Summon Necro ?'s in hell.

[Thaumaturgist]

Now I know why this is called hell!

OK, so I just got to hell a few days ago, and am playing pretty untweeked.

Equipment. I have peasant crown war hat, Trangs gloves, Trangs armor, (No boots at the moment lol. (My etheral mf boots finaly broke) +2 to summoning skills shield, +16 res all ammy, some pretty worthless rings. +2 to necro skills wand, and that's about all for equipment. My skills are as follows Skellies maxed SM Maxed, 15 CE, 1 in all curses, 1 in Summon Res, 1 in revive, + prereqs. My merc is an act 2 Might merc, and my resistances are all really low. (Below 0). Lvl 67

I died a bunch of times last night trying to save Cain, then went to the Forgotten tower, and died again on the first level.

Is there any thing I can do to keep from dying so much? Do I need to lvl more before I go to hell? I know I have to get my resistances up, but I never seem to find +res gear, especially charms. BTW this is my first BNet char, and I'm pretty much a noob, so plz don't flame me.

Any other suggestions you may have I would appreciate, and thanks in advance. :thumbsup:

Thaumaturgist (A performer of miracles or magic feats)

[Sculpin]

IM not sure how much help I can be, but I can try. First of all I would do NM baal runs to get your level higher, up to at least 70, if not 75. A pair of boots could help, hopefully something with resists. On the baal runs, try to pick up some good stuff, and maybe start doing some meph and diablo runs to find some better gear. Other than that I would say, try not to get hit, move slowly, stand back, amp or decrep the baddies and let your merc and skellies do the work for you. Once they start killing, use CE to take the rest down. If you do find some other gear that you cant use, try trading for better stuff. And try to get your merc some type of gear with crushing blow, mine uses guillaume's face (35% CB) and Ive noticed it helps out a ton. My summoner uses full trangs and can kill baal in hell very easily. But when I throw on a bunch of mf gear, I have to be very careful because my resistances drop below zero and sometimes 1 or 2 hits can kill me.

[Necrochild313]

Sculpin's suggestion of leveling more is very good, but for another reason as well.

In patch 1.10 your minions inherit your character level, and since they have really crappy AR that helps them the most in the chance to hit equation.

Chance to hit equation

100 * AR / (AR + DR) * 2 * alvl / (alvl + dlvl)

AR = Attack Rating;
alvl = Level of Attacker;
dlvl = Level of Defender;
DR = Defense Rating


Your biggest problem may be from your minions lack of chance to hit, remember many monsters in even act1 hell have a lvl 75-80+ mlvl

[cotton]

You don't list your build, so I'll make a few general comments that I hope will help.

First of all, leveling will help. Your skelys do much better when they actually hit what they are attacking. You have raise skely and mastery maxed, right? A point in summon resist also goes a long way.

Also, your gear could be upgraded, which would make some difference, although your current setup should be playable. Your hat (think shako or +3 summon circlet) and shield (humonc) are the obvious places to get a quick boost, and with careful trading, you can get top end items for about a pul rune.

Finally, in hell you really need to learn how to support your skelys. Golem, AI curses like dim vision, and a support offensive spell like corpse explosion become more and more important, and used correctly, will allow you to roll through most parts of the game. Having a decent merc also helps. Take it slow, stand back, and give your army what it needs. Once they get by the to-hit penalty, with this support your skelys should roll right through the minions of evil.

[Wambat]

You are already past lvl 60, so make a game "rush me 4 forge", or join a game advertising this. Get rushed past the ancients and start doing hell Baal games, you will get much more experience from them than NM Baal games, and they will be easier to join since you can see them. Don't worry about losing the rune, once you have leveled up you can rush others for their forge; you will get a lot more runes that way.

[Sculpin]

Ahh Wambat, good point about the hell baal runs rather than nm. They would be much easier and more profitable.
I do have one more suggestion though. When you find a shield that you want to stick with, socket it with a perfect diamond to up all your resistances.

[Thaumaturgist]

Ahh Wambat, good point about the hell baal runs rather than nm. They would be much easier and more profitable.
I do have one more suggestion though. When you find a shield that you want to stick with, socket it with a perfect diamond to up all your resistances.

Another dumb noob question. Why would hell baal runs be easier?

[Mad Mantis]

Another dumb noob question. Why would hell baal runs be easier?

Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew (http://www.lgl.bayern.de/de/left/fachinformationen/lebensmittel/warencodes/_images/bier.jpg) and feel free to raise some corpses.

For you Baal runs on Hell will be difficult, but the 7 other people who will be present in the game are very capable of killing the different waves. You can just stand back and leech exp. This is not the preferred method if you want to reach level 75 on your own and then do Hell all by yourself.

What is the level of your Merc? Make sure that he is no more than 1 level behind you.

[Thaumaturgist]

For you Baal runs on Hell will be difficult, but the 7 other people who will be present in the game are very capable of killing the different waves. You can just stand back and leech exp. This is not the preferred method if you want to reach level 75 on your own and then do Hell all by yourself.

What is the level of your Merc? Make sure that he is no more than 1 level behind you.


My merc is the same level as me -1 level at times. I don't have very decent gear for my merc though. Only thing I have for him is Sparking Mail, and a life leach weapon. He can kill pretty efficiently, but will get killed fairly easily as well. He's fairly expensive to resurect, so I should fix the problem with him getting killed as well (Very rarley happens in NM, but happend in hell more often due to me getting killed than him actually dying).

BTW. I pretty much spam Amp Dammage, then select a MOB in the back for attract. Is there some reason this doesn't seem to work all the time? Sometimes it still seems like most of the other MOB's are still attacking my skellitons. Also why doesn't CE seem to give as many drops as normal killing? Whenever I use it it seems like the drops are way down even on just potions etc. Could just be bad luck I don't know.

I'm kind of a do it yourself kind of person, and even though I was rushed to Baal in both normal, and NM (Never rushed through, just up to), I went back without doing baal/diablo/meph etc runs and finished all quests an wp's. Then I killed Meph, Diablo, and Baal on my own. I guess I'm kind of wacky that way. I feel that I have to prove I can do it on my own at least once before I can say I truly completed that level.

[Mad Mantis]

BTW. I pretty much spam Amp Dammage, then select a MOB in the back for attract. Is there some reason this doesn't seem to work all the time? Sometimes it still seems like most of the other MOB's are still attacking my skellitons.

Attract has a radius of 6 yards. Monsters outside of that radius aren’t affected and won’t stop attacking your Skellies.
Before monsters are affected by an AI curse they need to make a new AI decision. As long as they are attacking your Skellies they do not need to make a new AI decision so Attract won’t have an affect on them.





Also why doesn't CE seem to give as many drops as normal killing? Whenever I use it it seems like the drops are way down even on just potions etc. Could just be bad luck I don't know.

Check out this thread (http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=315386).

[Sculpin]

Another dumb noob question. Why would hell baal runs be easier?

Since your necro has already made it to hell it is tough for you to find NM baal run games. You would either have to make them (NM baal run games) yourself and hope that people join, or bring a new char to NM, look for baal run games, log out, log back in with your necro, and try to join that game. Just joining hell baal runs is easier, just be very very careful, be patient, throw some curses around, sit back, explode a few corpses and get some exp to level you up.

[sir goatscelot]

Greetings. First off, your main trouble as most have indicated is your lvl. 75 is a nice lvl to be before going to hell. Nightmare Baal runs is a nice place to be. Most people advocate hell baal runs, I do not personally. Leeching has become common place and to be honest, if I can't hold my own and contribute to a party, I will simply back up a bit and lvl more. Trading is your friend. Do it. With all the flawless gems that drop in Hell and Nightmare, you can easily cube them up to perfs, and 40 perfs is standard for pul rune. With a few puls, u can get a shako, homo, Leoric etc. Try to complete the game under your own power. It gives a sense of accomplishment and you learn more of how the game works. Have fun. Sorry to be late on the reply..

[KamikazeJustice]

Thaumaturgist...

Let's pretend your equipment isn't gonna get much better for a little while. So improve your minions.You need to put more pts on Summon Resist in Hell. At least, give your minions 65% resists. If you can't get good resists right now, at least give them to your minions, use Amplify, and stand away from the battle. You'll die a lot less.

I wouldn't have put 15 pts into CE. Only 1, and then I'd better that skill and all skills with equipment and skill charms. But, that's water under the bridge. I have very strong minions and don't even use CE in Hell. And my necro's personal resists are fairly low with my 'extra gold' items on. Still, very rarely do I get killed.

You said that 'SM' is maxed. I don't know if that means Skeleton Mastery or Skeleton Mages. Anyway... max both. Use the curse Amplify, almost exclusively with your attacks. Your Skeletons will love you for it.

Now that you're in Hell games, sell items (armor and weapons with skills for gambling... most will get you 35000 gold) and find gold so you can get a better wand at the Rogue Camp shop(Akara). I'd ignore the wand if it doesn't have +3 to Summon and at least +2 to Skeletons or at least +2 Skeleton Mastery. Just be sure the skills you get are from the Summon tree. It shouldn't take long to get a wand like this. You'll probably need at least 200000 gold to get it. Then get yourself an Arm of Leoric Wand when you're able to.
You should be able to get 2 plain Summoning GCs for an Um rune with some patience. These days, you need a lot of patience with the bots and spam sites hogging the trade channels.

If you don't mind transmuting with the cube, try this... Find a Grand Charm from a high level monster... in Hell game... If it's a GC that you don't like the stats on it... get 3 perf gems and reroll the stats in the cube. It seems to be fairly common to get skill charms this way. If you get a skill GC you don't need, trade it for one you do need.

You should be able to gamble for a +3 Summon Ammy, and gamble for some better rings.
Before you gamble, go to a normal game and by a normal 3 OS Long Bow from Gheed (he always has them)... and use the runeword 'Edge' in it. It will make your gambling less expensive. You should be able to get the Tir, Tal, and Amn runes that makes that runeword. Get a Gheed's Fortune GC if you can. It will lower your gambling costs even further and find more gold.

If you should try to save up 40 perf gems, you can get a Pul or Um rune for them. Always go for the Um rune... you will get it. With that Um rune, you might be able to get the Shako, Homuculous and the Leoric wand for it... all three! You should be able to get at least 2 out of these 3 items anyway.

My skill pts are maxed on skel mastery, skeletons, skeleton mages, and 10 pts on Revive. I have at least 15 pts on Summon Resist(I will max if I have extra to give) and Lower Resists (for mages when needed), and only 1 pt on Amplify. These pts are pre skill items pts.
Ppl for the most part, don't agree with maxing Summon Resist. Mine is at 70% right now and my minions are a strong group. I want them to be all they can be. If I was able to... I would max Lower Resists.

You'll prob be making many more chars before you get it right, and it's easier than you think to improve your character. I hope there's something here that will help you... Good Luck!

[rickcarson]

Attract: most of the AI curses are pointless when you are using Skeletons.

Why? Dim Vision - monster won't attack unless you get up close. What do skellies do? Get up close.

For Confuse and Attract its a bit different. I think monsters have a tendency to attack whatever attacked them last, so the monsters start attacking each other... and then what do the skellies do? They rush on over, and start whacking on them, making the curse quite pointless.

So with Skellies you might as well just stick with Amp.

I didn't see Summon Resist listed, if you don't have it, get it (at least one point).

I've Patriarched with pretty much the same build as you, and worse equipment. So I think the real problem is that you seem to expect to breeze through Hell. Well, not with a Skellimancer you won't, sorry.

Let me be clear - it is doable, but there have been people with much better gear than you or I (skills in mid 30s and up) who come on the board and whinge about how slow it is.

Allegedly the Po/Sum Hybrids ownzors all of Hell. I don't know how much faster they are (if at all), but you have 2 out of three pieces of trangs, if you just added a Death's Web and a third piece maybe you'd be better off playing one of them.

My recommendation: if you're having fun with the char, persevere until at least you can do some (lots of) Pit Runs, eventually you'll find some stuff worth trading. If you're not having fun... then its not going to get any better.

If you're having trouble getting the army started, try using Dim Vision to protect your merc - he should be able to take the monsters 1 on 1, its when he gets ganged up on that he dies.

Level... well... I find that going in at level 70 is fine. My level 59 LoM could kill in Hell, but he wasn't dependent on AR. Levelling up past 70 in NM is slow unless you get a good group who are really going for it and stick together doing nothing but NM Baal runs for a couple of hours.

You may also find that certain Revives are heavier hitting than your skellies, so you could try letting the first couple of raises be Revives instead of skellies. And/or raise up your army by running around just outside the rogue camp, rather than taking the WP into an area practically naked and expecting to kill everything. It adds a bit of prep time, but saves you from some dying time.

In the large open areas you may also find use for Terror. One of the nasty things in Hell is running into a couple of boss packs close together. If you hit the minions with Terror, you can maybe then take the bosses out. You don't say anything about your Golem. And your +skills are less than 7 from the looks of it, so maybe also shop for a cheap (but heavy hitting) item and make an Iron Golem if he has more hit points than the Clay Golem (check on your skill tab - use whichever Golem has the most hp out of Clay/Iron (maybe even Fire if you have it - if you don't, don't bother putting a point into it))

By my count you should have 4 mages, aim for 2 cold and 2 poison. Cold for added defense, and poison to stop hp regen.

For future skill investment, I think your Amp radius is kind of small, your number of Revives could easily be a lot better and I'd consider putting some points into Clay Golem (and Golem Mastery).

[Boqu]

some advise from an also-beginner:

lvl 68 is not really very bad for beginning of the hell. I started my hell journey when I was lvl 70 sharp and never die since then. you just need to know how to pertect yourself, play in the safe mode.

forget about the action tasks for now, just rush in the plains then you can do the pit run. you will get a quick lvl up there and also pick some decent stuff if you are lucky. you can always come back and do those tasks easy when you have high enough lvl. I am now lvl78 and still feeling lucky.

besides, soloing in hell feels more than rushing NM baal. you get to actually play the game, you know.

[TheDarkSide]

I just got my Skelemancer to level 90 today soloing for the most part all the way through the game . He is my MF character and I use him to solo Hell Baal as my main form of Mfing . Ok enuff about me .

One of the reasons I made it that far was my CLAY GOLUM . Yes CLAY GOLEM . He cant hit a thing but he will SLOW everything down to a crawl for your might merc and skeletons . Be sure to max skeletons and skeleton mastery too . I put about 5 points in summon resists and with + to skills its about level 10 or so . I only use 3 curses - amp , dim vision , and decrep on bosses . I think my skeletons are level 29 and the mastery too .

You might want to do some NM baal runs as someone else advised earlier . The minions are good exp at that level . I personally never go to hell until level 70 but I solo all the time . I found all my gear doing NM Baal and then the pits in act 1 Hell mostley . Now Im set up good enuff that I can run Hell Baal very easily and feel comfortable with my wall of skeletons . I also maxxed Bone Spear for faster Boss killing . Good luck - keep going at it and you'll eventually command an unstoppable army and wonder why yuo play any other class .