Summon Help

[theShockeR]

My summon necro is level 56. I have level 24 raise skeleton, level 19 skeleton mastery. One point in all the pre reqs. One point in all the curses. My raise skeleton mage and revive only have 1 point but are level 4 from gear. I can kill just about everything in act 5 nm, and I can run WS but when I get to baals minions, I take down the first set no problem at all, then I get to the second set and my skellys drop like they are nothing. I usually have to TP and go summon one to two more armys doing that battle, then I have no chance at all during act 3. I make sure during the second wave to keep re summoning everything as fast as I can and I spam corpse explosion best I can. But it doesn't really seem to work.

My gear is really crappy but goes as follows:
Helm: Rare circlet +10 str + 25 health + 10 all res (only good mods on it)
Weapon: Unique bone wand (+2 to necro skills)
Armor: Magical armor that does +76 to health
Shield: Bone shield that does increase blocking chance and faster block rate, adds to life and like 19% all resistances
Gloves: Sanders gloves (Best I have found, I know they arn't necro gloves)
Ring1: Nagle ring
Ring2: Rare ring with +str and life
Belt: Magical belt with +47 life
Boots: Rare boots that have no useful mods but it's the best I have
Amulet: +1 necro skills 10% FCR

I have no good charms except for some +str + life ones that are kind of crappy. In a private one player game, am I doing about normal in terms of damage? Level 56, I can't even do baal's minions. I joined a public game and they did all the minions and left, I was the only person left in the game with a full army, went in the chamber to fight baal. He killed all of my summons in a matter of seconds, even with a clay golem out and decrep on him. Kind of discouraged atm.

[ShotgunOpera]

Do you have a point in summon resist? If not the poison is probably whats slaughtering your skellies. For Baal, at least 1 cold mage + decrep + CG should make him easy.

If you don't have a pt in Summon Resist, invest one (should only need 1).

[theShockeR]

No, I don't have any points in SR. But even when I get passed that second wave of minions. The 3rd wave just blows through my skellies faster then the second wave. Is that normal? What level should a summon necro be able to solo NM baal on a easy/constant basis?

[ShotgunOpera]

The level is not so much what matters, but I am pretty confident that your summons have 0 resists without Summon Resist, and they are also affected by the NM -40 penalty (meaning they have -40 Resists). There for elemental damage (psn, hydras, baals cold arrow thing) > your skellies.

[theShockeR]

Do you have a necro? Or did you have an untwinked one? Was your necro able to defeat NM baal on a regular basis at level 56?

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

Without one point in summon resist...your skeletons are toast during nm baal. Also...if you have a act2 merc with might...it would help with the killing power of the skeletons.

HoS

[BobCox]

Summon Resist is needed to keep them up in NM, also you did not mention a Golum? 1 pt the clay its slow effect helps a lot, I generally don't 1 point all the curses as I will pick up quite a few from gear. Do Amp wait for 1 to drop then 1 CE, then Revive or Skell if you lost any (but not mages at 1 point the only use is PSN ones to keep them from regenerating life) 1-2 times then CE again. Keep everything amped at all times and if your merc is a A2 Might near your level and you feed him pots (Antidotes in PSN round or he is gone fast) to keep him up you should be good.

[theShockeR]

Yeah I use fire golem for leveling and clay golem for bosses. I always have amp up and my merc is a level 50 might merc, with absolute garbage gear.

I'll have to level up and get a point in to summon resist then asap. Thanks for the advice.

[BlargX]

Yeah, summon resist is really nice. Plus if you get your plus skills adding to it, it quickly gets even better. It's a huge skill, get it next.

Also, you don't have skeleton mastery maxed. It really helps your skeletons a lot. You should max it.

Is there anything interesting on your wand besides the +2 necro skills? By the time you're in Nightmare acts 2 and 3, you start to see a ton of those, even a rare +3 summoning skills wand, and once in a while you get some really good additional mods. For instance, I have one that has +3 revives on it, and another that has +3 summon resist. I'd strongly suggest shopping for +2 or +3 skills ones that help your army out when summoning it up.

Also, if you play single-player, do you play much with /players 8? I don't redo areas(nothing against it, just haven't bothered), but am still in the Flayer jungle at level 60 because I've played it that way since level 15 and do full clears of every area. Perhaps a few more levels reclearing old dungeons would help you to get some more skill points to assign, and give you a chance to find better loot, too. Getting a bunch of Andy runs in might hit the spot in that regard. I got some good loot there.

Also, you might want to gamble on some slots to improve any lagging equipment, like your boots.

Final note, you don't point out any magic-find gear besides a nagelring. If you want to improve your equipment, perhaps you should start using more magic-find equipment. Even if you can't handle some bosses easily with it, the riff-raff or normal monsters shouldn't be too hard. Magic findings boots seem very easy to find at the vendor, and magic-finding gloves pop up a fair bit, too. Amulets are a very good gamble, too, because some of their magic find goes quite high compared to what the average non-twink is able to come up with on his own the first time through the game. (I gambled a few of them, including one that is +31 to magic find, and one or two with MF in the 20's.) If you can find items with slots to put topazes(ideally perfect) in, that drastically improves your magic find, too.

I walk around at 60, untwinked and first time playing the game through fully, with MF in my gloves, boots, two rings, amulets, and circlet. My gear is unexceptional(I'm thrilled with stuff that barely even registers as crap for the folks around here), but the only time I've died in nightmare is when I have gotten tired and misclicked, mistakenly walking into a room first.

[theShockeR]

I had a wand that did +3 to summon skeleton but I got rid of it when I got the unique wand that I have. I think it's called "Umes Lemont" or something like that. I have been running in and out of act 1 NM trying to find a good wand. I found one that did +3 summons skills + 2 skeleton mastery, but I decided to not buy it, which now i'm thinking was a stupid move lol


***EDIT: my old wand was +3 raise skeleton not +3 summon skills***

[BlargX]

Yeah that's a pretty good wand!

Since you're using skellies, I'm definitely wondering why you don't have skelly mastery maxed. If your skellies kill stuff quicker, they have less of a chance of dying before the killing is done.

[Mad Mantis]

but I am pretty confident that your summons have 0 resists without Summon Resist, and they are also affected by the NM -40 penalty

Yes, they have zero resists without Summon Resist. No, they are not affected by any of the difficulty penalties.

[MasterMynd]

I found one that did +3 summons skills + 2 skeleton mastery, but I decided to not buy it

Ouch! I've been looking for something like that for months! None of the vendors like me I guess.

[BlargX]

On a realistic level, I want one that's +2 or 3 to skelly mastery or raise skeleton and +3 to summon resist, either on a +3 summoning or +2 all skills wand.

Maybe ideal for me at this point would be +2 all skills, +3 SM or RS, +3 summon resist, and +3 revive. Oh, and I could dream of more, including fast cast rate, but that strikes me as wanting so much that God would probably punish me for my hubris.

[leddan]

You'd like the unique tomb wand called " Arm of King Leoric"
It has the following mods

One-Hand Damage: 10 To 22 (16 Avg)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 15
Base Weapon Speed: [-20]
+50% Damage To Undead
10% Chance To Cast Level 2 Bone Prison When Struck
5% Chance To Cast Level 10 Bone Spirit When Struck
+ (1.25 Per Character Level) 1-123 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 To Terror (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)

[BlargX]

Yeah that would be a monster to me at this point.

[Scaramouche]

I play full clears, /p8 and rerun areas (for finding items). This way, I got to NM Baal at level 70+ (ok, I rerun a lot for MFing).

Are you using Attract? It is great for crowd control. Curse a monster on each side of the mob, as this will keep basically every monster attacking the attracted ones. Your skellies are, meanwhile, slicing through them taking very little damage.

I also notice that you have a lot of +life on your gear. If you are hiding behind your army, you can easily swap them for MF (which will really improve your gear).