Ascension kit

The ascension kit is the nickname given to a set of items that are virtually required for a successful ascension. Most often, they are chosen for their attributes: reflection, magic resistance and cancellation, and similar. Most kits include: a unicorn horn, a Luck item (usually a blessed luckstone), a source of levitation, some ranged attacks, a source of conflict, portal detection (for the Elemental Planes), and augmented attributes, either intelligence and wisdom, dexterity, or strength.

Cloak

 * Cloak of magic resistance : Provides magic resistance, magic cancellation 3, and 1 base point of AC.
 * Robe : Provides enhanced spellcasting, magic cancellation 3, and 2 base points of AC. Commonly combined with GDSM and an amulet of reflection, or SDSM and a quest artifact that provides magic resistance.
 * Oilskin cloak or at least grease: Water monsters such as giant eels can drown you by wrapping around you. Even if you have genocided all ';', couatls can still wrap around you and drown you (even though they fly!), so you want some protection against this. An oilskin cloak stops all attempts, and a greased cloak stops these attempts as well, but the grease may wear off.

Body armor

 * Dragon scale mail, usually silver or grey : This provides either magic resistance or reflection, 9 base points of AC, and does not hinder spellcasting.

High-level Monks can hit accurately enough to nullify the -20 to-hit bonus for wearing body armor, but most Monks can get by without.

Boots

 * Speed boots, or Jumping boots and Haste Self : Combined with intrinsic speed (zap yourself with a wand of speed monster or eat a quantum mechanic if your class does not get it by default), this provides Very Fast speed, helping you get through the endgame faster and dodge monsters. Jumping boots (or the spell of Jump, or a knight's intrinsic jumping ability) allow you to move sometimes up to three or four squares in one turn, which is even better than speed. Intrinsic speed combined with Jump is easily the fastest.

Gloves

 * Gauntlets of power or dexterity: Gauntlets of power provide strength 25 (+6 to damage) and 1 point of base AC; casters prefer gauntlets of dexterity, which do not hinder spellcasting, increase dexterity by the number of points in the enchantment, and provide base AC 1.

Helmet

 * Helm of brilliance: does not hinder spellcasting and increases Intelligence and Wisdom by its enchantment, along with providing base AC 1 and protecting your head from falling rocks.
 * Elven leather helm: does not hinder spellcasting, provides base AC 1, and can be safely enchanted up to +7, giving a higher potential AC boost than any other helm. Its weight of 3 is also much less than the others 50.
 * Helm of telepathy: for characters who wish to use telepathy while non-blind.
 * Helm of opposite alignment: for switching alignments at the last minute.

You may also wish to grease your helmet to help prevent against mind flayer attacks.

Shield

 * Shield of reflection: If you are not wearing SDSM or an amulet of reflection, you need another source of reflection; otherwise lightning attacks can explode rings and wands, cold attacks can freeze potions, etc. The shield is a good choice for non-spellcasters, cannot rust or corrode, and provides 2 base AC.

Shirt

 * T-shirt or Hawaiian shirt, the only choices. They are both identical and both provide an extra piece of armor to enchant, for lower AC.

Rings

 * Ring of levitation : Players must be levitating or flying to move usefully on the plane of Air. The potion of levitation is unreliable, while levitation boots are less desirable than speed boots or jumping boots. The Heart of Ahriman is an alternative to the ring. Levitation is also helpful but not necessary on the plane of Fire. You can walk to the portal if you really have to, and fireproof boots of water walking are also an option. Still, most players levitate, and most levitating players use the ring.
 * Ring of conflict : Makes monsters fight each other instead of you. If you are wearing this ring when you arrive on the Astral plane, instead of receiving a tame guardian angel you will be attacked by some hostile angels. Putting on this ring will also anger your tame guardian angel, if you received one.
 * Ring of slow digestion : Particularly handy if you are tangling with Famine. C-rations, K-rations, and blessed tins are alternatives, as they can both be consumed in only one turn.
 * Ring of teleport control or other source of teleport control : If you have teleportitis, a must. Also very useful for controlled level teleport between the Wizard's Tower and the vibrating square, or the vibrating square and Moloch's Sanctum.
 * Ring of free action : Prevents paralysis from a number of sources. Not the same as sleep resistance. Combine the two to prevent those annoying "while helpless" deaths.

Amulets

 * Amulet of life saving : If you die while wearing it, unless the cause of death would still kill you afterward, you come back with full HP. While not necessary this item is quite useful.

Tools & miscellaneous items

 * Blessed unicorn horn : Can be applied to cure sickness caused by Pestilence, not to mention all of the status ailments you might pick up otherwise.
 * Blessed luckstone : Or a blessed Quest Artifact that acts as a luckstone (for example, the Tsurugi of Muramasa).

Wands

 * Wand of death : Pestilence and Famine are both vulnerable to wands of death, as are other endgame baddies: the Wizard of Yendor, air elementals, player monsters, etc. (note: Do not zap Death with a wand of death.)
 * Wand of teleportation : Can be zapped (even on non-teleport levels!) at monsters or objects to make them go away. Very useful when trying to get to a high altar or get rid of air elementals. When surrounded on a non-teleport level, breaking one can give you room to maneuver.
 * Wand of secret door detection : Very useful for finding the secret door in Moloch's Sanctum, as well as finding the portal on the Plane of Water or re-finding it on the Plane of Air if you used a cursed scroll of gold detection.
 * Wand of cancellation : Though best kept in a separate bag, the wand of cancellation can be used to uncurse a bag of holding in case of emergency.
 * Wands of digging : You will need several wands of digging for the Plane of Earth. You could also choose to use a pick-axe, but the ground there very often forms earth elementals when dug.

Scrolls

 * Scroll of gold detection : You likely want four or more to discover the locations of the portals on the Elemental Planes. You could use a crystal ball, but it has possible negative effects; you could use the Amulet of Yendor or aforementioned wand but it only helps if you are very close to the portal (eight squares). Cursed scrolls of gold detection will find all traps as $; this is actively useless on the Plane of Fire, which is full of fire traps. Confused scrolls of gold detection will detect and identify traps. Many players prefer to use gold detection when confused because traps detected in this way will not vanish from the screen once they are in sight; however, it takes a turn or more to confuse yourself (perhaps using a forgotten spell or a cursed unicorn horn), a turn to read the scroll, and a turn or more to cure confusion using a unicorn horn. It is probably better to use a cursed scroll of confuse monster or a potion of confusion, as forgotten spells can also cause stunning, which may cause many more lost turns.
 * Blessed scroll of remove curse : Can be useful to uncurse all items in main inventory. Uncursed scrolls only uncurse worn and wielded items.

Weapon

 * Weapon : You likely want some weapon, unless you are a conduct player. Most players choose an artifact weapon. Grayswandir, enchanted to +6 or +7, is usually considered the best and #twoweapon with a blessed silver saber makes it even better. A comprehensive discussion on weapon selection is beyond the scope of this page.

Potions

 * Holy water : Used to bless items that are unblessed or cursed by Rodney, liches, and other foes.
 * Potions of full healing : Quickly restores your hitpoints to their maximum in case of emergency. It also cures sickness, blindness, and hallucination.  It is important to have a reliable way (read: a blessed unicorn horn might not be enough) to cure sickness on the Astral Plane because of the Riders.

Armor combinations
Reflection and magic resistance are considered essential properties for the end game. Other desirable properties are life saving, displacement, two weaponing (when available), magic cancellation of 3, and a slippery cloak (oilskin being the only foolproof option). The following table summarises the tradeoffs: