Crawl Cosplay Academy
Sonja, the Graceful Assassin
A graceful kobold assassin. Admire her graceful pirouettes, thrill at her daring leaps! But watch out for her knives!
| Species | Background | Gods |
|---|---|---|
| Kobold | Brigand | The Wu Jian Council |
The Species, Background, and God choices are all mandatory. You must be worshipping one of the gods listed above before entering Lair, Orcish Mines, the Vaults or Depths, unless this isn't possible in which case you must worship them as soon as you can. Don't use faded altars (except in challenges where you can choose any god), and don't do anything to lose your religion unless otherwise specified.
NOTE: Except for Beogh, Ignis, Jiyva and Lugonu, an altar for the other gods will ALWAYS show up by D:10.
Strategy
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To progress with this build, you will need to fight dirty. Short blades, especially daggers, do not deal very much damage normally. Stealth is unreliable so sleep stabs will be very welcome but rare.
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In order to overcome this, you will need to use every tool at your disposal in the early game. Grab every evokable and throwable you can find, burn consumables early, and don't hesitate to just skip large sections of a floor if there are especially dangerous uniques or enemies you notice. As a kobold you have a much smaller exposure radius, and stealth will prevent many enemies from immediately waking up when you notice them. Use this to your advantage by simply stepping back and setting an exclusion for any enemy which you can't confidently kill.
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Moreso than most characters, you are rushing to worship your god, WJC, as fast as possible. Upon worship you immediately unlock Lunge, which is great and means if you are one step away you can move and attack. This makes hitting sleep stabs much more viable.
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However, the real treat is when you reach three stars of piety and unlock serpent's lash. With that, you can take two steps instantly, meaning it is now possible to sleep stab from a full screen away. Being able to guarantee kill any enemy that doesn't immediately wake up upon seeing you is incredible. Use it liberally on dangerous threats.
- Due to the way damage is calculated, flat boosts via weapon enchantment and slaying are incredibly important for you. Prioritize them highly, and the final ability of WJC (heavenly storm) will grant you a terrifying amount of it. You will never come close to the power level of a true strength warrior in a straight up fight, however, by utilizing stealth and your god abilities to neutralize or skip the most dangerous opponents, you won't need to be.
Cosplay conduct points
- 1. Levelling up
Select Dexterity (DEX) at experience levels (XL) 3 and 9.
- 2. Armour
Wear body armour with Encumbrance Rating of 7 or less.
- 3. Cloak & Dagger
Train Stealth and Short Blades to 10.
Conducts are worth +5 points each, to a maximum of half your score from milestones, rounded down. (So if you achieve 3 milestones (15 points) you can earn up to 7 points from conducts.) Small mistakes in following conducts will usually be forgiven.
NOTE: for CCA, the first 2 conducts are usually to help you make choices at startup or in early game, while the 3rd conduct is usually a small fun challenge.
Bonus challenges
- 1. Poised to Strike
Use Serpent's Lash 25 times.
- 2. Sifu
Upgrade your weapon to a rapier (or if you are lucky, a quickblade), activate heavenly storm at least once, and get a rune!
Bonus challenges are worth one star each, similar to banners in Crawl tournaments. Small mistakes will usually be forgiven.
The 1st bonus can usually be accomplished after clearing the Dungeon (D), Lair (L) & the Orcish Mines (O), while the 2nd bonus will be a bit more challenging and will involve something like: "...and get your first rune!" as a caveat.
Milestones
- Reach XL3.
- Enter Lair, Orc, or Depths.
- Reach the bottom of D, Lair, or Orc.
- Collect your first rune.
- Find the entrance to Zot. (Just using magic mapping doesn't count.)
- Collect your third rune.
- Win the game.
The main way to score points. +5 points each, and can be done in any order.