If you want to play without external help like a guide or a spoiler, it is almost impossible to get anywhere because the game only gives you little hint of what is happening at a given time.<p>Using &quot;spoiler file&quot; or wiki, will give you a rough overview of the creature&#x27;s strength and ability, weapon effectiveness, etc. This is helpful but is not enough to win.<p>To win you must understand deeply (grok) all the different mechanisms of the game (hunger, prayer, sacrifice, alchemy, intrisics, etc) and then have a strategy.<p>This guide allowed me to ascend :
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alt.org&#x2F;nethack&#x2F;mirror&#x2F;homepage.mac.com&#x2F;mhjohnson&#x2F;mag-r342.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alt.org&#x2F;nethack&#x2F;mirror&#x2F;homepage.mac.com&#x2F;mhjohnson&#x2F;ma...</a><p>This is counter intuitive but the early game is much harder, once you have found the right items, identified important scrolls and potions (about finishing gnome mine &amp; sokoban) the game becomes much easier. And if you are well prepared everything beyond the Valley of Death is kinda boring and &quot;easy&quot;. For a first ascension, it is probably wiser to chose an easy class (valkyrie, barbarian, knight, wizard).<p>Key strategy for the early game are : using your pet to identify cursed items, to not level up too quickly because the generated monster will become too tough, when in a desperate spot engraving &quot;Elbereth&quot; with your fingers might save you a few times[0], praying at the right time, etc<p>A full game with a successful ascension is about 20-30 hours. However you probably need 50-100 hours of failed attempt to learn the rope first. And it can be frustrating at times because even if you know the game better, it will take some times to make a breakthrough and survive the early levels.<p>Lastly if you really want to learn fast, play on a public server, and when you are in a very tough spot, you can (at least you could) ask people on #Nethack on Freenode for advice.<p>In the end, the game is very satisfying, because even if there is a big element of luck, once you know the game well, this is your skill as a player that will determine if you live or die, and this is really rewarding.