'lich' build help

[Kossuths Will]

hi all,

trying my 1st lich build (poison nova/skel mages), and am starting to have some doubts. i found a necro pet calculator, and according to it, the upper end damage with skel mage maxed and 1 pt in skel master is a lousy 10-38 (lightning). i'm starting to wonder what the point is of having skel mages without maxing skel mastery, since that dmg is clearly going to be negligable in hell. maybe i just picked a build that requires an insane amount of skill adds to be effective?

right now im in act5 norm, and the mages do ok when I have all 8 of them. the other thing i have found is the base build seems to lack a good tank. a 1 pt clay golem is fine if you have some revives or skel warriors to help absorb some of the damage, but when he's all alone out front, he's already having trouble just in norm...having to resummon him a lot.

also, using an a3 lightning merc for now. does pretty well, but given the build, might not be the best option. reason i picked him for now is because along with the skel elem dmg and poison nova, the a3 elem damage complements the lower resist curse well. kind of nice having my low res curse help all 3 main parts of the build.

not sure where i should go from here, as there really isnt a merc i can think of that will boost the mages...so for now, an act 3 guy seems to make the most sense, since he does good dmg and my curse helps. but for the long term, not sure what to do. i was considering putting a couple xtra pts into low res and summon resist before i started. debating putting all xtra skill pts tho into skel mast, but not sure if even that will make enough of a diff to make the mages effective in hell. i'd rather not dump 8 or so pts into skel mastery to find out they're still ineffective in hell.

thanks in advance for any pointers.

[Wizdomm]

For a merc, go with an Act 2 merc...they do the most damage and will help with corpses for skels and CE. If you can afford it, equip him with an Infinity for great damage and a BIG boost to your mages/CE from the Conviction aura.

And yea..go ahead and pump up Skel Mastery with whatever you have left. No sense in putting points in lower resist (at higher lvls it makes almost no difference adding points) or summon resist.

Don't think of the mages as your main killing skill. Your biggest weapons are: (1.) your nova, (2.) your merc, (3.) Corpse Explosion, and (4.) your mages. The real benefit of the mages though is protection for your necro. Unlike skels and revives, the mages always hang back by you acting as a nice meat shield for your necro.

The reason you are having some problems early on is that your build will be weak until you get your poison skills maxed. Early on, you have weak mages and no nova...and poison dagger isn't exactly going to rape the game. So depend on party games to help you level and move along in normal and nightmare, but by the time you get to hell and get geared up, I think you will like the results.

Good luck.

[Kossuths Will]

thanks. the other thing i was considering pumping a few pts into was clay golem. that thing can take quite a beating once you put some pts into it.

OK one final question...should i be using lower resist to boost the nova and mage dmg, or amp damage/decrepify to help the merc and corpse exp dmg?

debating between a defiance and holy freeze merc. on one hand my ice mages can slow things down a little, but not to the extent and range the HF merc could. oh and i dont think i'll be able to afford an infinity anytime soon lol, i'm depressingly equipment poor :)

[Kalkanor]

thanks. the other thing i was considering pumping a few pts into was clay golem. that thing can take quite a beating once you put some pts into it.

OK one final question...should i be using lower resist to boost the nova and mage dmg, or amp damage/decrepify to help the merc and corpse exp dmg?

debating between a defiance and holy freeze merc. on one hand my ice mages can slow things down a little, but not to the extent and range the HF merc could. oh and i dont think i'll be able to afford an infinity anytime soon lol, i'm depressingly equipment poor :)

if i was you i would use lower resist since half of CEs damage is fire that will b boosted and if ou pick a HF merc it will boost his cold damage^^

[billking]

I think the best build for a "lich" is....
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Raise Skeletal Mage
20 Dim Vision
20 Fire Golem (actually haven't tried this, but I know Clay works)
20 Golem Mastery
prereqs
Act 1 Normal mercenary, geared for damage output only, no defense considerations whatsoever
Infinity polearm worn by necro highly recommended (can't use Lower Resist much since it overrides Dim Vision)

It would end up playing a lot like this YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O8xFvZ6npM), except faster kill speed.