Did a 2 hour 40 minute speedrun under pure rules. Tried some new strategies. Used 1 Elf Paladin, 2 Dwarf Monks, and 13 Conj>13 Mag>9 Wiz.
The early game approach was basically the same as the 2h46m posted earlier. Level the frontline solo on Samurai/Ogre Lords until they have 100hp or so, level Conj to lvl 7 on Samurai.
The item drops were basically abysmal all game, but this was offset by Monks which speed things up with low AC in the early game. Farmed Catacombs until SHSP. Farmed Harkyn 1 until APAR. Then got Crystal Sword and Silver Square. Bumped Conj to Magi, then leveled on Harkyn 2 to get Magi up a few levels and hope for some good item drops.
Once Magi had a few levels, farmed wraiths until Magi was 13. Then went to Kylearan’s for Silver Triangle and Onyx key. After KT was done, bumped Magi to Wizard. Farmed wraiths for a few levels, then Spectres. Once Wizard was lvl 9 at around 2h20m we ran for Mangar.
Once in Mangar, we APAR to Silver Circle, then APAR to seven word sequence, then walk to stairs to Mangar 3. Red dragons were breath heavy (each of the three attempts) but didn’t kill anyone fortunately. Fled all other encounters. Possession trap was handled easily.
Unfortunately, the first trip was a team wipe at Mangar. The dwarf monks were level 19/20ish but still never maxed out luck (still at 17/16) and took heavy damage from spells. And they would hit critters but not kill them, as I was afraid of. After the first team wipe, I rolled a fast hero and we healed up and went at it again. Second attempt was also a team wipe, as I mis-typed some directions. Healed up and tried again. Third attempt was almost a team wipe, but a lone monk with Thor managed to clean up the mess. The first attempt, if successful, would have been a 2 hour 27 minute run.
Overall, I’m moderately but not completely pleased with Monks and will keep experimenting. They get LO easily, early, and with easy to get items. They also enable the Paladin to have the lion’s share of the item drops, which gets him LO faster.
But, they struggle with HP in the early game and can potentially die to the Grey Dragon breath when you need to enter. Their HP struggles get worse in the late game, and by level 19 or so they have 200 hp, which is about as low as I dare go to be able to have a reasonable shot at surviving 1 Demon Lord breath and a 1 Vampire Lord attack or 2 Red Dragon breaths.
I also experimented with some other specific efficiency strategies which seemed to work out well that I’ll discuss later if they end up panning out.
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