Summoners! HotO vs. Leoric's Arm?

[Zoltok]

Most of the gear for my summoner in the works is planned out, but I'm really torn on this issue. I have an Arm of King Leoric and can't decide whether I should try to save up and get a Heart of the Oak instead.

I'm looking at it this way. Advantages of HotO:
- Resistances
- +skills to curses (the +skills to other trees are also on Leoric)
- +dex, good for keeping max block

Advantages of Leoric:
- WAY less expensive, and I already have one
- C2C bone prison means I can escape if someone makes it through my army
- +4 or 5 to my skeleton skills

All of the other mods are either meaningless for a caster, or roughly equivalent on both items. It seems like the big factor here is the extra resistances, but it would mean sacrificing an extra +2 to my main summoning skills. Thoughts? Which would you prefer?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

I don't have a HotO, but I do know that AoKL is something you should only keep on switch, as a pre-buff for raising your army. The BP is a potential killer as you can easily become trapped in a deadly situation (unless you can teleport out). The ctc BP is a serious drawback, not a benefit.
On this basis, the logical course is to use both items, keeping HotO active whenever you are not actively raising skeles.
My 2 cents and worth every penny!

[GotFriana]

I actually enjoy the ctc BP from Leoric, it adds some challenge :P And if you dont get hit it doesnt trigger. Personally I dont think there s a competition between both items, if you can afford it have both and switch. If not go for Leoric.

[mongerman]

I use AOKL for summoning, then switch to...gull dagger! Oh the shame!!!

[Mikk0]

i went for hoto.. its just awsome even tho there is nothing wrong with AOKL :thumbsup:

[Arkardo]

It depends on what you want with your summoner:

Magic finding:
Arm of King Leoric for being relatively cheap and the best weapon for raising your minions.
HotO for FCR for faster teleporting and Corpse Explosion --> more goodies. Also has resists, mana and +skills to make good minions.
Gull for pure magic find.
Ali Baba for magic + gold find.

General PvM:
Arm of King Leoric for being relatively cheap and the best weapon for raising your minions.
HotO (on switch) for survivability and faster killing with Corpse Explosion. You can also raise your army with this weapon instead of with AoKL; it won't matter that much.
Beast (another possible weapon for on switch) for slightly faster killing.

Uber Diablo:
Arm of King Leoric for raising army, having Beast on switch for faster killing of Diablo.

[Damric]

My last season Necro was perfect.

I kept a Aokl in my stash for when I needed super strong skele's (like uber trist).

In general I kept Hoto/Spirit for general summoning and teleporting because of the super nice cast rate and resists.

On my weapon Switch I had a Beast and a Spirit Ward (for Fade and resists).

Whenever I was walking/fighting I had Beast active for the fanaticism.

[davel]

My last season Necro was perfect.

I kept a Aokl in my stash for when I needed super strong skele's (like uber trist).

In general I kept Hoto/Spirit for general summoning and teleporting because of the super nice cast rate and resists.

On my weapon Switch I had a Beast and a Spirit Ward (for Fade and resists).

Whenever I was walking/fighting I had Beast active for the fanaticism.

I agree that this is the best setup I've found (except I like pairing beast with SS)

[McCain123]

I actually enjoy the ctc BP from Leoric, it adds some challenge :P And if you dont get hit it doesnt trigger.
I thought the same last ladder until I changed my mind within the longest seconds of my life.
I was doing public baals and since others get mad at you if you cast like 20+ minions I kept my army at 5-6 skellies. Since Summoners are the safest builds I had already passed level 96 and was half way to 97. Dieing really isn´t an option at such high levels so I played extremly careful. In one of the Baalruns the group was clearing the throne ( I was heavily casting Dim Vision for crowd control ) when some boss dolls approached really fast ( DV doesnt work on them ). Most got blocked by my skellies but one managed to get through, hit me and Bone prison went of. Does anybody know Murphy? Of course I got amped and now my choices without beeing able to tele were pretty limited. Killing the doll with Teeth, while being amped would have resulted in my death, AI curses don´t work on bosses ( no Terror ) and wating it out would have resulted in more hits and thicker prisons arround us. Finally I got lucky, as the doll seemed to be more interested in my merc behind the Bone prison wall so I just held my breath and prayed that no moron would throw a Meteor in my deathtrap. I got lucky the second time, as the doll was hardly visable behind the Bonewall and the others didn´t notice it and just laughed at me when they passed by as a nec in his own Bone prison looks pretty stupid. When I finally was released, I managed to get a few steps away, before someone noticed the doll and killed it. I haven´t used AOKL after that day. :grin:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Heh, great story. I've experienced similar.
Sometimes, just standing still is your best bet, there's a small chance that the monster will ignore you. I've been trapped with Fallens that way and was able to wait it out (re-casting Bone Armour if things got desperate).

[GotFriana]

I ve had things like that happen too, and some even resulted in dead :smiley: but look at the other side if it had not been for AoKL you wouldnt have lived that heroic moment :P

[McCain123]

Heroic is definatly the wrong word, if you are caged and standing in one corner of the cage, hoping that a doll, half of your size, doesn´t attack you.

In general I have become very picky about items with "chance to cast". Just try to imagine the stupidest moment, where this chance could go of and if you think you could live with it, fine, because that situation will come.

For a long time I was also a fan of Reapor´s Toll. Then one day my merc wanders over to this huuuuuge group of Souls who had stopped fireing, because a necro had cast Dim Vision on them, smacks the first Soul and Decryptify goes off. Yiehaaaa. White volleys all over the screen and I could see dead people.

[szenhidrat]

Why not using Leoric to create the skellies, and then switch to a weapon that gives dmg aura?(like Beast) I read this in a guide.

[McCain123]

For brebuffing AOKL is OK, still I think you could use your weapon switch better. A CTA or an Ali Baba come to mind.