PhatTrumpet said:
For people who decide to go the Bone route after skellies, is there any concensus on which is more effective? I had assumed BoneSpirit would be best as you only need the one corpse to get a CE chain goin and it's better for bosses, but I've also heard that BoneSpear's damage is comparable at higher lvls, so the piercing and hitting multiple targets makes it more effective. Has anyone tried both?
I have both in Classic. My first 1.10 Character which was stolen and now I have back is lvl 87 and he has Spear. I selected spear simply as I knew nobody in my group would have good gear so with the pierce I figured I could hurt many monsters at one time and it works very well.
My rebuild after being stole however I went Spirit for the bigger one hit power since I had some troubels with uniques and spear. This worked very well also.
Observations:
Spear is just a tad over half damage of Spirit at equal lvls IIRC.
Spear is somehwhere at about half the mana cost also
Spear is naturally faster casting.
In a ballpark statement pick which you like as they both can put out similar damage per give time although Spirit rarely misses as it tracks moving targets where spear will not.
I dont dislike either, but my 3rd Necro in Xpac I choose Spirit once again as it deals out more damage per hit and tracks targets. My main uses for this skill are picking off oblivs (Big reason to have a bone skill), getting one corpse in a pack, or in some situations focusing on a nasty boss. Like in the pit, a Fanta MS Enchant Archer is pretty likely, or maybe PI, and they are smart and retreat a lot when skelles engage them thus leaving thier minions in melee range while they step back and start picking of Skellies and Merc. This can really stink, and without BO/Shout one of thes chicks can take down skellies rather rapidly.
The other purpose for the Spirit is to simple help get a couple skellies. A Merc without special gear can die before his arura kicks in and it can be very common. My lvl 1 +skills Golem solo is a pretty easy target also, but as long as I can get a couple skellies up quick there is usually no problem.
Now my Xpac Necro is a poor Necro. He has a grand total of +3 skills, hell my Classic guys have more skills!!! Lvl 23 Skellies are still damn good but they are not as good as lvl 27+ obviously!
Now if i had all the +skills and could get my rez for those lvl 30 skellies i would, and maybe with that I might not go with a Bone skill, but as I consider options for those 20 points I just dont see anything that is as usefull. Sure I could max CE, get more in Armor synergies, maybe pump my golem (golems dont kill much so seems wastefull), or get more revives (they dont kill much and cost about as much as 3-4 Spirits and spirit kills and kills what I want it to kill)
I am no Necro guru, but I slept at a Holiday Inn last night!
i am still learning this character, my first 1.10 Necro was invested improperly and so was me second some, my thiird is invested much smarter. In Classic I used Decrep or LR exclusively but now I throw out AmP once I get the enemies stopped and contained by the minions so they kill quicker. Some fast big hitters i just keep decreped and nail them with Spirit.
Personally I think there is no bad summoner, it is a pretty simple build if you just understand your curses. I dont think Spirit or Spear is a must have skill, but I feel comfortable having this option and I also feel involved. i feel having the skill increases my killing speed and if something attacks me I can kill it, not run away or curse it away!
i use my walls and prison in situations for safety, sometimes I use them to gather monseters to thier mass destruction. Lay downs some Walls in CS right at the bototom of the center Star and then run around the circle real quick!!! You will gather a massive amount of badies and if you already have corpses you can clear half of CS in a matter of seconds. This is not adivsed as it could be your death or death to others with you, but when a guy wants a little excitement it is pretty exciting!
Cows + Bonewalls = fun
But might be death!
