How Can I Improve My Fishymancer

[DoWatThouWilt]

Hey. I want to know the most cost-efficient way to improve my fishymancer. I use him strictly for mf runs. So heres what my fishy is currently wearing:

LvL 87:
Shako (P Topaz)
Enigma (Ring Mail, bleh)
AokL and Homun for Prebuff
Gull Dagger (w 5 MF jewel)
Homunculus (P Diamond)
Chance Guards (34)
Goldwrap
29 MF 22 Lit Res Boots
26 prismatic res ammy
Nagel (25)
22 MF 14 Lit Res Ring

I also have a Necro Torch (17 18), a Gheeds (31), a Summoning GC, and a bunch of res, life, and some mf scs.

Skill placement is standard: 20 RS, 20 SM, 20 CE, Amp, Decrep, Attract, Dim Vision, Clay Golem, Fire Golem, Golem Mastery, Summon Resist, and Revive. I distributed a few points to Amp, Summon Resist, and Golem Mastery, before I decided to get Bone Armor and pumped synergies.

I decided to go for max block, and I find that it helps me out a lot. When I run into Gloams, however, I sorta wish I had more life. Bone Armor is really fantastic as well. Mine currently absorbs 265 damage. Its not a make or break skill, but what I find is that it lets you get away with certain things, like running in front of your skellies. Usually you take a few hits and Bone Armor is depleted before your skellies rush in and block for you, making you take no damage.


At first I used to run every mf area of the game. Now I stick to Pits and Meph. I found the Chaos Sanctuary a burden because of Iron Maiden, and having to constantly revive my merc and reraise skellies. WSK was similarly annoying due to Gloams. Now I just run Pits and Meph, pick up flawless gems, sell items and gamble for circlets.


My problem is that Im not seeing outstanding results with this guy. He has 400+ mf, but all I ever find is some items I can trade for pgems. Should I be running Chaos Sanc and WSK? If so, what are some strategies I can use in these places. Im thinking I should make more use of Revive, so they can die instead of my skellies and merc. Ive also heard the trick where you remove your mercs weapon when maiden comes along.

Do I need more mf? I have a 35 MF ammy, but that would mean 26 less resists.


I have 2 7mf scs that I can trade for hrs. Should I keep trading pgems for hrs until I can afford a Maras? Should I look for small res charms?

Any advice would be great.


edit:
In case this matters, I have a Might Merc, same lvl as me. He uses:
Guillames Face (Can replace with Tals Mask, if this is better)
Shaftstop
Ariocs Needle (Amn Rune. +3)

[hulldatzet]

while i dont have an answer for you, i have another question. Im making a fishymancer a well. Im only 65 right now but im wondering how well your mancer is doing in these hell areas. I have lvl 28 skeles and im wondering what lvl they should be at to really hold up decently in high end hell, (or even pits/ancient tunnels hell) Long question short, is your necro killing pretty good?

[Arkardo]

Your skill setup, equipment and strategies appear to be excellent the way it is now. I think the problem lies in bad luck. Else you might want to work on your killing speed. Also, don't load up too much on charms, or you have to make too many stops to empty your inventory.

@Hulldatzet: level 30-35 is enough to make everything easy; Baal might give you some problems, though. Level 40+ will let you rip through Hell and back.

[hulldatzet]

yeah i still have alot of skills to get. This is my first character back into the game since over a year ago so i have nothing. Someone did give me a homu shield luckily and a good weapon for my skills, so i still can get alot of skill through gc's, torch, 2 rings, and helm. torch could be a while though since i have 0 hr's and really 0 of anything. Hopefully start mfing soon and change that.

[kykle]

you didnt put any in mages... im not sure if this is personal preference or someone else told you they were no good, but presonally i think you would do very well with them... of course this would mean remaking, so you may not want to :P

[DoWatThouWilt]

I'm very happy with how this char does in hell. You want your skellies to be at least lvl 30, which isn't hard at all. (Lore + AokL + Low Ntorch + Spirit + Vipermagi, etc, etc. All very easy to get)

But really, once the first corpse drops CE clears the screen in 2-3 casts.

I didn't use mages. They tend to die very quickly, and their damage is negligible. Now, if you have an Infinity Iron Golem, that's a different story. But I don't really need the extra 'meat shields'. The skellies alone are enough to keep everyone busy, plus you've got a merc and fire golem, not to mention 10+ revives. I don't have a problem with physical immunes either. It's all about learning how to use the build. Amp + CE + skill = no worries for PIs.

I don't know how to increase my killing speed. Using a Beast would mean no Gull, and that's a huge loss of mf. Perhaps I should get a Maras - that way I keep the resists, but get skellies even higher level.

I always keep a 2x4 area free. If I can load up on res/mf charms and keep that area free, I'm fine.

Let me know if you have any other input, and I'll try to answer some questions based on my own experience.

[Sindus]

I've got a 76 (or 77, can't remember) with lvl 27 skellies and mages and i run the pits fine on hell difficulty. A little amp, a little CE there, dim vision on the annoying monsters and pit runs are fairly easy.

[bmathew]

LvL 87:
Shako (P Topaz)
Enigma (Ring Mail, bleh)
AokL and Homun for Prebuff
Gull Dagger (w 5 MF jewel)
Homunculus (P Diamond)
Chance Guards (34)
Goldwrap
29 MF 22 Lit Res Boots
26 prismatic res ammy
Nagel (25)
22 MF 14 Lit Res Ring

I also have a Necro Torch (17 18), a Gheeds (31), a Summoning GC, and a bunch of res, life, and some mf scs.


Nice gear. You would want to craft a caster amulet for the necromancer which can give you the resists as well as the +2 skills. and other mods. I believe you need to do this with a character of lvl 94 and with gambled amulets at that level.

Skill placement is standard: 20 RS, 20 SM, 20 CE, Amp, Decrep, Attract, Dim Vision, Clay Golem, Fire Golem, Golem Mastery, Summon Resist, and Revive. I distributed a few points to Amp, Summon Resist, and Golem Mastery, before I decided to get Bone Armor and pumped synergies.

Your skills should be fine . I however do advise gettibng the 1 point in mages as they definitely are worth that one point. Poison for preventing regeneration and cold for slowing. They provide a bt of damage versus PI's also.


My problem is that Im not seeing outstanding results with this guy. He has 400+ mf, but all I ever find is some items I can trade for pgems. Should I be running Chaos Sanc and WSK? If so, what are some strategies I can use in these places. Im thinking I should make more use of Revive, so they can die instead of my skellies and merc. Ive also heard the trick where you remove our mercs weapon when maiden comes along.

CS is a pain due to the fact that Iron Maiden will easily go thru your Skelies and Merc pretty fast. Hope you dont run into a Physical and Fire Immune OK. Although you can get by this with some patience and some revives like those Doom casters (was that the things name?). ALthough remeber that you only have to open those seals and kill those mini bosses (Lord De Seis etc) to get Diablo and the rest just despawns so you could try teleblobbing sicne you have an Enigma.

Do I need more mf? I have a 35 MF ammy, but that would mean 26 less resists.

No, the optimum % is 200% I beieve but having more is always nice but everythingbeyond that has diminishing returns. If you find that that 26% actually slows you down then the increase is definitley no worth t.

2 7mf scs that I can trade for hrs. Should I keep trading pgems for hrs until I can afford a Maras? Should I look for small res charms?

Although not as good as Maras you could get a pretty good amy by crafting.

And as far as your Merc is concerned. CB is much better than that extra life leach if you ask me. he has 21 % already from those amns correct?

Hope this helps.

[canudig]

+3 summoning skill ammy doesn't cost alot and you can get one with some res on it....