ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

My level 30 Dwarf Berserker is in the East, and he's getting smashed by these numerous, highly-aggressive orc patrols that follow him wherever he goes. He's already died to one of them (in Adventure mode) and narrowly escaped battles with two more.

Any ideas on how I can improve my character to make him more impervious to these patrols?

I mostly use Windblade (a nice prodigy, also known as Winblade) combined with Unstoppable to kill those critters as a berserker.
Pop unstoppable, get the lot in range, massacre them all, then rush to a lone caster and try to hide there after killing it.

Orc Patrols are dicks. Here are some tricks and tactics to avoid them.

1. Speed.
Movement speed applies on the world map as well, so if you have boots of +20% movement, hold onto them before venturing onto the world map.

2. More Speed.
Little known secret: movement infusions work on the world map. You can't *activate* them there, but you can pop one in sunwall and then boot scoot and boogie your way across the map.

3. Paladin assistance.
The orc patrols will follow you, true, so lead them back to sunwall where a few friendly paladin patrols are waiting. They will usually clear them out for you.

4. Recall.
If there are no orcs in sight, you can just recall and leave the ambush.

5. Teleport.
Teleport (either spell or rune) has a minimum range of 15. Little known fact: Orc ambushes are exactly 15 squares across. If you can't avoid them, and can't recall out of them, use a teleport rune, and when it lands you on the opposite wall, pop a movement infusion and run like hell.

Hope these help.

Jurriaan wrote:I mostly use Windblade (a nice prodigy, also known as Winblade) combined with Unstoppable to kill those critters as a berserker.
Pop unstoppable, get the lot in range, massacre them all, then rush to a lone caster and try to hide there after killing it.

Thanks. Unfortunately, Windblade not only needs 50 Dex, but lots of use of dual-wielded weapons, which I don't use (I have Tirakai's Maul). And I already chose Flexible Combat as my first prodigy.

I do have Unstoppable. But it takes a lot of stamina. Actually, that's another question: I keep running out of stamina. I guess I should up Relentless Fury some more, and perhaps put some points in Unending Frenzy.

Furey wrote:1. Speed.
Movement speed applies on the world map as well, so if you have boots of +20% movement, hold onto them before venturing onto the world map.

2. More Speed.
Little known secret: movement infusions work on the world map. You can't *activate* them there, but you can pop one in sunwall and then boot scoot and boogie your way across the map.

Interesting. I guess I'm loathe to give up one of my infusions, since my Regeneration and Healing infusions work so well in tandem. My other two are Teleportation and a Wild Infusion that helps with physical effects. But perhaps I should swap out the latter.

Furey wrote:3. Paladin assistance.
The orc patrols will follow you, true, so lead them back to sunwall where a few friendly paladin patrols are waiting. They will usually clear them out for you.

Yeah, about that. Perhaps *one* time I swapped places with a paladin patrol, and the orc patrol disappeared. But in the vast majority of cases, nearby paladin patrols seem useless.

Furey wrote:4. Recall.
If there are no orcs in sight, you can just recall and leave the ambush.

So far I've appeared on the map with the orcs in sight, but I'll keep this in mind.

Furey wrote:5. Teleport.
Teleport (either spell or rune) has a minimum range of 15. Little known fact: Orc ambushes are exactly 15 squares across. If you can't avoid them, and can't recall out of them, use a teleport rune, and when it lands you on the opposite wall, pop a movement infusion and run like hell.

Presumably you mean a controlled teleport. I tried to use my (uncontrolled) Teleportation Rune once in one of these fights, but I guess the RNG was against me, as I went nowhere.

berenbelagund wrote:Pop unstoppable, get the lot in range, massacre them all, then rush to a lone caster and try to hide there after killing it.

Thanks. Unfortunately, Windblade not only needs 50 Dex, but lots of use of dual-wielded weapons, which I don't use (I have Tirakai's Maul). And I already chose Flexible Combat as my first prodigy.[/quote]
Windblade isn't so hard to scheme your way into. Stats in general you can save up gear and usually meet by the time you get to picking prodigies. Dual weapon damage you can build up just by wailing on things in the fortress. Counter-intuitively, I believe Windblade works perfectly well when not dual-wielding.

twas Brillig wrote:Windblade isn't so hard to scheme your way into. Stats in general you can save up gear and usually meet by the time you get to picking prodigies. Dual weapon damage you can build up just by wailing on things in the fortress. Counter-intuitively, I believe Windblade works perfectly well when not dual-wielding.

OK. Right now I'm at 40 Dex, but I'll keep +Dex items in mind. And I didn't know that the practice room counted! Thanks.