|||That was pretty amusing. Those spirits look so awkward when moving slowly.|||lolwut?
Nice music
Btw, that hdin sucks big time... I mean... Looks like he thinks he can tank something like 50 spirits... Why is it that he insists on teleporting into spirits instead of charge a bit around?|||What music is that?|||PLAY HIM OFF KEYBOARD CAT!
Greetings all. Finally got a hold of new CD keys two weeks ago and already rocking US East Ladder with my lvl 85 Fishy, Nechromancer (the best one of all time, get it?) Killing in Hell is slow, but possible. I wanted some input on how to improve things with my very very limited resources.
Spirit Crystal Sword
Harlequin Crest w/ P. Topaz
Skulder's w/ P. Topaz
28% Magic Find amulet
+1 Necro skills rare trophy
Sander's Riprap
M'Avina's belt
Ravenfrost
Angelic's Ring
Chancies
Might merc with Tal's Helm, Rattlecage and Hone Sudan w/ 3x Amn runes for leech.
Merc dies around act 4 hell often, but everywhere else is doable.
I know where my gear can improve, the advice I am looking for is how to best improve it with only an Um rune to trade.
Also, I checked on here that a hunter's bow can have 4 sockets but the socketing quest only put in 3. What's up with that?|||Pit runs should be pretty doable and friendly for your merc. CE is great in there. Quick runs of Eldritch/Shenk/Pindle in act 5 are also good spots to find useful gear. Those 4 are all places where you don't really need to teleport to get to, which is helpful for you to keep your runs efficient. Try to get stuff for your merc first to make him able to survive CS. That place is great (lvl85), you don't need teleport to get to it, and there is a boss at the end. Or maybe try using the lifetap curse if you have it to keep the merc alive, and then switch to amp once a few baddies drop to CE the rest. Might take a little longer, but you could possible survive some areas where you (or your merc) couldn't before.|||Where are your skill points distributed?
The obvious improvements will be to your mercs gear. A bigger, badder weapon, as well as some better armor will work wonders. I'd recommend one or more of the following for cheap:
Insight polearm-the highest damage stick you can get, a few nightmare countess runs should get you the runes you need.
Bonehew-should be able to get for a few Pgems
Duriels shell-more pgems
I prefer either crown of thieves or guillames face as the helm. Depends on how much LL you need. You'll see big improvements in killing speed if you upgrade to Guillames face. Once again, you can probably get it for a few pgems.
Obviously, if you can afford it, upgrading to infinity or obedience will be a hugh improvement, as wells as fortitude or CoH.
You can get rid of the angelics ring and replace it with almost anything and it will be an improvement. Your gear is not sufficient to be meleeing, in which case angelics is completely USELESS. I would also get rid of Ravenfrost. The AR adds nothing to your build and the cannot be frozen doesn't help a fishy very much. Better choices for rings would be ones that add resists, MF or FCR (preferably all three). Later on you can upgrade to BKs or SOJs if necessary.
Good luck.|||Obedience in an eth cryptic axe would be my first choice, followed by Treachery in any elite armor. Eth is always better but don't sweat it if you can't find/trade for eth items; normal ones should be easy enough to get. Guillame's face is nice but I think the high damage and ias given by obedience/treachery together with tal's mask makes for a much sturdier merc.
You'll hopefully soon find better jewelry to replace those... Then a +2/3 all/summon skills amulet, and lastly Homunculus.
The socket quest always give you the maximum number of sockets the item can have, but that depends not only on which item it is but also on the item level. The item level depends on the area level, i.e. in which area of the game it dropped.
Sockets
Area levels|||Cool cool. All sounds like good advice. Skills are standard fishy with my own preferences:
20 in RS, SM, CE
5 in Clay Golem, Golem Mastery
1 in everything else, remaining points going to Mages, currently ~9 hard points in.|||Insight in elite ethereal polearm is nr 1 thing to get for your merc.|||be sure to get a few points into revives as well
now, for gear:
drop the spirit sword, shop for a wand with +2/3 to summoning skills and +2/3 to raise skeletons, this will do better then the spirit.
For shield, try to trade a homunculus, It's worth pul or less iirc.
the belt's pretty ****ty, get anything else
Quote:
Insight in elite ethereal polearm is nr 1 thing to get for your merc.
it's really not that important to put your insight in an elite polearm, the runes can be found by yourself (just run nightmare countess a bit) and somewhere along the ride you'll find some polearm with 4 sockets, just use that one for now. You can swap to hone sundan when you're fighting a boss, because IIRC, it has a slow targets buff, so you could cast amp damage in stead of decrep, for some added damage.|||Quote:
Cool cool. All sounds like good advice. Skills are standard fishy with my own preferences:
20 in RS, SM, CE
5 in Clay Golem, Golem Mastery
1 in everything else, remaining points going to Mages, currently ~9 hard points in.
I would take those points out of the golem skills and put more into either mages or Dim vision. Your plus skills should make your clay golem nearly invulnerable at this point and his slow % should be WAY more than enough when combined with decrep. Pumping more hard points into him adds very little but costs a lot in the other skills.
I find mages to be the most useful (more damage, more meatshields, more variety of damage) but if you prefer, you can go with those points in some utility skills.
Make sure you post an update with results.|||Well guys, I am experienced having played for over three years before now, so I already knew Insight would be my next big upgrade (Mana is not much of an issue, I would probably have just up'd my Hone Sudan had I been in possession of the right runes.)
HOWEVER, I made a crucial noob error along the way. I knew that it didn't matter much the kind of stick from which the 'word was made, however since mana wasn't a huge issue and my 21% LL 45% CB Hone was doing so VERY well at keeping my merc alive and doing decent damage in Hell, I wanted to make it in NO LESS than an exceptional. So, I came onto this trusty site, as I lovways do and checked which sticks have a maximum of eight sockets, figuring the easiest way would be to find any decent white stick and use the quest on it myself.
I found out that BILLS and all versions of them have 4 sockets, and sure enough I found a colossus voulge in a Baal run and got all excited, socketing it and making the Insight and then...
... realizing the required strength for a colossus voulge.
I was quite disappointed.
So I decided that now, since I am alternating between a Skulders and Rattlecage for him anyway, I go and make him a Lionheart as well. At lvl 85, the Might merc has 186 strength, and the 25 strength on Lionheart will put him one point over. It also has decent resist, a minor damage boost and LOTS of lufe of course, and Lionheart will be very useful in my collection.
Since my last post, I have come across Trang Oul's Scales and a Naj's Puzzler, both of which help IMMENSELY.
Will you all give me your opinions on what is the best merc base weapon for runewords? Number of available sockets aside, based on speed and sdamage, which is best out of the spears and polearms?
Oh, and yes I put one point in Revive as well as Lower Resist, with NONE in Fire Golem don't worry : P
I find that LR is awesome for the very rare physical immune who can't break and for party play. Oh man I was in a game with a lightning sorc and amazon. I Immediately swapped up to LR and I couldn't run fast enough to keep up with Sander's and Trang's on.|||When it comes to merc weapons, I prefer an eth. Cryptic Axe. Highest average damage of all poles and up to 5 sockets. Strength requirements are fairly low as well.
This question has probably been asked before but how to find that in this huge forum? I don't know...
I have returedn to my Fishymancer, DeadLarry, to take him the final acts in Hell. I stopped after act 1 because I needed some challenge and now decided to take him further. The only problem I am facing is the physical immunes.... They come in huge packs and then they bring their friends the Corebellies!!! Some uniques and champions in the pack and I am dead. Well not me but my skellies and my loyal moron.
Regular fishy.
Merc = might merc with Honor runeword as weapon. Might be a little weak in the armor but not that bad.
I have some mages as well but they die before I have time to say Amp Damage!
I am currently trying to get through Tal Rasha's tomb to find Duriel.
Any good advice?|||Amplify Damage didn't work? That should actually deal with almost all PIs.|||Actually, It works for a single PI and all my skellies working that same target. When there are 4-5 of them (with some unique also) they just don't have enough power and there is no way to run to spread them out.
It should be enough with 1 point in Amp, right? At least that's in all the guides.
There was also one situation with a... ehh.. what are they called? The summonoers that raise their own skellies in the tomb? With a wolf head sort of? Anyway. I encountered a champoin of those and the Amp didn't work there either. There was no golden cloud over his head and there was almost no damage to him by my entire army??|||I thought Act 2 was a breeze. I just CEd everything I saw. Also, try reviving the blunderbores instead of blowing them up. They're good for heavy damage. For the immunes, revive the fire lords if there are any around. If Amp isn't taking away their immunity, then cast lower resist on them and let your mages and fire lords toast them.
The champion unraveler you speak of was probably a Possessed champion. Possesseds cannot be cursed. They're a real pain for necros. Your best bet is to CE him as much as possible.|||Hmm... I will try that. I haven't used that much revives before, simply because it has not been needed.
Thanks for the suggestion!|||Afaik amp will break all phys immunities except for stone skin champions so the problem might be a lack of +skills and a good merc weapon. Does your merc have the might aura?|||He does. And he also has a rather good Honor runeword polearm. (I just found a tomb reaper that is GREAT! But he needs to be level 84 so I could level in Nightmare or something. He is currently level 77|||Grats on the tomb reaver, you should see a big difference in your killing speed with that thing. How many sockets does it have? The next attack speed breakpoint for him will be 92 ias. I'd put amn runes in the weapon and give him a treachery armor and guillame's face.
I think you'll level too slowly in nightmare. Maybe try some pit runs? It's in the tamoe highland, act 1, in case you didn't know.|||77 should be ok for hell, but there's nothing wrong with leveling either. Check http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=512 to determine the best location, right now A2 hell and up would be best (I simply assumed you're level 77 as well... if not, buy a new merc, but strip the old one of the gear first ^^).
I'm still surprised you have trouble with the PIs, I can't remember having that. Hubb said correctly that there are only rare types of monster that will stay PI after an amp, in particular the "normal" mobs never stay PI, so they usually die quite easily. What type exactly are you talking about (other than those revivers)? Not being able to apply Amp might also be a positioning problem, D2 is a bit buggy there, try to move the mobs in that case. What's your skilltree? I do drag around 13-15 mages, they do help of course, but I didn't have those when levelling really...
(e) I don't like life leech on my merc really, check http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=765905 for some discussion on the issue.|||The ones that are causing problems are the Wraiths (different sorts. Apparations etc). I have problem if there is only one also but at least then it is doable, yet slow...
Yea, we are both lvl 77 so I guess we will hit the Pits or the Acient Tunnels. That is also lvl 85, right? Maybe in some time I will do it /p8 to get extra points :-)
Why do summonmancers use arm of king Leoric when pre-buffing skeletons? Skeleton mastery is applied to skeletons when they're summoned right (and not afterwards)? Wouldn't a wand with +3 summon tree, +3 raise skeleton and +3 skeleton mastery be better? Aokl gives +5 to raise skeleton and +4 to raise mages while normal wands with good autamods can give 6 points to them (and then of course switch to a +3 mage +3 skeleton mastery and +3 summon wand when summoning mages). I understand they must be rare, but why do the guides list aokl as end-game equipment?|||Basically because of the sheer rarity of a wand like that. There are so many possible combinations on magical wands that a wand like that would be VERY rare, assuming it is possible (didn't check AS for the mods but I assume it is quite possible). AKoL is much more common, and is used as a suggestion. If you have a wand that gives +6 RS +6 Summon Mastery, then by all means use it. But trying to shop for a wand isn't as time effecient as compared to just using the AKoL and doing MF runs using the same amount of time. (Assuming that your using your Necromancer for MF runs)
Depending on your build, whether you use mages or not, magical wands can defenately be a better choice for prebuffs. It's just not every day that you find wands with mods like that.|||Good luck finding a rare wand with better mods than AOKL for a summoner.|||The item generation tutorial covers this. You can only get tier 1 staffmods (includes both RS and SM) on items with ilvl up to 24. Golemlord's is a level 60 affix, so with the +1 magic level on the normal/exceptional wands you need a ilvl of at least 59.
I seem to recall that there's a way to manipulate the cube recipes to get them together, but that combo will never spawn otherwise. So the best you can hope for normally is +3 RS/+3 SM/+1 summoning, which is a +4/+4 and inferior to AoKL.|||Does the same apply to rares?|||Yep. +1/2/3 to a tree are level 20/40/60 affixes, +1/2 to all are 30/50. So of them all, the only one you'll normally see on an item with tier 1 staffmods is +1 to a tree.
Oh yeah, and I remember now how you pull the cube trick. When figuring affixes, if the ilvl is less than the qlvl of the item, then the affix calculation uses qlvl instead. So if you take a low-quality Unearthed Wand and reroll it to normal quality with the Eld+chip recipe (sets ilvl=1), you have an ilvl 1 item (so it can get tier 1 staffmods) with qlvl 86, which could get affixes up to level 73.
So in theory, you could get a +3/+3 Golemlord's wand that way. Ridiculously difficult and rare, though.|||Ok, I'll try it out when my character is perfect in every other way. Thanks|||As fas as I understand an imbue with a low level can spawn the lvl1 staffmods and if the qlvl is high enough can also spawn all other useful mods (but no magic-only so can't get +3 summoning).|||Can it get +2 to necro skills and +2 to summoning at the same time though?|||No.
I have been playing a summon necro for a while now wearing full trangs set. The set worked really well. Lately, all this talk about UT got me excited, and I have been slowly trying to get him ready to maybe do the ubers one day, but I am completely new with this except for what I read in these forums.
So yesterday I was doing some MF, boom, the screen shook, diablo walks the earth. That was the first time ever in all my years of playing diablo. I got so excited, forgot to even pre-buff with BO (just got CTA yesterday, haven't even assigned hot keys yet). It took a while, my merc died twice during the process, and had to come out and re-build my army once, but finally took him down. So here are some of my questions:
1. Uber Tristrom, how does that compare with diablo clone? Much harder I would think since I will deal all three at once.
2. Should I be using life tap instead of decrepify to keep my merc alive? He is wearing good gear, kiras (66 resist all), eth duress, and bonehew socketed with two amns. Have been trying to get him eth obedience CA.
3. Can I wear my torch when go to UT? I had to mule away my anni before I could pick another one up.
Thanks for your advice.|||Not having done UT myself (also preparing, wanted to do it last weekend, lost my keys sadly) I think that dclone is quite a bit easier than the UT thingies. A nice idea is prebuffing your merc with the treachery runeword. Did you take urdars to dclone? The only thing that dies there are my mages, and they're quite squishy indeed.
You can wear your torch, but you can't pick up a second one. Ymmv, but I'm gonna carry mine and then get in my 2nd char to pick up the new torch.|||Quote:
Not having done UT myself (also preparing, wanted to do it last weekend, lost my keys sadly) I think that dclone is quite a bit easier than the UT thingies. A nice idea is prebuffing your merc with the treachery runeword. Did you take urdars to dclone? The only thing that dies there are my mages, and they're quite squishy indeed.
You can wear your torch, but you can't pick up a second one. Ymmv, but I'm gonna carry mine and then get in my 2nd char to pick up the new torch.
I will be wearing mine too then. Could use all the help that I can get. No, I did not bring any Uders. I have found that revives got lost quite easily. If I walk just a litter faster, they are gone before I even realized it.
Treachery? I will check that out.
Thanks.|||Yes, revives without teleport are a problem. But get teleport, a Naj's Puzzler on switch will suffice, and is cheap to get. If all else fails, I sell a spellsteel, it's even cheaper. Urdars are awesome for those things (they have CB). Also, you don't need to walk, once you have the urdars, portal, then use the waypoint, then only some meters into the ut porta, and there you are.|||Ubers themselves are slightly harder than DClone (especially Meph...), but it's essentially the same type of fight. Note that you should also be taking them one by one, not all 3 at once either :P
There are a few posts related to UT as a summoner you can search for, which mainly illustrate how to use Revives with CB + Tele, but IMO it's quite the engagement regardless. I've only ever done it with a Zmiter, and a Jabberzon (which failed in the end--but I'm going back for more lol)...|||Ok, that is encouraging. The fight was hard, but also very exciting, a nice diversion from the endless mf runs. I think that I'm addicted now. I'm always worried that if I go in UT the wrong way, I may accidentally engage more than one of them at once.|||Uber meph is harder, UT diablo is harder, and uber baal is maybe a little easier.
Good thread with decent advice for UT summoner. I'm partial to my posts but that's just me:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=730947|||That is some good information indeed. Should I socket the Kira's with um for all resists or an ort for more lightening resist? And between decrepify and life tap, which one is better for keeping the merc alive?
Thanks.|||I never socket an Um into any type of headgear. You can get jewels with +15% resist all (which is what you'd get from an Um anyway), and if you are lucky, you may even have one with a second affix.|||If your merc still needs resists against uber meph after obedience and kira then you should really keep leveling.
Decrepify is the only curse you should use against Ubers. For the minions I prefer terror and dim vision. Life tap may seem like a good idea but you're better off stocking some fat purples and sticking with decrep.
But I mean actual N00bie, not "I'm a n00bie hardcore necro in Hell having trouble with Arcane." We're talking incompetent n00bie.
Seven or so years ago, Necros were my favorite class and I ran around just fine with not a lot of thought to min/maxing skills. Mybe the game was easier then, I don't know. But my 30 lvl Bone/Golem necro cannot for the life of him slay efficiently. Bone Spear (7) and Corpse Explosion (3) are incredibly mana intensive, and that's how this necro kills. I have 6 in Golem Mastery, which is fine as long as I'm not swarmed. I naturally have pre-reqs in most Curses.
But without Skeletons, he's extremely delicate and can run into trouble quite easily. I started a Fire Druid just for fun to see the difference and it's been absolute cake with the Druid as opposed to the necro. While I realize both classes play differently, I must be doing something wrong. Questions to follow:
1) For a basic Bone necro, is Golem Mastery worth it at all if you are shunning Skeletons?
2) What Golem is best to use for Bone necros?
3) Mana is always a problem with BS and CE. What tactics should I adopt so I am not constantly chugging potions?
4) Curses are now really annoying for me to use well. I use Amp for 2-3 mobs, Decrep for bosses, but what do I use for the mass hordes in all acts? Confuse? Life Tap? Attract? It seems nobody uses Iron Maiden anymore, but that was always my standby when the fetishes attacked.
5) Obviously, the whole Golem Mastery may not be working with a Bone build, but what else can I be doing in Bone to be more efficient with synergies?
6) this may be silly, but has anyone ever tried boosting Bone Wall + Irron Maiden? Just wondering.
Thanks for any advice!|||
Just to add more confusion to the mix I'd mention that terror is very useful for personal safety and that carefully placed bone prisons trigger less monsters than bonewall but when it comes down to it stealth armour, a fast pair of boots and the willingness to run away in hardcore normal counts for a lot. |||Quote:
But I mean actual N00bie, not "I'm a n00bie hardcore necro in Hell having trouble with Arcane." We're talking incompetent n00bie.
Seven or so years ago, Necros were my favorite class and I ran around just fine with not a lot of thought to min/maxing skills. Mybe the game was easier then, I don't know. But my 30 lvl Bone/Golem necro cannot for the life of him slay efficiently. Bone Spear (7) and Corpse Explosion (3) are incredibly mana intensive, and that's how this necro kills. I have 6 in Golem Mastery, which is fine as long as I'm not swarmed. I naturally have pre-reqs in most Curses.
But without Skeletons, he's extremely delicate and can run into trouble quite easily. I started a Fire Druid just for fun to see the difference and it's been absolute cake with the Druid as opposed to the necro. While I realize both classes play differently, I must be doing something wrong. Questions to follow:
1) For a basic Bone necro, is Golem Mastery worth it at all if you are shunning Skeletons?
2) What Golem is best to use for Bone necros?
3) Mana is always a problem with BS and CE. What tactics should I adopt so I am not constantly chugging potions?
4) Curses are now really annoying for me to use well. I use Amp for 2-3 mobs, Decrep for bosses, but what do I use for the mass hordes in all acts? Confuse? Life Tap? Attract? It seems nobody uses Iron Maiden anymore, but that was always my standby when the fetishes attacked.
5) Obviously, the whole Golem Mastery may not be working with a Bone build, but what else can I be doing in Bone to be more efficient with synergies?
6) this may be silly, but has anyone ever tried boosting Bone Wall + Irron Maiden? Just wondering.
Thanks for any advice!
1) golem is mainly used as a tank or distraction. i would say 1 pt is fine
2) clay for a lot of life and slow. insight iron golem is cheap too, but you got to make sure it stays alive
3) get mana from equipment. you shouldnt be adding any pts to energy
4) maxing ce will be awesome. along with amp you can clear the whole screen in seconds. i like to throw dim vision in there as it makes monster halt in there tracks
5) bone build is not great for pvm, your main killing power will be ce+amp. if you really want to use spear and spirit, max synergies like you said and get more fcr cos it will make you shoot faster and equip with +skills
6) yes. afaik it returned damage in the last patch. wont really do much dmg on hell tho|||Thanks, Tarantella and MarShenk.
Marshenk: no more points in Golem Mastery? My golems, unless properly sheparded, die quickly enough as it is and then I am totally exposed (I have an Act 3 Lightning Merc currently)
I don't hear of any necros of any build using Fire or Blood. What are they used for primarily?
Had no idea Bone build wasn't good for PvM. What is fcr?
Marshenk: no more points in Golem Mastery? My golems, unless properly sheparded, die quickly enough as it is and then I am totally exposed (I have an Act 3 Lightning Merc currently)
I don't hear of any necros of any build using Fire or Blood. What are they used for primarily?
Had no idea Bone build wasn't good for PvM. What is fcr?
Thanks again!
If you are using clay you can recast
There are alot of skills where 1 pt will be fine. This imo includes golem mastery. If you have +skills equipment it will boost golem life etc. Same goes for summon resist.
If you are concerned about monster packs then maybe you can use act2 freeze merc which will provide even more slow.
Fire golem is mainly used for player v player psnmancer battles as the aura get rid of the annoying 1pt life left. I havent seen blood golem used in a while.
By all means try whatever, theres always the respec option |||Thanks, MarShenk. I threw 5 pts into Golem Mastery and we'll see how that serves me. I will have to start thinking of Curses and effects that can slow monster packs to give me breathing space.
Since I respecced, Nightmare has been certainly doable with Gumby and the Lightning merc. However, I have to proceed very carefully, though that's probably par for the course in NM.
So as to save mana, I Curse monster packs and then slow them with my bow, and then BS or CE for the coup de grace. Works fine for now, but we'll see. Thanks again.
I'm finally done with NM Baal. I have my necro decked out with only marginally good stuff, but he's at 250MF, so that's something. About to take my first step into the pits, which will be my destination for quite a while. Wish me luck!
EDIT Oh god Oh god Oh god do not go in there!
I was met immediately by two boss packs, one extra fast archers with fanat aura, the other melee chicks who promptly cursed my party with amp. merc and all skellies went down in ~4 seconds. i got out alive somehow. So, uh, guess I'm starting a new game.|||oops double post somehow|||And this is why you want at lest level 10 dim vision. |||Pretty much. They were basically standing at the entrance. By the time I DVd the archers, most of my skellies were gone. Ah well, Vipermagi and Tal Mask dropped in the next couple of runs so I'm on my way at last.|||Stair traps are scary. You really shouldn't go into the pit until you complete hell. I know it's an A1 area, but the Pit level 2 has probably caused more level 85+ deeds than Hell Baal has.
Edit: sorry I always think I'm in the HC forum for some reason. Guess you'll be ok, just take it slow. Remake the game if you get a bad spawn like that.
Love the pit. So much fun for Summoners/Strafezons.|||Yeah, if I go feet up it's not the end of the world. I only have 720life and all my res are in the red right now, so it's going to happen. At least my merc is doing fine with his eth Partizan Insight now.|||Ouch. I've hit a wall vs the Act 4 burning souls. 13 lite res + Tgods does nothing at all to stop them from 2 shotting me. Blind does nothing b/c they're too spread out and they shoot me dead before I see them. I guess I'll have to save/exit if they show up (only in the first two areas right?) until I get a game where they are nowhere to be found. Once I get to the first wp I should be good to go I guess.|||I've only ever encountered burning souls in the plains of despair, but if my lite res is a little low then yeah I'll save and exit and try again. On the plus side, you get to clear through the outer steppes a few times for some delicious exp, and each boss pack you kill has the potential to drop you something valuable.|||Got past them finally. Saved and exited a couple of times and finally got a game with no souls. Act 5 is going to be rough, though I will have some extra resists by then (+18 in my homun from pdiamond and anya quest). It's still going to hurt a lot, though.|||A Necro N00bie asks: what are the Pits and what is MF? Seen the terms a lot but sadly cannot relate them to actual gameplay. It's age. Sad, really.
Hey guys, just returned to the game a couple weeks ago, and so I got two guys I'm working on, and for a third I was thinking a PN/Summoner.
For skills, should I use this set up?
Max PDagger
Max PExplosion
Max PN
Max Skelly
1 Amp Dmg
1 Lower Resist
1 Clay Golem
1 Golem Mast.
1 Summon Resist
1 CE
1 into prereqs
Stats;
Str Enough for Gear
Dex Gear or Max Block
Vit Rest here
NRG Zip
So that leaves 18 points at the end to play around with, so where best to put them? Bone Armor, Skelly Mastery, Mages?
I also read up about a 2/3 ratio of points for Dex/Vit for increased survivability, does that still work for this type of build or even patch?
Also the exact function of LR and Amp. LR just helps my PN sticking to Poison Immune's, not increase its damage, right? So I do LR, PN, and then Amp to increase PN's damage? And can PN be applied multiple times or would I have to wait before applying it again?
Figured I would use an Act 2 Might Merc, give him either Insight, or make an Obedience runeword, possibly Stone runeword or maybe even CoH to increase his damage output and Might Aura since the Skellies are the real tanks here.
Also, can you go full Trang-oul's with this set? That would be +5 to all skills right there, although there is that bug with slower casting time. If PN needs to wait to be applied again, this won't be a problem of course though.
Any advice on how best to tweak this build? I know it may take some time, but I imagine it could MF Hell rather easily, albeit slowly. Can socket the Trang's for MF and then get Tancred's Ammy + Weapon on weapon switch, toss on some 25% MF rings.
Love to hear back from the D2 community! *that sounded really cheesy...*|||Dex/Vit: Go for max block only if you are using a shield with a decent block % (ie, Homunculus). If not (ie, Spirit) probably pure Vita. I have a lot of life charms, so I would go 75% block even with Trang's Shield. Other people might disagree. Preference.
Amplify Damage will do nothing for you Poison Nova. Lower Resist will make your Poison Nova do more damage, essentially. Poison Nova can be reapplied, but the damage sources will not stack. You will just reset its duration.
Trang-Oul's is a good set for a poison Necro.
Poison Necros make for great Pit runners. I believe there are no poison immunes down there.
I would get one point in Revives. They don't do much damage but make for great tanks.|||Quote:
Amplify Damage will do nothing for you Poison Nova. Lower Resist will make your Poison Nova do more damage, essentially. Poison Nova can be reapplied, but the damage sources will not stack. You will just reset its duration.
That's good to know then. If I ever come across some poison immune monster I'll just Amp and let the merc and Skelly's take them. So should I just LR then PN on most monsters?
Quote:
Trang-Oul's is a good set for a poison Necro.
Good to know, I found 2 pieces recently.
Quote:
Poison Necros make for great Pit runners. I believe there are no poison immunes down there.
Can they run Act Bosses too? I know how to make use of Decrepify with the skelly's on them, and I can LR every now and then for PN.|||Quote:
Can they run Act Bosses too? I know how to make use of Decrepify with the skelly's on them, and I can LR every now and then for PN.
Theyre decent boss runners. Though skellies and merc might be the main killers there depending on your gear so you could use amp damage. I did a small propaganda vid of what it would be like with top end gear |||Quote:
I did a small propaganda vid of what it would be like with top end gear
Very nice! What are your stats on that guy by the end?
Also, what do you think for the final skill points, where best to place them after PN synergies and Skelly's are maxed? Max Skelly Mastery or just play around with them, see where they fit?|||Definitely max skelly mastery, in my opinion. I don't think the skellies will tank very well without a lot of points in SM. So, you might have to decide if you want to get to Hell with psn skills maxed out or with skelly skills maxed out, but not a combination of both.|||Yeah i agree, skellies are very good(especially against stuff like wave 4 at baal runs) and CE should already be buff with skillers and stuff, so mastery seems like the way to go.|||Alright then, Skelly Mast it is then. I was unsure where would be best, but that really just makes sense now that I think about it haha.
As for the Necro's Merc, I was going to do an Act II Might Merc, maybe give him an Upped Rattlecage and possibly a Runeword Obedience 5os eth CV, if I found one. I was considering an Insight, but with the relatively few times I'll need to spam PN and the skellies wrecking everything, I doubt it's needed.
Anyone have any experience with a PN/Skelly merc?|||I don't think it'd be any different from a normal fishy's merc. Definitely might, and yes, I'd just give him a big hurty stick like Obedience with CB. CV can't get 5 sockets but a CA or thresher are good options, eth if you can get. You can give him Guillame's face for more CB and Treachery for the ias and resist. I don't know what people's deal with Rattlecage is, I've never found it to make my mercs particularly hard to kill.|||Alright, thanks for the help guys!
But now for the Million dollar question...
How does someone who's just come back to the game get started again? I don't mean leveling and skills, I figured, max skelly's and get 1 pt. wonders and pre-reqs, before I touch Poison.
The gear has changed quite a bit since I last played, so I'm unsure as to what items I should use, especially endgame when I can't afford all the best gear.
I'm fairly new to summoners, but after reading a couple of the great guides in here, I decided to make one. I'm progressing through normal at a slow and laid-back pace at the moment (which is nice for a change and starting to wonder how Fishies deals with the Ancients? This goes for all difficulties ofc
1) Any revives preferable for this fight?
2) Any curses that are especially awesome vs the Ancients?
3) Anything else to add for this fight?
Thanks in advance|||I didn't need revives for ancients in any difficulty. I used decrep (and when I got impatient I switched to Amp). Iirc it's an easy fight for a fishy |||If you worry about lag use a ring with telekinesis charges to activate the shrine on the summit.|||1. Revives are not required, but Blunderbore types will speed things up with crushing blow
2. As with all bosses, decrep is the curse of choice for the ancients.
3. Make sure you keep your merc alive for his might aura (in NM/Hell), drop a rejuv on him if he is taking too much damage. If you're using a clay golem, keep him up at all times. If the ancients spawn with abilities/immunities that make them too difficult, open a town portal to reset them. You can use this method until they have a more manageable combination.|||I believe the summoner has the easiest time with nightmare/hell ancients of any class. But I tend to have trouble with bosses in Normal mode, because the skeletons are still weak.
In any case, I just tend to have all the summons I can fit in at once. If you have Revive, sure, get a couple of them. Toss in some skeleton mages too, why not? The more cannon fodder on the screen, the less likely the baddies will go after you.
Get that clay golem in there to soak up damage and slow down the enemy. Then alternate between amplify damage, decrepify or life tap. It doesn’t really matter what you choose, because it’s just a matter of time before they die. If the ancients are physical immune, then amplify damage will break it.|||Ancients are super easy for fishies at all levels.
Decrepify is almost unfair.
Make sure your merc has some crushing blow before you do them in hell though. Even without it it should be easy.
I am mfing with a summoner having 453mf/+12 prebuffed skeletons(32). I switch my blackhand key (yeah i dont have arm yet) with a dual ist alibaba after summoning skeletons.
I don't really have any complaints about kill speed, untill I go into games with 3+ players, 3 player games are acceptable but still slower than i'd like.
Using Infinity on my merc, while wielding alibaba i have level 15 amp, 30 CE.
Would it be worth lowering my mf to increase kill speed, or keep my mf high while maintaining an "acceptable" kill speed?
I normally mf in two player games using my warcry barb on my laptop as a "buffbot". I haven't been having very good luck with mfing, I kill at a reasonable speed and have 450+ mf. Doing both boss runs and random killing in high level zones.
Also, what's the average mf value of a mf hammerdin? 250?|||i would go killing speed over max MF since runes don't matter with MF|||necs killspeed is pretty independent of gear.
with a decently kitted merc and liberal use of amp + ce, your killspeed is pretty high regardless of how much +skills kit you're carrying.
case in point: my goldfind skellynec build.
minimal +skills and still clears out whole areas very quickly.|||http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=758633
300-400 mf is fine for me.
Its an optimization problem. I don't have the internal workings to support a real equation, but basically, there's a point on the curve for every class and build where you start seeing diminishing returns.
The BIGGEST effect on how many good items you will find assuming you are @ 300+ mf is how many people are in the game. Much more so than additional magic find.
If you are single player, I would maximize how quickly you can run areas while maintaining 300+ magic find. For a necro that's stupid easy.
Shako with topaz
Enigma
war travs
Gheed
Chancies
Right there you have @ 270-290 depending on quality.
Add in a couple nagels, some charms found along the way and you're well over 300.
Put a baba on switch and you're over 400 (only use that for the bosses or for once you've reached eldritch/shenk/thresh/pindle/baal/pits/etc...
If you find its too slow, carry your cube around and fill your inventory with summoning gcs. I've run with level 42 skellies and they are just ferocious. All that really matters is getting a body on the floor for a necro though. After that, you're killing with CE and your minions mop up the stragglers (assuming any exist).
The best thing you can actually do to speed up the first corpse is make sure your merc is using a lot of crushing blow. Infinity + guillaume's + CoH is a good setup I think for most situations. I don't even bother with infinity OR coh and I do just fine.
However, I disagree that +skills isn't really important for necro summoner. I'm always amazed every ladder how much trouble a necro can get into before he's really fleshed out. Yes, he breezes through the game (after normal diablo or after the horrible skelly archers and cats on arreat area one) more easily than just about any other character, but its not like you can shut off your brain like people say.|||mephiztophelez & Zarniwoop
Thank you for your suggestions, I've read a lot of your threads/posts here and have been trying to follow you both for the past two weeks.
Put a baba on switch and you're over 400 (only use that for the bosses or for once you've reached eldritch/shenk/thresh/pindle/baal/pits/etc...
I'm now using AoKL + homunc to summon skeletons/mages then switching to 2xist baba + homunc for my entire killing time. Do you suggest I continue doing this, or keep my AoKL on for the increased CE radius and extra skeleton?
Also, if I can get a beast easilly would it be worth using?|||don't bother going with a Beast weapon. the damage/second output increase is pretty bleagh regardless.
if you're happy to wep switch just to summon, go wild. personally, i don't bother.
remember, most of your damage is from Amp + Corpse Explosion, not from the skellys. most of your non Amp+CE damage is from your merc.
the skellys are really just a meat shield imho. the do a little damage, but more importantly, things attack the skellies instead of you.
i've said it before and i'll say it again: the core skelly'nec build is so strong you can solo your way to Guardian status, NAKED. gear is more or less optional. +skills gear is purely optional. a little extra +skills is nice, but certainly not mandatory. chasing extra +skills gear is, imho, a waste of resources.
if you read my goldfinder guide, my only +skills come from a torch, my one +summon/Goldfind skiller and my non-up'd Homonculus.
i get an army of 10 skellies along with Merc and Gumby, which is plenty imho.|||Beast = massively overrated.
Keep using your baba on switch. I also tend to not bother after a while but that's largely because I run a lot of areas in one game. But, statistically, you're better off using the baba.
You can always resummon any skellies that die due to lesser skills from mf switch when you move to the next area.|||Quote:
Beast = massively overrated.
Keep using your baba on switch. I also tend to not bother after a while but that's largely because I run a lot of areas in one game. But, statistically, you're better off using the baba.
You can always resummon any skellies that die due to lesser skills from mf switch when you move to the next area.
My thoughts exactly, I just wanted to double check because I am having the worst luck recently.
Thank you both, I'll just keep plugging away!|||One thing about magic finding - its streaky.
I know they say that's a myth, but its not. I've gone entire ladders with almost nothing.
Then out of nowhere I'll find 150 hrs worth of wealth in a month (granted one of those items was worth 120 by itself).
There's no such thing as constant incoming value unless you're a botter.|||Quote:
There's no such thing as constant incoming value unless you're a botter.
err, i disagree.....
i found e-wealth pretty consistently during ladder three by keyrunning* and socky-item hunting like a loon.
in the current ladder (even though i'm on NL), i'd go back to that basic wealth-earning principle: run for D-Keys and clear Hell Cows for runeword shells.
a kick/trap'sin is my 'toon of choice for such things. just be sure and get rid of ALL your MF gear.
*mind you, this was before i published my Nihlathak 1.0.1 guide and gave away all my secrets..... d-key's markedly depreciated in value after i published that guide.......
So I just made a softcore necro on singleplayer. One issue I'm having as early as den of evil is the lack of life. I haven't died, but it kinda sucks, I hate how little a point in vitality gives you compared to a barbarian, so I intend to not get very many points here. Will I have to, or can I compensate with a golem and bone armor?
So now I'm starting to think that this char will be harder than my prepatch jabazon that I used before. I installed the latest patch, and I don't really want to go item hunting, so I doubt I'll be able to get all the cool +skill items, so please bear in mind, that I'll be wasting a lot of skill points here and there. Keep in mind, if you use an acronym, I will not know what it means. I've lurked a few days, but I still don't speak fluent diablo like you diablo gods.
Anyways, what I want you to do is to please give me some recommendations on beating singleplayer. I looked through the arreat summit and these are the skills that appeal to me:
What I want to do is go:
bone armor, with synergies in bone prison bone wall for crowd control
corpse explosion looks cool for dealing most of my damage, and bone spirit looks good for single enemies.
I wanna get a clay golem/blood golem, or some summons that can help with the necro's low life. Will one point be enough here?
Then I want to put some points into amplify, iron maiden, and attract.
Amplify looks useful against physically immune monsters (which ones are these again?)
Iron maiden looks like it'll help me against bosses.
Attract looks good for crowd control again.
I was considering getting revives for uber tristam, but then I realized you can't do that on singleplayer
Yeah, so are there any problems with my plan?|||Because you will (and should) max bone prison and wall, the bone armor will have around or more 500 'sorb. (enough)
Gumby should have atleast 6k life in hell when you have around 3 to 5 to all skills (provided that Gumby = Clay Golem), with only 1p spent on golem mastery and clay.
I suggest slapping 1p on revives, they make great meatshields.
Get insight for your merc.
I would advice spending 1-5 points on corpse explosion, it deals insane damage in 1 player games.
Remember to get yourself runeword mod that lets you make ladder RWs in SP.
(Someone could provide a link for it?)
If you find a homunculus, BY ALL MEANS GET MAX BLOCK WITH IT.
I suggest spending around 50 to 60 points in energy, str enough for gear ect.
The only curses you should be using are Decrepify and Dim Vision. Also Confuse works wonders.|||Quote:
Because you will (and should) max bone prison and wall, the bone armor will have around or more 500 'sorb. (enough)
Gumby should have atleast 6k life in hell when you have around 3 to 5 to all skills (provided that Gumby = Clay Golem), with only 1p spent on golem mastery and clay.
I suggest slapping 1p on revives, they make great meatshields.
Get insight for your merc.
I would advice spending 1-5 points on corpse explosion, it deals insane damage in 1 player games.
Remember to get yourself runeword mod that lets you make ladder RWs in SP.
(Someone could provide a link for it?)
If you find a homunculus, BY ALL MEANS GET MAX BLOCK WITH IT.
I suggest spending around 50 to 60 points in energy, str enough for gear ect.
The only curses you should be using are Decrepify and Dim Vision. Also Confuse works wonders.
Wow you saw through my muddled bone wall of text and gave me a direct answer to what I really wanted to know: a way to survive better. I call hax!
Yeah, but I think I realized my problem. I spent way too much points on energy, around 70/80 now at level 23+. I've put like 10 into vitality, and I really do need more. Bosses and some super uniques give me a tough time. And when I'm careless, high damage spells like inferno kill me.
With just three skeletons and a ton of skeleton mastery, my skellies are great shields, and spear and corpse explosion kill everything! I plan to respec after nightmare to go more summony, after my spears stop doing enough damage and I get more + skills items.
If anyone else needs help with necro:
I've realized the trick to bosses is just to run away when you lose all your skeletons and your golem stops aggroing, then getting more skeletons, and then coming back to the boss. It takes a while, but it's safe. Iron maiden and cold bows can also help. As can antidotes vs andariel. Sucks that decriptify doesn't work anymore.
The ranged bosses like the summoner and mephisto, can be shot at from beyond your sight range using bone spear. Summoner one shot me before I realized this T_T
Anyways, thats all I wanted to share.|||Quote:
Sucks that decriptify doesn't work anymore.
Decrepify still works. In what way was the curse not doing what you wanted?
If you are interested in Ladder runewords on SP, or a muling program: clicky|||Hmm, my guide is going to be very different to all the others here.. and mine definitely won't be perfect, but I've played necromancer heaps and I love playing him =) and I've got my own playing type. Mine is more of a tank/summoner.
Stat points:
Strength - not much.. enough to wear decent armour, thats all.
Dexterity - nothing, this isn't needed.
Vitality - almost everything in here.
Energy - since you won't have many +mana items, put enough in here to raise a full army skeletons, but thats all.
Skill points:
20 skeleton mastery
20 raise skeleton
20 raise skeleon mage
1 clay golem (optional)
1 summon resist
20 revive (get this last)
1 amplify damage
1 iron maiden
Now, for the explanations. Many summoning necromancer guides talk of "meat shields", things that get in the way of you and your enemy - keeping you safe. But in this guide that isn't necessery - the necromancer will have enough vitality and armour to be a tank, and you can stand in amongst your army using curses and hacking with your wand (even though its useless it is actually quite fun ^.^). Of course you can stand behind your army and do the curses, and you'll be very safe with the vitality and armour, but that can get boring. I find that with a summonancer it is much more fun when you're fighting with your army, in amongst the action, using curses and hacking. Plus as the enemy attacks you, your army can do the real damage for you.
As for the mercinary/hireling that you get, I suggest you choose the Act II mercinaries with the spears. Choose the Defensive mercinary - he has a Defiance aura, which will give you and your entire army a massive defense bonus - and that mercinary can help your army in the combat as well. Now, when it comes to bosses, this can get tricky. I've actually killed Diablo standing toe-to-to with him, by using Iron maiden curse (all damage he does to me, is multiplied back on himself - resulting in Diablo killing himself after a few minutes of drinking potions). Using the hireling and an entire army, and if you choose, the clay golem, you can defeat a boss quite fast. But the skeletons will die very easily, so you have to be prepared to face bosses on your own - and thats when Iron maiden can come in handy.
So there you have it! It definitely isn't perfect, but it is alot of fun. Plenty of health to keep you alive, and your army does all the damage for you as you charge into battle with your minions of destruction if you choose this build I hope you enjoy it.
~Tal Rashaa|||Quote:
Decrepify still works. In what way was the curse not doing what you wanted?
If you are interested in Ladder runewords on SP, or a muling program: clicky
Nah, I'm going untwinked solo,(but I am respeccing) it's more fun imo.
"This skill DOES work on bosses and Super Unique Monsters. "
Why couldn't they nerf a class that has an easy time in pvm like a paladin?
The battle against diablo will be hard and long (like my lvl 25 necro's dick) but hopefully a fire golem with a level in summon resists will be able to stand him long enough for me to cast an iron maiden and a few spears.|||Quote:
"This skill DOES work on bosses and Super Unique Monsters. "
Why couldn't they nerf a class that has an easy time in pvm like a paladin?
Re-read what you wrote. Decrepify works against act bosses. It slows them down, it makes them do less damage, and it makes them take more damage. Necromancers are in no way nerfed. I use it all the time on my necro.|||Oh lol... I swear, I've read that a dozen times by now XD I don't know if I ever caught that. Omg, that would've made baal... *punches in numbers* a billion times easier!|||Quote:
Oh lol... I swear, I've read that a dozen times by now XD I don't know if I ever caught that. Omg, that would've made baal... *punches in numbers* a billion times easier!
By baal, I mean duriel, I always get those confused.
Anyways, I beat Diablo! To prove I'm not confused, here's a video:
Hello, I started playing like a week ago again since 1.09 and started a fishymancer. I have gotten up too hell baal (boosted) but I am unable to kill him with my current gear (no CB on merc and overall bad gear). So what do you think I should do? I need to improve my gear, but what is the best place to get new gear when you have as bad gear as I do now?
I have a Lore helmet, Rhymy shield a uniqe wand with +2 necro and some other stats, and around 100% MF, and thats basically it:/
Any help is appriciated, thanks|||what lvl are you??|||Sorry, forgot to include, I am level 79, almost hitting 80. But my gear is dreadful, if it wasent for my merc I doubt I would even kill stuff (+3 all skills in total) :P|||http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=758633|||Hello, thanks Zarniwoop I read it through altough I don't understand how I easily will get the Homonculus and +3 amu and a skiller charm... I'm still kinda new to this, any advice?|||while that gear would make it easier a summon necro can finish this game naked any gear is just a +
but even with good gear bosses can be the biggest probs a summancer can run into
the best way to make bosses easier is to use a clay glome and decrep
you may lose damage since your not useing amp but the safety is worth it|||Watch the trade forums for the realm you play on.
You'll likely get at least a lem or a pul from your hellforge in nightmare/hell and that alone can get you a homunculus. I personally wouldn't pay over lem for a homunculus.
Save all your rals, nefs, pgems, and other runes and trade them for lems and puls.
Arm of King Leoric is a Lem max.
People throw away +3 necro summoning amulets. You can get one for essentially nothing but a couple pgems.
It just takes a bit of effort and practice in the trading forums. I know it looks intimidating now, but its not nearly as bad as it seems. None of the starter gear I've suggested is in any way expensive.|||I traded Junk Jewels for a Homonculus (USWL) a few days ago - it's a fairly cheap item.
I also keep my gold rolling in and gamble for amulets - you might get lucky.
Plus - crafting caster amulets can get decent results too; if you can't find a +3 to trade for...|||Thanks for all the tips, some of my problems got solved earlier tonight tough. One very kind person on mirc gave me quite alot of gear, so my mf is up to 300 and my skeleton skill to 30 so it's a bit easier now atleast, still gonna trade me a homonculus tough.
But thanks for the input|||If you're not level 93+ the supplies for crafting caster amulets are much more valuable in trades than the results of any crafting attempts would be. If you just need a +3 amulet gambling is a much more cost effective way to try for one.
If you're having trouble with baal naked at level 80 then keep leveling. Just do baal runs, clear WSK, minions, and try to kill baal. Eventually you'll level enough to kill him on your own and the drops in these areas are all fantastic. On top of all that the xp is fantastic too. If gloams give you trouble just make new games when you see them or work on your dim vision.
skill calc says that @ slvls 31 (skellies&mastery) skellies do:
334-337 dmg
might merc lvl 84 has might aura slvl 17 = 200 ED
lvl9 fanata = 186 ED
this means that total ED for my skellies is +386% ED, right ?
meaning :
min dmg = 334 + 334*3.86 = 1623.24
max dmg = 337 + 337*3.86 = 1637.82
?|||Honestly not sure.
I hope you're summoning with a swap weapon.
Most of my killing as a necro comes from crushing blow/my merc and then CE.|||yeah i summon with swap, and with beast I have paired head that gives +3 decrep and some resists.
merc has CB, but skellies are plain evil with might/fanata... they have no probs killing anything
than for the link, it kicks *** \m/|||So is it worth going skellies before you get a might merc? dmg looks rather low.|||Yes it's worth it. Summoners usually max RS before anything else. They're quite robust in normal difficulty with only a prayer or blessed aim merc.|||it sure is worth.
take that dmg x 10-13, include Amp, and you're owning.
slowly, but safe.
also, don't forget that Amp in Hell tripples dmg received by monsters (ofc by Hell you already have a might merc :P)
Untill Might one, just get prayer, it does wonders on keeping them alive.
//edit
what we realy need for them is some vampiric aura.
that would be just juicy :]|||Quote:
709-715..
mine look secksier :P
than for the link, it kicks *** \m/
Once you factor in Amp, they are hitting for closer to what you thought.
should i do 20 raise mage or 18 into psn nova or pump gumby for massive life?
your thoughts?|||I don't think poison nova will be very good without synergies, and gumpy has enough life in the long rung Either bump Mages, or go for bone armor + synergies or buff you favourite curses.|||Put 20 into mages or 5-8 into dim vision and the rest into skellies then finish them as you go on.
Pumping gumby is a waste of points.
If you hate crowd control and mages, I can't think of anything you would want besides 1 point in bone armor and then the rest in synergies.
Ok this could be a huge waste of BOTD, but I think it could look pretty
BOTD
50% Chances to Cast LVL 20 Poison Nova when you KILL an enemy.
Max
Poison Nova + Synergies
+ % Poison Damage equip
Kill things with poison nova and watch the chain reaction!
Perhaps the procc'ed Posion Nova won't be powerful enough to make this build worthwhile - but I would love to see it go off!|||I could be wrong, but my understanding is that you have to get the kill with the weapon. I don't think kills you get with spells will count. Hopefully someone else can confirm.|||Quote:
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that you have to get the kill with the weapon. I don't think kills you get with spells will count. Hopefully someone else can confirm.
Correct. You'll need to kill something with the BotD before the Nova can proc.|||Similar, but melee:
Cheers, I have read up on that one - thanks|||Quote:
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that you have to get the kill with the weapon. I don't think kills you get with spells will count. Hopefully someone else can confirm.
When I tested it recently, % Chance to Cast Poison Nova When You Kill an Enemy was only applied when enemies were killed by the Necromancer's weapon attacks, and Poison Explosion and Poison Nova... but not when they were killed by Teeth, Corpse Explosion, Bone Spear, Bone Spirit, pets (other than an Iron Golem when made from the item) or returned damage.|||^ Wait, you're saying Poison Nova can trigger CtC? loool|||I would not use a melee weapon on a necro unless you use dagger and make melee mancer. Somebody should have a good guide about it.|||I kill much faster using grief. Even a synergized poison nova helps little for a build that has to focus gear/skills melee-wise. Not even poison dagger can compare to grief when it comes to dishing out fast dmg. Massive chaining of ctc nova isn't going to help alot when the dmg per second is fixed, and it's ONLY a level 20 poison nova. At that level the best it can handle are some fallen in hell with just you in the game.
Going that route, you have a pathetic survival rate too. If you plan on being melee full time, you'd best max bone wall/prison first, leaving you with little room left to max the poison skills, and a low level dim vision can be a death sentence for many occasions. If you focused on dim vision and not bone armor, you end up dead more likely when trying to poke/hack something from act 5 of hell or w/e.
Botdz is really slow for the necromancer and life tap won't offer you much help when your going to be dependent on it often to help you with being poisoned and fighting magic dealing foes.
Today I just got my butt handed to me twice by a band of frenzy happy champion blood lords at the waypoint of the crystal passage. I saw them, and thought... easy, I'll just confuse them and make them kill themselves. Didn't really work. So then I tried dim vision, this worked on a few, but I missed one and he started killing my resummoned golem. Then his buddies came out of dim vision. I tried attract, didn't work either. Iron maiden worked, but not well. Decrip worked, but the frenzy left them still too fast. Then they just camped my waypoint. Eventually I had to exit and save, to reroll their stats. A lightning enchanted blood lord with a bunch of minions spawned and I managed to kill them.
So my questions are: what curses effect champion, unique, superunique, and boss monsters? The arreat summit isn't too specific, and I can't find a thread on the topic.
What curses can stack on one another?
Do curses last for a shorter duration on uniques?
W/e next time I go up against blood lords, I'll have a couple revives |||AFAIK champions/uniques/superunique and bosses cannot be;
Confused
Terrified
Blinded
Not sure about attract. Possessed champions cannot be affected by any curses, which means physically immunities cannot be broken. You cannot stack curses.|||Dim vision doesn't work on them either.|||In addition, this and this.|||Only the AI Curses (Dim Vision, Terror, Confuse and Attract) cannot be cast on Champion, Unique, Super Unique and boss monsters, although they'll attack normal monsters and minions cursed with Confuse or Attract.
The exceptions are Possessed Champions and monsters that have no walk mode like Coldworm the Burrower, the Super Unique Sand Maggot Queen found in the Sand Maggot Lair Level 3, to which none of the Necromancer's Curses can be applied directly.
Only one Curse can be active at a time, although if an AI Curse is overwritten with another Curse then it's effects may remain until the monster's next AI check (so if Terror is cast and then overwritten with Lower Resist, the monster may continue fleeing).
Curse length remains the same against all monsters, although the length of AI curses is 1/2 in Nightmare and 1/4 in Hell (this is taken into account with the skill descriptions for DV, Confuse and Attract, but not Terror).|||Thanks guys.
I'd like to add, that those minions of destruction, along with listerine the tormenting mouthwash, seem to all be champions, even though their names don't show it. It seems they can't be revived or corpse exploded either.|||Aside from boss monsters (which includes Putrid Defilers) and those monsters which have no walk mode and thus Necromancer Curses don't apply, a few normal monsters and minions don't have switchai enabled in MonStats.txt and thus the AI Curses don't apply to them (although as noted earlier, they may still attack monsters cursed with Confuse or Attract) and they cannot be revived: Oblivion Knights, Suicide Minions and Minions of Destruction.|||Forgot to ask; What kind of necro are you using OP?|||You can explode listers minions.|||Ah, so the crowd control curses don't work on bosses. Good to know. And I wasn't aware that Lister's minions could be exploded, maybe I was just too rushed to notice. I apologize for spreading lies.
I'm using a bone/summon hybrid necro. It's a terrible combination, I know...
Hi, I have summoner necro and I need to spent remaining points to max bone spirit dmg.
In some guides i have read that I need to spent all remaining points to bone spirit.
But in skills calculator I have better dmg when I put not all 20 points to spirit,
but when I put 10 to spear and 10 to spirit.
What is a right way to put points to have max dmg on spirit?|||you can always use the skill planner for the various permutations for highest bone damage..
http://diablo3.ingame.de/spiel/skill...ex.php?lang=en|||It'll depend on exactly how many +p&b skills you have
I recently purchased this game and am working my way through as a fishymancer, I'm level 18 and just finished clearing Halls of the Dead. Anyways I found a socketed wand with +1 to dim vision and since I have such a small mana pool, if I socket it with a tir rune will that +2 to mana come from every monster my skeletons and hireling kill? or do I have to be the one who does the killing?|||Pretty sure you have to be the one who does the killing. And you won't be doing much killing until later when your Corpse Explosion is up and running.
Mana shouldn't be a big deal for the summoner. Just give your merc any poleaxe you find and b/w him and your skellies, everything should die with minimal effort on your end. I wouldn't even mess with Corpse Explosion until Nightmare.
I was recently able to solo hell ancients with my summoner for the first time since I started playing in 2005 (I've always gotten rushed). This was my first necro character and it got me thinking, there are areas in the game I haven't even been before (like ancient tunnels, act 3 dungeons) since they're not required. It would be interesting to start a game in act 1 blood moors and playing all the way to throne of destruction, clearing all areas and killing all enemies along the way. Has anyone ever done something like this?|||Yes, people have done this. I'd imagine you would be overleveled though.
Have you heard of this thingy? http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s....php?p=7552933
I'd assume killing every monster would require that they don't reset, so you wouldn't be able to turn off the computer for a whole week, or however long it takes to beat normal difficulty.
Some people get real crazy after they've beaten the game normally enough times. I shouldn't say that, it's Blizzards fault for making such addicting games T_T|||players in the single player forum do this all the time, its almost standard.|||I never done normal or nightmare, but my melee necro cleared act1-5 by himself, with 8 people in the game when possible.|||My necro always goes front to back alone.
The two exceptions are Normal diablo and sometimes normal duriel.
At that point necros are just very underpowered. The rest of the game its easy except for the maggot lair and arcane sactuary which are torture (but doable).|||I highly suggest doing something like this. You will find yourself in a lot more interesting and challenging encounters than Baal runs. In general, it sharpens your awareness, reflexes, and makes you a better player in my opinion.|||There are specific areas I normally avoid because they aren't required and are more annoying than fun. These areas include any of the pre Lower Kurast dungeons that have souls and/or dolls in them, and any of the portals in A5 that contain those terrifying physical immune minotaurs.|||Quote:
There are specific areas I normally avoid because they aren't required and are more annoying than fun. These areas include any of the pre Lower Kurast dungeons that have souls and/or dolls in them, and any of the portals in A5 that contain those terrifying physical immune minotaurs.
I have to mostly agree with this. Those jungle dungeons are just woefully bad in design. It's so dark in them that I have to turn my gamma & brightness all the way up just to tell the difference between the floors and the walls. I've managed to get through them half-blind because the less-terrible Skeleton AI lets them get around these obstacles.
My Pyromancer's inventory is stuffed full of crap I'm hoping to trade, and until then I'm thinking the solution to my boredom is to make another necromancer!
For a Poisonmancer in particular, the obvious points are as follows:
Skills:
7 Curses
9 Summons
1 Teeth
10 Corpse Explosion
20 Poison Dagger
20 Poison Explosion
20 Poison Nova
--------
87 points spent
Is that pretty much *the* poisonmancer shtick? Is there any room for something a little different? Maybe maxing Confuse and then laying down Confuse -> Lower Resist -> Poison Nova?|||Maxing Confuse would be a waste. I'd get points into skeletons so you have a nice wall of minions protecting you from the baddies. Revives do that job fine, but I don't like them too much. Other than that, you got the idea. Check the guide sticky, there are a couple of poisonmancer guides in there.|||1 Point in all curses and then either go Full points into summons route or go the defensive bone armor route.
For my pvp poison Necro I went 1 point skeles/skele mastery with a point in fire golem and then rest into bonewall/prison for a defensive build and he works out in pvm just as good as my skele version. Having max skeles ain't going to make your killspeed any quicker and only serve as tanks so I chose the other option, Max block and bone armor.
The ai curses work but only put 1 point in them but let skills boost them if you have at least 5 skills as they are to be honest, Wasted points. Trangs gloves makes it level 3 and a half decent wand and head can take you to the level 7-10 mark which is alot more than needed for most curses.
I just started playing again, managed to trade for my first Enigma yesterday, and I'm wondering if it's worth going for the first 1 or 2 FCR breakpoints. I'm playing HC, currently level 89, and have 0 FCR in my gear. Does it make much of a difference if I add a 10% FCR Ring? Or change my Chance Gaurds out for Magefist to his the next breakpoint?
Thanks!|||It really depends what you are using him for.
If you go to places that require a lot of teleporting like Durance/Baal etc, I would definitely go for the next breakpoint.
If you are running places like Chaos where teleporting is merely a way to restack your minions then I'd go with more MF instead.
Personally though I'd hit the next BP, it would make you more versatile to run different places.|||Quote:
It really depends what you are using him for.
If you go to places that require a lot of teleporting like Durance/Baal etc, I would definitely go for the next breakpoint.
If you are running places like Chaos where teleporting is merely a way to restack your minions then I'd go with more MF instead.
Personally though I'd hit the next BP, it would make you more versatile to run different places.
I like to do a variety of runs just so I don't get bored. The few I did last night I used tele a lot so perhaps it is worth hitting the next BP.
Just to be sure I've got it right, are these the correct numbers...
Frames/FCR
15/0
14/9
13/18
12/30
I could hit 14 by swapping a MF ring for a FCR ring, or 13 with Magefists. I don't have either so I would need to trade what little I have left after getting Enigma, which also makes it tough to test the difference between the 2 options personally.
EDIT: I guess I could also go with Trangs gloves for the FCR and skills. My merc uses Insight so I don't really need the mana regen on the Magefists.|||Those numbers are right.
What's your Necro's build? I think I missed it. In terms of FCR importance, Bone > Poison > Summoner.
I personally put some FCR on my Summoner and barely noticed a difference. You might want to just stick with MF. FCR makes the world of a difference for a Bone Necro though.
Also, Magefist does give your CE +1.|||If I was playing HC, I would be using teleport very carefully.
So it probably wouldn't matter.
If you want enough FCR to make a difference in a pinch, it wouldn't be worth it from a MF perspective without really expensive gear (i.e. something as good as shako with FCR and mf, etc).|||Being new to the game again I'm finding I miss all sorts of details. I just picked up an Arachnid Mesh and didn't realize it had 20% FCR so that's helped me hit a couple BPs. I like the extra light resist and light absorb of Tgods but the FCR and +1 skill on Arachnid Mesh makes a big difference IMO. I found a random 10% FCR ring while playing and didn't notice enough of a difference between 12 and 13 frames to worry about keeping it for now.
I'm trying to be careful with the use of teleport, I only really fly around when going after Meph, most other places I'll walk. But I have put together some solid gear so I feel fairly safe.
Shako
MP Enigma
HoTO
PDiamond Homo
Chances
Arachnid
War Travs
Mara
SOJ
Nagel
Anni + Torch
Alibaba + Rhyme on switch
Merc uses Tals Mask, Leviathon (needed for STR, haven't switched), CV Insight and Eth CA Obedience for CB against bosses.
I've got around 1300 life, max block and 75 resists in Hell. I'm sure I could cram some more MF in there but I think I've got a decent mix of survivability and MF right now.|||I suggest switching nagel into a soj or fcr + mf ring and using +2 marrows instead of war travs.
Also IMHO Dusk looks wayyyy better than mp.
Also, if you might fancy it, you could always use 20fcr circ, spirit monarch, arach and magefists / t'oul gloves for a higher bp.
This is imho best for Sc, but as you play hc, I recommend Max block /w homu.|||Quote:
I suggest switching nagel into a soj or fcr + mf ring and using +2 marrows instead of war travs.
Also IMHO Dusk looks wayyyy better than mp.
Also, if you might fancy it, you could always use 20fcr circ, spirit monarch, arach and magefists / t'oul gloves for a higher bp.
This is imho best for Sc, but as you play hc, I recommend Max block /w homu.
The Nagel is definitely a weak link in my gear, especially since it's a 20% MF lol. It's surprisingly the only unique ring I've found so far and I've yet to find my own rare ring that's been worth using. I'm definitely looking to improve that spot but not in a huge rush.
I use the War Travs because this is my only high level character right now, he does all my MF for anyone else I'm going to work on. If I get someone else high enough to take over the MF duties I'll look to give the Marrows a try for sure.|||I find I can teleport to anything without FCR gear.
I always use TGods because souls bloody suck.
Had my first insta-death last night to a pack of souls (character isn't done yet so he got fried). That's one of the reasons I preach about dim vision. When I have another 5 points in dim (about 10 total before + skills), I would have shut everything down.|||Quote:
I find I can teleport to anything without FCR gear.
I always use TGods because souls bloody suck.
Had my first insta-death last night to a pack of souls (character isn't done yet so he got fried). That's one of the reasons I preach about dim vision. When I have another 5 points in dim (about 10 total before + skills), I would have shut everything down.
I took your advice from your build post about DV and I've got at least 10 hard points in it, around 26-28 with skills. Whenever I run into a pack of souls I start walking and spam DV ahead of everywhere I go. Heck, I use it anytime I run into a pack of anything that has ranged attackers until my pack closes in. Had never used it before but without it I'm sure I'd be toast by now.
I have a lvl 82 dagger nec and I'm having a wonderful time poking creatures with a newly found item - Blackbog's Sharp!
I used the socket quest to give it a socket, and I'm wondering what would be the best rune/gem to put in it?? Keep in mind my highest rune is KO.
Eth for -defense?
Nef for knockback??
Any ideas??
Undead crown helm
Rattlecage armour
laying of hands boots and gloves
homunculus shield (pdiamond)
rare resists amulet
manald heal ring
rare resists ring
Max poison dagger and synergies
10 clay golem, 1 pt in mastery/resists
10 bone shield
1 pt in all curses|||My personal choice would be a poison facet
Or a shael rune for a faster attack speed breakpoint but it seems not very necessary for a dagger nec|||More than 1 pt in clay golem is a waste.|||And it would've been wiser to leave bone armor at lvl 1 and put those 9 pts in a synergie (bone wall or prison)|||An Eth rune, Poison Facet, or a Dol rune (assuming you like ctc Monster Flee) would all be good options. Try to get Trang Oul's gloves, shield, and one other piece. The damage increase is significant.|||bramble, trang gloves, and a buttload of 175's or 100 pdsc's would make this build have GFG damage.
I suggest eth rune since a fully synergised poison dagger, with good enough gear, has plenty of damage. But the attack rating for this build is horrible. Eth all the way. Or possibly a AR/resist jewel.|||isn't there a bug or sth that gives poison dagger insane AR?
I think poison facet would be the best, but since you only have a KO rune, i don't really know.|||^ No, that bug applies to other melee attacks, and was removed a while ago.
Quote:
I suggest eth rune since a fully synergised poison dagger, with good enough gear, has plenty of damage. But the attack rating for this build is horrible. Eth all the way. Or possibly a AR/resist jewel.
Not sure here, but I think you didn't have enough base AR for your build. Poison Dagger has one of highest %AR gains per Skill Level. It's like the 3rd or 4th or 5th highest %AR gain per Skill Level amongst alll melee attacks. 400% at Slvl 20! 2000 AR base would mean you have 10,000 AR for Slvl 20 PDagger. Get +10 skills, and we're talking 600% AR, so 1400 base AR would net you 10,000 AR.
@OP: I'm going to +1 to the choices others have mentionned, Dol rune to bring up CtC to 65%, Shael rune if it helps bump up your stabbing to 11, Poison Facet, or Nef rune if you feel you have enough CtC and want a budget socket choice.|||Quote:
isn't there a bug or sth that gives poison dagger insane AR?
I think poison facet would be the best, but since you only have a KO rune, i don't really know.
The bug is that when you have poison dagger active, but you use a non-dagger weapon, you'll do normal attack, but with the %AR bonus from poison dagger.
Now for the socket question:
Poison damage is allways a pain in the butt to calculate. Might be that socketing a chipped emerald ups your damage pretty high, depending on your total poison lenght. So if you want to socket for damage (and don't plan to use a facet, which will add more damage than any extra source of poison), I need to know all sources of poison (x damage over x seconds). And probably a copy of "the tao of poison" (if anyone still has a link to this I'd love to have it).
If you want to socket for higher chance to hit, you might want to consider a perfect amethyst. Poison dagger has a substantial AR boost, so that 150 AR becomes a whooping 750 AR. This will be better than an eth rune for most enemies, as most monsters don't have big defense as it. An Eth rune is a variable boost (depends on the monster you're fighting). So if you allready have a good chance to hit for most monsters go with eth, if you have problems hitting constantly, go with a perf amethyst.
If you don't need extra damage or AR, it's either nef (knockback), dol for chance to flee, or tir for +2 mana after each kill if you're having blue ball problems...|||The bug regarding PsnDagger (increased AR when using a non-dagger weapon) was from an earlier patch and isn't present in 1.11 (perhaps 1.10) onwards.
A word of warning regarding the use of poison charms (and other sources of poison, e.g. facets in armour, etc). Compared to Poison Dagger on its own, introducing other sources of poison may have the effect of increasing the rate at which poison damage is inflicted (which is good), but it may also reduce both the length of time the target is poisoned (maybe not so good), and the total poison damage the target takes from each application (again, maybe not so good). This effect doesn't apply if you have just one poison source in addition to PsnDagger (e.g. using Blackbog's Sharp), it only starts with additional poison sources beyond that first one. I believe that facetting the BB's Sharp counts as a second additional poison source, so consider your playstyle carefully before sticking a Poison Facet in your Dagger-type weapon (if it has a source of poison already).
In other words, you will possibly need to strike a target a few more times to get the job done if you have one or more poison charms in your backpack, or other poison sources (but assuming you do manage to keep applying the poison, the target may well drop quicker). This may suit you if you go toe-to-toe with foes, but is not as effective for hit-and-hide Daggermancer strategies.
My thanks to onderduiker for his poison lessons You may want to search for posts made by the maestro to ensure that the info I've given is strictly accurate.
A few questions, any answers are greatly appreciated.
1) Does Infinity work with Psn damage?
2) Would the build be viable for Hell Chaos runs? (Dagger/Nova with infinity. Psn Explosion could have it's uses as well.) Gear isn't a factor, with the best gear possible is it viable?
3) Venom from say...treachery, will override the stronger Psn Dagger spell in effect?
Any tips at all? Golem usage, maybe specific items. I looked up some guides but a lot of them are outdated or pretty vague.
As far as a weapon goes, this is HC so I'm thinking Wiz Spike. Is a Blackbogs really that good that it is worth sacrificing the survivability of spike?
Thanks again.|||last ladder i tried a daggermancer i dont think its HC viable
but something i found REALLY handy was Hit causes monster to flee|||infinity only applies to elemental resists.|||1. No.
2. It'd probably be hard, and Nova might be the most used since it's a mob clearer, but maybe.
3. No, but it will work with the skill poison. I can't recall precisely how it works, but when venom coincides with a skill rather than item, the time isn't set to .4 seconds. Instead, the frame rate is extended, and the damage is greatly increased or something.|||
Thanks so much for the quick answers guys. This doesn't sound too promising.
Quote:
infinity only applies to elemental resists.
Does the same apply to Lower Resist? Or does that help your poison damage?|||Lower Resist has -F/L/C/P, so yes (Conviction aura only does F/L/C, as mentionned). Otherwise, Lower Resist would be quite pointless for the Necromancer.
Daggermancers aren't really made for area runs, more for stabbing fun.
General tips: Having 'Treachery'/'Dragon'/'Grief' to trigger Venom before stabbing is awesome. Also, like Kalkanor mentionned, HCMTF is a very awesome mod for Daggermancers. It's very ideal that after you get your stab in, and right after the monster stops targeting you.|||Viable is a vague word. You can beat the game with a Poison Dagger Necro. However, it won't be safe/easy/fast. Poison Nova will clear any area many times faster.
Wiz Spike is very good. If you don't need the resists for whatever reason, then Blackbog's will give you a lot of damage.
I like Fire Golem on my melee necro. The Holy Fire aura he has directed all the attention to him. Clay Golem would also work well for the slowing as well as the insane amount of life he can get with very few points invested.
In early Hell, I used Lower Resist all the time for extra damage. However, as tempting as it might be, it is often much more beneficial to use Confuse, Decrepify, and Dim Vision for crowd control.|||Quote:
In early Hell, I used Lower Resist all the time for extra damage. However, as tempting as it might be, it is often much more beneficial to use Confuse, Decrepify, and Dim Vision for crowd control.
Try using dim vision or confuse on the whole pack, then cast LR in front of the pack so only a few monsters get infected. Takes some aiming of your curse, but you can get both the crowd control and the extra damage provided by LR...|||My suggestion look up offensive auras of paladin. Then look for conviction and there is your answer.|||Update:
Just in case anybody was interested, I tried the build out, here's what I found.
First let me start off by saying it was a lot of fun, and the killspeed was better than I expected...BUT it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. He was pretty decked out but the one thing I lacked that I really wanted to try was Trangs gloves (trading in HC is brutal). 25% sounds like a big difference. I also used Enigma because clearing chaos quickly was my goal. I understand there are other options like Bramble that could also increase your damage significantly.
All my testing was done in 1 player Hell Chaos runs. The build needs a good bit of +skills to really start to shine. As fun as Psn Dagger was with hit causes monster to flee, the dmg is really pretty weak until around level 35+. There's few things more satisfying than stabbing a monster only to watch it run off to die.
But in all honesty, Nova was really the spell of choice. For kill speed I ended up going with a hoto, and ignoring Dagger and Explosion completely after a few test runs. Poison Explosion was just too inconsistent, often times monsters would walk right through the poison cloud untouched.
Also it's pretty important to keep LR on at all times for the dmg to really shine. Nova at high levels with LR up can pretty much 1 shot packs of monsters in Chaos.
I was also impressed with how quickly Nova spam was able to drop Diablo.
So all in all, it was fun and more effective than I thought it would be. However I was looking for a dagger build with nova support, and it ended up more of a pure Nova build.
If you plan to play through as an untwinked Psn Dagger necro, there's a lot of fun to be had, and it will get you through the game if you take advantage of nova when needed. However the gear investment required to make it viable can be steep (skillers and the typical high end caster setup)
My disappointment was that Nova turned out to be a 1 trick pony, other than some curses to have fun with, none were worth taking down Lower Resist (kill speed was my priority). With the amount of +skills needed, it was also difficult having a big radius on all my curses and not overwriting different sets of curses.
The build actually surpassed my expectations. As long as you aren't expecting to clear as fast as a sorc/hammerdin/zon you'll be pleasantly surprised. But again, all of this was in a 1 player game, I imagine it will struggle in a full game.
Hope this helps anyone out, feedback is always appreciated. Maybe some pointers or things I might be missing.
and checked which sticks have a maximum of eight sockets, figuring the easiest way would be to find any decent white stick and use the quest on it myself.
|||Pretty much. They were basically standing at the entrance. By the time I DVd the archers, most of my skellies were gone. Ah well, Vipermagi and Tal Mask dropped in the next couple of runs so I'm on my way at last.|||Stair traps are scary. You really shouldn't go into the pit until you complete hell. I know it's an A1 area, but the Pit level 2 has probably caused more level 85+ deeds than Hell Baal has.
if you choose this build I hope you enjoy it.
Yes, people have done this. I'd imagine you would be overleveled though.