octopode fighter guide





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credentials: In 14 online games, I have a 3 streak and an 8 streak without repeating species or backgrounds, and 3 wins in a row with 15 runes.



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Octopodes are hard to win consistently because their weaknesses are always a problem while their strengths are often irrelevant.



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strengths:



8 rings. Great in the late game if you have Statue Form or Dragon Form, but it might be a very long time before you get more than 2 valuable rings.



Constriction. Very powerful, especially early, but requires using melee attacks and doesn't work on anything Large or bigger, like Hydras, Drakes, and Manticores.



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weaknesses:



No armor. AC is very important and not having it is very bad. Just having EV is not as good as having some AC and some EV, and if you're paralyzed you won't keep any EV.



Slightly below average health and aptitudes.



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I think most Octopode wins have involved finding a relatively early ring of protection and/or evasion.



This guide is based on an OpFi win I got with no evasion rings until after Lair and no protection rings until after the 2nd rune.

All the equipment in those pictures was a starting item or from Okawaru.



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Here's my skill training on that run:

Skill XL: | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ---------------+------------------------------------------------------------------ Stealth | 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 Long Blades | 3 4 5 7 8 9 11 14 Throwing | 1 4 9 12 13 14 16 Fighting | 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Shields | 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Necromancy | 1 5 6 Dodging | 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 Invocations | 3 6 7 Evocations | 1 2 3 5 6 Summonings | 3 4 6 Spellcasting | 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 Transmutations | 1 3 9 11 Translocations | 1 2 3 Air Magic | 3 6 Earth Magic | 1 3 9 11 13

1) Stealth to 3



2) Long Blades to 9 (min delay with Heroism)

You could also go for Polearms or Maces instead.



3) Fighting and Shields to 8, Dodging to 6

Dodging depends on your Dex, so it's better with +Dex rings.

I also got 3 Invocations for Heroism here.



4) Throwing to 12, Fighting and Shields to 10, Stealth to around 7

12 throwing is min delay for tomahawks, and min delay for javelins with Heroism.

That's enough to kill Hydras if you use Heroism and have ammo.



5) 14 Long Blades (min delay)



6) Maybe train for good spells, depending on what you've found.

I got Summon Lightning Spire here.



7) If you don't have any key spells, train Throwing + Fighting + Shields + Dodging.

16 Throwing is a good amount for a while.



8) At this point I went for Statue Form -> Vile Clutch.

If you can get Statue Form, the game becomes much easier.



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Here's a run by Malacante using this guide.



Besides the core skills, Malacante went for:

8 Evocations -> Sticks to Snakes -> LRD -> Statue Form



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tips:



1) Use your stealth. Exclude enemies more than usual.



2) Read your duplicate scrolls. If you get Enchant Armor and don't have a hat, you should spend all of it on your shield immediately.



3) Use your consumables. Octopodes are weak early, so if a fight seems hard, use a potion or wand or Heroism first.



4) If a Hydra gets next to you, drink Lignification or Invisibility.



5) Lair 6 tends to have a difficult vault in it. You may want to read Magic Mapping and exclude it, or just explore carefully.



6) If you're going for throwing, use shift+tab (offline) or a macro for ===hit_closest_nomove (online) to melee if an enemy is in range and otherwise throw a projectile. You can also macro, for example, Fz if your javelins are on z to throw a javelin.



7) Don't go in the Labyrinth.



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What if Okawaru isn't in the Temple?



You can take Gozag instead. If you do, try to make ring shops, and go for spells and/or Evocations instead of Throwing.



















