Quick question about necros...

[SURESNIPE]

Quick question about necros...

Hey you guys my little brother (13) is starting a necro and I was wondering what necro he should make... he will be solely pvm I looked through the guides and I believe that a bone/summon sounds pretty good but I just wanted to check with the pros... I want him to be able to have nice damage and still be able to survive fairly easy.... any advice? Thanks ahead of time

 

[JayhawkFan]

ive found that a fishymancer (go to necro guides thread) is a very viable build for pvm. bone skills wont do that much damage in hell w/o a lot of +skills. but either way, both a fishy and a bone/summon hybrid are a blast.

 

[BlargX]

Fishy summoner is an excellent starter character. Very survivable with even mediocre gear, and he can wear a lot of gear for little more than resists and magic find, as his army does his fighting for him and he rarely gets hit. So you don't have to be rich or lucky to do well.

He's also very useful as a general utility character, because he can fight anywhere and kill anything. Some characters are specialists at certain things and do them extraordinarily well, but aren't as good elsewhere. Fishy is a solid character wherever you go.

And you can complete the build pretty early. All you really need is 20 in skeleton mastery, raise skeleton, and corpse explosion, plus one in decrepitude and a clay golem. You still get a whole bunch of points left over to play with and individualize your fishy summoner however you like.

 

[Minky]

You are almost 100% correct, BlargX ..

While the Summoner can go everywhere and do well, there are 2 immediate areas that the summoner cannot function at a great capacity: Maggot Lair and Arcane Sanctuary, both in Act 2. With how cramped they are, it's fairly difficult to get his minions all gathered enough to do damage. And with all the twists and turns, he'll end up losing a few here and there as they get left behind.

 

[BlargX]

Yeah I do dislike those places a lot. They are probably worst for a guy who relies on a lot of minions and has very little killing power otherwise. But I'm guessing they suck a bit for most others too.

Those are areas that I imagine must be far easier with enigma or another source of teleport. Not all parts of them, but many. Actually I know they are, or that arcane sanctuary is at least, with my sorceress, who teleports past traffic jams and keeps her merc with her easily throughout Arcane Sanctuary, making that zone incredibly easy compared to my summoner necro.

Luckily except for questing, maggot lair isn't important and it's pretty easy to do without Arcane Sanctuary too.

Summoner necro isn't always ideal, but overall he's a very strong and versatile character.

 

[anilrobo]

Regarding original question:
Fishymancer is my character of choice for playing diablo 2. I have a level 91 Fishymancer in softcore ladder, and another 71 on hardcore ladder currently progressing.

Maggot lair and other tight areas:
I manage all these areas fairly well with some simple maneuvers:
1. Do not use Mages in these areas (they like to block the way)
2. Only one skeleton ahead of you is able to kill in conjunction with amplify damage. Once you get on body, cast Amplify Damage and then spam Corpse Explosion.
3. Notice that not only your skeletons, but also the monsters are lined up, cramped. So they're at a disadvantage as well.
4. I take advantage of the monsters lined up by casting attract on the foremost monster.
5. If your minions get too scattered and lost around the figure-of-8 loops, use a town portal to collect them all. In fact, use town portals more freely in maggot lair than anywhere else, it'll make life a lot more comfortable!

All you need is just one body to explode, and rest is history.