Introduction + Summoner question

[squiggle]

Introduction + Summoner question

Hey , New to hc as of today. Have been playing soft core for a few months ( And still will aslong as hc ) I started a necro lvl 15 atm and in act 2.
If anyone wants anyone to play with , chat , xfer , w/e then yeh add me on *theafmanhc

And now to the necro question

As i said i have started a necro as my starting charecter. A summoner of some sort.

I'm trying to decide on which build
Either Fishymancer.
Poison / summon.
Pure summon.

I'm not a huge fan of ce but i could get used to it if i had to . I was thinking not a fishymancer as CE wont come in handy for boss killing.

I was leaning towards a poison summoner but i'm not sure if one is viable using crap gear real crap...I thought he may come in handy against bosses.

So would i go

20 sm
20 rs
20 pnova
20 poison explosion
1 bone armor
1 poison dagger
1 skele mage
1 clay golem
1 golem mastery
1 summon resist
1 revive
1 amp
1 weaken
1 terror
1 decrep
1 lower res
1 iron maiden
1 life tap

That add's to 94 points , So lvl 82 if i do all of the skill quest's.
Except with no gear his pnova will only be 1.2k poison dmg.
I'll estimate i can get +5 skills atleast which beefs it up to 1.7k but that aint going to be much help...is it?

Any ideas on what to start with will help or Hc advice will help.
I've read the noob sticky thing to

Hope to see some of you guys around
Happy Diabloing

 

[ReCo]

what realm do you play?

without specific gear your poison damage will be awful low so that is not a good choice if you are untwinked

think about:
corpse explosion - its great crowd killing machine and believe me, with decrepify and clay golem there is no boss that can be dangerous
dim vision - it basicaly kills gloams (and all range attackers). remember that you NEED a way to deal with them

my suggestion is:
20 skele mastery
20 skeleton
1 mage
1 revive
1 clay
1 golem mastery

20 corpse exp (great radius = cleans the whole screen in 3-4 casts)
10+ dim vision (i like to have 20)
1 some more curses (decrepify is king)

you may also put some points into bone armor synergies (youre playing hc after all )

 

[SlickSam]

Yea, as Reco said, a poison/summon hybrid would not be powerful untwinked. I'd follow what Reco said pretty closely. The order I usually put points in is:
Raise, mastery, amplify, raise, golem, raise until 12, then 1 golem mastery, then putting into raise until I can get 1 point into decrep (which I make sure I have before facing off against Durriel). From there you can add a few more points into amp if you hate casting it more than once, or pump into raise until its maxed and them mastery. Then I just work my way down to revive and get my 1 point in, then follow up with CE and the rest of my curses. I've never really used Dim Vision though, so I can't offer any advice into that. If your looking for someone to play with I'm on east HCLadder as *CoffeeAngel.

Oh, and that skill progression is for softcore, so you'll probably want to put a point into bone armour and then synergize it a bit if your playing a HC necro.

 

[Socialism]

Terribly easy build; base dex ~45 into str (until you get equipment you KNOW you'll be using; Trang Oul's set etc), Nightfish summoner build.

20 Raise Skeleton
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Corpse Explosion
1-5 Dim Vision
1-5 Amplify Damage
1 Bone Armor
1-20 Bone Wall (Synergy + useful for trapping enemies... if you know how to use it right and aren't a lagmonster).
1 into rest of Summon Tree

Generally use Fire Golem (his Holy Fire aura will attract enemies to HIM instead of you). Clay Golem + Amp (if easy)/Decrepify for bosses. Get Decrepify before you face normal Diablo and it'll be a ton easier. Just keep recasting Clay Golem and Decrepifying him while your (if you're level 30 and have summon resist) skeletons + merc keelify him.

Pros: Can take pretty much the whole game untwinked/naked.
Cons: Ridiculously slow vs huge hp monsters (10 minutes to kill Hell Baal, anyone?) and narrow areas (Maggot Lair, Arcane Sanctuary, A3 Sewers).

Have an amulet of teleportation(level 18) or some teleport weapon (Naj's Staff, Spellsteel) on switch and it'll make your life way easier. Pm me or msg *Glimmer on East HCL and I'll help you out with these + other nooblet itamz.

Peacelove.\

 

[squiggle]

Thankyou

And yeh i forgot to mention I'm on east ladder.

I guess I'll go with Ce then. Atm I'm raising max skeletons and spending every point in vita until lvl 20 or so.

Thanks,


EDIT: And just saw socialism's post that seems real good. I've never really used bone wall or ce for very long but i will now.

Seeya guys on bnet

 

[Jordanbcool]

I've played summoning necros a bit. As far as fun characters they are def. number one.

What I could never understand is why people almost never maxed raise skeletal mage. They are great for killing PI's and they provide an extra set of damage, defense etc. Anyways, this is how I always build my summonancers.

Skeletan mastery- 20
Raise skeleton- 20
Raise skeletal mage- 20
Revive- 1
Clay golem-1
Blood golem-1
Iron golem-1
Fire golem-1
Golem mastery- 1+
Summon resist- 5

1 to all curses

1- teeth
1+- Corpse explosion
1- Bone armor
0+- Bone wall

Personally, I never felt the need to max CE or to put more points into it. I would rather max RSM, pump golem mastery or pump bone wall for the bone armor protection.

All the different 1 point curses will be plenty to get you through any situation you encounter. Attract, amp damage and decreptify are godly in PVM.

I also put only one point into all the golems instead of choosing one. This way, you can always choose what golem you will need in what situation. If you have alot of melee characters then use clay golem for the slow down, or iron golem for the thorns. Fire golem was great in the fourth act.

Anyways this is just my opinon. But if you're like me and like a HUGE army then don't be afraid to get yourself a powerful golem and to put some points into RSM.

Good luck.

 

[MCBiggieCube]

Skeleton mages are literally pointless. Not only do they prove to be horrible tanks, but their damage is pitiful. When you compare killing speed of corpse explosion and raise skeletal mages, corpse explosion wins.

 

[Jordanbcool]

That is still your opinion.

There are also instances where you cannot use CE. Like when you don't have any bodies due to freezing ice.

To say they are "useless" or "pitiful" is a gross over-exaggeration. I know many summoners who like to max skeletal mage and they do very well in hell.

 

[NecromanSassin]

I don't have anything against skeleton mages, but the Fishymancer just isn't their build. They don't gain any benefit from Amp and the only real helpful use if poison, but that's only for act bosses. But even on act bosses, poison isn't needed. And, as everyone knows, mages block doorways. And most would say "get enigma, tele, and then you're good" which is true, but not everyone has enigma (given, you could also use a tele ammy or circlet).

If at all, mages should get points last. Last as in after you feel your Necro is 95 or more percent complete.

Good luck with your Necro!

 

[Jordanbcool]

That's true fishymancers concentrate on physical damage.

But OP do whatever you think is right. It's YOUR character and YOU are the only person that knows what YOU like best. Don't be afraid to expirement, thats half the fun of diablo.

Good luck!

 

[wakiki]

Heh, you might just fall in love with CE. Before I tried it, I didn't think it was very good, but now I think it's probably the best skill in the game.

You might consider putting more points into Dim Vision. It stops archers from firing unless they are close, stops shamans from reviving monsters, stops Frenzytaurs from using Frenzy, and so on.

As for skeletal mages, I can tell you that when I'm using my skeletons, they are so annoying because they block doorways and my skellies can't get in to fight. The cold + poison ones are useful for bosses though, with just 1 point into them. If you decided to get then, I would recommend dropping the regular skeletons, getting Lower Resist, and focusing on fire golem or perhaps poison. If the mages don't have anyone to block, they won't be a problem!

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Nothing wrong with 1 point in Mages on a summoner to get to Revives. You usually end up with 4-6 Mages after + skills, which is enough to poison and freeze bosses, etc.

As Wakiki said, door blocking is a big problem. Their AI tries to keep the 'hanging back' from the battles. One day you will charge into a room full of monsters expecting your army to follow you, except that a mage will stop and 'hang back' in the door way and you will find yourself alone in the room with only one Mage able to attack from the door way. When you're in smaller more confined areas try to keep from summoning too many Mages.

-hps

 

[squiggle]

Thanks all.

I got char to about 25 and got pked .
Remade about 4 times and ended up getting one to 48. Took me a full day.
And he died Ran away from somemonster hitting me straight into pack of archers and didnt s/e quick enuf.

Im making again atm lvl 13

Maxing rs. Then going about 5 in bone wall. Then maxing sm. Then Ce. Then curse or perhaps few more in mages depending on gear.

Thanks for the information. Keep it coming if you wish it is all appreciated.

 

[HCKull]

You need to go slower, more careful and play private after level 9. HC is different.

I really like DV curse. I use it on the edge of the screen to freeze ememies that are off screen. Then when I see them I don't have to worry about them attack, charging etc. I wait till my guys have engaged and pinned them down and switch to Amp.

CE rocks! Its true that points dont increase the damage it does, but that does not matter. One corpse on the screen will damage/kill everything on the screen so you get a huge benefit. Especially as it produces more corpses for CE.

You have to get an insight polearm. It solves your mana problems forever. I am maxing my Golum Mastery and have made an iron golum from an insight polearm. My merc has a more effective weapon now and I still get the meditation aura.

I going to get engima soon so I can plop all of my guys on top of the bad guys so they can womp them. I have a tele amulet, but have to be stingy with the charges so I can't use it as effectively.

I carry wizspike for the resists, but am considering beast so my guys wiill get fanatic aura. Should be an extra 200-300 % ed for the skells and merc. Worry about my resists in hell though.

I have a might merc because his aura boosts the damage my skells do by 200% or so. He wears fort and carrys an infinity because it is a great weapon and boosts the damage my CE does.

I have one side that I use to raise skels and the other is for fighting. The skel side gear with huge bonuses to SM so the skells are tough and so they dont die when I switch to the other side. My fighting side has wiz spike and the sucubus shield for resists and fcr. I am considering using a spirit shield but 156 str req is daunting.

I am going to put 1 point in bone wall so I can use it as a decoy. Just like the zon decoy. You cast it ahead to draw monsters fire.