Hit and run

Hit and run is a trick used for fighting monsters which may have powerful melee attacks, but are slower than the player, such as mimics, black puddings, and rothes. This tactic is known as hack-and-back in Angband circles.

A monster can use each turn it gets for either movement or attacking the player, but not both. Therefore, if a monster moves at least twice as slowly as the player, it is guaranteed to not attack the player the turn immediately after it moves. Therefore, if you step back immediately after attacking such a monster, and wait to attack it until it moves adjacent to you, you can attack it arbitrarily many times without it getting a single counterattack.

Note that even if you have magically enhanced speed, your speed will randomly vary between normal and twice normal , and therefore it is not advisable to use hit-and-run tactics with melee weapons against monsters that move faster than normal speed regardless of speed enchancements. In addition, it is advised to treat your speed as normal (rather than sped up) unless you can take a hit or two still or using "run and hit" with either projectiles or pounding, even if it means to waste turns.

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