Gear choices for Skelliemancer

[MrPipes]

I've got a Skelliemancer on the go, he's topping lvl 20 right now. I've got some ideas for gear, but I need some other ideas from others that are more skilled in the area of the Skelliemancer.

Right now, I think that my best options are:

Arm Of King Leoric
Trang Armor
War Travs (because I do want _some_ MF on this guy, since I think skellies get the MF, right?)
Shako
Homonculus

I'm stuck on what else to use for Gloves, Belt, Rings, or the Amulet. Got suggestions? And if what I think for the other stuff isn't great, please comment! Thanks!

[Soth74]

Im playing my first necromancer so im not sure if i have the best things for him :) but i have:

rings: SOJ + manalds
belt: gloomstrap
amulet: telling of beads
gloves: magefist

[snow_crash]

for my skelemancer, i'm using frosties, of course, i'm on classic, but still, you probably won't need the fcr for a skelemancer, more mana for those initial summons is nice so you don't have to chug some blues while doin it.

[sJw_shan]

Gloves: I prefer frostburns over magefists because you'll just be casting skeletons, and not that often. For lower level magefists would be fine. If you don't need mana given by gloves at all, try Trang gloves. You'll get 15% mana regen as a two item bonus with your armor, along with fast cast, cold resist, and lvl 18 fireball, which is just for fun =).

Belt: Arachnid would probably be ideal for the +1 skill and slight bonus to mana, but gloom's trap works also. Trang belt would be even more ideal for your build as 3 item set bonus will grant you even more mana regen, and a massive 40% cold resist.

Rings: Ravenfrost and Manald or Soj would work great. Perhaps it's a personal preference, but I always slap cannot be frozen on my casters even if it's a sacrifice in a + skill ring.

Amulet: +2/+3 summon skills magical ammy, +2 summon rare ammy, Telling of beads, Eye of etlich, and best would probably be Mara's.

[Dausuul]

The best armour would be the Enigma runeword, if you can afford it. If you can't, Trang's is a good choice.

[BleedBlack]

Never asked him how rich he was...not everyone can afford enigma and the such >_<

My skelliemancer is gonna use:

Helm: Peasent Crown
Armor: Skin of the ViperMagi
Sheild: Homunculus
Wand: Arm of King Leoric
Belt: Gloomstrap
Boots: Silkweaves
Gloves: Trangs
Ammy: +3 Summoning
Rings: Manalds/Dwarfstars

And I don't have many charms so, mixture of +life/+mana/+resist grand/large/small charms.

And depending on what % mf you want (and how much your helm/armor is worth) you could socket ptopaz's into your helm and armor, this is something I'm considering doing since peasent crown and skin of the vipermagi aren't high dollar items, but more then likely I'll go with prubies for extra life...everyone always needs extra life.

[malathion]

but more then likely I'll go with prubies for extra life...everyone always needs extra life.
I really disagree with this strategy but if it works for you I guess I can't argue. But if you are a skellimancer getting hit so much that you can't live without rubies you should probably consider adjusting your playstyle so that the skeletons get hit, not you - you really should only be getting hit when you are teleporting and get picked out of the crowd, but you say you don't use Enigma. :scratch:

[GenXCub]

My Hardcore summoner is also my MFer. Here's his equipment.

Armor: Skullders + PTop
Helm: Harlequin crest + PTop
Weapon/Shield 1: Gravenspine/Homunculus (want a Carin Shard)
Weapon/Shield 2: Ali Baba/Rhyme Grim (want a rhyme head with SM/RS)
Amulet: +3 summoning
Rings: Dwarf Star/+12 energy, +11 resist all
Gloves: Trangs
Belt: Goldwrap (will change to a 15% Tals when I find it)
Boots: Marrowwalk

I keep about 50% MF in charms.

At level 84, he has 259 MF on weapon switch 1, and 368 on weapon switch 2. For hardcore, I think this is a good setup. I think Marrowwalks would serve you better than War Traveler. Get your MF elsewhere.

Remember, your summons keep the skeleton mastery level you had when you summoned them, so once you switch to your MF weapon switch, they keep a lot of their power, you just lose a couple of them. And they dont die immediately when you switch. On weapon Switch 1, I have 12 skeletons and 7 mages. Once I switch, after about 10 seconds, it drops to 10 skeletons and 5 mages. That's still plenty, in my opinion, but if you're just targeting boss packs (like in The Pit), you just have to switch right before the boss dies, then switch back... you'll almost never lose those skeletons due to switching.

[BleedBlack]

I really disagree with this strategy but if it works for you I guess I can't argue. But if you are a skellimancer getting hit so much that you can't live without rubies you should probably consider adjusting your playstyle so that the skeletons get hit, not you - you really should only be getting hit when you are teleporting and get picked out of the crowd, but you say you don't use Enigma. :scratch:

My friend I don't want to sound rude here, but I think your in the dark on a few things. From the few posts I've seen of you...you appear to believe that everyone on Battlenet has the funds in reasources to buy an Enigma, so no I don't use Enigma. Why you ask? Because I can barely afford my Arm of King Leoric let alone the runes for Enigma.

As for the Rubies, as I stated...its always a good idea to have more life. I just think that an extra 60ish life maybe better then a mere 48% mf. But once again this all comes down to my choice of playstyle, and personal preferences.

[spuddogg]

My Skelliemancer's gear -

harle crest w/ ptopaz
enigma
upgraded goldwrap
chance guards
war travellers
wiz spike
homunculus
weapon switch with isted ali baba and isted monarch
arm of leo for buffing skellies
42% magic find amulet
24% magic find ring
29% nagel

with weapon switch (and charms) he's somewhere in the area of 650% MF (haven't added it all up lately).

now, this guy is pretty much pure magic find. if i were going 'maximum overkill' i'd be sporting arachnid for a belt, trangs gloves, marrowwalks, +skills ammy and any good rings (soj, manald etc.)

your gear selection so far is good. one thing to keep in mind though is that arm of leo has a 10% chance to cast bone prison when struck ... which can be very annoying.