Mage Lord help

So, I'm a long time lurker here and I've recently come back to D2, got bored with my normal classes (FW/enchantress sorc, summonmancer, smiterdin, multizon etc) and decided to really diversify. My first port of call will be a variant on the summonmancer which I presume y'all know about (since IIRC I read it here first), the mage lord.



I'm not exactly rich, but I can manage basic gear and have the majority of stuff for a summonmancer (just missing a few GC's, Eni and Beast atm (just...)) so I should be capable enough...



Ok, so I'm basically asking for help I have the basic idea down (pump points into raise mage and mastery! (right?)) but beyond that I have no clue

Presuming CE and curses as standard with focus on lower resist rather than amp damage...

Merc? I presume act 2, holy freeze would detract from CE, mights useless as is BA...thorns is a no go and that leaves defiance or prayer...I suppose defiance? I don't know how good mages are at regenerating health or how much of an effect prayer will have, presumably defiance will give them more survivability and allow them to fire more often...



Gear:

Beast is obviously useless, so something with a conviction aura (I know there's a polearm for it, but can't remember for the life of me), I suppose I'll be using AoKL...?

Basically...what do I need? Like I said, I have great summonmancer gear exc eni and beast and can make up most runewords or trade for them.|||I think A2 Prayer Merc with Infinity (Conviction Aura) would be your best bet. Mages have lousy defense and none of the A2 merc auras help their damage, so Prayer is your best bet to keep them alive.

As for a wand, AoKL is the premiere summonmancer stick. I think it's kinda lackluster and the ctc Bone Prison is risky, but if you have Enigma and you're going pure LoM, it'll be the best stick you can have.|||ugh, I hate the ctc bone prison, it's the bane of my necs life

Yeah I'll have an eni for this one though, so that sounds a good setup, infinity was the runeword I was thinking of, ty ^^|||Mage lord is a "for the fun of it" build only. So just have fun with it.

That said, your merc will be doing a lot more killing so some good merc items would be an eth CoH, infinity and a decent andy's.

You'll be resummining a lot of mages, so I'd stick with might or even prayer, although it won't keep up. Cold aura ends up with fewer bodies. But, you could get away with it. Honestly, I'd need to think this one through. You can always change it if you don't like the freeze aura.|||Why is beast useless? It gives fanat aura right? (or is it conc? in which case it is indeed useless). Doesn't that affect the mages' attack speed?=more damage?

IIRC they are attacking with elemental damage, not casting.|||Fanaticism does make mages throw faster. Holy Freeze merc is the way to go. Shattering is negligible.