View source for Deus Hex Machina: PoEn^Sif Muna Guide

Why wait for fortune to strike when you can bend destiny to your whim? We don't intend to play at the casino; rather, we tilt the odds so heavily in our favor the Killer Klowns will simply present the orb to us, perplexed over why they wished so dearly to protect it in the first place.

Warning: this is not the most efficient way to go about winning the game, this is a showcase of an interesting build that gives consistent results. Instead of playing to the RNG of the game this build intends to brute force the game into accommodating this particular strategy.

As another warning I would recommend already having already won the game, rather than attempting this build as your first win. A solid grasp of core tactics will prove essential. For that, I suggest Ultraviolent4's tactics guide, a codex that served me well in my first life, or any of the other excellent and highly informative character build guides for this game. Return when you feel ready there's no rush. This walkthrough is intended for players ready to take on a stabber character.

==Build Strategy==

The core idea of this build is to secure knowledge of either Enfeeble or Sphinx Sisters as quickly as possible, then cast them until you win. Both spells can absolutely decimate all the way through a 3 rune game and may even be cast in lair should luck be on your side. Often however it will not be. Therefore the strategy section of this guide will focus on the controllable aspects, detailing how to maximize your odds and stack the deck in your favor until one of these run defining spells are in reach. While the tactics section will focus on keeping you alive until you obtain them.

First, an aside on the main pillars of this build, Sphinx Sisters and Enfeeble. Enfeeble not only grants a guaranteed debilitating debuff on any enemy you cast it on, but thanks to trickster nature it also gives bonus AC lending much needed defense. While it is a high level spell we have a +4 aptitude making Hexes very quick to train and use even early in the game.

Sphinx sisters on the other hand is a high level summoning spell dual school with hexes making it perfect for us and can also carry a run on it's own. It does take longer to train, but is no less effective for it. However for the purposes of this guide and my own sanity. Every time after this point when I refer to capstone spells I will simply refer to Enfeeble.

==Manipulating the Odds==

There three ways we will attempt to obtain the three spellbooks which contain the spells we desire: the Book of Hexes, the Book of Misfortune, and the Book of Beasts. Two of these methods: god choice and acquirement training are paths you can actively influence and control. The third, random dungeon luck, is not controllable, but I would be remiss not to mention it for how frequently it changes a run. Nonetheless each has it's own use and all together give a high probability of obtaining enfeeble before S branches, and guarantees access to nearly every spell in the game past a certain point.

First through random shops and items on the floor. This is one of the most common ways a character will gain items and is not incredibly unlikely as frequently book shops in orc, specifically orc 2 usually contains at least 1-2 book shops. Among these, there’s a good probability of finding a spell that either directly grants Enfeeble or leads you closer to it.

Second is through god choice. The commonly accepted thought is that the first god you find is the best. It's always better to have 3* and follow Makhleb than to hold out all the way to D8 for an Okawaru altar as the former keeps you alive during the most difficult part of the game while the other strings you along with promises. For the purposes of this guide we will of course be taking the latter school of thought. Sif Muna is the ideal for this build and no compromise shall be made as any other god will be sub-optimal in terms of what we are looking for.

Poor Sif, outshone by your by far more popular cousin Velhemut. Widely considered by the community to be a B Lister relegated primarily to meme builds like the TrFi^Sif Muna who only worships for free casts. However in this case we don't care about any of the discussion surrounding Them, nor any of the abilities granted by worship, no we're looking for knowledge.

By becoming a worshiper of either Sif Muna or Gozag you gain additional opportunities to obtain spellbooks. Obviously in my opinion Sif Muna is the superior choice. Once you gain 5* Sif begins gifting spellbooks frequently. This can be further heightened by equipping a amulet of faith taking this a step further, sometimes gifting spellbooks twice a floor. In contrast, Gozag tends to fall short in this regard. More than three shops often feels excessive, and while Potion Petition and Bribe Branch are stronger in a vacuum than Channel Magic and Divine Exegesis. The real deciding factor here is spellbook access. When spellbooks are my priority, as in this case, Sif Muna smokes the competition and it's not even close.

Your amulet choice should also be geared towards this mindset if at all possible. Faith > MPregen > Regen or Reflection > Acrobat > Nothing > Gspirit. After you obtain your spellbook Faith is no longer useful and should be removed for one of the other options at the cost of 1/3 of your current piety, a minor penalty in comparison to what you have already gained.

All the above being said Sif is a key of this build used to unlock the strategy we wish to use. However should you wish to test your luck gods like Gozag, Dithmenos, Wu Jian, or Hepliaklqana may fill different niches and shine in their roles.

Thirdly, spellbooks can be obtained through Scrolls of Acquirement. Acquirement options are based in part on what skills you have already trained, offering items scaled to the level of those skills and avoiding items you've already encountered. (For example, if you've already seen a ring of fire resistance, the scroll will not offer it again.) Because of this, the scroll becomes more valuable the longer you hold onto it. As your skills increase and the pool of eligible items narrows, your chances of receiving a game changing item like a quickblade, randart ring, or crucial spellbook also increase.

Still, the golden rule of DCSS applies: something that helps you survive now is always more valuable than something that might help later. If you’re in desperate need of gear, use the scroll without hesitation. That said, remember that it’s also a powerful tool in your arsenal. This acquirement scroll is one of the few ways you can influence the game to give you the book you need to win. With a +4 aptitude in Hexes, it shouldn’t take long to overtrain the skill to 18, significantly boosting your odds of obtaining Enfeeble.

==Skills and Leveling==

You may enter the dungeon with all the tools required to survive, the skill to use them and the levels required to use them are another story. Your first goal will be to reach level 2 and unlock Ensorcelled Hibernation. to this end before doing anything you are going to want to go to your skill training menu, and using manual training to only train one skill at a a time. When hitting level 3 I would recommend Int for your first stat increase and then increase whichever is lower between Int or Dex from then on unless you need to push a spell closer to success or need a survivability boost.

I would also Highly recommend before playing to add (more += Holy wrath) to your rc file so it will constantly bombard you with notifications when an enemy with holy wrath comes on screen or attacks.

Train skills in this order: Stealth 6.0 -> Hexes 6.0 -> Spellcasting 2.5 -> Fighting 2.0 -> Dodging 5.0 -> Short Blades 4.0 -> Ice magic 2.0 -> Hexes 10.0.

Should you find this skill order maddening or be annoyed by the skills menu popping up I would highly recommend using the SpEn guide from the learndb and then reading the below once you hit 12 dodging.

After this the door is more open as you have access to more varied equipment and spells that an early skill tree can't account for so I'll give examples of early skill that will prove useful should you have the items to utilize them:

* Throwing 4.0 for poison darts and later boomerangs

* Evocations 5.0 for evokables or wands

* Shortblades 10.0 for rapier

* Shields 5.0 for buckler

* Stealth 10.0

* Invocations 7.0 for Sif Muna's channel magic

* Low level spells (level 4 or below) from the spells section

The above is made with a ±2.0 margin or error so for optimal results you may wish to train a little more or less depending on your stats and current item set. Later on, you’ll want to refine, making improvements such as taking your rapier all the way to min delay.

==General Advice==

Early on be aggressive while identifying things, if you have two scrolls you now have one identified scroll, if you have two potions you now have something that will help you rather than do something random. Usually I would not advocate for drinking random potions as you could randomly drink a mutation potion and spend the whole game regretting that hasty decision. However as an undead specimen you find mortal races fear of random potions laughable. The risk of drinking random potions is much lower with mutation out of the picture. Therefore the biggest negative for drinking random potions alone is drinking one of your precious haste potions while if you randomly read scrolls you may lose invaluable blink or acquirement scrolls, a much sadder fate. Usually reading an acquirement scroll randomly is a fortuitous occasion, but for our PoEn it is a shadow of what could have been and should be avoided at all costs save for death.

When you enter the dungeon your 2 invisibility potions have the highest value they will ever have. They are your lifeline and you should not die without having used both of them. This could be the run where you find the book of hexes before lair, don't let it end to a kobold. It's not that invisibility becomes useless later, it’s that in the beginning, you have almost no options, and these potions represent some of your only tools. The best time to use them ascending from level 1 to 2 when you are at your most fragile.

When fighting make sure to stack every encounter as in favor of you as possible, you want a guaranteed victory every time you engage, if you don't have that you can come back later, or fight from a different staircase to make sure it turns out right the next time around. A wight challenges you to combat? Not with their weapon they don't, a summoner wants to tell all their inter-dimensional pals about meeting you? Lure them around a corner and ensure the only one spreading tales about that encounter is you. Fight dirty, and stay slippery.

However, all the cleverness in the world can't out-think a giant spiked club bashing your ectoplasmic brains in so it's important when you can't win a fight to avoid it. Go around the area that enemy guards or skip the level and ensure the immediate area below is safe before continuing your journey on the next level.

Stealth is primarily a defensive skill, not an offensive one. Being able to kill enemies while they sleep is a nice bonus, but you should always have a plan should they wake up. If you don't have a plan for when they wake up you shouldn't be trying to stab them.

Threat assessment is key, knowing you can't win a fight before you engage often is the difference between a won and a lost run.

Something important to remember throughout the game is that spellcasters can only cast when they see you or your allies. An orc priest cannot smite you if you block line of sight around a corner and put them to sleep as soon as they peek around. Later this principle becomes even more valuable when dealing with foes like orc sorcerers, high priests and deep elf demonologists. If they can't see you they can't harm you, buff themselves, or summon their friends. This may give you time to prepare, or time to initiate escape options without being endangered by their magics.

==Tactical Maneuvers==

In the interest of unfair fights I will go over some tactics to keep you alive. Above all survival should be prioritized. Think of encounters as puzzle of positioning and mana management. When you fight should you be able to win, escape should you not be able to win and assess options should you not be able to escape.

Our spectral avatar is represented by @, enemies by E, sleeping enemies by Z, and allies by A

======Put Them to Sleep and Run======
 #######
 EEEE@..
 #######

Here you have run into a pack of orcs early on and don't have enough mana to slay the whole bunch. Here the priority is getting away and killing them while they are all split up.

A good tactic is to put the orc in front to sleep which blocks the others for advancing for two turns. 
 #######		#######		#######		#######
 EEEE@..		EEEZ@..		EEEZ.@.		EEEE..@
 #######		#######		#######		#######
Similarly confusing touch also works to block others from advancing, however hibernation is a guaranteed 2 turn gap in any type of opening, while confusion lasts longer, but requires a hallway of a few tiles long for full effectiveness.

======Blind Them and Dash======

If you find yourself nearly encircled it's time to get away, usually this should be before you find yourself in this unfortunate position, but in this case you didn't. 
 ####...##	####...##	####...##	####...##
 .>.......	.>.......	.>..@E...	.>.@EEE..
 ####.....	####.@E..	####EE.E.	####E....
    #.E@E.	   #.EEE.	   #.....	   #.E...
    #.EEE.	   #.E..	   #E....	   #.....
    ##....	   ##....	   ##....	   ##....
Now you either go up the stair and deal with the one attacker on their own, or fight in the narrow corridor depending on how much mana you have. Don't bother casting dazzling flash multiple times, you just want a couple of the enemies near you to be blinded so you eat fewer opportunity attacks, not negate them entirely, that's a way to lose your entire mana bar for little to no gain.

======Set Them Up to Fall======

This is the beating heart of this combo for a long time on this build. What you want to do is when the enemy is one tile away you cast Ensorcelled Hibernation. Since the sleep duration is 2 turns you can cast it, move, and then stab guaranteed. For example:
 .......		.......		.......		.......		.......
 ..@..E.		..@.E..		..@.Z..		...@Z..		...@...
 .......		.......		.......		.......		.......
 
Rampage extends this effective hex range to two tiles, and Wu Jian followers get bonus points! This technique is useful the entire game, you can use it with confusing touch for things that rC+ as well as in the midgame and lategame with Enfeeble. (Though Enfeeble has a longer effective range than two tiles but that doesn't neatly fit into the point.)

======Stab them======

Enemies only wake up when you are in their line of sight. if you see a path to a monster that spends less time in their sight while getting to them, especially if it's only one or two steps you should take that path instead. Here x will denote tiles Z can see 
 #######		#######		#######		#######		#######		#######
 xxxxxZx		xxxxxZx		xxxxxZx		xxxxxZx		xxxxxZx		.......
 xxx###x		xxx###x		xxx###x		xxx###x		xxx###@		...###@	
 x.....x		x.....x		x.....x		x....@x		x.....x		.......
 ......x		......x		.....@x		......x		......x		.......
 ......x		.....@x		......x		......x		......x		.......
 ......@		......x		......x		......x		......x		.......
In this example this sleeping foe has only 2 chances to notice you, first when you step into their sightline, and last when you step in to deliver the final blow. If you want a good visual for their line of sight use the exclude feature (X, hover, e) and that will show all the tiles they can see. This handy tool can make planning your advance much simpler.

======Disarm Them======

If a foe is attempting to close in on you wielding a weapon you should disarm them with tukima's dance should they pose even a minor threat. Ogres and wights are great targets for this, and later 2-headed Ogres have 2 clubs to animate for twice the fun.

======Don't let them see you======

Some enemies come with the same game plan we are following: debilitate you before enacting vengeance for all those you have slain thus far. Don't give them the opportunity. Through summons or clever use of corners block their view of you and prepare for them. First I'll give an example of a summon blocking the view of an enemy with paralysis/malmutate/banishment. Then give an example of line of sight blocking using corners and an orc priest.

Evil Hexer: 
 .......		.......		.......		.......
 ....@..		....@..		.....@.		.......
 .......		.....A.		.......		.....@.
 .......		.......		.....A.		.....A.
 .....E.		.....E.		.....E.		.....E.
Now as the situation demands you can either step in and begin attacking, or instead of closing in should they prove too dangerous retreat instead and let the summon cover your retreat. Early on you will often wish to retreat from enemies with any of the aforementioned spells but this knowledge remains useful the entire game

Strictly speaking blocking hexes and spells with allies may fall outside of tactics specifically for this build and be better included in general advice. However given how often this build dabbles with allies I felt it best to include nonetheless.

Orc priest: 
 #######		#######		#######		#######		#######		#######		#######
 ....@.#		...@..#		...@..#		...@..#		...@..#		....@.#		....@.#
 #####.#		#####.#		#####.#		#####E#		#####Z#		#####Z#		#####.#
     #.#		    #.#		    #E#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#
     #.#		    #E#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#
     #E#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#		    #.#    	    #.#		    #.#
Through this contrived scenario you should be able to get a good picture of how to deal with an orc priest you are forced into combat with. Should you walk up to the priest you may eat multiple smites on your trek towards them taking your health perilously low, but if you hide around the corner the priest will be in range of ensorcelled hibernation before having the opportunity to strike. Through using the terrain you can force them into a battle on your terms rather than allowing them to pelt you with divine punishment from safety.

==Tome of Trickery==

There are many wonderful and useful hex spells which will ease your journey. I would recommend having a minimum of 10.0 dodging and 5.0 fighting before branching out into a wider selection of Hexes. As for spellcasting I prefer having just enough to learn spells and no more. Personally I think an early goal of 8.0 and a late game cap of 12.0 to be sufficient. However if more generous training is your stye go for it, just reassess the returns at 15.0 and 18.0 skill.

The spell targets given are estimations based on my experiences, sometimes a little more training is needed, sometimes less. Simply aim for 10% or less spell fail and all will be well.

* Anguish: Hexes 8.0, Necromancy 3.0

At first I believed anguish was only for necromancers as what possible use could reflection damage have with such a small hp pool and no allies to speak of? Then I saw Silken slay a steam dragon in one shot and cripple a hornet. Safe to say it pulls it's weight in spell slots early against low Hp high EV point monsters and can be used to get some sweet trickster AC against large numbers of foes. Later on it becomes a good target for amnesia scrolls, but by that time it has already likely helped you out of a tight situation that more than justified learning it in the first place.

* Cause Fear: Hexes 10.0

Cause fear is a spell that is so incredibly useful for the entire game and should be learned given the opportunity with no questions asked. Still have questions? Let me put those to rest, it's great against nearly every lair enemy excluding death yaks and even then is really good at thinning crowds turning difficult fights into encounters with only one or two monsters to fight before returning to a safer more manageable position. It also significantly improves your standing in S branches thanks to the crowd thinning aspect. Though it is less useful against intelligent foes like those found in Vaults and Depths.

* Silence Hexes: 10.0, Air magic 3.0

Honestly one of my least favorite spells in the entire game. It severely reduces your options once used which makes teleporting or blinking impossible, and it lasts longer for you than your opponents. Meaning once used you better have a way to both deal with the enemy present (without your carefully cultivated spell list might I add) and ensure no new opponents are coming to see what's happening. Usually in a run silence is only really needed once or twice a run in which case scrolls of silence will do fine. That being said if you have a secure staircase it turns the elven halls into a nice jaunt where all these elven travelers try to tell you stories as you stab them in the face. It's a spell that's usefulness is only matched by it's extreme danger. If you have allies don't forget to cast them before the silence goes up.

* Metabolic Englaciation: Hexes 12.0, Ice 6.0

Take everything great about anguish and amplify it with a 5th level spell slot. Gives an irresistible slow debuff to every enemy without rC+. Cast it and walk away, Cast it and demolish the yak pack with your 30 newfound AC. Whatever you use it for it will greatly benefit you.

* Summon Mana Viper: Hexes 15.0 Summoning 5.0

From orc high priests to orbs of fire this spell helps with them all and should be learned immediately and cast in every fight. It gives antimagic to spellcasters on hit which keeps it relevant well into the late game, and the punch it packs is not to be underestimated early on.

* Yara's Violent Unraveling: Hexes 15.0 Alchemy 3.0

Not super useful in lair, but when it comes to orc and later if you can deal with the noise (Having multiple staircases down is ideal) it becomes an invaluable spell, removing buffs on opponents, abjuring summons, inflicting malmutation greatly raising your spell success chance, and likely more I'm forgetting. It's great fun to inflict a debuff on an enemy and then call in some smite targeted damage by unraveling the debuff too.

* Enfeeble: Hexes 18.0, amnesia anything to free spell slots

I have sung this spells praises previously so I don't feel the need to do so again. This is your unholy grail. The final piece. Everything in this build bends toward obtaining it. Treat it as your win condition, because it absolutely is.

* Sphinx Sisters: Hexes 20.0, Summoning 10.0, amnesia anything to free spell slots

Yet another game-winner, not much more to say.

*Discord: Hexes 23.0

Later this becomes an essential spell for crowd control, however it is much too expensive to go for anytime before vaults, not just in training but because casting this in Lair and S branches is like bringing a bomb to a knife fight.

==Addendum of Anarchy==

Hexes are among the best spells for us to learn, however other spells can serve in their stead, put to use for the ultimate goal. Alchemy spells are quite a good pivot, especially if fate grants you their secrets early. While a few Necromancy spells may provide the edge you need to pull through until more powerful hexes are granted.

* Olgreb's Toxic Radiance: Alchemy 10.0

Such a magnificent spell. It quickly stacks up poison to anything that doesn't resist and slays them in short order. easily a reason to do the orcish mines before the lair, just have a way to fight wargs and obsidian bats. It is useful as a carry spell all the way through the S branches where it shines in Spider and Shoals, but finds more limited use in Swamp, and near irrelevancy in Snake. For those truly wishing to plumb the depths of dark magic pair it with ignite poison (Alchemy 10.0 Fire magic 6.0) and watch everything around you perish in flames.

* Sticky flame Alchemy 10.0 Fire magic 5.0

Damage over time and activates trickster AC, it's two for the price of one. Perfect for demolishing demonic crawlers and lone pharaoh ants.

* Apportation: Translocations 2.0

Need an item from under the nose of a dragon? Wish to snach the abyssal rune from its guardians? No matter the situation apportation has your back, an insta-learn in nearly all cases.

* Lesser Beckoning Translocations 4.0

Sometimes you want to get that smiter or ranged attacker in range without messing about with terrain tricks.

* Grave claw: Necromancy 5.0

Need to hold that hydra back to make your getaway? Perhaps you need to pin it in place for some boomerangs? It's a poor man's Vile Clutch, but you wouldn't know it for how effective it is. Unfortunately can't be spammed be aware you can only hold 3 charges so use them wisely.

* Dispel Undead: Necromancy 10.0

More of a late game pickup, but your last line of defense against ancient and dread litches. With their abjuration they can dispel your friends, and your quickblade may not quite do the trick. That leaves you with few choices: resummon and pray, run and hope... or cast this. Dispel Undead offers a crucial third option. They made the mistake of abandoning their spectral form for a skeleton that can be sneakily animated and shattered, show them their mistake.

* Fulminant Prism: Alchemy/Conjurations until spell success reaches ~20%; Wiz highly recommended

This is specifically for one use case: Statues. Native to Ice Caves and Volcanos they can seriously injure you as you travel through one of the most dangerous areas in the game by level. Safest method is to stand outside the line of sight of the statue and begin casting prism next to the statue. wait until it explodes and then repeat until your mana runs out. Rest to regenerate your mana and repeat this at least twice. After regenerating your magic for the third time check to see how badly the statue is damaged. If it's at 2/3 or less HP continue until destroyed, if not cut your losses and leave, it's not worth dying over.

* Summon Forest: Summoning 14.0, Translocations 8.0

At the highest end of what I would consider to be branching out without veering into another strategy entirely is the level 5 spell Summon forest. Tree damage is insane and all you have to sacrifice for a forest of blood is taking good care of your dryad. The Swamp version of toxic radiance, essentially turning swamp into a free rune. Shines in swamp and snake, suffers from limited utility in spider in some layouts, and faces near irrelevancy in shoals.

Many other spells are exceedingly good, but they are either higher level and therefore deeper into a spell school than a dip, or I have not yet tested them. Any changes to fit a playstyle that makes it easier on you is very much welcome and I would love to hear about it. 
==Early Threats==

For this build what is deadly early on may differ quite a bit from what a caster or melee fighter would be concerned about so I'll give a brief rundown of early game threats, all the way from Dungeon until you take your first steps into the S branches.
Dungeon levels 1 and 2 are some of the most deadly therefore I will split this into two sections, pre-level 3 and post-level 3.

===Pre-Level 3===

Everything can kill you, the only things safe for you to engage are bats, frilled lizards, ball pythons. Endoplasm are also safe to engage one at a time. Dart slugs are manageable should you lure them around a corner, given that they are slow you should have time to leave and find suitable terrain. The deadliest by far monster early is the hobgoblin and they should be left sleeping until you hit level 2 at least. Their younger forms goblins may be woken and engaged should the area around be clear and they possess no exceptional weapons. If any of those three have a branded weapon bump their tier up to the level of an ogre as they will hit like one. In D2 or later they may spawn with a sling, in this case treat them as a faster dart slug. Quokka's shall go unmentioned as the godless heathens they are.

===Post-level 3===

Orc priest: Starting from level 2 onwards orc priests may spawn, they usually hang out with groups of fellow orcs, so any orc pack slated for annihilation should have a clear exit strategy for your fragile 2-3 shottable body which cannot survive sustained eye contact with said priest. Skip until you have ~40-50 HP

Orc wizards: In certain situations as dangerous as a priest, but mostly dangerous to run away from, they may have multiple shots to confuse you as you run to safety. Use corners as much as possible, have your curing potions identified just in case, and use the tactics from the section above.

Ogres: disarmed and beaten with their own clubs, two headed ogres are more attached to their weapon's but given time may be persuaded to part with them. Though don't mistake their now empty hands harmless ones they still hit hard. Let the weapons do the work, don't rush in and take care of them yourself.

Centaurs: Disarmed through a similar method to ogres though this may not be feasible if they catch you unguarded. If the first cast doesn't work and you are far from a staircase you are in serious trouble. You must fight as they outspeed and outrange you running from them is not an option. Hide around a corner, rush into melee range and put them to sleep as they attempt to crush your endoplasmic body with their hooves.

Wights: Even easier to disarm than ogres and get absolutely shredded by their own highly enchanted weapons.
Ice beasts: They hit hard even through your natural rC+ but are confused harder.

Bears: They may be put to sleep easily, but this is a trap, confuse them instead. Fail to kill them in a single sleep stab and they will fly into a rage and destroy you.

Marrowcudas: They spawn more of themselves on hit, you should fight them in a corridor and confuse them.

Bees: Dangerous pack monsters, even though undead are immune to poison the bee stings add up. Don't fight in the open fight in a corridor where only 1-2, ideally 1, can hit you at a time, use Ensorcelled Hibernation as your mana regenerates.

Unseen horrors: They are only deadly when unseen. Should you not be able to pierce the veil move up and down a corridor to kill them or retreat up stairs and explore elsewhere.

Uniques: It's best to just avoid most uniques, check their chance to resist sleep unless they are one of the following. Sigmund (always deadly), Grinder (Even without having to worry about pain still deadly) and Blorkula (Maybe you confuse him, but the bats will have their revenge). On the other hand if Jerimiah is carrying a orb of guile don’t let your greed get the better of you. Lure him to a staircase, precast confusing touch and put him to sleep. After you walk up and stab him he should be confused for long enough to take him out. Though if he doesn't have guile don’t even bother engaging. It willl likely take multiple resets to get his position right and without the reward the whole exercise is pointless anyway. Erolocha and Erika are too dangerous, skip their area/floor. Gastranork is slow and can be outrun. Josephine has dispel undead so tread carefully and isolate her from the pack.

===Lair of Beasts===

Hydras: Best taken out with liberal use of boomerangs if you engage them at all. Don't fight them in melee, only do so when directly pushed into a corner. Now for the most reckless piece of advice thus-far,, and is more than likely going to get you killed should you follow it, however this is for a desperate last stand scenario, not ordinary play. If you find yourself with no other option but to fight cast confusing touch when they are 3 tiles away try hibernation when they are 2 tiles away, then when they are in melee range confuse them and run. If you still decided to fight stab them 5 times and if they're still alive cast confusing touch again and continue until they perish.

Death Yaks: Perfectly engineered weapons of mass destruction. Immune to everything you can throw at them, So high health you can't even kill them when they're confused. Skip them no matter what. For that matter if you got the Catoblepas end vault on Lair 5 skip that too. If you have Curare darts use them even if they're left behind, just get away. They are 10 speed and can't swim so use both of these to your advantage.

Komodo Dragons: Curare darts and poison darts are highly effective. sleep should have a 35% or better chance. So if you cast Ensorcelled Hibernation twice you should have roughly a 58% chance for a sleep stab before they attack you.

Skyshark: Weak to Hexes and Curare. Having no blood makes them easier to deal with.

Torpor Snail: The pack following the torpor snail is more dangerous, make sure you leave its line of sight before running as the slow penalty can be brutal. Take out the pack first if possible, if not at least try to get to a corridor of sorts. These foes are a great target for either scrolls of vulnerability or fog.

Blink frogs: dangerous early and rapidly lose this status once you get closer to Lair 5. They blink often so ranged attacks and stairdancing are extra effective.

Lair 5: Personally I prefer to leave the L5 vault until I've completed D15, but YMMV. Often I think the loot in that vault is lacking and better dealt with when you have a leg up on those beasts.

===Orcish Mines===
This branch has a few notable foes that are exceedingly deadly should they have the opportunity.

Obsidian bats: Close in and confuse ASAP, don't let them summon their menagerie. rF+ highly recommended.

Orc sorcerer/High orc Priest: This is who the line of sight management was for earlier, keep track of that, make sure paralysis doesn't have a high success chance and you should be golden.

Kobold blastminer: Incredibly painful, especially if there's more than one. Tukima's Dance is the MVP here, as well as stairdancing if there's only one or two.

Ogre mages: Beware their paralyisis. Bolt of magma also hits very hard. The most consistent way I found is to Tukima's Dance their followers and slaughter the pack along with the mage.

===S branches===

Instead of a rundown of the monsters in each branch I believe a list of resists would be more apt as the number of monsters balloon and the benefits of using xv on monsters increace. If you don't have a resist don't worry, just exercise more caution when dealing with foes of that element. Helpful but nonessential resists are in ()

*Shoals Will+++(+) and (Reflection)

*Snake rF+, rElec, and Will++

*Spider rC++, SInv and (rCorr)

*Swamp 15 AC, rF+, Will++(+), and (rCorr)

By the time you have entered the S branches, or have cleared a few of their floors the hardest part of the build is done. Thanks to Sif Muna you should have access to all the core tools of this build; The capstone spells, the other hexes, a hex summon, and some supporting spells. All that's left is to finish the rune branches clear out the Vaults, Elf, and Depths before moving onto the final choice you have to make with this build. Your third rune.

==Third Rune Choice==

For your third rune I would actually suggest abyss over vaults or slime. The infinite labyrinth of the abyss holds an odd consistency that for this build specifically outshines the long battles found in vaults or the discordant chaos of the slime pits. With a source of regeneration and the stealth you already have snatching the rune with apportation should be a breeze. You may have to reroll for a good abyss vault as the holy ones can seriously mess you up.

The main threat to watch out for in this branch are enemies like Wretched stars and Neqoxecs which will not malmutate you like they do to your living counterparts, but rather will issue a penalizing drain effect. Should you fall to 100-120 max HP I would suggest leaving and working off the drain in the first few levels of the slime pits.

The smash and grab approach without fighting too many foes may leave you a level behind the curve going into Zot. Even so experience in Zot is so plentiful after the first floor you won't be lower level than other characters at the same stage anyway.

===Fourth rune===

Not satisfied with leaving with the bare minimum? Good I'm not either we're going all the way to five. Going for more runes also softens the entrance to Zot as well. Cheesing the royal jelly fight is easy as this build has plenty of options when it comes to defeating TRJ. Simply dive to Slime 5 and work on finding the royal jelly before using one of the methods below to kill it.

* Silver javelins + Haste: By far the most direct method of hit it til it dies. Just make sure to have a way of dealing with the jelly wave. Either teleport away or discord the summons. Unbreathing helps a lot in this branch as you cannot be engulfed so have access to your scrolls at all times.

* Torment, Immolation, Torment, javelin: What it says on the tin, bring some rF++ and substitute the javelin for any piercing or smite targeted ranged attack, Yara's does great work here.

* Discord: Use a ranged attack like boomerangs to get the royal jelly to spawn some slimes. Discord the minions, then discord the newly summoned minions and run away. You should hear the vault open as you make your escape. You can also add immolation to the mix to fantastic results

* Hex wands + Orb of Guile: Honestly for the entirety of this guide I've had the orb of guile in the back of my mind, but I hesitate to give it a whole section with how much of a double edged sword it is. So I'll address it here. It's very good, but if you are wearing it you should be prepared to assume every hexer that comes in range will hit you with their most powerful hex and you won't resist. Every time a normal character would step carefully the poltergeist with the orb is doing the cha cha slide on a tightrope. In any case use orb of guile, read a scroll of vulnerability and then use your choice of Paralysis or Polymorph to win the fight.

For more strategies I highly recommend The Royal Jelly page of the Dcss wiki. I added a bit of poltergeist spice to it, but the bones all these methods come straight from that guide. Read it for yourself and start thinking up some plans for the next time you visit the pits.

===Fifth Rune===
My favorite strategy for taking on the Vaults is to find an escape hatch down quaff Haste and Brilliance, go down, read Revelation, teleport if the situation looks bad enough, then make your way to one of the corners. Once there you can regenerate your magic and health by returning to that safe spot on the map.

Should an escape hatch not be present, or you want a more consistent strategy quaff buffs, go down the normal stairs and make your way diagonally towards one of the four hallways, once not completely surrounded cast discord. After this point you should only have to fight one or two stragglers in the hallway and anything coming to investigate the noise will be stalled by the frenzied monsters outside of your sight. Once again make your way to a corner and clear by returning to that safe space again and again. 

==Zot and Z5==

If you've gotten this far you don't need me to tell you how to win, you're perfectly capable of escaping with the orb. I'm only here to give some minor bits of advice. 

Don't be afraid to read vulnerability in Zot Dread Liches are the only enemy that can hex in this branch and are quite rare outside of Z5. The 1/2 will goes a long way against Draconian Shifters.

Casting apportation on the orb of Zot has a 1/3 chance to fail to move it outright. If it fails don't panic the orb run only starts on successful apportation of the orb.

I believe there are two schools of thought when it comes to clearing the Z5 lungs. First the completionist route: nothing lives. Second is the YOLO method of clearing out only one side along with the orb guardian chamber, and making a run for it. I have not found a meaningful difference between the two and I think it comes down to personal preference. That preference being based on how many consumables you think you will use in a mad dash versus a series of tactical skirmishes.
Once again I'll submit a piece advice of dubious value. If the stairs are far enough apart step on an alarm trap and go back to the stairs while luring everything in the lungs out. This is best done with a fully clear level above you as you don't want to go from one welcoming party to another.

==Diabolus Hex Machina==

So 5 runes are not yet enough to satisfy the avarice of our poltergeist; no, picking up the Orb can wait, all 15 are necessary to complete our collection.

The above sections of guide are primarily geared towards 5 rune victories, so a few edits must be made to our toolkit to get us up to scratch to face the varied bosses present through the Hells and Pandemonium. To this end we'll use Crypt to slightly edit our kit and swap gods.

Special thanks to Xdminsy for helping me with this section, especially the portions about throwing and evocations. I wasn't too familiar with extended starting out, and I couldn't have made this section without them. Their suggestion to use throwing items completely revolutionized the way I play both the early game and extended lategame. If you ever have the faintest excuse to use Atropa darts on an early dragon, or throwing nets on panlords go for it!

The previous edition of this guide considered extended too difficult and resource intensive to reliably attempt. However with a handy swap to Dithmenos and liberal use of translocations like Gell's Gavotte and Passage of Golibria getting all 15 runes becomes way less of a headache.

===Extended toolbox===

1 All resists at max or at least 2 pips (swapping out gear from area to area works as well.)

2. Learn Gell's Gavotte and Passage of Golubria.

3. Check for atropa darts and nets. Pick up all the ones in your save. Poltergeists have the highest throwing aptitude in the game so training 6-12 is very cheap with lots of potential value.

4. Good evokables, though not all the evocations I'm about to list are strictly necessary, and some may not spawn in your run, however they're useful option that should be looked at first in many scenarios. Gell's Gravitambourine, wand of light, wand of paralysis, Horn of Geryon, Phantom Mirror, and the humble wand of digging.

Have everything, or at least most of the items on this list? Great! now it's time to swap gods. Sif doesn't do a lot for us in extended, not to say they're not great, simply their main benefit was to give us all the spells we wanted, something that likely happened long ago. After conversion you're going to need to be more vigilant regarding your mana bar as no longer will sif be giving mana loans for practically free. 

A notable exception to the conversion rule is if you found a distortion quickblade. If you found one of those just learn manifolt assault and take your nearly 10% chance to banish anything per swing straight to the bank by spamming it with Channel magic until 10 more runes magically fall into your inventory.
Dithmenos gives the ability to stab everything in the game using shadowslip. Even bosses fall very quickly when using this ability. Just train 15-20 invocations so your shadow stays alive so that you have the time to kill anything while they're distracted. Noise reduction and marionette are no slouches either and are huge buffs that are very useful when the situation arises, though not quite the blanket solution shadowslip is. Speaking of lifesaving abilities Primordial Nightfall make sure to be cautious of when you use this. Sometimes the reduced line of sight is to your benifit, and other times it gives a Protean Progenitor a clean shot at you, with no way for you to escape.
Sif's wrath is one of the easiest in the game to get through.

===Abandonment===

To go into extended we're ditching Sif for their edgier cousin with a shadowed past. Unfortunately despite your fond time together Sif will take the breakup rather harshly and let their displeasure be known using 3 different maladies in punishment for your mercurial nature.

Those punishments are:

Drain all your mana,
usually this problem's solved by just going up stairs.

Confuse you, 
at this point you'll have lots of spare curing potions, even like 8's more than enough to last the whole wrath.

Lastly there's a chance to miscast your spell and give you 100% contam along with one of the miscast effects of the school you cast
At this point you should be a seasoned killer of nameless horrors and connoisseur of slowness.

===Crypt===

This is a really easy branch with innate negative energy resistance and torment resist. With the main theme of the pranch pretty well neutralized that makes it the ideal place to work off most of Sif's ugly tantrum. The main big threats of this branch are ancient champions and cursed skulls. The first for their heavy hitting spell list, and the second for abjuration. use yara's on both to great effect. 
After finishing the branch you may have some wrath remaining but it should be almost or completely gone by the time you face your first named panlord in Pandemonium.

Much of Sif wrath can happen to get burned off while you are just wandering around the map. If you ever wish to see how long you have to suffer through these annoying effects just type ?/gs and use the Divine retribution section of the dcss wiki to see how far you've yet to go.

===Starting extended===

For extended I'd recommend this order: Pandemonium -> Tomb -> Hell (Tartarus -> Cocytus -> Gehenna -> Dis)
In this guide I'll be covering tomb at the end because talking about how to deal with panlords dovetails nicely into talking about how to deal with hell lords and the effects of hell in general. So therefore I'll be covering The Tomb of the Ancients at the end, however I highly recommend taking it for your 11th rune.

===Pandemonium===

Pandemonium has random panlords that can be even more dangerous than the named ones so make sure to check every simgle one to make sure the latest one isn't a silence + Glaciate, or whatever other horrors you could imagine.
In the interest of avoiding worrying fights I'd highly recommend diving as soon as you see a portal every floor, unless you're behind in training a spell or skill. For example if you had less than 14 Invocations with Dithmenos, or couldn't cast gell's gavotte.

Every fight with a boss of pandemonium can go very poorly in only a matter of a few short turns so make sure to not hesitate to teleport if things even start to look like they aren't going your way.

Some Hell and Pandemonium lords are more easily dispatched than others. The generic gameplan going into a panlord fight is: 

1, Cast enfeeble, or if they have a buff on move to the next step.

2, Yara's away the status and malmutate them heavily.

3, Throw atropa darts at them until they become blinded

4, Close the distance and take them out. Translocations are very useful for this part.
Other methods include: Using a net, though check the % chance to ensnare as some lords can be surprisingly dexterous. Or using shadowslip, or a straight up melee brawl with you and all your friends.

I find Glorx, Cerebev, and Asmodeus best dealt with in this manner. I can also reccomend fighting Ereshkigal this way though I personally prefer to steal the rune or make heavy use of evokables like the Phantom Mirror, Box of Beasts and Horn of Geryon.
Alternatively, some enemies are best not fought at all given the option. Lom Lobon's rune tends to be in the center of his vault or in a little chamber to the side with a titan, making it very easy to just take the rune with apportation and teleport out. Antaeus has similar rune security problems.

Mnoleg is a pain to deal with, nearly impossible to kill behind their wall of summons and draning you every fight. For them I like to read a Scroll of Revelation, and look for an area inside the vaultthat is neatly boxed in and contains only two open tiles around it. There many be a few of those structures, but the rune is inside one of them. Clear most of the vault slowly until Mnoleg appears. If you're close to one of the aforementioned structures just make a break for one of them and if you are lucky you should find the rune. If you are not so fortunate, or are not close to one teleport out and try a different entrance, or sneak past them using a haste potion. DO NOT use Primordial Nightfall here it may seem like a great way to get past Mnoleg, but if you are face to face with a Protean Proginitor or the panlord themself with no way to blink or reposition your hours long run can become a memory in minutes.


===Hell===
With the boss tips out of the way I'll go over some strategies and tactics that have proven useful to me specifically for the hell floors.

1, Digging wands are overpowered, if a horde of enemies are coming at you they can be totally neurtalized with just two burrows into the nearest wall to create a one tile Kill hole. Like so:

.###.
#@#.#
##.##
#.###
.####

(Sadly unusable on nearly all 7th Hell floors)

2, Use invisibility potions in Ghenna. Both Hellions and Oni cannot see invisible creatures so their smite attacks become no big deal it you're caught out.

3, Use evokables frequently. The xp needed to recharge them come in at a rapid rate and they are usually going to recharge by the next boss floor so use them whenever you find the time.

4, Use wands of paralysis or Charming on the Oblivion hounds in Tartarus.

5, Learn malign gateway if you have not already, and use it every fight in Dis.

6, Enemies with Damnation will not use it if you are next to an enemy that is not immune to Damnation. If an enemy can cast Damnation they are immune and you will be damned, but if not you're home free to think of a solution that takes more than one or two turns to execute.

===Dis===

Dis is the capstone of this rune, the crowning achievement and most difficult area you will face. The corrosion takes your Ac to almost nothing, and expect damage spikes that come out of nowhere.

The best way to deal with the problems presented by dis is to not deal with them at all. Dive down as long as your drain is not deep yellow or red yet, and if it is, clear the floor using discord for shrikes, and sisters+Malign for everything else. Positioning yourself carefully is essential in this place as the walls are not diggable, and the rooms are cramped. Ensure a few blink scrolls have been saved for this part. I get very concerned over Dis ambush vaults, especially with the defenses this build usually builds being so ineffective in this place.

For diving read Revelation if you cannot see the stairs, and then carefully sneak to them. Make sure to save one for the final floor so you can easily get to Dispater's chambers without traversing the labyrinth. On the final floor work off the draining you accumulated by killing some enemies in some of the sealed chambers. Make even heavier use of the sisters in Dis, yes even more then in any other floor if you can believe it. It's not uncommon for me to resummon them 2-3 times a fight because they get chewed through so fast.

Once your drain is sufficiently cleared make your way to either the center structure on the map, or the fortress Dispater's room is the final area in this place and contains the rune. Use haste potions, blink scrolls, and stick to the side of the walls use transocations to make the trip even faster and grab the rune and teleport out, don't fight Dispater. They're too hard to kill and situations invoving them degenerate so rapidly that sometimes even a blink scroll will feel like a gamble. Teleporting out of the chamber is also less risky as essentially any other part of Dis is going to be safer than being in that room.

===Tomb===
I will outline two approaches to deal with the tomb, first is the standard route most characters will take in a 15 rune game, and secondly is the guile route available to hexers.

Firstly upon going into the tomb make your way to the far side entrance and kill all the sphinxes there. Next is where paths diverge all characters can at this point swap all resists from will and corrosion and ensure they have as much Ac, and potentially fire resistance as possible.

A hexer with a guile orb can then take their will even lower by equiping a guile orb to reduce enemy will, as there arre no will checks beyond this point in this branch.

You'll be able to clear the first floor normally, it's the next parts that will deviate from normal gameplay. Make sure to bring Two revelation scrolls for the next floors. 

Upon entry to the next floor read one of the aforementioned scrolls. You'll see that you're in one of the worst positions you can be in, endeavor to get away from the center ASAP. find a room that has very few traps in line of sight and pick off mummies using sphinxes and malign gateway. Dith will help out a lot by reducing the amount of noise you're making, thereby easing the difficulty of the branch by pulling fewer enemies at one time. Once you've carved out a safe space you can rest the remainder of the floor should be able to be trampled swiftly, if with a few pit stops.

Alternatively if you have a huge stack of teleport scrolls you can try to go directly past this point by reading them and trying to land in the section of the map that has two downstairs and an upstairs. Doing this bypasses the next section at the cost of maybe a bit more risk, if you don't get the skip within 3-4 scrolls I would advise just clearing normally.

There are two ways back up, the one you're looking for is in one of the square rooms on the side of the map. This takes you to the hall of royal mummies. Use shadowlip to kill the royal mummies alongside your summons, or if they summon use shadowslip to get away and cast discord to make the scarabs and scorpions shread their former masters. 

Now after another run in with some mummies you are ready to tackle the hardest floor of this branch, pre-buff with haste and brilliance, go downstairs and read revelation. Pick the lung without dispersal traps preferably, or if it does have a dispersal trap make sure it's away from the doors and the upstairs. If things start to go very south go up the stairs and finish off anything that follows you. It shouldn't be too hard to make it back to your staircase, and should get easier each successive trip you make. Though make sure to watch how many enemies are crowded around the Tomb 3 drop point so you don't get slapped around upon re-entering.

If you have a guile orb the whole Tomb experience becomes a lot simpler. Any time two enemies are on screen cast discord and suddenly you have one enemy to face. It's a little more complicated than that, but not by much, Just make sure not to spam out your entire mana bar and use yara's on frenzied enemies before they close into melee.
The 3rd floor is where this will really shine. instead of walking into a lung you can sneak through the center hall until you see two or so rows of enemies and cast discord once or twice and that alone will clear around half the floor for you, as you go to one of the lungs to clear a safe upstairs.

Stealing the rune like in Dis is also an option, beware you will likely have to leave some of the loot behind using this method, but I would advise at least picking up the figurine of a ziggurat because it's a very handy escape option to have in the hells.
For this method you would simply teleport when heading into tomb, or sneak through one of the lungs aiming to land somewhat close to the rune, and then snagging it using all the translocations in your arsenal, Apportation, Gavotte, Passage, you name it you use it, just get to the stairs once you have the rune nothing other than your health bar matters. Though not all layouts are ideal for rune stealing, some have a big obvious vault, while others do not. If you get the end vault with a lot of pillars with rooms inside them it is possible to use Passwall to better sneak into and through them. However use your best judgement if you attempt to do that as going through a one tile wall like that will require two turns.

Another method that would require good judgement, far better than I have. (thanks to Xdminsy for this method) Use the spell silence to reduce getting swarmed and help activate stabs. The silence does carry a one pip penalty to stealth, but it's well worth not letting one enemy shout and awaken the hordes. Just make sure to use cancellation potions if things go in an unexpected direction. I believe you would need a good amount of slaying or melee skill to go for killing Royal Mummies that actually manage to wake up.


Thanks for reading all the way to the end. I originally intended for this guide to be half this length but kept getting inspired to add more and more until it became this behemoth. If you have any questions or want to tell me something I missed don't hesitate to reach out. I'm found on both Reddit and Discord as Sleepymeeple.
May the odds be ever in your favor.