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My claymancer build
This is my first attempt(note the word attempt) at writing a guide. Bear with me please, and feel free to add advice, or more likely, corrections.
STATS
Str - A few points so that you can wear some armor. Not alot though.
Dex - None
Vit - Most of your points should be here
Energy - I wouldn't recommend putting many points into this stat. Once you get your summons up and going you really don't need energy. The curses and bone spells you will be using usually don't cost enough to suck your mana pool down. If you feel that your mana pool isn't large enough, go ahead and pump some points into this.
SKILLS
20 Raise Skeleton - Your primary damage dealers.
20 Raise Skeletal Mage - While not huge damage dealers, these help in bottlenecked areas as well as help keeping that sneaky monster from eating you from behind since they usually hang behind the group with you.
20 Skeleton Mastery - Hopefully no explanation needed.
15 Clay golem - Your primary tank for the bosses. Although you could probably get by putting less points here, I like to have a very strong clay golem.
15 Golem Mastery - Again, hopefully no explanation needed.
1 Summon resist - Skeletons need resists too!
1 Amplify Damage - Extra damage = good
1 Weaken - Hardly use it, but is a prerequisite for decrepify
1 Terror - Same
1 Decrepify - This + clay golem = non-moving non-damaging boss
This leaves you with 10+ skill points to put in whatever you would like. I recommend at least one into corpse explosion(and teeth) and revive.
MERC
Use prayer(act 2 combat) until you get to act 2 in nm, then switch to a might(offensive) merc.
GENERAL STRAT
As should be pretty obvious, this build relies mainly on the physical damage of the skeletons. If my calculations are correct(which could possibly be a big if) my skeletons do ~250 damage. With my merc's aura that damage goes to ~500. Add in amplify damage and that goes to ~1000. That, plus amplify damage removes physical immunities from bad guys.
Keep in mind, sometimes amplify will not remove the physical immunity. This is where your mages, revives, and, if you decide to use it, corpse explosion come into play.
The main focus of this build(for bosses at least), besides the physical damage from the skeletons, is the clay golem. My clay golem currently has about 14,000 life, and slows mobs by over 60%. So when you meet that big bad boss, cast your clay golem beside it and hit him with decrepify. He will be so slow that he can hardly move. After your minions finish off his little buddies, they'll be happy to smack around the boss while he's whacking(or trying to) the golem.
So far I'm about halfway through act 4 hell and I'm really satisfied with this build. You will be slow in Arcane Sanctuary and Maggot Lair is a pain in the ***, but otherwise you should easily be able to take anything that comes your way.
I understand that this build or one very similar may have already been posted. I looked, but didn't see one. If there is one, feel free to get out the hickory stick. Otherwise, let me know what you think!
This is my first attempt(note the word attempt) at writing a guide. Bear with me please, and feel free to add advice, or more likely, corrections.
STATS
Str - A few points so that you can wear some armor. Not alot though.
Dex - None
Vit - Most of your points should be here
Energy - I wouldn't recommend putting many points into this stat. Once you get your summons up and going you really don't need energy. The curses and bone spells you will be using usually don't cost enough to suck your mana pool down. If you feel that your mana pool isn't large enough, go ahead and pump some points into this.
SKILLS
20 Raise Skeleton - Your primary damage dealers.
20 Raise Skeletal Mage - While not huge damage dealers, these help in bottlenecked areas as well as help keeping that sneaky monster from eating you from behind since they usually hang behind the group with you.
20 Skeleton Mastery - Hopefully no explanation needed.
15 Clay golem - Your primary tank for the bosses. Although you could probably get by putting less points here, I like to have a very strong clay golem.
15 Golem Mastery - Again, hopefully no explanation needed.
1 Summon resist - Skeletons need resists too!
1 Amplify Damage - Extra damage = good
1 Weaken - Hardly use it, but is a prerequisite for decrepify
1 Terror - Same
1 Decrepify - This + clay golem = non-moving non-damaging boss
This leaves you with 10+ skill points to put in whatever you would like. I recommend at least one into corpse explosion(and teeth) and revive.
MERC
Use prayer(act 2 combat) until you get to act 2 in nm, then switch to a might(offensive) merc.
GENERAL STRAT
As should be pretty obvious, this build relies mainly on the physical damage of the skeletons. If my calculations are correct(which could possibly be a big if) my skeletons do ~250 damage. With my merc's aura that damage goes to ~500. Add in amplify damage and that goes to ~1000. That, plus amplify damage removes physical immunities from bad guys.
Keep in mind, sometimes amplify will not remove the physical immunity. This is where your mages, revives, and, if you decide to use it, corpse explosion come into play.
The main focus of this build(for bosses at least), besides the physical damage from the skeletons, is the clay golem. My clay golem currently has about 14,000 life, and slows mobs by over 60%. So when you meet that big bad boss, cast your clay golem beside it and hit him with decrepify. He will be so slow that he can hardly move. After your minions finish off his little buddies, they'll be happy to smack around the boss while he's whacking(or trying to) the golem.
So far I'm about halfway through act 4 hell and I'm really satisfied with this build. You will be slow in Arcane Sanctuary and Maggot Lair is a pain in the ***, but otherwise you should easily be able to take anything that comes your way.
I understand that this build or one very similar may have already been posted. I looked, but didn't see one. If there is one, feel free to get out the hickory stick. Otherwise, let me know what you think!