Summoner skills maxed: What now?

[Mistress Sersi]

I am having fun with this necro. My 1st summoner. Now I have maxed SM & skellies, a few points in revivies, ( 9 points total with items boost) 1 in all but 3-4 curses, 3 in all golems & 3 in GM ( again 1 point in each , 3 with item boost).... I do have 1 point in Skelly mages ( 3 in total soon to be more once I get a better wand) ..... My understanding is that mages are weak, so I think I will leave them as is & allow my items to boost them... I should add that I am PvM, ladder


so my question is, what skills now>?

I am lvl 56, my merc is a rogue that uses the EDGE runeword for thorns! I find this invaluable for my minions.

Right now, I am in nm. I currently use:

complete Iratha's Coil set

angelic armour & ring

sanders boots


I am trying to get a carin shard wand & I have found the unique Darkforce Spawn
Bloodlord Skull. I am also going to try & get me the Trang armour.



SO any suggestions would be appreciated. Tell me about what items/skills/merc choice/etc I could improve upon.

Thank you very much.

[Mandler]

Almost every summon necro I know has maxed or close to maxed Corpse Explosion, and with good reason. Corpse Explosion is especially useful if you necro is used for MF, enabling you to clear whole rooms with just two or three clicks. It's especially useful in Hell with all the immunities, since CE is 50% fire and 50% physical damage. You might want amp to be up by a few levels to increase its radius, saving more casting time for corpse explosion. And really, if you're terribly overstocked with points, put one into Bone Armor and each of its synergies. You +skills should give a decent amount of HP bonus to help you out.

As for Merc, most summoners use an Act 2 Offensive merc, which gives all your skellies might to boost their attacks. While thorns does work, an effective team of skellis would be able to blow through enemies fast enough (especially with CE) that thorns wouldn't even make a difference. But regardless of whatever mercenary you use, you're going to need to give them some form of crushing blow, especially in end of nightmare and all of hell. By those times, your minions will deal pitiful damage to act bosses, making battles slow and unerving even with curses. If your merc can land off a few crushing blows (Drops boss' current HP by 1/10 IIRC) then boss battles will be a cakewalk. As a suggestion, the Strength runeword is a very cheap and effective source of crushing blow.

[Mistress Sersi]

Thank you for advice. Since my 1st post, I have lvled up to 60. I have acquired Trang armour & gloves, along with carin shard wand & a +2 summon circlet. I think I will have to look at CE......

[Mistress Sersi]

I decided to bump up CE so that I have a 10 yard radius. I am now pumping up Iron Golem. I love to make golems out of uniques & set items!

Currently, lvl 23 GM, lvl 19 IM. I am lvl 84