How to stay alive Part II: Stunning

Best practices and optimistic theories.
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PowerWyrm
Balrog
Posts: 1574
Joined: Sun 27.11.2005, 15:57

How to stay alive Part II: Stunning

Post by PowerWyrm » Wed 26.11.2008, 12:48

Stunning is probably the worst effect in all Angband variants. It can be gained from breaths (sound, force) and from melee attacks. The effects are cumulative and progressive.
First step, stunned: you get penalties in both melee (to-hit and to-dam) and spellcasting (fail rate).
Second step, heavily stunned: you get outrageous penalties in both melee and spellcasting, making killing monsters almost impossible.
Third step, knocked out: this is the same as being paralyzed, mainly your character is dead unless you're partying and your party mate can help you.
The strategy to avoid death from stunning monsters is simple: get sound resistance as quickly as possible, mainly before stunning becomes a real threat (vibration hounds appear around 1350ft). If you don't have sound resistance, carry a lot of potions of cure critical wounds: they remove all effects of stunning. But remember that some monsters (especially the "mystics") can increase your stunning counter by more than one step (normal -> heavy stun or stun -> KOed), so quaff a CCW as soon as you see the "Stun" message displayed on your status bar!

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