Skellmancer Question

[Jubs]

I have a lvl 81 skelmancer with the following stats

Str: 131
Dex: 65
Vit: 184
Nrg: 149

SM: 28
SR: 28
CG: 20
Mage: 11
Revive: 11
Summon Resist: 18
CE: 19
Amp: 10
Iron Maid: 11
Life Tap: 10 (eh.. put one point into it to try it and i dont like it much)

I get +9 to my skills already so some of the high #'s arent me dumping points into them aside from skell stuff wich is maxed with points

I have full trang, pdiamond in my shield because im poor an cant afford to get those nifty runes so my resistances are "ok" there all 60+ ;) I use blackhand key wand, and like nats boots for right now..

my question, is normal for me to hardly be able to solo hell meph by myself? I cant do trav at all solo the council eats me alive... Just seems the skells arent doing enough and there maxed.. Havent had this game long so go easy please ;) Thanks in advance

[Baboon]

Your build is ok I think, there are some choices that I don't really understand, but the point is that you're a real summoner that relies on skellies. Skellies are not exactly fast killers in hell so you need something that kills and then CE the rest

It could be revives, or a might merc.

Otherwise you need other skills (i.e. start over ;))

You could try the poison tree. You have to put less points in some skills: Just put 1 point in Sum resist and revive and mages and about 13 in skel mastery. curses just one point, ce also one point. and clay one point. Now you should have enough points left to max PN and PE and maybe PD.

Or you could try Bone Spirit and Bone prison. check the guides, it's all there.

edit: and don't use IM, unless your dealing with Duriel. It is bad ;) Use amp or decrepify. Lower resist if you do poison. No lower resist with Bone Spirit because that doesn't work.

[Jubs]

Ill try to get a good merc going but the past few iv tried it gets swarmed and die easly, i reallly dont want to start over. Me being new it took some time to get to lvl 81. Think maybe if i put 1 point into like decrep, dim, and some of the other curses it may dig me outtta this hole? because I can lvl fairly fast doing baal runs with people (just got lvl81 so i can see it starting to slow down some it takes a few runs to lvl) so getting the skill wouldnt be a prob I just need to know what to do to help this necro out some. I know there has to be a way to be successful at this game without haveing ALL the best stuff

[Baboon]

If you level your merc to lvl81 he should have no problem since he doesn't get swarmed because of your army and he kicks *** on his own. Try to get a big damage weapon for him and a lot of life leech.

[gvandale]

well ur main problem is NO MERC.
You must have a act 2 nightmare merc for your skellies to kill well in hell.

second of all, you have bad curses. life tap / iron maiden (you want your guys to get beat up?) are not for you. Your main curse should always be amp damage, your secondary being DECREP and your third choice is the AI curses (dv etc...)

You have CLAY GOLEM (im assuming that is your "cg") way too high. Should be skill level 1, thats it.

You have summon resists TOO HIGH. Should be skill level 1, thats it.

But all in all. Your build can be saved. It may be difficult, but definately possible.

Priority #1: Get a might merc. level him to be your level.
Priority #2: Get the curse Decrepify, and remember to use it on every single boss (that's why meph whoops your assss).

good luck. you dont have to rebuild.

g

[JoJeck]

As the others have said you really should take the trouble to get a might merc, equip him well and level him up to your level. A good Might merc will add maybe 50% to the damage your skellies and revives do as well being a good killer himself. He'll only be level 46 or so when you buy him and so you will have to go back to Nightmare to level him efficiently. Try Tal Rashas Tomb until he's level 50 say and perhaps then practice on Nightmare Travincal :lol: which is a level 54 area.

A skellimancer with the full range of curses should be able to go anywhere in the game and kill any monsters. Only BlackSouls and Gloams with their lightning damage are tough and normally not worth the trouble. But with curses, and good positioning with full lightning resist and hopefully some absorb they are beatable. The Council at Travincal are fairly easy to tackle if done the right way.

The key to beating the council at Travincal in Hell with a skellimancer that only has moderate strength Skellies (i.e. RS 28 / SM 28 which is the same as mine ;) ) is in using revives to strengthen your attack. There are some exceptionally good revive material in the area, the Heirophants and the Night Lords and when you start killing them the Council members themselves are just what you need. Also you need to carefully clear the other monster groups from around the temple before taking on the council or these groups will join in and make the fight very tough, and they provide the revives you need ... so that's two birds with one stone. When fighting the council members try to draw 2 or 3 council members into a fight, deal with them and then draw another 2 or 3 out and so on.

Decrepify, Dim Vision and Attract are excellent ways for a Necro to control the battle and can help your skellies in many ways. The fight at Travincal would be much easier with those curses.

Hope that helps you tackle some of your problems. Your skill placement is a bit odd perhaps but far from disasterous and with Trangs you can easilly pull through.

[Baboon]

NM Worldstone Keep level 2 in an 8 player game is brilliant. The other seven players should be somewhere else. If you kill at high speed your merc can get 1.5 level per worldstone level in about 5 minutes.

[snapper316]

Why would you use full trangs as a skelemancer? Aren't you better off getting plus skill pts from other items?

I.e. trangs helm, belt, wing, aren't really helping your power much here?
only +3 to skills with all trangs equipped. Yet humonculus, helm with +skills, belt with +1 skill would equal about 5-6 more skills, possibly more.

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

Why would you use full trangs as a skelemancer? Aren't you better off getting plus skill pts from other items?

I.e. trangs helm, belt, wing, aren't really helping your power much here?
only +3 to skills with all trangs equipped. Yet humonculus, helm with +skills, belt with +1 skill would equal about 5-6 more skills, possibly more.

Because the complete set is basically most useful for either a Summoner...or a Venomancer.

HoS

[Baboon]

Why would you use full trangs as a skelemancer? Aren't you better off getting plus skill pts from other items?

I.e. trangs helm, belt, wing, aren't really helping your power much here?
only +3 to skills with all trangs equipped. Yet humonculus, helm with +skills, belt with +1 skill would equal about 5-6 more skills, possibly more.

it's +5 since the shield,armour and gloves give +2 to tree's

[snapper316]

+5 summoning from trangs set then....
(2 from armor, zero from helm, zero to summon from gloves, zero to summon from belt, zero to summon from wing. 3 from full set)


Now, given trangs armor +2, humonculus +2, (undead crown=+3mastery, and/or shako +2)
arach belt=+1, guess it works out pretty much the same, so maybe my point wasn't as good as i thought. :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:

Dont know. I use undead crown, humonc, t armor, t gloves, +3 summon ammy, +3 summon wand, marrowwalks, trying to craft some +necro rings, and then i'll be set. credendum belt until i get arach's.

[alexmatusiak]

Go with Attract ... keeps your skellies and revs alive longer by drawing away enemy attention, and there's nothing cooler than watching a pack of fanaticism aura enchanted umber hulks suddenly turn around and start hacking at the last dude in the pack ... plus it works with Amp which is your primary curse after all. I've made a lot of summoners and never used Attract because I heard the AI for attract and confuse was warped and untrustworthy ... well believe me, attract is worth its weight in gold (don't think too hard on that one).

:worship: worship the Gods of Attract :worship:

Cheers

Alex

[JoJeck]

+5 summoning from trangs set then....
(2 from armor, zero from helm, zero to summon from gloves, zero to summon from belt, zero to summon from wing. 3 from full set)


Now, given trangs armor +2, humonculus +2, (undead crown=+3mastery, and/or shako +2)
arach belt=+1, guess it works out pretty much the same, so maybe my point wasn't as good as i thought. :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:

Dont know. I use undead crown, humonc, t armor, t gloves, +3 summon ammy, +3 summon wand, marrowwalks, trying to craft some +necro rings, and then i'll be set. credendum belt until i get arach's.
You did not mean that you are trying to craft some + necro rings did you? If you manage it... then tell the rest of us and we'll all use them ! :lol:

Unfortunately the only way to get a ring with +1 to all skills is to find a SoJ or Bull Kathos unique ring. Crafted rings aren't much good for a Necro, I find it better to gamble for good rares giving resists and life or mana.

[snapper316]

did post about something, but i realized those rings were taken out of crafting in 1.09. boooooooooooooo. the class specific skill rings being able to be crafted, that is. oh well...

[JoJeck]

I think that is old information left on the site for historical reasons, the current recipes are here

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafteditems.shtml

Sorry to dissapoint, :( but if this were true we'd all be talking about it for sure and as you can see we aren't.

Edit: you edited your post, no matter it was an easy mistake to make.

[Maestro]

You say that you have only 28 points in Skele Raise & Mastery ?

At that level your skeles should be able to hold their own in Hell but it wouldn't really be much fun... your skeles won't be doing enough damage to get through Hell quick enough to really make the Summoner build as enjoyable as it could be. As mentioned elsewhere, A might Merc is a must to dramatically increase your Skeletons' damage but try to get your Skele Raise & Skele Mastery lvls to atleast 31 (I hear some people have as many as 42 points in these two skills but I think that is unrealistic for most people). That way your Skeles will be dishing out in excess of 330 damage points per Skele... and thats before the effects of the might Merc and the Amplify dmg curse kicks in !!
An Arm of King Leoric wand works wonders since it gives you 5 skill points each to Skele raise & Mastery in addition to 4 skill points to Mages. And as if thats not good enough it also gives 2 points to Poison & Bone Skills.

Poison skills are a good back up for Skelemancers but I think you'll need at least 35-40 free skill points to pour into PN and it's synergies to get your poison dmg high enough to make it worth it in the first place. Therefore being frugal with your skill points is crucial if you are looking at this hybrid. If not then just max CE. When combined with Amp it will make you master of Hell. :thumbsup:

[Jubs]

thanks guys, iv got a merc iv been lvling in far oasis and tomb raiding and its going great got him some pre nice armor imma add runes to and such sooo should be ok now, thanks a bunch for helpin save meh necro ;)

[Jubs]

it worked! got him to lvl80 and tryed trav and I slaughtered them... meph is alot easier now also, just wish there was a easier way to feed the merc pots fast, cause he gets drained when he decides he wants to tank meph or get a little TOO close, but thats just with the cheap stuff he has on im working on some new stuff for him that should make him uber. Thanks a million

[Mad Mantis]

Hold down shift and press the number corresponding to a slot on your belt. It auto feeds your Merc a pot from that belt slot.

[Jubs]

thanks alot! should help tons iv been fumbling around during a fight trying to fling pots from my belt to his image on the party bar

[Mad Mantis]

I transferred run/walk to shift, so sometimes when I want to give myself a pot while running I give it to the Merc.




EDIT: He, they removed a Smiley!

[k/t]

Sooo...lvl 28 RS and SM are just OK? I can get to 31 (pre-buffing with Homunculus and Blackhand Key), then I switch to Gull. But is there such a big difference between lvl 28 and 31?

[Necro]

Definetly get a might merc, give him a 3 amn'ed unique yari. Lifetap is always on a hotkey for me, it has saved my mercs and other team mates lifes many times.Lifetap is something you juse use in certain situations. I cast it on skeletons sense they dont give leach any other way. Find a descent resistance jewel for your backhand key to max your res, or even an Io for 20 extra life points. If you can got the points, max mages, they are not as strong as skels but when you got an army of them casting behind a wall of skels and revives they are realy helpful. With lvl 35 skels,37 mastery, lvl 35 mages, and lvl 86 might merc, i can kill hell baal in probly 30 seconds. I teleport by him (enimga) and use dec and they take him down fast.

[JoJeck]

Sooo...lvl 28 RS and SM are just OK? I can get to 31 (pre-buffing with Homunculus and Blackhand Key), then I switch to Gull. But is there such a big difference between lvl 28 and 31?
Yes, I'd say that lvl 28 RS and SM are just OK and not at all exceptional. You can get through Act 4 and 5 in Hell with that but obviously it'd be slower than using lvl 31. I'm not sure exactly what the difference between the levels is but certainly a good few % more damage and a higher AR (= more hits connect) and that means faster killing. The higher level skellies have better defence and more life and therefore regenerate a bit faster.

Like you I pre-buff and I think it makes a worthwhile difference for my mf runs. In fact I go further and use a +3 Coronet and + 3 amulet that are kept in my stash to raise my first army. Spending a minute or so at the beginning speeds the whole mf run up nicely.