Necromancer Stat points

[Teslablade]

Well I was just wondering what stat does the necromancer need most? On my 17 necro i started recently, i put most into vitality and energy, and a tad bit into strength. Is this a good what to do my stats? I have 200 health and about 160 or 170 mana. I have just enough str to wear my Armour.

[Mursilis]

The general idea is just enough Strength to wear all of your end game equipment and zero into Energy. If you wish to go max block (need good blocking shield to begin with) then just enough points in Dexterity for that and the rest into Vitality.

[dryzalizer]

It depends a bit on if you're SC or HC, modded or unmodded, but I'll give you a general idea for Necros and almost every other char. Enough Str to wear your gear after ALL charms and gear str bonuses (think about your endgame gear plan). Enough dex for max block with your endgame shield/head (dex can also be base if you plan to go max vita and have minions to protect you from getting hit). Everything else into vita. Base energy. You will have mana problems at the start, so people generally go with items that give mana, socket sapphires, items with dmg to mana, and most importantly a merc with the runeword Insight. You can get a 4os poleaxe pretty easily in hell with another character, or trade for one with pgems. Good luck!

edit: pwned by Mursilis, but hopefully I said something useful too.

[Teslablade]

Well, I'm probably going to start over now so one more question, what skill line is better to go, poison or bone?

[Findux]

IMO poison is better than bone in PvM if you don't have good items (which I suppose you haven't), and you can easily combine it with summoning tree. Bone requires to max 5 skills to get max damage, while poison only requires three, which means stronger skeletons.

[dryzalizer]

Bone has CE, which is all you need even with beginner gear if you make a fishymancer. Check out the guide, the build is considered one of the best if you're just starting out.

[Ryum]

I wish I had a better understanding of what people meant when it came to strength and ect

I spent like 60 pts in str, and I shouldn't have.
Luckily I knew from a long time ago not to spend any in energy

I still don't understand dex, but for my summoner i have not put any pts into it.
It seems to be useless unless you can max block, and the only way to max block with a necro is with homon which is cool, but in the end you are going to want a better shield when you have lots of high end items and that +2 to skills is weighing you down vs other shields.

So if I could do it all again I would have my necro spend every pt into Vit, and lets charms and ect take care of str for me.

[curby]

I have lots of high end stuff on my nec but I still use Homunculus. =) Max block is indispensable to me.

Nightfish himself said:

whoever says max block is meaningless on chars like a fishymancer hasn't done his research or his math, or if he has done them, he did them wrong. Plus, there's also the outside possibility that he's retarded...

Quoted from the primer I'm working on:

DEX: The question of whether or not to achieve maximum blocking has always been a point of contention, but this build uses it. Consider how we might spend our attribute points. We do not need Strength or Energy, so we distribute our points between Dexterity and Vitality. At level 90 we need 203 Dexterity to achieve max blocking with the Homunculus. Subtracting 89 for equipment, Torch/Anni, and initial value, we only need to invest 114 points, a difference of 228 life. Being able to negate 75% of physical attacks is certainly worth it. Just remember to walk instead of run so there is no penalty to your chance to block.

VIT: Points not used above should be placed here. Life is obviously important, but the Necromancer only receives 2 life for each point spent in Vitality, so he can look to equipment and charms for life and spend the attribute points in other areas for a more effective result.

The only other viable option for an end-game summoner is Spirit. It gives you overall skills which helps Teleport, but that isn't too important with an Insight Golem. Compared to Homunculus, it offers FHR, and FCR. I take a hit on FHR but I have enough FCR from Hoto, Arach, and Trang's Gloves to hit the 75FCR breakpoint anyway.

[skyf]

Yeah listen to curby he knows what hes quote / talkin about. Another thing to consider is faster block rate. Cause your blocking means ALOT less if you cant block fast enough.