octopode fighter guide
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credentials: In 14 online games,
I have a 3 streak and an 8 streak without repeating species or backgrounds, and 3
wins in a row with 15 runes.
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Octopodes are hard to win
consistently because their weaknesses are always a problem while their strengths
are often irrelevant.
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strengths:
8 rings. Great in the
late game if you have Statue Form or Dragon Form, but it might be a very long
time before you get more than 2 valuable rings.
Constriction. Very
powerful, especially early, but requires using melee attacks and doesn't work on
anything Large or bigger, like Hydras, Drakes, and Manticores.
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weaknesses:
No armor. AC is very important and not having it is very
bad. Just having EV is not as good as having some AC and some EV, and if you're
paralyzed you won't keep any EV.
Slightly below average health and
aptitudes.
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I think most Octopode wins have involved finding a
relatively early ring of protection and/or evasion.
This guide is based
on an
OpFi win I got
with no evasion rings until after Lair and no protection rings until after the
2nd rune.
All the equipment in those
pictures was a starting item or from Okawaru.
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Here's my
skill training on that run:
Skill XL: | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ---------------+------------------------------------------------------------------ Stealth | 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 Long Blades | 3 4 5 7 8 9 11 14 Throwing | 1 4 9 12 13 14 16 Fighting | 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Shields | 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Necromancy | 1 5 6 Dodging | 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 Invocations | 3 6 7 Evocations | 1 2 3 5 6 Summonings | 3 4 6 Spellcasting | 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 Transmutations | 1 3 9 11 Translocations | 1 2 3 Air Magic | 3 6 Earth Magic | 1 3 9 11 13
1) Stealth to 3
2) Long Blades to 9 (min delay with Heroism)
You could
also go for Polearms or Maces instead.
3) Fighting and Shields
to 8, Dodging to 6
Dodging depends on your Dex, so it's
better with +Dex rings.
I also got 3 Invocations for
Heroism here.
4) Throwing to 12, Fighting and Shields to 10, Stealth to
around 7
12 throwing is min delay for tomahawks, and min
delay for javelins with Heroism.
That's enough to kill
Hydras if you use Heroism and have ammo.
5) 14 Long Blades (min delay)
6) Maybe train for good spells, depending on what you've found.
I got Summon Lightning Spire here.
7) If you don't have any key spells,
train Throwing + Fighting + Shields + Dodging.
16 Throwing
is a good amount for a while.
8) At this point I went for Statue Form -> Vile Clutch.
If you can get Statue Form, the game becomes much easier.
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Here's a run by Malacante using this guide.
Besides the core skills,
Malacante went for:
8 Evocations -> Sticks to Snakes -> LRD -> Statue Form
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tips:
1) Use your stealth. Exclude enemies more than usual.
2)
Read your duplicate scrolls. If you get Enchant Armor and don't have a hat, you
should spend all of it on your shield immediately.
3) Use your
consumables. Octopodes are weak early, so if a fight seems hard, use a potion or
wand or Heroism first.
4) If a Hydra gets next to you, drink
Lignification or Invisibility.
5) Lair 6 tends to have a difficult vault
in it. You may want to read Magic Mapping and exclude it, or just explore
carefully.
6) If you're
going for throwing, use shift+tab (offline) or a macro for
===hit_closest_nomove (online) to melee if an enemy is in range and
otherwise throw a projectile. You can also macro, for example, Fz
if your javelins are on z to throw a javelin.
7) Don't go in the Labyrinth.
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What if Okawaru isn't in the Temple?
You can take Gozag instead. If
you do, try to make ring shops, and go for spells and/or Evocations instead of
Throwing.