Is this build better than a skellymancer

[mjpw]

Hi

I have played a fishymancer with skellies and CE.

But i thought that i could simplfy things it i had

a clay golum maxed with max golum mastery.

max bone spirit and some synergies

Max CE.

40 on golum
20 on ce
50 on Bone spirit and synergy


Freeze Merc


My merc and Golum tank and i use bone spirit to knock em down and then CE to destroy the rest.

is this a feasible build. I have plenty of +level equipment.

Please let me know.

[Fluffballer]

You don't need anywhere near that amount spent on the clay golem. Even with a single point in that, golem mastery and summon resist and the normal plus skills, it will rarely die. If you want him ultra tough, put a few points, but I can't see any reason to put in more than, say, 5. Spend the rest of your points on the bone spells, but since CE doesn't need to synergize anything, use less hard points on it. In short, make a bone necro. :tongue:

The build you stated is 100% viable, but the cookie cutter builds are simply far more effecient. It's personal preference.

Edit: Bone spirits/spears that aren't highly synergized do crap damage.

[sequoia]

freeze merc will make it difficult to have plentiful corpses to CE, and your bone skills will be very weak since they require something like 100+ points to fully synergize.

[Mad Mantis]

The build you stated is 100% viable

Depends on what you mean with that. He’ll have a really hard time and will need to use a lot of different skills and tactics to make it anywhere near Hell. For most players this is not something they consider viable.

[MikeFord]

Bone works great in normal, very good in NM, and you will need every point in every synergy for hell. When the Marrowwalk bug got fixed, bone necros lost all flexibility in what makes an effective build.

[Fluffballer]

Depends on what you mean with that. He’ll have a really hard time and will need to use a lot of different skills and tactics to make it anywhere near Hell. For most players this is not something they consider viable.


It won't be that bad. The holy freeze keeps the mobs in check, and between that and the indestrutable golem, the merc should get one kill. Then CE will at least drastically weaken every monster on the screen. It won't be bad, but it's one of the least effecient necro builds I've seen.

The idea isn't bad, it's just the skill point distribution is not anywher near optimized.

[natural disastr]

holy freeze
the merc should get one kill. Then CE will at least drastically weaken every monster on the screen
something seriously wrong with your theology. Holy freeze plus bodies. tsk tsk.:liar:

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

I'll take the 40 points for skeletons and mastery over the 40 points from any golem your choose and golem mastery...no problem.

What you should do is instead of worry about either IG/FG/ or Gumby being maxxed...along with golem mastery...why not use those same 40 points and put them into skeletons and mastery instead...like dracoy's guide for instance.

Because skeletons will last alot long and are more durable than any golem.

HoS

[Fluffballer]

something seriously wrong with your theology. Holy freeze plus bodies. tsk tsk.

Theology??

Anywho, one in three bodies will shatter. If the merc has to kill 2 monsters, before CE can go off, ok. Like I said, it's not the best build but it will work.

Because skeletons will last alot long and are more durable than any golem.

Actually a clay golem with +9 skils will have more than twice as much life as all 11 level 29, level 29 SM skeletons combined if he makes this build. It just won't kill anything.

[mjpw]

Thanks for the help fellas. Looks like there are just not enough points to make this an efficient build.

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

My point is not which has more life Gumby vs Skeletons...but effectiveness. One gumby without help can't last as long in hell for example compared to 9 skeletons...going by what the original idea of this thread is.

While 9 skeletons are going to be there for quite some time...and will obviously out damage gumby as well...because of the numbers.

HoS

[Utilitarian]

You would need a godly merc. Basically an all in one tank....the golem would just be a distraction. Your better off going with an Eth Reapers and a Clay Golem. Your merc would be decreping them so they wouldn't shatter, and your gumby would slow bosses. You'd need to put a decent amount of points into him though to have him survive bosses, if it chooses to attack ur clay rather than ur merc. In additon, If there are 8 players in a game, CE only takes a max of like 2/9 of the monsters health ? pretty sure that in hairy situations, you'd be running/ casting/raising/ healing merc. Better off going with skelegods/merc and CE.....it's nice to try and be unique....i once tried to build a summonovamancer, but sometimes u have to realize that bliz programmed the game already, and there are only so many viable builds nowadays in 8 player hell.:cry:

[Minky]

Firstly, yes.

Secondly yes.

I have a build like this. Right now, he's lv 87, with max Teeth, Spear, and Spirit, max Clay Golem, and around 15ish in Golem Mastery. In Hell, Gumby has right at 14k health. He slows mobs down 66%. Diablos pewpewlaz0r maybe takes him down 1/16 .. and that's with no Summon Resist. For the rest of the points, i'm going to finish out Golem Mastery, then either put the rest into Bone Prison, or into Decrepify. I'm leaning toward Decrepify for extra slowing on bosses.

Now, keep in mind, this build is no Hell-Slayer, it's an attrition artist.

His gear:
Wizardspike (-15% req. jewel)
Homunculus (P Diamond)
Peasent Crown (P Skull for Regen/Replenish)
Skin of the Vipermagi (P Skull for Regen/Replenish)
Marrowalk (10% Regen)
Magefist (25% Regen)
Tal Rasha's Belt (+15 Dex .. also have a +4 Dex GC to be able to hold the Wizardspike)
2x Manald Heal rings (Regen)
And a +2 Necro Skills rare amulet

So far, since I am using 'subpar' gear (compared to the 'ubAr playas'), I had to build for Mana Regen. Spamming Bone Spear, I can do that constantly without seeing my mana bubble ever empty. The only time it does empty is when I run into a HUGE crowd and am spamming Corpse Explosion over and over and over .. etc.

For stats: (these are all 'hard' points, or base points before any +'s)
120 Str (none of the gear gave me str for Marrowalk)
Base, or 25 Dex
200 Vit
And ALL the rest into Energy

I spread them that way since you'd have to chug mana potions constantly due to the relatively high cost of the spells and the need to constantly spam them.

Teeth does around 252 dmg.
Spear does 1.2k-1.5kish dmg.
Spirit does 1.5kish-1.7ish dmg.

Now, keep in mind that this build is purely an attrition artist that is capable of taking down every mob in the game, minus Ubers and the 'Magic' Immunes. (Only a few of them: (and I forget the names) The ones that res the dead in Act 2 and the Zombie guys in Act 2. That's all I can think of at the moment.)

Now, the reason I built for regen instead of max +skills for great dmg, this guy is built to last through fights and end up alive. I rarely need to recast my Gumby, and the bosses get in maybe 5 attacks (all types: Be it 1 Fire Aura, 1 pewpewlaz0r, 1 swing, 1 Prison, then 1 swing or whatever) to my 25 or more Bone Spirits.

For standard play (read: non-bosses and super uniques), Spear is the spell of choice. (Teeth makes a great 'midget' killer for norm and NM, also some of Act 1 is okay for Teeth, but only things like the Fallen and Flayer types on /players 1 - either for single player, or actually playing in a solo game on BNet) Spirit is your Boss Killer, you shouldn't need to cast it for anything else.

When dealing with groups of 5+, Spear them til 3 or so are down, then Corpse Explosion your heart away. Chances are that more are going to see Gumby and rush for him to add more to your CE fun! The only time where Gumby can't hold attention is on Diablo. Every so often, Diablo gets uppity and decides to try and charge you (albeit slowly due to being slowed by Gumby). Also, he likes to cast his Prison often, so, as soon as you see him start ANY attack animation, run a few steps to avoid it. (I haven't learned all of his animations yet, so I go for the safe way) If you do get caught in his Prison, just spam Spirit a dozen or so times to take it out, it's got a good bit of health.

I think that pretty much covers it, any more questions just post them here and i'll try and answer more.

Oh yea, for the merc, I chose an Act 1 Rogue. She's awesome for taking out the Magic Immunes. She 'pings' all other mobs nicely.

Merc Gear:
Witchwild String bow
Andariel's Visage
And some rare 700+ defense armor
Damage is around 250-600 or so.

While Gumby is keeping everything occupied, she does her thing on the Magic immunes and I just sit there and regen my mana, sparing my drinking of a Mana/Rejuvination potion.

[McCain123]

If you really want to go gumby only, I would at least put one point in Dim Vision. It will give you a lot more control and your gumby will last much longer if fighting less monsters at the same time. You could even reduce the amount of points spend in Gumby and beef up your Bone Skills fo faster kills. This build surely is viable but no cookie cutter.

[Yokomohoyo]

really if you have enough +skills you might want to go with 10 gumby and 10 golem mastery 1 summon resist (with a viable +10 skills gumby will be at 3825 life 63% slow and SR will grant him 59% resistances) , that will allow you 19 points to place into B&P spells or into some curses.