DISCLAIMER:
This is property of KIRBIX (Sean D'Hoostelaere). This may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not
be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this
guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use
anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable.
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|Table of Contents|
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I. Version History
II. What this guide is for
III. Overview of the Summoner
IV. Skill List
a. Summoning Skills
b. Poison and Bone Skills
c. Curses
V. Skill allocation
VI. Stats
VII. Equipment
a. Helmet
b. Armor
c. Gloves
d. Belt
e. Boots
f. Weapon
g. Armor
h. Jewelery
i. Final listing
VIII. Mercenary
IX. How to Use/ Leveling up
a. Skeleton damage (just for show)
b. Skeleton mage damage (to make my point)
X. Contact Me
XI. Credits
I. VERSION HISTORY
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1.0- I split up my necro guide into two parts. This is the summoner half.
2.0- I added several tweaks and some interesting information about skeletons
that should prove useful for everyone.
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II. WHAT THIS GUIDE IS FOR
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Necromancers are some of the most versatile characters in the game, second only
to the druid. This particular branch of necromancer, the summoner, utilizes the
necromancer's ability to control the dead (Hence, Necro, meaning dead).
We'll cover skill allocation, stat options, equipment, and all other things that
you might need to know.
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III. OVERVIEW OF THE SUMMONER
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Summoners have changed radically since the early days. Initially, raise skeleton
was a HORRIBLE skill that no one bothered with. People used to max blood golem
and revive, and then put points into bone spells as an extra attack. Frankly,
before the synergies of 1.10, people used all three trees at once and never
faced any real repercussion for doing so. The idea of iron maiden+blood golem
to keep your enemies at bay while spamming bone spirit was not uncommon.
Since 1.10, synergies have made things a bit more complicated, and much to the
summoner's delight, have given skeletons an overhaul. Skeletons are now virtual
tanks, being able to deal some very significant damage. This is the skill that
is of the most importance to a summoner. Believe it or not, your most basic
skill proves to be the most important.
Summoners are VERY skill dependent. What skills you choose has a large
effect on how powerful your summoner is in certain situations. HOWEVER, the
summoner is NOT item dependent. You don't need amazing equipment. A necro that
knows what he's doing can actually solo hell with no equipment whatsoever-
they're that durable.
Of course, summoners do have other aspects, and that's when we move onto the
skills section.
IV. SKILL ALLOCATION
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The skills are broken up into three parts, represented by the three trees that
the necromancer has. I'll only include abilities that you ought to be aware
of in case you choose to utilize them. If they have no place, then I'll ignore
them entirely.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
IVa. Summoning Skills
#########################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Raise Skeleton~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Raise a skeletal warrior from the corpse of a fallen enemy
Raise skeleton creates the most basic minion for the necromancer- a skeleton
that wields a sword and shield. Generally very weak, the skeleton is a suicide
runner, running headlong into danger to hack away at whatever it can get its
hands on first.
While fairly weak on its own, the raise skeleton ability is actually the
strongest of all summoning abilities. "United we stand, divided we fall."- as
your levels increase, your number of skeletal warriors will increase. While 1
skeleton may not stand a chance, maybe 10 skeletons can get the job done.
When coupled with Skeleton Mastery, this is the core ability for any summoner.
You'll want 20 points into this ability, no matter who you might be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Skeleton Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Increases the life and damage of your skeletons and revives.
This ability runs hand-in-hand with raise skeleton. While raise skeleton raises
the number of skeletons you have, this ability makes your skeletons more
powerful. Used in conjunction with raise skeleton, you get 10 skeletons dishing
out 200 damage apiece at a fairly rapid rate.
However, Skeleton Mastery goes even further- it also increases the damage and
life of revives. While not initially useful, people who max this skill for
their skeletons will find a very solid revive spell waiting for them at the end
of the road.
You should put 20 points here merely for the improved skeletons, but as an
added bonus, your revives are gonna rock!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Clay Golem~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Summon a golem from the earth to fight for you
Summoners can also erect golems from nothingness to fight for them. Clay golems
are the most basic of these creatures.
Despite being the most basic, clay golems are invaluable to a summoner. They
have a much higher maximum life than other golems, and they also cause any
target they hit to slow down. This means that your clay golem can sit there and
take a vicious beating from any boss that comes your way, while additionally
slowing them down. In conjunction with skeletons, this is a very effective
method to defeat bosses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Germanolem Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Increase the life, attack rating and speed of your golem
Attack rating can be somewhat useful, depending on your use of the golem.
However, I will not be discussing the in-depth purposes of an attack golem.
STILL, increased speed and life can be quite useful. If you're trying to make
a tank, the more life is (obviously) better. The increased speed is also
very useful when dealing with archers. Golems can run up to ranged attackers
and quickly draw their fire while the skeletons amble along aimlessly.
For those of us who use golems, this ability is essential.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Raise Skeletal Mage~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Raise a mage from the corpse of the fallen
Like raise skeleton, you take a corpse and create a skeletal warrior to fight
for you. However, these skeletons cast spells- fire, ice, lightning and poison.
Oddly enough, they are all but useless. Causing little to no damage for the
amount of points that you must invest into them, the skeletal mage starts out
fairly powerful in normal, but has little to no use in nightmare and hell.
VERY FEW people bother with mages, and those who do will tell you that they're
a necessity. Personally, I think those people are crazy, but who knows? Maybe
I'm the crazy one.... nah, probably not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Blood Golem~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Summon a mass of blood and flesh to fight alongside you
Oddly, you don't need a corpse to make a blood golem, despite the name...
Anyhow, the blood golem is the second of the four types, and it is fairly
sturdy. While it doesn't do tremendous damage, it has the wonderful ability
of life leech, which means it is fairly competant at staying alive.
An old trick from the earlier Diablo days was to use a blood golem in
conjunction with iron maiden. Iron maiden causes the enemy to take more damage
than it gives to the opponent. When the enemy attacks the blood golem, the
damage dealt back by iron maiden gets leeched off by the blood golem. In this
way, the blood golem is nearly invincible.
Oh, and an added bonus- your life is linked to the life of your blood golem, so
assuming that you use iron maiden correctly, your health will always remain
full.
However, it has some drawbacks; it gets nowhere near as much life as a clay
golem, and it cannot slow the enemy. Iron Maiden is also very limited- in
nightmare and hell, it is often nigh on useless, as returning 70 damage to a
monster with 4000 HP really isn't good compared to a horde of skeletons.
There's also the final drawback of linking HP- if he dies, you end up with
next to no HP, and quickly follow suit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Resist~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 24
Effect: Raises all resists on your summoned creatures
There's not much to say about this skill- it raises the resistances of all of
your monsters. Every summoner needs this skill to keep their minions alive.
Of course, there's limits- past level 5, the points yield results far too
little to be worth your time. Instead, +skills will bring your summons up to
maximum resists.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Iron Golem~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 24
Effect: Transform a weapon into a massive mechanical golem
Iron golems are, like all golems, good in their own way. However, bad news
first this time: To make an iron golem, you need a piece of equipment. You must
throw the piece of equipment on the ground and summon the golem out of the
weapon/armor. When you summon your iron golem, that weapon/armor goes away.
Forever.
HOWEVER, that aside, the iron golem is quite powerful. Golems retain the
properties of the items used to create them, which means that you can take
a weapon with crushing blow, and your golem will have crushing blow. If you
have open wounds, your golem will cause open wounds. The iron golem also has
an automatic thorns aura to deal damage back to the enemy.
The thing is, the bonuses of an iron golem with crushing blow don't merit
ruining a weapon that has crushing blow, and as for thorns, it's as bad as a
blood golem, only this guy doesn't even get healed for it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Fire Golem~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Summon a golem of purest fire to attack your enemies
This golem is actually pretty boring. Being made of fire, he absorbs fire
damage, deals fire damage and has a holy fire aura to deal further fire damage.
If you don't want fire damage, he's useless, and all things considered, he's
not strong at all (No golem is, anymore.)
~~~~~~~~
~~Revive~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Raise specters of fallen foes to battle alongside you
This spell is very simple, yet very difficult to use properly. What it does is
quite straightforward: you cast revive on a corpse, and a shade of the enemy
that just died comes to life and fights for you with their same attacks.
The difference is that their HP and damage is given significant boosts from
what the original monster had, which means you not only get what you killed,
but your version is even better!
In conjunction with corpse explosion, this skill is DEVASTATING. Doing 5x the
damage of its enemy counterparts and having 6x the HP, add on that the enemy
is now at 30% HP from corpse explosion, and one revive can possibly take out
an entire horde on his own.
However, revive has limitations- the revives are dumb as bricks. Once you're
done killing all nearby monsters, a revive becomes useless, and it is utterly
incapable of walking behind you. It will get stuck in the most bizarre areas
and never unstick.
Revives last only three minutes, and if you walk too far away from them, they
disappear outright. Again, this makes them fairly limited outside of intense
battles.
That being said, they are vital to summoning necros, as they are a great
support to your skeletons. Every summoner should use them. You simply need to
bear in mind their limitations, which is why most people never spend more than
one point into revive, as skeleton mastery is the skills that raises their HP
and damage.
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IVb. Poison and Bone Skills
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~~~~~~~
~~Teeth~~
~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: spew little bone teeth in several directions
Well, it's a great skill for a bone necro, but you're not attempting to damage
enemies with bone spells.
BUT, it's a prerequisite for corpse explosion, so put a point here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Corpse Explosion~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Destroy enemy corpses to deal damage to everyone nearby
This is the single best necromancer ability in the game. Corpse explosion does
60%-100% of the health of the monster, which means that no matter how far you
are into the game, it will do massive damage. The problem lies in range- you
need lots of points to make it good.
However, despite requiring 20 points to be effective, every necro uses it;
it deals dual fire/physical damage, which means that almost no enemy is immune
to it completely, and with a couple of well-placed explosions, you can
decimate entire hordes in no time flat.
I once made the mistake of underestimating corpse explosion's range. If you
look, the difference in explosion radius between level 10 and 20 is only 3.4
yards. When you've already got 5.6 yards, that's approximately a 50% increase
in radius, FAR less than the bonuses other spells get for 10 points.
...or is it? Let's compare in terms of sheer area covered. For those of you who
are not math oriented, area of a circle is Pi (3.14) X radius squared. So with
a level 10 CE, your total area is about 99 square yards. With a level 20 CE,
it's 254 square yards, over twice as big. Suddenly we see that the increase is
much better than we had originally thought, and there's a good reason to put
all 20 points there.
No matter what your skill preference, corpse explosion can always be useful.
Some people prefer not to max it, but no good summoner goes without it.
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IVc. Curses
###############
Curses are an essential part to any necro build. Each curse has a use, and they
can be used for different situations to make necros more versatile than even
the paladin with his auras.
Curses generally are the same at level one as at level twenty. The radius of the
curse may increase, or the length of time, but the MP cost never raises, and
the effects rarely change when you level up.
For this reason, it's ALWAYS one point into a curse- never more.
+skills takes care of the rest. However, every necro needs a point into EVERY
curse, for working in groups.
Such a simple definition for a curse that is actually much better than just a
simple reduction of defense.
Curse actually lowers physical resistance by 100 percent. That means that an
enemy with zero physical resistance will take double the damage. However, amp
is even more valuable with enemies who DON'T have 0 percent resistance.
Let's say they are 50% resistant. Amplify damage will lower their resistance to
-50%, which will triple the damage that you would have normally done. Up it a
notch to 75%, which changes to -25%, and your damage is five times as much as
it would have been.
It gets better still, though. Amplify damage removes immunties. You see, an
immunity isn't simply a computer telling the game that the monster can't take
damage. Immunity is where the monster has 100% or more resitance and therefore
is effectively immune.
This means that unless the enemy is 200% resistant to physical damage, the use
of amplify damage will ALWAYS remove their immunity.
For the most simple curse, this is by far the most useful, ESPECIALLY for
the summoner, who can double, triple, or quintuple his minion damage with only
one point.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Dim Vision~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: lowers the sight radius of all enemies affected
Dim Vision is generally the least popular curse. "All it does is lower their
vision range." However, this spell can actually be quite useful when you're
trying to stay alive. If you ruin their vision range, you can run away from
them and not be followed, due to the fact that they can't see you.
>_> Ok, Ok- it's not very useful, but many people have found it to pay off
quite a bit when they're playing. Your call, chief.
~~~~~~~~
~~Weaken~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Lower the damage that enemies do
This spell isn't much more widely used than dim vision. It lowers damage that
the enemy does by a small amount, but 98.6% of the people who get weaken are
going to eventually get decrepify, which is FAR better than weaken is.
(By the way, did you know that 56.4% of all statistics are made up?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Iron Maiden~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Send damage back to foes at multiples of the damage dealt to you
A very useful curse in parties of melee units. You can quickly deal back some
fairly significant damage.
... At least, that's true in normal difficulty. In nightmare and hell, the
curse is nigh on useless. As I said when discussing blood golems, iron maiden
simply doesn't dish out enough damage for the high HP amounts that the monsters
have in Nightmare and Hell. Put a point into it for early on, but you're not
likely to ever use it past normal.
~~~~~~~~
~~Terror~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Send your enemies running in terror
Effective at removing your enemies from around you, this curse can be VERY
useful for those of us who are more defensive. Sending your foes running away
in terror can be good if you need a break; just remember that it doesn't last
forever.
It doesn't work on champions, super uniques, bosses or players. Learn to
effectively use this spell and it will save you more than once.
Just like mindblast, confuse causes monsters to attack each other instead of
you. Especially violent groups of minions (such as the venom lords in Diablo's
Sanctuary) can be reduced to nothing with this spell. While they attack each
other, you can cast spells at your leisure, picking them off.
As with terror, this does not affect champions, bosses or super uniques, nor
will it make a freakish jump through cyber space and somehow befuddle another
player (I mean, how could it? Do you zap the other guy until his brain
shorts?)
~~~~~~~~~~
~~Life Tap~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Suck the life out of your foes
VERY useful skill. For every point of damage you inflict, you recieve 50% back
to your own health. The reason for this invaluability is for the summoner;
a summoner can unleash a group of skeletons upon the foe and the skeletons will
heal back the damage that they deal. It's very similar to the blood golem/iron
maiden combo, only this one happens to be much more effective (it's used in
chaos tristram.)
If you have vindicator friends, they will love you for using this one. Frankly,
ANY melee user will love you for using it.
~~~~~~~~~
~~Attract~~
~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 24
Effect: Cause monsters to focus their attacks on another monster
Monsters become infatuated with each other and attack each other until dead.
As long as you stay out of the way, they'll duke it out to the end! (or until
the curse runs out.)
Attract is useful due to the fact that other curses can stack with it. You can
use attract and iron maiden on a group to quickly demolish them.
Remember; won't work on champions, super uniques or bosses... not sure about
other players, but somehow I doubt you can make another summoner get swarmed by
his own minions.
Just a general rule of thumb- don't stack attract with Life Tap >_<.
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Decrepify~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 24
Effect: Make monsters weaker all around
Considered to be the most all-round useful curse that the necromancer
has in his arsenal. It slows down the monster, lowers the defense AND attack.
It's an ideal boss spell, as it leaves bosses prone to lots of attacks.
In conjunction with a clay golem, it can make bosses slow down to an utter
snail's pace. Add on that their damage is reduced and their defense lowered,
and this is a total boss killer.
When in doubt, decrepify them all!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Lower Resist~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Lower the resistance of your enemies
A definite crowd pleaser, this is conviction in curse form. While not quite
as powerful, this curse can be devastatingly useful in a group of sorceresses.
Seeing as it seems like 85% of the players these days are using a sorc, this
curse makes a lot of sense.
As a whole, there are four useful curses- decrepify, amp. damage, life tap, and
lower resist. Use them all in moderation, based on the situation, and master
their usage while throwing in a few confuses or attracts to render your foes
useless.
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V. SKILL ALLOCATION
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20 Raise Skeleton
20 Skeleton Mastery
Those are a given- EVERY summoner needs to max these skills. It's the meat of
the build, and there's NO good reason to not max them as a summoner.
From there, it becomes an interesting discussion. There are 10 curses, so let's
say that you get all 10. 50 skill points down, and with 110 total points, you
have 60 left.
Assuming you don't deal with prerequisites, that's enough to maximize three
other skills. However, there are some other fundamentals:
Revive- you'll want one point into revive. Skeleton mastery increases damage and
life, so more than one point only gives you more minions. It's far more useful
to just use +skills; 6 revives is MORE than enough, and you're likely to be
capable of having 15 or 20.
Summon Resist- one to five points here. Your call, really- more than 5 is
superfluous, and depending on if you're going to have level 25 summon resist
with your equipment even if you've only got 1 point into summon resist, why
spend the extra four points?
61 points in total, leaving you with 49 others to spend.
49 points can go in a lot of directions.
The most popular direction is corpse explosion. As I explained earlier, it's
very useful (far more useful than you'd think) to maximize corpse explosion.
Being able to use one corpse to halve the armies ranks is phenomanally useful
in Hell difficulty. However, once again you should take your equipment into
account. Having level 25 corpse explosion is QUITE powerful; you really don't
need a nearly level 50 explosion, unless you enjoy killing people before you
even see them.
Another very useful direction is clay golems. Clay golem/ Golem mastery becomes
ridiculous. While the golem doesn't do much damage, he slows down enemies fairly
quickly, and has ungodly amounts of HP. Using Decrepify AND a mercenary with
Holy Freeze AND a golem to slow down an enemy or boss means that the enemy is
all but helpless to your skeletal hordes.
You *could* put points into revive, and make a ginormously ridiculous group
of revives that are unstoppable.
A LOT of people put points into bone spear. Getting that first corpse in hell
can be downright painful sometimes, and bone spear quickly takes them down.
###############
Did you wade through that mess OK? You didn't? Bah, all right- here's the skill
list that I'd use:
TOTAL POINTS: 110. Yay! all skill points accounted for!
###########################
>_< Now for the hard part; when do you distribute them?
Raise Skeleton and Skeleton Mastery are the first skills that you care about.
You will want to max both of these skills first. Place 1 point into amplify
damage, 1 point into teeth and one point into corpse explosion. If you can
afford to, get decrepify and clay golem.
Now, to decide how to raise your skeletons. First, you have to decide how
much mana you're willing to spend on each skeleton- raise skeleton increases MP
cost; skeleton mastery does not.
Second, you need to decide on the number of skeletons; raise skeletons increases
the number of skeletons; skeleton mastery does not.
Personally, I go for level 6 Raise Skeleton initially. That will bring you to
four skeletons, which is more than sufficient as your basic army. From there,
dump all points into skeleton mastery. Get skeleton mastery to AT LEAST level 15
before touching raise skeleton again. Maxing it can't hurt, either.
You see, skeleton mastery adds a fixed amount of damage to your skeletons,
while raise skeletons adds percentage. Therefore, skeleton mastery is more
beneficial early on, but when you have level 15 or greater into mastery, raise
skeleton begins to yield unbelievable returns. While another 10 damage per
level doesn't seem like a lot, take into account that you have 8 or 9 skeletons,
and that amplify damage doubles that. When you're adding nearly 200 points per
level, that's more than most skills ever get in a single level up.
Once your skeletons are taken care of, quickly get revive, attract and lower
resist. Place your points into summon resist, and then it's time to make your
choice. On the one hand, corpse explosion decimates entire armies in a second.
On the other, a good Clay Golem makes all the difference between life and death
against bosses (especially Duriel). You can max them both interchangably, or
choose one over the other. I don't have a suggestion here; use what knowledge
you have of the necro to decide.
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VI. STATS
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Four stats to consider: Strength, Vitality, Energy and Dexterity.
\ /\ /
Strength
/ \/ \
While is used to determine damage, that really doesn't matter much for
a summoner. Instead, strength only serves one purpose- to allow yourself to
equip the items you want to equip.
Your strength is based on how good your equipment is. The highest strength that
you will ever need is 118, for marrowalk boneweave boots. If you've got an
enigma (runeword in armor that raises strength, among other things), then you
naturally don't need too much strength. Simply put in as much strength as you
need to get to 118 with your equipment.
\ / \ /
Dexterity
/ \ / \
Dexterity is a matter of preference; the homunuculus shield for necros has a
block rate of 72%. Due to this detail, max block is quite obtainable. On the
other hand, why do you want it? You're not fighting and using your block... are
you?
Personally, I wouldn't bother, but if you want to, put in as much dexterity as
you need for max block with the homunuculus (if you don't have homun, DON'T
BOTHER.) I'll leave you to look up the amount of dexterity for that yourself.
\ /\ /
Vitality
/ \/ \
The most important of the stats- place every extra point into vitality. You'll
need the life, I guarantee it.
\ /\ /
Energy
/ \/ \
NO POINTS IN ENERGY. Summoners don't use much mana once their minions are
created, so you have no good reason to get energy.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
VII. EQUIPMENT
###############
I have discussed the equipment of the summoner with some of my colleagues, one
of which is the writer of the rivaling necro guide. We have had... disagreements
on what's best for a necro. I'm giving my personal tastes here, and you're more
than welcome to disagree- you can always go to the other guide.
*******
Summoners have very few needs, really. Because they don't often get into the
battle, equipment to benefit your summoner isn't vital. Instead, you really
want one thing- +skills. Now, there are some fundamental things such as +resist,
+life, +mana, and other mods that are the basic survival tools, but in general,
all you should be concerned with is +skills. The best necromancers can get near
to +30 in all skills.
Seeing as there are LOTS of things that give +skills, I'm going to cut to the
chase, here- here's a list of some of the best possible equipment that you
should shoot for. In the mean time, just look for +skills, of ANY kind.
VIIA.
-----
********
**HELMET**
********
Now, +skills is definitely the most important modification for a summoner. By
that reasoning, the best helm is a rare circlet with +2 to all necromancer
levels AND +2 to all summoning skills. I wish you luck finding such a circlet,
though- the item level is immense, making it quite a chore to find both of them
at the same time.
For those of us who don't want to spend that time, the unique Shako Harlequin
Crest has +2 to all skills and nice well-rounded bonuses. Personally, I don't
have the patience to get such a powerful circlet and stick with the shako, but
if you have that time, by all means, take it- it is superior.
Um your helm, whatever it may be
/Harlequin Crest (unique shako)
\+2 To All Skills
/+ 1-148 To Life (Based On Character Level)
\+ 1-148 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
/Damage Reduced By 10%
\50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
/+2 To All Attributes
VIIB.
-----
*******
**ARMOR**
*******
Runewords are, without question, immensely useful. The ideal summoner armor
takes the form of one runeword: Enigma. Enigma is the only option that's worth
mentioning: +skills, teleportation, and other mods that aren't quite as amazing
for you. Without teleport, you'll never get your summons where you want; Enigma
is AMAZINGLY helpful. Socket it into a breast plate or mage plate if you don't
want high Strength, or a dusk shroud or archon plate for the extra defense.
\Enigma (3 Socket Body Armor) Jah+Ith+Ber
/+2 To All Skills
\+45% Faster Run/Walk
/+1 To Teleport
\+750-775 Defense
/++0-74 To Strength (Based On Character Level)
\Increase Maximum Life 5%
/Damage Reduced By 8%
\+14 Life After Each Kill
/15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
\+1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)
VIIC.
-----
********
**GLOVES**
********
Gloves are decided between two pairs- MageFist and FrostBurn.
On the one hand, we have magefists, which adds to your casting rate, and it
allows mana to regenerate a bit faster.
On the other hand, frostburn give a 40% boost to your total mana.
I go with frostburns every day of the week and twice on a Sunday- I find the
enormous boost to Mana to far outweigh a faster cast rate and an increase in
mana regeneration. However, many people (the other necro guide, for an example,)
don't agree, and so I will list them both and let you decide.
\Magefist (unique light guantlets)
/Defense: 24-25
\+20-30% Enhanced Defense
/+10 Defense
\+1 To Fire Skills
/20% Faster Cast Rate
\Regenerate Mana 25%
/Adds 1-6 Fire Damage
VIID.
-----
******
**BELT**
******
Everyone agrees- there's only one belt for a summoner; Arachnid's Mesh. +skills,
and as an added bonus, it slows down the target! Ha, more to add to your crazy
slowness powers!
\Arachnid's Mesh (unique spiderweb sash)
/Defense: 119-138
\+90-120% Enhanced Defense
/Slows Target By 10%
\+1 To All Skills
/+20% Faster Cast Rate
\Increases Maximum Mana 5%
/Level 3 Venom (11 Charges)
VIIE.
-----
*******
**BOOTS**
*******
Marrowalks boots were originally ideal for the bone necros, but they also serve
a use for summoners with +2 to skeleton mastery. Better than anything else that
you can get your hands on.
\Marrowalk (unique boneweave boots)
/Defense: 183-204
\+170-200% Enhanced Defense
/+20% Faster Run/Walk
\+1-2 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
/+10-20 To Strength
\+17 To Dexterity
/Regenerate Mana 10%
\Heal Stamina Plus 10%
/Half Freeze Duration
\Level 33 Bone Prison (13 Charges)
/Level 12 Life Tap (10 Charges)
Now, these pieces of equipment are generally non-negotiable. They are the pieces
of equipment that everyone agrees are necessary.
However, from here we get into an argument of taste- Which is more important:
+skills, or everything else? I have a +skills item and a +everything item for
the shield and weapon, and it's up to you to pick which ones best fit your
beliefs of how to build a summoner.
MOST IMPORTANT, to me, was +resist all. A summoner who has negative resistance
will experience utter annihilation in hell. Most enemies use the elements, and
if you get nailed with one of their attacks by mistake, you're history. I think
that despite being in the back lines, you need +resists to the MAX; a stray
lightning bolt or fireball can hit you, despite your army; you need to be
able to survive.
I have to admit, the difference in damage between pure +skills and my setup
is ENORMOUS, and your skeletons are FAR more powerful with that setup... but
do you REALLY need that much damage? As my calculations will show you, it's
not necessary to use all that +skill stuff to do amazing damage.
VIIF.
-----
********
**WEAPON**
********
The Heart of the Oak is an excellent runeword, with several bonuses on top of
the fact that it gives +3 to all skills. An all-round weapon that you cannot
go wrong with.
\Heart of the Oak (4 Socket Staves/Maces) Ko + Vex + Pul + Thul
/+3 To All Skills
\+40% Faster Cast Rate
/+75% Damage To Demons
\+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
/Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration
\7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
/+10 To Dexterity
\Replenish Life +20
/Increase Maximum Mana 15%
\All Resistances +30-40
/Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
\Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
/+50% Damage To Undead
@%@%@%@%@%@%@%@%@%
HOWEVER, it doesn't grant the most +skills. The best weapon for +skills on a
summoner is, without a doubt, the Arm of King Leoric.
\Arm of King Leoric (unique Tomb Wand)
/Damage: 10 To 22
\+50% Damage To Undead
/10% Chance To Cast Level 2 Bone Prison When Struck
\5% Chance To Cast Level 10 Bone Spirit When Struck
/+ 1-123 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
\10% Faster Cast Rate
/+2 To Terror (Necromancer Only)
\+2 To Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
/+3 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
\+3 To Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)
/+2 To Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
\+2 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
@%@%@%@%@%@%@%@%@%
This is somewhat of a test- I'm saving the best weapon for the bottom this time.
This doesn't have +skills and it doesn't have +resists, but what it lacks in
those areas it makes up for in sheer brutality. Beast is THE BEST weapon for
a summoner, hands down.
\Beast (5 socket axes/scepters/hammers) Ber + Tir + Um + Mal + Lum
/Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
\+40% Increased Attack Speed
/+240-270% Enhanced Damage
\20% Chance of Crushing Blow
/25% Chance of Open Wounds
\+3 To Werebear
/+3 To Lycanthropy
\Prevent Monster Heal
/+25-40 To Strength (varies)
\+10 To Energy
/+2 To Mana After Each Kill
\Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5 Charges)
Beast is good for one purpose and one purpose only- a fanaticism aura to pump
your skeletons up to unbelievable levels.
Now, in the past I've overlooked Beast because, frankly, your skeletons ought to
be powerful enough without it. Shame on me! Fanaticism is more than just raw
damage. It also adds a significant boost to AR, meaning that your skeletons hit
more often. However, better than that, their attack speed increases. Higher
attack speed obviously means more attacks, and in a battle of a minute or two,
that added attack speed and AR almost adds more damage than the %ED does (o_O).
#########################
VIIG.
-----
********
**SHIELD**
********
For +skills, you're looking for a rare quite similar to the circlet. However,
this shield is even more insanely overskilled. Ideally, it would give +2
necromancer skills, +2 summoning skills, +3 raise skeleton AND +3 skeleton
mastery.
To my knowledge, it's NEVER been found before, and if it were found, it'd be
absolutely PRICELESS. Assuming you do, add 2 ums.
Now, enough fantasizing:
The homunuculus is great, and is my favorite shield. +resists, higher block,
and while it gives 1 less skill point to summoning than darkforce,
for curses gives a point more. (And who can say no to better curses?)
Add an um for resists
\Homunuculus (Unique Heirophant Trophy)
/Defense: 177-213
\Chance To Block: 72%
/(Necromancer Only)
\+150-200% Enhanced Defense
/+5 To Mana After Each Kill
\40% Increased Chance of Blocking
/30% Faster Block Rate
\+2 To Necromancer Skill Levels
/+20 To Energy
\Regenerate Mana 33%
/All Resistances +40
\+2 To Curses Skills (Necromancer Only)
#########################
VC8.
-----
*********
**JEWELRY**
*********
Rings: If you don't have Darkforce or Frostburns, you're going to want a Stone
of Jordan or two. Massive mana bonuses are always good. If you can get two, so
much the better!
However, if you don't need a bonus to mana, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band is the
best ring for a summoner.
\Stone of Jordan (unique ring)
/+1 To All Skill Levels
\Increase Maximum Mana 25%
/Adds 1-12 Lightning Damage
\+20 To Mana
^^^^^^^^
\Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band (unique ring)
/+1 To All Skill Levels
\+0-49 To Life (Based On Character Level)
/3-5% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
\+50 Maximum Stamina
^^^^^^^^^
As for your amulet, a +3 to summoning amulet is ideal for your skills (since
you can't get +2 necro AND +2 summoning on an amulet at once)... but
you know, the bonuses of mara's kaleidoscope really are much better.
\Mara's Kaleidoscope (unique amulet)
/+2 To All Skill Levels
\All Resistances +20-30
/+5 To All Attributes
#########################
VC9.
-----
FINAL LISTING OF EQUIPMENT:
MY set:
\Harlequin Crest w/ um
/Enigma (breat plate)
\Marrowalks
/Frostburn
\Arachnid Mesh
/Beast (Double Axe)
\Homunuculus w/ um
/Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band x2
\Mara's Kaleidoscope
Total +summoning- 11
Total +res- 107
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
+skills set:
\+2 summoning skills AND +2 necro skills circlet w/ um
/Enigma (breast plate)
\Marrowalks
/Magefist
\Arachnid Mesh
/Arm of King Leoric
eally uber rare necro head w/ 2x um
/Stone of Jordan and Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
\+3 summoning skills amulet
Total +summoning- 18 (+24 raise skeleton and +26 skeleton mastery)
Total +res- 57 (ouch...)
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
VIII. MERCENARY
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Act 2 mercenaries give auras that will affect your entire party... Is there
really any question? Use an act 2 mercenary!
The only viable option is the might mercenary, which is found in Nightmare and
is the offensive mercenary. The aura levels up with the mercenary, which means
that slowly, the aura becomes more and more powerful. By the time your merc is
level 45, it doubles your damage. It also stacks with fanatacism, so you could
turn that 20,000 damage into 40,000... Yea, it's some good stuff.
Now, as for equipment.
WEAPON
++++++++
The best weapon choice for your mercenary is a cryptic axe with the Pride
runeword. It gives level 16-20 concentration aura, which on top of Might will
make your summons ridiculously overpowered.
However, bear in mind that pride is a ladder-only runeword, so if you are on
the non-ladder realms, you'll want a different weapon. A viable option is to
use bonehew, which is a powerful weapon and will allow your merc to do some
serious damage.
\Pride (4-socket polearm) Cham + Sur + Io + Lo
/25% Chance To Cast Level 17 Fire Wall When Struck
\Level 16-20 Concentration Aura When Equipped
/260-300% Bonus To Attack Rating
\+1-99% Damage To Demons (Based on Character Level)
/Adds 50-280 Lightning Damage
\20% Deadly Strike
/Hit Blinds Target
\Freezes Target +3
/+10 To Vitality
\Replenish Life +8
/1.875-185.625% Extra Gold From Monsters (Based on Character Level)
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
\Bonehew (unique ogre axe)
/Two-Hand Damage: (103-117) To (536-609)
\+270-320% Enhanced Damage
/Level 14 Corpse Explosion (30 charges)
\Prevent Monster Heal
/30% Increased Attack Speed
\50% Chance To Cast Level 16 Bone Spear On Striking
/Socketed (2)
^^^^^^^^^^NOTE^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pride has a cham in it, which means it freezes target enemies. You may find it
easier to use a bonehew to get your corpses, and then pride once you do; pride
will blow up the enemy and leave you without a corpse... yuck!
ARMOR
+++++++++
Mercenaries always seem to have an amazing amount of resist. Guardian Angel
takes full advantage of it and makes your merc all but invincible to the
elements.
\Guardian Angel (Unique Templar Coat)
/+180-200% Enhanced Defense
\+20% Increased Chance Of Blocking
/+30% Faster Block Rate
\+ 2-247 To Attack Rating Against Demons (Based On Character Level)
/+1 To Paladin Skill Levels
\+4 To Light Radius
/15% To Maximum Poison Resist
\15% To Maximum Cold Resist
/15% To Maximum Lightning Resist
\15% To Maximum Fire Resist
HELMET
+++++++++
Andariel Visage is perfect for the merc. Attack speed, life steal, and the
poison nova ability doesn't hurt, either.
\Andariel's Visage (unique demonhead)
/+100-150% Enhanced Defense
\+2 To All Skills
/20% Increased Attack Speed
\8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit
/+25-30 To Strength
\+10% To Maximum Poison Resist
/Fire Resist -30%
\Poison Resist +70%
/15% Chance To Cast Level 15 Poison Nova When Struck
\Level 3 Venom (20 charges)
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
IX. HOW TO USE/ LEVELING UP
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Summoners are EASY to use. All you have to do is kill an enemy off (use a
mercenary to kill your first enemy- go to the blood moor) and then you can
create your first skeleton. From there, let the good times roll! Your skeleton
will kill another enemy, you create another skeleton, and it's a chain reaction
that will eventually create an entire army.
Basically, you just watch them kill the enemy. Cast Amplify Damage or Decrepify
when necessary. When you're in a group, use lower resist, and throwing in an
attract or two doesn't hurt.
When you reach the middle of nightmare, your skeletons start to suffer a
little. Time to whip out corpse explosion. One corpse can flatline an entire
army, and since you have 10 or 15 skeletons working at once,in conjunction with
CE, it's possible to kill 50 enemies in a matter of seconds. When used right,
this build is the safest AND fastest-killing build of them all.
Use the skill allocation advice that I gave, and as long as you take it slowly,
you will never have a problem beating the enemy.
If you DO have problems, join a party- summoners are always welcome in groups,
as they provide lots of protection for people that cast spells.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
IXa. SKELETON DAMAGE (just for show)
#########################################
OK, so I've been rambling on about the damage that a skeleton can do, right?
Well, here's the rundown of just how much damage you can expect from your
skeletons.
FIRST, we'll show what kind of damage they'll do when you and your mercenary
are both naked.
Level 20 skeleton and mastery= 124-127 damage
Level 17 might (just for the sake of a number)= +200%
So triple your damage to 372-381
Now, add on amplify damage to get your final damage of 744-762
~~~
Meh, with 8 skeletons, that's pretty lame, am I right? So, let's up the volume!
Using the optimum equipment I suggested, you'll have +14 to all skills. Assuming
you have perfect equipment, you'll also be using a hellfire torch (+3 necro
skills), an annihilus (+1 to all skills), and 8 +1 to summoning grand charms.
Which means that with marrowalks, you'll have level 46 raise skeleton and level
48 skeleton mastery.
Raw damage per skeleton (and you have 17)- 830-834.
Using a mercenary with level 20 might- 230%
Perfect pride weapon gives level 20 concentration- 345%
Total bonus? 575%, which means you get another 4700 damage.
Total damage? 5500. Add on amplify damage, and that's 10,000 PER SKELETON, and
you have 17!
If you plugged fanatacism in as well, you'd have 670% extra damage, which
means you get an additional 2,000 damage per skeleton. >_> at 10,000 damage
per skeleton, added with corpse explosion, do you see why it's beating a
dead horse? I mean, come on! 170,000 damage per swing is QUITE enough, I think.
IXb. SKELETON MAGE DAMAGE (to make my point)
################################################
Now, many people still fight over skeleton mage damage being really good. Well,
here's the absolute best damage you can get from your skeletal mages; YOU can
decide if it's worth 19 points that could be spent getting your golem to 10,000
HP.
SO, let's assume you're using the +skills equipment, all right? That's
level 58 skeleton mastery and level 55 skeleton mage. Now, if you goto Arreat
Summit and mess with their calculator, you learn that damage is based on bolt
level, and bolt level is determined by the following formula:
Bolt Level =(Level of Skeleton Mastery) + [(Level of Raise Skeltal Mage-2)/2].
^^^^^^^^
NOTE: that this equation only works if your level of raise skeletal mage is
over level 4. 3 or less, and you simply take the level of your skelly mastery
and that's your bolt level.
So, we plug in:
58 + [(55-2)/2]= 58+26.5= 84.5, rounded down to 84
Now, Arreat Summit provides us with a table of damage by bolt level, but it only
goes up to bolt level 59, and that means we're 25 levels short. However, the
damage goes up at a constant rate, and so after some calculation, we learn that
the damage for a skeletal mage with those +skills is as follows:
Fire Damage: 616-620
Ice Damage: 346-349
Lightning Damage: 84-965
... I won't mention poison damage; it's HORRIBLE, doing about 1 damage per sec.
If you EVER choose mages, don't use poison!
***********************
NOW, we're not done yet! Just like I gave skeletons their time to shine with
auras and curses, I'll do the same for mages. In the best of conditions, your
mercenary will be using a 4-socket polearm that has the runeword infinity in it.
Infinity gives a level 12 conviction aura when equipped, which means that all
enemies will have -85% to their resists. You also have lower resist, which
is effectively capped at -68%. 68+85= 153%.
Now, as with amplify damage, this is a variable based on how much resistance
the enemy actually has, but assuming they have zero resistance, your skeleton
mages will do, in total:
Fire damage: approximately 1550
Ice damage: approximately 900
Lightning damage: approximately 200-2450
I won't deny that it's some pretty good damage.. but from what my experience
shows, and from what the experience of EVERY OTHER necromancer shows, the golem
will make bosses a MUCH easier endeavor, and mages really don't make things
much better for a summoner despite what people will say.
YES, they are useful; however, they really can't compare to a clay golem.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
X. CONTACT ME
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I'm game to any suggestions people might have, and I don't have a problem with
you asking questions.If you want to ask me a question, send a suggestion or
make comments, send me an Email, and I'll get back
to it as soon as I see it. My email address is kirbix@gmail.com, and you're more
than welcome to ask and comment.
XI. CREDITS
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Skeletal King- Despite being a rival writer, he's provided some support and
some advice. I plan to do the same! read his in a while; it should reflect
my style a bit more, and perhaps be better than mine!... well, maybe not
THAT good...
The Arreast Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/)- Best website on the
net for Diablo 2; I owe them a lot of information.
GameFAQs and CjayC- My favorite gaming website, it's a pleasure to write here.
