Close Combat

[One on One] [Round the Corner] [Tempo] [Speed] [Misc.]

The most satisfying way to hack a monster to bits is up close and personal, which is what this section covers.

One on One

When taking on a group of monsters, its best to take then on one at a time instead of getting surrounded. Of course, this won't happen if you're standing in the middle of a big room, you'll get swarmed. The idea is the moment you see a pack coming, head for a corridor. Since the corridor is only one square wide, only one of them can attack you at a time. Alternatively, if the monsters come in different directions but are sparsely distributed, you can head for the nearest one before the others reach you, beat it up, then remove the rest similarly. Fig. 1 shows the result of staying still or trying to flee, in this case the player gets flanked by the two orcs and has to take on both at the same time. Fig. 2 shows what happens when you go after one of them first, in which case the orcs are encountered one at a time. Another means would be simply breaking through the monsters into a corridor.


.......   |   .......
[email protected]   |   .......
.......   |   [email protected]
|
.......   |   .......
[email protected].   |   ...@...
.......   |   .o...o.
          |          
.......   |   ...@...
..o@o..   |   ..o.o..
.......   |   .......

Fig. 1: The wrong way


[email protected]

.o..@o.

..o.@..

...o@..

Fig. 2: The right way

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Round the Corner

When taking on a pack of monsters with ranged attacks, e.g. breath weapons, one good thing would be the ability to take them on such that only a few at a time can see you. This would prevent hordes of them breathing all manner of crap at you. One simple way to do this would be to take them on around a corner.


   #Z#
   #Z#
   #Z#
####Z#
  @ZZ#
######

Fig. 3: Around the corner

Say you're up againt a pack of fire hounds. In Figure 3, only 2 of the Zs have you in sight, so only 2 of them can breath on you. Compare this with the next two diagrams:


  #Z#              #Z#
  #Z#              #Z#
  #Z#              #Z#
###Z#             ##Z#
  @Z#               @#
#####             ####

Fig. 4: Not too good

The left diagram shows what happens if you don't back into the corner far enough. Here, 3 hounds have you in sight and 2 can attack you. On the right diagram, we see what happens when you go head on. All of them can strike from afar. Fortunately for our friend @ they're only fire hounds.

In case you're trapped in a dead end and can't take them on around a corner, here's something you can try. If you can cast stone to mud or have an artifact that activates for stone to mud, you can carve a niche to hide in, and still be able to take them on one at a time with only 2 of them being able to breathe at you. Here's what I mean:


#Z#         #Z#         #Z# 
#Z#         #Z#         #Z# 
#Z#         #Z#         #Z# 
#Z#         #Z#         #Z# 
# #         #Z#         #Z# 
#@##        #@##        #Z##
####        ## #        ##@#
####        ####        ####

Fig. 5: Here's an idea

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Tempo

Here's something I like to call tempo. It's basically having the monster step right in front of you so you get to whack it the next turn, instead of you stepping up to the monster and getting whacked the next turn.


T
.
@

Fig. 6: Taking that step forward

Observe the situation above and consider these two scenarios. Suppose it's the player's turn, and he/she takes a step forward. This puts our character in front of the troll, so he/she gets attacked first by the troll. Now suppose it's the troll's turn to move. It takes a step forward, and now you get to strike it first. Obviously the latter scenario is more favourable. If you come across a situation like that in Figure 6 and it's the foe's turn to move, all is well. If it's your turn however, you simply don't move. Press 's' or something similar and let the foe walk in front of you.


C
.
@

Fig. 7: What now?

Consider that same situation again, but this time, you're up against a faster opponent, say a jackal. Its moves two steps for every one move you make (assuming you move at normal speed). Moving forward obviously doesn't work. This time, if you stay where you are, on the first move the jackal moves in front of you, and on the second, it attacks. The solution here is to take a step back.


C          .
.          .
@          C
.          @

Fig. 8: Taking that step backwards

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Speed

When you are faster than your opponent, that naturally puts you in an advantageous position. Here's one way to put your speed to good use. Suppose you can move twice for every one move your opponent makes. What you can do is to hit your opponent, then take one step back. Your opponent then moves and takes one step towards you. Then you hit your opponent again and take another step back. Keep repeating this sequence of hitting and stepping back. Pretty soon, your opponent will be dead while you won't have suffered a scratch.

Remember to allow yourself enough room to retreat. One way to do this is to find some place where the corridor loops and follow this loop when retreating after hitting your opponent. One classic variation is the 'round the pillar' trick as shown below.


...        .g.
g#.        .#@
.@.        ...

Fig. 9: Around the pillar.

Here, the character simply hits the foe and moves to the opposite side of the pillar. The foe, in this case a colossus follows, and the process is repeated. This variation has a few advantages; one, the loop is confined within a small area, so it is unlikely that you will bump into any other opposition while fighting; two, every time you retreat, you put the pillar between you and the foe. The foe can't see you so the foe can't cast spells or breathe at you.

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Miscellaneous

Listed here are some general tactics you should take every time you get into a melee.

Know your opponent. Before the foe gets too close, look at it and see if your monster recall window can give you any details on its attacks, spellcasting ability, hit points etc. This can help you plan how you go about tackling your opponent, e.g. if you're up against an ancient multi-hued dragon which can breathe all the elements at you, it might be a good idea to cast resistance and possibly haste self.

If you're up against a toughie, beef yourself up. Protection from evil, speed and even a nearby scroll of blessing can help quite a bit. If you intend to quaff a potion of speed, drink it first before applying any other ability boosters, becase this will hasten your rate of applying them. This may not be true for those who choose to cast haste self instead, especially if it has a high fail rate, simply because if your spell fails, your opponent gets one free round of hits at you.

Close combat doesn't mean that ranged combat is out. Something may suddenly cast fear on you. If this happens, you still have lots of options. Arrows and bolts are just as effective at such close range, if not more effective. Magic missiles are cheap to cast and can hold your foes off until you become less afraid. Zap any wands and rods you may have in your inventory. If the monster is susceptible to light, activate the Phial of Galadriel.

If you have any strategies and tactics of your own, don't hesitate to tell me about them. If they make it here, your name will be posted along with your contribution. You get to be famous, and fellow Angbanders around the world will thank you for it.

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