Nethack - Ascensions

[Mats1]

Has anyone here done this? It seems like a pretty hard roguelike to complete.

Any big advice/key pointers for doing it?

[Vanguard]

Use spoilers thoroughly.

[jim]

I am thinking that it's time for me to give Nethack another go. I played it a lot when I was younger, never even saw the wizard. I get that spoilers are a must. Are there general tactics that I ought to use? As I recall, it's an extremely brutal game.

Also, would anyone recommend a variant in particular? I am by no means a purist.

[guest509]

There is a roguelike radio about it. Lemme find the link...it talks about variants I think...

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2013/12/episode-84-nethack.html

[jim]

Thanks!

[Dewaldo]

I've ascended 3 times, valkyire wizard and monk (with barbarian, samurai and priest getting incredibly close). Ascending isn't easy, but there are certainly some tricks that can make it easier:

• Certain classes like valkyrie, knight and samurai are substantially easier to ascend with.
• As mentioned before, spoilers are nearly essential. There's such a huge amount of meta-knowledge that managing it all becomes a skill in itself. Don't be afraid to use spoilers.
• Knowing when to run, engrave "Elbereth," teleport away or pick another branch is an important part of survivability. That just comes in time.
• Lamps that sell in shops for 75zk are magical. Bless them with holy water and #rub them for a wish!
• Have a good idea of what things are safe to eat and what things will grant intrinsics (again, spoilers)
• Watch your luck, if you are having trouble try playing on days with a new moon

There are literally hundreds more tips to help you towards ascension. The learning curve is steep and once you get to a certain point (~level 15) victory is almost guaranteed. I have an ongoing Let's Play series which I will probably be ascending soon. If you want to learn some tips and tricks, you can check it out here. Good luck and happy hacking!

[jim]

Sweet! I will definitely check it out. It's been so long - I forgot how clunky the UI is.

[Numeron]

I've ascended a Valk, and Excalibur is a pretty great weapon you can get early game that suits such characters. I haven't played in a long time, so double check this info - but keep track of all the generated fountains and once you hit level 5, go dipping longswords into them until one transforms it. It will even remove the rust you pick up from previous dips!

Another thing I used to do for the first 3 or so dungeon levels was stick around and farm until something out of depth appears, or you have x2 the character level than dungeon depth. Its possible to mostly survive on eating random spawn corpses. The process of trekking back and forth across the same level looking for new monsters is slow and a little boring, but makes the mid dungeon a little easier to move into.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

I got 4 ascensions back when I was 18 (I think) and discovered Nethack, but haven't really played it since. I think it was Val/Wiz/Bar/Sam, if I remember correctly, after which I stopped playing since each playthrough was just turning out too similarly. Key pointers: as in all roguelikes, caution. Be thoroughly spoiled for Nethack's many "here's something to kill you that you could never have predicted!" moments. Never be afraid to flee; be VERY careful about wasting your potions and scrolls in water, and whenever you find yourself interacting with one of the game's more obtuse systems (breeding, dancing and pets come to mind) or any of the "two-hit death" things like drowning, petrification etc, CHECK THE WIKI. Good luck!

[Ancient]

Never ascended NetHack but won SLASH'EM (svn version) once. Can't remember what the character was ... I think a samurai. Then I proceeded to patch my version of the game with half the stuff you can find on Billious. Incidentally that was great fun too. (-: Now I have something that is so far from NetHack ascending it can't count as beating even a distant variant.