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gamera23
09-04-2004, 21:17
I need some suggestions and feedback on crowd control techniques for a skelliemancer.

I am currently using mainly attract to keep the crowd focused on one or two of their chums, and decrep on top of that to help the skellies take them down. I'll throw dim vision on the outliers occasionally, especially the ranged monsters, although I don't have enough points in it at this point and I keep having to recast it. Generally instead of dim vision I'll attract one of them and let them whale away until I can get to them.

I also have used confuse, that seems to be useful as well.

So a couple questions. First, are there benefits to confuse over attract? I like attract because it seems that often monsters attacking the subject of the curse will not stop attacking to defend themselves. Also, I can cast decrep over the top of it. Downside is that their appears to be an algorithm whereby they will not be attracted if the subject is too far away (although ranged monsters will hit it from quite a distance - I had lightning spires off screen taking out hell clan). But at the point of attack I can keep the mob occupied and decrepified simultaneously which is nice and safe.

Second, what about a really big dim vision and a really small decep (so as not to override)? Seems like that would have its advantages.

Bottom line, I need to know where to put my skill points with an eye toward long term effectiveness.

Also, on the subject of curses, does decrep pierce the physical resistance of physical immunes?

Finally, I know the generally accepted wisdom is that the skelliemancer should get a might merc, but I am really partial to holy freeze. I just started Act 2 nm so I can go either way but I have got to say, holy freeze plus decrep plus a clay golem is an outstanding combination. I just used it on Radamant and I swear he didn't get more than a couple of attacks off before he dropped. Seems like it might be good long term, especially for the bosses. The skillies hit half as hard, but get hit half as often, and it helps keeps me safe (I am going with no blocking). Anyone go this way? Does it work long term (i.e. solo hell)?

Thanks for you time.

gvandale
09-04-2004, 21:58
Ok you do have some options.

1. If you really want holy freeze (which is a good addition) then equip your might merc with a 'doom' runeword weapon. IHMO might is a MUST for hell difficulty. You may be cruising right now, but wait til a5 nm or even a1 hell. Much will change.

2. Quit using decrepify as your main curse. AMP DAMAGE should be the main one. It amplifies your damage 100% and can completely remove MOST physical immunities. Stone Skin / PI won't be removed, but that's about it. Decrep lowers physical defense by 50%. Though it does wonders for bosses, I generally use it only for bosses.

3. DV rangers. It's tough to manage your curses sometimes if you have a lot of plus skills, because the radius can get wild. DV rangers, amp melee, and watch the bodies drop. Simple. If that doesn't work, confuse / attract in conjunction work wonders. Let some of the badies whoop up on each other, then just drop a CE bomb when necessary.

g

gamera23
09-04-2004, 22:35
Ok you do have some options.

1. If you really want holy freeze (which is a good addition) then equip your might merc with a 'doom' runeword weapon. IHMO might is a MUST for hell difficulty. You may be cruising right now, but wait til a5 nm or even a1 hell. Much will change.

2. Quit using decrepify as your main curse. AMP DAMAGE should be the main one. It amplifies your damage 100% and can completely remove MOST physical immunities. Stone Skin / PI won't be removed, but that's about it. Decrep lowers physical defense by 50%. Though it does wonders for bosses, I generally use it only for bosses.

3. DV rangers. It's tough to manage your curses sometimes if you have a lot of plus skills, because the radius can get wild. DV rangers, amp melee, and watch the bodies drop. Simple. If that doesn't work, confuse / attract in conjunction work wonders. Let some of the badies whoop up on each other, then just drop a CE bomb when necessary.

g

Thanks for the tips. I am switching to a might merc, but trust me I will not have the runes for a Doom before Diablo 3 comes out, so thats not really an option. Hopefully I can make do with a decent lance. Luckily, I have only invested a point in decrepify, I'll try amp damage and might and see how I fare. And if you have a doom polearm laying around, I'll trade you some pgems for it. :thumbsup:

Starcrunch
10-04-2004, 05:12
Amplify Damage is better with Attract (except bosses)...DV is very handy for shutting down ranged attackers. Confuse takes the heat off but you can't use amp of decrepify over the top of it. The beuty of Attract is it effects the monsters near the cursed monster as opposed to only the cursed monster. Use terror to separate tough boss packs from their bosses (great for those guys with fanatasicm) or to defend the skeleton mages. Bonewall and prison can help control the masses but I don't recommned them for a summoner build as they require many points to be really effective.

-Starcrunch

uncreativereally
10-04-2004, 08:53
As a skelliemancer your crowd control is CE. ur skellies+ might +amp = fast first body. CE will kill almost all the rest. DV works really well if theres 20 or so ranged attackers but IMO confuse and attract dont do very much more than DV (for ranged) and terror (for melee).

Mad Mantis
10-04-2004, 16:31
As a skelliemancer your crowd control is CE. ur skellies+ might +amp = fast first body. CE will kill almost all the rest. DV works really well if theres 20 or so ranged attackers but IMO confuse and attract dont do very much more than DV (for ranged) and terror (for melee).

Well Attract will form nice tight bunches of monsters ideal for CE. DV will just let them blunder around aimlessly. I love Attract + CE.

Soepgroente
10-04-2004, 16:35
10 skeletons kinda seems crowd control to me? :scratch: My skelliemancer controls the mobs :thumbsup:

Skips
10-04-2004, 17:32
yeah I find my 11 skellies are good crowd control, and the 9 mages I have attract more ranged fire than I ever will, if it gets really desperate I just use terror to buy me some time, only got amp -> decrep on the curse tree.