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Current user rating: 78/100 (6 votes)

Author	Danny Martini
Date	2012/01/13
Build Name	Dragon Fist!
Skill 1	Unarmed Combat
Skill 2	Berserker Rage
Skill 3	Promethean Magic‎
Skill 4	Blood Mage
Skill 5	Golemancy
Skill 6	Psionics
Skill 7	Archaeology

Hello! My name is Danny Martini. You don't know me. But now you do. Let's proceed to the build!

This is a build I've been using recently with a lot of success. I've tailored and trimmed bits of fat, and it's looking pretty tasty so far. I've gotten to floor 10 on going rogue/permadeath, and I'm raring to take another crack at it and will report the results when they haul the corpse back up (Hopefully Lord Dredmors and not my own.)

The build relies on using...

Magic as your utility... (Fire Runes/hadoukens for heavy AoE damage, summons as tanky survival, and psionics for sustained healing)

...and unarmed mana draining as a form of attack (As long as your enemies are hitting your pets and not you. Don't wanna blemish those gorgeous facial features. Let's not kid ourselves, you're a very good looking person. Please upvote my build.)

ANYWAY! Skill Dynamics!

Unarmed

-Unarmed lets you use two shields, orbs, or spell tomes and you don't need the dual wield skill tree for any of them.

-Unarmed has decent stat boosts, and offers two knockback skills.

-Not sure if it still holds true... but unarmed may still get damage buffs from having a good bow equipped.(confirmed true in v1.09b)

Zerker Rage

-The biggest appeal to rage is that it gives you 10 magic resistance and a few other resists at level 3

-Probably an optional skill tree. However, cutting this out of the build will make your character much squishier. I would sub it out for armor training if anything.

Promethean

-Destruction rune does heavy AoE damage, and only takes one point to get it

-Flying pet that is a decent tank until endgame

-Fireball skill which is a ranged instanuke. Not bad damage, though i find the rune more useful. However, the fire resist is nice.

-Other skills, but you won't really need them

Blood Magic

-One point wonder skill. One point lets you drain mana from enemies. That's all you'll need.

Golemancy

-One point for moustache golem. This dude will keep you safe until about floor 3.

-Near the end is the mighty Death Machine. This guy will last until endgame. Only big con is that he can't fly.

-Final skill in this tree lets you go through walls. Makes finding Dred on floor 10 alot easier.

Psionics

-Psionic Push Synergizes so well with your unarmed skills. This build has alot of knockback effects, which will aid in suvival.

-Crystal Healing is amazing, good for staying alive all game.

-Nerve staple is really good also. Basically a paralyzing palm attack.

Archaelogy

- "It belongs in a museum" is one of the best skills in the game. Sacking all your artifacts (Even better since you're a brawler) to make some exp is good stuff. A dwarven post at about floor 5+ can give you almost an entire level if you're lucky.

- "This Translation is all wrong" is yet another really good skill. Best time to gun for this is endgame though, unless Krom destroyed your gear.

Wasteland Survival Guide Vol. 6

Rough blueprints of our build path...

Level 2: Golemancy...Moustache Golem

Level 3: Blood Magic...Vital Siphon

Level 4: Psionics...Psi Shove

Level 5: Psionics...Crystal Healing

Level 6: Promethean...Rune of Exploding

Level 7: Promethean...Fire Wyrm

Level 8+ Either more golemancy for the death machine, or hand to hand skills for the knockback effects. Depends on how the run is going and what is needed. (Make sure you pick up "You belong in a museum" also. You're inventory is probably pretty cluttered by now)

Floor 1

Easiest and hardest floor in the same right. Finding a decent shield, or even a sword to hold you over at first will help out a ton. Thanks to archaeology, you can disarm traps and earn a lot of exp. Once you hit level 2, the moustache golem will make short work of your enemies. Level 3 will get you some mana drain on your attacks, and makes it alot easier to fight alongside your moustache golem.

Floor 2

Hopefully you have crystal healing and exploding rune by this time. The rune helps alot if you stumble into a monster room, and crystal healing will make it far easier to survive. No more reliance on food! By this time, you should have either some decent shields, or a couple tomes to make your moustache golems life a bit easier.

Floor 3

Moustache golem starts to fall off in effectiveness at this point, and you would be better off with the fire wyrm. This floor always seems to be the, "Make it or break it floor." If you can handle it fine, then the following floors wont be half as bad until about floor 7. It's all about how lucky you were in getting gear from this point on.

Floor 7

Maybe it's just me, but this floor seems twice as hard as floor 6. The enemies hit harder, use more magic against you, and can take one heck of a beating. Hopefully, you have the death machine at this point to make things easier. If not, the fire wyrm works really well. Since almost everything here seems to be ice based.

Floor 9

Promethean mages nightmare. Eveything is fire resistant. Be careful, enemies hit hard as hell at this point. If the flames are too hot, throw a shield on or put some more points into promethean magic.

Floor 10

Not as scary as one would expect. The big terror on this floor isn't Dredmor, but the bloody fizz djinns. Be really cautious around them, I actually died to one because they just chain nuked me from far away. As long as you have a pet tanking for you, you should do fine.

Floor 11+ When I get there, I'll offer some more advice.

A Few Non-build tips for new players

Pushing the = key will speed up gameplay. Helps out a ton. (Didn't know this for like my first 20 hours playing this game)

If you click to move you will walk around traps. However using the WSAD keys makes it easier to control your pets (Their pathing is terrible)

Don't step into funny looking swirly portals (Trust me. Don't)

Don't ingest any acidic looking substances (Ask anyone who frequents taco bell, this can ruin your night)

Save spatial transportation potions for those last ditch escape attempts

Destruction bolts are worth a FORTUNE. They are also really good for killing lord dredmor (Wands are usually worth a lot also)

Use psionic shove to knock items off of islands, or just to move anything that's in your way. (Even moves most barricades)

If all else fails, just place one horadric cube inside another one. Make sure your seatbelt is fastened pretty tight.

Well, that's all for now. Will offer more feedback, and changes weather and future permitting. Just remember kids... Losing is fun.

!!!UPDATE, KILLED LORD DREDMORE ON GOING ROGUE/PERMADEATH!!!

Just went down to floor 10 and iced Lord Dred. I actually had a terrible run of luck with item drops and was wearing cheap scale armor until floor 10. (Needless to say, I nearly bit the dust several times.) However, I lucked out on dwarven chests and constantly got good upgrades. On floor 6 I got a vortex axe and was literally unstoppable as long as my pet was alive.

After clearing about half of floor 7, I said screw it and decided to go straight to floor 10. It wasn't too bad, but I probably should of kept farming the upper floors until I had better gear. I was literally running off of all garbage armor, and a axe with about 40 damage.

Finished at Level 18. 500k score, and top 500 on leaderboards. Not too shabby for a rushed run. Next step... DIGGLE GODS! PREPARE YOURSELVES!!

Skillwise, I noticed that the fire wyrm was actually more useful than the death machine. Even on floor 10. The main reason is that the Death Machine costs 43 mana, whereas the wyrm costs 14. They both could tank around the same ammount of damage as well. Just wasn't worth it to use the death machine. However, the golemancy wall tech saved my butt quite a few times. The digging ray was gimmicky, but helped me find Dredmor alot quicker.

Blood magic worked like a charm. That skill is just too good to not use as a mage.

Promethean magic was good also, the runes combined with the golemancy thermite swarm annihalated monster zoos. The wyrm was my main tank all game.

Archaelogy, got me at least 2 levels from artifacts alone. Really good tree, and you don't even need to invest alot into it.

Surprisingly, I didn't get much from the unarmed skill buffs. I mainly used the two knockback skills to stay alive. That vortex axe just did way too much damage to just toss aside.

Zerker rage... eh... didn't notice it tbh. The 10 magic resist from war paint probably saved my butt a few times though.

Psionics. Crystal healing is golden. Kept me alive, and that's all I needed it to do.

Not sure what I would change at this point. The build feels solid to me. I just wish unarmed was more reliable. Maybe things will be different if I can snatch a couple good tomes.

Will offer more feedback after a Diggle God run. ;D