Valkyrie/SLASH'EM

Strategy in SLASH'EM

Early game

• While Valkyries are arguably the strongest class in Vanilla NetHack, in SLASH'EM the early game is noticeably more difficult; Knights, Samurai, and even Barbarians are probably easier classes for the early game.

• Instead of a +1 long sword, Valkyries start with a +1 spear. This is partially balanced out by the 5 daggers they also start with, but overall it is a major disadvantage. Spears are considerably weaker than long swords, and you lose the advantage of an easily obtainable Excalibur if lawful. While the spear is still a decent melee weapon, you will have trouble going toe-to-toe with the baby dragons, scrampers, and werepanthers that will start to plague you after you hit level 5 or so, so you will need to round out your fighting strategy with a ranged attack (your starting stack of 5 daggers will come in handy) and probably engrave Elbereth fairly often.

• The weapon practice #technique can be used to discover a weapon's magical enchantment as well as to build skill points. Note however that you will want to BUC test the item first, since you must wield a weapon to use this technique.

• As soon as you find an altar, prioritize sacrificing to get Mjollnir. Instead of 1d24 bonus damage, in SLASH'EM Mjollnir will strike anything it hits for an additional 24 points of electrical damage. Few early game monsters are immune to this, so this becomes an awesomely powerful weapon even into the endgame. If you are lawful, you should also try for Excalibur as soon as you happen upon a long sword (weapon shop, barrow wight, the Rat King, etc.). A Valkyrie two-weaponing with Excalibur and Mjollnir will cruise through the early game and well into them midgame with little difficulty.
  • Since exploding wands have the same effects as breaking them in SLASH'EM, Mjollnir becomes a much more dangerous weapon. Aside from one or two emergency wands like digging, and wands of lightning which are immune, don't carry ANY wands outside of containers if you're going to throw Mjollnir. It is also a good idea to avoid using it as a melee weapon against monsters that might be carrying wands, because the explosions will affect you if you are next to them.

• Since you will be throwing daggers so often, getting dagger to expert for the multishot bonus as quickly as possible is an extremely high priority. Use your weapon practice #technique while wielding daggers as much as possible until you reach expert.

• Think twice before putting any skill points into spears, because as soon as you find a katana or long sword you will want to switch to that as your main melee weapon. However, if you have a really hard time finding a better weapon, it might be worth it to advance spears to skilled.

Post-quest

Given that the Orb of Fate's critical half physical damage can be superseded by the Hand of Vecna (which also provides hungerless regeneration), you may want to stash this item in your bag to save on carrying capacity, pulling it out only to levelport, or find the portals in the planes in the endgame. The half spell damage and warning can be useful, however, particularly if you do not have extrinsic telepathy.

A good ascension kit for a Valkyrie is:

• +7 cloak of magic resistance (enchant an elven cloak to +7 and upgrade it)
• +7 gauntlets of power (only Valkyries can safely enchant gauntlets of power this high)
• +5 fireproof speed boots for the extra attacks, jumping boots for the extra movement, water walking boots to be safe from create pool, or +7 elven boots for the extra AC and stealth
• +5 shirt
• greased +5 helm of telepathy or +7 elven leather helm

If lawful and can two-weapon:

• +7 Excalibur two-weaponed with +7 Mjollnir
• +5 silver dragon scale mail
• amulet of life saving or amulet of flying

If neutral and can two-weapon:

• +7 Fire Brand, Frost Brand, or Vorpal Blade two-weaponed with +7 Mjollnir
• +5 silver dragon scale mail or deep dragon scale mail
• amulet of lifesaving or amulet of reflection or amulet of drain resistance
• Wield The Hand of Vecna for drain resistance if necessary

If you cannot two-weapon:

• +7 Mjollnir with another powerful artifact or silver weapon
• +5 deep dragon scale mail
• +5 shield of reflection
• amulet of life saving or amulet of flying

All other standard SLASH'EM ascension kit items still apply.