Crawl Cosplay Academy
Antaeus, Guardian of Cocytus
Once a hero among the titans, Antaeus grew jealous of the titan queen. In single combat he challenged and slew her, and for this crime he was exiled and descended into the Hells. Finding the inhabitants of that place no match for his might, Antaeus tore from its substance a fourth Hell, Cocytus, a realm born of frozen spite.
| Species | Background | Gods |
|---|---|---|
| Oni | Ice Elementalist | Yredelemnul |
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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This run will be quite different from the other two casters. Rather than a heavy focus on pure single target damage, here you will rely heavily on cold damage. Freeze, and more importantly Frozen Ramparts, both do high damage but come with unique restrictions on their placement and range. Even though you are a caster, most of your kills are going to be coming with enemies right on top of you or at most a couple spaces away.
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To compensate for this, you are playing as an Oni which provides exceptional HP, and you have access to Ozocubu's Armour which dramatically improves your AC. As a result you will be very durable. The downside is that both your magical armor and cold aoe require you to stand still while to be maintained. Further, frozen ramparts only works if you have walls nearby. Therefore, finding a good position in which to cement yourself is critical, and is well worth taking a few hits from opportunity attacks before committing.
- Once you find and worship Yredelemnul, there is quite a bit of synergy. While you are forced to stand still, your undead minions can freely move about and wreak havoc. In addition, your allies are completely immune to the effects of frozen ramparts and all undead have some amount of cold resistance so they will hardly be hindered if you later learn something like Freezing Cloud or Ozocubu's Refrigeration.
Cosplay conduct points
- 1. Levelling up
Select Intelligence (Int) at experience levels (XL) 3 and 9.
- 2. I'm an XL
Equip body armor other than robe or animal skin (from a troll or dragon most likely).
- 3. Mr. Freeze
Train Ice Magic and Fighting to 12 or more.
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. Close-Quarters Combat
Cast Frozen Ramparts 27 times or more.
- 2. Grim Reaper
Bind the soul of a powerful foe... 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.