Equipment Blues...

[Fred Penner]

Im a lv 74 Summon/ Poison Necromancer playing on West/Ladder/Softcore

For my level, I feel EXTREMELY weak. I cant do damage to anything. Nightmare andy (solo) proved a challenge, and I feel like giving up. My 9 skeletons jsut cant hold thier own. They dont die, but they dont hurt anyone either. After reading several guides, ive come to the conclusion that i need a lot more +skills equipment, yet the only thing ive found is a +2 Necro skills wand.

I cant MF on my own, unless its in normal. I have next to nothing to trade, besides a Bonesnap and a couple Pgems.

Any thoughts or comments on what I should be doing? Should i try to rush in people in normal for forge and trade what I get? Help!

-Thanks!

[muckus]

What sort of other skills are you using? Are you using Amp Damage? Do you have a Might merc? Corpse Explosion?

edit: Ah, didn't read closely. Poison. Still, Amp, CE, and Might merc would help. About normal forge, I am not an expert, but the gains there seem woefully low.

[EuroJamie]

I take it you have a might merc and are spamming AD to help out your skellies?

I take it you are also casting a Clay Golem and Decrepify on any bosses you fight, to reduce their effectiveness against your army?

If so, you have the perfect MFer. Get yourself a socketed helm and fill it with perfect topaz. Do the same with a socketed armour. Keep shopping the vendors till you find yourself a golemlords wand (+3 summoning skills). Use this to prebuff your army (ie summon them with this then swap out for the +2 necro skills wand - this means they retain the attributes that your +3 summon wand gave them).

Then, start doing magic runs on NM bosses (Mephisto, Baal, even Andy - Pindleskin is also a breeze if you're a summoner). You're bound to get some decent +skills gear sooner or later.

If you still have problems, post your skill point distribution, as it could be here you're going wrong.

Hope this helps,
EJ

[JohnnyShotMe]

I have a 79 hybrid so I feel your pain. I started a pure summoner just to get him up for his hellforge and so he can clear the hellforge for my hybrid. From those two forges I hope to have enough to get some decent gear.

One thing you can do with the hybrid, however, is run Shenk/Eld in NM. I did that and got a GA. It's also good for levelling your merc, which you can do in the meantime while you gather gear.

You are also good for some normal rushing. Make a deal to rush someone and you get to keep drops. The boss drops may give you a quickie item or three.

[gvandale]

Fred:
I would greatly suggest you reading the guides. I would not suggest going with a poison / summon hybrid if you cannot amass a decent amount of + skills. Both my guide and all the recommendations for 'cheaper' gear seem to be definately out of your price range atm.

So, I'd suggest going with the 'standard' summoner build.

g

(http://rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=161667)

[Fred Penner]

Thanks everyone, for the helpful advice. The other day, I was lucky enough to trade three pgems for trang's armor, which im now using. The +2 to necro skills is making a big difference, and I have a renewed interest in my necromancer.

I never used a clay golem before, and im not sure if i can afford to put the skill points into one.

What im aiming for (skill wise)

20 Skeleton Warrior
20 Skeletal Mastery

20 Poison Dagger
20 Poison Explosion
20 Poison Nova

And one for Amp Damage, and Decripify (including the prerequisites)

Of course, Im not quite there yet, but both my skeletal warrior and mastery are maxed.

Thanks for all the helpful tips and advice, Ill be sure to keep them in mind!

:)

[danc133]

Thanks everyone, for the helpful advice. The other day, I was lucky enough to trade three pgems for trang's armor, which im now using. The +2 to necro skills is making a big difference, and I have a renewed interest in my necromancer.

I never used a clay golem before, and im not sure if i can afford to put the skill points into one.

What im aiming for (skill wise)

20 Skeleton Warrior
20 Skeletal Mastery

20 Poison Dagger
20 Poison Explosion
20 Poison Nova

And one for Amp Damage, and Decripify (including the prerequisites)

Of course, Im not quite there yet, but both my skeletal warrior and mastery are maxed.

Thanks for all the helpful tips and advice, Ill be sure to keep them in mind!

:)


I'm no expert by any stretch of the immagination but I personally believe you'll get more mileage out of 1 point in each of CG, GM, and SR then maxing your poison synergy last. My point is you have a minion available even without a corpse and you make your existing skellies tougher by giving them resist. With all the elemental dmg in hell your skellies will need it. Your clay isn't going to kill anything but will help with crowd control and can save you life long enough to portal out or take the heat off of your merc. Your plus skills will make him enough of a tank and he is dirt cheap (pardon the pun) to cast.

First round is on me :drink: :buddies:

[Fred Penner]

I have a point into CG, GM, and SM. Its helping, and yeah, it was worth it

I was just reading that the full trangs set grants you +3 to all skills!

Is it worth it to collect the full trangs set, or should I go for different equipment?

[JoJeck]

Full trangs is a good set of equipment for a poison hybrid. My Hybrid used it very successfully during the last ladder season. In fact I was lucky enough to find the Trangs armour today, while questing with my summoner on the ladder ... and he put it on straight away :) those +2 summoning skills are great.

[Aron Figaro]

Yeah, but is the Trang's cast rate bug still...bugged? If so, I wouldn't use it if you want to put any emphasis on corpse explosion...

[Mad Mantis]

Yeah, but is the Trang's cast rate bug still...bugged?

It is still bugged from what I hear.

But even if it is, why not use it with CE. Ok so you cast slower, but with a good level CE you can clear a screen of monsters and the only thing giving you some trouble would be cows.

[JoJeck]

The cast rate bug only really affects bonemancers who spam spears or spirits. Necros built along the lines of summoner or poison and especially the hybrid can benifit greatly from the Full Trangs set and cast rate has little effect in their play.

[Aron Figaro]

I guess it depends just how much CE you're going for. If you have a CE that can hit a whole room really hard, you're fine, lol.

[Fred Penner]

Im not using CE, so cast rate isnt a big deal to me.

=)