Beginner's Guide to the Early Depths

Brogue is a hard game. Part of that comes from the array of potions available (some negative) and mostly from cursed equipment.

In the early depths (first couple of floors), you should do the following:

• When quaff-identifying potions, remember possible consequences. The ideal place for quaff-identifying potions and read-identifying scrolls is:
  • On a cleared level, because of gas potions, aggravate monsters and scroll of teleportation.
  • On a fireproof terrain. Potion of incineration will fry you for sure in thick foliage, but on bare stone the fire quickly goes out.
  • But never in the water: gas potions will make you vulnerable to eels.
  • In a room with a door, because of creeping death.
  • In a tactically advantageous place, because of scroll of summon monsters.
  • Where allied magicians can’t see you, because of scroll of negation.
  • Somewhere near the downwards stairway, because of potion of descent.

These requirements are rather contradictory, so consider what’s possible and what isn’t.

• Get decent equipment and protect it: Scroll of remove curse will render all your equipment removable, potion of detect magic will pinpoint dangerous items in your pack so you can discard them. When you got some equipment that is safe and matches your strength, use a scroll of protect weapon and scroll of protect armor on them. Do not drop protected gear until you've protected a better item.
• Call bad scrolls: You’ve finally found a potion of detect magic. Harmful scrolls have no use, so you’d better discard them. But first call them as “BAD”, just in case you stumble upon them again.
• When in doubt, choose armor/weapon as if they were non-magic: When you find a treasure room and are forced to choose among weapons and armor, consider what you’d take if they were all +0. Clearing two or three floors then hauling a bunch of unidentified potions is often a waste of food. Remember vampire bats and ogres, you’ll never defeat them with just leather armor and your dagger.
• When you really have no choice, equip everything: Your starting equipment is quite weak. Even if you equip a cursed item, chances are you will find a scroll of remove curse or a scroll of enchantment (both of which can be used to lift the curse and discard the item). Be aware that cursed equipment is nonetheless often better than your starting equipment. A -1 axe is much better than a +0 dagger, for instance. You can also use scrolls of protect weapon or protect armor to uncurse your current weapon or armor, respectively.
• Don’t waste scrolls of enchantment on low-level things: Prefer to enchant items that you will use until the end of the game. Enchanting your starting +0 dagger only to switch to a broadsword later wastes a scroll. Good candidates are upper tier weapons, plate mail, weapons with runic abilities, offensive staffs and combat charms.
• Have at least one unused scroll of enchantment: In dire situation you can uncurse a thing, recharge a charm, or give one more charge to a staff. And when you find a runic weapon, it really matters whether it is +1 or +2.
• Use X to explore: this will automatically explore until you find something interesting, like an enemy. It saves a lot of time.
• No floor is impossible to pass: Sometimes you find huge lakes or lava pools. You can always, always walk around these; if it appears otherwise, you need to find a hidden door -- use s to search where you suspect a door might be.
• Have a rest behind the door you expect enemies to arrive from. You are likely to dispatch them unaware in one hit.
• Know when to run: At times you will encounter a monster that is simply not within your power to defeat. When this happens knowing the best ways to escape can save your life.

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	Name	Depth	HP	XP	Def	Acc	Damage	Regen	Sight	Scent	MD	AD
@	You		15	0	0	75	1–2	20	79	30	100	100
r	Rat	1	6	1	0	80	1–3	20	20	30	100	100
k	Kobold	1	7	2	0	80	1–4	20	30	30	100	100
j	Jackal	1	8	3	0	70	2–4	20	50	50	50	100
e	Eel	2	18	15	27	100	2–9 (2)	5	79	20	50	100
m	Monkey	2	12	3	17	100	1–3	20	79	100	100	100
b	Bloat	2	4	15	0	100		5	79	100	100	100
b	Pit Bloat	2	4	15	0	100		5	79	100	100	100
g	Goblin	1	15	5	10	70	2–6	20	30	20	100	100
g	Goblin Conjurer	3	10	15	10	70	2–4	20	30	20	100	100
g	Goblin Mystic	6	10	15	10	70	2–4	20	30	20	100	100
⚲	Goblin Totem	2	30	15	0	0			79	200		300
J	Pink Jelly	4	50	10	0	100	1–3		20	20	100	100
t	Toad	4	18	5	0	90	1–4	10	15	15	100	100
v	Vampire Bat	6	18	10	25	100	2–6	20	79	50	50	100
●	Arrow Turret	5	30	10	0	90	2–6		79	50		250
a	Acid Mound	6	15	12	10	70	1–3	5	15	15	100	100
c	Centipede	7	20	10	20	80	1–15	20	20	50	100	100
O	Ogre	6	55	50	80	125	8–14 (2)	20	30	30	100	200
B	Bog Monster	7	55	50	80	5000	3–4	3	30	30	200	100
⚲	Ogre Totem	12	70	100	0	0			79	200		400
s	Spider	9	20	60	90	90	3–14 (2)	20	50	20	100	100
●	Spark Turret	11	80	70	0	100			79	50		150
w	Will-o-the-wisp	10	10	40	120	100	3–10 (2)	5	90	15	100	100
W	Wraith	10	50	60	70	120	4–15 (2)	5	79	100	50	100
Z	Zombie	11	80	45	0	120	4–15		50	200	100	100
T	Troll	12	65	150	90	125	5–20 (3)	1	79	20	100	100
O	Ogre Shaman	14	45	120	70	100	4–10	20	79	30	100	200
N	Naga	12	75	150	100	150	5–13 (4)	10	79	100	100	100
S	Salamander	13	60	150	110	150	5–15 (3)	10	79	100	100	100
b	Explosive Bloat	10	10	20	0	100		5	79	100	100	100
d	Dar Blademaster	10	35	175	105	160	2–12 (2)	20	79	100	100	100
d	Dar Priestess	15	20	150	80	100	2–5	20	79	100	100	100
d	Dar Battlemage	18	20	150	80	100	1–3	20	79	100	100	100
J	Acidic Jelly	14	60	50	0	115	2–6		20	20	100	100
C	Centaur	14	35	175	50	175	2–10 (2)	20	79	30	50	100
U	Underworm		80	200	80	160	15–25 (2)	3	20	20	150	200
ß	Sentinel		50	50	0	0			79	100		175
●	Acid Turret	15	35	120	0	250	1–2		79	50		250
●	Dart Turret	15	20	120	0	140	1–2		79	50		250
K	Kraken	12	120	200	0	150	10–25 (3)	1	79	20	50	100
L	Lich		35	0	100	175	1–7		79	100	100	100
●	Phylactery	22	30	250	0	0			79	50		150
p	Pixie	14	10	150	120	100	1–3	20	100	100	50	100
P	Phantom	16	35	180	100	160	8–22 (4)		30	30	50	200
●	Flame Turret	14	40	150	0	150	1–2		79	50		250
i	Imp	17	35	150	110	225	3–10 (2)	10	10	15	100	100
f	Fury	18	19	50	110	200	4–13 (4)	20	40	30	50	100
R	Revenant	19	30	300	0	200	5–30 (5)		79	20	100	100
H	Tentacle Horror	22	120	2000	120	225	10–50 (10)	1	79	50	100	100
G	Golem	21	400	1000	100	225	4–8		79	200	100	100
D	Dragon	24	150	5000	140	250	15–60 (5)	20	79	120	50	200
g	Goblin Warlord	2	30	40	17	100	3–6	20	30	20	100	100
J	Black Jelly	5	120	150	0	130	3–8		20	20	100	100
V	Vampire	10	75	200	120	120	4–15 (2)	6	79	100	50	100
F	Flamedancer	10	65	200	120	120	3–8 (2)		79	100	100	100
↑	Spectral Blade		1	0	0	150	1		50	50	50	100
↑	Spectral Sword		1	0	0	150	1		50	50	50	100
ß	Stone Guardian		1000	0	0	150	5–10 (2)		50	100	100	100
ß	Winged Guardian		1000	0	0	150	5–10 (2)		50	100	100	100
⚲	Eldritch Totem		80	100	0	0			79	200		100
⚲	Mirrored Totem		80	100	0	0			79	200		100
Ú	Unicorn	1	40	0	95	175	2–10 (2)	20	79	30	50	100
I	Ifrit	1	40	0	110	175	5–12 (2)	1	79	30	50	100
P	Phoenix		30	0	100	175	2–10 (2)		79	30	50	100
●	Phoenix Egg	1	50	0	0	0			79	50		150

This table is related to version 1.6.4 and may be out of date. and

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