Necromancer/skeleton

[joe05]

WEll, I'm back :-) ... completed the Barbarian
Now I'm going to try the Necromancer.
I've decided to go with a Raise Skeleton(5pts ?)/Skeleton Mastery(20pts); Skeleton Mage(5pts ?) setup.
Also like Amplify Damage; Dim Vision; Confuse ... not sure on the points or when to use them but they look useful
Then if I make it to Revive; put 20pts there.
This is my outline after looking over the manual + reviewing the skill tree.
Going to put most points into Vitality + Energy ... some in strength for armor/shield
Iron Maiden and Lower Resist also look useful ?

So, am I on a good path ?
I chose this because I'm physically disabled with limited manual dexterity = I use two hands on the mouse ... if I need to use the keyboard, I have a pen in my left hand to hit the key = so having to hold down shift to cast spells will be harder than melee

I can see the difficulty here will be the first few kills to raise my skeleton army !
So, my questions are......>
1) how best to get those first kills ... what weapon etc ... do I go the charms(... damage bonuses)/wand route OR is there a better melee weapon setup ... NO BOW for me
2) when I do get my merc, what's the beter option; melee or bow ... I know not to go with cold, because the creatures turn into ice cubes and I guess there is no corpse :-)

*** My normal attack should be ...wepon or curse/spell?
*** My special attack will be Raise Skeleton.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks to everyone for the Leap/Barbarian posts = I really enjoyed the ride(...I saved my character in Nightmare)

After the Barbarian adventure, I can see this will be tough :-(

[GA_Havoc]

Ok, if you're going for summons I advise getting some 'summon resist' (prerequisite skills are 'clay golem' and 'golem mastery') because this will (especially at the first few points) greatly increase their overall resistance.
Another usefull part about this is you get the clay golem (don't need a corpse) which will be of great value in the lower levels.
Before setting out to max 'revive' I urge you to experiment with it: If you can't keep more then 6 revived to follow you and stay alive then you won't have use for a higher level in revive (revived can get 'lost' when stuck behind walls while you move on).
To increase your army, points in 'raise skeleton' and 'skeletal mage' can help, but if you don't take them to a high level then they will be to weak to keep up.
Also, plenty of points in 'skeleton mastery' will make your skeletons and revived stronger and healthier.
Understand that summons take increased levels of damage against bosses, so make sure that you can keep raising them.

About the curses, I wouldn't go for 'confuse' or 'dim vision', they have nice enough effects but will not affect bosses so with that in mind it would seem a bit of a waste in skillpoints.
When you bet heavy on skeletal mage/firegolem and/or elemental- based revived then a point in 'lower resist' is very usefull.
'Iron maiden' will not be usefull against enemy ranged/spellcasters, but will work great against melee opponents, this will also increase damage reveived for bosses when they bash your minions and hurt themselves in the process.
On a sidenote: Putting lot's of points in 'Iron golem' will also increase your chance against bosses, because it has it's own version of iron maiden that will combine with the curse.
Decripify is very good, enemy movementspeed/physical resistance and damage reduced, it's only drawback is a short duration.
Lifetap also works nice since it makes your minions last longer.
Don't put a point in all usefull curses, you can't use them at the same time .

One last thing, if you do decide to go for lot's of skeletal mages then a strong boneprison works great, it keeps the opponents inside while your mages attack from a distance.

Well, lot's of new choises to consider I guess.
Don't worry to much about getting started, you'll start the game with a wand that adds one point in raise skeleton.
For your choise of merc, I strongly recommend using an act II merc, they provide an aura that will do one of the following things for your minions depending on what difficulty you hire them from:
Normal difficulty: Defensive- Defiance aura will raise armor.
Offensive- Blessed aim aura will increase melee/missile accuracy.
Combat- Prayer aura will cause hp-regeneration (not so effective in high levels).
Nightmare diff.: Def- Holy Freeze aura, you already chose not to use it (seems like a wise choise to me )
Off- Might aura will increase melee damage.
Com- Thorns aura will do the same as iron maiden.
Hell diff.: Def- Defiance aura
Off- Blessed aim
Com- Prayer aura

[moltovir]

Your answers, and many more, in Moltovirs guide to the summoner

A couple of notes:
- Don't max Revive. It's a waste of skill points. Revives dont deal damage, they're just their to catch blows and divert the enemy. Even Hell Blood Lords only do 100-200 damage per swing. Even 1 point is enough if you have enough skill adders.
- Put 1 point in all curses. You really want them available when you need to.
- Put at least 10 points in Dim Vision.
- Since 1.10 Iron Maiden is the most useless curse on the tree. Never use it.
- 1 point in each golem is more than enough. Your skeletons + amplify damage do more damage to bosses than IG + IM will ever be able to.
- If you have at least +5 skills, 1 point Summon Resist is also enough.
- Decrip is good against very strong bosses and especially Act Bosses. On normal monsters, Amplify Damage is much more effective.
- Don't invest too much in Mages early on. Max Raise Skeleton and Skeleton Mastery first and put enough points in Dim Vision, Corpse Explosion and the 1-point wonders before pumping Mages. When you summon Mages, un- and resummon them until you've got at most 1 Poison Mage (to stop regeneration). Poison Mages will do only 5 damage per second at high levels.
- Keep your level close enough to the area level of the area you're in and pick an Act II Might merc (see the guide for more info about area levels). Whatever you do, don't pick Defiance, Thorns or Prayer. Act II Mercs are best because they share their aura with your whole army.
- Put absolutely nothing in Energy. Every point in Energy is a wasted point. Most of your points should go in Vitality. Put enough in Strength and Dexterity for your equipment. Maxed blocking is good, but more life is preferred because those rare times you'll be hit, you'll be hit by unblockable elemental damage (like Gloams or Vipers).
- Keep those resistances high.
- Use your gear slots to enhance your skeletons (+ skills wands). Don't put melee weapons in your slots. A necromancer is not a melee character.
- To get skeletons, simply go to the Act I Cold Plains waypoint and let your mercenary kill some Fallen. If you reach Act 5, you can enter the red portal next to Anya and use the corpses there to quickly raise your skeletons (the corpses will rise and attack you after a while).
- Always keep Curses on your right mousebutton. Use hotkeys to quickly swap between Dim Vision and Amplify Damage. Use Amp Dam even if you have mages in your army. Personally I never use my left mousebutton when playing my Summoner.

Note: this is not "The" guide, just my point of view

[GA_Havoc]

Wow, talking about confusing posts, I guess that for those points Moltovir and I don't agree on your just gonna have to follow your own instincts. Having seen many necromancers on the net I know that there are many versions that work, have fun experimenting.

[joe05]

Wow; thanks guys.
Yes, not everyone uses the same setups :-)
No problem = more options mean more fun creating ... if I mess up, I'll start over
I appreciate all the time you guys took to write those posts.
I jotted down notes and will copy/paste both to use as a reference.
This is the only board I use = members like you guys are "priceless" for us newbies
We'll see how I do = maybe I'll level monger a bit and add a few more points to spread around
I did notice all those "wands" ... buying them as I get cash; even if I'm not at that level ... so many modifiers
Again; thanks for "all" the info ... will digest what I can and hopefully choose a successful setup

[moltovir]

The great thing about the Summoner is that he's versatile. Apart from the standard 20/20 in Raise Skeleton/Skeleton Mastery, you can go every way you want. GA_Havoc and me are not necessarily disagreeing, just giving you different approaches to the build.

[joe05]

Havoc/Moltovir - I see what you both are saying and spent most of last night trying to 'fit" the skill points in the proper slots :-) ... more trying cyphering than playing :-(
So, I practiced a bit and still am not yet to Blood Raven :-)

Some questions = I can't get the skill points to fit; so, I have to reconfigure my allocation or do without some skills.

I did read Moltovirs "Summoner" link ... how convienent :-)

I had a little trouble with Dim Vision/Amp Dam = do I hold down SHIFT + R-Click ... or R-Click on the area of fight ? ... seems my character would move forward or the affect would only spray just in front of me ? ... when using keyboard and mouse, my aim tend to wander :-( ... do I need to be right behind my skels

As for the skills and point distribution, I can't get the points to fit.
Could you guys give me "your" breakdown per level of my character.
I noticed the large number in Dim Vision and Corpse Explosion in Molovirs guide = obviously for higher levels ?
I'd like to incorporate both, not sure how to progress in both.

*** Basically, what skill distribution should I be aiming for to get through "Normal" mode(... I'll start to expand once ; well, hopefully if I get to Nightmare).
At Level 10; 20; 30; 40 etc ........> what should skills(..points in each) look like ?

I understand you both have differing opinions = maybe I can split the difference or see one that might work better with my physica limitations on keyboard/mouse.

As of now, I've been using "Teeth" at lvl3(..2 from wand skill add) to kill that first creature then raising corpses from my skel ... but I know Teeth 3 won't do the trick much further .. guessing time to then find a Clay Golem/Golem Mastey wand or put points there ?

Anyways, I could use some specific "Normal" mode skill point distribution guidance :-)
I'm lost and don't want to waste points + killing over and over in the Stony Field is getting a little boring .. though I did pick up cash of 60,000/inventory full of gems/yellow-gold equipment

Oh, and as for charms etc = I see where i have no attack rating
Guess that means damage charms/jewelery(fire/lightning/poison/cold) and attack rating charms/jewelery are useless for a Necromancer = my attack power comes from my Raise Skel + Skel Mastery distribution.
Am I correct.

Thanks guys ... appreciate your time and patience