I've been starting characters in Roguelike instead of Adventure mode, since I felt I was getting sloppy with the extra lives. Well, I'm still getting sloppy, as Sparky the Shalore Archmage can attest.

Confronted by Wrathroot at the bottom of the Old Forest, I managed to hit him with a Flameshock to stun him for what, two turns? Except that you can only use one of those turns. Put two attacks in a row and the big # gets to move after your second turn. And then it was freeze, and then Stun, and hit and hit and then freeze again and poor Sparky is history.

Part of the problem was not maxxing the big three attack spells: Flame, Lightning and Manathrust. I knew I wasn't putting out enough damage, I should have gone grinding levels until I had at least Flame and Lightning maxxed.

Second part of the problem was I didn't try to Freeze W or teleport away again instead of hitting him with that last Manathrust. I knew it wasn't going to kill him, and I know about the 'one less safe turn' for stun duration. But I wasn't thinking ahead.

Third part of the problem, I was impatient. I had already teleported off one time and he was almost completely regenn'ed before he found me again. So I thought I would risk one more hit. Whoops.