Yer a blizzard Harry!

What do you find OP about wands? A few things to consider:

• Easy to identify curses with small detrimental effects
• They have no strength requirements
• No need to identify them (either cursed or otherwise effect is known)
• Unlimited range ammo over time
• Damage ignores armor
• Hits ignore evasion, essentially guarantees a hit
• Applies status effects, which can be very useful

Do you upgrade them at all? Swarm Intelligence means you will fight many enemies at the same time. In this run, I had I spent half (4 upgrades) on my Wand of Fireblast. It often crippled targets while doing area-of-effect damage (AoE) which is great crowd control, on top of making a ton of damage over time (DOT), was easy to renew by kiting enemies through a door or grass which renews fire debuff. So yea :)

Which wands stand out for you? Corrosion and Fireblast both have great AoE and DOT. Best two in my opinion. Disintegration is also very powerful since it can pierce terrain and do bonus damage per terrain/enemy pierced! Lightning has the best immediate damage wand, use it when the initial target is in water to increase damage and arc radius to 2 tiles. Corruption can debuff crippled, slowed, or chilled making slow-kiting enemies possible, strong with soul-mark and Warlock build. Blast Wave yoinks enemies off chasms, onto traps, and creates distance. Very fun. Warding can set up a safety room, or before bosses (including two phases of Tengu, DM-300 pylons, Dwarf King, Yog). great way to check for enemies when playing the 'Into Darkness' challenge.

Yes, Pharmacophobia is an absolutely cruel challenge, and IMO the most difficult by far.

Combined with Barren Land you lose the ability to heal from Waterskin and Sungrass.

Your main ways of healing would be:

• Dying and resurrecting with Ankhs (safe on boss levels)
• Well of Health, it also cures starvation, so it is a lifesaver!
• Passive health regen (when not hungry)
• Potion of Cleansing (Upgraded Potion of Purity) cures harmful effects such as starving, thus allowing for passive HP regen!
• Scroll of Lullaby (Once you are not starting)
• Leveling up gives you 5 extra hp
• Vampiric enchantment is very strong (life steal on hit)
• Eating Meat Pie boosts HP regen, healing for 25 HP or 9 HP when 'On Diet' challenge
• Class-specific ways, such as Warrior talents, Mage soul-mark, Dualist meditation and Challenge, etc.

On having less SoU, due to the 'Faith is My Armor' challenges armour is completely useless, so you invest the scrolls into wands, rings and weapons. In my run, I spent 4 upgrades on the wand of Fireblast, 3 on Whip and one on the Ring of Furur. I augmented my Cloth armor for evasion and together with Evasive Armor talent I had a decent chance to avoid hits. And used freerunning to kite enemies and kill them using the range of the Whip, Fireblasts also cripples when upgraded, which really helps. Early on I would use my cloak to create distance with enemies instead. Hope that helps :)

The game is very difficult, don't feel discouraged.

Remember you can take time between turns, most of the time when I die I am rushing through or being greedy. Take it slow, use everything you have and avoid damage as much as possible. You got this :)

Well, here are a few tips that you might find helpful:

• Invest in defence and avoid taking damage whenever possible.
• Try to identify potions and scrolls as soon as possible.
• Once you die check your inventory, was there anything you could've used? Healing pot, Invisible pot, runes, etc. Next time you die you should have nothing in your inventory, I guarantee you would have progressed further if you had not won the game.
• Don't fight multiple enemies at the same time, backtrack to a corridor
• Wands are OP, use as much as possible
• Always use surprise attacks (enemies going through doors, walking around a pillar, using grass, etc)

Good luck, you got this!

Congrats on beating the game, adding the 'Badder Bosses' challenge is super fun and a great way to start :)