Some Necro Questions

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

There are two questions I have, actually, and both are about
Necromancer spells.

The first: how does the Iron Golem work, exactly? What attributes
carry over from an item that you use to create one, and what
attributes don't? What attributes does the Golem have (if any) that
it has by default, regardless of whether they are on the item or not?

Looking over the different types of Golems, I'd have to say my
favorite so far is the Clay! My Necro (Softcore) is only level 26
now, so I've had an opportunity to try out the Blood and Iron Golems a
little bit... but my Clay Golem is dying the least, even though I
would have thought he might not be as good, since he's the
lowest-level Golem.

If one is looking to build a Necromancer with really good Golems
(since I like the Golems), is it better to invest in a few backup
Skeletons, or to just put that much more points into the Golems
themselves? I would try only putting points into the Golems, and work
on a Skellemancer build on a separate Necro, but it just seems like
the guy doesn't have enough of a shield between him and the bad guys
without a few Skellies in the way while the Golem's giving it to them
good.

And now my second question:
If a monster is poisoned (let's assume the poison has a long enough
duration to cover the timespan of these events I describe), and then I
cast Amplify Damage *after* the poison has been inflicted... does the
poison begin to do doublefold damage, or still just keep doing the
rate of damage that was first inflicted unless poisoned again while
the curse is in place? I would think that the poison would begin to
do doublefold...but I have to ask.

Also, I just thought of one more question:
If I have a wand with a +# to Raise Skeleton, and then unequip it, if
I have Skeletons raised from that bonus, the Skeletons go pop.
But...there are certain levels to spells such as Raise Skeleton, which
don't add to the number of Skeletons, but instead add just to the
damage and such. There are intervals there at 3 and 5 Skellies I
think... I don't remember exactly... but let's just say we're at one
of those intervals. I have X number of points into Raise Skeleton...
and, therefore, X number of Skeletons. Unequipping a +1 to Raise
Skeleton wand *doesn't* make any of my Skellies go pop because the
point that was added by the wand only increased the damage and
durability of my Skellies...
So do the damage and durability of the Skellies go down then? Or just
stay at the levels they were when the Skellies were raised?
If the former is true, do they go back up if I re-equip the wand, or
do I have to actually *re-raise* the Skeletons to get the bonus again?

That's all.
Whew!

--*Dividedbyzero on USEast

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I apologize for replying to my own post like this... but I just want
to say I realize that was a *lot* more than two, or even three
questions. Sorry about that.

Reply to somebody

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <9b5o5197m9vjf0sh28lnak15s405sqho2f@4ax.com>,
Somebody <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>There are two questions I have, actually, and both are about
>Necromancer spells.
>
>The first: how does the Iron Golem work, exactly? What attributes
>carry over from an item that you use to create one, and what
>attributes don't? What attributes does the Golem have (if any) that
>it has by default, regardless of whether they are on the item or not?

Quite a lot of attributes carry over, including any resists the item has,
auras (I read here recently) are also carried over. Also, Crushing Blow
does.

Other people can answer this better, though.

>Looking over the different types of Golems, I'd have to say my
>favorite so far is the Clay! My Necro (Softcore) is only level 26
>now, so I've had an opportunity to try out the Blood and Iron Golems a
>little bit... but my Clay Golem is dying the least, even though I
>would have thought he might not be as good, since he's the
>lowest-level Golem.

It's also the Golem I use most. The Clay Golem has a lot of life, slows
down the enemy it hits and is also quite durable.

>If one is looking to build a Necromancer with really good Golems
>(since I like the Golems), is it better to invest in a few backup
>Skeletons, or to just put that much more points into the Golems
>themselves? I would try only putting points into the Golems, and work
>on a Skellemancer build on a separate Necro, but it just seems like
>the guy doesn't have enough of a shield between him and the bad guys
>without a few Skellies in the way while the Golem's giving it to them
>good.

Actually, if you want to build a golem-mancer, you're in for quite a
ride. Rumour has it, it's a tough character to play, especially once you
progress to Hell.

>And now my second question:
>If a monster is poisoned (let's assume the poison has a long enough
>duration to cover the timespan of these events I describe), and then I
>cast Amplify Damage *after* the poison has been inflicted... does the
>poison begin to do doublefold damage, or still just keep doing the
>rate of damage that was first inflicted unless poisoned again while
>the curse is in place? I would think that the poison would begin to
>do doublefold...but I have to ask.

Since Amplify Damage only lowers a monsters _physical_ resistance, I
would expect it to have no effect at all on a running poison-attack.

Now, if you asked this question about the curse 'Lower Resists', I
wouldn't know for sure, but it's quite possible poison damage is
increased.

>Also, I just thought of one more question:
>If I have a wand with a +# to Raise Skeleton, and then unequip it, if
>I have Skeletons raised from that bonus, the Skeletons go pop.
>But...there are certain levels to spells such as Raise Skeleton, which
>don't add to the number of Skeletons, but instead add just to the
>damage and such. There are intervals there at 3 and 5 Skellies I
>think... I don't remember exactly... but let's just say we're at one
>of those intervals. I have X number of points into Raise Skeleton...
>and, therefore, X number of Skeletons. Unequipping a +1 to Raise
>Skeleton wand *doesn't* make any of my Skellies go pop because the
>point that was added by the wand only increased the damage and
>durability of my Skellies...
>So do the damage and durability of the Skellies go down then? Or just
>stay at the levels they were when the Skellies were raised?
>If the former is true, do they go back up if I re-equip the wand, or
>do I have to actually *re-raise* the Skeletons to get the bonus again?

It's been my impression the skeletons keep the stats they had when
raised. So they don't go back.

The same goes for skeletons you raised with a lower amount of +skills:
when you equip the +skills equipment, you have to re-raise the skeletons
for them to get the better stats.

If I'm wrong, somebody will surely correct me. Hope this helped.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

Somebody wrote:
> There are two questions I have, actually, and both are about
> Necromancer spells.
>
> The first: how does the Iron Golem work, exactly? What attributes
> carry over from an item that you use to create one, and what
> attributes don't? What attributes does the Golem have (if any) that
> it has by default, regardless of whether they are on the item or not?
>
The only thing the Iron Golem starts with is his 7-19 attack and the
Thorns aura. If made from a weapon, the weapon damage is added to his
normal attack, and he gets most of the weapon modifiers (poison,
crushing blow, etc.). If made from a shield or armor, he gets the
defensive bonuses of the item. Hwanin's armor is a favorite "golem
seed", as are 4-socket paladin shields with perfect skulls. Note that
item level is irrelevant, so your high-level characters can feed elite
items to your lvl 24 necros (Immortal King mauls, for example).

> Looking over the different types of Golems, I'd have to say my
> favorite so far is the Clay! My Necro (Softcore) is only level 26
> now, so I've had an opportunity to try out the Blood and Iron Golems
a
> little bit... but my Clay Golem is dying the least, even though I
> would have thought he might not be as good, since he's the
> lowest-level Golem.
>
I actually prefer the Fire Golem once I get to 30. His main advantage
is that monsters concentrate their attacks on the golem in response to
his Holy Fire aura, ignoring the more-fragile merc with the big stick.

> If one is looking to build a Necromancer with really good Golems
> (since I like the Golems), is it better to invest in a few backup
> Skeletons, or to just put that much more points into the Golems
> themselves? I would try only putting points into the Golems, and
work
> on a Skellemancer build on a separate Necro, but it just seems like
> the guy doesn't have enough of a shield between him and the bad guys
> without a few Skellies in the way while the Golem's giving it to them
> good.
>
In 1.09, golem life was boosted by the number of players in the game,
so high-level golems (mostly Iron) were pretty tough. In 1.10, golems
stay the same size, so they are at an extreme disadvantage as the
number of players increases and the monsters get bigger. Other nerfs
include the removal of the Blood Golem \ Iron Maiden synergy, and Fire
Golems no longer regenerate from fire. A 20-point golem isn't that much
more effective than a 1-point golem, whereas skeletons benefit immensly
from an extra 20 points. (You'll also have +10 or so skill boosts, so
the 1-point golems are actually at level 11 and are fairly durable.)

> And now my second question:
> If a monster is poisoned (let's assume the poison has a long enough
> duration to cover the timespan of these events I describe), and then
I
> cast Amplify Damage *after* the poison has been inflicted... does the
> poison begin to do doublefold damage, or still just keep doing the
> rate of damage that was first inflicted unless poisoned again while
> the curse is in place? I would think that the poison would begin to
> do doublefold...but I have to ask.

Amplify Damage only affects physical damage, not poison damage. You'll
need Lower Resist to increase poison damage.

--
Zamboni

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:00:48 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>In article <9b5o5197m9vjf0sh28lnak15s405sqho2f@4ax.com>,
>Somebody <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
*snip*
>>how does the Iron Golem work, exactly? What attributes
>>carry over from an item that you use to create one, and what
>>attributes don't? What attributes does the Golem have (if any) that
>>it has by default, regardless of whether they are on the item or not?
>
>Quite a lot of attributes carry over, including any resists the item has,
>auras (I read here recently) are also carried over. Also, Crushing Blow
>does.
>
>Other people can answer this better, though.

Thanks, because that's more than I knew before. Crushing Blow sounds
like a good example. Open Wounds and things like that (not sure how
many others there are) are in the same category as Crushing Blow I
think, so I guess those would cross over too... I haven't tried out
any items with auras, but I'll have to pay attention to resistances.

>>Looking over the different types of Golems, I'd have to say my
>>favorite so far is the Clay!
*snip*
>It's also the Golem I use most. The Clay Golem has a lot of life, slows
>down the enemy it hits and is also quite durable.

The Clay Golem has been pretty durable for me, what with dying less
than the others and all. Currently I don't have many points into it,
but I do have more points into Clay than Blood or Iron, so before
judging them maybe I should give them more points too...

>Actually, if you want to build a golem-mancer, you're in for quite a
>ride. Rumour has it, it's a tough character to play, especially once you
>progress to Hell.

I don't know much about the Hell difficulty! I haven't actually been
in it yet... well, I think I might've gotten to it once... but just
looked around a bit... didn't actually try to kill anything... I'm not
sure I even went out of the Rogue Encampment once I got into Hell. I
really don't remember, it was a long time ago...

>Since Amplify Damage only lowers a monsters _physical_ resistance, I
>would expect it to have no effect at all on a running poison-attack.

Oh, OK, so poison doesn't count as physical damage. I didn't actually
know that. It might have made sense if I had thought about it, but I
assumed it counted as physical damage... since poison doesn't seem
like a "magical" thing... but OK. That makes sense.

>Now, if you asked this question about the curse 'Lower Resists', I
>wouldn't know for sure, but it's quite possible poison damage is
>increased.

Hmm...

>It's been my impression the skeletons keep the stats they had when
>raised. So they don't go back.
>
>The same goes for skeletons you raised with a lower amount of +skills:
>when you equip the +skills equipment, you have to re-raise the skeletons
>for them to get the better stats.
>
>If I'm wrong, somebody will surely correct me. Hope this helped.
>
>Regards,
>
>Patrick.

Thank you. That's what I would assume too, but since I didn't know
for sure... and was curious... I wanted to ask. Not sure it's even
that important to know this, since one point of bonuses in Skeletons
doesn't make *that* much of a difference anyway... but it still might
come in handy sometime, and gives me a better understanding of the way
the game works in these ways and how I'll be dealing with things. So
thanks for the reply and giving me the information that you could.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On 12 Apr 2005 16:24:02 -0700, "Zamboni" <thezambonis@gmail.com>
wrote:

>The only thing the Iron Golem starts with is his 7-19 attack and the
>Thorns aura. If made from a weapon, the weapon damage is added to his
>normal attack, and he gets most of the weapon modifiers (poison,
>crushing blow, etc.). If made from a shield or armor, he gets the
>defensive bonuses of the item. Hwanin's armor is a favorite "golem
>seed", as are 4-socket paladin shields with perfect skulls. Note that
>item level is irrelevant, so your high-level characters can feed elite
>items to your lvl 24 necros (Immortal King mauls, for example).

OK. Nice to know about the shield/armor defense bonus.

>I actually prefer the Fire Golem once I get to 30. His main advantage
>is that monsters concentrate their attacks on the golem in response to
>his Holy Fire aura, ignoring the more-fragile merc with the big stick.

I haven't gotten the chance to try out a Fire Golem yet. I haven't
gotten a Necromancer high enough in the past... here's to hoping I
will get PracticeSummon up to a healthy level 40 or so so that I can
experiment a little with the Fire Golem. I've been curious about it,
it's actually the one I know the least about (since I'm a little bit
more educated about the Iron Golem now).

>In 1.09, golem life was boosted by the number of players in the game,
>so high-level golems (mostly Iron) were pretty tough. In 1.10, golems
>stay the same size, so they are at an extreme disadvantage as the
>number of players increases and the monsters get bigger. Other nerfs
>include the removal of the Blood Golem \ Iron Maiden synergy, and Fire
>Golems no longer regenerate from fire. A 20-point golem isn't that much
>more effective than a 1-point golem, whereas skeletons benefit immensly
>from an extra 20 points. (You'll also have +10 or so skill boosts, so
>the 1-point golems are actually at level 11 and are fairly durable.)

I see. Well, I've already put 5 or 6 points into Clay Golem... no
more than 1 into Blood and Iron though. But the extra points into
Clay should be useful for added durability.

>Amplify Damage only affects physical damage, not poison damage. You'll
>need Lower Resist to increase poison damage.

OK, got it now. I just wasn't thinking about the poison not being
physical damage...for some reason I was inclined to assume that it
was, but I understand now that it's not, and isn't included in the Amp
Damage.

PS: I changed aliases; instead of "Somebody" I'm now "*Dividedbyzero"
so that I don't have to put that at the end of my posts. Just
mentioned that in a previous thread except now, by having to explain
myself, I'm counteracting the effort made to save the typing at the
end of the posts! And, I'll still have to make sure to let potential
gamers-with that I'm on the USEast server at the end of my posts, so I
wonder if I should've just stayed with my "Somebody" thing...

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On 12 Apr 2005 16:24:02 -0700, "Zamboni" <thezambonis@gmail.com>
wrote:

>>
>I actually prefer the Fire Golem once I get to 30. His main advantage
>is that monsters concentrate their attacks on the golem in response to
>his Holy Fire aura, ignoring the more-fragile merc with the big stick.
>

Me too. the ability to cast the fire golem to turn monsters away
from.. whatever... is a good trick to learn.

However, if i stumble upon a nice rare or unique weapon, usually i'll
make an iron golem out of it for fun. My fire golem is hot keyed and
as soon as the iron golem dies, i replace him with the fire golem.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

> I must be the only Necro player that almost never uses corpse
> explosion. When i do use it, it's usually trying to kill a big bad
> boss or unique. More often than not, i'd rather have the bodies left
> intact to raise more skeletons. But, the idea is, use corpse explosion
> to kill the monsters so they dont kill your skellies and then you wont
> have to raise them anyway.

Basically, you have to be aware that CE doesn't scale. While in a one player
game, you can easily kill _a lot_ with CE, without running out of bodies for
skellies, an 8 player game will require a lot more CE's to do the job, thus
leaving a lot less bodies. Personally, I use CE heavily while playing alone,
and for boss packs and baal-runs, but in a "normal" multiplayer game, I tone
it down a bit.

> I'm in Nightmare now, about 8 revives, 25 skellies and 10 mages,
> skelly mastery maxed, and a fire golem and a merc with thorns aura.
> Cast fire golem to attract if needed, slow the bastards with Decrep
> until I get the attack odds in my favor, then cast amp damage. Seems
> to be working great for me. Apply bone spirit or bone spear if needed.

25 skellies? how many +skills do you need for that??

Mvh. Otto

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:45:16 +0200, "Otto J." <hifiotto@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>> I must be the only Necro player that almost never uses corpse
>> explosion. When i do use it, it's usually trying to kill a big bad
>> boss or unique. More often than not, i'd rather have the bodies left
>> intact to raise more skeletons. But, the idea is, use corpse explosion
>> to kill the monsters so they dont kill your skellies and then you wont
>> have to raise them anyway.
>
>Basically, you have to be aware that CE doesn't scale. While in a one player
>game, you can easily kill _a lot_ with CE, without running out of bodies for
>skellies, an 8 player game will require a lot more CE's to do the job, thus
>leaving a lot less bodies. Personally, I use CE heavily while playing alone,
>and for boss packs and baal-runs, but in a "normal" multiplayer game, I tone
>it down a bit.

i play single player 1.09 with a mod i made for myself. I dont know if
what you are telling me, makes any difference for the versions...
i might hot key up corpse explosion and use it instead of amp damage
tonight and see. Might not work for me but will probly be lots of fun
anyway

>
>> I'm in Nightmare now, about 8 revives, 25 skellies and 10 mages,
>> skelly mastery maxed, and a fire golem and a merc with thorns aura.
>> Cast fire golem to attract if needed, slow the bastards with Decrep
>> until I get the attack odds in my favor, then cast amp damage. Seems
>> to be working great for me. Apply bone spirit or bone spear if needed.
>
>25 skellies? how many +skills do you need for that??

i got a few. probly six or seven, maybe eight. My mod is written in
that the bosses are all harder to kill, hell, everything is much
harder, uniques and champions spawning constantly, but when you kill a
big boss, he drops GREAT stuff. It all started with the frustration I
got once when i killed Baal in normal and he dropped two blue items
and a single gold piece. Diablo in normal drops stone of jordan,
nightmare drops bullcathos wedding band, baal drops eye of edlitch,
etc... in hell, baal drops a zod rune. I guess I got tired of playing
single player for years and not ever seeing ANY Of these kewl things.

still, 25 skellies, thats nothing compared to the screenshots i saw
once from this other necro person here, who looked to have an army of
about 80 skellies. Pics of them all marching onto the steps of the
temple at zacharum. I aksed him too, how in the heck did you get all
those skeletons? but he never answered.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:57:54 -0400, PeeVee_Herman
<edwardapplejacksmith@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I must be the only Necro player that almost never uses corpse
>explosion. When i do use it, it's usually trying to kill a big bad
>boss or unique. More often than not, i'd rather have the bodies left
>intact to raise more skeletons. But, the idea is, use corpse explosion
>to kill the monsters so they dont kill your skellies and then you wont
>have to raise them anyway.

Actually, I hardly ever use corpse explosion myself. I found a wand
that some monster dropped which had a +1 to corpse explosion, and I
was just beginning Act 2... so I decided to hang onto it, in case it
came in handy in the Maggot Lair. Sometimes it is inconvenient if
Corpse Explosion doesn't turn out to be as effective as you planned,
and you end up with exploded corpses that didn't actually kill the
monsters, and dead Skeletons which need to be raised again but can't
due to the exploded corpses.

>I'm in Nightmare now, about 8 revives, 25 skellies and 10 mages,
>skelly mastery maxed, and a fire golem and a merc with thorns aura.
>Cast fire golem to attract if needed, slow the bastards with Decrep
>until I get the attack odds in my favor, then cast amp damage. Seems
>to be working great for me. Apply bone spirit or bone spear if needed.

Right now I'm in Act 5 Normal with my now level 35 Summoner. He has 6
skeletons, 3 mages, and I believe a couple points into Skeleton and
Golem Mastery now... I also have a level 21 Act 2 Combat Mercenary
with him, (yes, the mercenary got way behind! I need to either catch
him up or get a new one when I get to Nightmare Act 2... any
suggestions for which would be best?) and I use either the Clay or
Fire Golem. The Fire Golem has been pretty good for me so far... I
think now that my favorite Golem is a toss-up between Clay and Fire.
The Fire Golem looks all nice and firey too, as opposed to the sort of
plain... Clay-ish look... of the Clay Golem. But then, Clay should
look like Clay, and Fire should look like Fire...
I have one point (at least) into each of the Curses now, but for the
most part I only use Decrepify and Amplify Damage, in Act 5 currently
anyway.

>I know theres ten million ways to play this character. thats why I
>like him. the Necro seems to be more about strategy than some of the
>other characters. I cant let any of the really strong monsters get
>near me or i'm toast.

Yep, that's why I've acquired a newfound appreciation for the
Necromancer. I'm looking forward to experimenting with many different
kinds of builds and seeing what I can do.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> writes:

> I need to either catch him up or get a new one when I get to
> Nightmare Act 2... any suggestions for which would be best?)

Conventional wisdom is to go with a "Might" aura mercenary, to help
everyone in your army kill faster. That's what I used for my
Skellimancer and it has worked very well indeed.

Nick

--
# sigmask (lambda deprecation version) 20041028 || feed this to a python
print ''.join([chr(ord(x)-1) for x in 'Ojdl!Wbshjti!=ojdlAwbshjti/psh?'])

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On 13 Apr 2005 14:54:47 -0400, Nick Vargish
<nav+posts@bandersnatch.org> wrote:

>*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> writes:
>
>> I need to either catch him up or get a new one when I get to
>> Nightmare Act 2... any suggestions for which would be best?)
>
>Conventional wisdom is to go with a "Might" aura mercenary, to help
>everyone in your army kill faster. That's what I used for my
>Skellimancer and it has worked very well indeed.
>
>Nick

I shall try it! I actually dumped my Act 2 Combat at level 21 since I
was getting impatient with leveling him up. After that I bought an
Act 5 Barbarian Mercenary, because I haven't really tried one before
and wanted to see what they're like... I figure I'll hang onto him
until Nightmare Act 2 and get me a new Mercenary then.

I've been playing Diablo II for very much too long today... my wrist
is getting sore... aaagghh.

--USEast

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

*Dividedbyzero wrote:

>
> Actually, I hardly ever use corpse explosion myself. I found a wand
> that some monster dropped which had a +1 to corpse explosion, and I
> was just beginning Act 2... so I decided to hang onto it, in case it
> came in handy in the Maggot Lair. Sometimes it is inconvenient if
> Corpse Explosion doesn't turn out to be as effective as you planned,
> and you end up with exploded corpses that didn't actually kill the
> monsters, and dead Skeletons which need to be raised again but can't
> due to the exploded corpses.

I've never used Corpse Explosion much either. But then I have a sort-of
addiction to Bone Spear. In narrow quarters it's really cool,
especially in the Maggot Lair.
Of course, the problem with Corpse Explosion is you need corpses. Not
too many of them around with Duriel, Diablo or Baal.

>
> >I'm in Nightmare now, about 8 revives, 25 skellies and 10 mages,
> >skelly mastery maxed, and a fire golem and a merc with thorns aura.
> >Cast fire golem to attract if needed, slow the bastards with Decrep
> >until I get the attack odds in my favor, then cast amp damage. Seems
> >to be working great for me. Apply bone spirit or bone spear if needed.
>
> Right now I'm in Act 5 Normal with my now level 35 Summoner. He has 6
> skeletons, 3 mages, and I believe a couple points into Skeleton and
> Golem Mastery now... I also have a level 21 Act 2 Combat Mercenary
> with him, (yes, the mercenary got way behind! I need to either catch
> him up or get a new one when I get to Nightmare Act 2... any
> suggestions for which would be best?) and I use either the Clay or
> Fire Golem. The Fire Golem has been pretty good for me so far... I
> think now that my favorite Golem is a toss-up between Clay and Fire.
> The Fire Golem looks all nice and firey too, as opposed to the sort of
> plain... Clay-ish look... of the Clay Golem. But then, Clay should
> look like Clay, and Fire should look like Fire...

They could make the clay golem glow green or pale blue, like
luminescence.

Watchman
--
'Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really know what's going on'

Reply to Watchman

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

*Dividedbyzero wrote:
>
> On 13 Apr 2005 14:54:47 -0400, Nick Vargish
> <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org> wrote:
>
> >*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> writes:
> >
> >> I need to either catch him up or get a new one when I get to
> >> Nightmare Act 2... any suggestions for which would be best?)
> >
> >Conventional wisdom is to go with a "Might" aura mercenary, to help
> >everyone in your army kill faster. That's what I used for my
> >Skellimancer and it has worked very well indeed.
> >
> >Nick
>
> I shall try it! I actually dumped my Act 2 Combat at level 21 since I
> was getting impatient with leveling him up. After that I bought an
> Act 5 Barbarian Mercenary, because I haven't really tried one before
> and wanted to see what they're like... I figure I'll hang onto him
> until Nightmare Act 2 and get me a new Mercenary then.
>

Barbarians tend to be better for a Sorceress. The offensive Might Merc
is probably your best bet. Still, for something different, there's
always the combat Thorns Merc.

Watchman
--
'Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really know what's going on'

Reply to Watchman

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"PeeVee_Herman" <edwardapplejacksmith@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1113406283.cb835e9c278c476635a878305a21fffe@bubbanews...
> On 12 Apr 2005 16:24:02 -0700, "Zamboni" <thezambonis@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>>>
>>I actually prefer the Fire Golem once I get to 30. His main advantage
>>is that monsters concentrate their attacks on the golem in response to
>>his Holy Fire aura, ignoring the more-fragile merc with the big stick.
>>
>
> Me too. the ability to cast the fire golem to turn monsters away
> from.. whatever... is a good trick to learn.
>
> However, if i stumble upon a nice rare or unique weapon, usually i'll
> make an iron golem out of it for fun. My fire golem is hot keyed and
> as soon as the iron golem dies, i replace him with the fire golem.
>
>
Any time I find something ethereal, it becomes an Iron Golem for a few
minutes of coolness. (Then it dies horribly and it's back to Fire.)
--
Zamboni

Reply to Anonymous

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"*Dividedbyzero" <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote in message
news:urpq51db0bfit4mrbf313va91h56nvsjdq@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:57:54 -0400, PeeVee_Herman
> <edwardapplejacksmith@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>I must be the only Necro player that almost never uses corpse
>>explosion. When i do use it, it's usually trying to kill a big bad
>>boss or unique. More often than not, i'd rather have the bodies left
>>intact to raise more skeletons. But, the idea is, use corpse explosion
>>to kill the monsters so they dont kill your skellies and then you wont
>>have to raise them anyway.
>
> Actually, I hardly ever use corpse explosion myself. I found a wand
> that some monster dropped which had a +1 to corpse explosion, and I
> was just beginning Act 2... so I decided to hang onto it, in case it
> came in handy in the Maggot Lair. Sometimes it is inconvenient if
> Corpse Explosion doesn't turn out to be as effective as you planned,
> and you end up with exploded corpses that didn't actually kill the
> monsters, and dead Skeletons which need to be raised again but can't
> due to the exploded corpses.
>
Level 1 Corpse Explosion has a disappointing blast radius and is almost a
waste of mana. The Maggot Lair limits the blast even further, so it would be
a really lucky shot to hit the next monster in line.

Level 30 Corpse Explosion, on the other hand, clears out the entire tunnel.

--
Zamboni

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:49:38 +0930, Watchman
<stryder@SPAMPHOBICwhyalla.net.au> wrote:

>Barbarians tend to be better for a Sorceress. The offensive Might Merc
>is probably your best bet. Still, for something different, there's
>always the combat Thorns Merc.

Don't often play Sorceresses.

I might try my luck with both Might and Thorns. At any rate, now I'm
stuck with the Barbarian whether I like it or not until Nightmare Act
2! Well, I guess if I get sick of him I could purchase a Rogue along
the way... but I'll probably keep the Barbarian.

I'm starting to feel guilty about having replaced my Normal Combat
Mercenary from Act 2 with this Barbarian, though. I had gotten him up
to almost level 22, and had I continued leveling him, he might have
grown very strong and useful... but that is in the past now! I need
to try my luck with Nightmare Mercenaries anyway, since I haven't ever
done so before.

Reply to Anonymous

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:42:32 +0930, Watchman
<stryder@SPAMPHOBICwhyalla.net.au> wrote:

>I've never used Corpse Explosion much either. But then I have a sort-of
>addiction to Bone Spear. In narrow quarters it's really cool,
>especially in the Maggot Lair.
>Of course, the problem with Corpse Explosion is you need corpses. Not
>too many of them around with Duriel, Diablo or Baal.

Yeah; that's why I don't like to come to rely on Corpse Explosion
either... sometimes, there just aren't corpses! And if you need
corpses to raise skeletons, you can always go to the Cold Plains or
somewhere else to kill things just for the sake of raising skeletons
from their corpses. But on the other hand, if you're battling Duriel,
going to Cold Plains and killing things, then exploding their corpses
doesn't do much good. So it doesn't go the other way around...

>They could make the clay golem glow green or pale blue, like
>luminescence.

Yes... that might look nice...

Reply to Anonymous

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On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:52:45 -0700, "Zamboni" <zamboni@nospam.com>
wrote:

>Level 1 Corpse Explosion has a disappointing blast radius and is almost a
>waste of mana. The Maggot Lair limits the blast even further, so it would be
>a really lucky shot to hit the next monster in line.
>
>Level 30 Corpse Explosion, on the other hand, clears out the entire tunnel.
>

Yeah... my level 1 Corpse Explosion didn't make too much of a
difference... to be honest, I'm not sure how much it helped. I didn't
have as much trouble in the Maggot Lair as I thought I might. But it
did seem to help a little in some of the larger groups of monsters,
especially one time in a little "room" area where some had been
killed, but some were still alive... that was mostly those charged
bolt-emitting Beetles, I think.

I'm looking forward to the Nightmare/Hell Maggot Lairs with my
Summoner. Those might be a bit more challenging...

Reply to Anonymous

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In article <465t51t39rm6f4qpllvvd9at63ful6lqks@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:

>I'm looking forward to the Nightmare/Hell Maggot Lairs with my
>Summoner. Those might be a bit more challenging...

In Nightmare it is (still) easy. In Hell however, without a _good_ merc,
and possibly a nice attack of your own (Marrowwalks-synergized Bone
Spear/Spirit) _and_ CE, you're in trouble.

I'll repeat again: CE is a necro's most devastating spell, and maxing it
is something you cannot do without. In any case, if you don't max it, you
will greatly reduce his killing speed.

And if you need to CE all the corpses there are, you're doing something
wrong (probably casting a level 1 CE). If you have 20+ in CE, you only
need a few to clear an entire region.

Regards,

Patrick.

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:04:26 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>In article <465t51t39rm6f4qpllvvd9at63ful6lqks@4ax.com>,
>*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>
>>I'm looking forward to the Nightmare/Hell Maggot Lairs with my
>>Summoner. Those might be a bit more challenging...
>
>In Nightmare it is (still) easy. In Hell however, without a _good_ merc,
>and possibly a nice attack of your own (Marrowwalks-synergized Bone
>Spear/Spirit) _and_ CE, you're in trouble.
>
>I'll repeat again: CE is a necro's most devastating spell, and maxing it
>is something you cannot do without. In any case, if you don't max it, you
>will greatly reduce his killing speed.
>
>And if you need to CE all the corpses there are, you're doing something
>wrong (probably casting a level 1 CE). If you have 20+ in CE, you only
>need a few to clear an entire region.
>
>Regards,

good info, thanks

Reply to Anonymous

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:04:26 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>In Nightmare it is (still) easy. In Hell however, without a _good_ merc,
>and possibly a nice attack of your own (Marrowwalks-synergized Bone
>Spear/Spirit) _and_ CE, you're in trouble.
>
>I'll repeat again: CE is a necro's most devastating spell, and maxing it
>is something you cannot do without. In any case, if you don't max it, you
>will greatly reduce his killing speed.
>
>And if you need to CE all the corpses there are, you're doing something
>wrong (probably casting a level 1 CE). If you have 20+ in CE, you only
>need a few to clear an entire region.

Ah, OK. In the past I haven't had a Necromancer at a high enough
level to go into Hell (not even Nightmare, actually). I've only been
in Nightmare very briefly with a Lightning Trap Assassin.

I'll consider putting some points into Corpse Explosion; right now I
only have a couple, I think, and haven't been using it for the most
part, but if it's going to come in handy to max it... then I'll have
to try it out. If high-level Corpse Explosion does significant
damage, and is effective enough without many explosions... then that
will be something to consider. Thanks for the info.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <bjet51dmrb5c7919dbbtp4a8sheljj4si5@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:04:26 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
><patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:
>
>>In Nightmare it is (still) easy. In Hell however, without a _good_ merc,
>>and possibly a nice attack of your own (Marrowwalks-synergized Bone
>>Spear/Spirit) _and_ CE, you're in trouble.
>>
>>I'll repeat again: CE is a necro's most devastating spell, and maxing it
>>is something you cannot do without. In any case, if you don't max it, you
>>will greatly reduce his killing speed.
>>
>>And if you need to CE all the corpses there are, you're doing something
>>wrong (probably casting a level 1 CE). If you have 20+ in CE, you only
>>need a few to clear an entire region.
>
>Ah, OK. In the past I haven't had a Necromancer at a high enough
>level to go into Hell (not even Nightmare, actually). I've only been
>in Nightmare very briefly with a Lightning Trap Assassin.
>
>I'll consider putting some points into Corpse Explosion; right now I
>only have a couple, I think, and haven't been using it for the most
>part, but if it's going to come in handy to max it... then I'll have
>to try it out. If high-level Corpse Explosion does significant
>damage, and is effective enough without many explosions... then that
>will be something to consider. Thanks for the info.

The damage does not increase, but the radius increases, so you hit more
monsters with the same CE. It really is a devastating spell. Also, it's
damage is 50/50 fire/physical damage, so there not many monsters which are
immune to all of it's damage.

If every character had CE, Hell would be much more doable for all classes.

Regards,

Patrick.

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 21:50:36 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>The damage does not increase, but the radius increases, so you hit more
>monsters with the same CE. It really is a devastating spell. Also, it's
>damage is 50/50 fire/physical damage, so there not many monsters which are
>immune to all of it's damage.
>
>If every character had CE, Hell would be much more doable for all classes.
>

Cool. Which reminds me I need to put some more points into my Amplify
Damage curse, since I'm not getting good luck with the meager starting
radius that it has. It'll probably be easier on me if I can spare a
few extra points into it so that it'll cover more area and I won't
have to cast it over and over again to get whole groups.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with Corpse Explosion too, but
that's still down the road... I have a few other areas to put skill
points now, but my Summoner is already at level 42. He's been coming
along pretty well and I think overall, my skill points have been
satisfactory... he can actually get Baal's minions all by himself now,
though it does involve a lot of re-casting my Fire Golem and
re-raising Skeletons. I'm almost ready for Nightmare, I think...

Reply to Anonymous

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In article <uijt51d6dsjcu538mc9iv8l7hem175kocv@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 21:50:36 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
><patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:
>
>>The damage does not increase, but the radius increases, so you hit more
>>monsters with the same CE. It really is a devastating spell. Also, it's
>>damage is 50/50 fire/physical damage, so there not many monsters which are
>>immune to all of it's damage.
>>
>>If every character had CE, Hell would be much more doable for all classes.
>>
>
>Cool. Which reminds me I need to put some more points into my Amplify
>Damage curse, since I'm not getting good luck with the meager starting
>radius that it has. It'll probably be easier on me if I can spare a
>few extra points into it so that it'll cover more area and I won't
>have to cast it over and over again to get whole groups.

Actually, once you get more +skills items, there's no need to put more in
AD. It's also a quite cheap spell, so you can spam it to your heart's
content, and can put those points in skills that need it...

>I'm looking forward to experimenting with Corpse Explosion too, but
>that's still down the road... I have a few other areas to put skill
>points now, but my Summoner is already at level 42. He's been coming
>along pretty well and I think overall, my skill points have been
>satisfactory... he can actually get Baal's minions all by himself now,
>though it does involve a lot of re-casting my Fire Golem and
>re-raising Skeletons. I'm almost ready for Nightmare, I think...

What skills are you putting points into then, and what do you have where
now?

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

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On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 22:50:40 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>Actually, once you get more +skills items, there's no need to put more in
>AD. It's also a quite cheap spell, so you can spam it to your heart's
>content, and can put those points in skills that need it...

That's good to keep in mind for my Softcore Summoner. But if I build
Hardcore Summoners in the future, I still want to concentrate on those
being as non item-dependent as possible...

>What skills are you putting points into then, and what do you have where
>now?

I haven't planned things out very well, though I'm not being
completely random either. My Necros in the future will probably be
much better planned than this one is. Right now, this is what he's
all about:

Level 42.
Strength: 85
Dexterity: Base 25
Vitality: 88
Energy: 92

The first time I leveled, I applied 2 points to Energy and Vitality,
and the extra to Energy. The second time I leveled, I applied 2
points to Energy and Vitality, and the extra to Vitality. The third
time I leveled, I applied all 5 points to Strength alone. I've been
trying to keep that pattern up continuously. When I did the fourth
quest of Act 3, which gave me extra points to distribute... I put all
of those into Energy. I expect I might put all of those into Vitality
once I do Hardcore, though.

This is how this guy's skill points are:

(Without items.)
--Summoning--
Skeleton Mastery: 3
Raise Skeleton: 16
Clay Golem: 6
Golem Mastery: 1
Raise Skeletal Mage: 2
Blood Golem: 1
Summon Resist: 1
Iron Golem: 1
Fire Golem: 1
Revive: 1

--Poison & Bone--
Teeth: 1
Bone Armor: 1
Corpse Explosion: Another whopping 1!

I have one point in each of all of the Curses.

Now for the items:
I have a Wormskull Bone Helm which gives me +1 to all Necromancer
skill levels. I also have a wand which gives me +1 to Summoning
skills. A Gargoyle Head I've been using along with that wand gives me
+2 to Bone Spear and a +1 to Poison Explosion and Confuse. I never
use Poison Explosion and Confuse, so that doesn't really matter, but I
have used Bone Spear occasionally.

--Ashley

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

~misfit~ wrote:
>
> Watchman wrote:
> > *Dividedbyzero wrote:
> >>
> >> On 13 Apr 2005 14:54:47 -0400, Nick Vargish
> >> <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>> *Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> writes:
> >>>
> >>>> I need to either catch him up or get a new one when I get to
> >>>> Nightmare Act 2... any suggestions for which would be best?)
> >>>
> >>> Conventional wisdom is to go with a "Might" aura mercenary, to help
> >>> everyone in your army kill faster. That's what I used for my
> >>> Skellimancer and it has worked very well indeed.
> >>>
> >>> Nick
> >>
> >> I shall try it! I actually dumped my Act 2 Combat at level 21 since
> >> I was getting impatient with leveling him up. After that I bought an
> >> Act 5 Barbarian Mercenary, because I haven't really tried one before
> >> and wanted to see what they're like... I figure I'll hang onto him
> >> until Nightmare Act 2 and get me a new Mercenary then.
> >>
> >
> > Barbarians tend to be better for a Sorceress. The offensive Might Merc
> > is probably your best bet. Still, for something different, there's
> > always the combat Thorns Merc.
>
> Since the advent of the Insight runeword act 2 mercs are the merc of choice
> for a sorc. Act 2 prayer seems to synergise with the meditation aura of
> insight and give really fast mana and life replenish. (Although I use a holy
> freeze merc with Insight for my sorc). Prayer and Insight could be a viable
> option for strafeazons though, no worries about leech at all, you could
> concentrate on resists and/or damage.
> --
> ~misfit~

Once you find a Sol, of course. Perhaps it's just me but I can never
find one when I really need it. Actually, I generally can't find one
period!

Watchman
--
'Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really know what's going on'

Reply to Watchman

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On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 14:10:10 +1200, "~misfit~"
<misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:

>I mainly use CE for clearing doorways etc where only one skelly can attack
>and all the rest are standing around with their phalanges in their pelvis'.
>
>Makes for a faster game.

My Corpse Explosion is up to level 3 now, and I still have +1 on my
wand which brings me up to 4 if I switch to using that wand before
casting. I've been doing the first few quests of Nightmare Act 1 and
I must say, it's already coming in handy for some of the larger groups
of mini-monsters, once I've killed some of the minis, and need to get
the big mini-boss in the middle. Since it makes the big mini-boss die
quicker, my Skeletons don't get killed as much, and thus I don't need
to re-raise them as much, thanks to the strategic and non-wreckless
use of CE.

But I think I'm learning that there is a time and place for spells
like Corpse Explosion, and sometimes not.

When there are corpses... I might use Corpse Explosion.

When there are not... I probably won't!

Reply to Anonymous

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On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 15:39:47 +1200, "~misfit~"
<misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:

>Ideal (IMO):
>
>St: enough to wear your armour, with enough points saved later in the game
>to hit 118 strength in case you are fortunate enough toget Marrowwalks.
>
>Dex: base
>
>Vit: lots
>
>En: I aim for around 60-70 hard points in SC, maybe less in HC
>
>All other points (except those saved in the Marrowwalk bank) in vit.

I've heard of Marrowalks. I didn't know anything about it really
though, up to this point. Again, not much of an item buff (especially
compared to the people who *really* magic find and get all kinds of
ridiculously good items). Maybe I can start magic-finding some if
this Necro is good enough...

>You can't wear Marrowwalks until clvl 66 so there's no need to start saving
>points for them until you're in your 60s, depending on how many you already
>have. Marrowwalks make a huge difference to a summoner/boner. If there was
>only one unique item I could have for a necro it would be Marrowwalks.
>Homonculus is nice, so is Leoric's but neither are as powerful as
>Marrowwalks. My poor HC necro is lvl 70 and doesn't have any. I have spares
>in SC (west) but nothing in HC.

What all kinds of famous Necro items are there? I really don't know
much. I know a little about the more famous items for other classes,
or items like Stones of Jordan that are famous for everyone... but
even less about Necro items because I haven't been playing them for
very long. Before I started my first Necro, I read an article on the
class and so I was a little wise, and knew not to put my points into
Dexterity each level, and Poison Dagger, and then charge into Andariel
with it. But that was about it. But I'm getting better...

>I would max RS, then SM before putting more points into golems but that's
>me. Also, I only put one hard point in mages. Otherwise fine.

I didn't know how much I'd be using the Mages, but I decided I might
as well put 2 points instead of just 1... because they do seem helpful
sometimes, even though they're not as reliable as my regular
Skeletons. I've heard of a Necro build that focuses on Skeletal
Mages... but I don't know that I'd ever want to try one.

>If you want to improve bone armour at any stage don't put points in it, put
>them in bone wall instead. You get more added defence per point with the
>same mana expenditure. DO NOT put points in bone prison if you're hoping to
>get Marrowwalks and exploit the Marrowwalk feature. (Level 33 bone prison,
>synergises other bone spells *only* if you have no points in bone prison)

That should be useful information to have. I actually wasn't staying
away from Bone Armor on purpose, so it's kind of odd that I ended up
doing so... but I did so just because. I guess I was just too busy
applying skill points elsewhere. However, I put one point into Bone
Prison! Aaahhh! I just did it today, and he's up to level 48 now.

>After building several 1.10 summoners, both SC and HC, I only use amp damage
>and decrep. Tried the others, found the points are more useful elsewhere.
>Decrep mainly for Duriel, Diablo, Baal (stops him cloning or teleing) or
>fana enchanted boss packs. Otherwise amp all the way. When RS and SM are
>maxed and you have points spare depending on how many +skills you have a few
>extra points in amp can be useful to increase it's radius/duration. I find
>CE is good from about slvl 8 or so, including the +skills.

I'm actually falling into a pattern of Amplify Damage and Decrepify,
myself... starting out Nightmare, and even in Act 5 Normal (especially
with Baal and his minions) I found myself using Decrepify more often
(versus throughout most of the rest of Normal, I would use Amplify
Damage sometimes exclusively). Ever since Act 5 it's seemed like the
game required a certain amount of Decrepify if I am playing alone...
so that now I use it almost always in combination with Amplify Damage.
I keep meaning to experiment with some of the other curses like
Attract, to see how good they are... but just haven't gotten around to
it yet.

>Once you get to that stage you can decide if you want to pump a golem, CE,
>an attack (I like a few in bone spirit in older necros) or bone wall for the
>bone shield synergy.

For now I'm leaving the Golems alone. It's probably a good idea for
me right now to max out RS and SM... and then decide about other
things. Gah... if only I could take back that Bone Prison point...

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

Hi,

*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote in
news:sueu515jh9bgh34gm6kivoqapgf7j4e8a5@4ax.com:

> On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 15:39:47 +1200, "~misfit~"
> <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:

>>All other points (except those saved in the Marrowwalk bank) in vit.
>
> I've heard of Marrowalks. I didn't know anything about it really
> though, up to this point. Again, not much of an item buff (especially
> compared to the people who *really* magic find and get all kinds of
> ridiculously good items). Maybe I can start magic-finding some if
> this Necro is good enough...
>
>>You can't wear Marrowwalks until clvl 66 so there's no need to start
>>saving points for them until you're in your 60s, depending on how many
>>you already have. Marrowwalks make a huge difference to a
>>summoner/boner. If there was only one unique item I could have for a
>>necro it would be Marrowwalks. Homonculus is nice, so is Leoric's but
>>neither are as powerful as Marrowwalks. My poor HC necro is lvl 70 and
>>doesn't have any. I have spares in SC (west) but nothing in HC.
>
> What all kinds of famous Necro items are there? I really don't know
> much. I know a little about the more famous items for other classes,
> or items like Stones of Jordan that are famous for everyone... but
> even less about Necro items because I haven't been playing them for
> very long. Before I started my first Necro, I read an article on the
> class and so I was a little wise, and knew not to put my points into
> Dexterity each level, and Poison Dagger, and then charge into Andariel
> with it. But that was about it. But I'm getting better...
>
dunno if it has been mentionend, but WHITE runeword (DOL, IO) in a wand is
very good and cheap. Throw in a necro head with RHYME (SHAEL, ETH) and you
look really nice.

Regards,

Oliver

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d3ohuc.1vs.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Zamboni wrote:

>> Level 1 Corpse Explosion has a disappointing blast radius and is
>> almost a waste of mana. The Maggot Lair limits the blast even
>> further, so it would be a really lucky shot to hit the next monster
>> in line.
>>
>> Level 30 Corpse Explosion, on the other hand, clears out the entire
>> tunnel.
>
>LOL, two extremes. I usually go with around level 8-10 with +skills. Seems
>to do the damage as I only use it in tight areas anyway.

Why only in tight areas? It's also in great open spaces it shines _if_, of
course, you have the right (maximum!) amount of skills invested in it.

It's the best way to clear an encampment of Fallen and their Shamans, for
instance. Or to clear a nasty horde of Flayers. Or to remove a bunch of
Gloams from the map. Etc.

I'll repeat again (I sound like broken record here : CE deserves to be
maxed! Anything less than that, is a waste of skill points.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <gsot511dktduftme9of5mfkj0e0tg16tnh@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 22:50:40 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
><patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:
>
>>Actually, once you get more +skills items, there's no need to put more in
>>AD. It's also a quite cheap spell, so you can spam it to your heart's
>>content, and can put those points in skills that need it...
>
>That's good to keep in mind for my Softcore Summoner. But if I build
>Hardcore Summoners in the future, I still want to concentrate on those
>being as non item-dependent as possible...

Well, if it's Hardcore characters you're going to play (why, BTW?), there
are some thing you should keep in mind, because as safe as a Summoning
necro is, it can always be done even safer, and that's more or less what
HC is about...

>>What skills are you putting points into then, and what do you have where
>>now?
>
>I haven't planned things out very well, though I'm not being
>completely random either. My Necros in the future will probably be
>much better planned than this one is. Right now, this is what he's
>all about:
>
>Level 42.
>Strength: 85

Don't raise this anymore, unless you find item you feel you need to equip,
and don't have enough strength for.

>Dexterity: Base 25

Dex is one of those thing you either totally ignore (you're not planning
on making a blocking character, or put a lot of points in (to reach max
block).

So for now, OK.

>Vitality: 88

Hmmm, a bit low. I wonder why...?

>Energy: 92

Whoa! Stop putting points in energy! You don't need it! Every point put
here, could've much better been put in Vit.

Not such a big problemen in SC (if you die there it's an inconvenience),
but much, much more of an issue in HC, of course, since there you need
every point of vit/life you can get.

>The first time I leveled, I applied 2 points to Energy and Vitality,
>and the extra to Energy. The second time I leveled, I applied 2
>points to Energy and Vitality, and the extra to Vitality. The third
>time I leveled, I applied all 5 points to Strength alone. I've been
>trying to keep that pattern up continuously. When I did the fourth
>quest of Act 3, which gave me extra points to distribute... I put all
>of those into Energy. I expect I might put all of those into Vitality
>once I do Hardcore, though.

Yup. But even in SC, don't put any points in Energy. A summoner doesn't
need it. Intead, either put them in Vit, or try to save up some points
instead, so you have some spare stat point if you ever run into a 'godly'
item you feel you should equip. It'd be too bad if you have to wait
several level-ups for it to be equippable.

>This is how this guy's skill points are:
>
>(Without items.)
>--Summoning--
>Skeleton Mastery: 3
>Raise Skeleton: 16
>Clay Golem: 6
>Golem Mastery: 1
>Raise Skeletal Mage: 2
>Blood Golem: 1
>Summon Resist: 1
>Iron Golem: 1
>Fire Golem: 1
>Revive: 1
>
>--Poison & Bone--
>Teeth: 1
>Bone Armor: 1
>Corpse Explosion: Another whopping 1!
>
>I have one point in each of all of the Curses.

Looks workable. A bit too much points in Clay Golem in my opinion, and
like another poster said, you don't need 1 point in every curse, you can
get by fine with just AD and Decepify.

Also, if you're going HC, there is one curse which you might want to max
there: Dim Vision, since HC is all about safety, and DV provides plenty of
'safety' against ranged attackers.

>Now for the items:
>I have a Wormskull Bone Helm which gives me +1 to all Necromancer
>skill levels. I also have a wand which gives me +1 to Summoning
>skills. A Gargoyle Head I've been using along with that wand gives me
>+2 to Bone Spear and a +1 to Poison Explosion and Confuse. I never
>use Poison Explosion and Confuse, so that doesn't really matter, but I
>have used Bone Spear occasionally.

Well, you have some nice stuff already, and are on the right track: you
need stuff with +skills. So keep gambling/cubing amulets, and hope for a
+necro summoning/all skills one. And hope you find other stuff with +
skills. A cheap way to boost your mana would be a pair of Frostburn
gloves. You can trade those for just a few pgems.

My necro used these, until he was turned into my main MF character, and
swapped them for a pair of Chance Guards.

There are also some nice belts which give +% to mana.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 06:37:25 +0200, Oliver Wenzel <ouuch@t-online.de>
wrote:

>dunno if it has been mentionend, but WHITE runeword (DOL, IO) in a wand is
>very good and cheap. Throw in a necro head with RHYME (SHAEL, ETH) and you
>look really nice.

Hello. I just looked those up and you're right, those RuneWords would
create useful bonuses for me. I'll have to keep those in mind... I've
been collecting and transmuting-up Runes as I've played along. I'll
probably have to seek out some especially, though, as I don't have any
Dol or Shael right now... and am not sure about Io.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:11:31 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>Well, if it's Hardcore characters you're going to play (why, BTW?), there
>are some thing you should keep in mind, because as safe as a Summoning
>necro is, it can always be done even safer, and that's more or less what
>HC is about...

I'm not sure yet whether I plan to go mostly over to Hardcore or not.
In a way I like Hardcore better, but it's not as good if I don't have
good people to play with... so right now, as I'm not playing with
anyone steady, I'm playing Softcore. I'm also doing Softcore since
this is my first real attempt at a Necromancer. Why Hardcore? I
guess I just like the challenge... and it encourages me not to get in
a habit of dying.

>>Vitality: 88
>
>Hmmm, a bit low. I wonder why...?
>
>>Energy: 92
>
>Whoa! Stop putting points in energy! You don't need it! Every point put
>here, could've much better been put in Vit.

I've been alternating the extra point between Vitality and Energy for
most levels. I was planning on more Energy for my Softcore character,
so I put all 5 points from my Act 3 quest 4 into Energy.

>Yup. But even in SC, don't put any points in Energy. A summoner doesn't
>need it. Intead, either put them in Vit, or try to save up some points
>instead, so you have some spare stat point if you ever run into a 'godly'
>item you feel you should equip. It'd be too bad if you have to wait
>several level-ups for it to be equippable.

But doesn't Energy determine mana? Summoning requires mana, and I
also use a lot of Curses which require mana to help my Summons
along...

I haven't been in a habit of "saving" stat points, but it would be
nice to not have to wait, or at least not have to wait as long if I'm
ever looking forward to a special item... so you have a good point...
saving some sometimes is probably not a bad idea.

>Looks workable. A bit too much points in Clay Golem in my opinion, and
>like another poster said, you don't need 1 point in every curse, you can
>get by fine with just AD and Decepify.
>
>Also, if you're going HC, there is one curse which you might want to max
>there: Dim Vision, since HC is all about safety, and DV provides plenty of
>'safety' against ranged attackers.

Thanks for the tip; I'll have to try it out. I believe I've used that
curse before... but not extensively. It sounds like the Assassin's
Cloak of Shadows...and I *have* used that, as I've played many
Assassins before (mostly traps).

>Well, you have some nice stuff already, and are on the right track: you
>need stuff with +skills. So keep gambling/cubing amulets, and hope for a
>+necro summoning/all skills one. And hope you find other stuff with +
>skills. A cheap way to boost your mana would be a pair of Frostburn
>gloves. You can trade those for just a few pgems.
>
>My necro used these, until he was turned into my main MF character, and
>swapped them for a pair of Chance Guards.
>
>There are also some nice belts which give +% to mana.

Thanks. I may or may not use this Necro to try and MF with... if it's
possible to MF with a Summoner, I'd sure like to try sometime, and see
what I can find. I, of course, only have about 40 or 50% MF gear
right now I think, which isn't enough to "really" MF. I believe I
found a Gull Dagger one time... I lent it to someone who already had
more MF than me for a Mephisto run, only... it wasn't lending, since
the person decided not to give it back! Note to self: Never, ever do
that again.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

*Dividedbyzero wrote:
>
> I've been alternating the extra point between Vitality and Energy for
> most levels. I was planning on more Energy for my Softcore character,
> so I put all 5 points from my Act 3 quest 4 into Energy.
>
> >Yup. But even in SC, don't put any points in Energy. A summoner doesn't
> >need it. Intead, either put them in Vit, or try to save up some points
> >instead, so you have some spare stat point if you ever run into a 'godly'
> >item you feel you should equip. It'd be too bad if you have to wait
> >several level-ups for it to be equippable.
>
> But doesn't Energy determine mana? Summoning requires mana, and I
> also use a lot of Curses which require mana to help my Summons
> along...

Your energy requirements can easily be met by your equipment. Wands in
particular can give you enormous amounts of mana.
Even without huge amounts of energy/mana all you really need is some
good mana regeneration, skulls socketed in armour or head gear are good
for that.

Watchman
--
'Anyone who isn't confused doesn't really know what's going on'

Reply to Watchman

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 01:04:54 +0930, Watchman
<stryder@SPAMPHOBICwhyalla.net.au> wrote:

>Your energy requirements can easily be met by your equipment. Wands in
>particular can give you enormous amounts of mana.
>Even without huge amounts of energy/mana all you really need is some
>good mana regeneration, skulls socketed in armour or head gear are good
>for that.

Ah, OK, I see. Very good. I shall keep my eyes peeled for
mana-boosting equipment... though not literally... if I actually kept
my eyes peeled... that would probably hurt. By the way, I agree with
your signature!

I have another question:

If I cast Iron Maiden on those Beetles in Act 2, does the curse return
damage of those Charged Bolts that they emit? What about frost novas
and things like that that some mini-bosses emit when they die? Or
does Iron Maiden apply only to physical damage, like AD?...

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 12:18:01 -0400, *Dividedbyzero wrote:

> On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 01:04:54 +0930, Watchman
> <stryder@SPAMPHOBICwhyalla.net.au> wrote:
>
>>Your energy requirements can easily be met by your equipment. Wands in
>>particular can give you enormous amounts of mana.
>>Even without huge amounts of energy/mana all you really need is some
>>good mana regeneration, skulls socketed in armour or head gear are good
>>for that.
>
> Ah, OK, I see. Very good. I shall keep my eyes peeled for
> mana-boosting equipment... though not literally... if I actually kept
> my eyes peeled... that would probably hurt. By the way, I agree with
> your signature!
>
> I have another question:
>
> If I cast Iron Maiden on those Beetles in Act 2, does the curse return
> damage of those Charged Bolts that they emit? What about frost novas
> and things like that that some mini-bosses emit when they die? Or
> does Iron Maiden apply only to physical damage, like AD?...

IM only applies to physical damage from a melee attack (wouldn't
hurt archers, for example).

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 11:32:09 -0500, Last2Know <grokkalot@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 12:18:01 -0400, *Dividedbyzero wrote:
*snip*
>> If I cast Iron Maiden on those Beetles in Act 2, does the curse return
>> damage of those Charged Bolts that they emit? What about frost novas
>> and things like that that some mini-bosses emit when they die? Or
>> does Iron Maiden apply only to physical damage, like AD?...
>
>IM only applies to physical damage from a melee attack (wouldn't
>hurt archers, for example).

I see. Thanks for the info.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d3q0nc.3sg.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:

>> Why only in tight areas? It's also in great open spaces it shines
>> _if_, of course, you have the right (maximum!) amount of skills
>> invested in it.
>
>Because in tight places the whole of my army can't do their thing. Only the
>ones at the front can attack. Once they've downed a monster or two I hit the
>CE and clear the area so they can all go through the door.

That's the same way I do it. But because CE also works through walls and
around corners (that's been my impression at least) I like it maxed, to
clear more/faster.

>> It's the best way to clear an encampment of Fallen and their Shamans,
>> for instance. Or to clear a nasty horde of Flayers. Or to remove a
>> bunch of Gloams from the map. Etc.
>
>I see where you're coming from but I play summoners. My minions do an
>admirable job of clearing open areas where they can all attack at once. I
>simply don't need CE in these areas so don't see the point in maxing it. I
>pick off shamen with bone spirit while my minions decimate everything else.

Yes, I am also talking about a Summoner. But for me, the skeleton army is
my mobile 'armour', which also does respectable damage, and I have a merc
which is geared towards maximum CB combined with an amount of raw damage
which is as high as possible. Also, after I maxed RS, SM and CE, I started
maxing Bone Spirit, and am now putting new points in Bone Spear.

Why, you ask, all of the above? The answer is simple: to get that first
body as quickly as possible, to start the CE fireworks. A necro can kill
fine without (maxed) CE, because the skeletons are quite durable. However,
he's not very quick at it. It might look quick, but it's peanuts compared
to a necro wielding a maxed CE.

Since you have more than one, try building one, and look at it's killing
speed, especially with big groups.

>> I'll repeat again (I sound like broken record here : CE deserves to
>> be maxed! Anything less than that, is a waste of skill points.
>
>:-). Different strokes. This may seem silly to you: I have summoners as my
>MF characters. An upped or eth Skullder's, two Nagels, Chancy's, Goldwrap,
>Wartrav's a Harly, sockets with Ptopazes in and a Gheeds with any other MF
>charms I can find and I can get up to or above 400% MF and survive in hell,
>take Baal and his minions no trouble. It seems to me that when I use CE I
>*very* rarely get any unique items. <Shrug> It could be a coincidence but
>that's what I've noticed.

Yes, my single necro, a summoner, is my main MF character: wears about the
stuff you mention, only not the War Travs: I like the necro's own killing
potential with a synergized Bone Spirit from Marrowalks too much to swap
out the marrows for wartravs. Also, I'm not wearing Nagels, but more
practical resists/mana rings. Total MF of my summoner is now probably
around 380-400% too.

Also, I'm not sure there's a difference between a CE-ing a monsters, or
having it beat to pulp by a skeleton. Also, keep in mind, a monster going
down by CE, is counted as one of your own/personal kills, and activates
any +mana per monster kill modifiers, so you regain some mana.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <8jkv51lin21a5l113ajasvbemglnior49c@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:11:31 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn

[snip]

>>>Energy: 92
>>
>>Whoa! Stop putting points in energy! You don't need it! Every point put
>>here, could've much better been put in Vit.
>
>I've been alternating the extra point between Vitality and Energy for
>most levels. I was planning on more Energy for my Softcore character,
>so I put all 5 points from my Act 3 quest 4 into Energy.

Well, stop doing that. It's really useless.

>>Yup. But even in SC, don't put any points in Energy. A summoner doesn't
>>need it. Intead, either put them in Vit, or try to save up some points
>>instead, so you have some spare stat point if you ever run into a 'godly'
>>item you feel you should equip. It'd be too bad if you have to wait
>>several level-ups for it to be equippable.
>
>But doesn't Energy determine mana? Summoning requires mana, and I
>also use a lot of Curses which require mana to help my Summons
>along...

Yes, 1 point of energy gives 2 points of mana for a necromancer. But
summoning is only a mana-hog at 1 point: when you first raise your army.
So just buy a mana potion before you start this. After that, curses take
almost no mana at all. My necro could be spamming Decrepify (and therefore
also AD) all day without ever needing to drink a mana pot.

Again: you don't need points in energy, especially not in the beginning of
a character's career. I could understand if you finished that character,
was using it for MFing or something, and put some point in energy for
convenience sakes, but not for 'survival'. You need Vit for that, and
possibly Dex, if you're going for max block.

>I haven't been in a habit of "saving" stat points, but it would be
>nice to not have to wait, or at least not have to wait as long if I'm
>ever looking forward to a special item... so you have a good point...
>saving some sometimes is probably not a bad idea.

Yup, you can quite easily save quite a lot of points, especially in SC.
I'd plan out the points a bit more precise in HC though, if I'd play that.

>>Also, if you're going HC, there is one curse which you might want to max
>>there: Dim Vision, since HC is all about safety, and DV provides plenty of
>>'safety' against ranged attackers.
>
>Thanks for the tip; I'll have to try it out. I believe I've used that
>curse before... but not extensively. It sounds like the Assassin's
>Cloak of Shadows...and I *have* used that, as I've played many
>Assassins before (mostly traps).

Yes, it seems to look like that. A maxed Dim Vision has several times been
described as a 'Sight to behold'.

>>My necro used these, until he was turned into my main MF character, and
>>swapped them for a pair of Chance Guards.
>>
>>There are also some nice belts which give +% to mana.
>
>Thanks. I may or may not use this Necro to try and MF with... if it's
>possible to MF with a Summoner, I'd sure like to try sometime, and see
>what I can find.

It's quite possible, but it's not the best char if your MF strategy is to
do a 'drive-by-shooting' of one of the act bosses. Sorcs are much better
for that.

But if you want to reliably, and quickly clear for instance the Level 85
area's, a Skelliemancer's your man!

>I, of course, only have about 40 or 50% MF gear
>right now I think, which isn't enough to "really" MF. I believe I
>found a Gull Dagger one time... I lent it to someone who already had
>more MF than me for a Mephisto run, only... it wasn't lending, since
>the person decided not to give it back! Note to self: Never, ever do
>that again.

Yeah, if you ever 'lend' something, don't expect to get it back.

Anyhow, Gull Daggers aren't that valuable; if you really wanted one, a few
pgems should get you one...

But for a skelliemancer, I think a good wand as weapon does him much more
good than a Gull Dagger, so I'm personally using an Isted Arm of King
Leoric for that.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 20:43:55 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>Yes, 1 point of energy gives 2 points of mana for a necromancer. But
>summoning is only a mana-hog at 1 point: when you first raise your army.
>So just buy a mana potion before you start this. After that, curses take
>almost no mana at all. My necro could be spamming Decrepify (and therefore
>also AD) all day without ever needing to drink a mana pot.

Alright; point well-taken. I've backed off on the Energy and have
been putting my five points into Vitality for a couple levels... and
will probably leave Strength alone for a while. He's up to 52 now,
and in Nightmare Act 3. I've maxed Raise Skeleton and am now focusing
on SM...

>Yup, you can quite easily save quite a lot of points, especially in SC.
>I'd plan out the points a bit more precise in HC though, if I'd play that.

I'm not sure when or if I'll get around to making my Hardcore
Summoner... but yeah, he'd require a lot more planning. But I like
planning... it's just a matter of getting around to being non-lazy
enough to start the character!

>A maxed Dim Vision has several times been
>described as a 'Sight to behold'.

Hmm... that sounds good indeed...

>It's quite possible, but it's not the best char if your MF strategy is to
>do a 'drive-by-shooting' of one of the act bosses. Sorcs are much better
>for that.
>
>But if you want to reliably, and quickly clear for instance the Level 85
>area's, a Skelliemancer's your man!

Good! I'm not one for drive-by-shooting kills. I like to wait and
have to stare at my enemies' health bar mindlessly for a while before
the kill. That's what it's aaall about.

>Yeah, if you ever 'lend' something, don't expect to get it back.
>
>Anyhow, Gull Daggers aren't that valuable; if you really wanted one, a few
>pgems should get you one...

Really? Cool. Though I don't want one right now...

>But for a skelliemancer, I think a good wand as weapon does him much more
>good than a Gull Dagger, so I'm personally using an Isted Arm of King
>Leoric for that.

Yep.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <mcq261pnv9ae1ti5anffgpjqo1mnkj2fi6@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 20:43:55 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
><patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:
>
>>Yes, 1 point of energy gives 2 points of mana for a necromancer. But
>>summoning is only a mana-hog at 1 point: when you first raise your army.
>>So just buy a mana potion before you start this. After that, curses take
>>almost no mana at all. My necro could be spamming Decrepify (and therefore
>>also AD) all day without ever needing to drink a mana pot.
>
>Alright; point well-taken. I've backed off on the Energy and have
>been putting my five points into Vitality for a couple levels... and
>will probably leave Strength alone for a while. He's up to 52 now,
>and in Nightmare Act 3. I've maxed Raise Skeleton and am now focusing
>on SM...

Once you have maxed those two, your skelliemancer build is for all intents
and purposes completed. The rest of the points is up to personap
preference, and as you can see from the postings here, there are plenty of
very viable variants...

>>Yup, you can quite easily save quite a lot of points, especially in SC.
>>I'd plan out the points a bit more precise in HC though, if I'd play that.
>
>I'm not sure when or if I'll get around to making my Hardcore
>Summoner... but yeah, he'd require a lot more planning. But I like
>planning... it's just a matter of getting around to being non-lazy
>enough to start the character!

Precisely!

>>A maxed Dim Vision has several times been
>>described as a 'Sight to behold'.
>
>Hmm... that sounds good indeed...

Keep in mind: I never tried it myself. I personally chose for putting the
spare points on more offensive capabilities of my necro, but if safety's
you goal, it sounds good indeed.

>>It's quite possible, but it's not the best char if your MF strategy is to
>>do a 'drive-by-shooting' of one of the act bosses. Sorcs are much better
>>for that.
>>
>>But if you want to reliably, and quickly clear for instance the Level 85
>>area's, a Skelliemancer's your man!
>
>Good! I'm not one for drive-by-shooting kills. I like to wait and
>have to stare at my enemies' health bar mindlessly for a while before
>the kill. That's what it's aaall about.

Well, you've picked the right character/build then!

>>Anyhow, Gull Daggers aren't that valuable; if you really wanted one, a few
>>pgems should get you one...
>
>Really? Cool. Though I don't want one right now...

The number of unique items which actually trade for anything of real value
is surprisingly low. Which is why you can (on SC Eur Ladder anyhow) buy
most of the uniques for a bunch of pgems. But there are of course
exceptions.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d3tqkd.284.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:
>>
>> But if you want to reliably, and quickly clear for instance the Level
>> 85 area's, a Skelliemancer's your man!
>
>I agree. I have a couple of sorcs I've tried for MF and summoner necros.
>Each seem able to carry about the same amount of MF easilly (~400%) and the
>necro can just clear the whole lvl 85 areas on a map. The sorc keeps coming
>up against problems with elemental immunuities. If you don't mind making a
>new game every three minutes then go with a sorc and do "drive by's" (I like
>that). If you want to cruise through the same map for a while, use a
>summoner. (Especially useful if you get a good seed)

My feelings exactly! Though I must say a FO/CL orb is also quite capable
of clearing my most used lvl85 areas (The Pit, River of Flame) quite
efficiently. You just have to pay attention to the immunities of the
monsters, and switch accordingly...

But playing a Sorc is rather new for me...

>> Anyhow, Gull Daggers aren't that valuable; if you really wanted one,
>> a few pgems should get you one...
>
>Funny though, it's one of the few uniques that I've never found.

There are plenty of uniques I've never found, but which nonetheless can be
had for just a few pgems. Strange, but I like it, because that means it's
quite cheap to equip a character with at least mediocre gear...

>> But for a skelliemancer, I think a good wand as weapon does him much
>> more good than a Gull Dagger, so I'm personally using an Isted Arm of
>> King Leoric for that.
>
>I've been contemplating socketing my Leoric's and using my Ist. I can't
>decide between that and Delerium for a merc.

Depends on your need. Is that the necro's merc? If so, I'd not give him a
Delerium helmet, since the effects of that might override your own curses.
If this is a merc for more of a solo/melee type of character, I can quite
believe Delerium is a very nice hat, able to create a lot of
distraction...

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d3tta3.2q4.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:

[Maxing CE on a necro]

>> Since you have more than one, try building one, and look at it's
>> killing speed, especially with big groups.
>
>My current MF necro has about 8 points saved at clvl 80-something. I may put
>them all into CE then. It's been a toss-up between CE, a golem, bone spirit
>or bone wall (for the armour/spirit synergy)

Well, I can narrow down the choices a bit: don't put any more points in
any golem. 1 point is plenty. And whether you choose fire of clay, is
totally up to personal preference.

Beyond that, it depends on playing style. More points in Bone Wall is a
defensive path, the other remaining options favour a more offensive style.

I like my necro to be offensive, which is why I maxed CE, Bone Spirit, and
am now putting the final points in Bone Spear. (My necro is currently
lvl92, and lvl93 looks to be possible, if I do some more Baal runs).

>Yeah, I alternate between the Wartravs and my Marrows depending on where I'm
>MFing. (Sometimes it's good to have some low-level items for beginers so,
>when I'm MFing in norm or NM I wear the Wartravs but stick with the Marrows
>in hell usually). I have a Mara's and an Anni to help with resists. I also
>have a +25 res all, 25% MF blue ammy I swap for the Mara's if not in hell.

Now, a Mara's, that'd be something I'd like to find. I'm currently using a
rare +2 necro/resall/some other mods amulet, but a Mara would certainly
best it.

I'm also not much for swapping gear, since I can use all the
stash/backpack space I have to put all the findings in...

>I've found that the only resist that is essential to have maxed for a
>skellimancer is lighning. For those ranged Gloam attacks. Most of the others
>are fine around 60, with poison workable as low as 40. After all, if you're
>playing him right Gloams (and Claw Vipers) are about the only things that
>will hit you with elemental attacks and you don't have 'magic resist' number
>(But of course cab still have "Magic damage reduced by.... or magic absorb).

Don't forget those piercing spearcat-types in Act V... I think they deal
cold damage and their spears are piercing. Very nasty, if you run into a
bad pack doing a Shenk drive-by-shooting.

>Maybe fire archers too. My resists are generally Lightning 75, Fire 65-70,
>cold 60 and poison 40. Of course, more is better but if it's a trade-off
>with MF then those are the numbers I work on.

Ranged attacks remain nasty, especially if they target you, and not the
army. Which is why I try to max all my resists, even poison, since that
lessens the needs for taking trips to town. And time saved when MFing,
improves efficiency!

>Another point that hasn't been mentioned (I think); switch weapon. I always
>use either Spellsteel or Naj's Puzzler for the teleport charges. Very handy,
>especially if:
>A) You use Leoric's and get bone imprisoned with an Urdar or two or:
>B) You want to get around the Durance/WSK quickly. (I hate being able to see
>the next level and having to walk all the way around, killing monsters).
>C) You learn the fine art of 'Telekilling' bosses.

Yup. Nicest would of course be a nice rare amulet with +2
necro/+all-res/+life/+mana and some teleport charges.

But I also have a Naj's Puzzler on switch. Spellsteel is also nice, but it
has a smaller amount of teleport charges, and the other charges on
Spellsteel are close to useless. Also, since Naj's Puzzler has +1 skill on
it, you lose less skellies/revives when you swap to it.

Enigma would be better though.

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 14:52:29 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>Once you have maxed those two, your skelliemancer build is for all intents
>and purposes completed. The rest of the points is up to personap
>preference, and as you can see from the postings here, there are plenty of
>very viable variants...

Cool. It'll take quite a few more levels to finish maxing SM... but
once I do, this'll be my best Necro accomplishment yet. I'm looking
forward to seeing how well he will do.

>The number of unique items which actually trade for anything of real value
>is surprisingly low. Which is why you can (on SC Eur Ladder anyhow) buy
>most of the uniques for a bunch of pgems. But there are of course
>exceptions.

I don't know a lot about trade values, actually. I'm getting enough
rare and unique items now, along with accumulating a few perfect gems,
that I should be able to start making some trades now though. I was
going to see if I could get someone to give me a 3-socket claw to make
a Malice RuneWord for my Martial Arts Assassin, but as it turned out
one of the Council Members in Nightmare Act 3 dropped one for me... so
that got rid of that problem. But I might want a Gull Dagger someday,
or perhaps something else... I also might want to get a complete
Natalya's set one day for my MA Assassin. I'm getting off-topic. Run
away!!

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <uqv461trrclltr8132nfgif15rlg8eldmg@4ax.com>,
*Dividedbyzero <thisis@fake.ihope> wrote:
>On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 14:52:29 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
><patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:
>
>>Once you have maxed those two, your skelliemancer build is for all intents
>>and purposes completed. The rest of the points is up to personap
>>preference, and as you can see from the postings here, there are plenty of
>>very viable variants...
>
>Cool. It'll take quite a few more levels to finish maxing SM... but
>once I do, this'll be my best Necro accomplishment yet. I'm looking
>forward to seeing how well he will do.

He will do fine, though Hell will remain a bit of a struggle, in some
parts in any case, without the better equipment. But you will accumulate
that anyway...

>>The number of unique items which actually trade for anything of real value
>>is surprisingly low. Which is why you can (on SC Eur Ladder anyhow) buy
>>most of the uniques for a bunch of pgems. But there are of course
>>exceptions.
>
>I don't know a lot about trade values, actually. I'm getting enough
>rare and unique items now, along with accumulating a few perfect gems,
>that I should be able to start making some trades now though. I was
>going to see if I could get someone to give me a 3-socket claw to make
>a Malice RuneWord for my Martial Arts Assassin, but as it turned out
>one of the Council Members in Nightmare Act 3 dropped one for me... so
>that got rid of that problem. But I might want a Gull Dagger someday,
>or perhaps something else... I also might want to get a complete
>Natalya's set one day for my MA Assassin. I'm getting off-topic. Run
>away!!

Well, you best bet for getting the stuff you want is to build up a
collection of pgems: just keep any and all gems, of any quality, you find,
put them on a special gem mule, and cube it all up. Before you know,
you're overflowing in pgems, and while the stuff you mention above (Gull
Dagger, Natalya's stuff) trades for just a few pgems, also keep in mind
something like a Harlequin's Crest trades for about a Pul. And a Pul rune
is worth about 20 pgems...

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d40rbg.3oc.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:
>> In article <d3tqkd.284.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
>> ~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>>>
>>> I've been contemplating socketing my Leoric's and using my Ist. I
>>> can't decide between that and Delerium for a merc.
>>
>> Depends on your need. Is that the necro's merc? If so, I'd not give
>> him a Delerium helmet, since the effects of that might override your
>> own curses. If this is a merc for more of a solo/melee type of
>> character, I can quite believe Delerium is a very nice hat, able to
>> create a lot of distraction...
>
>The Delerium hat would be for my frenzy barbs merc or my zealots merc. Maybe
>even my M'avina's Strafeazon's merc. I'd just like to try it out.

Sounds solid. Oliver Wenzel, who posts here quite regularly, can give you
some quite glowing reviews of a Delerium hat on his Barb's merc.

It's something I also keep in mind for the hat of my merc, but he's
managing quite ok for now with just a Reaper's Toll..

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 17:00:26 +0200, Patrick Vervoorn
<patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote:

>He will do fine, though Hell will remain a bit of a struggle, in some
>parts in any case, without the better equipment. But you will accumulate
>that anyway...

Hopefully so. He just finished Act 4 Nightmare, though Act 5 is too
much for him to handle right now at level 60, I think. He should
probably spend some time leveling in Act 4... or doing Diablo runs...
or something to level him up a bit, because he keeps dying in Act 5
outside town. If that doesn't work, it's time to re-think my
strategy...

>Well, you best bet for getting the stuff you want is to build up a
>collection of pgems: just keep any and all gems, of any quality, you find,
>put them on a special gem mule, and cube it all up. Before you know,
>you're overflowing in pgems, and while the stuff you mention above (Gull
>Dagger, Natalya's stuff) trades for just a few pgems, also keep in mind
>something like a Harlequin's Crest trades for about a Pul. And a Pul rune
>is worth about 20 pgems...

Cool. I have two mules right now, one Barbarian for heavy stuff (and
gold) and one Assassin for lighter things (gems and runes?) and also
gold of course. I have maybe about 7 pgems now, so that's not too
bad...

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

It hurts archers if they are point-blank range (usually only one in a
pack). But fire archer skeletons are still fairly safe from it since
most of their damage is fire damage.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <d4330v.2c8.1@fairground.synaptic.net.nz>,
~misfit~ <misfit61nz@hooya.co.nz> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:

>> Sounds solid. Oliver Wenzel, who posts here quite regularly, can give
>> you some quite glowing reviews of a Delerium hat on his Barb's merc.
>>
>> It's something I also keep in mind for the hat of my merc, but he's
>> managing quite ok for now with just a Reaper's Toll..
>
>The only thing wrong with giving a Delerium to my frenzy barb's merc is that
>he has Drac's gloves and relies on the life tap quite a bit. I guess
>Delerium would keep over-casting it. It's for that reason that I took the
>Reaper's off the merc, that thing casts all the time. Usually that would be
>a good thing but with Drac's only having a 5% CTC and Reaper's having a 30%
>CTC, life tap never lasted long enough to be of use.

Quite understable, and the reason I won't give a Delerium hat to my
necro's merc, since there I'd also not like it if the Decrepify of
Reaper's Toll overrides my own curses.

For my IK Barb it's however, not a problem, and actually a blessing. But
it all depends on your own, and other, gear...

Regards,

Patrick.

Reply to Anonymous

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