I'm mostly interested in your preferred weapon/shield combinations, but I'll go all the way and ask for the full monty. If you could choose all of your equipment with no limitations, what would you choose and why? I'll start. I'm open to criticism, any and all advice is welcomed.

Helmet-wise I'd go with a helm of perception. I'd really just take whatever has the best AV, but the helm of perception has good AV to begin with, and the perception bonus is a nice perk. I'd probably consider a helm of brilliance but I've never came across one in the game. Although if this works, I'd probably just take out the helm of brilliance when changing/hardening materials and sci-talking.

For weapons I've come to enjoy Saal'Thul very much. I always two-weapon instead of using a shield, which I've been convinced, from reading the forum, is nearly always worthwhile. My favorite weapon pairing so far has been Mjolak and Saal'Thul, but, as I mentioned earlier, I'm yet to try a lot of the artifact weapons, so I'd like to hear your opinions. I think if I had another source of invisibility, Saal'Thul would be easily replaceable.

Belt of levitation, no questions there. Rings and cloaks I choose to balance my weaknesses. Cloak of fire resistance is often a lifesaver early on when mines are deadly, but I think invisibility is probably nicer later on if you can't get it from another source. Rings I'd ideally equip infravision and polycontrol, but the latter is quite scarce. Boots and gauntlets I prefer agi/dex, but I usually accommodate these stats with artificial limbs so I take whatever offers me the most AV. Speaking of which, with limbs I usually opt for the phoenix feather line of materials, since it's the only one I know that offers great str and dex/agi.

I do the same with body armor, taking whatever has the most AV without being too heavy or restrictive on dex/agi. I've never found the armor of great health to be very useful, since usually you don't die from having your HP reach zero, or does it also allow your torso to take more damage? I've been under the impression that it just needlessly raises your danger level.

What are your equipment preferences?

The armour of great health increases your endurance, which in turn raises your HP and does in fact allow your torso to take more damage. However it also raises the danger level and it's not the greatest of armours to begin with, not to mention the fact that if you come across something really tough and your armour gets torn, your HP boost is gone.

Well I tend to stick to the light materials for my armor (leather branch) but sometimes i'll divert to chainmail and light limb armor. I've never been a big fan of plate mail and all the heavier armors (probably since I tend to get killed because of the agi and dex penalties). I believe I have some sort of unhealthy obsession towards helmets of brilliance/understanding though.
Also I'll almost always go for gauntlets of dexterity and boots of agility over their strength counterparts.

When it comes to weapons I often find myself dual-wielding either two daggers/short swords/combination of both or a dagger/short sword and a one-handed artifact weapon (like Saal-thul or, if i'm feeling particularly lucky i'll wield a thunder hammer). Other times i'll end up using a bastard sword until I can dual-wield two of them, or if I find Vermis or Mjolak early on i'll use them instead.
Vermis has saved my ass countless times in the earlier parts of the game, notably when Rondol showed up and almost killed me but was teleported away by Vermis just in time.
I'll often stick with the same weapons I pick up in UT but harden and enchant them as I go along, unless I find a decent artifact weapon.

With accessories it usually boils down to me wearing two rings of fire resistance and a cloak of fire resistance +7. Mostly because mines tend to hide themselves down narrow corridors or inside rooms full of loot in the Gloomy Cave. That and the fact that they can 1HK the average adventurer at that stage without fire resistance of some sort. Hell, having only one ring of fire resistance will only help you barely survive (unless you have some kickass armor on), and you'll generally be completely red (if not black) all over.
My belt always tends to be whatever I end up stumbling upon, but generally in LIVAN I like to use thieve's girdles for the agi and dex boost.

Using the above I usually get somewhere past the enner, usually dying in GC6 or whatever level those damned mystic dark frogs show up in. Seen Elpuri twice I think ever, and both times I got killed. And not by him either. First time was being teleported into a room with mines in it and having half my equipment teleported off me. Second time I think a golem of some sort got me.

Do flaming swords or thunder hammers add more damage from their magical effects? Of course flaming swords have the advantage of always doing fire damage, while thunder hammers just have a chance of shooting lightning. I was playing a game earlier where I was wielding two +5 adamantine thunder hammers, with two rings and a +5 cloak of electricity resistance to err on the safe side, and it was quite deadly. The hammers did 10-18 damage each before lightning is taken into account. I came across a Mjolak and actually had to think about it before swapping one of the hammers out for mojo (I have a phoenix feather arm that can wield mojo by itself). I''m sure mojo is much better once enchanted though. I was never a big fan of thunder hammers but now I've seen the light(ning).

I'm reasonably sure the magic effects add extra damage to the attacks.
I'd say that the lightning effect is more useful than the fire from flaming swords because where the fire can affect only one enemy, the lightning can pass through several.
Of course the downside of thunder hammers is the possibility of the lightning reflecting off a wall and back into you, but the wise man never uses them without the appropriate protection from rings or cloaks.
Neerc Se'ulb (spelling?) has a similar effect to flaming swords, where it drains the life from the enemy. I think it returns it to you, but i'm not too sure.


Also, real men dual wield Turox.

dual whips, light but high av rating armor all round, normally ommel or nymph hair but hevily enchanted, helm of perception(atleast +5) and regular limbs + misstresses

Yes, Neerc Se'ulb steals HP from your enemies and gives it to you. Saved me once when fighting Ur Khan

Helm: I always prefer of brilliance or understanding as they let you hit the 50 wis int required to talk with dolphins earlier.

Amulet: of life saving. You should get perma ESP by eating 3 floating eye corpses in a row so after that ESP amulets become useless.

Cloak: of fire resistance highly enchanted to provide protection against mines dwarves and any kind of fire explosion.

Armor: Valpurium is the ideal, but before that I tend to choose light ones that don't impact too much on your stats, that is: cloth ones at the beggining, then arcanite-mitrhil-octiron.

Belt: I usually wear a belt of carrying so I can take important stuff with me, otherwise I'm always burdened which is negative, so. Only use levitation in certain circunstances.

Weapons: Mjolak is one of my favorites, if you can highly enchant it (+6 at least) and turn it into valpurium you got a killer weapon which an easly be used with one hand and adds extra damage. Neerc Se-ulb is a great option too, preferably enchanting it further and dual wielding it if possible. I don't like artificial limbs and never used them, so I have to consider strength limitation of natural limbs.

Rings: two of electricity resistance, to be protected against master necromancers, mystic dark frogs or exploding lightning wands.

Gauntlets: of dexterity highly enchanted, strength seems easier to train if you don't use the banana peels trick discovered by Al. material, generally arcanite-mithril, otherwise phoenix feather.

Boots: of agility definelty, more agility the faster you move. generally arcanite-mithril.

Besides that, all the wands you can find (except of acid rain, I don't like them), all the rings so you can switch if needed, scrolls etc. Also, perma ESP, perma telecontrol, perma haste and perma invisibility.

Mine is similar to Azhael except:

Helm: My perception is usually high from carrots so my preferred helmet is Brilliance. The best thing this can offer is increased distances with tele control.

Cloak: Eventually electricity-resistance becomes more important than fire. I keep a cloak of fire-resistance in my pack though, so when a veteran dwarf approaches me I can swap them for a couple of turns.

Belt: Always levitation. I only carry things that I might need immediately, such as wands of haste, teleport, slow, a few cans of healing liquid, a lyre of charm, and a pick-axe. All the other wands, scrolls, and bottles can be kept in a large chest which I leave near the doorways.

Rings: I don't think wearing two will give double protection? I could be wrong. I always want fire & electricity resistance, so whatever cloak I'm not wearing I have the ring for. The other ring is usually infravision.

Yes, double rings means double protection, I know this because with only one ring of electricity resistance you can be severly injured by lightning bolts, whereas with two the damage is significantlly reduced, which tends to do the work most of the time.

I never bother wearing a ring of infravision, the distance you can see enemies with infravision is based on your perception right?

Life saving is.. well, let's just say that if your legs and arms get hacked off before you die, it's not all that helpful (it is also not beheading protection).

Granted, if you already have permanent ESP and are playing pure .50, it doesn't hurt to have it, but still.

I've also recently stopped using rings of infravision. It doesn't seem very useful once you have ESP. Are there many monsters that you can see with infravision but not ESP?

And with lifesaving, I'm pretty sure it restores your limbs when you die.

Two rings do give more protection than one.

Invisible stalkers, for one. Also any stupid things that get invisibility thanks to a spellcaster on that level.

Life saving does restore your limbs upon activation.

It restores your limbs minus your equipment (which is on the limbs that got hacked off). It makes hacking them off again remarkably easy!

Yes, but it's another life anyway. You can pray to Sophos if he likes you to teleport you away, or you can zap that wand of teleportation you wanted before dying but were unable due to your missing arms. In my last high priest win my amulet of life saving saved me against Oree who killed me once after making a combo with a burst of electricity by an elder dark mage (I had switched to my rings of acid resistance, so I was very damaged by this). So I came to life again, no limbs lost and kicked his ass.

I find the AoLS to have a very limited use. It kicks your danger level up so high it is lunacy to walk around with it on, so it wont save you from a big mine or veteran kamikazee dwarf (because I wont be wearing it). It is only useful for taking on named nasties, or trying to conuer attnam.

Ever since I learned how it affects the danger level I dont wear aols.

They are worth having around nevertheless. A full heal in the midst of combat is nothing to scoff at.

I'm a proponent of the AoLS. It may raise your danger level, but with my play-style my danger level eventually gets pretty high anyways. High enough that I know I may have a chance of running into some nasties eventually anyways. Through my own experiences, I've certainly had a handful of good games be saved by an AoLS in the past. IVAN can be quite cruel, and for me the AoLS provides a nice buffer.

Early game I try to use the heaviest boots and gauntlets I find, even better if they're broken. I'm not positive but I believe having dex and agi reduced from armor makes them train faster. Of course there's the leg strength boost too, if you can keep yourself fed.