This guide assumes familiarity with the basic mechanics of the game. If you're completely new to Angband, check out the user's manual and just start playing, get into the dungeon and try, well, whatever seems to be prudent. You'll probably die rather quickly, but the following will make much more sense to you if you have just a little actual gameplay experience.

Players Guide to Angband

As borrowed from a classic rgra post, there's not much that you actually have to do. Your one and only mission is to slay Morgoth on dungeon level 100. In order to get there, you need to go down a lot of stairs and kill Sauron on dungeon level 99. That's about it – everything else is optional. Of course, before you can kill Sauron you'll need lots of experience and good equipment, but by the time you get that deep you'll have both. Just see to it that you don't die along the way.

The one and most important thing you need to get in your head is that you can't possibly kill every monster on every level. Think of the game as forays into the dungeon from which you want to return with cool stuff; think of the shallower levels as obstacles you need to overcome on your way deeper into the dungeon; or whatever you like. Just never-ever think of it as a killing spree. Until you find Sauron, your task is to survive and eventually get to level 99.

The next point is that you don't need to fight any particular monster (other than the big two). Yes, there might be a rather impressive hoard in that vault – but if the monsters guarding it are too many or too fierce, well, just give it a pass. Angband offers an endless supply of monsters and treasure and everything. There will always be another day – provided you live to see another day. Sometimes you just have to bug out and run for your life.

So, let me recap, the vital points of Angband are:

go down a lot of stairs kill Sauron (dl 99) kill Morgoth (dl 100) don't die

The last one should be in a 100pt font and blinking, really.

Quick start

From this point, the guide assumes that you are playing a fighting class (warrior, ranger, rogue or paladin) and race (Dunedain, High-Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc, Half-Troll.) First, use the 'cost-based' stats selection, and create a charcter with 3 or 4 blows (Don't pick a class/race combinations, like Dwarf Ranger, that can only get 2 blows.)

First, set your stats to get maximum blows. If you have a combination with good dexterity, select 18/10 dexterity, and then set your strength to 17 or 18. Set your spell-casting stat to something low but usable (~12), and spend the rest on constitution. For a beginning character, constitution is least important, because it doesn't add significant HP until well above 18.

Example character:

   [Angband 3.1.1 dev Character Dump]

  Name   Anar                                     Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
  Sex    Male         Age            120   STR:     18  +1  +2  +0  18/30
  Race   High-Elf     Height         107   INT:     11  +3  +2  +0     16
  Class  Ranger       Weight         200   WIS:     10  -1  +0  +0      9
  Title  Runner       Social     Unknown   DEX:     15  +3  +1  +0  18/10
  HP     15/15        Maximize         Y   CON:     16  +1  +1  +0     18
  SP     0/0                               CHR:     10  +5  +1  +0     16
 

  Level                1   Armor      [0,+2]     Saving Throw         50%
  Cur Exp              0   Fight     (+4,+3)     Stealth        Excellent
  Max Exp              0   Melee     (+4,+3)     Fighting            Good
  Adv Exp             23   Shoot     (+4,+0)     Shooting       Excellent
  MaxDepth          Town   Blows      3/turn     Disarming            35%
  Turns              881   Shots      1/turn     Magic Device      Superb
  Gold                70   Infra       40 ft     Perception       1 in 20
  Burden        40.7 lbs   Speed      Normal     Searching            27%

A Fighting Chance

For a melee character, the most important measure of power is how much damage he can do in a single turn. Consider the above cl 1 character with 3 blows from a Rapier(+7,+9), in a fight vs an out-of-depth Bullroarer, with no escapes, no ranged weapons, and no armor. On the face, he has no chance. However, if he can get in the first blow he in fact has a 71% chance of killing Bullroarer in a single turn, and a 95% chance of frightening him.
Further, with full buffing (!Hero, ?Blessing ?Berserk Strength), the character has an 81% chance of killing him in a single turn. As well as improving the to-hit probability from 91% to 95%, this corresponds to a 50% reduction in the chance of failure in a dangerous situation. Finally, assuming 'Anar' does win this battle, he gets 450 experience, and immediately goes jumps to cl 8.

Missile Damage

With proper preparation even a weak character has an almost guaranteed chance of killing Bullroarer, if you meet him at a distance (across a lighted room). An unenchanted longbow does 7.5 damage/shot with ordinary (unenchanted) arrows. However, flasks of oil do 7HP nominal damage when thrown, and do triple damage (21HP) vs fire-vulnerable monsters. Bullroarer has 60 HP, so even a small stack oil will finish him off.

Summary

1. Character power is more closely associated with damage output rather than HP or character level.
2. If you preserve your supplies, you can fight well above your weight. Early in the game, this means using flasks of oil against worthwhile targets; later in the game this means using branded or slaying "ego" ammunition. Good ammunition is too valuable to waste on less valuable targets (like red jellies, or groups of orcs.)
3. Buffing, generally with !Heroism, can be very helpful to get starting characters out of sticky situations.
4. Going deeper in the dungeon is often a more conservative (safer) strategy than staying at a shallow (cl < dl) depth. (cl: character level; dl: dungeon level)
5. HP and character level are easy to come by.

Starting Equipment

Fighting Power

Buy a light weapon that gives you the maximum possible blows, with the highest dice available. This is generally a Rapier, Main Gauche, or Dagger. If these are not available, you may be better of quitting and restarting.

Whenever you have left-over cash, consider spending it on increasing damage with Scrolls of Enchantment (to damage). If you have a longbow, enchant it first. Archery damage is comparable to melee damage with 3 blows, and it is much safer.

Plan to be deep

Always make sure to have a scroll of recall, even on your first trip into the dungeon. Monsters and items at dl 5 (250') and deeper are much (~100x) more valuable than items at dl 1. (The example above may be contrived, but it is representative.)

To survive deep(er) you will want:

1. Escapes:

   • 3+ ?Phase Door
   • 1 ?Recall

2. Protection from secondary effects (confusion, blindness, poison)

   • 1 !CLW (for identification and blindness)
   • 1+ !CSW (for identification confusion)

3. Buffing

   • 1 !Hero (for protection from fear.)

4. Ranged attack to soften up a (single) unique

   • ~5 Flasks of Oil to kill dangerous and/or valuable monsters (throw oil for damage with the 'v' throw command)
   • ~10-20 Iron shots (or arrows for Rangers) to throw at non-dangerous monsters with annoying side effects. (Stat drainers and acid damagers that are between you and the stairs down.) extra arrows for a ranger (shoot arrows with the 'f' fire command.) Shots can be reused; oil can't.

5. Armor

Don't bother with armor. In v3.1.0 and later, armor is very expensive in comparison to AC. You will find it in the dungeon soon enough.

Your starting equipment will include more than enough food and illumination for the first trip down.

The first trip

It's quite possible to get to 500' (dl 10) or deeper in the first trip into the dungeon. Plan to return when either you have enough stuff that your character will be significantly more powerful after reselling it, or if you run out of either escapes (?Phase door), protection from side-effects (curing potions), or damage (arrows if you are a ranger, flasks of oil if you are otherwise weak.)

Since you don't have much, don't spend it on less valuable monsters.

What to kill

1. Any mobs of monsters that you can defeat (kill or frighten) in a single turn and either give good experience (a pack of wolves) or good drops (weaker orcs, novice humans.) If you are deep enough, this is likely to increase your character by several levels in a single battle.
2. Uniques with good drops (Bullroarer, Brodda, Wormtongue)
3. Easy kills that are likely to drop something worthwhile.

What to ignore

1. Monsters that will damage or destroy gear. (jellies, water hounds, etc)
2. Non-valuable monsters that are likely to use up consumables (baby bronze dragons, groups of spell-casters in line-of-sight, etc)
3. Mobs that you can't dominate.
4. Uniques with escorts you can't dominate
5. Monsters at shallow depth. Drops for any given monster get better the deeper you go. Killing a novice mage at dl 1 generally gives nothing; at dl 20 he's likely to drop something worth hundreds of gold. Wormtongue has, on average, a noticeably better drop at dl 20 than dl 10.
6. Things that waste effort. (run-away breeders, low-EXP monsters with no drop. Just close the door and move on.)

What to avoid

1. Anything that can kill you in a single turn.

On Bad Luck

This is rule number one of angband: don't take unnecessary risks. If you take enough low-probability chances of death, you'll never survive to fight Sauron. Such deaths are generally called 'stupid', but that's not always accurate. Sometimes it's just bad luck. But given enough chances, you are guaranteed to receive it. It's the trick to extremely fast dives: the fewer moves you make, the less chance any one of them will be fatal, even if on average, your individual moves are riskier than in slower play. But the strategy applies more generally: unless you are exceedingly careful in play, messing around long enough at any one depth guarantees that something bad will eventually happen.

Notes

This topic has been covered elsewhere in greater or lesser detail. The original document, The Angband Newibes Guide TANG, includes great detail on survival at various depths, though it is, arguably, overly conservative in strategy.

This wiki page was initially written as an expansion on an rgra post, diving exercise for newbies.

Face-palm Tips

The preceding is good advice; however, it does not offer much more than generalizations, albeit valid, for the "intermediate" (?) player. The following is intended to state what many perceive to be blatantly obvious, hence "you did WHAT!" face-palm deaths. This really should be cleaned up and refactored, but placing here for now.

WARNING. I have yet to defeat angband. This is a compilation of some of the better tips I've learned while trying to explore the depths... (to Level ~35). Additional advice would be greatly appreciated!

MAX Weapons

The Alchemy Shop sells scrolls of Enchant Armor, Improve Damage, and Improve Hit. There's nothing wrong with improving your equipment that way. Each successive enchantment has a lower chance of success than the previous one, but up to +8 or +10 that's money well spent. Don't fall prey to something in the dungeon, just because you didn't max your weapons and therefore had to fight longer until ... it wears you down and YASD!

Use that stuff

Angband has potions, spell books, wands, staffs, rods, activate-able items, melee weapons, ranged weapons, and whatnot. They're meant to be used, for crying out loud! It can take a while to get used to using all the different types of items, but they work best when used in concert.

Rangers have a bow

Really a subset of the previous point, but it happens so often... Don't try to play a ranger like a warrior -- rely on the bow!

Stockpile!

Players may not be inclined to carry multiples of an item, or do so in a limited quantity, perhaps due to weight encumbrance concerns. Don't be afraid to carry a LOT of an item, particularly the basics -- food, light, projectiles, cure potions, "run away" scrolls, etc. Don't be afraid to MAX OUT important items!

An item you don't use is useless

Common fallacy: you find an incredibly powerful Staff of Mighty BOOM! (3 charges), or a single Potion of become Chuck Norris, and then you keep carrying it around and never actually use it. It could be a life insurance, but you might still reconsider your strategy: maybe you've become too careful lately (Angband rewards deliberate risk-taking, after all). Or maybe you should just sell the thing and invest the money into something you do use.

The dungeon is dark

Players will readily note that corridors are unlit; however, what may not be blatantly obvious is that the dungeon gets darker with depth, until it's pitch black. ALWAYS carry a light source. DON'T drop a light source for more loot!

You can RUN AWAY

There is NO RULE that you have to clean out a dungeon -- AT ALL. See something you can't handle? Don't be afraid to leave -- NOW. Sure you could try to avoid it, but then again, it could be a hummerhorn. Half way through the level? You can still LEAVE NOW. Nearly finished with the level? You can still leave NOW. Think of it as a tactical strike, not a genocide mission.

Get away NOW!

Sure, you should pay more attention and not get yourself in a next turn = death situation, but this is not always avoidable and no one (presumably) is so meticulously patient. ALWAYS carry get away items -- Phase Door, Teleport, Recall, Teleport Level, etc. When you can, stockpile those that work NOW. If a unique starts chasing you, you don't want to be waiting for Recall to kick in.

Level 1 is still there

Don't forget that you can always replay, and re-re-play the early levels for ANY reason whatsoever. Recalled from a depth too deep? Dive from level 1 and reset the depth. Want to fill your armor slots? Need a few more gold? Even if you're on a streak diving through the dungeon, step back and reassess whether you want to return to an earlier level -- you never know what could be lurking around the corner.

Blackmarket Deals

Don't be afraid to buy from the "blackmarket". Sure the prices are more expensive than the other stores, but it tends to offer a good selection of items and it can be worth the gold versus not having it in the dungeon. You can always get more gold, but the RNG is random. It's just another store -- don't worry about the name.

Try a Different Strategy

Sure, what you're doing kinda works, but your characters keep dying off. Playing conservatively? Try playing a character as though the "iron-man" stairs setting is in effect. You'll probably want some ranged weapons for this, but you may be surprised how fast you can level if you DIVE! Granted, the lower levels are harder, but the deeper you go, the more experience per kill you get. Still fight conservatively, but dive aggressively. Once you character has gotten a decent complement of items and spells ... (what next?). Don't be afraid to throw away characters -- DIVE aggressively until you get a good feel for your character and you've leveled up.

More?

Hopefully the above will be of some use to someone. Please contribute other "face-palm" tips for those of us who are still trying to make their way through the dungeon!