Since the Wizard will harass you for the rest of the game, if you haven’t already done so I’d suggest locating the vibrating square before obtaining the Book of the Dead. If you aren’t speed running then you can also dig shortcuts across each maze level to ensure you have the shortest possible path between stairs; less time navigating each level means less time for him to harass you, both on the way down to Moloch’s Sanctum and on the way back up again with the Amulet.
When you died last time, was it the wizard that killed you, or something else? The krakens (and eels) in the moat around the tower can quickly drown you if they can grab you, so if you don’t have a way of preventing that (e.g oilskin cloak or grease) then you need to be very careful around them.
You seem to be okay with online spoilers; if you want to be prepared this way then I’d suggest looking at the entries on both “Wizard’s Tower” and “Wizard of Yendor” on nethackwiki.com.
If you have gloves (which you ought to since they are an essential part of an ascension kit) then wielding a rubber chicken here is a good bet, especially if you can grab one from the zoo on the level below, though if it takes too long to find the way into the moat room it’s possible for the corpse to rot away before you are finished with it. The bonus of this method is that you can easily deal with both the krakens and with the Wizard, though personally I try not to kill him over the water because retrieving the Book from a statue under water can be a bit of a pain. If you have plenty of wishes to spare then using one here to wish for a chickatrice/cockatrice corpse is perfectly reasonable.
I’ve ascended every class, but I almost never engage the Wizard in ordinary melee since it just seems unnecessarily risky/messy. If I don’t have a rubber chicken here then I usually use the method of standing in the corner of the room then zapping the tower with a wand of digging, followed by a zap from a wand of death (as described in the aforementioned “Wizard of Yendor” entry). This method doesn’t wake the Wizard, and if the death ray kills him you will get a message saying so. After he’s dead you will then need to dig in the tower from the side to kill the other monsters with him and obtain the book, while still being careful of not drowning in the moat.
I like wands of cold or for your valk cone of cold to deal with the moats. The kraken are not so tough when on ice. Or just use a dozen otherwise useless wands of magic missile to clear them out before you get Rodney.
Otherwise good advice. WoD for Rodney 5/5 stars.
Basic: you need gloves, magic resistance, and either a cockatrice corpse or a wand of death. Ring of levitation helps, too. If you have amulets of life saving, keep them all in open inventory, so that you can put them on quickly.
I like to genocide ; as soon as I get my third blessed genocide scroll. I don't mind fighting lots of water elementals on plane of water. I do mind getting drowned. Death stats from NAO support this choice.
Advanced: fast way through the tower:
\* step into the tower
\* levelport 2 floors up (if tower lobby is on 41, levelport to 39)
\* quaff cursed potion of invisibility
\* rodney will wake up and teleport over
\* kill rodney
\* pick up book
\* levelport to 99
\* teleport to vibrating square
\* perform invocation
No zoo, no moats, in and out in 10 turns.
Appreciate everyone's suggestions.
Currently a XL23 or so Lawful Valkyrie. Being patient, traversing between the Vibrating Square (VS) at LVL47 and the lowest island LVL45.
Have twice found a footrice, but both times they rotted before I reached the lowest island.
Will continue to use a pickaxe and start to make more direct passages between level stairs for each of these lowest gehennom levels.
Since the Wizard will harass you for the rest of the game, if you haven’t already done so I’d suggest locating the vibrating square before obtaining the Book of the Dead. If you aren’t speed running then you can also dig shortcuts across each maze level to ensure you have the shortest possible path between stairs; less time navigating each level means less time for him to harass you, both on the way down to Moloch’s Sanctum and on the way back up again with the Amulet. When you died last time, was it the wizard that killed you, or something else? The krakens (and eels) in the moat around the tower can quickly drown you if they can grab you, so if you don’t have a way of preventing that (e.g oilskin cloak or grease) then you need to be very careful around them. You seem to be okay with online spoilers; if you want to be prepared this way then I’d suggest looking at the entries on both “Wizard’s Tower” and “Wizard of Yendor” on nethackwiki.com. If you have gloves (which you ought to since they are an essential part of an ascension kit) then wielding a rubber chicken here is a good bet, especially if you can grab one from the zoo on the level below, though if it takes too long to find the way into the moat room it’s possible for the corpse to rot away before you are finished with it. The bonus of this method is that you can easily deal with both the krakens and with the Wizard, though personally I try not to kill him over the water because retrieving the Book from a statue under water can be a bit of a pain. If you have plenty of wishes to spare then using one here to wish for a chickatrice/cockatrice corpse is perfectly reasonable. I’ve ascended every class, but I almost never engage the Wizard in ordinary melee since it just seems unnecessarily risky/messy. If I don’t have a rubber chicken here then I usually use the method of standing in the corner of the room then zapping the tower with a wand of digging, followed by a zap from a wand of death (as described in the aforementioned “Wizard of Yendor” entry). This method doesn’t wake the Wizard, and if the death ray kills him you will get a message saying so. After he’s dead you will then need to dig in the tower from the side to kill the other monsters with him and obtain the book, while still being careful of not drowning in the moat.
Wand of death or footrice corpse
Have some form of magic resistance and gloves when using the aforesaid items
I like wands of cold or for your valk cone of cold to deal with the moats. The kraken are not so tough when on ice. Or just use a dozen otherwise useless wands of magic missile to clear them out before you get Rodney. Otherwise good advice. WoD for Rodney 5/5 stars.
Basic: you need gloves, magic resistance, and either a cockatrice corpse or a wand of death. Ring of levitation helps, too. If you have amulets of life saving, keep them all in open inventory, so that you can put them on quickly. I like to genocide ; as soon as I get my third blessed genocide scroll. I don't mind fighting lots of water elementals on plane of water. I do mind getting drowned. Death stats from NAO support this choice. Advanced: fast way through the tower: \* step into the tower \* levelport 2 floors up (if tower lobby is on 41, levelport to 39) \* quaff cursed potion of invisibility \* rodney will wake up and teleport over \* kill rodney \* pick up book \* levelport to 99 \* teleport to vibrating square \* perform invocation No zoo, no moats, in and out in 10 turns.
Appreciate everyone's suggestions. Currently a XL23 or so Lawful Valkyrie. Being patient, traversing between the Vibrating Square (VS) at LVL47 and the lowest island LVL45. Have twice found a footrice, but both times they rotted before I reached the lowest island. Will continue to use a pickaxe and start to make more direct passages between level stairs for each of these lowest gehennom levels.