You can kill an emperor lich if you can get to speed 2, which is its speed. A mage or ranger can do this with the spell of haste self; anyone else needs a staff of speed, potion of haste self, or permanent speed item. You will also need about 10 cure critical wounds or cure serious wounds potions, and some item giving you free action. You also need some ranged spell attack. Liches take double damage from lightning in 5.x versions, so the spell of lightning bolt or wand of lightning balls is a good choice. Rogues and warriors will need several wands, with a total of about 30 charges to guarantee that they can kill the lich with them. A priest or paladin has Orb of Draining, which is even better. Now, try to line up with the lich while you are not adjacent to it, either in a room or a corridor. This gives you a chance to cast your spell. The lich will get one action. If it cast a spell and you resisted, or the spell didn't do anything harmful, you have another chance. If you were confused or blinded, drink a cure wounds potion; the lich isn't adjacent to you, so it can't hurt you. If the lich moved and is now adjacent to you, move back. Try to avoid getting cornered, and phase door or portal away if you are. A priest can make this easier by putting down a glyph of warding, but this must be done *before* the lich chases you across the glyph. (Don't stand on the glyph; it isn't foolproof.) If you run low on mana and don't have a wand, teleport out and come back later to finish the job. A priest with glyph of warding can also set up the following configuration (the exact length doesn't matter as long as you are within spell range): #L##### #^^...@ ####### The lich cannot cast spells from this position, because it cannot see you. As long as it doesn't break the glyphs, you are safe, and can fire Orb of Draining down the corridor; the lich will take some damage each time. If the lich breaks either glyph, run or teleport out, and continue the battle elsewhere. I do not advise trying this technique against an AMHD; it will probably break a glyph before the battle is over, and if your teleport spell fails, or if you haven't hasted yourself, the AMHD gets a chance to breathe. An emperor lich has 1520 hit points, plus anything additional that it gains by draining mana (6 points per mana point drained) and charges (40 points per charge). Never let it attack you in melee, because it can destroy your wands, healing itself in the process, as well as draining your experience and dexterity. If you can get to speed 3, faster than the lich, it is easy to kill; just fight, move back, fight, move back, and so on. You will still need a lot of cure wounds potions, unless you let it chase you around a pillar, as in the AMHD technique.