Multiple questions regarding my MF skellimancer build

[billking]

OK, I've posted on quite a few threads here, but usually I was just number-crunching. Here's my current character:

clvl ~60
maxed RS, SM, and CE, 1 in Resist and Decrep... i wanted to get feedback on this before spending more skill points
necro is holding slvl17 Insight Poleaxe (soooo good)
72 hard points in Strength (for Dusk Shroud after +5 from Insight), rest in Vit
Strength and Smoke runewords on merc; crap helm.
various crap MF gear on necro; I've been going MF over resists, so they're all in the negatives in NM... only 1 death so far, and I've beaten NM Baal (and that death wasn't even resist related... I got a flawless gem from Pindle and cubed it on the spot, only to have one of his minions raise up and hack away at me while I had inventory + cube open, and I didn't notice... I'm good at dodging Gloam shots).
The reason my equipment is so suckish is simple: I'm poor. (Donations will be accepted! :D)

So here's what I'm planning. The purpose of the character is to be a magic finder that's very easy to play. I don't intend on doing Mephisto runs or anything; the build is more focused on non-boss fights, dealing with random unique mods, etc.

Planned future equipment
*Weapon: Exactly what I have now. Having played with Insight and having the ability to spam CE endlessly, I simply can't go back; I am going to have Meditation on me for the rest of my days. So the only real question is whether I want to dump 20 skill points in Iron Golem to free my hands up for better MF equipment. Frankly, I'm worried about the Golem dying (I have rarely died, but my merc has died so many times...) or, even worse, poofing on me (my merc has poofed on me once, necessitating gold spent on a revive when he didn't really die at all). So my question here is: How bad is the Iron Golem risk? Tell me your stories about IG's poofing on you, dying horrible deaths, etc.
*Helm: PTopaz Shako. I'm going to try to trade for one with ~50% MF. I'm not worred about Ist, I'd rather trade a HR away. If resists are a problem early on I might go for a Chromatic Circlet of Luck or maybe even Kira's Guardian.
*Armor: Enigma eventually, but that will be a long time coming. It's more likely I'll stumble across a Jeweler's Dusk Shroud of Anything and just toss 4 PTopaz in it. That, or Wealth runeword, if I feel like wasting a 4soc Gothic Plate. I'm not going to waste a gray 4soc Dusk Shroud on PGems, and I'm not likely to waste one on Wealth either, although I could imagine the slower run speed might matter a lot with my ultralow resists vs Gloams and other such threats.
*Gloves, Belt, Boots: Chance Guards, Goldwrap, War Traveler.
*Amulet/Rings: Blues. I'm generally looking for Chromatic/Scintillating as a prefix and Luck/Fortune as a suffix.
*Charms: No good ones yet, but the goal is as many Shimmering Small Charms of Good Luck as possible. That, and the usual Gheed's/Annihilus/necro Torch. I don't plan on getting any (blue) skillers.
*Merc weapon & armor: Infinity and Treachery. Mostly this equipment is for dealing with physical immunes without necessarily resorting to Magi; the poison from Treachery's Venom can kill the first PI, and the Conviction plus fire damage from CE can slay the rest of them. Dream over Treachery sounds bad because it seems the 10% ctc Confuse when struck could get rediculously annoying, and I don't want to deal with that... does a 10% ctc Confuse when struck really kill any hopes of a item being merc viable?. Also, if Venom (or Fade) don't work, the armor loses almost all of its luster... Venom/Fade aren't bugged on merc, are they? Lastly, is Dragon perhaps better than Treachery here?
*Merc helm: Undecided, but definitely something more defense-oriented; so far, merc items have been geared toward offense. Suggestions welcome

Skill points: Planning on spending some on Amplify Damage; I'm going for only +8 to all skills here, so I'd want 7-10 hard points in Amp to get a good radius on it, from what I can tell. Planning on not getting anything in Golem Mastery, since I don't trust Iron Golems (see above). Maybe more than 1 point in Revives; are 9 revives enough? I'm going to get 1 point in Lower Resist for dealing with physical immunes to increase merc's Venom damage (I know Conviction doesn't work).

Wow. Long post. In before tl;dr. But seriously, any constructive advice will not go unappreciated.

[dcrunk]

Well if you have infinity on your merc I would just go all out and get him on a bramble/ or Coh. I like IG but have to be extra careful especially with a runeword. Dim Vision is a godsend, I would go 10 hard pts. Physical immunes shouldnt be a problem...

[billking]

Physical immunes shouldnt be a problem...
I know I could just run away from them, but I hate to. I prefer killing everything in sight. I'm sorry, I'm going to ensure that I can kill PIs somehow... it's a must for me, even if it isn't a must for most.

Dim Vision also doesn't fit my playstyle.

The only thing I want to be extra careful with is myself. I can control where I walk. I can't control where an IG runs off to. Maybe if I have Enigma it would be manageable, but probably still too vulnerable to certain situations (i.e. Red Lightning Hose). I'm pretty sure I'll just hold Insight.

[Frex]

To elaborate a bit further, amplify breaks almost all physical immunities so there's really no need to overthink dealing with physical immunes. Just cast amp, have your minions hack away and/or summon FG repeatedly, then use CE to wipe out the group.

If I were you, I would find an elite polearm to put Insight in and give that to your merc instead of Infinity. Nothing wrong with using an Insight with your necro, but you do lose some mf and/or resistance possibilities by using it as it uses both your weapon and shield slots.

Oh, and try to aim for an Enigma first.

[sequoia]

I made an IG out of a pride once when high runes still mid range priced on ladder. I didn't lose it at all for about 2 months until I sold the necro.

I had battle orders, nice gear, and max golem mastery though. Its HP went to red once when it decided to tank lister's entire pack, but I had a lot of time to catch it.
I just noticed you don't have enigma.. you might lose it since you have less control. But, insight is really cheap - I wouldn't sweat it.

[billking]

To elaborate a bit further, amplify breaks almost all physical immunities so there's really no need to overthink dealing with physical immunes. Just cast amp, have your minions hack away and/or summon FG repeatedly, then use CE to wipe out the group.
I understand that those immunities can be broken, but even then the monsters would be at least 80% resistant to physical, maybe more. If they are also fire resistant (e.g. Fire Enchanted unique) then there's a chance of using all the corpses on CE and the monster still lives... even on /players 1. I imagine you could just get a point in Lower Resist for those situations... but then I'd have to actually pay attention to unique monster mods, etc. I'd rather just Amp, CE, pick up loot, repeat. It's a lot of HRs to go into a little bit of convenience, but eventually I'll want to get it. Definitely after Enigma though.

I guess I'm just stubborn. I want to try this out, and I probably won't be talked out of it. If it fails, then I guess I'm to blame, because you told me so. I just want to see how it would work.

[ddclone]

I understand that those immunities can be broken, but even then the monsters would be at least 80% resistant to physical, maybe more. If they are also fire resistant (e.g. Fire Enchanted unique) then there's a chance of using all the corpses on CE and the monster still lives... even on /players 1. I imagine you could just get a point in Lower Resist for those situations... but then I'd have to actually pay attention to unique monster mods, etc. I'd rather just Amp, CE, pick up loot, repeat. It's a lot of HRs to go into a little bit of convenience, but eventually I'll want to get it. Definitely after Enigma though.

I guess I'm just stubborn. I want to try this out, and I probably won't be talked out of it. If it fails, then I guess I'm to blame, because you told me so. I just want to see how it would work.

Hey I am just like you, I just have to kill the PI. So I maxed mages for that purpose. But you know what, during 4 months playing I havn't come across one monster that I cannot break its immue using amp damage. So don't knock yourself out on it. I found the mages to be some what useful but they are not very durable compared to the skeles.

I created a lot of Iron golums in the past two out of insight, five out of IK Maul and some from other uniques. They never last too long. The things that will usually kill them are Iron Maiden and the bugged viper at Nilthak's vault when I do key runs.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I don't think you will be happy with the Iron Golemn but you can always try it. If you do try IG you will need to pump GM as much as you can.

Revives are very useful for boss fights and more safety and mages are a decent option though they aren't real durable. Mages hang back and shoot so they are sort of flank guardians.

I would have recommended Dim Vision but you say you don't want that.

You might want to take a look at this:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=575186

[mephiztophelez]

my $0.02 (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=632493)

skelly'necs are pretty much completely gear independent.

[dcrunk]

agreed 2 uniques on my necro and cleared through wsk

[Denzik]

My Skelemancer was made solely for magic finding.

Off the top of my head he uses approx. 599% MF depending on ring choices.

His gear is as follows:

Helm - PTopazed Shako - 74% MF self found
Amulet - Mojo Amulet of Luck +2 Summoning Skills/34% MF (I will find that +3 someday) gambled
Weapon1 - Gull Dagger (100% MF and it was self found so i used it heh)
Shield1 - PDiamond'd Homunculus (great for block resists and skills)
Weapon2 - Arm of King Leoric (Only used for Summoning)
Shield2 - +3 Skill Bonefalme/+30 Resists (Only use for Summoning the army) (found a +3 but traded for one with more resists)
Armor - Enigma in Dusk Shroud (lvl 92, so 92%MF)
Gloves - Chance Guards (40% MF)
Belt - Upped Goldwrap (30% MF)
Boots - War Travelers - (45% MF)
MF Rings: - 2x 24% Nagels (48% MF)
Regular Ring 1 - 10%FCR/18 Strength/+9%All Resist/+38%Poison Resist
Regular Ring 2 - Self Found Stone of Jordan

Charms:
40% MF Gheeds
12x 7%MF SCs
2x 6%MF SC
4x 5% FHR - with resists
1x 19 life sc with 7% Light Resist
1x 12% All Resist GC
18/18 Torch
14/20/10 Anni

Merc:
Andy's Visage
Eth CV Infinity (I put an Insight on him when summoning at Pindle's Garden)
Eth Fortitude

I tend to clear Nilithak's Halls of Anguish, Pain, and If there are no Vipers I clear the Vaught too, WSK Lvl 2, 3, Baal, Travincal, and Pit. After that I leave and bring in a sorceress for the countess and summoner. If i feel like it... Cows...

I went with Mages (Thought about not for a while, but they seemed like the next logical thing and I had way more than enough points to max them) Once you roll with an Infinity you notice their dmg a lot especially on any Physical Immunes which cannot be broken by Amp. (Possesed Ghosts Etc.) Physical Immunes aren't a concern at all. With Infinity and mages they'll die no questions asked.

My merc's Gear is the most expensive... Asside from my shako, enigma, and travs... everything else is exceptionally cheap and or self found. I would say the charms are also the most expensive part as the Anni and Torch and 12x 7%MF scs are not cheap.

Tele-stomping anything usually results in its death rather quickly. I generally have 13 skeletons, 13 Mages, Might Merc, Fire Golem (Clay for bosses) And if I feel like it I do a few revives. Revives are totally uneccessary and generally just slow me down.

Put the Insight on the merc and wear more MF.

I understand your mana fixation, but just pick up a blue potion every now and then as you're clearing and you're good for another like 5-10 minutes or roughly 15-20 Corpse Explosions before you need to drink. You honestly kill much faster when you don't use Insight. I only find myself really missing it when I summon my minions. After that I take it off the merc and put on his Infinity.

Also think about how much more MF you could place on your weapon and Shield slot...

That's my MF summoner... He's my strongest and probably most gear "independent" character I've got. I splurged on the merc, but rest of it was relatively cheap.