Fishy-mancer

[zuke]

I'll second Maiku's advice. My fishymancer is lvl91 and I use him primarily for magic find and key running.

At higher levels, the purpose of your skellies is not to kill everything - they exist as a meat shield for you to hide behind. Your Act2 Might merc kills the first monster or your merc & skellies together kill the first monster, then you start spamming corpse explosion to kill everything else. Corpse Explosion is your main killing skill not your skeletons. Fanatacism aura from beast runeword may be nice, but it really doesn't speed things up.

Imho, essential things for a fishymancer to succeed in hell difficulty are:
1)might merc with crushing blow. The crushing blow can come from the weapon or from guillaume's face helmet, it doesn't matter which. Although popular combinations would be Guillaume's Face for CB and Insight runeword for the weapon because it gives meditation aura which is basically unlimited mana.
2)Enigma runeword armor. Yes, you can play a fishy without it, but it does 3 important things, one of which you can't live without. It gives nice magic find, it gives huge strength bonuses, and most importantly allows you to teleport. Teleport not only speeds you up, it is also indispensable in keeping your minion army together. Without teleport, any Revives you summon will get lost when you start to run.

Those two things on a fishy are essential, the rest is just gravy. That being said, you want an Arm of King Leoric for summoning. Favor +skills and magic find on the rest of your gear.

Go forth and corpse explode.

 

[maiku]

Wow. That's possibly the most helpful, informative response I've gotten for just about any question I've ever asked. Thanks a great deal for the tips.

I'm glad that it's of help. Like you, I'm also working on a limited budget of items and wealth, so I try to squeeze as much as I can out of builds and items.

I've just reached level 36 and I finished Normal. I'm running through Mephisto/Diablo/Baal a few more times before I move on to NM just to try and find some gear.

Unfortunately I had some serious muling/connection issues today and lost all my gems and runes in a game, but eh... it won't kill me. All it means is no trading for gear.

I've had the same bad experiences. Bnet's not always kind. Try to perm your games or have a friend help with muling small stuff. Once you know where and how to run, getting gems and runes back quickly is usually no problem.

Any tips on where to hunt for a +3 RS wand or other useful items like that while still in normal? Or should I just rush through NM to Mephisto?

If you decide to take on Meph in NM, make sure your Merc does good damage and has lots of CB. Gumby + Decrepify should make him a pushover. Be careful of the undead dolls on the way. In NM or Hell, when one explodes it hurts. Many exploding = loads of hurt or death. Nothing ruins a run like an untimely death.

+3 RS wand can be shopped from Drognan of Act 2 Normal. Buy a Bone Wand from him, preferably one with 2 sockets and other nice mods on it like +Skelly Mastery or +CE. Don't bother with yew wands or lower. If it doesn't have 2 sockets but has nice mods anyway, just Larzuk the Bone Wand for 2 sockets. Then you can turn this into a "White" wand later when you have the runes. Create a game where the entrance of town is close to Drognan and run in and out of town, checking his wares each time, until he gives you the wand you want. Have about 100-200K gold on hand in case a godly wand appears and you need to get it.

My favorite places to run for small stuff, like gems, jewels, easy uniques, etc. are...

1. Shenk & Eldritch in Act 5. They are found right by the Frigid Highlands wp. BTW, CE was *made* for these runs. Each of these guys has hordes of minions crammed together like sardines, which makes explosions extra deadly. These are what I call "5-second runs." Experience is decent, drops can be decent, and it feels really nice to clean them out so quick without wasting much time on travel or fighting other enemies to get to the prize. You can build up a lot of gems, jewels, and a few runes or uniques quickly. From there, you can then upgrade equipment and tackle bigger prizes or do these runs faster. I run these guys in NM and Hell too. :thumbsup:

2. Pindle and his skeleton garden. Well, as soon as you pop through the portal, you can begin to summon your army. It's cheap but effective. Throw Gumby at Pindle, let Merc and skellies run in, CE Pindle and his goons, and watch the door so you don't get backstabbed by incoming intruders. Smack down the shambling undead outside and loot them for socketables, gems, etc. This is great to combine with a Shenk + Eldritch run for speed and ease.

3. Travincal. I know that you mentioned this place is hard, and the main problems with Trav are the Hydras and curses/auras that the Council Members have. I think mostly the Hydras because they do a number on your Merc and skellies. To flatten everything in Trav, make sure your Merc has maxed fire resist, a lot of leech, a big weapon, and some CB. If he gets low on health, feed him potions. Resummon skeletons quickly and use targeted Clay Golem to take care of the worst offenders. These should also go fast.

Trav can drop lots of gold (which is one of the best reasons to run it, to feed a gambling addiction) and gems and runes. I have gotten a lot of runes (Tals, Thuls, Orts, Lems, Kos, etc.) and uniques off of Trav in NM and Hell with various MF characters, including my Fishymancer. You could take advantage of this by loading up your guy with extra gold find charms and items so that the Council drops more gold. If you eventually have the means and want to run Trav a lot, consider getting an Ali Baba and "Wealth" rune-worded armor (armor can go on Merc if you want to wear something more protective).

4. Worldstone Keep. Once your army is up and running, let's roll. Total area clears of the levels from the wp down to Baal. Load up faster run items and charms so you can work those skellies. Make sure you have a lot of MF on. You can get some decent uniques and socketable items on the way like 4-socket swords, decent runes, etc. You may also find some decent polearms or spears there too which you can use on your Merc. Kill all of Baal's minions and then kill Baal. Use the Decrepify + Gumby trick. Baal is a pushover but he can drop nice items like a Skin of the Vipermagi. You can do this until you're around 45-50, although it is possible to go to NM much earlier with a Fishymancer, since they are so safe and sturdy.

As you can see, the only places I consider worth running in Normal are Act 5 areas/uniques and Trav.

Areas I like to MF but avoid in Norm:

Pit in Tamoe Highland: Has nothing to offer in Norm or NM. In Hell, it's worth it. But not on earlier difficulties. In Hell, the Fishymancer does a very good job of cleaning out the Pit, which is a TC85 area (can drop most of the items in the game, including godly ones). This is one of the best places to find socketables, ever. In fact, a few lucky drops can make you very rich or well-equipped and it goes a long way to meeting your own equipment needs. Looking for a 4-socket Thresher? There's a good chance you'll find one in a short time running Pit in Hell. Want ethereal armor to make into a "Treachery" or "Duress" for your Merc? Look here.

Ancient Tunnels in Lost City: I often run this area with my Frost Nova Sorceress, but I have done it a few times with my Fishymancer. Better done in Hell. TC85 area like Pit. But seems to take longer to find than Pit. No point in Norm.