PoisonNecro

[sonofjohn]

I started a poison necro recently and am a bit worried about a couple of things, especially considering the games unforgiving points system.

First off, in the end game, with all of the top notch gear, what kind of strength am I going to need to wear it? Right now I have put not a point into it and am a base 15 + 5 from some of my gear. Is it okay to never put any points into it considering the best gear in the game? I just don't know the requirements and would like to know what I should shove into it for later on.

Secondly, the curses seem a bit tedious and I would like to know which are most beneficial and if I should stick more than one point into them. Thus far I have only put a single point into iron maiden and it's prereq amplify. Should I put any more into iron maiden, or is one enough? Should I grab any other curses? When should I use curses in combat?

From what I can tell very few to no people use daggers in end game? Is poison dagger just completely worthless considering posion nova? Right now I am loving the dagger and don't even use poison dagger on regular trash mobs, just on bosses. Although I am plopping points into it and will expect to need to use it religiously later.

Should I invest any points into the golems? From what I can tell, I don't really need any help right now and it appears as though they tend to be more of a burden, besides I don't want to put too many points into a damned summoned unit. Especially if it doesn't scale correctly when I reach end game (80-99)

Also does anyone ever get to 99? I have yet to see a lvl 99 character.

Sorry for all the questions just want to make sure I characterize correctly throughout leveling.

[renegademaster]

Skills
Summons: 7 points
1 point in
Clay Golemn + Golemn Mastery
Skeleton, Skeleton Mage , Revive,Skeleton Mastery ,Summon Resists

This gives you a powerfull little army for only 7 points. Unless you are playing a summoner dont go for more. Allot of people get pissed off with summons, especially when Baal running.
You may want to try some other golemns for the fun of it. But clay golemn is recastable and slows the enemy.

Curses All 10 points
1 point in each is usually enough, Lower Resists the last curse is amazing, capable of breaking immunities, thats worth getting but requires all the others.

All curses have a use, but Decrepify bosses, Life Tap for dangerous melees, Amplify Damage, and Lower Resist for spamming novas.

Poison & Bone 85 points
Teeth 1
Corpse Explosion 1
Poison Dagger 20
Poison Explosion 20
Poison Nova 20
Bone Armour 1
Bone Wall 20 - synergises Bone Armour very good for defence
Bone Prison 1+ rest here.

with 'Bone' 1.11 Runeword their is a Chance to Cast lv15 Bone Armour when struck, this is synergised by bone wall and bone prison.

Weapons:
One of the best things about poison mancers is there are lots of things you do with them.

Stabbers
Hit and run while your summons distract your enemy.
Black Bogs Sharp +4 poison dagger and 50% slow
Fleshripper for its great Open Wounds and some Crushing Blow.

Melee Mancers
Wade in hand to hand combat, and get chain reactions of Poison Novas as you attack.
BotD zerker Axe - Chance to Cast Poison Nova on Kill
see the Acrid Axmancer guide for more info.

Nova Mancers
Pure casters, that spam out novas.
or as a switch setup for summoning, cursing, and spamming novas.

Deaths Web - v expensive - amazing negative poison resistance.
Heart of the oak - expensive
Black Hand Key - poor

So your equipment choice will determine strength requirements. If you want to just be a Nova mancer, get an enigma in mageplate and you dont need to put a point into STR. If you want to use Bezerker Axe, you will need more Strength...

Obviosly a Torch and Anni will help with Str, but you cant use them till later on...

What level are you now?

[sonofjohn]

Well thanks for the info mate. I just finished andy and am now level 14 about to go to act II. Do you have any information on where I can find some more of the infernal gear or some gear that would help me on the dagger poison necro path?

[sonofjohn]

Also where could I go about getting one of those zerker axes and what is the strength requirement?

[onderduiker]

From what I can tell very few to no people use daggers in end game? Is poison dagger just completely worthless considering posion nova?
Poison Nova generally applies damage at a greater rate than Poison Dagger at similar synergy and skill levels, and does so to multiple targets without the danger of closing to mêlée range, so it's much more efficient and safe. PD isn't worthless and is perfectly capable of killing in Hell, but it's a slower and harder option that's better from a role-playing rather than power-gaming perspective.

The Poison Skills Information (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=712653) thread and the links therein should contain some useful information about poison mechanics, particularly if you're interested in PD: this post (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7079838&postcount=9) contains the outline of a set-up that guarantees you kill all non-immune normal monsters and minions in Hell with a single stab while playing solo, and additional information that'll allow you to work out how to do likewise in games with higher player counts.

[Mortent]

I know it's a silly little comment, but if you decide not to go for enigma, the runeword Bramble might be extremely useful. Look it up! :D

Also i didn't see anyone mention Trang-Oul's gloves from the set. They're a must for +25% poison skill damage.

[renegademaster]

If u like the dagger go for it, you can always change later.

A Breath of the Dying Bezerker Axe, get a 6 Socket Bezerker Axe ,min Strength 133 min Level 64, then put the runes Vex + Hel + El + Eld + Zod + Eth , into it. It will take you a while to get the runes but it gives you something to aim for. did you read the Acrid Axmancer???

There is a thread in the Amazon forum about a dagger Ama? I know go figure...
i stole some info:

Hit and run while your summons distract your enemy.

Black Bogs Sharp (-20WSM with 30 IAS) +4 poison dagger and 50% slow
Fleshripper (-20WSM ) for its great Open Wounds and some Crushing Blow.
Rare Bone Knife / Cinquedas

Daggers get +0.75% damage for every point in strength and +0.75% damage for every point in dexterity. This makes it worth going Max Block as the Dex adds damage too.

WSM -20
Dagger (Poignard, Bone Knife 36 Av Damage ) Kris (Cinquedas, Fanged Knife 36 Av Damage)
0% IAS : 10 fpa
13% IAS : 9 fpa
32% IAS : 8 fpa
68% IAS : 7 fpa

so base physical damage can be good

[sonofjohn]

Thanks a bunch man. Would be leveling my necro right now if he wasn't bugged. God I hate blizzard and their terrible customer service and buggy games.

[renegademaster]

Since you are still low level i would concentrate on getting Black Bogs Sharp at Lvl 38, later (lv 62) you can upgrade it useing the Horadric Cube or start using Fleshripper. You can also put a SHAEL rune in it to increase its speed another 20%.

You should also try to get the Trang Oul Partial Set - The Gloves Lvl 45 (+25% poison damage) are awesome, the Belt is nice Lvl 62, and the Wing Lvl 54 (-25% poison resists) - If you put an ELD rune in the Wing it gets a block of 67% which is pretty descent.
As a bonus you can cast Fireball, and Firewall too!
You will need Dex for Attack Rating, Block %, and Dagger Damage, so is probably worth investing in.

At lvl 47 you can make 'Bone' SOL + UM + UM armour, which is awesome for melee necros because of its self regenerating Bone Shield.

Good luck getting back online!

[sonofjohn]

Alright, thanks. How much dexterity should I shoot for to keep a block rating of 75% with the homonoculus? Is there any gear I will be wearing that will give me + dex? I don't want to wear gear for the purpose of increasing it, but if the prime gear happens to have it, I might as well factor it in, give myself something to shoot for.

So far, I have yet to invest so much as a single point into strength. Is that a bad idea? Do I actually need any for the best poison necro gear and dagger?

As for getting some of the gear, like trang's and black bogs sharp, where do I get it? Is it simply a random drop? Is there a place that drops it more often?

[renegademaster]

Block calculator
http://www.baronsbazaar.invisionzone.com/ppr/block_calc.html

a Raven Frost ring will increase your Dex, AR, and give Cannot be Frozen!

You can probably get away with minimal strength, make runewords in low strength armour. Personally i love Andarials Vissage, so go for 103.

Yes things pretty much drop randomly. Some areas can get better items - The Pit in Act 1, Act 4, and the World stone keep have best chance to drop the good stuff.

Since the ladder is old if you do Baal runs people probably wont pick up items like Black Bogs Sharp since they already have them. Otherwise you trade, tough now since again most people have allot of gear. Then there is Magic Find - load up on MF ('wealth' rune word is cheap, & use Perfect Topazs to boost MF) and do Mephisto runs, I always seem to find stuff in Act 4. The first time you kill a boss you get a special drop, so make sure you have good MF, and no one steals your drops.

Save your perfect gems you can trade them too.