MF Necromancer:Preliminary

[beudmaster]

MF Necromancerreliminary

Okay, please don't be too harsh on my grammar, I'm not a writer.

I. Introduction
Most people think that a Summonmancer with MF gear works. While it may work, it isn't practical. The point of MFing is to be able to efficiently and kill the good MF monsters in a timely manner. The latter part is why it's not good. You need to be TIMELY. Having to run around and kill fallens to raise and army just to start is not timely. Bonemancers may be timely but they can't handle groups unless they're relatively close. Since there is no such thing as a Cursemancer (though after this I will try to make one and see how it works), the only matter left to deal with is a Poisonmancer. But in this case, it's more of a Poison/Bonemancer. This guide assumes a Lvl. 99 character having completed all 27 quests in each of the 3 difficulties.

II. Why the particular type?
I choose a Poison because they can easily the life of everything around it to almost nothing, while the Necromancer, along with his mercenary, can finish the job. In addition, once a monster dies, the Necromancer can then explode it's corpse into a crap load of poisonous damage. But the main thing is the equipment. The easiest weapon to obtain with a high MF is the Gull. However, the gull is a dagger. Yes, dagger. Much like the ones you can buy in Act I in normal. However, Poison Dagger takes care of this, it has a sweet Attack Rating bonus and adds alot of poison damage. Along with these facts is the Poisonmancer's ability to handle large groups with ease; in fact, a high level Act III Iron Wolf with decent equipment makes this even easier, because while your Poison Nova reduces you enemies' life to 1 a Lightning Mercenary can use Lightning and Charged Bolt to finish the job while you use Poison Explosion on the corpses and attack the main target.

III. So how is this any different from your normal Poisonmancer?
Well, really, this Necromancer is built more for going straight into a herd of monsters to take them out because all of the big MF monsters (Andariel, Mephisto, Diablo, Pindle and Baal) require you to run into groups of monsters first. And so, his skills are a bit...different...then a normal Poisonmancer.

IV. The Actual Build
Please note that any variation in stats is caused by variation in equipment. Such as the Runeword Sancturary [KoKoMal] giving +30-50 All resistances or Steelrend Ogre Gauntlets giving +10-20 to Strength. All given statistics will include bonuses from the "Serious Gear" as listed in section V.
Here is a chart depicting your final stats (not skills) with BO active.

Form-Stat: Start / Base / Pts. Added / Final Numbers

Strength: 15 / 101 / 86 / 118-128
Dexterity: 25 / 232 / 207 / 271
Vitality: 15 / 227 / 212 / 234
Energy: 25 / 25 / 0 / 32
Life: 45 / 646 / --- / 1445-1581
Stamina: 79 / 291 / --- / 589-645
Mana: 25 / 221 / 808-924

These are the resistances you will have in the end *NOTE: Due to the quests being done your natural resistances will be 30 in normal, -10 in nightmare, and -70 in hell.

Form- Resist: N/M/H
Fire: 75/75/75
Cold: 80/80/57-80
Poison: 75/75/75

And now for the skills.

Summoning Skills

None

Poison and Bone Spells
1 Teeth
20 Bone Armor
20 Poison Dagger
1 Corpse Explosion
20 Bone Wall
20 Poison Explosion
20 Poison Nova

Curses
1 Amplify Damage
1 Weaken
1 Iron Maiden
1 Terror
1 Life Tap
1 Decrepify
2 Lower Resist

As if you couldn't tell, you're not that heavy on curses like your average Necromancer of anykind, let alone Poison. Poisonmancers usually would have maximum Lower Resist but you only need 2. Another thing, as I mentioned before, you are set to rush into a hoard of monsters with your Bone Armor. It will protect you from alot of melee damage. For non-melee monsters, use Poison Nova to knock out some of their life while your mercenary does his job, then get in their and either use Corpse Explosion, Poison Explosion or just plain fight the weakened monsters. And in case you haven't already guessed, the reason for not maxing Bone Prison has nothing to do with not enough skill points (well it does, but that's not the reason), some may not know this but there is a bug in a special pair of boots. The Boneweave Boots are known as "Marrowwalk" in their unique form and have 13 Charges of Lvl 33 Bone Prison. So what? The bug is that as long as you have no points into Bone Prison, it will count as having 33 levels of it for synergies. Meaning it will add synergetic bonusses to Bone Armor and Bone Wall as if you had actually put 33 points into it.

V. The Stuff
Here I will list not only the MF equipment, but "Serious Equipment" for actual fightning and not goofing off. I'll do the MF first.

Gull (Dagger) 'Ist'
Dragon Shield 'IstIstIst'
Skullder's Ire (Russet Armor) 'Ist'
Harlequin Crest (Shako) 'Ist'
Goldwrap (Heavy Belt)
Venomous Amulet of Luck
Fortuitous Ring of Fortune
Fortuitous Ring of Fortune
War Traveler (Battle Boots)
Chance Guards (Chain Gloves)

Using this equipment you will have 573-663% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Magic Find).

Now for the "Serious Equipment" for kicking various ***es.

Weapon I:
Blackbog's Sharp (Cinquedeas) 'Shael'

Weapon II:
Call to Arms (Flail) 'AmnRalMalIstOhm'

Shield I:
Trang-Oul's Wing (Cantor Trophy) 'Um'

Shield II:
Lidless Wall (Grim Shield)

Armor:
Bramble (Archon Plate) 'RalOhmSurEth'

Helm:
Harlequin Crest (Shako) 'Um'

Belt:
Trang-Oul's Girth (Troll Belt)

Gloves:
Trang-Oul's Claws (Heavy Bracers)

Boots:
Marrowwalk (Boneweave Boots)

Amulet:
Mara's Kaleidascope (Amulet)

Ring I:
The Stone of Jordan (Ring)

Ring II:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band (Ring)

Obviously this is a VERY expensive build. For just the "Serious Equipment" it requires 3 set pieces (one of which has a socket), a 4 socket elite armor*, a 5 socket flail*, expensive boots and really expensive everything, down to 2 Um Runes and the use of 2/3 of your Quest Sockets.
*=If you can find a normal version (not superior, not low-quality), you can use a Horadric Cube formula. For more information check out the Arreat Summit.
I would like to suggest for all equipment, if you can upgrade it using a Horadric Cube formula, DO IT! For more information check out the Arreat Summit.

VI. General Leveling
Okay for general leveling, just quest in Act I until you can start doing trist runs, then do those until Level 15. Then from Level 15 until Level 20, do Arcane runs. For 20-24, do Cow Games. For 25 do Ancients then do Baal Runs until 40 and then go into nightmare. Once in nightmare, get an immediate rush and do Ancients and then do Baal Runs until Level 70. Then just get a rush. Mf or whatever you want and start finalizing your skills and stuff. Baal runs and Cow Games will become your best friends for experience. Use your own descretion as to when you put into what skills and stats. However in the future I do plan on adding such a guide, possibly level by level. But for right now, this will have to do.

VII. That's the end. Please make any comments now. Just like I said, please be light on the grammar; I'm not a writer. I know this will work out because using Zonfire99's Hero Editor I have used this character with said equipment on Single Player.

 

[darnocpdx]

personally for this build with your intentions I'd use Venom with a maxed PD. and invest heavily into a good clay golem. You'd be suprised how much help he can be both with crowd controll and boss controll those couple of points make a world of difference. CG is the primary target above all others 99% of the time.

And also 4 or 5 points in LR since your merc of choice is also elemental especially on a low plus skill build like this. And really you could get rid of all the bone walls too, as a daggermancer you really wont get hit much (especially with a good golem) and one point armor/wall is usually enough, at least cut them in half theres no reason for fully synergised armor with a daggermancer.

With a beefed up golem you'll be able to wear more mf equiptment, and perhaps even a few choice mf pieces for your merc that will combine your mf and his for all his kills.

And LT and a melee merc clobbers most bosses too.

 

[Xiamet]

Coupla questions..

First, have you actually tried this build in the aforementioned areas, and if so, how was the going in regards to not getting killed and speed of getting to your target.

I ask because a) I'm currently looking for a char that can do Baal runs at a relatively decent speed and without dying on the way there, vis-a-vis exploding dolls, gloams etc etc. And to be able to do so without relying on uber l33t gear, which to be honest, aside from MarrowWalk's and maybe Bramble, your setup isn't too hard to acquire. Dunno that I'd go with CTA, but that's my personal opinion. Might get better results with a death's fathom.

Oh, and how do you deal with PI/PsnI's?

Thanks,

-X

 

[rickcarson]

MF Summoner not practical?

I agree that killing speed *is* an issue.

However, I think a lot of people like the Summoner for two reasons:

• It goes okay in Hell untwinked, since you don't need much resists or ubergear just to scratch the monsters... so its a good 'first character' or solo. So its good if you're dirt poor.
• At the other end of the spectrum, you've got guys making Iron Golems out of 'Beast', or using Beast + Enigma etc. So its good if you're filthy rich.

Last year there was an mpeg I think of a Blizzard Sorc doing a Meph + Pindle run in ~2 minutes.
So by the same logic I guess we should all hang up our wands and fetishes and exchange them for robes and a pointy hat...

...Now thats a nice theory, but I've found that when I start teleporting all over the Hell Durance I get my butt handed to me in a sling. And it seems to take 5+ minutes to find the way down even if I ignore everything on the way.

Heck, I can't even find it that fast in *normal* (with smaller maps) most of the time.

So as they say... Your Mileage May Vary.

I guess, one of the things I struggle with, is if you're that rich... why bother magic finding?

 

[Myrakh-2]

...Now thats a nice theory, but I've found that when I start teleporting all over the Hell Durance I get my butt handed to me in a sling. And it seems to take 5+ minutes to find the way down even if I ignore everything on the way.

Seems you are not using godly gear or maphack. I don't know whether I've ever seen a sorc NOT using maphack, even if they use full tal rasha or something like that (full TR is easy to see )

So far, all the sorcs I've tried to build failed that teleport part as well, although one of them (the one I started near the end of the previous ladder, so she never got finished...) seemed to do alright. Currently working on a teleport-only sorc, but I haven't touched her for a while :-(

Funny enough, NOT teleporting is the way to success for me: on my way to baal yesterday, a green swirling crystal dropped somewhere in worldstone keep. Baal himself... in that run, he dropped me a green warsword, green gauntlets, a green military pick and some crappy rare (of an item type that I don't even pickup to id).

And this happens quite a bit, no matter whether I'm doing Andy, Mephi, Diablo or Baal: killing stuff on the way TO the act boss can be quite rewarding, and let's not forget that river of flame, chaos sanctuary and worldstone keep are area level 85, just like the pits.

And... I'm using a Skelemancer. He's my only current playchar, doing normal playing as well as diablo clone killing. Still looking for that d* Gull to finally fill the empty slot on his weaponswitch, though... without it, I'm somewhere between 150 and 200 mf.

And, unless I'm going for Baal right away (which I usually don't), "raising the army" doesn't take a lot of time as I just go where I want to go anyway, and pickup my skellies as I move forward. It's just a little slower since I don't generally use corpse explosion then --- which might actually be stupid, since exploding one or two corpses to drop the whole pack might be faster in the end...

For Baal, it's pretty much a compromise --- I don't want to be facing a Black Soul bosspack with just my merc and gumby when I come out of the waypoint.

(Things are different in large games; I like to raise my army beforehand there).

 

[darnocpdx]

I'd agree that those beasts along the way can be very benificial, I usually do the High Council before doing meph on my MF runs (Nice thing about the council is that they are literrially right there by the TP so no searching) drops not as good as meph himself but it is quite a few named that often drop well.

 

[Xiamet]

My only problem with doing Baal runs by walking is that yea, it's possible to get decent drops along the way, but more often than not, that's not the case. it's also alot slower walking it, especially with skeles, as let's face it...they're great meatshields, but they aren't the strongest mob and they do take some time to clear an area out. Thank goodness for CE.

I've been looking for a fast baal runner, but the only consensus I've managed to come to is that it's either a Skelemancer with Enigma, or a Hammerdin with Enigma or a Blizzardess...which can be troublesome if they run into cold immunes in the actual throneroom itself.

I hear a Poison/Summoner might be a good way to go...

-X

 

[masakerr]

Good job on the thread, but (and you knew there would be a but) if you play hard core (like I do) where you don't even get one mistake, killing fast is NOt the most important issue. Staying alive is the most important issue!

I've been playing Diablo since before we could run (lol), I am in NO hurry to do anything cause I'm not going anywhere. The summoner works well for me in any place or in anything I choose to do. However, one of these days I shall try a poisonmancer.

Masa

 

[GenXCub]

Also, while you're sticking Ist runes into everything (meaning, you're incredibly rich), why use "dragon shield, IST IST IST" when your strength could allow you to use an IST IST IST headhunters Glory?

 

[darnocpdx]

For those that don't know, the stairs to durrance 3 from the tp are typically (90% of the time) to your characters left (so if you must go down to leave TP room head to the right, if you gotta move up head left, leaving to your right head up, heading out left head down)upon leaving the TP room. Unless it's those 10% exceptions it shouldn't take you 5 minutes to get there even walking.

 

[rickcarson]

For those that don't know, the stairs to durrance 3 from the tp are typically (90% of the time) to your characters left (so if you must go down to leave TP room head to the right, if you gotta move up head left, leaving to your right head up, heading out left head down)upon leaving the TP room. Unless it's those 10% exceptions it shouldn't take you 5 minutes to get there even walking.

I do follow that advice. It is however, very often, wrong.

I think that occassionally you will get the stairs down right next to the WP, and on *those* occassions, it is frequently to the left. But *in general*, on average, they can be anywhere.

I remember seeing several years ago one post about this, where the person was saying to go left, because that was correct 'at least 50%' of the time. To which I immediately thought... "right... so what you're *really* saying... (without realising it) is that its actually random..."

 

[darnocpdx]

I dunno it is usually the case and I start meph running with each toon in norm when they can (anyone need Isenhearts lol). I do a set of MF stops that seldom takes more than 10 minutes (unless I'm of such a level that I can just barely do them) for 3 WP's- Travical, Durance, the first one in act 5 (cant remember its name, but there is one named just up from TP then run over the bridge for the the kill needed for first quest), and pindle (depending on build will sometimes skip this one in hell). I will do this mostly in norm and nightmare instead of Baal/cow runs, not as much xp but more rares/uniques in less time.

 

[beudmaster]

Okay, sorry for updating, my internet hasn't been working. SINCE WHEN DID THIS BECOME A THREAD TO DISCUSS HOW TO GET TO BAAL!?!?!?!?!? And yes I have tried this build. Using Zonfire99 I have tested this character every 5 Levels from 70-95 and then at 99 and it worked in the general areas you would expect at Lvl whatever to do, for example a Lvl 70 can't do Hell Meph but it can do Nm Diablo, etc. And sorry for not using a Ist Ist Ist Headhunters, forgot that it could have 3 sockets. :-\ But if you give me a few seconds, I will get this updated. AND QUIT TALKING ABOUT HOW TO DO HELL BAAL RUNS, ETC!!! And yes, in the new version I will update the equipment for MFing to include Enigma and Headhunter.

 

[beudmaster]

Okay, please don't be too harsh on my grammar, I'm not a writer.

I. Introduction
Most people think that a Summonmancer with MF gear works. While it may work, it isn't practical. The point of MFing is to be able to efficiently and kill the good MF monsters in a timely manner. The latter part is why it's not good. You need to be TIMELY. Having to run around and kill fallens to raise and army just to start is not timely. Bonemancers may be timely but they can't handle groups unless they're relatively close. Since there is no such thing as a Cursemancer (though after this I will try to make one and see how it works), the only matter left to deal with is a Poisonmancer. But in this case, it's more of a Poison/Bonemancer. This guide assumes a Lvl. 99 character having completed all 27 quests in each of the 3 difficulties.

II. Why the particular type?
I choose a Poison because they can easily the life of everything around it to almost nothing, while the Necromancer, along with his mercenary, can finish the job. In addition, once a monster dies, the Necromancer can then explode it's corpse into a crap load of poisonous damage. But the main thing is the equipment. The easiest weapon to obtain with a high MF is the Gull. However, the gull is a dagger. Yes, dagger. Much like the ones you can buy in Act I in normal. However, Poison Dagger takes care of this, it has a sweet Attack Rating bonus and adds alot of poison damage. Along with these facts is the Poisonmancer's ability to handle large groups with ease; in fact, a high level Act III Iron Wolf with decent equipment makes this even easier, because while your Poison Nova reduces you enemies' life to 1 a Lightning Mercenary can use Lightning and Charged Bolt to finish the job while you use Poison Explosion on the corpses and attack the main target.

III. So how is this any different from your normal Poisonmancer?
Well, really, this Necromancer is built more for going straight into a herd of monsters to take them out because all of the big MF monsters (Andariel, Mephisto, Diablo, Pindle and Baal) require you to run into groups of monsters first. And so, his skills are a bit...different...then a normal Poisonmancer.

IV. The Actual Build
Please note that any variation in stats is caused by variation in equipment. Such as the Runeword Sancturary [KoKoMal] giving +30-50 All resistances or Steelrend Ogre Gauntlets giving +10-20 to Strength. All given statistics will include bonuses from the "Serious Gear" as listed in section V.
Here is a chart depicting your final stats (not skills) with BO active.

Form-Stat: Start / Base / Pts. Added / Final Numbers

Strength: 15 / 101 / 86 / 118-128
Dexterity: 25 / 232 / 207 / 271
Vitality: 15 / 227 / 212 / 234
Energy: 25 / 25 / 0 / 32
Life: 45 / 646 / --- / 1445-1581
Stamina: 79 / 291 / --- / 589-645
Mana: 25 / 221 / 808-924

These are the resistances you will have in the end *NOTE: Due to the quests being done your natural resistances will be 30 in normal, -10 in nightmare, and -70 in hell.

Form- Resist: N/M/H
Fire: 75/75/75
Cold: 80/80/57-80
Poison: 75/75/75

And now for the skills.

Summoning Skills

None

Poison and Bone Spells
1 Teeth
20 Bone Armor
20 Poison Dagger
1 Corpse Explosion
20 Bone Wall
20 Poison Explosion
20 Poison Nova

Curses
1 Amplify Damage
1 Weaken
1 Iron Maiden
1 Terror
1 Life Tap
1 Decrepify
2 Lower Resist

As if you couldn't tell, you're not that heavy on curses like your average Necromancer of anykind, let alone Poison. Poisonmancers usually would have maximum Lower Resist but you only need 2. Another thing, as I mentioned before, you are set to rush into a hoard of monsters with your Bone Armor. It will protect you from alot of melee damage. For non-melee monsters, use Poison Nova to knock out some of their life while your mercenary does his job, then get in their and either use Corpse Explosion, Poison Explosion or just plain fight the weakened monsters. And in case you haven't already guessed, the reason for not maxing Bone Prison has nothing to do with not enough skill points (well it does, but that's not the reason), some may not know this but there is a bug in a special pair of boots. The Boneweave Boots are known as "Marrowwalk" in their unique form and have 13 Charges of Lvl 33 Bone Prison. So what? The bug is that as long as you have no points into Bone Prison, it will count as having 33 levels of it for synergies. Meaning it will add synergetic bonusses to Bone Armor and Bone Wall as if you had actually put 33 points into it.

V. The Stuff
Here I will list not only the MF equipment, but "Serious Equipment" for actual fightning and not goofing off. I'll do the MF first.

Gull (Dagger) 'Ist'
Headhunter's Glory 'IstIstIst'
Enigma Archon Plate 'JahIthBer'
Harlequin Crest (Shako) 'Ist'
Goldwrap (Heavy Belt)
Venomous Amulet of Luck
Fortuitous Ring of Fortune
Fortuitous Ring of Fortune
War Traveler (Battle Boots)
Chance Guards (Chain Gloves)

Using this equipment you will have 524-614% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Magic Find).

Now for the "Serious Equipment" for kicking various ***es.

Weapon I:
Blackbog's Sharp (Cinquedeas) 'Shael'

Weapon II:
Call to Arms (Flail) 'AmnRalMalIstOhm'

Shield I:
Trang-Oul's Wing (Cantor Trophy) 'Um'

Shield II:
Lidless Wall (Grim Shield)

Armor:
Bramble (Archon Plate) 'RalOhmSurEth'

Helm:
Harlequin Crest (Shako) 'Um'

Belt:
Trang-Oul's Girth (Troll Belt)

Gloves:
Trang-Oul's Claws (Heavy Bracers)

Boots:
Marrowwalk (Boneweave Boots)

Amulet:
Mara's Kaleidascope (Amulet)

Ring I:
The Stone of Jordan (Ring)

Ring II:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band (Ring)

Obviously this is a VERY expensive build. For just the "Serious Equipment" it requires 3 set pieces (one of which has a socket), a 4 socket elite armor*, a 5 socket flail*, expensive boots and really expensive everything, down to 2 Um Runes and the use of 2/3 of your Quest Sockets.
*=If you can find a normal version (not superior, not low-quality), you can use a Horadric Cube formula. For more information check out the Arreat Summit.
I would like to suggest for all equipment, if you can upgrade it using a Horadric Cube formula, DO IT! For more information check out the Arreat Summit.

VI. General Leveling
Okay for general leveling, just quest in Act I until you can start doing trist runs, then do those until Level 15. Then from Level 15 until Level 20, do Arcane runs. For 20-24, do Cow Games. For 25 do Ancients then do Baal Runs until 40 and then go into nightmare. Once in nightmare, get an immediate rush and do Ancients and then do Baal Runs until Level 70. Then just get a rush. Mf or whatever you want and start finalizing your skills and stuff. Baal runs and Cow Games will become your best friends for experience. Use your own descretion as to when you put into what skills and stats. However in the future I do plan on adding such a guide, possibly level by level. But for right now, this will have to do.

In either the next update for the one after that I WILL include a guide to do this. It will probably go by some general milestones (15,25,40,55,70,80,90,99) instead of the level by level I said I may do, however it may be changed in a later version to level by level format.

VII. That's the end. Please make any comments now. Just like I said, please be light on the grammar; I'm not a writer. I know this will work out because using Zonfire99's Hero Editor I have used this character with said equipment on Single Player.

:buddies: