Skeletons always taking on the bosses

[Mongun]

Skeletons always taking on the bosses

Hello again to these forums! After a long absence to diablo (uncannily close to a year) I've decided to play again, and as fate and the new patch would have it, with a fishymancer. Apparently it's one of those classes that plays well, even untwinked, and my lvl 75 necro can account to that, being in Act 2 hell right now.

The problem I have started encountering as a slowing factor is that my skeletons keep taking on the boss of a boss pack and ignoring the minions untill he (or my skellies :shocked: ) are dead. This stops me from using CE to kill quickly. Since I'm untwinked, the old accounts being gone, I decided to keep my Act 1 merc, as I figured I'd never keep an Act 2 merc alive, and give her that thorns aura runeword (which I don't have yet ^^). She doesn't do that much damage and crushing blow damage is limited. I've tried divide and conquer tactics which work rather poorly due to sluggish minions, terror, attract and IM, nothing really does so well.
So my question is, does anyone else encounter that problem, and if so what can I do to get around it?


And while I'm at it, Andariel slaughtered my skellies and revives with big poison and then a quick jab. Any pointers on that? Urdars obviously will go well, but for the moment there aren't any around. I've picked up a 4 socket crystal sword, and once I find a Guillaume's Face or something like that put some eths in that and whack the boss myself. I don't think that's a very healthy thing to do, but apparently one of my few choices .

So far I have +3 all skills, max RS SM CE and am working on the mages. I also have a teleport ammy, if some strategy that's gonna be suggested involves stacking my minions on something :smiley:, so far that worked well for act bosses.

Thank you for any pointers :flowers:

 

[AnimeCraze]

Get an act 2 might merc with an insight stick if you are playing ladder. Bills drop often enough and gets 4 sock from Larzuk (if they drop from late nm or hell). Cheap, easy to make (well, maybe a little harder than Edge, since it requires a Sol), and does decent damage. It also gives you infinite mana. The armor and helm should be anything that have leech in it, even vendor shopped ones. I don't think the merc die that often with a summoner, so you should be able to get by with that. It increases your skele's damage significantly that it will help a lot.

Also, shop for a +3 RS wand or better yet, a +3 summon wand.

 

[maxusmag]

this is odd and there is something wrong.

i have a necro that can run the whole game with little nor no problem. (some issues in act 2 in the maggot lair ) however i summon 13 skeletons and them with my merc can kill hell baal with no issue and i do not lose 1 skeleton.

so there is something wrong that you are not telling us.

i also am a poison hybrid. my only summon skills are
max skeletons (main tank)
max SM i consider a must
1 point in golem
i have several points in summon resist this helps out a whole lot.

i have i think 1 or 2 points in revives

the rest is in the poisen tree with a points for amp damage, CE, and lower resist.

you should have have any problems with your skeletons getting killed off.

Iron madian from OB knights can kill them quite quickly (like everything else) but you should be good to go.

 

[kaervek]

this is odd and there is something wrong.

i have a necro that can run the whole game with little nor no problem. (some issues in act 2 in the maggot lair ) however i summon 13 skeletons and them with my merc can kill hell baal with no issue and i do not lose 1 skeleton.

so there is something wrong that you are not telling us.

i also am a poison hybrid. my only summon skills are
max skeletons (main tank)
max SM i consider a must
1 point in golem
i have several points in summon resist this helps out a whole lot.

i have i think 1 or 2 points in revives

the rest is in the poisen tree with a points for amp damage, CE, and lower resist.

you should have have any problems with your skeletons getting killed off.

Iron madian from OB knights can kill them quite quickly (like everything else) but you should be good to go.

No he said exactly what he needed to. He has +3 all skills. This is the problem. You have about +13 skills, thats why your not experiencing the same problems. Your skeletons deal ~390 dmg each while his do ~170 and he has less.

The easiest solution is to get more +skill gear. AoKL is the biggest gain point, then gambling a +2/3 summon circlet and amulet if you can't get hold of shako and homuculus. A cheap necro torch shouldnt be too far out or your grasp either. Trang armor for some pgems and your away laughing.

 

[Mongun]

Thank you for the answers, I figured that +skills might be the way to go. I'd given up some killing power for mf in nightmare but that doesn't work anymore. I do have Ume's Lament which I was lucky enough to find, so I guess it's back to gambling for nice ammys and ditching rhyme for Pdiamond Sigon's.
Do you think I should completely give up on the thorns aura idea? Is it not powerful enough?

And the main question (in my mind) still remains though, do the skellies always take on the boss of a pack first? Is that a feature/bug or just coincidence?

 

[Eilo Rytyj]

Definately give up on the Thorns idea. Do what everyone else does with their Summoner - Might merc all the way. That will shoot your current skeleton damage from around 170 to about 300 per hit, which is enough to get you going in Hell (albeit a little slow).

+skills are definately the way to go to start with, keep an eye on all Necro-only Heads, to see what skills they have on them. I was using a plain Gargoyle Head with +3 to Skeleton Mastery that I found in the normal Tombs right up to level 74 or so.

A "Lore" runeword in a 2 socket helm is great for what you need. It's just Ort+Sol.

Currently I use a +3 Summoning Skill +71 Life amulet, and I wouldn't trade it in for Mara's any day. Either start gambling away on Amulets, or pick up and ID every blue ammy that drops. Failing that, a few Pgems could pick you up such an ammy. +Summoning Skills is where it's at.

 

[Mongun]

Thank you for the confirmation on that might merc, I figure that with some smart cursing and a big army he does have a better survival chance than anywhere else.

I was using a +2 RS head until I found Sigon, to me it seems more useful as it raises SM, Mages and revives as well and makes my curses a bit better, since they're all at one. Plus I went for blocking so that helps a bit as well.

I'm not sure about trading prices, but I'd rather get a peasant's crown or wormskull and use the sol in Insight, since I haven't even found one yet.

 

[kaervek]

What realm do you play on?

 

[Zarniwoop]

That problem with the bosses will never go away. The key is to have enough skellies and mages that some have to get on other mobs.

Your entire problem consists of having a useless merc instead of an Act 2 nightmare Offensive merc (might).

That changes everything.

That said, I myself just started over untwinked. And while it IS possible with no outside help, don't believe the people that tell you the game is a joke with a fishymancer and no twinking. It's not. Until you have reasonable +summoning skill items you have to pay attention. You just have to pay less attention than with any other build. It is the least gear-dependant build if your only goal is to finish the game just for fun with living off the land.

 

[AnimeCraze]

With some contress running and gambling, I can get about +8 summon skills rather quickly. Then it becomes a lot easier. The only problem is the very crappy resist that you have will get you killed by souls.

 

[deademon]

what r u guys talking about...the problem with bosses never goes away :flip: decrep + clay golem = gg all bosses...it makes baal crawl slower than a baby and u just let ur skellies own them...i would suggest pride...for ur merc...kinda like putting 2 forts on ur skellies...mine do something like 2k each...but if u can afford that then its cool

 

[Mongun]

Well actually so far my experience with bosses is that, despite the lack of might aura, my skellies and revives, especially Urdars, do very well. I don't usually lose more than one or two, and gumby and decrep is indeed very nice, especially since my merc also does cold arrow. But hell is a different thing, but as suggested I guess that with a bit higher level skeletons, and a might aura, they might live longer, plus that'll be a few more revives and mages as well.
I might see tomorrow how Duriel goes.

Gloams will definitely be a problem, they already hurt in NM but that's not for another 2 acts.

Pride is definitely out of my price range. The Shael for Rhyme was a lucky drop already! And I play on Europe SC ladder.

 

[GotFriana]

Once you reach hell I think there is an item you should have: Homunculus. Socket it at Larzuk's and put a Pdiamond in it, that will solve many of your problems at once, it ll give you very good resists, high block and +skills. Next is Trang's set armor, dirt cheap and excellent mods for a summoner. Finally give your necro a AoKL wand but if you dont use teleport often just use it to summon and then switch to a magic +3 summon or +2 all skills wand bought at Akara's. In fact you dont even need AoKL ot finish the game.
For this pick up every flawless gem you see either in Nm or while you are questing in hell and once you have enough just trade them for the items or runes (Lem, Pul) to get you your gear. Since defense is not a big issue for summoners you can also trade Pul for a low shako.
And as others said before change your act1 merc for an offensive act2 one hired in NM difficulty, he will most of the time give you the first kills and his aura will greatly increase the dmg of your skellies.

Edit: the thorns aura or IM wont work well in Hell difficulty the monsters will simply not kill themselves. I dont often have the problem you encountered with the unique bosses and if a pack is too strong I do use Atract but dont cast it on the boss it wont work, cast it in 1 minion, this will not make your skellies switch their target but it ll make the rest of the minions turn against their old fellow leaving your skellies alone with the boss.
If you are decided to keep your act1 merc then I think the best possible rune word you could give her is a Faith bow (but it is expensive so may not be an option for the time being) the fanatism aura will also help your skellies damage and she will do some considerable damage by herself. But I still believe the act2 merc will do better.

 

[Zarniwoop]

The secret to hell gloams and other ranged hideous damage mobs is Dim Vision or Attract. I dont trust attract on mobs I cannot see yet. But one cast of a high skill dim vision and I just stroll in and mop the place up.

The secret to OKS, is to get a body as FAST as you can and burn it all down with CE before you lose more than a few skellies. Kiss your merc goodbye on oks.

An enigma changes the game for a fishy. Dumping your skellies where you want them is priceless.

Get together 40 pegems and a pul and grab a BP or MP enigma. Get about 10 pgems and get an arm of king leoric.

Use a lem to find a homunc from the right seller (I found an eth one for 2pgems - I rarely get hit so that works).

Get a +3 summoning skills ammy from anyone for a few pgems.

That is a great start.

 

[HYKO]

I have recently discovered how to safe your merc with OKs. Get big revives, as you tele around they overlap and stick together and don't do anything until you move. For some reason your merc won't attack once this mode has been activated. Now i can run Chaos no problem, tried afew times and my merc has not died yet. They also tend to "block" the IM meaning they take them theirself and not your other minions. Very cool in my view. I can't help thinking it's a shame people dislike necro with full army up. I see him as the best chaoser now as they provide the best protection really but I guess I will enjoy that by myself alone. :azn:

 

[Mongun]

I just went and got a Might Merc, which I was astonished to see being sold at near my level, not the way it used to work before. All the better, and so far, only good results. Better killing speed, therefore more durable skellies. Crown of Thieves and Duriel's Shell make for good defence, and I'm still looking for offense, but clearly Might more than makes up for any damage he "lacks" (2xx-5xx is nothing to sneer at either). All is for the best in the best of worlds, though I haven't yet seen any Act Bosses with him.

I guess that really settled the problem. Thank you everyone for their contribuations. If I ever get rich I might try out a Faith Shadow Bow or something like that :laugh:.

 

[Zarniwoop]

The secret to oks is enigma. If you dump 15000 mobs on an okay its going to evaporate. I was talking for someone that doesn't have access to enigma. =)

Good call on crown of thieves.

Possibly one of the more underrated items out there.

 

[Mongun]

Some things I've noticed about that teleport thing, an expensive sport (7k) for me ^^, is that if you have mages, or ranged attack revives this grouping doesn't stay put. So, not only mustn't you not move, but also not have ranged attackers in your army.

 

[Demonic Angel Rules]

Act 2 might merc will make killing faster and easier. And to make him live a bit longer put 1 point in life tap. Every time his life goes under half life tap what hes attacking and he will get whole life in 1-2 hits. Then amp them agian. Like everyone keeps saying your to low on + skills. You need at least lvl 28 in RS to make them kill at a resnable rate. Thats not to hard if you find a 3+ wand and +1 helm and 2+ shield and a torch would help to get that too. Make Spirit if you cant find a good skull. If it get 35% FCR trade it for something else that you need and make a new one. After you get that you should be good to go.

 

[HYKO]

Some things I've noticed about that teleport thing, an expensive sport (7k) for me ^^, is that if you have mages, or ranged attack revives this grouping doesn't stay put. So, not only mustn't you not move, but also not have ranged attackers in your army.

Only the monsters that "fly" will move out of group, large monsters still keep rest of your minions stack.