"CRØNîC-KîLLå"
2002-08-29, 09:34 PM
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GUIDE MADE BY:"CRØNîC-KîLLå"
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Ok to start off im going to put this guide blunt. This guide is simple and short, im not going to state the stat placements that lead to the desired skill's wanted in this guide, because it it quite obvious to all you pvp'ers what points to add to get the desired skill's stated in this guide.Necro's can surprisinglly do VERY good in duels, you will notice this once you read my ultimate necro pvp guide This guide will mainlly blow peoples mind apart if they can just imagine what my necro is like.
Class: Necromancer
Attribute Starts Per additional point Each Level Up
Strength 15
Dexterity 25
Vitality 15 + 2 to Life, 1 Stamina
Energy 25 2 Mana
Stamina 79 +1
Life 45 +1.5
Mana 25 +2
Maxxed skills:
(These are the main ones you will need, feel free for your xtra points to be ditributed whereever you wish).
Bone Spirit
Lower Resist
Bone Armor
Items:
(These items are a must, and if you dont have them, or you dont have enough to buy them, dont bother trying to make a pvp necro)
.9 Shako
Shaftstop(socketed with UM or a 15% resist all jewel)
Raven Frost+20 dex(a must!, you will need this to stop freezing from newbcanons, and you will ned the dex)
Stormshield(socketed with -15% req jewel, preferably -15% +10+ resist all jewel)
Thundergods Vigor(you will need this for absorb/str/vit)
Blackhand Key/Wizardspike(i reccomend wiz, because of the faster cast rate, the more the better, the resists will be very good to combat against sorcs, so not only will you have close to near maxxed resists in hell, but you will have 2 absorbs, raven and t gods)
Crafted Ammy(preferably +2 skill 20% faster cast rate +++)
Boots( i recommend some rare boots with duel stats or that have fhr/str/dex/resists their are many elite rare boots out their u can pick up for nothing)
Gloves(use 20% faster cast rate gloves, you will not need mana because of your soj, and your wizardspike)
1 SOJ
Inventory:
40 small 5% faster run/walk charms, yes thats right, seems silly but trust me, speed comes in hand against zons...
Stats:
(im not going to state EXACT points needed but u guys can figure it out)
STRENGTH: enough for stormshield
DEX: MUST GET IT HIGh ENOUGH TO MAKE YOUR BLOCK RATE 75%
VITALITY: LEfT OVER POINTS GO HERE
MANA: BASE, DONT PUT ANY POINTS!!!
So by the time if you bother to make a PvP necro, your necro is a super fast cast necro who pumps bone spirits everywhere and can fly he is so fast. an xtra added feature= allmost full resists in hell and 2 absorb's both cold and lightning, the most commonlly used elemental damage by sorcs.
your necro should initially cast bone spirit faster then a zon shooting at 7 fps... which means you can make WAVES of bone spirits!!!
3-5 bone spirits mixed with lower resist should be able to kill any character in hell.
Wiccan][V][asta
2002-11-28, 06:52 PM
Introduction
This guide is pretty long. It is oriented to players who have played at least one necromancer before, preferably at least to level 30.
This guide discusses stat point placement in a very specific way, skill point placement in a general way, and equipment choices almost not at all.
Many guides will say, "I recommend {a certain amount of} strength to wear Trang-Oul's Avatar set," but since the vast majority of golemancers will never get all the items of the Avatar set I don't account for that. The only item I recommend specifically is a pair of Frostburn gauntlets or possibly a Stone of Jordan ring, primarily for the mana benefit.
As a general guide, necromancers should concentrate on getting resistances from charms, belts, boots, amulets, circlets, rings, and armor. They should try to get extra skills from jewels, wands, totems, circlets, amulets and rings (if they are really lucky). They should try to get faster hit recovery from charms, belts, boots, or armor, and fast run/walk on any item they can. Anything that is plus-to-life or plus-to-mana is potentially useful to necromancers, but often extra resistances are more useful in the long run. The gloves slot should be reserved for Frostburn gauntlets if a necromancer can trade/buy/kill for them.
To succeed at anything (either in the world of Earth or the world of Sanctuary) it is very important to realize your core beliefs, your end goals, and your path along the way. A Golemancer, which is typically defined as a golem-oriented necromancer variant, is no different.
Golemancer:
Core Belief - "My strength in others."
End Goals - "Ascension to ladder status."
Path Along the Way - "Teaming for maximum effectiveness."
The core belief of the golemancer is that he relies on others to be his strength. He will never wield a sword to hew monsters limb from limb, and he will never hurl frozen orbs that mow down everyone in their path. The Golemancer uses his skills and powers to support the killing power of others, primarily the killing power of his summonable golem and his hireling.
The golemancer build is not a good build for player-versus-player matchups, so if your goal for playing a necromancer entails domination of other players in duels then this build is not for you. The golemancer is a good build for players who want to gain high levels ("my goal is to reach clvl80", ex.) and it is an acceptable build for those who want to gather treasure or simply defeat Baal in all three difficulties.
A character built as a golemancer will not be a powerful killer without his minions or his hireling; he will obviously not be an imposing "Dark Knight" or a deadly "Lord of Mages". He will be sure and steady, reliable but unimpressive, just like his golems.
Golemancers will very likely spread their accumulated points through all three trees, but your main investments will be in skills which aid others in destroying your enemy. The name 'golemancer' is actually somewhat misleading, since it might make people think that your golem is your main killing method, but it is not. A Golemancer's main killing method is his curses, which multiply damage from golems and hirelings, and also manipulate the enemy.
If a golemancer is teamed with a bowazon whom does eight hundred and fifty (850) damage per arrow, then in hell difficulty she is only capable of doing 425 due to 50% physical resistance. With the AD curse from the necromancer the arrow does 1275 to monsters, so effectively the bowazon is doing 425 and it is *the curse* that is doing 850 damage more. In that way, you are more powerful than your teammates (golem included), but without teammates the strength of the golemancer rapidly fades away.
Even if a golemancer is soloing with his minions, if a monster hits an Iron Golem for 100 damage but takes damage from the Iron Golems 350% thorns, then the monster will take 350 damage in normal or hell difficulty. If a golemancer were to use an Amplify Damage curse, then the golem's thorns do three hundred and fifty (350) damage and the curse does an additional three hundred and fifty (350). Whatever physical damage a party may do to monsters cursed with the Amplify Damage curse, that curse will at least match their damage, or it will do twice as much damage as their original attack to monsters with 50% physical resistance.
It is not difficult to see that a curse is often the largest damage contributor to a party. Indeed, the damage potential of the curse skills is second only to certain cooperative-aura skills from Paladin characters.
That's enough of the theory behind golemancy. It is enough for a player to know that curses are the power of necromancers in general and golemancers in particular. A golem is just one of many allies that golemancers can use curses to augment.
Attribute Allocation
Necromancers have long seen strength as a wasted stat for their builds. There are endless debates about the advantages of the Silks of the Victor and how much life or mana the extra strength could have become instead. Instead of "retreading an old tire" try looking at the issue from the other side, i.e. what is the minimum amount of strength a necromancer should have?
Forty-seven is the minimum amount of strength that a golemancer will most likely want, since that is the strength required to use a kite shield (which can hold three gems/jewels or have a three-letter rune word).
If one has forty-five strength then he can wear light gauntlets like the Magefist unique light gauntlets. Fifty-five strength is required for mage plate armor, but a golemancer only needs forty-one strength to wear light plate like the unique Heavenly Garb. Sixty strength is enough strength for the unique gauntlets Frostburns, or any other set of non-exceptional, non-elite gloves.
In the past many necromancers decided to invest seventy-five points in strength so they could equip tower shields. (Tower shields have the best block of any shield type, and the Sigon's set tower shield has both excellent block and plus-one-to-all-skills.) Since blocking has been changed to rely on dexterity, and there are new, better options for a necromancer's shield slot, Sigon's shield is probably a better shield for barbarians, javazons, and many variant character types.
If a necromancer had one hundred strength before the Expansion Pack it was most likely so that he could wear the only armor in Classic Diablo II that added plus-one-to-all-skills; necromancers wanted to be able to wear the unique ancient armor, the Silks of the Victor.
This guide will operate on the assumption that your necromancer will not be requiring more than sixty strength, which is enough strength to use the Frostburn unique gauntlets and rare mage plate armor without reduced requirement enchantments.
The truth about dexterity is... dexterity is a waste for golemancers. A golemancer played to the style advocated in this guide will not be directly engaged in melee, and a small investment in bone armor should save a golemancer on those few occasions he gets surprised by a sudden thrown spear or a melee swing from a monster. This guide recommends that a golemancer leave his dexterity at base value, since he will most likely be totally unconcerned with his blocking percentage beyond level 18.
Vitality and Energy are always a tradeoff that is difficult to manage, but it is easier to decide what to do if one plans on having about 1000 mana at the planned advancement plateau of level seventy-five.
(As an aside, before the Expansion Pack I personally would only plan builds based on an advancement plateau of level sixty-five, but it is clear that a level sixty-five character will not be able to reliably defeat Baal in a hell difficulty game at this juncture, whereas such a character could easily beat Diablo in a hell difficulty game prior to the Expansion Pack. Single player characters may also find that they are able to defeat Baal at a lower level.)
Necromancers start with a base of twenty-five mana and gain two mana per level. That makes for one hundred eighty-three (183) mana at level seventy-five for a base amount. Clearly, you will want more mana than that.
Investing enough energy to get one thousand mana (1000) from one hundred eighty-three (183) with stat points alone is not practical, or even possible. A necromancer will get three hundred and eighty-five (385) stat points from quests and level-ups by level seventy-five, and since he needs forty-five of those points for strength, he will likely split the remaining points in a 3/2 ratio of vitality and mana.
At level 75:
STR:60
DEX:25
NRG:161 (25+136)
VIT:219 (15+204)
MANA:183 + 272 = 455 base
LIFE: 156 + 438 = 594 base
This may look like the necromancer doesn't have enough mana, but if he can obtain a pair of Frostburn gauntlets they alone would take a necromancer to eight hundred and thirty-one (831) mana. With one hundred and twenty (120) more mana from socketed sapphires, charms, plus-to-energy items, et al., the Frostburn gauntlets would take the necromancer to more than one thousand (1000) mana.
If the golemancer is unable to obtain Frostburn gauntlets then Stone of Jordan (SOJ) rings could be used to supplement mana as well. If a necromancer had seven hundred and eighty (780) mana from stats and items then one SOJ would take him to one thousand total (1000).
If a lucky golemancer were to have one SOJ and a pair of Frostburn gauntlets, then he would need only six hundred and seven (607) mana from stat points and items to reach the total of one thousand (1000), which is only thirteen points more than this stat allocation would give using the 3/2 stat point allocation.
(If you are wondering why I chose 1000 mana, the answer is that it is a nice round number. My high-level necromancer Justibone has over 1400 mana, which almost never runs out, and only 550 life, which is not enough for the Expansion. If I had spent those energy points in vitality instead I could have had over 800 life, which is very useful in the new Hell difficulty. With only 550 I am dying too often.)
(In the Lord of Destruction Expansion there are items that add a percentage to life like the SOJ and Frostburns add a percentage to mana. If you can find these items, save them for facing bosses even if you don't add them to your regular equipment. Without a high life total, many necromancers will find that Baal and Nihlathak are very difficult to defeat.)
To be a ladder necromancer you absolutely must cut dying to a minimum. A friend of mine was leveling his necromancer up on the USEast character ladder, but the night I was playing with his team he died twice. Above level seventy-five - and more especially, level eighty - earning experience becomes much more difficult, so every death can ruin literally hours worth of effort.
(Life is important to getting a necromancer on the ladder, but equally important is using the right tactics. My friend, Baron Orm, did reach the rarefied atmosphere of the top 100 necromancers, and he had this to say: "That experience did teach me something...albeit the hard way. Necros *can't* rush! Normally we'll hang back behind our revives, but when the meat-shields are other players my tendency is to try to be out front *with* them. It took awhile to realize/rectify this but once I did [gaining levels] came relatively quickly.")
If a necromancer finds some items that require more than sixty strength to wear he will have to alter his allocation schedule. The most efficient way to do that is to place all points from level-ups into strength until he reaches the required amount, and then to resume the 3/2 Vitality-Energy allocation schedule.
Skills
What about golemancer skills? Before making such crucial decisions, a necromancer should consult his guiding principle:
Core Belief of the Golemancer - "My strength in others."
This means that the focus of golemancer skills will be curses, to enhance the capabilities of the golemancer's allies, and also to reduce the effectiveness of enemies who attack the golemancer's allies.
The necromancer's curse tree is the single most powerful tree in the game. A golemancer will concentrate on being effective with his curses, but mostly he will concentrate on making others even more effective at their best skills with help from his curses.
The primary beneficiary of a golemancer's curses will be his golem. The golemancer needs to decide what his golem's strength is and choose a curse that enhances the power of the golem.
Some golemancers will choose to use an Iron Golem because of the Iron Golem's unique ability to take on the properties of the item it was summoned from. These golemancers realize that the Iron Golem does the most damage by damaging those who attack him, so IG golemancers use their curses to maximize that effect. An IG golemancer will concentrate on getting the amplify damage curse to a useable level, but placing twenty skill points into it is inefficient.
Other golemancers will choose to use the Blood Golem, whose strength is an incredible life stealing capability. If combined with the Iron Maiden curse or the Thorns aura from a mercenary or Paladin, the BG can supply himself and his master with endless amounts of life when melee attacking enemies hit him. A BG golemancer will concentrate on getting a good level of Iron Maiden return damage by putting skill points into the curse. In hell difficulty Iron Maiden and Thorns will be cut in effectiveness by 50% due to blanket monster physical resistance, but if a BG golemancer hires a combat mercenary from Act Two, normal difficulty, and gets the mercenary enough experience to reach level fifty-seven (57) then the mercenary should be able to use the Thorns aura, which is even more powerful than Iron Maiden. BG golemancers may have a very difficult time in hell difficulty, but they will be viable with extra effort.
The third common type of golemancer will concentrate on using a Fire Golem in conjunction with the curse Lower Resists. FG golemancers will require a great deal of mana since they also find that the spell Poison Nova complements their play style. The fire golem is no doubt the strongest of the golem types with the most potential melee damage, but in order for his melee damage (which is fire, not physical) to be truly useful the golem requires a lot of points into the FG skill. FG golemancers will also need to make a big investment into the Poison Nova skill, and a workable percentage in the Lower Resists curse.
By level seventy-five your character should have eighty-six (86) skill points from seventy-four (74) level-ups, three completed Den of Evil quests, three Books of Skill, and three completed Izual quests.
It is recommended for all three golemancer types to place at least one point into every single skill, unless you are assuming that you will never have any plus-to-skills-items, in which case I recommend avoiding the skeleton skills. The primary reason that a golemancer needs Revives is for extra protection, and one Revive is not much of a meat shield to hide behind.
Additionally, it is recommended that every single Realm necromancer make maximum investment into the spell Bone Spirit, mostly just to defend yourself and your party versus Player-Killer characters. If you play single player then Bone Spear is more effective versus monsters.
Iron Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points
(assuming no plus-to-skills-items)
-Amplify Damage = 6 points
-Iron Golem = 20 points
-Bone Spirit = 20 points
-Corpse Explosion = 8-14 points (optional)
-All other skills *except* skeleton warrior, skeleton mage, skeleton mastery and revive at 1 point (one revive as a meat shield is useless)
-(If you choose not to invest heavily into Corpse Explosion, extra points can be assigned to Decrepify for extra duration on the curse or into Golem Mastery for a longer-lasting golem)
Skill Allocation
Iron Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points - (assuming seven plus-to-skills)
-Amplify Damage = 1 (8)
-Iron Golem = 20 (27)
-Bone Spirit = 20 (27)
-Corpse Explosion = 8 (16) (optional)
-All other skills at 1 (8) point(s)
-(Extra points should be assigned to Decrepify for extra duration on the curse, or into Golem Mastery and Summon Resists for a longer-lasting golem)
Blood Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points - (assuming no plus-to-skills-items)
-Blood Golem = 4 points
-Iron Maiden = 15 points
-Bone Spirit = 20 points
-Corpse Explosion = 8-14 points (optional)
-All other skills *except* skeleton warrior, skeleton mage, skeleton mastery and revive at 1 point (one revive as a meat shield is useless)
-(If you choose not to invest heavily into Corpse Explosion, extra points can be assigned to Decrepify for extra duration on the curse and into Poison Nova/Lower Resists as a backup damage method for physically immune monsters.)
Blood Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points - (assuming seven plus-to-skills)
-Blood Golem = 1 (8)
-Iron Maiden = 8 (15)
-Bone Spirit = 20 (27)
-Corpse Explosion = 8 (16) (optional)
-All other skills at 1 (8) point(s)
-(Extra points should be assigned to Decrepify for extra duration on the curse, and into Poison Nova/Lower Resists as a backup damage method for physically immune monsters.)
Fire Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points - (assuming no plus-to-skills-items)
-Fire Golem = 20 points
-Lower Resists = 5 points
-Bone Spirit = 20 points
-Poison Nova = 20 points
-DO NOT INVEST IN SUMMON RESISTS, as it will impede the golem's ability to absorb fire damage to heal himself. All other skills *except* skeleton warrior, skeleton mage, skeleton mastery and revive at 1 point (one revive as a meat shield is useless)
-(This build is very tight on skill points, so a necromancer shouldn't make any mistakes with placement. Maximizing three skills is very difficult, so every point counts. Extra points beyond level seventy-five (75) should be used to increase the percentage of Lower Resists.)
Fire Golem Golemancer Recommended Skill Points - (assuming seven plus-to-skills)
-Fire Golem = 20 (27) points
-Lower Resists = 1 (8) points
-Bone Spirit = 20 (27) points
-Poison Nova = 20 (27) points
- DO NOT INVEST IN SUMMON RESISTS, as it will impede the golem's ability to absorb fire damage to heal himself. All other skills at 1(8) point(s).
-(This build is very tight on skill points, so a necromancer shouldn't make any mistakes with placement, but having plus-to-all-skills items makes it a lot easier to handle. Maximizing three skills is very difficult, so every point counts. Extra points beyond level seventy-five (75) should be used to increase the percentage of Lower Resists.)
The golemancer will play much like any other class up until level 18. His stat points will be used primarily to use his strength up to the desired plateau, and his attack method will most likely be using his clay golem and any skeletons he has to kill monsters.
At level 18 a golemancer gets the Bone Spear skill and the Blood Golem. Bone Spear should be your left-click attack until you get Bone Spirit at level 30, and BG + Iron Maiden makes everything in Act Two survivable.
At level 24 the Iron Golem golemancers will first have the ability to summon their metallic construct to serve them. BG golemancers will naturally be using his preferred type, and FG golemancers may decide to continue with Blood Golem + Iron Maiden as well.
At level 30 all of the golemancers will get the skill Bone Spirit. They should work on getting all twenty points invested into it as quickly as possible, since it is a staple on the Realms. Single player golemancers may decide to put only one point in it and forget about it, and that is not a bad option for offline play.
(I decided to spend 4 skill points getting revives because they are so useful. I decided to get the fire golem skill as an IG golemancer as well because an Iron Golem can not be summoned at will, but rather requires an item to summon from. The fire golem will be kept on a hotkey for emergency summons, but the Iron Golem will not have a hotkey since I personally tend to summon him very deliberately and with plenty of time to choose an item and select the IG skill without using a hotkey.)
(I decided to get the poison skills because they have situational usefulness. I won't be pumping them to higher levels because I don't expect to use them often. If there is a monster I cannot damage by other means then I may be forced to rely on Poison Nova, but I don't foresee even giving it the benefit of a hotkey.)
(For my IG golemancer, Corpse Explosion is carried to its desired level before reaching level 24, but the mana cost is prohibitive relative to the necromancer's level for quite some time. Many necros don't use it much at all before act4, but by my skill plan I will have finished investing skill points in it before then.)
(Iron Golem and Bone Spirit are both late-tree skills, so neither can be maxed before the other is available. The same is true of Fire Golem and Bone Spirit. I have decided to max Bone Spirit before maxing Iron Golem, since IG's thorns will be very useful even only at level 4 (180% damage returned). After adding +skills items like the Infernal Torch, Sigon's shield, and a Summoner's amulet the IG thorns will be above 225%, which is a fairly useable threshold when Amplify Damage is also considered.)
Conclusion
The golemancer's primary solo tactic will be to get his golem out front making corpses. When there are a few bodies on the ground, many golemancers will start blowing up corpses with the CE skill. Monsters should always be cursed with Amplify Damage if they are in range of a CE so that they take maximum damage from it, unless they are already cursed with Lower Resists or Decrepify or if they are physically immune.
(There will be occasions where your golem and merc get chewed up and spit out by a particularly nasty boss; that is the time for the golemancer to run. Your golem and your merc do not lose experience if they die, but you do. They don't lose gold if they die, but you will. If they die, you don't get auto-killed, but if you die, then they do. You must live to fight another day, and hopefully you have enough money to resurrect your loyal mercenary... Baron Orm was on the USEast ladder, and he believes that as a necromancer "discretion is the better part of valor" - which translated means, running isn't "chicken" if it means a necromancer will be able to win the battle later on.)
Remember to manage your panic buttons. Bone Walls, Dim Vision, and Terror have saved many a necromancer's life before and they will continue to do so in the future. If an extra-strong boss is beating you up then put Decrepify on him to slow his attack and cut his damage in half. Know what you will do if you are overwhelmed, and always be ready to retreat. "The only thing I'm sure about in war, is that I can't be too sure about anything."
(Revives make good meat shields, so keeping two or three around as walking dartboards for other monsters is a good idea whether you are alone or in a party. Poison skeleton magi perform a valuable service by keeping monsters continually poisoned so that they won't regenerate life. A golemancer may occasionally use some "zoo animals", but he is not defined by them like the zookeepers of old.)
(Some people will call you a "curse b*tch" because you may not have a bunch of offensive capability. Kill them (in the game, of course) or ignore them, but don't change the way you live your life because of what someone says when they don't even know you or understand you. That's true of games just as it is in real life.)
Variants
Golemancers Types That I Consider Variants:
Barb Golem Golemancers - Hire an act5 barbarian mercenary and use your low-level FG to protect him. Team with melee damage chars, especially Paladins, since Paladin auras will aid your Barb Golem and your Amplify Damage/Decrepify curses will benefit other melee characters. You will likely benefit from the same stats as IG golemancers, but like all characters, you have the freedom to choose your own stats. Your skills will focus on a lengthy duration for Decrepify and Life Tap, high Bone Armor if you wade in and fight alongside him, and a teleporting circlet or amulet will save you a lot of money in Resurrection fees...
Clay Golem Golemancers - You like a challenge, don't you? Iron Maiden and patience, just Iron Maiden and a whole lot of patience...
Somewhat older guide, just change what you need.