Nervous about hell

[widde]

So, ive just started playing again.
I have played a little before, mostly SP, and i am a complete noob to this game. Now i have a lvl 70 summoner and am about to go into hell, wich worries me. I have been in hell difficulty before and i didnt last long.
I have full trang-oul set, other than that crappy equipment.
So now i have a couple of questions.

1. How long will the trang oul items be good?`right now they are great but i guess that theyre not quite end-game equipment?

2. Is there cheap rings and amu's to get with +skill? i mostly have pgms to trade with...

3. I know theres charms with +skill, how much are they worth, can i attain them?

4. I belive there is a rune with +all resist, wich i want to put in my helmet, however, is this rune very expensive?(also, putting a perfect diamond in my shield for +resist, good idea or is there something else i should put in?)

5. Can i put several curses on a target? for example use both amplify damage and decrpify on a boss?

6. i dont know what to do with the rest of my skillpoints!
I currently have 10+ skillpoints that i havent spent and im only level 70, so theres more points to come. I dont really know what to do with the rest of them. Currently my points is allocated something like this:

Skeleton mastery: 20
Raise skeleton: 20
skeletal mage: 5-10 (not sure)
Curses: 7
Teeth and CE: 2
Golems,golem mastery:5
Revive: 1-5 not sure

I have no idea what to do with the rest!
Skeletal mage was my first thought since i wanted to expand my army, but those points seem to give an incredibly low bonus.
Revives seem pretty pointless with more points since i rarely use them and i already have enough due to some +skill.
Curses are pointless with more points...
Ce doesnt gain any damage and the radius is pretty good as it is..
So whats left to do? poison and bone spells?
I guess it would be nice with an attackspell so i can kill a couple of monsters before i have my army, but the damage will be crappy even if i max them?
Bone armor would also be nice but it wont be any good in hell either right?

Any help would be very appreciated, thank you for reading this.

[Are]

Firstly, investing points into Corpse Explosion is very good value. The added radius is extremely useful. I have maxed CE on my Summonmancer, and I frequently clear out entire rooms with just two-three casts. Occasionally this even clears out rooms or corridors I haven't even visited yet.

On to your other questions:

1. Trang-Oul's set will still work out fairly well for you, despite being better suited for a Poisonmancer than a Summonmancer. Try trading for an Arm of King Leoric (preferred), Carin Shard or Blackhand Key. None of those should be particularly expensive to trade for. Harlequin Crest and Homunculus would also be very useful, but not at all necessary. After all, a Summonmancer can get through the game with hardly any equipment :)

2. Rare and Crafted Amulets with +skills should not be too expensive, especially if their other mods aren't awesome. Even those with good mods might be cheaper than the best unique option (Mara's Kaleidoscope). For Rings, there are only two real options for +skills (Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band). I'm not sure how expensive they are at the moment, but SoJ would be the best of the two for you.

3. That's right. You want as many Graverobber's Grand Charms as you can get your hands on :) It's possible for them to drop as early as Lower Kurast in Act III Nightmare.

4. You're thinking of the Um Rune. It shouldn't be too expensive (it doesn't count as a HR, for instance). A Perfect Diamond is a very good option to put in your shield, although you might want to wait until you can get your hands on a Homunculus shield.

5. Most curses will overwrite any previous curses on the target. As far as I know, the only exceptions are Attract, which will remain even if you cast another curse (typically Amplify Damage), and Confuse, which will remain if you cast Attract.

6. You should have at least 1 point in Summon Resist. It really makes a difference to your skeletons' survival rate in Hell. As mentioned above, I recommend placing remaining points in Corpse Explosion.

If you want to use Poison or Bone spells to actually kill something, you need to make full use of the synergies, and Bone Armor won't be all that useful when you have an army of skeletons between the monsters and you anyway.

If you choose to put more points into Raise Skeletal Mage you should consider Lower Resist, as that should help them deal some useful damage. But in general you should stay away from the mages :)

[Velhic]

+ skills are extremely important, I have +2 to all skills and +5 to summoning skills on my level 50 fishymancer, and he is untwinked. I would focus on amulets first, gamble for them, you could get other + skills amulets to trade for a summon or necro skills. I had this one drop for me (http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5135/2summon.png) from shenk on normal. Rings don't have + skills unless it's a unique, I.E. SoJ or BK's ring.
I bought a +2 to all necro +2 skeleton mastery wand from malah in harrogath. Everytime you TP into a town, check the magic person for wands: Akara, Drognan, Ormus (I think that's his name), Jamella, And malah. These wands are usually about 200k so save up!

[FreshMeat]

I just read the Bible. Makes me less nervous about it.

[Mortent]

Quick drive-by tip: If you're having trouble, getting an act 2 mercenary and throwing lots of life drain and damage gear on him will help tremendously, if you don't have one already. Other types of mercs work too, but the act 2 one has the added bonus of coming with an aura that affects your skeletons. A merc with a Might aura will do good.

If you play on EU i believe i have some spare gear for the merc, if you want it that is. ^^

[widde]

Yes i play on europe and I would love some merc gear, thank you!
I already have a might merc, hes got crappy gear as hell though.

Like i said in my first post, im noob so i dont have any stuff at all basically except for trang oul that i got from pgms. I have some low lvl uniques and some +skill amus for other classes but i find it extremely difficult to trade in this game. I have no idea whats worth what and its very difficult to find people who needs what i have and have something i need. I know there is forums like this and channels in the game "lobby" or whatever, but still very difficult to trade.