DCSS - Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

[xuerebx]

I've started playing roguelikes for the first time this year (TOME4 > Zorbus > DCSS in this order of play) and I've been having a blast. Used to think I'd hate the fact that I'd lose progress but there's something really satisfying about progressing in terms of dungeon levels and time (less hours to get to dungeon level X).

Anyway I couldn't find a recent thread on DCSS so thought of creating one - feel free to share experiences/ tips for terrible players like myself.

Best I've gotten so far is exploring all the 15 DLs + orcish mines + lair of the beasts as a Hill Orc (or Minotaur, forgot) Berserker, but then died in the Shoals.

 

[Fedora Master]

Have they removed the Orb yet?

 

[xuerebx]

Have they removed the Orb yet?

Well I haven't been able to acquire the Orb of Zott, so I definitely haven't removed it from its place at the bottom of the dungeon

 

[Catacombs]

Anyway I couldn't find a recent thread on DCSS so thought of creating one

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/dungeon-crawl-stone-soup-questions-thread.43634/

 

[xuerebx]

Anyway I couldn't find a recent thread on DCSS so thought of creating one

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/dungeon-crawl-stone-soup-questions-thread.43634/

Well, apart from 2 posts in 2022 the other most recent post was 9 years ago. These games apparently change substantially over time.

 

[Sperrin]

I have not played DCSS since they removed hunger and the devs started virtue signaling galore which i think is about 4 years ago now but from what I remember:

Gargoyle is OP especially for extended (if not getting lich form) as they take half torment damage, have a natural flight ability and 20 free AC and some resistances.
Okawaru, Trog and Gozag are by far the best Gods early game most of the time since 75% of your power comes from gear and they give you tons of good stuff, late game zin or TSO or the other heal on kill Gods are probably better.
Late game the only real threats are torment (which halves your health) and hellfire which does irresistible undodgeable damage
Shoals is by faaaaaaaaaaar the hardest of the 4 lair branches sometimes i would even clear depths and vaults before coming back to them
Axes are by far the best weapon as while you should strive to fight enemies one on one its not always possible or practical
Tab is the most useful key use it often.
The mutation system sucks absolute balls (unless it's been re worked since I played) to avoid it play undead or worship Zin as certain mutations can be almost run ending and there are only two items in the game with mutation resistance
Set skilling to manual as its far more optimal
Do tomb absolutely last it's 2 times as hard as the rest of extended, Greater mummies and Priest mummies are some of toughest mobs in the game and tomb is full of them
If you find gear with -tele hoard it as its really useful for Zot

Not sure if any of this is still applicable or valid

 

[xuerebx]

Thanks for the tips! I haven't tried gargoyle yet, will try him out soon as I've only tried minotaur and hill-orcs for now. Also skilling set to manual is what I've been doing because the default settings include skills which I don't see the need to train.

 

[jungl]

shoals are cakewalk if u have fly ring. Hardest is slime pits corrosion resistance doesn't help much rock slimes can hit for 50 hp which will hurt even the tankiest characters if they connect and the boss calls swarms of slimes where you either have to have escape use summoning scrolls, aoe god powers or get overwhelmed.

 

[Infinitum]

Most monsters can be tabbed, but there's also a fair few you should never allow into base contact if you can help it (eg Ogres early game). Use consumables liberally, especially wands early and even if you don't pump the skill. Even stuff like poison darts and whatnot are useful early on. Also, running away and coming back later if you can't keep up even with consumables is a core skill. You'll get more powerful eventually, the roadblocks do not.

Also, spoiling yourself using a wiki for zone order and needed resistances is fair game in these sort of collaborative clusterfucks. The dev team might not think of everything, but they are out to get you and there are plenty of cheap shots even in the mid-lategame.

 

[Great Deceiver]

the devs started virtue signaling galore

Can you provide examples of this?

 

[WhiteShark]

Can you provide examples of this?

Pikel's slaves have been rethemed to lemures. They now disappear upon Pikel's death.

Can't reference slavery!

 

[xuerebx]

Most monsters can be tabbed, but there's also a fair few you should never allow into base contact if you can help it (eg Ogres early game). Use consumables liberally, especially wands early and even if you don't pump the skill. Even stuff like poison darts and whatnot are useful early on. Also, running away and coming back later if you can't keep up even with consumables is a core skill. You'll get more powerful eventually, the roadblocks do not.

Also, spoiling yourself using a wiki for zone order and needed resistances is fair game in these sort of collaborative clusterfucks. The dev team might not think of everything, but they are out to get you and there are plenty of cheap shots even in the mid-lategame.

Yeah if there's one thing I've learned from playing RLs is to actually use, and not hoard, consumables, because you only get one chance to live through an encounter (or 5-6 chances of it's TOME :D ).

 

[Serus]

I've started playing roguelikes for the first time this year (TOME4 > Zorbus > DCSS in this order of play) and I've been having a blast. Used to think I'd hate the fact that I'd lose progress but there's something really satisfying about progressing in terms of dungeon levels and time (less hours to get to dungeon level X).

Anyway I couldn't find a recent thread on DCSS so thought of creating one - feel free to share experiences/ tips for terrible players like myself.

Best I've gotten so far is exploring all the 15 DLs + orcish mines + lair of the beasts as a Hill Orc (or Minotaur, forgot) Berserker, but then died in the Shoals.

Congratulations! You enteted the halls of (Classic) Roguelike Players Club! You also came here from the same place many of us did. At least I did: "RLs? Permadeath, randomness, difficult, have to replay it over and over... Who would want to play this s**t?" It turned out that I did. Now you do as well and so are many other people. Not so much on the Dex sadly.

Can you provide examples of this?

Pikel's slaves have been rethemed to lemures. They now disappear upon Pikel's death.

Can't reference slavery!

I also remember DCSS devs at some point planned adding more elements from non-European mythologies. And i don't mean just a katana or two. By itself, it might not be a bad thing. Although having everything and the kitchen sink in one game instead of some consistency might not be ideal. However, what was more interesting, was one of the reason given - "the game has too much whitey stuff". Not kidding you. Not sure if they went that way in the end. I started to play other RLs at the time.

 

[xuerebx]

I've started playing roguelikes for the first time this year (TOME4 > Zorbus > DCSS in this order of play) and I've been having a blast. Used to think I'd hate the fact that I'd lose progress but there's something really satisfying about progressing in terms of dungeon levels and time (less hours to get to dungeon level X).

Anyway I couldn't find a recent thread on DCSS so thought of creating one - feel free to share experiences/ tips for terrible players like myself.

Best I've gotten so far is exploring all the 15 DLs + orcish mines + lair of the beasts as a Hill Orc (or Minotaur, forgot) Berserker, but then died in the Shoals.

Congratulations! You enteted the halls of (Classic) Roguelike Players Club! You also came here from the same place many of us did. At least I did: "RLs? Permadeath, randomness, difficult, have to replay it over and over... Who would want to play this s**t?" It turned out that I did. Now you do as well and so are many other people. Not so much on the Dex sadly.

Yeah surprised to see it's not very popular here since it checks many boxes (turn based, stat heavy, difficult) - but you do need to play them for a short while before they grow on you.

 

[WhiteShark]

Yeah surprised to see it's not very popular here since it checks many boxes (turn based, stat heavy, difficult) - but you do need to play them for a short while before they grow on you.

Many are the storyfags and casuals. And, to be honest, there's often not that much to discuss since people tend to stick with the same roguelike(s) for a very long time. They are designed for replayability, after all.

 

[Gunnar]

I played this for a while and had a Minotaur make it almost to the end, when I entered a new floor some witch thing paralyzed me from across the screen and then floated over and killed me, had no idea how to counter that so I rage quit and deleted this shit, still pisses me off when I think about it

 

[xuerebx]

Finally got my first rune! I'm finding the gargoyle fighter more fun than a Minotaur berserker. Tried out both Mak and Gozag as gods and Gozag has proved very useful thanks to the money, shops and instant access to healing.

I wonder when I'll die...hopefully I manage to get a rune from the swamps next.

 

[WhiteShark]

Congrats. I see that you're playing offline. If you play online, people can spectate you and you might be able to seek advice in real time. It will also record all your play data in the server, but that's mostly for bragging rights.

If my memory of the icons serves correctly, you have a scroll of brand weapon in your inventory and you're wielding an eveningstar of venom. Eveningstars do a lot more damage with an elemental brand because burning/freezing scale with base weapon damage, so I would try to rebrand it with that scroll.

 

[vitellus]

rocked a trog worshipping minotaur berzerker, and it was ridiculous fun, but i've downloaded it and since they got rip of the prayer mechanic, i didn't find it as satisfying since i'd offer every corpse and scroll to trog as a prayer sacrifice.

 

[xuerebx]

Congrats. I see that you're playing offline. If you play online, people can spectate you and you might be able to seek advice in real time. It will also record all your play data in the server, but that's mostly for bragging rights.

If my memory of the icons serves correctly, you have a scroll of brand weapon in your inventory and you're wielding an eveningstar of venom. Eveningstars do a lot more damage with an elemental brand because burning/freezing scale with base weapon damage, so I would try to rebrand it with that scroll.

Yeah maybe I should start playing online - but I have no bragging rights to speak of

As for elemental vs poison - that's interesting. It's these little things I don't know about. I was using poison so that when surrounded I can eat up the health of the enemies by hitting them at least once each. You can't see how the poison formula works in-game, and the Wiki pages are sometimes outdated. So thanks!

EDIT: Well I heeded your advice and branded my eveningstar with freeze (I had 8 brand spells!) and headed to the swamp....everything got frozen and bludgeoned to death. Got me a second rune! Thanks man :D

 

[WhiteShark]

As for elemental vs poison - that's interesting. It's these little things I don't know about. I was using poison so that when surrounded I can eat up the health of the enemies by hitting them at least once each. You can't see how the poison formula works in-game, and the Wiki pages are sometimes outdated. So thanks!

I don't know the poison formula either, but there are different levels of poisoning, so something can be more poisoned or less poisoned. To summarize the different brands:

• Venom: great early game, ok mid game, useless late game as poison resistance becomes commonplace. Better on a fast weapon since poison damage is independent of weapon damage. Can kite poisoned enemies to death.
• Electrocution: as poison except no kiting and a longer shelf life.
• Flaming/Freezing: great all game. Scales with base weapon damage so better on a big heavy weapon.
• Vorpal: as burning/freezing but weaker unless the enemy is resistant to fire/cold, and even then only slightly better.
• Holy Wrath: as burning/freezing but stronger and only works on undead/demons, so super excellent in the post-game and pretty worthless before that.
• Protection: gives some AC. Pretty useless.
• Drain: makes living enemies weaker and does extra damage. Very good for most of the game. Independent of weapon damage.
• Spectral: summons a copy of your weapon that fights with you. Decent with a big strong weapon type, otherwise bad. Can let stabbers get stabs.
• Vampricism: awesome until the post-game.
• Chaos: can buff enemies (haste, invisibility, berserk, etc.). Suboptimal, to say the least.

You should also read up about mindelay if you haven't already. Generally it's not worthwhile to get more weapon skill than is needed to get your weapon to mindelay.

 

[xuerebx]

Thanks a lot for the write up man! I found spectral to be useful in the early to mid stages as it's like having a companion.

I obtained a second rune and am now in Vault 5 trying to get the 3rd (and final, for me) rune. I really hope I manage to win this game finally. My gargoyle is pretty stacked!

That ring of intelligence was only temporary as an enemy reduced my intelligence stat to 0.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Are there DCSS custom builds that are based off version 0.14 (as in content, systems, mechanics) but use the tiles from versions 0.21+? Basically I want to have DCSS 0.14 that is as pretty as 0.21+. Or maybe someone has tried to replace tiles in an earlier DCSS version with tiles from later versions?

 

[xuerebx]

YUSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Can't believe I managed to beat the game! Fastest win from the lot I've played ~30 hours. My gargoyle was pretty unstoppable at the end with the high AC. Haven't even touched magic once, so when I return to DCSS I'll have to try out a mage.

Gonna try Brogue next. I've got a pretty extensive backlog :D

 

[WhiteShark]

First win after only 30 hours... Gargoyles, man... *weeps in Sludge Elf Earth Elementalist*