My Naga Wizard worshiping Nemelex Xobeh finally won after a long game. By the twenty-fifth level, undead servants, spells, stabbing, traps and decks of cards provided so much power that victory was inevitable.
In Zot Defense, Necromancy provides a clear and overwhelming advantage. Because my Naga began as a Wizard, which grants the maximum number of magic points, I relied upon the Summon Imp spell, awaiting a shadow imp that would put corpses to work as zombies and skeletons. Undead servants are essential to guard the Orb. After acquiring a Book of Necromancy, I was able to do it myself. (I tried playing a Necromancer before, but had a difficult time in the beginning due to lack of magic points.)
Nemelex Xobeh is the god to play in Zot Defense. He is sated by sacrificing the unresurrectible corpses and items which litter ZD. Leaving magic weapons scattered around the dungeon is poor practice, because hostiles may pick them up and use them as fuel for reproduction (acids) or as weapons (intelligent monsters). His decks of cards are quite powerful to begin with and increase in power as one learns Evocations.
Nagas are by far the easiest race to play in ZD (though not Crawl) due to their immunity to poison, ability to see invisible, robustness and moderate aptitude for spellcasting. The ability to spit poison is useful in the beginning. Many of the traditional disadvantages of Naga are rendered moot in Zot Defense. For instance, their slow movement speed is no great problem, because there is nowhere to go in ZD and seldom any need to escape monsters. In Zot Defense, monsters are not bloody-minded--they seek to desecrate the Orb, not kill the player. The Naga's inability to wear most forms of armor is less of a problem for the same reason. Armor interferes with spellcasting, anyway.
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