Alpha:Races

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Revision as of 02:42, 6 August 2010 by Alpha900i (Talk | contribs) (Vampire)

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Regular Races

There are seven regular races, each of which can convert glyphs (magic spells/skills) into a different permanent bonus.

Race Converts glyphs to... Unlock Strategy
Human +10% Damage Bonus Start Great for beginners and Rogues/Berserkers
Elf +2 Maximum Mana Start Amazing Wizards.
Dwarf +1 Max Health per level* Start Good for fighters and monks. Decent all-around.
Hafling +1 Healing Potion Start Great for many challenge missions, and for thieves.
Gnome +1 Mana Potion Start Great for thieves.
Goblin +10 gold Defeat the Crypt challenge with any race. Natural fit for tinkers. Goblin Wizards are useful for farming gold.
Orc +5 experience Defeat the Library challenge with any race. Extra experience at will makes leveling up to heal much easier. Good for Assassins.
  • Health Powerups and the Dwarf's Glyph Conversion gives you 1 Max Health per Level. This means the bonus scales while you level up, your total bonus Max Health equals Level * (Dwarf Conversion + Health Powerups). This is NOT a percentage bonus. Buying a +10 Max Health item will not increase the bonus from Health Powerups or Dwarf's Glyph Conversion, and likewise worshipping Dracul will not decrease the bonus.

Special races

In addition, 3 special races exist as unlockables, that are a both a race and class together. Each of these three cause significant changes to the core mechanics of the game.

Gorgon

  • Starts with ENDISWAL Glyph
  • -50% Damage Bonus at start
  • 50% Physical Resist
  • Poison Attack (can't poison Undead)
  • Immune to Death Gaze
  • +2 Mana per kill
  • Every enemy killed in any manner will become a wall
  • 10% Death Gaze, gains an additional 5% for every glyph converted

Once the enemy's HP is below your Death Gaze percentage, attacking them with melee will cause your damage to be exactly the HP required to instantly kill them. The Death Gaze percentage and resulting damage is unaffected by resistances. This damage may be lower than your actual current Attack, so keep this in mind for increasing the Damage score in Ranked games -- though this often won't matter so much with the Gorgon's low Damage Bonus.

You do not have First Strike, unlike enemy Gorgons. The petrification on kill counts towards the Earthmother's reward, but it does not count towards any Score rewards. However, since all enemies you kill will be petrified, you may have to use ENDISWAL a lot: plan for this extra mana cost requirement, and note that the Earthmother will punish you for using it if you choose her. And remember that the Gorgon only starts with Physical Resistance: Dragonspawn, Warlocks and Wraiths will still do full damage to you.

Half Dragon

  • 200% Max Health at start
  • Magical Attack
  • Increased Sight Radius (same effect as Scouting Orb, all tiles touching an explored tile will be partially uncovered, allowing you to see what type of object lies there)
  • BURNDAYRAZ glyph costs 99 Mana, preventing its use
  • 20% Knockback, gains an additional 20% for every glyph converted

Knockback causes enemies to go flying one square in the direction you hit them when you use a melee attack, unless another enemy is in the way. If they land on a wall, they will destroy it. Knockback is calculated from your Base Damage and applies damage when an enemy destroys a wall or hits another enemy, ignoring resistances. When knocked back into another enemy, Knockback damage is halved and applied to both enemies. Finally, the enemy you knocked your target into will never die from the Knockback: they will be left at 1 HP minimum and lose a level of Death Protection if they have one.

Since they can't use BURNDAYRAZ, it's best converted as soon as you see it. Knockback is a good way of breaking walls past high-level enemies or even dealing early damage to them by knocking enemies into them. Knockback damage is also left unaffected by Mystera's restriction and is not affected by damage resists. Be wary of enemies with Magical Resist, as Knockback is the only solid way you have of dealing damage to them. And note that if you deal more damage to a particular enemy if you knock them into a wall instead of another enemy. Finally, although they have high max health, remember that they still have the same health regeneration as standard classes.

Vampire

  • Gains 7 Base Damage per level, instead of 5
  • No Health Regen - you lose 1 HP per tile explored instead
  • First Strike
  • Immune to Poison
  • Immune to Mana Burn
  • Can sense the locations of all monsters of equal or lower level
  • Spells cost Health instead of Mana
  • Restores 10% of Max Health from blood pools
  • 25% Life Steal, gains an additional 5% for every glyph converted
  • Every next spell cost one more HP, than last; cost sets to normal after hand-to-hand fight
  • HALPMEH doesn't work.

Life Steal causes you to get back a percentage of your Total Damage you dealt as Health when you use a melee attack. So if you hit a monster for 50 damage, you'd recover 12 Health with 25% Life Steal.

Vampire is tricky at the start since you're reliant on enemies you can kill being close-by. Once you've gained a couple of levels though, your increased Health and Damage makes taking on almost any enemy a breeze. Also, First Strike does not let you go before other enemies with First Strike, and the lack of regen means that Gorgons can pose a minor threat if you're not careful. The increased Base Damage means that effects that increase your Damage Bonus are even more potent as well. Once you get BURNDAYRAZ, the Vampire can beat bosses almost immediately, because they draw mana from health.

Vampire is the only race/class in the game, that don't need exploration control - actually, you should explore as much of dungeon as you can. After first exploration you could start attacking - even with 1 HP you can kill a bunch of monsters. Level up will heal you; from this moment you can attack monsters 1-2 level higher than yours. One thing that you really need is BURNDAYRAZ. Other glyphs usually can be converted for lifesteal. Try to save bloodpools. First two-three levels is hardest. Use you potions - on high level you usually wouldn't need them. Factory is exception, though - save all potions you can. Be careful with Glowing Guardian; prayingto him will heal you, but first attack will make him denounce you - because of lifesteal. Still, one healing can save the game