by Darvin on Sat Oct 06, 2012 4:56 pm
Fine Sword is a superb preparation, but I wouldn't count out stuff like Martyr Wraps, Trisword, the Dragonshield, or even the simple Elven Boots (though if gold is an issue their prep cost is absurd).
Black Market is a great thief den prep, as well. It allows you to better fuel the Trisword when you have it prepared. Try out the Trilling some time, a halfling with a trisword. Bring along a strength potion and prepare the apothecary so you have four potion shops. If you find him, Tikki Tooki's 2 for 1 potion deal is great for this, and it's entirely possible to get that Trisword into the +40 range.
Patches is a little difficult to work with since he has a random chance of poisoning or mana burning you. The teleportation can also be a problem on more chokey scenarios, but a WEYTWUT or ENDISWAL find will usually solve that. He's a gamble, but his long-term payoff is enormous. Be sure to bring a burn cure potion to deal with the occasional mana burn.
Smuggler's Den is basically about giving you an extra subdungeon to explore. Unfortunately, it will take boosters off the top level so you can't find them until you explore the den. The best way to use this preparation is on scenarios where exploration is at a premium and having a "reserved" area is important. Bloodmages who need BLUDTUPOWA fodder are a good example.
As for prepping gods:
Glowing Guardian: a reliable standby; being able to begin worship at level 1 effectively compensates for the lower piety gain.
Mystera Annur: the lower piety gain will hurt you, but if you're only taking a hit or two of magic, refreshment, and then converting out you should be fine. This will be a much more significant penalty if you want to purchase more than one of her expensive boons.
Tikki Tooki: don't touch him; he's finicky to maintain piety with under early worship conditions even at the best of times, but this makes things much worse.
Jehora Jeheyu: make sure you bring along a compression seal, a burn salve, and a fortitude potion. Getting over the petition hump and that lost inventory slot will be your biggest issue, but like GG starting worship immediately tends to counter-act the hefty penalty in most cases. In more gold-heavy dungeons, be sure to purchase the apothecary preparation; more of your gold will need to go to consumables since your inventory is much more restricted.
Dracul: there's little benefit to early worship from this god, and the long-term penalty to both piety and utility is pretty steep. I'd much sooner prep 4 altars and take my 45% chance of finding him somewhere in the dungeon.
Earthmother: a decent piety farm, and for those who intend to purchase fewer boons the penalty may actually be a bonus since it lets them better fuel clearance. However, EM is heavily reliant on conversion so I'd much rather take 4-altar to gamble for more flexibility.
Taurog: The penalty is easily managable and big T, much like GG and JJ, really benefits from immediate worship. Like Earthmother I'd rather go 4-altar for better conversion options, but for a warmonger or someone who really needs unstoppable fury he works well.
Binlor: If you want to demolish walls and/or have the knockback glyph, Binlor works great. Otherwise, he's kinda been nerfed hard towards the latter end of the beta and the loss of destructible walls will limit your ability to utilize him effectively.
As for the booster preps, I never use them. Too minor of an effect, and your prep is definitely better spent on tweaking your glyph loadout.
The Bezar preps are generally overpriced, but if you need to increase the odds of a specific item appearing then elite items and quest items can be invaluable. The quest items prep is particularly valuable if you strategically choose which ones you unlock. This allows you to dramatically increase the odds of getting exactly the item you want. The apothecary is also great for any potion-fuelled items, and mandatory for non-halfling/gnome trisword users.
For the witch, definitely don't discount any of her potions. Quicksilver and Reflex are awesome, and strength is great when used at the 1st level for a high-level kill. WHUPAZ, of course, is the secret sauce of awesome. Don't be afraid to swap out the health and mana potion for others, and in fact be sure to remember to do this if going for parched.
As for the alchemist, I'd agree that most of the time the one you're interested in is compression. However, don't discount the other ones. The gold boost of the transmutation scroll can really facilitate a buy-out, and translocation can let you pick up a specific item (elites in particular, they're crazy expensive) without having to go for broke. Still, compression is generally the best choice of the lot.