Summoner/Poison Question. What gear to use?

[hejhej]

These skills are the ones I am planning on maxing (+ pre-reqs)

Max Poison Nova
Max Poison Explosion
Max Poison Dagger
Max Raise skeleton
Max Skeleton Mastery

Now I am using a death's web as weapon.
What shield should I use? Trang/Homo/Spirit?
Gloves: Trang Oul for poison skill damage added.
rings: 1x Soj + 1x +19 str 10% fast cast rate ring with resists
Amulet: Mara
Helm: Shako/Trang oul helm?/+2 rare circlet with mods?
Armour: Mage Plate Enigma (available to wear it w/o any str due to anni + torch)
Belt: Trang oul?/archnaid mesh?/trang oul?
Boots: Marrow walk boots.

Switch: cta + spirit eth shield.

Now, Do I need alot of fast cast rate? What skillers should I use? (Summoning or poison and bone ones)

Any input on my gear/improvements welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[zuke]

My poison/summon necro is level 84 and I currently use shako, death's web, trang shield/armor/gloves

At level 80+ death's web is an absolute must as is 3 of the trang items. I don't think it much matters which three, but at least 3 because that gives you -25% enemy poison resist.

I don't think max skellie mastery is important - or possible for that matter. You really just need 1 in it. Definitely max RS though. You'll need to drop points in the curses because lower resist is essential as is summon resist. Without summon resist your meatshield will get toasted in Hell. I currently have 1 pt left to train in my last poison skill (dagger) then I'm going to put 5-10 more in Corpse Explosion rather than skellie mastery.

The reason for this is that at lower levels your skellies can kill just fine with 1 skell mastery and maxed RS. At higher levels your poison nova really kicks in and the skellies aren't for killing but for meatshield. When you hit poison immunes, your skellies can usually kill at least 1 in a pack and then CE makes mincemeat of the rest. Putting points into CE is simply more useful and efficient than SM.

I'd be interesting in hearing the opinions of other poison/summon necros.

[monte cristo]

Zuke is mostly right, in my opinion at least. I'll repeat some of the things said, but at least it will be complete.

Death's Web is a must, but Trang's trio (btw, the shield gives -25%res and the best combo would be shield+belt+gloves) isn't. Usually Web's -res supported by immunity-breaking lower resist is more than enough.

It's good that you have some wealth. Also, your item choices are good. +skills is what counts. I would use a +3 Boneflame shield because of that. Otherwise SoJ or no SoJ, arachs, trang gloves, shako/necro circlet, mara.

It is impossible even at level 99 to max Skeleton Mastery with a full poison necro. Here's what counts:

Poison Nova + synergies (60pts + prereqs)
Skeletons 20pts
Mastery 1pt
Clay golem, golem mastery, natural res - 1pt each
Lower res curse - 1pt (costs 7pts along with prereqs)

Counting in 1pt teeth, 1pt corpse explosion and 1pt mastery, that's 93 out of 110 points. Assuming a reasonable character level (~90), you still have around 9 points to spend. Skeleton Mastery is always good, 1pt revives are a bit costy on skills, but are also an option.

Faster cast rate isn't needed for the nova. It has a 2 second duration anyway. Since you are using Enigma, I suggest getting to the 48%fcr breakpoint. Skeletons will be a good enough meat shield so you won't suffer much from slower tele speed. 75%fcr isn't a must.

20%fcr arach + 20%fcr trang gloves + 10%fcr ring = 50% (sufficient)
20%fcr arach + 20%fcr trang gloves + 20%fcr coronet + 2x 10%fcr rings = 80% (more than enough, you sacrifice a ring slot for this)

[hejhej]

Thanks alot for the input. I will follow your tips step by step.

What in your opinion is the best merc and gear for this build?

// me

Zuke is mostly right, in my opinion at least. I'll repeat some of the things said, but at least it will be complete.

Death's Web is a must, but Trang's trio (btw, the shield gives -25%res and the best combo would be shield+belt+gloves) isn't. Usually Web's -res supported by immunity-breaking lower resist is more than enough.

It's good that you have some wealth. Also, your item choices are good. +skills is what counts. I would use a +3 Boneflame shield because of that. Otherwise SoJ or no SoJ, arachs, trang gloves, shako/necro circlet, mara.

It is impossible even at level 99 to max Skeleton Mastery with a full poison necro. Here's what counts:

Poison Nova + synergies (60pts + prereqs)
Skeletons 20pts
Mastery 1pt
Clay golem, golem mastery, natural res - 1pt each
Lower res curse - 1pt (costs 7pts along with prereqs)

Counting in 1pt teeth, 1pt corpse explosion and 1pt mastery, that's 93 out of 110 points. Assuming a reasonable character level (~90), you still have around 9 points to spend. Skeleton Mastery is always good, 1pt revives are a bit costy on skills, but are also an option.

Faster cast rate isn't needed for the nova. It has a 2 second duration anyway. Since you are using Enigma, I suggest getting to the 48%fcr breakpoint. Skeletons will be a good enough meat shield so you won't suffer much from slower tele speed. 75%fcr isn't a must.

20%fcr arach + 20%fcr trang gloves + 10%fcr ring = 50% (sufficient)
20%fcr arach + 20%fcr trang gloves + 20%fcr coronet + 2x 10%fcr rings = 80% (more than enough, you sacrifice a ring slot for this)

[monte cristo]

A might merc never hurts your skeletons =) Infinity as a weapon is overkill though in my opinion. If you're breaking immunities, lower resist will do the job and you already have massive -resistances for the rest. Obedience is a cheap weapon I recommend. Crushing blow helps kill bosses really fast. Anything goes for armor/helm, too. Andy/gaze/crown of thieves and stone/duress/duriel/shaft/forti. My summoner's might merc uses Obedience, Duriel's Shell and Andy socketed with ral and does fine.

Btw, your nickname seems like a popular expression, but also is somewhat a word in my language. Polish by any chance?

[Later]

I would use these:

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Shako(poison facet soc)
Death's Web(poison facet soc)
Wyrmhide(if anni and Torch are prf) or Dusk Shroud enigma(you will have enought strenght to use these stuff)
2x SoJ
Merman's Sprocket
Torch
Annihilus
Trang-Oul's Shield(poison facet soc), Gloves, Belt
Bone & Poison skillersx6
Small charms(A Lot) lightning and all resist

2nd weapons CTA and Spirit

No points to energy and no points to str, enought dex for full block and rest to vitality.

Full poison skills, full raise skeleton(raise mastery and summon resist to lvl1), full corpse explosion, lvl 2 decrepify

For Merc:
(Nm 2act Holy freeze)
Shaftstop(upped) ber soc
Grandcrown of Thieves(upped) um soc
Infinity in sup eth Cryptic Axe

[Blocss]

That all sounds great guys.
Do you guys mainly go PVM or PVP or a lil of both?
I love to PVM with my hybrid nec simply because its so much ****ing fun!
Although i originally made this guy for PVP.

I use::

Shako(gunna um it i think)
+2,strg,dex,allrez,6frc,manareplsn ammy. =D
10fcr, moded ring
soj
arach
trang glove
2-2-49 (5/5 faceted) D Web
Marrowwalk
+3, perf rez succubus shield

Now for skills it seems I've strayed from the pack, at lvl 89, i'm 1 or 2 skills away from maxing SM and my RS is merely lvl 1 as are all other summons.
I figured the overall life and damage to revives and skels and mages would be better then a few more skels?
Or if I were to go more for PVP would maxing Bone wall for +15 each skill to Bone armor be best since revives are gone after each death.
To reach the 86 FHR BP i'd need lots of pnb fhr skillers.. Hard and not cheap.
and i'm not going to fill in all 5sc's..
perhaps exchange my shield to one with fhr like spirit? -1 skill but FHR and FCR for the 75BP.
Or i could get a 20fcr circlet to reach 76FCR. but shako is just so pretty. hehe
Some input from the guys would be awesome!
For each birth there is death and life once again shall be made.

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

I would use these:

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Shako(poison facet soc)
Death's Web(poison facet soc)
Wyrmhide(if anni and Torch are prf) or Dusk Shroud enigma(you will have enought strenght to use these stuff)
2x SoJ
Merman's Sprocket
Torch
Annihilus
Trang-Oul's Shield(poison facet soc), Gloves, Belt
Bone & Poison skillersx6
Small charms(A Lot) lightning and all resist

2nd weapons CTA and Spirit

No points to energy and no points to str, enought dex for full block and rest to vitality.

Full poison skills, full raise skeleton(raise mastery and summon resist to lvl1), full corpse explosion, lvl 2 decrepify

For Merc:
(Nm 2act Holy freeze)
Shaftstop(upped) ber soc
Grandcrown of Thieves(upped) um soc
Infinity in sup eth Cryptic Axe


You need to try another pair of boots...since merman's are not in the game.

HoS

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

trangs gloves/belt/head (typical set up for a venomancer using trang's parts)
shako with 5/5 poison facet or necro helm with 2 sockets
engima
marrowalks (I don't care about the bug being gone...used for the skeletons.)
mara's
2x soj
death web with 5/5 poison facet
necro torch
9 skillers
anni

I perfer to have the trang's overkill of enemy resists for mainly when I'm in hell...because you can never have enough of it in my book.

I leveled as a summoner...using maxxed skeletons and 1 point into mastery...putting points into curses along the way. Maxxed PN first...then PE...working on PD now. After PD is done...rest of the points will go into mastery for a tougher skeletons. And I use a waheed might merc.

My goal is to get to level 99.

HoS