Flaming_Newbie's Necro Summoner Guide

[ZConnor]

Originally posted by Weeeman02
summon resist worth putting more than one into?

Absolutely. IMO, it's necessary. I hate losing skellies, so it's worth point.

I didn't see anything regarding CE. My Summancer has maxed warriors, and only one to mage [to get to revive]. I don't believe the mages are worth anything, especially in hell. AMP reduces the immune to phys so your skel warriors can beat them down.

I prefer to use CE to help clear massive clumps.

Otherwise, I love the guide. The summonancer is such an underutilized char in the game. I rarely see them anymore.

ZConnor

EDIT: I just re-read your guide, I did see a reference to CE. I put many points in mine to get a larger radius. Really helps.

As for Golems, I use the Clay to slow down the enemies. He's got like 8K life so he just doesn't die.

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

actually, on my char, all my skellys have 65 resists. i think i have like lvl 22 summon resits with all my gear and i put one point into it as for the golem, you really don't need him cuase you have about 30+ tanks with you.

@ drax- revives are over rated in my opionion, the only ones that are worth anything are the black souls and possibly the skelly archers. I depend on your gear weather you put more into revive or not. But its hard to keep more than 20 revives alive at a time, due to thier time limit.

 

[drax]

Well, I'm probably gonna be doing pit runs to mf, but until then I'll only be using what I find. So, I might have 1 or 2 +skills. I was wondering if I should get a few revives (long distance ones)?

And, how do I kill the first guy to get a skeleton? Confuse? Attract?

 

[BlueCheeseKilla]

i got a .0044500512266001 k modem, BEAT THAT!

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

your merc/golem should take care of that for you. If not you can use the "dead bodies" at the red portal to pindle. You can summon skellys right out of them

and yes you should get more into revive if you are gonna only have 2-3+ skills

 

[drax]

Okay, thanks. I probably won't have a good merc, because whenever I try to get one it always dies and I run out of money to revive him...

Meh, attract would work okay for killing the first guy.

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

id go for confuse.. you save a skill point ^_^

 

[ZConnor]

Originally posted by drax
Well, I'm probably gonna be doing pit runs to mf, but until then I'll only be using what I find. So, I might have 1 or 2 +skills. I was wondering if I should get a few revives (long distance ones)?

And, how do I kill the first guy to get a skeleton? Confuse? Attract?

I use a Might merc with a dual amn bonehew. Go to cold plains and collect your skellies. Then WP to where you want to go.

Simple and fast.

ZConnor

 

[PUMPKINHEAD]

i prefer using bone spear instead mages(i find them weak), instead of putting 20 on mages, i spent on bspear and bspirit. with marrow walks, you get lots of bonus dmg(remember you shouldn't put any on bone prison). and it would be good idea to use "beast" =]

p.s summon nec is super cool char! you must have one :sly

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

beast is a waste of space where you could be using for +skills. Just using Leorics arm will do MORE damage than using a beat will.

 

[drax]

Even if you don't "need" mages, you can still get them and have many points leftover. Meh, they're more of a support thing, like the cold mages for freezing and poison for racking up damage.

And even with the mages you can still max bone spear/spirit, by only taking a few points off of mages. And when I said to use attract to kill the first guy I meant confuse because you can use it on more guy at once, and you need less points, lol.

Also, pit runs are the best place to mf right? I heard that the monsters there are the same level as minions or something like that, so they have the same tendency to drop elites and stuff as act5 monsters, right?

 

[killa_concept]

yo guys wonderin....why i dont see fregin summon necros with a bramble? u can find really cheap with bad Posion % but high throrns (they go for nearly nothing). damn that would ****in own

 

[VI-Herald]

your merc would be using it already ^^

 

[c9h13no3]

Wasn't really a fan of dumping 20 points into skell mages when they don't synergize with the rest of your attacks. You'll be using amp damage as your primary curse, and that doesn't really mix well with mages, since they need lower resist. I'd put more points into revive. And how does this build fare against bosses?

I also don't understand the use of other curses. I've always put at least 1 point in Dim Vision, Life Tap, and Lower Resist, as they can prove invaluable, and are excellent with just 1 point.

Trangs = nt

And lastly, max block = no. You're a summoner. If anyone gets within' physical range, you suck ass.

Mebbe it's just because necros were my favorite characters, but I really don't see how this is sticky worthy.

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

Wasn't really a fan of dumping 20 points into skell mages when they don't synergize with the rest of your attacks. You'll be using amp damage as your primary curse, and that doesn't really mix well with mages, since they need lower resist. I'd put more points into revive. And how does this build fare against bosses?

I also don't understand the use of other curses. I've always put at least 1 point in Dim Vision, Life Tap, and Lower Resist, as they can prove invaluable, and are excellent with just 1 point.

Trangs = nt

And lastly, max block = no. You're a summoner. If anyone gets within' physical range, you suck ass.

Mebbe it's just because necros were my favorite characters, but I really don't see how this is sticky worthy.

ok first of all, mages are not the main damage skill, skellys are. And when you have 10+ skellys doing over 700 damage each with diffrent elemenets, it adds up. And i guess you didn't know about how much lag revives make. This build can own hell baal with ease

IF you had read my guide, i stated in it that you could use your remaining points in the other curses.

Trangs is fun to use and you still have decent damage. Whats more fun that being the undead overlord of your minions .

max block = yes. Without enigma you have to kinda lead your skellys around and its ez to get in the way of melee monsters. If you have an enigma and plan on teleporting into crowds, max block means you will survive

and just because i don't have 2k+ posts doesn't mean it isn't worth a sticky
and if this guide isn't sticky worthy.. make your own guide

 

[c9h13no3]

ok first of all, mages are not the main damage skill, skellys are. And when you have 10+ skellys doing over 700 damage each with diffrent elemenets, it adds up.

Yes, it adds up, but why not dump points into something that synergizes with your main curse, rather than something that spawns cold damage, corpse shattering critters?

IF you had read my guide, i stated in it that you could use your remaining points in the other curses.

And I considered it more than an afterthought. 1 point wonders aren't added "if you have spare points left".

Trangs is fun to use and you still have decent damage. Whats more fun that being the undead overlord of your minions .

Having better stats?

max block = yes. Without enigma you have to kinda lead your skellys around and its ez to get in the way of melee monsters. If you have an enigma and plan on teleporting into crowds, max block means you will survive

Or you could learn how to play a necro, use your tanks for what they're supposed to be used for (tanking), and save the 100 odd points in dex? See my original post about how you suck ass if you get within' melee range.

and just because i don't have 2k+ posts doesn't mean it isn't worth a sticky
and if this guide isn't sticky worthy.. make your own guide

Posts have nothing to do with it. Good information makes a guide, not post count. And I would make my own guide, but I haven't the interest in the game to even play it anymore, so why should I write up a guide?

 

[Jason]

c9: I stuck it at the time I did because we needed guides stuck bad and everyone seemed to like the guide. Sure your ideas for it make it better, but if it'll still do good in hell it's worth a sticky. If anything he should revise it and I'll update the sticky.

 

[c9h13no3]

If anything he should revise it and I'll update the sticky.

That's mainly what I was looking for. People come here for advice. Why give them mediocre advice? Because we're a mediocre forum full of mediocre D2 players?

 

[Jason]

Well..yes. Haha..

Nah..if he revises it I'll update it. Gotta get him to revise it though.

 

[Flaming_Newbie]

Flaming_Newbie's Summoner Guide

Before I begin, if you think that decripfy is better than amp on crowds... get out. Because of its TINY radius and short duration, you be constantly casting it instead of doing other things (i.e. not dieing). Also, decripfy only lowers moster's physical resits by 50% and amp lowers physical resits by 100%. And as for slowing monsters… you really don’t need it, your skellys can stay alive for a long time.

Also a note on lag: Summoners don't lag as much as people think, revives are the major source of lag. In the previous patches, because skellys generally sucked, most summoners use revives as their main summon. Now with 40+ revives running around THAT will create some lag. So keep in mind to keep your revives to a minimum.

Skill Distribution

Skeleton Mastery: 20
This skill is your hidden helper. It improves the damage of your skellys, magi, and revives.

Raise Skeleton: 20
This is your main damage dealing skill. Skellys own in all difficulty levels unlike in 1.09, they hit often and kill fast, and stay alive.

Raise Skeletal Mage: 20
These are a ranged version of the skelly. When they are summoned they randomly get (you can't choose) 1 of 4 elements that they shoot: fire, cold, lightning, and posion. These babys can spit out some serious damage at high lvls so it’s worth it.

Everything else in the Summon tab: 1
Yes, I know your thinking, "1?!? wtf, you don't max revives or a even a GOLEM?!?!". Yes that’s right, because your main damage dealing skill is skellys so you don't really need to max a golem. As for revives, its hard to keep alive more than 20 revives at a time because they have a little over a 2 minute time limit before they die. And as I mentioned before, revives cause lots of lag.

Amplify Damage: 1
This will help out your skellys by DOUBLING the physical damage the monsters take.

Bone Armor: 1
Even with one skill point, this can mean the difference between dieing and living.

Corpse Explosion: 1
This is the ultimate crowd control skill. Very useful if you wanna help your summons along.

Total points: 72

Now... wondering what to do with the rest of your points? Here you have several options. 1) you can max out bone spear/spirit to do some damage while your summons fight. 2)max bone armors senergies (the senergies give more abosrb that the skill itself lol) 3) get some more curses (confusion comes to mind) 4) or max a golem (useless in my opinion, but hey its your char)

Stat Distribution

Strength: varies
Depending on your equipment you may need more or less strength. Just remember, don’t pump ur your strength at lvl 61 to wear trang belt when you have enigma in stash waiting for you at lvl 65.

Dexterity: none, 75, or max block
With dex you can do 3 things. You can leave it at base, which will be bad for blocking but more for life. You can put into dex till 75 with gear bonuses in case you plan on using wiz spike to teleport. Or you can go for max block to keep those attacks from even reaching your health. I suggest leaving it at base to leave more for vit.

Vitality: the rest
Put your points here. This will keep you from dieing. Kinda makes sense, don’t it?

Energy: 60 or none
Here you can put points into it or if you don’t want to you don’t have to. Just keep in mind that at high levels, skellys cost 50 mana EACH to summon. And you use Teleport it can also drain your mana orb very fast.

Mercenary ]

Your merc is a very important part of this build. Of course the one you should get is the might merc, the offensive merc in Act 2 Nightmare.

Gear for your merc:
Helmet: Guilliaume’s Face, Orphans set (good for crushing blow) or Perf eth gaze
Armor: Bramble (your summons get thorns) or Duriel’s shell (can’t be frozen, resists) or Perf Eth Shaft
Weapon: Eth Bonehew with 2xAmn runes
DON’T use doom, this really helps in shattering monsters which is bad for summoners.

The Gear
Im gonna organize this in 3 gear sets, poor, rich, and trang. I wouldn’t recommend using trang because there is a bug with the cast speed so it’s VERY slow with casting (not that you really need a fast cast rate). Trang is just a fun way to play this build.

Poor
Helmet: Shako (socket with um)
Armor: Skin of the Viper Magi
Belt: Glooms Trap
Gloves: Trang gloves
Boots: Silkweave
Amulet: +1 to all skills
Rings: 2xSOJ
Shield: Homunculus
Wand: Arm of King Leoric

Rich
Helemet: +3 summoning skills with life/resits/fhr (socket with um)
Armor: Enigma
Belt: Trangs belt
Gloves: Trang gloves
Boots: Marrow Walks
Amulet: Maras or +3 to summon skills amulet.
Rings: 2xSOJ or 2xBK ring
Shield: Homunculus (socket with um)
Weapon: Arm of King Leoric*
Weapon II: CTA+ Lidless
Inventory: 10xsummon gcs with FHR or life, and small charms with fhr/life/resists and Anni

**NOTE** Im sure someone will say “WTF?!? King Leoric suxOrz! Hoto iz pwnzOr!!†Well its not. Just look at the wand, you get total, +5 to skelly mastery +5 to raise skelly and +4 to magi. THESE are your main damage dealing skills, so +3 to all skills won’t make a difference (it will actually make you cause LESS damage). But it is good to have a hoto in the stash for those situations when high resist is needed.

Trang
Full Trang Set
Weapon: Arm of King Leoric
Boots: Marrow Walks
Amulet: Maras or +3 to summon skills amulet.
Rings: 2xSOJ or 2xBK ring
Inventory: 10xsummon gcs with FHR or life, and small charms with fhr/life/resists and Anni

Strategy

A summoner can solo ANY part of the game with just his minions. Even the bosses are no match for him. This is strictly a PvM build. If you try to duel with this, you WILL be pwned VERY fast. Also, NEVER EVER EVER go into the Arcane Sanctuary or the Maggot Lair. You will die fast.

Remember, revives cause lag so keep them at a low number. And if your gonna revives something make sure its ranged and not melee. If you revives lots of melee monsters they will just get in the way of your skellys, and your skellys do the most damage.

Non-Teleporting Strategy
With your army, walk toward a group of enemies. When the skellys start to attack the monsters, cast amp to cover every single monster. Summon new monsters as needed. Rinse and repeat!
For a boss get as many revives as you can. you need to walk toward him and right past them until your skellys reach the boss. As they are fighting, cast amp and watch him die.

Teleporting Strategy
DON’T teleport into crowds of enemies. This will mean certain death for you. Teleport to the side of a crowd and let your skellys attack. While they keep the monsters busy, cast amp and resummon as necessary.
For a boss get many revives. After this just teleport ON the boss and walk out of his reach. Cast amp. He will die in no time.

**NOTE** When you use “big†revives (i.e. venom lords or gargantum beasts) and teleport, your skellys will get “stuck†inside the monster. They won’t budge and will stay clumped in one spot. The can be useful for boss fights and when you are dealing with a small amount of monsters.


This is just a general guide to making a summoner, there are many things you can change about this and still make a great char.

UPDATED 9/8/04

I haven't the interest in the game to even play it anymore

and you should be giving advice to someone who is actually playing the game? :rolleyes