Advice on multiplayer (non PVP)

[Hawksmoor]

Advice on multiplayer (non PVP)

I'm starting up in a lunchtime Diablo group at work (hardcore) - with the others playing sorcs, pallys n assassins (so far). I fancy being the necromancer support - but wondered if anyone had any recommendations on particularly effective builds for this sort of play? Until now I've usually played non-hardcore and with a skellimancer.

Far as I know - in multiplayer said skeletons don't scale damage wise do they? And are more likely simply to get in the way?

My brain is telling me bonemancer with good resistence health n a few strong curses - possibly with a point in golem and revive for a few minions eventually. Thoughts?

 

[Indemaijinj]

Well, Skeletons might not scale with the number of players, but from personal experience (using /playersX in single-player) I can say that they fare quite decently.

But what skeletons contribute to a multiplayer setting is not as much damage as it is safety. The skeleton warriors help to contain large monster groups that might otherwise swarm you. And no, skeletons do NOT block the path of fellow plauyers (they do block their mercs though).

With regards to bone spells this is quite viable too. You will generally be a damage-dealer then. Perhaps a bit less powerful than a sorceress, but with the added bonus of being able to hurt (almost) everything.

You might also go poison for all it's worth. Slowing monster Regen with a powerful Nova has it's charms as well.

One thing I can heartily recommend in Multiplayer are curses! This is what makes a necro a good party comrade. Amp and Lower Resist greatly increase your damage output and Decrepify and Life Tap does wonders in keeping especially melee characters alive.

 

[Mad Mantis]

For party play, and specifically in the support role, you might also want to take a look at the various hybrids. Since this is hardcore you can use the minions to keep the group alive and use your direct damage spell to help with immunes and speed up the killing.

You can always modify the build to incorporate more points into curses.

 

[Hawksmoor]

I was thinking something like that... My most successful 1.10 character is a skelli-poisoner - and has survived just fine.

never really tried multiplayer though - so wasn't sure if playing 4-8 player would suddenly mean either my skellys were utterly useless - or if I needed to put all points into bone skills to do useful amounts of damage.

Sounds like hybrids the way to go tho...

 

[Seungyoun]

a lunchtime diablo group at work?! that is so cool!

i suggest summonmancer, personally. it made me feel good when i was doing baal run back when i was druid (good days), when necro's with a horde of skellies came and took all the hits for me. these guys are easy to make, and with a good merc, u can be a great help to ure party!

 

[Final]

fishymancer(skeliemancer) or the mojomancer(cursemancer). either can pvm fine but the mojomancer will be a harder road to cross...

 

[Hawksmoor]

Luckily I work in a games company.... so playing games at lunchtime is almost a requirement...heh.

And cheers for the advice... Skellimancer it is...

Final thought - any curses (bar dim vision) you guys might pump beyond rank one due to hardcore? Previously I've gone with one in all but iron maiden, life tap and lower resist - as there will be a sorc - Im figuring at least one in all of these...

 

[wwyvern]

Being a party support you will need amplify for your skellies and melle chars, lower res for elemental dealing chars (typically sorcs and javazones), dim vision for crowd control, life tap for when your skellies are iron maiden-ed or when your fighting skelletons and decripfy Id say. I would go for corpse explosion; it can fasten the the killing rate so much if you party is lacking killing power. Watch out, the assassin death sentry can do the same thing. Skellies are a must in HC Id say. And 1 point in bone armor is really nice if you wear the marrows (that means exploiting the marrow bug though).

GL,
WW

 

[Mad Mantis]

Keep in mind that the CE damage does not scale with increasing numbers of players. This means that you will need more dead bodies in order to do the same thing. The CE will still be very helpful.