Stat Boosting Items
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If you have the budget for it (either in the form of meat or Mr A’s), former Items of the Month (IotM) have some of the best stat-boosting enchantments around. Indeed, there seems to be a general early-NS13 theme that IotM, if equipment, will grant stat boosts:
Vivala Mask (accessory, no equip requirement), +1-3 stats/adv*, ~7M meat
Pilgrim Shield (offhand, no equip requirement), +3 stats/adv, ~6.5M
Navel Ring of Navel Gazing (accessory, no equip requirement), +3 stats (happens randomly), ~6.5M
Mayflower Bouquet (familiar accessory), +5 stats (happens randomly), ~4.5M
Flaming Jugglers Balls (ranged weapon, no equip requirement), +2 stats/adv, ~4.5M
Ice Baby (offhand, no equip requirement), +3 stats/adv, ~6M
*note that the Vivala Mask grants 1-3 stats after each combat along with a further +4 if the killing blow is a critical hit, for a maximum of +7 stats. Also note that when I use the term ‘adventure’ I mean combat adventure.
Being the over-enthusiastic collector of IotMs that I am, I have tested all of the above. I would recommend acquiring these items in the order listed above, which takes into consideration general usefulness as well as stat-boosting prowess. Prices quoted are, as ever, subject to change.
By recommending Mr A gear I do, of course, leave myself open to the criticism that not everyone can afford this equipment. If we put the prices in context, raising the meat to buy a pilgrim shield should take you less than two months of pure meat farming, less of you play the mall or donate. If we set a sensible target of a 1500-turn ascension, you would expect to get around 1000 combat adventures, yielding 3000 substats, about the same as you would expect to get from everything you ate and drank. Given that, if you are consuming high-end food and drink during your run, consumables costs will run around 20-25K/day, the break-even point, in terms of stats yielded, is under 10 months (given that it will likely take you 2 years to get all the skills from scratch), and at the end of it you will still have the shield!!!
Quite frankly, nothing else really compares to the Mr A gear so, if you can afford it, get it – the prices rarely go down so if you decide you no longer want the item you can always sell it for profit. It *is* worth noting that the use of a Pilgrim Shield, or other offhand item, limits you to 1-handed weapons and thus limits your ability to do damage to monsters you face. This will come under consideration in the section on Monster Level and sustainable adventuring.
If you are running on a limited budget (which most people wanting to speed up their runs will be), there are a small selection of items which drop, were given out, or are creatable which have stat-boosting powers:
Hand-Made Hobby Horse (offhand, no equip requirement), +2 mus stats/adv, ~300K
Ball-in-a-cup (offhand, no equip requirement), +2 myst stats/adv, ~300K
Set of Jacks (offhand, no equip requirement), +2 mox stats/adv, ~300K
White Whip (melee weapon, no equip requirement), +1 stat/adv, ~800
Ga-Ga Radio (ranged weapon, 47 Mox required), +1 stat/adv, ~400
Witty Rapier (melee weapon, 60 Mus required), +2 myst stats/adv, ~400
Extra-Large Palm Frond Toupee (hat, 60 Mox Required), +2 stats/adv, ~300
With the exception of the Crimbo 07 gear, the above is really not worth bothering with (dual-wielding whips *might* be worth considering if you have a Dandy Lion – 2 x power 10 weapons isn’t going to do you much good past level 3, earlier if you increase ML – equipping a whip as the main weapon activates the Dandy Lion’s attack function which may tip the balance of combat in your favour).
The current (Jan 08) maximum achievable from equipment alone is +22 substats/combat, though that would occur very rarely and require about 30M worth of equipment.
Buffs and Effects
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Your ability to generate stat points from combat adventures can be enhanced through the use of a number of skills or items which grant an effect.
The key skill to have is Aloysius’ Antiphon of Aptitude (otherwise known as Antiphon). This grants +3 stats/combat and ideally should be present during your entire run.
There are two main problems with this. (1) to cast antiphon you need an accordion of some type (rock ‘n’ roll legend grants 10/turns per cast), which uses up a precious day-1 pull and (2) it costs 40 MP/cast which is both horrifically expensive early in the run and requires the ability to have a maximum MP of at least 40 which can be tricky for non-myst classes.
Of course, once you are unencumbered by the constraints of Ronin, the buffbots Testudinata and Noblesse Oblige do a very good line in cheap buffs (10 and 1 meat for 240 turns of Antiphon respectively), however, for the first 1000 turns you are on your own…
The ‘usual’ way of dealing with these problems are to pick up the Turtle Tamer skill Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises, which grants a +50% boost to maximum MP, and to pull high-value items on day 1 to autosell to enable you to buy soda water or MMJ (though this approach has been nerfed to a great extent with the changes to the gift shop items – the facsimile dictionary is now the pull of choice for this). Items that reduce spell cost or increase buff duration (yes, I’m looking at you Jewel-eyed Wizard Hat) also help tremendously.
There are a number of in-game effects, received from items, that increase stats received:
Orange Snowcone: grants the effect ‘Orange Tongue’ which gives +3 stats/combat for 20 adventures;
Black Snowcone: grants, amongst other things, the same boost as the orange snowcone, though is hideously expensive unless you happen to already own a Tome of Snowcone Summoning and can generate your own;
Knob Goblin Learning Pill: available in unlimited quantities from the Knob Goblin Laboratory (which opens at level 5). Grants +2 stats/combat for 10 turns at the expense of less meat dropped. A common strategy is to pull the entire Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform to make sure that you can buy these;
Orange Frosted Cupcake: grants +3 substats/combat for 20 adventures in a manner exactly the same as orange snowcones. Either bought in the mall or found after using astral mushrooms (sometimes);
White Candy Heart: grants an additional +1 substat/combat to both you and your familiar (which helps it level up faster). Bought from the mall very cheaply or summoned with a Libram of Candy Heart Summoning;
Shot of Nepenthe Schnapps: generates the effect ‘Memento Moire’ for 10 adventures (at the cost of 2 drunkeness) which yields +3 stats/combat. The schnapps drops in the Worm Wood (after using absinthe) so is often picked up by those hunting not-a-pipes;
Moon’d: available from the island of mystery after completing the jam band quest as a hippy. Generates +5 stats/combat for 20 turns, though happens too late to be of much interest except to those levelling up past level 13;
Papotion of Papower: Generates the effect ‘Papowerful’ for 5/10/15 turns (depending on whether you are a sauceror and/or have the skill ‘impetuous sauciness’) which yields an additional +2 stats/combat;
Of the above, the only item/effect worth deliberately seeking out is the Knob Goblin Learning Pill. Everything else really isn’t worth a pull and should only be taken advantage of should you encounter it in-run. It should be noted that, with the exception of the tongue effects, all of the above effects stack, potentially allowing an additional +19 substats/combat to be generated.
Familiars
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There are two basic stat-boosting familiar types out there – the volleyball and the sombrero. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Basically, if you are going down the items/skills route to boosting stats, I would recommend a volleyball-type, if you are going down a Monster Level route (see below), I would recommend a Sombrero-type. Ultimately its all a matter of playing style and taking advantage of whatever you happen to have sitting in your terrarium.
Good speeds are possible for both types of familiar – either look at my (Bigquack) ascension history for typical volleyball speeds or ToneDeafBawb for sombrero speeds – there isn’t a great deal in it unless you want to go for a bleeding-edge 2-day minimum turn leaderboard run…
The basic difference between the two is that volleyballs give stats based solely on their weight, whereas sombreros give stats based on a combination of their weight and the monster level of whatever it is you are fighting (the higher the better).
Personally I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that says you should switch familiars mid-game to optimise stat gains as much as possible – the amount you lose in terms of time taken to level up the second familiar offsets the gains to be made, in my opinion, particularly as I expect to equip my stat-boosting familiar for only about 50% of the run, with an item-farming familiar (fairy-type) for the other 50% (usually for portions of the later levels) so the opportunity to level up the second familiar is limited (making the assumption that you don’t have a P.R.E.S.S.I.E. which gets round this issue rather neatly).
What *is* important is getting your familiar of choice as heavy as possible as quickly as possible. There are 3 skills that are absolutely essential in speeding up your runs: the Turtle Tamer skills Amphibian Sympathy and Empathy of the Newt and the Pastamancer skill Leash of Linguini.
I would recommend getting them in the order Sympathy – Leash – Empathy, primarily as Empathy requires a turtle totem, or derivative, to cast and is the most expensive in terms of MP (15MP/cast against 12 for Leash and none for Sympathy). All these skills are +5lbs familiar weight and stack for a total gain of +15lbs.
An essential day 1 pull from Hagnks is your familiar equipment – with this and Sympathy you have an 11lb familiar at the cost of one pull and no MP. The +5lbs equipment is a good starting point, though any of the Mr A equipments being better (with the Mayflower Bouquet being preferred for a combination of possible extra stat gain, +5lbs and the ability to gain flowers in-run for extra benefits).
The weight of your familiar can be boosted further through the use of items:
Green snowcone: gives 20 turns of +5lbs familiar weight;
Black snowcone: mimics the effect (amongst others) of the green snowcone;
Knob Goblin Pet Buffing Spray: gives 10 turns of +5lbs at the cost of -10% to all stats;
Half-Orchid: dropped occasionally by the mayflower Bouquet. Gives 10 turns of +3lbs;
Green Candy Heart: gives 10 turns of +3lbs;
Irradiated Pet Snacks: a semi-rare drop in Cobbs Knob Menagerie Level 2. Gives 10 turns of +10lbs;
Disintegrating Spiky Collar: drops in the Stately Pleasure Dome (in the Worm Wood) and grants +5lbs for 10 turns;
Plexiglass Pith Helmet: pretty much the ultimate in KoL headwear. Grants +5lbs of familiar (amongst other things) with an equip requirement of 75 Moxie;
Powdered Toad Horn: gives 10 turns of +5lbs along with a +10% moxie boost;
Bar Whip: power 10 weapon with no equip requirement. Has a +2lbs enchantment and can be dual-wielded for a total of +4lbs;
Tiny Plastic Series 1 (common) all give a +1lbs bonus when equipped (accessory) for a total of +3lbs.
In addition, if completing the arena sub-quest as a hippy, you get access to the Optimist Primal buff, giving 20 turns of +5lbs.
The sum of all of the above is +53lbs.
Of the above, if you can manage it, the pet buffing spray should be used routinely. It costs 250 meat for 10 turns so can get a bit pricey if used for the entire run (1500 turns of it would cost 375K), so I would suggest using it up to about level 9 – after this point you find yourself increasingly reliant on your item drop familiar to complete quests quickly having opened up most of the ‘best’ areas to adventure in.
The benefits of owning a Plexiglass Pith helmet cannot be understated (a reward for completing a Hardcore Oxygenarian Turtle Tamer run). As soon as moxie hits 75 it *will* be equipped, regardless of what class you are. The HP/MP regeneration and +30% muscle boost are excellent as well, enabling you to hit harder and keep more buffs going simultaneously.
The bar whip is a nice to have as well – if you have nothing better in your offhand then it is worthwhile – particularly for pushing familiars past the 20lbs required in the tower.
If you are tracking your semi-rare drops then picking up some pet snack is also excellent, primarily for the fruit stall side-quest at level 12.
Other than that I wouldn’t bother unless it happens to drop in your lap during the run.
This means that, with all three skills running alongside an equipped 20lbs familiar, buffed and plexi-hatted, your familiar will be at 45lbs. I would consider this adequate in achieving reasonably fast runs.
Of course, getting your familiar to 20lbs does, in theory, take 400 combat adventures (realistically, 600 adventures total). This can be speeded up somewhat with a number of items and buffs:
White Candy Heart: increases familiar experience gain by +1/combat;
Flaming Doppelganger: one form of the Great Ball of Frozen Fire IotM. It adds +1-2 experience per combat at the cost of increasing ML by 5;
Mayflower Bouquet: another IotM. Occassionally gives +3 experience/combat;
Brother Corsican’s Blessing: A reward available after completing the level 6 quest. Grants +2 experience/combat for 20 turns but can only be granted once per day.
As with the above, if you have it, use it. Typically the only thing you will have is eventual access to Brother Corsican – don’t forget to use him!!!
Okay, so we are equipped, buffed and have our familiar sorted out…
Monster Level
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So, why does everyone get so excited about Monster Level (ML)? Well, ML is used to determine how many substat points you get at the end of a combat – 5ML=1 substat point. Fractions may or may not be rounded up or down: a monster with ML of 12 will give at least 2 points all of the time (10ML) and 3 points 40% of the time (2/5*100).
So, the higher the monster level is, the more stat points you get. Where things get interesting is in two areas:
1) If you use a sombrero-type familiar, the more monster level you are up against, the more stats your familiar generates – so you get more from defeating the monster yourself which is then topped up more by your familiar. This levels you up faster meaning you can fight harder monsters and get even more stats – the whole process becomes self-reinforcing – a virtuous circle if you will.
2) Increasing Monster Level increases the monsters Hit Points, Initiative, ‘Muscle’ and ‘Moxie’ making he/she/it a far harder prospect to defeat. There is a fine line to be drawn between getting as many stats as possible to speed up your run and getting your ass handed to you on a plate. And remember, every defeat lands you with zero stat points for that adventure and at least 3 turns of ‘beaten up’…
Coping with increased monster level is best done by muscle classes for those with a low number of banked skills, and by myst classes for those with 20-30 or more skills (depending on what those skills are ).
Basically, Muscle classes have the ability to hit hard and do a lot of damage quickly. They also have skills that boost this damage-creating ability further such as Thrust-Smack and Lunging Thrust Smack for Seal Clubbers and the various Butt combinations for Turtle Tamers. These skills are either far less effective for other classes, or are just not available. In addition, muscle classes have an intrinsic +50% boost to HP which makes them more able to absorb return damage.
Myst classes have the ability to handle the highest monster levels of all due to a combination of spells always hitting and aligning damage with the ‘right’ elemental type to do ‘free’ double damage to the monsters you fight. Saucerors are the class of choice here as the skill ‘immaculate seasoning’ automatically aligns your spell damage with your opponents weaknesses meaning you automatically do double to all monsters except those without an elemental alignment, or those aligned to ‘hot’.
Moxie classes simply cannot cope with the high-end of ML – unless they are using the spellcasting approach typical of a myst class – they lack the ability to do a lot of damage quickly and also lack the high amount of HP that muscle classes have to absorb return damage from the monster faced.
The possible exception to this is for players who have the stainless steel/ brimstone/plexiglass equipment that offers a percentage increase on base moxie and can boost you to very high levels quickly, allowing you to boost ML to modest levels and still be ‘unhittable’ by the monster faced (the combination of brimstone beret, brimstone boxers, plexiglass pendant and stainless steel suspenders would give you a +145% moxie boost, for example).
In coping with high monster levels you want to pick up the following skills, though not necessarily in the order presented:
Seal Clubber:
Hide of the otter; claws of the otter; thrust-smack; eye of the stoat; hide of the walrus; claws of the walrus; lunging thrust-smack; northern exposure
Turtle Tamer:
Skin of the leatherback; Tenacity of the snapper; Reptilian fortitude; Cold-blooded fearlessness; Tao of the terrapin (possibly also the butt skills)
Pastamancer:
Entangling noodles; Springy fusilli; Spirit of ravioli; Tolerance of the kitchen
Sauceror:
Elemental saucesphere; Diminished gag reflex
Disco Bandit:
Overdeveloped sense of self-preservation; Heart of polyester;
Accordian Thief:
Cletus’ canticle of celerity; Jackasses Symphony of destruction
Note – the above skills are for *dealing* with ML and, as such, focus on damage absorption, reduction and dishing some smack-down yourself.
