I know I�m a newbie here, but I�ve done extensive reading on this site, so I feel like part of the family already. The reason I�m bothering you good folks is that I can�t make up my mind on how to proceed with my Fishymancer, freshly turned 94.
Disclaimer: I�ll probably end up doing as I feel best, but that, by no means whatsoever, is to be regarded as not paying attention to, or feeling grateful for, every little bit of input you may be so kind to provide me with. No matter how many guides/threads/comments I�ve read through I still can�t make up my mind regarding remaining skills, gear, and, especially, my moron�s equipment.
This is going to be a long read, so grab a cup of your favorite tea and some biscuits. I�m trying to provide you with every bit of info I think to be of relevance.
Meet Rakanishu, clvl 94 Fishymancer and his devoted moron, Jemali (Might). They were spawned due to Nightfish�s excellent guide, my first Necromancer, built with the intend to develop a reasonable wealth after a restart from almost scratch (matted two Zons previously). I play SC 1.13 vanilla, self found, no trading, no runeword mode, so Insight and the like are off limits, as I like them to be.
Skills: Hard points (after items):
RS: 20 (30) (12 skellies)
SM: 20 (31)
CE: 20 (31) (12.6 radius)
Amp: 4 (13)
Decrep: 1 (10)
Attract: 1 (10)
SR: 7 (14) (i.e. 62 all res for summons)
Gumby: 3 (10)
IG & FG: 1 (8) each
GM: 4 (11)
RSMage: 6 (13) (6 SMages)
Revives: 7 (14)
Poison Nova: 1 (14)
6 in prereqs.
I know, I know, I just wanted to experiment a bit with the Revives and Magi, will respec.
Stats: I went for max block for a tower shield Rhyme (64%), before I had found my Homunculus (72%), so I have invested heavily in Dex, probably will give up on some points there when I respec, and put more in Vitality. With current gear, Rakanishu sports some 470ish mana and 950 life. Resists are (current equipment, of course): 75F, 69C, 75L, 40ish Poison (or something).
Equipment:
Shako with 14 all res jewel
Ptopaz Skullder�s
Wartravellers 37MF
Chancies 40MF
Goldwrap (upped)
PDiamond Homunculus
Ravenfrost 20Dex
Rare ring with life, mana, 34 Fire res, 10 Poi/L/C res, and, above all: +3 to max damage +48 AR (devastating!)
Rare Amulet: +1 to maximum damage (!!!), 28 CR, 16 other res, +2 necro skills, 5% ctc nova (gambled while shopping for ammies to craft a +2 necro skills with some resists on it...)
White RW in a +3 RS, +1 CE Bone Wand (3RS, 4SM, 1CE, 3P&B skills)
Gheed�s (132 GF, 32 MF, 12 reduce), 14 all res, 21 life GC, various large and small charms with resists, life, mf.
Switch: Gull and Ryme.
I usually �quest� with 340ish MF, 470 for boss kills, 495 for Baal.
Merc gear:
Guillaume�s Face
Upped Duriel�s socketed with PEme
Upped non eth (sigh) Hone Sundan (2XShael, Amn)
This combo gives Jemali max resists, CBF, 15 DS, and a respectable 80 CB.
The runs: p5 setting, cast Gumby, go to Pindie�s Free SkellieMarket, kill Pindie, Eldritch, Shenk -> WSK2, 3, Throne, waves, ->Stony Field grab Magi -> Baal. Rinse and repeat.
I am not Captain Slow, I am Marshall Slow, so my runs last about 20 minutes, because I like to identify everything that I find interesting, I want to be safe, and grab as much money as possible. Also, I�m not using Teleport, partly because I don�t have Enigma, but mainly because I�m not in a rush. I enjoy playing my Fisheh, I enjoy the items he finds and I don�t intend to get frustrated because �my last Baal run took 5.4358977 seconds more then usual!!!�.
Why p5? I can manage p5 and do love to see lots of stuff on the ground after a CE bombing session. And I needed to get my moron to level 94 so he can wield a Ghost spear that requires 163 dex (that�s why I socketed his Duriel�s with a PEme), so getting experience was important as well.
Gameplay: basically wait for Jemali to make his first kill(s), than bomb away. On p5 my skellies do insignificant damage. Gumby used extensively when facing Temptresses, OK�s and Lister�s gang through repositioning him to best aid my merc (that�s why I am not interested in other golems, they may be suited for other playing styles but not for mine).
Problems: Temptresses on WSK3. I loathe them. They take forever to kill, they drop ****, and are hurting my army and merc considerably. I usually avoid them by casting Attract and Decrep so I can move on to Baal�s Throne Room. PhysImmune Stone Skin Boss Frenzy Taurs. I love it when there are some temptresses and some other Cursed Fanat boss nearby.
Lister, when PhysImmune and extra strong, or Fanat. Problematic because it takes a looooong time to kill (even by my submediocre standards), and, when extra strong, he chews through my skellies quite fast.
But neither of these are real problems, inconveniences might be a better word.
Notable finds: well, most of what I have stashed in Atma is ilvl 83-99, so Rakanishu is responsible for the bunch. Stuff that I use on my chars and he did not find: Wartravs, Shako, WWS (for my Ama hybrid). This is my Flavie report: file:///D:/Games/DIIFlavie/Flavie/Report.html
to which you might add Heaven�s Light (+3 pala skills, 2 os, lucky me), Graverobbers GC of Vita (+33 life), and Aldur�s Advance

I did find a Windforce (WSK3) that left my jaw dropped for hours, two Lo runes (one from the sparkly chest in the Infernal Pit. Funny thing, I went there because I �needed� another few hundred k gold to reach 200 mil in Atma, and thought do diversify a little), and a Sur. Yes, never thought that was possible but there you go. It came from one of Colenzo�s minions, may the Gods bless him! So, practically, I do �have�a Ber, should I decide to cube them (that is my 2 Lo�s and the Sur), which means I have access to CoH.
I currently have about 240 mil stashed for gambling, I plan on shopping rings, amulets and, not so sure, coronas and the like (how can they beat the Shako?).
Now, as I�ve already said, I do not have access to anything else but what I have already found/will find. I do not plan to trade or install RWM, or dupe (1.13 is cheesy enough). I love my Fisheh, my Zons (bow or hybrid), started a Hammerdin that transformed into a Teslafroster (currently in early Hell), and will never make a hammer spinning char ever again, planning on developing a Barbarian (Concentrate will be the main skill, this was my first D2 char), probably an Assassin focusing on Blades of Ice and traps.
Question: right now I need my merc to kill faster. CoH seems a notable improvement damagewise, but that means I have to cube my top runes. I need to be really careful with my �wealth� because I have to consider my Amazons as well when spending. So CoH does look OK for Jemali and for my Zons, but is it worth it? Should I wait for a Jah for Enigma? Teleport would help a bit, but as I am interested in clearing all WSK�s it is not mandatory.
I do have Andy�s Visage (will Larzuk it), an eth Shako (could Larzuk it), Arrioc�s, could make �Treachery�, and benefit from the 3 os from the upped Hone Sundan, or the os from Guillaume�s Face... Hone needs 105 IAS which is attainable. Don�t know.
What do you recommend for my respec? I do not intend to drop points in CE, it�s my main damage dealer and I enjoy the larger radius and the comfort of being able to kill from a safe distance. I also like that, although the damage is not anything to write home about, my skellies are very resilient and provide enough of a distraction (corroborated with Gumby�s antics) for my moron, so I�d be reluctant to cut down on RS or SM.
Right now Rakanishu has a item granted slvl12 Bone Spear which is, biensur, useless. My 1 hard point (11 after + skills) Poison Nova SEEMS to have some sort of affect on Temptresses, and also turns Lister green, which is fabulous.
What say you, good folks? Thank you very much for your patience and any feedback.|||Sup GRK, ur Fishy sounds fine. I wouldn't make CoH. Fortitude would be a better merc armour then CoH. Physical Immunes are a problem for a Fishy. You could drop the players setting or get some revives. But you could also just bypass them. Do you have a Naj's Puzzler for teleing? Forget about PN or Bone Spear as PI solution coz they need synergising to be effective. The big hitter is your merc. The sooner he makes a corpse, the faster you can get that CE chain reaction going. Make sure he stays busy as sometimes he skives off round the back for a cigarette. If you have an IG, make some cool IK Stone Crusher IG to help produce that first corpse. Don't get rid of revives. They help heaps. Treachery armour can help make your merc attacks faster. Anyways that's all I got for now. GL.|||Quote:
Fortitude would be a better merc armour then CoH
He uses SP with no rwm so no forti and obedience for him.|||Welcome

First off, the (item) returns of playing at P5 isn't good enough considering the time it adds to your runs. Likewise for XP. Stick to P3.
Frenzytaurs will always be tough, but one thing you can try against Witches is lower resist. If you switch to LR once you get one of them to drop you'll do about 60% more damage with CE. Dropping to P3 will probably be sufficient though.
If you respec to maxed RS/SM/CE with one point into just about everything else (more than 1 point into stuff like SR isn't worth it anyway) you get 1500 over 2 secs nova damage. Since respecs are fairly easy to attain it seems worth a shot.
The equipment is a tough one. If your favourite char is this Fishy I would wait for Enigma (especially if you really want to run at P5). On the other hand it could be months before a Jah drops, and CoH is pretty damn versatile and a top choice for many builds. It's up to you.|||Double post.|||I would recommend the following respec.
20 in SM,RS,CE and skeletal mages
1 in all curses.
1 in all other summonskills.
Remainder in bone prison to bolster armour, trap fleeing OKs etc and allow bypass of extreme/time consuming nasties.
Thundergods for goldwrap, use golemlords wand and rhyme or splendour +3 head for summoning army, 30 nagel for raven frost. Resocket shako with Topaz.
Replace wand with HoTo if still worrried by resists.|||There's no real silver bullet for those PI witches, especially on higher player settings.
I'd aim for huge damage and some form of stopping them from regaining any life.
Huge damage comes in the ethereal flavor, most of the time. An ethereal "Crescent Moon" ogre axe is great and it also comes with Open Wounds to stop regen. Other things that stop monsters from healing are poison damage (Poison Nova spam), poison mages, and Prevent Monster Heal (Only if you apply it, it isn't carried by mercenaries).
Mages, bone skills and the others are great at providing an alternate damage source to take down the PI monsters, but that'll scoop points right from your CE and I don't think you want that.
I'd pick through your weaponry and see if you can come up with something slightly better than the Hone Sundan before making the CoH.
I don't think there's anything wrong with playing with a higher player setting. I find it more enjoyable that way, too.|||Thank you, all.
DaveW – as Black Lotus pointed out, no RWM, so no Fortitude for me. The only RW that I really miss from the list available on ladder (or RWM) is “Edge”, for it’s reduce all vendor prices 15%... Oh, the rings I could gamble with that extra cash...
I haven’t found a Naj’s Puzzler yet, but even if I do, I couldn’t be bothered to keep it in my stash, as the only time I could use Teleport is to get my army on top of the big guy. As of now I just run to him, it takes 3-4 seconds, definitely not a life altering drama for someone that kills Baal in just under three minutes. Or I could use an ammy with TP charges, instead. Thank you for your thoughts!
Hubb – you gave me a priceless “duh!” moment and a red forehead with my fingers imprinted on it! Reading Fisheh’s guide something kept bothering me again and again. In his paragraph on PhysImmunes he says that Lower Res could speed up killing. As I was thinking only on how to get the first corpse to drop, I was considering the mighty Nightfish hade made an error, I mean: what has LR got to do with my exclusive Physical Damage dealing guys? Has the world gone mad? While reading your post it hit me: CE does fire damage as well. It’s funny to still be able to “discover” such basic stuff after more than 10 years of play

I will consider placing some extra points in PNova, maybe even make another “White” RW in a bone wand with plus 3 to PNova (among other mods) I have stashed, and give it a go.
I almost made up my mind on CoH, while reading Halciet’s Conc Barb guide which places CoH above Enigma. Although that 45 FRW on Enigma would be godly for my Zons, and the MF as well, but can you argue with 65 all res? For a bow wielding Zon, a Windforce that doesn’t have WWS’ 40 all res? Decisions, decisions. A, who am I kidding, I love this sort of “headaches”

Much appreciated, may your drops be green and gold (and orange if you’re into that kind of stuff)!

Tarantella
I don’t have the runes for HoTO yet, was considering one for a Sorc I started, but since I have found an Occulus which should do the trick for her. Resists are not my main problem, I walk around with a 6x4 free room in my inventory and have plenty of res charms.
The main problem (for me, my playstyle, and the available gear I have) with Mages is that I must be careful not to summon any cold ones, shattered enemies mean lack of ammo for my CE. So I’d have to resummon Mages a lot, which would be time consuming. I do have 3 Graverobber’s GCs I’ve stopped carrying in my inventory as I didn’t notice a major improvement in my killing speed with skellies, or mages for that matter. The merc was still the only one dealing significant damage.
I’ve done the math, using (reluctantly) the pet calculator and some testing, and relying on Mages to make the kills would mean not only changing my playing style, but also access to equipment I simply don’t have atm. I’ve read in some guides that slvl 48 summons do massive damage and are quite impressive. I can’t reach those numbers...
I don’t use Bone Armor, as I don’t get hit, and even when I do (very rarely, there’s one reason why my runs aren’t faster), 950 life can easily cope. Never died since early clvl 92, now I’m 94 and I’ve done almost exclusively WSK and Baal p5 runs.
I will consider swapping one of my rings, but not with Nagels, I found a fortuitous ring of fortune with 36 MF, beats my best Nagel by 6

Thank you very much for your thoughts, much appreciated!
MYK - I've also noticed that spamming PNova on those witches seems to help. Thought about Crescent Moon myself, should help my future Sorc aswell, so I might give it a go.
My weaponry does include Arrioc's Needle, with it's +4 to skills which will boost the Might aura, but I still think that CB delivers most of the damage, just haven't figured out if 35% CB from Guillaume is enough. I'll give it a try nonetheless. Although I must say the upped Hone Sundan is quite a potent killer itself.
Much appreciated!|||There are only monsters, which you cant break PI with amplify damage (mostly uniques), probably 1-2 PI mobs in the entire game (if you run pits, CS, WSK, tombs etc every game). Just skip those if you cant kill them, or use mages. Power of mages without enigma is questionable tho and I never use lower resist now.
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