YAVP: Charlatan's Orb + Evocable Manual + Ashenzari Gnoll + Wizardry = Most Enjoyable Run in the Streak!

Run 26 in my GnIE^Ash streak has probably been one of the most fun so far. I'm writing a guide for this character to come at a later date, but this build was so good that I had to share it right away.

TLDR: Polar Vortex, MCC, Revivification online before 2nd rune, Dragon's Call online right after, and Platinum Paragon to top it off for an easy 3-rune win. Seed has tons of Aquirement scrolls, plus an Alchemist Hat in an early shop and everything else you see here.

Morgue and Seed for Trunk: 15354588378162489856

So I had never used Charlatan's Orb before, I wasn't even certain how it was going to work until I got some clarification in the Discord. But I popped it on where I found it on D11 and immediately get 2.5 levels into every skill - which, on a Gnoll of Ash, is pretty bonkers. I was casting Polar Vortex on my way through Shoals where I felt very fragile, but having Revivification online and knowing that Fighting would hit 27 before Zot made me feel a little more daring.

Every skill was above 23 at the end, with several maxed out, in just a simple 3-rune with no extra zones other than Elf. And people say Gnolls aren't supposed to cast L9 spells!

Platinum Paragon with The Finisher is, as others have said, very very strong. Just the fact that it's smite summoned is probably OP by modern DCSS standards, but it is L9 after all. Another thing that I had never used before and has made it's way to a top pick for me going forward.

2 other things becoming standard in my tool kit after this game: Summon Forest and Maw Talisman. Summon Forest has been a surprisingly consistent mid-game filler for me. It's far stronger than the wiki page would lead me to believe, and it absolutely gets taken every game where it shows up now. The mana-effency, damage, and crowd control is really hard to beat at 5 mana. Maw form is just a no-brainer on a caster now that it doesn't meld anything. You loose 1-2 AC in exchange for good melee aux damage and a heal - I've also been finding a randart version about every game lately and it's just like, why not?

Overall, I just wish Charlatan's Orb was more common. The biggest downside is that it's not a shield, it just makes you so strong that the other downsides don't seem to register (N=1 game, to be fair). But, if I was going to find it, I'm glad to have found it on the Gnoll of Ash just so that it got (the most efficient?) use.

I've ascended a GnIE^Ash just about every other day for a while now. I love this character, it's my favourite way to enjoy what the floor god has to offer; but I would be lying if I wasn't thinking about trying the new Revanant, Polterguist, Mak and Dith. When I started practicing this build, I had aimed to make it to the top 100 streaks - that was several games ago now.

We'll see how far it goes from here!