fishymancer help

[dingoX]

Hi all, I have a fishymancer, he's level 73 right now.
level 73
lvl 26 RS
lvl 26 SM
lvl 26 CE
Resists are red across the board
500 life
450 mana

Very crappy equipments:
Tarnhelm
some Rare armor
rare +2 skill head
"Spirit" Longsword
nightsmoke belt
eye of elitch
frostburn
tearhaunch

My question is that i have 10 skills points uninvested so far... where should i put them in? Given my poor equipments and low survivability... Maybe boneshield for protection? I've had some hairy encounters since i entered hell mode and i'm sure its gonna get worse when i start seeing gloams.

[gorash]

u mean bone armor right? bone armor afaik only helps aginst physical attacks and not ele which means u'll lose life for sure from glooms and souls.

[dingoX]

right, i meant bone armor... i know that it doesn't help against Gloams.. but it might help against those stygian dolls. Without enigma I will always be running infront of my pack... a swarm of dolls will be the end of me.

if not bone armor... what other skills should i max? maybe Golem mastery? I really don't feel like maxing Skeleton Mage... they always block my skeleton warriors, especially in doorways.

[MikeFord]

Read a bit in the forum, and you will find many threads with essentially the same topic, including mine when my summoner was 72, and last night at 81.

No on the bone armor, physical attacks can be avoided with a bit of fast mouse work. If you move in short bursts some of your lazy minions warp ahead of you. Two caveats, be ready to quickly run backwards if you see ANYTHING move, and don't cast any mages if there are any narrow spots for them to get stuck in and hold up the rest of your crew. Get some teleport. Also you can just spam Gumby (clay golem) ahead of you as bait.

Debate continues on which and how much of Dim Vision, Confuse, or Attract are the best defense against ranged attackers, which are the real major source of necro death.

Do you have a single pt in summon resists, revive, etc.?

BTW at 81 I am still setting "nerveously" on 26 skill points and waiting to decide where to put them. I am SCL, but due to a batch of merc leveling NM cows I have 2.5M in gold I hope to gamble away prior to my next string of dying.

[dingoX]

I have 1 points in all the "one pointer" skills. I plan to max golem mastery...

I heard Ral Tal Thul in a shield for Iron Golem will make him immune to every element. Does that still work?

[Evrae Altana]

I plan to max golem mastery...Don't. It has pretty sharp diminishing returns. One point is enough. Let +skills boost it further.

[maxicek]

Pump up the Mages. Not necessarily for the killing power, but the extra targets come in useful for the gloams, and the cold and poison attacks help immensely.

On the equipment, I suggest you get gambling for circlets and amulets. +3 to summoning skills will help immensely.

[MikeFord]

I filled up on gold doing hell cows, then dumped 3 M gold gambling with Anya, but got a few coronets worth keeping, even a +2 necro, just no +3 summoning.

One pt in my gumby and he really doesn't die very often unless he is isolated, or some nasty area type attack hits him.

One pt in mages currently gets me 5 if I want them, which is plenty for my taste. Gloam attacks go right through everything, so I prefer fewer targets that I have to not stand behind. Merc seems like the main Gloam target, so I keep my eye on where he is, and keep a bit to the side.