Companion for a low-end comandomancer

[k0d3]

Me and my brother are trying to build a team that can go through hell with out much problem, he was leaning towards a druid since the spirits wont be attacked as often specialy with the shambling bone buffer my skellies can provide and maybe his summons (wolves or bear) but i have no clue...

This is sort of what i had in mind:

Necro:

**SKILLS**
20 mastery
20 raise skelleton
20 magi
1 gumby
1 golem mastery
1 iron
1 summon resist
1 blood golem
1 iron golem
5+ revives (just for the sake of having more meat shields and for baal)

1 in all curses (what curses??? i know amp and maybe lower resists if its and
huntermentalist... but then what attract?)

1 pre reqs
5+ corpse explotion

as for gear... i gues pretty much whatever i can find along the way or trade for gems since its gonna be next ladder sesson. one thing i do want on him is Cresent Moon

10% Chance To Cast Level 17 Chain Lightning On Striking
7% Chance To Cast Level 13 Static Field On Striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+180-220% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+9-11 Magic Absorb (varies)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30 Charges)

since that gives me extra meet shield and if we got for a druis he doesnt have to spend much on spirit wolves and gives me ITD which is always useful for a necro... else u get caught in situations where u have a 2% chance to hit a house...

another runeword i was leaning towards was Passion:

+25% Increased Attack Speed
+160-210% Enhanced Damage
50-80% Bonus To Attack Rating (varies)
+75% Damage To Undead
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
+1 To Berserk
+1 To Zeal
Hit Blinds Target +10
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
Level 3 Heart of Wolverine (12 Charges)

mainly for the bonus to AR, the addition of Zeal as well as the HoW charges which would mean he only has to spend points in oak to boost life of skellies and that was also durability.

and of course a summoners wand and head on switch for pre-buffing.

as for the druid (if thats a wise choice) we wanted to go for a mee-huntermentalist or a fury WW with summon support to get the advantage of the great life boost.

rought example of skill points would be:

Druid

**SKILLS**

**Summoning**
1 raven
~10 oak sage
5 spirit wolf (to get all 5 and to get some % AR increase)
1+ poison creeper
1+ carrion vine
10 dire wolf
10 grizzly


**Elemental** (optional)
20 volvano
20 fissure
10 boulder
10 firestorm

---OR---

**Shape Shifting**

20 lycan
20 WereWolf
5+ feral rage
1+ rabies (if we land a carrion wind i guess we could add more)
20 fury

Berfore people go off saying that u cant use elementals with were form... i do realize that thats why i put the huge OR between them.

about gear for that tree huging fellow... dunno if we got for huntermentalist think a helm with + elemental + armagedon would be nice, specially since its synergized and he would be attaking along side our minions...

as for wep maybe dark clan crusher...


Now my question is what would be a necro's best pal? what sort of equipment me as a necro would be looking @ to help? and what would he need to support my army? and even IF a that shaggy tree huger would be a necros best right hand?

On the other hand... What are your sugestions? maybe gear changes, character changes? why are we doing this? would it work? any1 interested if working something like this out?

Any imput ud have would be greatly appreciated

thanks in advice

k0D3;-

[Gix]

Since you already have a lot of meat shields with your summoned minions, your bro should go the elemental route. Please check the stickied guides for all the answers to your questions in the respective forums. All we will do here is repeat what is already stated in the guides.

[k0d3]

point taken but i cant find in any of the guides and what really interest me is what u think would be the best companion for a necro... i only extended the issue about the druid b/c it's the class im most familiar other than necro...

what other class other than a dedicated curse b***h would be helpful for a necro in the long run?

[Gix]

Commandomancer (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?p=2100434#post2100434)

Wind Druid (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=238126)

Fire Druid (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=541)

Summon Druid (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=212232)

Look through these. If you still have questions feel free to ask. Hope this helps.

In my opinion, there is no definite "best" companion for a Necromancer. Some good ones (also IMO) are Paladins for their auras and Druids for their Oak Sage/HoW and elemental backup. You want something that can help out the skeletons and kill at the same time. Barbs are good for their warcries but not much else. They can tank, but all your skeletons are tanks anyway. Vines eat corpses so be careful with that.

[batuchka]

Wow wished my bro was into LOD and not Star Craft hehe. Yes i agree a pally/druid/barb make good party members but a fire/lightning sorc would rock too - no cold so no shattered corpses hehe. If you are set with a sort of zookeeper with maxed raise skelly, skelly mastery and mages with +10 to necro skills from gear why not invest 5 points into Lower Resist (-60 elemental resist) and this would really be an asset if your bro goes with a elemental/summon druid or sorc :D Hmm actually i dun think its a good idea to go melee with a summoner necro as AR is low w/o investment in poison dagger and that ITD from Crescent Moon works on normal monsters not super uniqs/bosses. Why not slap that (in eth Ogre Axe) on a might merc and maybe your bro employs a Blessed Aim merc with Insight in an elite polearm? Then you guys have static, high AR for summons,huge mana regen, might and more life from Oak? Then u guys can cast spells and CE to hell cometh :P Actually barbs aren't that bad - if your bro went with a berserker/concentrate (IK barb?) with warcry to stun stuff that'll be a good party member with his BO/Shout as well IMO. Why even a Trap/MA assasin benefits from you having lower resist and amp hehe. Also if your bro loves melee then a fireclaws/maul hybrid werebear with a grizzly and shockwave (duress, jalals, etc) would rock with lower resist/amp hehe. As for your gear full trangs is a cheap yet decent gear for summoners/zookeepers and you could have fun with the fireskills too. A 'Spirit' Broadsword and Seraph's Hymm for cheap boosting of your fire and necro skills is an option :D Hmm for hell these curses i find very useful :

1) Amplify Damage
2) Dim Vision (To blind ranged attackers like Black Souls , etc)
3) Deceprify (To render Act Bosses motionless with clay hehe)
4) Life Tap (emergency for dying minions/party members)

Just a point in revives would suffice and get em boosted by +skills works for me. Ultimately the kind of items u have or could have access to also plays a part. Good luck playing in a team and why not mf together as summoners are effective with mf gear as well hehe

p.s Dun use Reaper Toll as it will overide your curses :D

[Mad Mantis]

1 in all curses (what curses??? i know amp and maybe lower resists if its and huntermentalist... but then what attract?)

All of the AI curses can come in handy, especially if you are going untwinked. Attract and DV are favoured by most.




another runeword i was leaning towards was Passion

Don't really like Passion. I find the Monster Flee and HBT to be too annoying. YMMV.




Some good ones (also IMO) are Paladins for their auras and Druids for their Oak Sage/HoW and elemental backup.

Agreed. What you are looking for in a companion is another means to help out your Skellies, or someone to make up for your weaknesses. In case of the Skelliemancer this means physical immunes and small places.




Hmm actually i dun think its a good idea to go melee with a summoner necro as AR is low w/o investment in poison dagger and that ITD from Crescent Moon works on normal monsters not super uniqs/bosses.

It is rather easy to get your AR up to decent levels. Don't expect to hit every single time, bt you can achieve a rather consistent amount of hits.

[Pherdnut]

I'd recommend a paladin build. A hammerdin, a classic zealot, or a smiter would probably be best since all use auras that will greatly enhance the effectiveness of your skeletons. Smiter would probably be kind of boring though.