending on the character.

You will also want two weapons with distortion - not for attacking, but for escaping to the Abyss if needed. You need two of them, since the fastest way to self-banish is to switch between distortion weapons.

Getting MP

Gozag and Vehumet provide MP regeneration in the form of potions and kills, respectively.

Demonspawn's Mana Shield converts HP regen to MP, in addition to providing some natural MP regen. Combine this with the massive regen provided by Powered by Death, and presto, MP by the boatload. The Powered by Pain mutation also gives them MP when they get hit (an inevitability).

Alternatively, you can use the Crystal ball of Wucad Mu in order to sustain MP for longer. However, this prevents you from using mayhem, so you probably shouldn't use it past the first few Zigs.

Sample Runs

• Ludicrosity's 172-zig DsIE (0.26, ongoing at time of writing): [1]
• Sergey's Meteoran run (0.29): [2]
• Ge0ff's 27-zig DsCj (0.28): [3]
• gimp' Ogre run (0.27): [4]

Silence

Silence is a very major threat and you need the tools to handle it. You have two essentials: silver javelins, and evocable blink. Javelins (requiring plenty of Throwing skill) allow you to take out silent spectres that are behind hordes of enemies. Evocable blink will help you quickly move out from your position and find silent spectres to kill, as well as letting you move at all while surrounded.

A wand of quicksilver will end the Silence spell, though the bolt has to hit the enemy, and it doesn't work on spectres. A condenser vane / tin of tremorstones is also very nice to use.

A broad axe is not really required, but it can be nice to have if you don't mind spending a lot of turns doing it. Distortion is good, though Arga (or some +10 broad axe of speed) is stronger. Unfortunately, holy wrath is unusable in Death Form.

Tactics in Troublesome Levels

For the first couple zigs, levels might not be too dangerous. You might not be silenced on entry. Enemies might be asleep, allowing you to pick them off at your leisure with javelins. Eventually, though, you're going to run into a Crypt level where you are silenced on entry and the screen is packed with enemies.

Assuming you're a Gozag worshipper: by the time you reach max-level zigs, you should buff up on every floor. Get Haste, Invisibility, and Brilliance. If the next floor is Crypt-themed and you're silenced on entry with, you'll be glad you did.

Tartarus & Vestibule Levels

Tartarus levels are one of the most dangerous. They are scary due to the number of silent spectres, along with plenty of torment and other negative energy threats. Once you hit maximum difficulty, moving on to the next floor is preferable; you can simply get loot on later floors.

If possible, kill enough silent spectres to get a patch where silence doesn't reach, so that you can start using spells, regain Gozag's gold aura, and benefit from mayhem. If you stay silenced for too long, you'll just run out of HP. If you've killed all silent spectres in LOS and you are still silenced, you need to go on the attack. Use javelins. Staying hasted is a good idea because it helps you accomplish more. Only hit things with an axe if they are right next to you and they really need to die; you can waste a lot of time hitting things with axes.

Vestibule levels have silent spectres, but with a larger variety of monsters. (More advice needed)

Chaos Levels

A chaos level can be identified by the presence of many pandemonium lords. It will also have apocalypse crabs and Killer Klowns. The priority here is to avoid getting hit by chaos attacks, and avoid standing in clouds of chaos, since they can paralyse or petrify you. Continue to use offensive spells, Ignition and Polar Vortex, as usual. Disjunction will also sweep enemies away from you.

Sometimes a panlord will cast Silence, and you'll need to take them out with javelins, or use a wand of quicksilver.

Pan Levels

A pandemonium level can be identified by the presence of demonspawn, with plenty of fiends and other pandemonium denizens. The main danger here is that demonspawn warmongers will sap your magic, leaving your attack capacity greatly diminished. To prevent this:

• Identify and kill warmongers ASAP. Note that Sap Magic requires an open line of fire, so if a warmonger's in the back lines, it can't hurt you.
• Be invisible, since warmongers can't see invisible.

If you do get sapped, you'll only be able to cast only once before you get the -Cast status. Save it for the most important stuff, like recasting Polar Vortex. Your goal is to survive until the Sap wears off. Fog can help, and so can retreating to a safer area, if possible.

Ghost Levels

Floors are sometimes dedicated to player ghosts, which are like bulkier pandemonium lords, though are normal speed and most likely not chaotic. This includes the Silence spell.

Mummies

Annoying! As long as you stay in Death Form, they aren't going to kill you directly, but you are going to lose a lot of stats. After you've cleared a bunch of them, you might want to just teleport to the other end of the level and exit, because the more of them you kill the more statdrain you will suffer. Also, stay hasted because they will slow you.

Holy Zig

A holy zig level is full of Smiting; the sheer amount of it can be threatening, even with Makhleb. You'll want to power through it with Ignition while hasted. Exiting Death Form takes too long, so just go on the offensive.

Seraphs are immune to fire and resistant to electricity, but as they use Injury Bond, they can be hurt by Ignition or Chain Lightning when allies are nearby. (Note: this hasn't been tested on a Mega-Zig scale.) They aren't resistant to Polar Vortex, so you can also use that.

Fire Levels

Fire levels, packed with orbs of fire, can be annoying even with rF+++. Orbs of fire are immune or heavily resistant to all the good AOE spells. Your best bet is to stay near a wall, read scrolls of fog to limit the number of orbs of fire that can attack you, and use Chain Lightning on anything that comes close to you.

Ghost Moths

Be invisible, or just brute force the floor with Ignition and javelins.

History

Various options were once deemed essential for Ziggurats were removed, but some new ones were added in return. This covers the history of zig-clearing strategies. For history on zig mechanics themselves, see the main Ziggurat page.

• In general, various inventory and quality of life changes have simplified the Ziggurat experience. For example, you no longer need to carry scrolls of identify or scrolls of remove curse as of 0.27, nor food as of 0.26.
• In 0.31, Necromutation was converted into Death Form; the latter cannot run out and can't be dispelled. Since you need 5 turns to exit Death Form, Death's Door is now useless. The dreamshard necklace was nerfed and became useless for mega-ziggers. Meteoran, the best non-Demonspawn race for clearing zigs, was removed. Randart staves can boost multiple schools. A Vestibule monster set (inc. all 4 Hells) was introduced, which adds another set with silent spectres. Also, Seraphim were added to holy floors.
• In 0.30, randart staves and orbs were introduced. Staff of Wucad Mu became an orb and now has entirely different mechanics. Scroll of fog now appears in 100% of games again, though tin of tremorstones and condenser vane became mutually exclusive. Evocable blink costs 0 MP.
• In 0.29, the alternate items mechanic was introduced, making the scroll of fog no longer in 100% of games, but introducing the wand of quicksilver to end opposing Silence spells. Ozocubu's Refrigeration nerfed when monsters are adjacent to each other. The Abyss gives XP again, but you always enter it at the deepest floor you've been on (or deeper). Scroll of holy word removed. Meteoran introduced, one of the strongest ziggurat species.
• In 0.28, Gozag's gold aura was simplified and capped at 30%. The Abyss no longer gives you experience, meaning it is more difficult to create a (mega)-zig worthy character. Staff of Wucad Mu was made 1.5x as strong (again), and the lifesaving dreamshard necklace was introduced. Sap Magic was changed from -Wiz to -Cast. Orbs of mayhem added, which is arguably the best item in the shield slot.
• In 0.27, Absolute Zero was removed, and the MP-efficient Tornado became the cold themed Polar Vortex. Chain Lightning became the most efficient spell for killing stray monsters. Wucad Mu was made 1.5x as strong, while Makhleb's healing was halved.
• In 0.26, Controlled Blink was removed, leaving the scroll of blinking for escapes. Evocable MP channeling via staff of energy was removed; Wucad Mu's channeling was replaced with a passive MP refund. Nightstalker, of some noteworthiness, was also moved from demonspawn to kobolds.
• In 0.25, Absolute Zero was introduced; a great spell to kill troublesome single foes. But Glaciate removed, a good AOE spell for fire-themed floors. The crystal ball of energy, for slotless MP channeling, was removed. Brilliance now halves MP costs, a much stronger effect for Zig divers.
• Prior to 0.24, javelins had to have the penetration brand, instead of getting it intrinsically. The silver, steel, and penetration brands all merged into silver javelins.
• In 0.20, the Disc of Storms was removed; which was very useful when silenced. However, Ignition was introduced, the perfect crowd control spell that could surpass even Fire Storm.
• In 0.19, wands of healing, hasting, and teleportation were removed; strong ways of getting those three abilities (especially when silenced). The Haste spell was removed, meaning perma-haste was left to Gozag. Sustain abilities was also removed, and most stat drain effects were halved to compensate.
• In 0.18, finishing a ziggurat gives you a figurine of a ziggurat to start the next floor (as opposed to randomly finding portals in the Pandemonium). This also means that you can only "fail" one ziggurat, as the next failure closes the area for good.
• In 0.16, ziggurat difficulty, thus mega-zigs, were introduced. Gozag was also introduced, though was noticeably weaker until a buff in the next version.
• Prior to 0.11, you could use Projected Noise at the bottom of the map, then walk around the top end (or vice-versa).

For a guide based on 0.16, see this revision.