MAngband

Killing Morgoth as a mage?

Some say create a sea of runes and kill him. Others get grand melee-gear and kill him like a warrior. Can any of the uber mages please explain how they plan on doing this task, since I'm beginning to believe that a high-level warrior or rogue might have a better chance than anyone else against him, but I find the weak mages and priests more fun to play...

Any ideas welcome, please ;)

ZAL

I always thought Priests with their infinite, fail-proof healing would have the easiest time.

I've actually downloaded the MAngband server and used the GM character to spawn equipment identical to what I have on the official server, to see if I really could beat Morg. It's like a virtual reality training arena!

The first fight I died from a Mana Storm followed immediately by a mana bolt.

The second fight I died from two Mana Storms in a row.

No victories yet...

Here's my strategy with mage (as of 1.1.1 - old mages with GoI wouldn't use that strategy at all):

- prerequisites: nether resistance (for nether balls), confusion resistance (for mind blast), blind resistance (for brain smash), free action, max int (14% fail on Mana Storm, 0% fail on other spells), max con (650 + hp dice * 25 HPs, 900 for high elf or dunadan which is quite correct for morgy), 30+ speed, 50+ heal pots macroed, 20+ *heal* pots macroed (for the mana storms), 5+ magi staves macroed, Mana Storm macroed, Rift macroed
- find morgy, teleport (or teleport morgy away)
- find a *big* room
- mass geno everything near
- lay down a 5x5 square of runes, stay in the central spot
- wait for morgy, cast Haste Self

Now the fight:

1) cast Mana Storm until morgy comes next to the runes
1a) quaff heal at 600 hps
1b) quaff *heal* at 300 hps (heal is not enough, as morgy could cast a mana ball for 600 damage the next turn)
1c) use magi staff when out of mana
2) cast Rift, wait until morgy is in LOS again
3) repeat 1) until morgy dies

As Ashi said, I would recommend downloading the 1.1.1 server and train on a local server to acquire reflexes with restore HP/SP/cast spells macros, as a single mistake in pressing macro keys would probably result in the death of the char when fighting morgy.

But won't hist summons then just land outside the runes, and you'd have to fight Morgoth and ALOT of D's or something similar. Or wil the 5 by 5 runes disable his summoning totally until he walks ont the runes and they start crumbling, hehe?

No summons with a 5x5 square of runes... and Rift will enforce that morgy will never touch the runes.

Oh you mean like this?

############
P.........;;;;;#
..........;;;;;#
..........;;@;;#
..........;;;;;#
..........;;;;;#
############

Yes. Put the runes preferably in the middle of the room to avoid morgy coming through walls and destroying the runes.

##############
##..............##
.P..............##
##..............##
##.....;;;;;;...##
##.....;;;;;;...##
##.....;;@;;...##
##.....;;;;;;......
##.....;;;;;;..###
##..............##
##..............##
##############

But what if rift only teleports him to right outside the runes? Wouldn't he then walk in on his next turn killing a rune and then summoning?

ZAL

Then you destruct and give up?

Or teleport him away and restore the rune before he returns. O.o... I dunno.

But I think both Ascii and Kaze plans on giving him a good whack in melee. I dunno tho. They've both bested the Tarrasque in a melee-brawl, so time will tell I guess. But they also both have 3-4 times the reflexes and skills I do, hehe.

ZAL

Melee is out of question without GoI. Morgy's attacks are too powerful to fight him and all his summons in melee with 900 hps (or probably less). Melee means that you need to give up vital items for strength, dexterity and damage. This simply won't work unless you have a lot of the static artifacts (basically either Ringil or Deathwreacker, Feanor, Fingolfin, Thorin...) and very rare items to cover your stats and resists (PDSM, orcish of avari +2 +2, kolla of magi +2 +2, istari gloves +5 +5 +3...).
I suggest you download the latest MAng server and try morgy on a local instance in melee with the most powerful artifacts to feel how the fight goes. Then try again without artifacts, but with the most powerful ego items. Then try again with regular level 50 gear. See how comfortable you feel: if all three go well, then you should probably be able to deal with morgy in melee on the regular server. If not, try again with runes/spells. I guess it's just a question of training... usually not many people can level a char enough to be able to face morgy, so you need to be prepared when the opportunity arises.

Training is taking the magic out of the game, IMO.
I would not feel happy about winning after "practicing" in cheat mode on a local server.
But to each their own, of course...

To me, it's not much different than fighting him on other servers, or on previous instances of the official server. You can have killed Morgoth any number of times before, and it will change nothing on the official server.

I will probably always get a rush of excitement from fighting Morgoth, since everything is on the line and you are never guaranteed to win the fight.