Standard strategy - SLASH'EM

This page is designed as a supplement to the Standard strategy page for vanilla Nethack. It offers general tips on surviving SLASH'EM, YASDs, and appropriate spoilers. Reading this guide will diminish the challenge of playing SLASH'EM, but not by much. The simple fact is that SLASH'EM is a much harder game designed for hardcore Nethack players seeking a new level of challenge.

Choosing a Class and Character
The five new classes in SLASH'EM--Undead Slayer, Flame Mage, Ice Mage, Yeoman, and Necromancer--as well as the six new races--Vampire, Doppelganger (starting race), Werewolf, Hobbit, and Drow--each have their own abilities and weaknesses. In addition, the existing races and classes have been partially redefined. See the specific pages on these races and classes for information on their new attributes and basic strategy guides.

One of the main differences between vanilla Nethack and SLASH'EM is the addition of a new kind of action, Technique. Techniques are actions that are free to use, but always require a certain amount of turns to become available again. Most classes have class-specific techniques and some races have race-specific techniques. It is important that new SLASH'EM players experiment liberally with techniques. The game will seem much more balanced with them. When you find yourself in a sticky situation in vanilla Nethack your standard responses are to check your inventory and your spell list. In SLASH'EM, you will want to get in the habit of checking for available techniques. You will kick yourself for every death you suffered as a doppelganger that could have been prevented with a simple liquid leap.

Not all class and race-dependent abilities are listed under Techniques, however. Doppelgangers, Werewolves, Flame Mages, and Ice Mages will gain the ability to Polymorph themselves into various forms at different levels. This ability is accessed from the keyboard with the Youpoly command, ^Y. Watch for the level-up message "You feel your choices improve!"

The Early Game
As with vanilla Nethack, your early game will be about equipment, experience, and resistances. However, the early SLASH'EM game is harder than early vanilla Nethack, and this for several reasons.

First, the Experience table is different. Familiarize yourself with it and turn on SHOWEXP from the options to help you keep track. Early levels take more Experience points to acquire--usually twice as many. You will want to hang around bashing newts until you get at least one experience level on dungeon levels one and two before descending to dungeon level three. The tradeoff for this is a much more satisfying End Game in which it is actually possible to gain experience levels through battle.

Second, SLASH'EM adds a new stratum of monsters. Not only do these monsters disorient you just by being unfamiliar and occasionally having unexpected dangerous attacks (such as the kamadan's sleep-gas breath or the asphynx and basilisk with petrification), it is important to remember that 9 times out of 10 they are simply harder than the corresponding Nethack monsters. The designers of SLASH'EM did not simply sprinkle new monsters in at random; the monsters they have added are almost invariably more difficult than the other monsters that you will encounter at the corresponding dungeon/experience level. Anything that you see that you don't recognize should be treated with caution until you know how tough it is. You are going to be killed by rabbits.

Be advised, too, that SLASH'EM monsters can look the same as vanilla Nethack creatures--or even as other SLASH'EM monsters. That rabbit can be rabid; that harmless (and perhaps tasty) black pudding may actually be an unstoppable giant shoggoth.

Third, in SLASH'EM, all lock-picking devices can break, so stock up. When you get your alignment key later on (see below) you can sidestep this.

Finally, if you are a magic-user, you may be completely thrown by the radically different spellcasting system. See Spellcasting in SLASH'EM to get yourself oriented with this before you start building up proficiencies that may not end up where you expect.

On the other hand, the problem of nutrition is mollified slightly in SLASH'EM through one of the game's most interesting innovations: moldy corpses. Corpses left on the ground can decay and be replaced by various Fs which you can farm and eat for sustenance or intrinsics. Black mold and disgusting mold have passive poison attacks but are not poisonous to eat.

The Mid Game
By the mid game, many of the main challenges of the early game that are unique to SLASH'EM will be behind you. You will be better equipped to deal with most monsters even if they are more difficult. At level 16 you will begin profiting from the revised experience tables. This is a good thing.

The mid game does present you with a new challenge, however: whereas in vanilla Nethack the main auxiliary defensive categories are intrinsic resistances, magic resistance, and reflection, SLASH'EM adds a fourth: drain resistance. This is because, in addition to the usual sources of level drain in vanilla Nethack (vampires and wraiths, Cyclops, etc.), you will also be confronting deep dragons, which can drain life through their bite attack, and wights. But more dangerous still--and impossible to defend against with a preventative genocide, is the new wand of draining, which intelligent monsters will use against you. Nothing is more frustrating than being hit by a series of level drains from a wand-armed centaur that you didn't see because you were scrolling through battle spam. Furthermore, if you should run across the Disgruntled Adventures, there will without question be necromancers with draining wands in their inventory. (It should also be mentioned that One-Eyed Sam's weapon, Thiefbane, drains levels, in addition to canceling and beheading...)

Thus, drain resistance is much to be desired in the mid and late games--though is not as imperative as magic resistance or reflection. You should prioritize your combination of armor, amulets, weapons, and artifacts to grant you these attributes first. Extrinsic drain resistance can be gained through an amulet of drain resistance, through Deep dragon scale mail, or through certain weapons (as before). Note that Undead Slayers and Necromancers both have intrinsic drain resistance.

Sometime between levels 15 and 19 you may trip over a magic portal leading you to an alignment quest. These are not like the class quests which are restricted to heroes of like alignment. Rather, they are the means by which you will search out the three alignment keys, which are necessary for victory. Vlad's Tower now has six indestructible doors arranged in such a way that you will need at least two of the three keys to break in.

The alignment quests are difficult. Either be spoiled before you attempt them or wait until you're highly confident in your suite of resistances. Then just keep your wits about you. Read the signs and try to figure out what's going on with each one. The alignment quests will yield alignment keys. In addition to needing these for Vlad's Tower, you can take your co-aligned key as an unbreakable key for the rest of the game. Cross-aligned keys will blast you.

With these difficulties in mind, it should also be added that some of the features of SLASH'EM are going to start making your life easier around this point. For one thing, you can do your class quest at level 12 rather than 14, though as before you may not necessarily want to do the quest as soon as it becomes available. (Incidentally, drain attacks will work exceptionally well against your Quest nemesis.)

You will also start to realize that SLASH'EM contains additional special levels, one of its most exciting features. See Special level (SLASH'EM). Some of these levels will prove difficult and will yield little net benefit (the Rat King, for instance, is much tougher than you expect an r to be, even if it is purple). Others will provide huge reserves of treasure and equipment at the price of modest challenge (Grund the Orc King). Others are commercial, such as the much-beloved shopping mall. Note that special levels sometimes replace existing levels (like the big room), sometimes are accessed by magic portal, and sometimes are accessed by a second down staircase (like the entrance to the Gnomish mines).

There is also an additional level at the end of the gnomish mines, Ruggo the gnome king. This level will contain a healthstone, an item whose properties you will want to acquaint yourself with. Healthstones are always generated cursed. You are also going to want to watch out for gnolls hiding in Ruggo's throne room.

On either level 21 or 22 you will hear whispers on the dungeon level like "Food rations? Only 900 zorkmids." This means that the magic portal to Sam's Black Market is on the level. Magic markers, magic lamps, ascension kit items, and sometimes even wands of wishing are all plausible merchandise at the Black Market, not to mention scores of potions and scrolls. You will need to figure out a strategy for the market. Robbing it is incredibly tempting, though if you kill Sam you will of course accrue the murder penalty (and some heavily enchanted speed boots and grey dragon scale mail...). It's also a great place to blow all that gold from Fort Ludios (which, incidentally, can now occur as late as level 40), though you'll be surprised at how fast it goes. Keep in mind that you are quite vulnerable while you're shopping in the market--monsters will be generated and can track you from anywhere on the level. We're talking mind flayers here.

By the mid game, you should also be benefiting from the new equipment options in SLASH'EM. This means healthstones, gauntlets of swimming, new wands and spells, the ring of gain dexterity, etc. Learning how to use the potion of invulnerability--at least one is guaranteed to be found on many special levels--is strongly recommended. You will also want to start getting acquainted with the new artifacts, either through wishes or, if you're lucky, sacrifice gifts. One of the best parts of SLASH'EM is the provision of new sacrifice gifts that are not weapons. These range from artifact armor such as the monk's Gauntlets of defense (THANK YOU) to the coveted Wallet of Perseus. These equipment artifacts seem to be more often available for lawful and neutral characters, making those alignments significantly more desirable than they are in vanilla Nethack, in the opinion of some.

Altar sacrifices can also yield pets dispatched by your god, minions. These pets may prove useful, not just for basic defense, but for assassinating shopkeepers (though you cannot bring them into the Black Market and, since they cannot be retamed, they are likely to go feral while you're in there). Receiving a minion, unlike receiving an artifact, does not change your prayer timeout status (you can safely pray if you have just received a minion). Note that gods can also attack you with minions if you steal an altar from them.

If you haven't gotten a wish by the dungeon level 30s, keep your eyes peeled for the Sunless Sea, which is guaranteed to contain a magic lamp. The wand of wishing in the castle is still there, of course, but you won't see it until several levels later.

The Late Game
One of the main innovations of SLASH'EM is its significantly extended Dungeons of Doom act and shortened Gehennom. This is a good thing. You will find no pure maze levels in Gehennom--each one is either the lair of a demon prince or attached to the Wizard's Tower. The SLASH'EM late game is quite a bit more difficult than vanilla Nethack's version, partly because of new super-monsters like giant shoggoths, star vampires, ghoul queens, leprechaun wizards, gug packs, the various jewel golems, gnolls, gnoll chieftains, and gnoll shamans, and planetars and solars, but also because of the new demon princes: Demogorgon and Dispater. You will need a strategy for Demogorgon, the most dangerous enemy in the game.

The End Game
Other than the presence of the new high-level A beings, which are always terrifying, the SLASH'EM end game is not substantially different from the vanilla Nethack end game. The Amulet of Yendor can no longer exert its mysterious force, thankfully, but it also disables your teleportation power. Also, watch out for an army of deeper ones and deepest ones on the Plane of Water. Genocide is advised.

Even with spoilers, ascension in SLASH'EM is extremely difficult. Break out the liquid fire!