Claudio's Itemrecovery Guide

Dying is part of this game, so nothing is wrong with it. The bad thing about dying is that you drop the items you are wearing. The difference between a player with full equipment and a naked player is immense, so it is a good idea to get your items back. Note: you don’t drop your equipment when you are killed by friendly fire, or on dungeon level 16.

Precautions

The first thing you should do every time you are entering a dangerous dungeon level is to cast a Townportal a good distance from the stairs, but not in an unexplored area that might have inactive critters nearby or behind a wall. In hell levels, it can be a better idea to cast the first Townportal right behind the stairs so that the stairs will act as cover. This will make recovery duties much easier and is a good precaution in case you die close to the stairs. It is also a good idea to cast a new Townportal in a safe place after clearing an area. Having a safe entry to the level means that you can always get your items back, while having no entry (e.g. no Townportal and sieged stairs), means deep trouble.

Another precaution for characters who are on dungeon levels that are very difficult for them (e.g. clevel 30 in hell/hell) is to slowly walk step by step, trying to only activate 1-3 monster(s) each time. Furthermore, don’t have more than +10-20% light radius if you are on a difficult dungeon level, because +light radius attracts monsters (e.g. entering the level with +40% light radius can have the consequence that you are immediately attacked by 5 Blood Knights).

Hiddens can appear on dungeon level 2-10. These monsters, especially Illusion Weavers (dungeon level 8-10) are one of the main causes for immediately stair death, often they attack you even when you have not moved and don’t wear any +light radius items. In case your armor class (AC) is below autohit value, be very cautious on dungeon level 5-10, use guardians as detectors. When your Guardians spot Hiddens, immediately cast Chain Lightning or offensive spells to kill them. Another good thing might be the Ring of Engagement. The 'attacker takes 1-3 damage' will stun Hiddens so that they don't continuously attack you. Note that any Hiddens in any difficulty get stunned when hit by even a little bit of damage.

Dying

There are situations when you have the feeling: damn there are too many enemies, I am low on potions, I can’t refill my belt, and you are not sure if you can manage it. One solution is: try playing sometimes with open inventory. This has saved my life many times. A natural reaction is walking back to areas you have cleared when you are under attack by a horde of monsters. There is nothing wrong with this, but if you are uncertain about your chances of winning, don’t walk back to the stairs or your Townportal.

Never Never Never

It is very difficult to recover your items when you die at the stairs and your Townportal is not at a good distance from the stairs. So, die with some distance to both of your entries. Sometimes you can even put some of your items in your inventory before you die (you don‘t drop items that are in your inventory). Furthermore, it is a good idea to die behind a wall adjacent to a cleared area if this is possible.

x = Walls
TP = Townportal
Death = Death location
M = Monster
i = Your items

This is a good example of a tactical death. Dying at this location, you can just restart in town, heal, go back through your Townportal, (don’t forget to cast a new one) and recover your items through the wall by use of Telekinesis. You can see items through a wall and by using this spell the items will appear in your inventory. You will require free space in your inventory, though.

Multiplayer on Battle.net

In case you are playing a multiplayer game on Battle.net and both players are dead you should never use your own Townportal, because when you die and don’t have the time to cast a new one, it is gone. If you are playing with another person in a multiplayer game on B.net, one can stay in the game (keeping it opened) and the other one can go back to a channel and try to find some help. You can also whisper for help.

Another multiplayer strategy you can use when you are trapped at the stairs is the Inside Job. One player, (it works best if it is the player who is least likely to survive without equipment) goes down the stairs, and often dies before the level is completely faded in. That person is now your inside man. S/he can report on the position of the monsters. In most cases, given some time, the monsters will wander away from the stairs, at least a short ways. The inside man can tell the other player (the one with the best possibility of prolonged survival) when to try an entrance. The second player then comes down and hits the ground running, trying to put some distance between himself and the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully he can even cast a town portal before he dies (on item recovery duties it is a good idea to hotkey Townportal).

A tip for Mana Shield users: You can activate the spell, enter the stairs/Townportal and press the right mouse button when the level loading is almost done. The Mana Shield will be up as soon as you appear on the level.

Item Recovery Equipment

At first, some players go down naked, to take a look or to grab some items. This can be a good idea, you can better estimate your chances. It would be a tragedy, if you also immediately lose your spare equipment. However, I think that one should at least equip a bow. You can buy any non-magical bow at Gris, even a short bow of nothing can do the job.

Some good item recovery equipment:

°One or two rings of the dark. You can find these rings very often in the catacombs. Don't throw them away. All of my Rogues possess one or two rings of the dark. This ring reduces your light radius by 40%. Equipping such a ring before entering a level is a good thing for item recovery duties: what you can't see, can't see you. Therefore, you will activate less monsters by using this ring. The fewer monsters you have to fight the better off your situation is, because you won’t have good spare equipment. This means your AC, your damage,your resistance won't be good.

°Resistance can be important, so it is a good idea to have an Obsidian Ring of nothing (or something) in town.

°A bow is the best item recovery weapon for any class. The best bow would be an Obsidian Bow (no matter which base type). A bow gives you the opportunity to stay a distance away from the monster, a good idea if you have no AC (even AC 170 is as good as no AC in hell/hell) and an Obsidian bow gives you good resistance.

°You should also be wearing some +mana/magic/life items and don't forget to buy a lot of potions.

°Attack spells are not always the best item recovery weapons. Spells you should avoid: Chain Lightning, Lightning, Guardians, Flame Wave. These spells can wake up the whole level.

°Infravision scrolls can be very useful. If you can enter the level without being swarmed immediately then a scroll of Infravision, Stone Cursing and a bow will make your recovery mission quite easy.

°Don't sell the items you find in the dungeon immediately, even if it is junk. Throw it onto the town square, and if item recovery turns out to be necessary, you can select your recovery gear from that stuff. You can sell the unwanted drops at the end of the game if necessary so you have some gold for repairs and restocking potions.

°One of the most important bits of equipment for item recovery is: patience. If the odds are against you, item recovery can take many hours.

Item recovery tactics

First of all: leave your gold in town. You can’t impress the monsters with your money, but you will drop 50% of your gold each time you die, so gold can become a problem.

If monsters are near the Townportal(s) you shouldn’t use it (them), but go down the stairs instead. If you are not sure if there are monsters near the entries (Townportal/stairs) go down naked, but equip any cheap bow even a short bow of nothing would be nice.

Cast a new Townportal after entering the level, and proceed very slowly. Try to activate only 1-3 monsters each time, Stone Cursing them and killing them with arrows. When you Stone Curse a monster and walk away from it (out of your light radius) it sometimes won’t follow you after it unstones. So you can use this to thin out the monsters. Advance slowly to the location of your death. When you can see your equipment, stop moving and recover it by the use of Telekinesis.

After recovering all your items: It is time for Revenge! However, there is no need to be a hero. If you are on a dungeon level that is to difficult for you, just play other dungeons or difficulty settings to get experience points and good items.

Nothing works

There are some situations where the standard item recovery tactics won’t work: The stairs are sieged, your Townportal is not far enough away from the stairs and you are dying nearly immediately after entering the level. There are some things you can still do:

°Hello here I am; Go down and lure the monsters away from the stairs/Townportal by just walking away. Use the happy feet technique when ranged attackers are in the level. This works quite good, but not with the stairs under siege. Try to use hit-recovery items (Harmony) in case of sieged stairs to minimize stun-lock.

°Try to pick up some of your items before you die. When you pick up an item, it will appear in your inventory and you will keep it even when you die. Exception: You will auto equip a weapon, assuming your strength/dexterity is high enough, so it is a good idea to buy a cheap club/bow/sword -whatever- and equip it.

°Phasing. This spell can be cast much faster than Teleport and it can bring you away from a sieged stairway. You will usually need a couple of tries though.

°Teleport while the level is loading. You can try to Teleport away from the sieged stairs. Activate the Teleport spell and press the right mouse button when the level loading is nearly finished. Sometimes you will Teleport in a good distance to the stairs, hopefully not again in a mob of monsters.

°Try stealth or full stealth mode, -40/-80% light radius. In full stealth mode only the monsters on adjacent squares can see you (not on diagonal squares, the same is true for you). There is one problem with full stealth (-80% light): your light radius does not extend to your diagonals. You won't wake monsters on your diagonals, but once you do, they can see you and hit you while you can't see them. You have to guess at which of the four corners they are.

If doing a stealth recovery, try not to move, kill what ever is next to you, take a step toward your death location, repeat until all gear is retrieved via Telekinesis.

°Kamikaze Firewalls: in case the monsters are not fire immune, go down the stairs and cast Firewalls like mad. Stay down (dead of course) and wait until the Firewalls burns out. Repeat if necessary.

Source:

http://catsdiablopage.com/cat-rogu.htm