Some questions regarding my summoner

[Hrothgar]

Hi there,

I have some questions regarding my new summoner..

Right now I have maxed RS and SM and CE.
I also have 1 point in all curses and the rest of the point are still unused..

I want to use an Iron Golum because I also want to do some bossruns and he should be a nice tank..and I just like IG :uhhuh:
But how should I distribute the skillpoints?? I have aprox 25 points I can spend in "Golum stuff" What would be the best to do to make him as strong and viable as possible?? Should I max GM for lots of life? But than I only have about 5-6 base points into IG. Or should I max IG and aprox 5-6 base in GM?? Any ideas??

I have also a question about Amp. Right now I have only 1 point in it. But I use it A LOT. I know that with +skills the range should be quite nice but I have not the cashflow to get Enigma and it prolly will take some time before I have my sojs. Right now I will be using Homonculus Arm of King leoric, shako and Viper. Thats all about the +skills I can afford right now. Would this be enough or should I put some more pionts into it?

Than my last Question...Life or Block? I know I will be a summoner but I will not use revives if possible so I won't have TOO many meat. But is it still enough so keep me out of trouble or should I go for the block?

well, pl give me some advise here :clap:

Paul

[TonyBone]

While I respect your liking of the iron golem (I think the concept of them are cool too), that choice depends on your game play style. I like to cast my golems more frequently -- next to a crowd of ranged attackers or to direct him to a specific target -- "probing" around blind corners (ex. in the WS Keep or Throne). The IG won't work for such things. So if he should die in a boss fight, you might be scrambling to replace him. Just a thought to keep in mind.

Given the fact that you have a bunch of plus skillers already and that will probably only increase (better items plus any additional skill charms) you don't need more than 2-3 points in each golem type. Instead focus on golem mastery.

As for the curses, if you have the skill points to spare I find that a few extra points in Amp and Decrypt are well spent. Not a bunch, but just a few and let the +skills bump them up. Decrypt is great for bosses, because it slows their attack speeds, allowing your minions to get in more hits. I've found that this slowing also allows my minion and merc to interrupt Baal's attacks. So he's not only slow, but also not attacking as often.

With the homunculus, you won't be blocking a whole lot. Your preliminary line of defense is going to be your minions and your merc. IMO when in doubt pump up your health. You won't get hit often, but a few extra health points can save you a lot of lost experience from dying.

I’ve gotten my summoner to level 89 so far using this type of build strategy, and it’s worked well in both PVM and solo MF runs in all five acts. I hope this helps.

[Loca`ne]

Off to a good start as far as I can tell... 1 point into all the curses is deffinately a way I went too. However no more than that even without + to curses right now... you'll thank yourself later.

Also while a golem is a decent tank, an act 2 Offencive Merc is better, raised from normal dif. is best. Usually only one point in any golem will suffice. Long as they aren't targeted by every monster on the screan they last a little longer.

Finally, I highly recomend, if you haven't already got them, to pick up a pair of Trang Oul's gloves with thier +2 curses mod you'll be a happy man. ;)

Oh as an after thought, I don't like revives either but one point is plenty anyway as you're + skills eq will bring that up to snuff alone.

My setup if you wanted a reference is:
Helm: Lore runeworded Grim Helm (I hate the look of shako enough not to use it)
Body: Upped Vipermaji (almost have all the runes for nigma)
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh (that cost me a pretty penny so to speak)
Boots: Marrowwalks (what real summoner doesn't want +2 to mastery? From thier BOOTS!)
Gloves: Trang's (hey, why not? :P)
Ring1: SOJ
Ring2: SOJ
Ammy: Mara's (another expencive item but well worth it)
Weapon: Gravespine (that's +2 necro +1 curses)
Shield: Homu (I wouldn't mind getting a decent boneflame someday)

Hope this might help some
Loca

[INyCxT]

you wanna do boss runs eh? then i recommend a clay golem.

imagine the clay golem's slow, the cold mages slow, your merc's slow (if applicable), and decrep. that's one slowed boss. plus if you have enough minions pelting him, he'll be put into hit recovery animation.

hell baal is too ez :lol: using this method.

[Loca`ne]

also I thought of some other things.

corpse explotion is an awesome time saver down the line. and one very useful offencive spell that doesn't cost and arm and a leg like bonespear/spirit with all thier needed synergies.

maxing bonearmor/wall/prison will also give you near 1k damage 'absorb' from your bonearmor, it's like getting 1k more life basicly, again a big help when doing hell baal runs and you got lister somehow making his way to you or get caught without your army quite made fully.

[Mad Mantis]

I want to use an Iron Golum because I also want to do some bossruns and he should be a nice tank..and I just like IG :uhhuh:
But how should I distribute the skillpoints?? I have aprox 25 points I can spend in "Golum stuff" What would be the best to do to make him as strong and viable as possible?? Should I max GM for lots of life? But than I only have about 5-6 base points into IG. Or should I max IG and aprox 5-6 base in GM?? Any ideas??

Not that he will be a very good tank, Clay can probably do better, but if you like the Golem then pump GM. The points in IG increase his Defense and Thons. Both will not make a lot of difference. So pump up GM to get the most life.

[Hrothgar]

Thx for all the tips guys.

I won't put any more points in my curses and will boost my life instead of block. But abou the golum..Hmm. I will still have these aprox 25 points free...I won't use them on curses and you people say I can easely go around with my base "golum stats" and let the +skills handle it and cast Clay golum now and than.

So if I won't use the points on golum or curses, what to do with them than?
Perhpas an idea to use bone armour? But than I only have 25 points left so I can't synergyse them..Will it still be effective to use?

Fact is I will have 25 points spare. Curses are not needed, bonearmour effective with this little points? Or I max GM and than I can still use whatever golum I want. If I decide to use IG he will have enough life to last and if I wanna use Clay Golum he will still be very handy, he just lasts longer now..

hmm :scratch:

[Myrakh-2]

Fact is I will have 25 points spare

Magi and some additional points in Dim Vision.

[FrozenSolid]

Am I the only one using Trangs armor?...

[EuroJamie]

Am I the only one using Trangs armor?...

Nope :wave:

[Kyo]

Magi and some additional points in Dim Vision.

You probably already got this but make sure u put at least 1 point into summon resistance with your 25 points. Personally i have always kept DV at 1 and probably get away with none it now (unless i want LR) as i just rely on old Clay. To add and the rest of my minions subtract :)

[Kendu]

With the homunculus, you won't be blocking a whole lot. Your preliminary line of defense is going to be your minions and your merc. IMO when in doubt pump up your health. You won't get hit often, but a few extra health points can save you a lot of lost experience from dying.

I disagree with that statement, because homunculus is one of the 2 blocking necro heads (other being trangs). If you look at it the chance to block is 72% and i believe that high blocking is great to use. In some areas you have to run out a little and become exposed to ranged projectiles but max block saves my summoners, especially in areas like bloody foothills and far oasis.


Fact is I will have 25 points spare.
You could max mages, and put a point into revive which will bolster your army and provide extra power for tough areas like chaos sanctuary.

Another route is putting 20 into bone wall for a strong bone wall and bone armour then using marrowalks to further synergize your bone armour. You could use the remaining points to get revives and get a few more mages or beef up golem mastery. If you take this route and want to use the marrowalks then do not put any points into bone prison.

I have also a question about Amp. Right now I have only 1 point in it. But I use it A LOT. I know that with +skills the range should be quite nice but I have not the cashflow to get Enigma and it prolly will take some time before I have my sojs. Right now I will be using Homonculus Arm of King leoric, shako and Viper. Thats all about the +skills I can afford right now. Would this be enough or should I put some more pionts into it?

Like the others said put only one point into each curse.

You plus to skills is fine, but its in the best interest of your summons to pursue a +3 summoning skills ammy, which will boost your skele numbers by one and make all your summons stronger and tougher.

Am I the only one using Trangs armor?...
I use trangs armour as well, which i like because of the +2 summoning (since i cannot afford enigma) and the fireball spell i get with the gloves.

[Myrakh-2]

Am I the only one using Trangs armor?...

No. In fact, the armor was the first piece of my endgame gear I managed to obtain on this ladder, and I used it all the time (well... after I got charms for the missing 3 str, that is). The other TO pieces ended up in the stash until I finally got the last one... major gear swap then :-)

Currently I'm trying to build an mf-necro, so he'll use Skullders instead.