necro for HCL

[confessions]

well I just spent the past hour or so reading some of the guides here on the forum. I haven't played the necro class since pre 1.09 so I really don't know what's going on with necros now. not sure what skills are good with what synergies. I play HCL and was wondering if anyone would be able to point me out to a guide I could read or what would be good for HC. I hear summoner is the safest bet, and that is what I'm striving for. I want to create a necro that will be able to survive and won't die.

people will probably hate me with all my summons in HC, but I will most likely try to stay away from partying with groups of other people if it really becomes annoying. I just don't know how many pts into skills I should be putting in. That is really the main advice I"m looking for.

thanks in advance to all who reply =)

[k/t]

Read some guides for skelemancers...check the strategy section. Max Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery, Corpse Explosion, 1 point in each curse, 1 point in each Golem (except Fire), 1 in Golem Mastery, 1 in Summon Resist, 1 in Bone Armor and 1 in Revive.
The rest of the points, up to you. Beef up weaker skills that could help. Stay away from Poison and Bone spells other than Armor since they require synergies to be powerful, and you won't have enough points for that.
I assume you have decent gear, with lots of +skills, which is why you only need 1 point in many skills.
Get lots of Lightning Resist (max is best, to guarantee you won't die against Gloams), it's pretty much the only one you need, except when going against Diablo, when you should get some Fire Resist as well.
Skelemancers can solo Hell on their own and kill anything without problems...except in Arcane and Maggot Lair, where your minions can't swarm the enemy.

Edit: I put my spare points in mages, since I have lots of +skills. Other suggestions are maxing Dim Vision (I find this pretty worthless if you have high Lightning Resist, and level 10 Dim Vision is good enough), and maxing Bone Armor...which is kinda pointless since you don't usually get hit, and if you do, you can just recast your Armor. I think Mages are the best place for spare points, if the skills you use are already at high enough levels.

[confessions]

is bone armor really useless? I was thinking about putting pts into the synergie after I got everything else I wanted. Question Ih ave about bone armor though. Suppose it only absorbs 100 dmg and I get hit for 500 dmg. Does that mean 400 pts will be taken away from my life? if so I can see how more dmg absorbed will help. If not, then maybe 1 pt really all is needed.

[Slipin]

If you use the morrowwalk bug, then you'll have more then enough absorb for the bone armor. But I do not advise putting points into it or its synergies.

[Mad Mantis]

is bone armor really useless? I was thinking about putting pts into the synergie after I got everything else I wanted. Question Ih ave about bone armor though. Suppose it only absorbs 100 dmg and I get hit for 500 dmg. Does that mean 400 pts will be taken away from my life? if so I can see how more dmg absorbed will help. If not, then maybe 1 pt really all is needed.

I would invest some points. Maybe three or so. That, combined with your +skills and your Skellies should create a really nice defense for you. This insure that you will almost never get hit, let alone die.

If you take 500 damage on a 100 BA your life will take a beating of 400.