Bonemancer for MF?

[Ferrous]

Bonemancer for MF?

I'm in the process of making a bonemancer, and I want to see if he can be viable as an mf'er. He's already level 85 and has some of this gear. My biggest concern is the damage output that he's dealing in hell, which does not seem to be enough. Kindly check him over and see if I've missed anything or have any suggestions.

(By the way - I want to make a good MF character, but not a typical hammerdin or blizzard sorc for mfing, so I figured I'd give a bonemancer a shot)
________________________________________________
Basic Description:
Cookie-cutter type build that focuses almost exclusively on the bone skills, with a few supplementary curse skills. The character is designed for "Magic Find" and possible dueling.

Requirements and Allocations:

Gear:
* Weapon: Boneshade
* Shield: Homunculus
* Armor: Enigma
* Belt: Goldwrap
* Amulet: Mara's Kaleidescope
* Ring: Nagelring
* Ring: Stone of Jordon
* Helmet: Harlequin Crest
* Boots: War Travelers
* Gloves: Chance Guards

Rune Requirements:
* Jah, Ith, Ber

Character Attributes:
* Strength: 95
* Dexterity: 213
* Vitality: rest
* Energy: base

Skill Allocation:
* Main skills:
o Teeth: 20
o Bone Spear: 20
o Bone Spirit: 20
o Bone Wall: 20
o Bone Prison: 20
o Decrepify: 1
o Bone Armor: rest
* Prerequisites: (4)
o Corpse Explosion: 1
o Amplify Damage: 1
o Weaken: 1
o Terror: 1

Added Sums:

Elemental Resistances:
Poison Resistance: +60%-70%
Lightning Resistance: +60%-70%
Fire Resistance: +60%-70%
Cold Resistance: +60%-70%

MF: 151%-299%

Skills:
* General: +11
* Additional Bonus:
o Teeth: +4-5
o Bone Spear: +2-3
o Bone Spirit: +1-2
o Bone Wall: +2-3
o Bone Armor: +4-5
o Curses: +2
* Other skills:
o Teleport: +1

Mercenary:
* Act II Holy Freeze Merc

 

[Ed from Russia]

I'm sure it will work. Certainly when running bosses, not sure if bone skills work well in The Pit for example (many small monsters).

I'd probably recommend:
- a 1-pt Clay golem (incl. Golem Mastery and Summon Resist) as extra shield
- Maybe not max-block but vita for a PvM MF build. So keep dex at base.
- Don't forget Gheed's Fortune and other MF charms.
- Same for other charms: torch and about 4 skillers.

 

[Hektus]

Bonemancer is too reliant on skills for damage to be viable in p1 hell for MFing imo, especially in wsk. A suped up bonemancer can solo everything in hell but will hit a brick wall in multiplayer games. Minionmancer with a might merc is the way to go - you can maintain 400+ MF without sacrificing effectiveness in p1 wsk and can remain an effective mfer in p2+ games to a limited extent.

I recommend specializing in poison synergies for a novamancer that can GG p7 games with suped up gear (poison dmg +% and -resist% gear) and minor in raise skeleton for MFing with the gear switch in your stash - imo, with a good merc, it's only necessary to 1pnt wonder summon mastery to MF hell wsk etc, especially with a fully synergized nova.

20 poison dagger
20 poison explosion
20 poison nova
20 raise skeleton
1 CE
1 Amp
1 Decrep
1 Lower Resist
1 Summon Resist
rest summon mastery or lower resist

 

[Ferrous]

Granted, I've never seriously played a minionmancer but I was always under the impression that they are seriously weak against act bosses because of the bonus act bosses get over minions...I'd hate to go up against an act boss just to see my army get wiped out in a snap.

 

[Hektus]

Honestly, once people see how fast they kill in p1 wsk with 500mf they aren't too worried about it but yeah, you're right that minions are horribly slow boss killers. It's easily helped though, get crushing blow on your merc or yourself on the switch. In the build I outlined, though, the synergized nova will do the trick nice and quick.


Edit: Worth noting that you may not know - while minion damage is meager, at best, they are quite durable - even against act bosses. Anyways, while your merc is alive the boss will focus on him instead of your minions - just use decrep and your merc won't die, your minions wont die and you can nova (or bone, if you prefer) from afar.

 

[Ferrous]

you can nova (or bone, if you prefer) from afar.

Bone from afar, huh? My girlfriend was disappointed because I couldn't. :laugh:

 

[NumtyDoo]

I keep hearing that minion mancers are slow against bosses, where does this come from? I have a lvl 92 "fishy" (I made him before I knew what a fishy was, but it best describes him) i maxed mages with my extra skill points (cold mages slow bosses, poison ones stop boss regen near forever, fire/light mages do decent damage). In a 4 player mf game baal is lucky to last 30 seconds, if I have some revives less than 20 seconds.

I have 350-400 mf, and max resists. I have some of the other cookie cutter characters, my hammerdin may be able to kill baal 2 seconds faster, but he dies during bnets constant lag spikes. But my necro actually kills the minions faster than the hdin cause of CE. So really it's a tie, but the necro is invincable, even during 20 second lag outs.

Put a little CB on your merc, use clay golem (for some reason bosses hate golem, and attack him instead of my merc), and decrep. Bosses won't scratch you or your minions.

Only down side with summoner is you need bodies, just don't get the nithalak waypoint and you have the corpse garden where you can get 15 skellies in 2 seconds, and kill pindle while your at it for a little mf bonus. Then I do shenk and that other guy near him to get bods for mages. Then baal, mephisto, andy, countess, pit, summoner, and diablo.

 

[UrbanHeroics]

I agree with Numty about the bosses. I saw my friend's decked out fishy take out diablo FAST. I'm talking maybe 15-20 seconds and he was gone. The greatest thing is to tele on top of the decreped boss, then run away a little and your entire army is still standing there fighting away.

Absolutely ridiculous for the low damage that is shown for the skellys. You can also get a might merc armed with a pride wep and your army will do hella more damage, not to mention the boss will be crawling with your clay golem and decrep on him.

 

[Smackin]

K...since u wanna make a boner for mfing, I'd suggest u focus on AREA runnin, rather than boss running. U can easily take out andy, meph, and diablo, but baal with his 490k HP on p1 is gonna slow u down. If ur really keen on keepin up with the crowds in p8, do this:

20spirit
20spear
20prison
20wall
Rest CE
1 amp
1 golem
1 golem mastery
decrep is optional

Slap some bone prisons at the corner of ur screen to attract some suckers, spear the livin hell outta those fools. Once a pile of monsters drop, amp and CE the **** outta everything. Recommended merc: A2 normal Defensive, last thing u want is some holy freeze shattering ur corpses.

Merc Gearjust something I'd use)
ral'ed andys
eth upped um'ed duriels
insight for the poor, infinity for the rich(other choices are ABSOLUTELY USELESS)

Ur gearjust something I'd use)
Shako p topaz
enigma MP(MP MP MP MP, forget the ****** AP)
Hoto(not so rich choices include wiz, suicide branch, ume's lament, any other choices are basically useless)
35fcr spirit shield(this is pvm, homun doesnt even come close)
2nec/35mf ammy(maras if u cant find one)
2x sojs
40 chancies
50 travs
goldwrap
torch/anni
leave 4x4 space, rest 7mfsc

~400% MF
75FCR(10FPS)
+17 skills
assuming u went 1golem/1mastery/1amp and nothing else, at lvl90, u have:

3k spear
3.3k spirit
790 bone armor
13 yards of CE(approx 75% of the screen)

 

[maiku]

Not much to add to the list above, except that I think a +3 Bone Spear, +2-3 Bone Spirit "White" wand should be considered as a substitute for HOTO. A base wand with 2 sockets and at least +3 Bone Spear can be shopped/found without too much difficulty. I think it makes for +8 to Bone Spear and is considered the Holy Grail for the serious Bonemancer.

 

[skullvomit]

Morning to all, my very first post here

I have a lvl 89 bonemancer (although 1 point in curses and some more in summoning). But the focus is on poison and bone. My mf is around 250%, and as soon as I manage to trade something for ber rune to get enigma, it'll be above 300%. Still, with my current gear the best I've found have been Zaka shield and Homunculus. Took some runs, though.

And as for damage, I find it enough (roughly 1500-1700 spear, 1700-1900 spirit) when using my mf gear and 5 revives +fire golem as a meat shield.

 

[Smackin]

REAL serious boners aint NEVER gonna use white for PVM. Lets say u got a white with +3 to spirit, 3 to spear, and 3 to decrep. Lol, that wand can already buy ur ENTIRE gear+ur mercs ENTIRE gear. U lose 3 amp, 3 CE, up to 40res, 15% fcr(which means ur gonna have to use arachs to make up the fcr). Not to mention u have to spend more mana to tele(u wanna use infinity for some serious pwnage dont u?). A boner's TRUE mf has little to do with spear or spirit, its how big ur CE and amp is.

 

[Zunu]

Howdy all:
New to forums but here is my 2 cents I love my boner , he has 398 Mf and full resists. He kills and survives just fine, biggest worry is keeping my act pray merc alive, and thats usually from IM. But bone walls works wonders!!!
With enigma he is fast IMO best char I have ever made or at lest the easiest to equip, to run and part of D2. So My answer is resounding yes bonemancer are great Mfers. My usually run is baal . meph, diablo and keys. Killing everthing as I go.

 

[maiku]

REAL serious boners aint NEVER gonna use white for PVM. Lets say u got a white with +3 to spirit, 3 to spear, and 3 to decrep. Lol, that wand can already buy ur ENTIRE gear+ur mercs ENTIRE gear. U lose 3 amp, 3 CE, up to 40res, 15% fcr(which means ur gonna have to use arachs to make up the fcr). Not to mention u have to spend more mana to tele(u wanna use infinity for some serious pwnage dont u?). A boner's TRUE mf has little to do with spear or spirit, its how big ur CE and amp is.

"Losing" +3 to Amp and +3 CE? I think you're mistaken. Let's take a quick look at "White":

"White"

Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
+10 To Vitality
+3 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
Magic Damage Reduced By 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+13 To Mana

The +3 to PnB skills means an automatic +3 to CE and if it's made in a +3 CE, +Amp wand, you only stand to gain. Possible wand would be +3 Bone Spear, +3 CE, +whatever Amp, gaining +8 to Bone Spear, +6 to CE, +1-3 Amp. The weakest mods I see on "White" are the +13 to mana and monster flee. Everything else is gold.

At some point with enough +skills, your Amp is going to cover a significant portion of the screen. I have just 1 point invested in Amp on my Fishymancer, and it covers maybe a quarter to a third of the screen per cast thanks to +skills. Maxed CE gives you a lot of range, and with a custom-tailored "White" w/ +3 CE, you're going to have an even bigger range than what a HOTO would give you, meaning larger overlapping CE blasts.

I didn't mention anything about a +Decrepify wand. Part of the beauty of making a "White" that you can pick and choose what skills you want on it by shopping or MFing one.

I would go ahead and use an Arach's anyway on a caster build. It's a very good belt, unless you can't afford one. The +1 skill on it also means larger Amp radius + CE blasts, which again means faster kills. More fcr, better Amp and CE thanks to +skills? I'd take that over a Goldwrap in a heartbeat.

If you can't get an Arach's, craft a few caster belts, and any one of those with 10% fcr, +life, +mana, big resists, etc. still make a Goldwrap look lame. The only thing decent on a Goldwrap for this build is 30% MF. That's it. If you're already packing 300%+ MF, do you think an extra 30% from Goldwrap is going to make a huge difference when you lose out on everything else I mentioned? It just makes your Necro more weak. Goldwrap is good on the right builds, I think some Zon and Melee builds, but just about every other stat on it is useless for this build.

30-40 resist can be made up from ammy, belt if you're not using a Arach's, or even boots, if you find some nice faster run, MF boots w/ resists. Those can be gotten from gambling or crafting. Need more fcr? You can get that on an amulet, too. Also considering that a "White" wand automatically grants +6 to Bone Armor, you can shop a wand with Bone Armor on it, etc. you still get more defense against physical attacks. Use Golem + Merc to soak up ranged attacks and Bone Spear, Amp, and CE the living hell outta enemy fools.

Never disputed the use of "Infinity" on this build, because it does benefit CE.

What does HOTO offer this build? Less +skills, less damage, some more resists that could be easily made up elsewhere, some more fcr that could be made up easily else where by using superior caster equipment. It's good...but not good enough.

IMO, serious Bonemancers, including those interested in more raw power for faster MF runs, use a good "White."

 

[Smackin]

U can buy an entire necro with such a 'white'.

 

[maiku]

We'll see about that. I already have a couple 2-socket +3 Bone Spear +X whatever skill wands floating on my mules which I've bought or found, and I'll shop for a few more over the next couple days. I started a Bonemancer last night, because of our discussion in this thread.

 

[DH Amazon]

We'll see about that. I already have a couple 2-socket +3 Bone Spear +X whatever skill wands floating on my mules which I've bought or found, and I'll shop for a few more over the next couple days. I started a Bonemancer last night, because of our discussion in this thread.

White is nice +8 spear and dont forget splendor runeword. I made that in +3spear +1attrac necro shield, so thas +12 spear from 2 items. So its lvl41-45 spear without skillers. Attract is nice bonus, its enough for almost any tanking purpose. And if merc uses reapers toll, you dont need to find that godly wand for white. And you can use lots of mana charms if you take +skills from items.

 

[Smackin]

u can definately use mana charms if u wanna sacrifice those 7mfsc, unless ur so rich to buy the gfg 17mana/7mf SCs. It's definately good to use some original and unique choices. However, an mf boner's real power isnt beefing up his spear to lvl 45 so he can take out meph 5 seconds faster. U can, in theory, use something like this:

2necro/2os/20fcr/35mf circ
2necro/20fcr/35mf/20res ammy
enigma
white 3spear/3CE/3decrep
splendor 3spear/3CE/3DV
arachs
2x sojs
50mf travs
chancies

40mf gheeds
torch
anni
keys
tome of tp
15x 17mana/7mfsc

leaving u with 4x4 spaces

merc a2 might w/ eth p infinity GPA, eth upped 15ias/15res duriels, 10/30 eth 15ias/30fire res andys

Yeh, that'd be a GFG setup.

 

[DH Amazon]

u can definately use mana charms if u wanna sacrifice those 7mfsc, unless ur so rich to buy the gfg 17mana/7mf SCs. However, an mf boner's real power isnt beefing up his spear to lvl 45 so he can take out meph 5 seconds faster.

That setup you listed looks good

I was thinking more charms like 7% faster run 44mana etc... or similair large charms. Usually not needed for any char, so mules have plenty of those.
And do area runs with good running speed and huge mana bool. That pierce is kind of wasted if killing just one boss. But in other hand that enigma is kind of wasted if doing area runs. But good boner kills fast, so both are possible.

From your ideal set, I have only arach, 40mf gloves, 2xsoj, 1/20/20anni
So not there yet. :wink3:

 

[Smackin]

who needs to run when u just teleport? I've a lord of magi mfer planned out, once I get the gear Ima test it out, should be cheaper than this bone nec above and packs more punch/mf.