Problems with MFing

[MetalDeth]

Hi,
I'm playing D2 for the first time, finally. I made a skelliemancer for MFing and I've been having lots of trouble on nightmare. Currently I'm level 81, I have 20 in skeleton mastery, 20 in raise skeleton and 20 in corpse explosion. My gear sucks, and I've been trying to MF at durance of hate lvls 2-3, and river of flame, but it takes wayy too long for my skellies to make kills. And if my minions venture a little too far, I'll die in a few hits. I've been using an act 2 nightmare offensive merc but I've died so much that I don't even have enough gold to revive him. And without my skellies, it's almost impossible to kill ANYTHING, even in act 1. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[widde]

Do you use the amplify damage curse? It really helps your skeletons killing speed.
If you want gear i would suggest that you start by getting the trang-oul set. You can easily buy it with pgms and it will definetly work well in nightmare.

As for the merc, get him life-steal gear. You can also youse life tap curse, although it will slow down the killing speed of your skeletons.

[Skai]

spam that amp damage and CE everything

its really hard to believe that your 81 and having trouble in nightmare act1
my fishy is 86 and finished hell
im sure i could go through nightmare naked at 81

idk what the prob is =/ def spam that amp damage and CE and swap some of your MF gear for some +skills stuff, and get a 'white' runeword with +2-3RS
and when it comes to playing strategy, always put yourself in a safe position even if it means waiting for your skelly's in some situations.

you should be good after that

[TurdFerguson]

spam that amp damage and CE everything
its really hard to believe that your 81 and having trouble in nightmare act1

I think he meant that act 1 is a problem if his merc dies, because how can he kill some minions to summon his initial skellies?

[MetalDeth]

thx guys ...the main problem is if my merc dies and i dont have enough money to revive him, what do i do? i tried going out in act 1 trying to kill guys i cant kill a single guy which means i cant summon my skeletons....also i've been using revive too but the guys that i revive die out so quick....should i even bother with revive?...and one last thing...should i put more skill points in amplify dmg?

[Goatlust]

Do not put any more skill points in amplify damage

if you've got a golem, he should be able to kill a fallen to get your army started.
As these guys said, amplify damage and spam that corpse explosion, you shouldn't have troubles in NM.

Durance has those annoying little monsters that hit hard as hell, so be sure not to go at a pace that is too fast for the gear you have. Get pgems and grab some better gear and work your way up from there!

[MetalDeth]

thank you....besides durance of hate and river of flame, are there any other good places to MF on Nightmare?.......and should i use revive?

[Goatlust]

I'd say revives probably don't help that much except against bosses.
Also when you get to a boss, it's a pretty good idea to use the curse decrepify and also a clay golem. Both of these will slow the boss down and make it inflict a lot less damage on you and your summons, which could be a help if you find your skeletons aren't cutting it.

As for places to MF on nightmare, I am not the most experienced in that department but NM andy drops SOJs a lot I've heard and also NM Travincal, killing the council is supposedly good for finding skillers (Grand charms with skill on them).

[Skai]

oh my bad, i quickly skimmed the initial post haha
but ya, your golem should be able to kill a fallen for you to get your army started like Goat said

as for MFing, Goat is at a good start again. NM Andy has the best SOJ drop rate, and council lots of gold too which it sounds like you need for your merc
in NM i also went on Baal runs, to lvl up and find some gear so i could move on to hell =)

[MetalDeth]

Thank you guys.....I really appreciate this.

[Mad Mantis]

but it takes wayy too long for my skellies to make kills.

Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew :guiness: and feel free to raise some corpses.

Put some CB on your Merc. This should allow the corpses to drop faster. Faster corpses means you can start the CE chain faster and your kill speed will go up.



And if my minions venture a little too far, I'll die in a few hits.

If your minions get too far away regroup with a TP. If you do manage to get some money try shopping a tele wand or amulet.

[MetalDeth]

what i'm doing is completing the honor rune word for my merc's weapon i justb need a sol rune to complete it but right now he takes life 7 life from every hit plus other stuff so i'm pretty much in good shape with my merc....what I have been doing is having MFing equipment equiped and going to good MFing areas. I have like a 126% better chance of finding Magic items which is pretty good....so hopefully i could find better equipment and stuff............thank you for responding by the way

[MetalDeth]

I've been going to the catacombs level 2 through the waypoint....from there i have to go to catacombs level 4 to kill the boss but it takes like 15 to 20 minutes ....is therre a way i can teleport?

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Hi,
I'm playing D2 for the first time, finally. I made a skelliemancer for MFing and I've been having lots of trouble on nightmare. Currently I'm level 81, ...... And without my skellies, it's almost impossible to kill ANYTHING, even in act 1. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Have you done the quest to rescue Anya? If so you can run in the Pindleskin garden and raise skeletons there from the dead skeletons that are just lying there. If you are quick you can raise 8-9 before they start rising.

After that maybe do a quick run of Eldrich and Shenk and maybe head for Worldstone. I think I would be doing most of my NM MF in Worldstone on the way to kill Baal. If you run Baal a bit you should be able to get some good stuff for yourself and your merc.

Oh, you talked about you dying if your minions venture too far. You can recast your clay golem to help intersect any monster headed your way. Basicly keep your eyes open and reposition yourself so your skeletons are between you and the monsters.

A summoner is going to be slower than a sorceress. Summoners are for area runs. Durance is too huge and full of dead ends for my tastes for a summoner. Worldstone has Baal at the end of the area run as a prize. :) And Chaos Sanctuary is the same but I think I'll be concentrating on Worldstone for any NM MF.

Oh, something to think about is getting a teleport staff until you can get enigma. You can shop for a teleport staff in Act 3 normal. Typically it does not take long to find one for sale.

[MetalDeth]

ty...i tried killing baal i had no problems killing all his minions but when i had to face him all my skeletons died....he was too strong so ill have to MF somewhere else..i heard the pit is also a good area to MF

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure why your skeletons can't handle Baal. Do you have a point in summon resist? Do you recast your clay golem when he dies? Do you use revives? Do you cast amp or decrep on Baal?

Please post you gear.

[Skai]

pits are only a good place to run in hell because its a mlvl85 area(s)

as for baal, and any other act boss, always cast decrep and keep him decrep'd
and always re-cast your clay golem when he dies
i still dont understand how your skellys are dying at lvl81 in NM, like i said before, try some gear with +skills

[MetalDeth]

I used decripify and amp and i summoned my clay golem when he died....im using MFing gear so its not that great except for the gloves and amulet which are pretty awesome

Gemmed Diamond Mail-472 defense, 56% better chance of getting magic items

Chance Guards Chain Gloves-27 Defense,+26 to Attack Rating,+ 29% Enhanced Defense,+ 16 to Defense,200% extra gold from monsters,32% better chance of getting magic items,+ 2 to light radius

Sigon's Sabot Greaves-12 Defense,+ 20% faster run/walk,50% better chance of getting magic items,+50 to attack rating,10% life stolen per hit,+ 100 defense

Sigon's Guard Tower Shield-24 Defense, 64% chance to block,+1 to all skills,20% increased chance of blocking,10% life stolen per hit,+ 100 Defense

Sigon's Wrap Plated Belt-172 Defense, + 20 to Life, Fire Resist +20%, 10% life stolen per hit, + 100 defense

Felicitous Ring-10% better chance of getting magic items

Bronze Ring of Chance-+ 11 to Attack Rating,10% better chance of getting magic items

The Mahim-Oak Curio-10% Bonus to Attack Rating,+ 10% Enhanced Defense, + 10 Defense, +10 to all attributes, +10 to all resistances

[Skai]

you can only cast amp or decrep on a single target
always use decrep on an act boss
and use amp on monsters

it seems to me your problem is your play style

i still dont know how your skellys are always dying, i have no clue about that
ive never had a prob with mine dying until i got to hell andy, and even that only happened a couple times

[MetalDeth]

I killed Baal ....i had 10 skellies and ended up with 3 but with my merc, the 3 skellies, and the clay golem..i easily killed him...can i buy a teleport staff from a regular merchant in act 3?

[Skai]

act3 normal, yes

[MetalDeth]

I have made 8 games on normal going to ormus and i haven't found the staff....should it take this long?

[Skai]

ya it takes a while in some cases
i shopped for a suitable wand for my 'white' runeword, that took me a while and atleast a couple temp bans haha

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I have made 8 games on normal going to ormus and i haven't found the staff....should it take this long?

Are you using a town portal and wp to reset his shop? take the waypoint to say Trav and then tp to town. Check his shop. Take the wp out of town, not the town portal so you can reuse the same portal instead of having to cast it so much.

It has never taken me all that long to shop for a teleport staff but luck is luck.

[Skai]

Are you using a town portal and wp to reset his shop? take the waypoint to say Trav and then tp to town. Check his shop. Take the wp out of town, not the town portal so you can reuse the same portal instead of having to cast it so much.

It has never taken me all that long to shop for a teleport staff but luck is luck.

whoa that resets the shops? o-o
hahaha
that makes things a lot easier XD thank you =p

[MetalDeth]

thank you wizardd.....whats the highest amount of charges of teleport in a staff that you can buy?

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Item charges:
http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/magic/chargedsuffixes.shtml

Naj Set staff has lots of charges if you manage to find it.
http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/sets/sets6.shtml

If you gamble you could get lucky and get a teleport amulet that also has +necro or summoning skills. Of course you might get lucky and craft such an amulet also.
http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafteditems.shtml

[MetalDeth]

i tried to teleport with a teleport staff and i died in like 2 seconds in worldstone keep after 3 teleports.....also my merc has an ethereal diamond male with a defense of 874 with 4 sockets...what should i put in the sockets?

[Skai]

idk anything about teleporting, cant help you there

as for the sockets, if he's low on res's you could throw some runes on there to help him stay alive
basically whatever he needs
if he doesnt need anything you could throw some ptopaz on there to help with your MFing

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

The teleport staff is not for teleporting to the throne room. It is for taking shortcuts and for gathering your army . You really can't teleport to the throneroom even with enigma without some fast cast rate.

I wouldn't put too valuable of runes in your merc's armor because you'll find better. Duriel's Shell gives "Cannot be frozen," is cheap to trade for if you can't find it, and is a good merc armor. Runes for resists if he needs them or junk jewels that increase damage or add elemental damage.

If you can, get a crushing blow weapon for your merc or else a weapon like kelpie snare that slows monsters. Either would help you against Baal. Especially crushing blow.

"Strength" polearm - Amn Tir is the ultimately cheap crushing blow merc weapon.
Hone sundan with Amns
Rattlecage armor
Guilliams Face helment

[MetalDeth]

Where should i put my skill points when I level up

[MetalDeth]

I was in the throne of destruction and there was a burning soul enemy called a bright pus i had my merc and my 9 skeletons attacking him his health was going down and about half full it wasnt going down he kept on regenerating his health causing me to finally die

[Skai]

fishymancers are horrible against souls, it takes most of us a really long time to take down a soul boss unless there are CE'able corpses around

usually i just dont even bother with them, nor do i run the WSK because my resists suck and i dont wanna get owned by the lightning souls w/e they're called, i cant remember

as for skill points, refer to a fishymancer guide, check the stickies

[MetalDeth]

I'm lvl 87

My Gear:
Harlequin Crest Shako with ptopaz, Homunculus Hierophant Trophy, War Travs, Chance Guards, Goldwrap, 2 rings with total 45 MF, amulet with 23 MF, Ume's Lament Grim Wand, Trang-Ouls Armor (eventually i want enigma), and Grim Shield with Rhyme rune word (switch)...total 250 MF and 275 MF (switch)

I've been Mfing in the pit and each time it takes me way too long and i find nothing.

[AnubisXy]

Where should i put my skill points when I level up

What you need:
20 raise skelly
20 skelly mastery

Options:
20 skelly mage - really optional but highly recommended
5-20 CE - 5 is the minimum I would put, I don't think more than 10 is needed as +skills makes up for it.
10-20 Dim Vision - this will allow you to run WSK and will nullify souls, they just stand there waiting to die. Some people don't bother with this skill, but to me it's the most useful skill in the game and I highly recommend maxing it, especially if souls and ranged attackers give you problems.

[ezvpn]

I'm lvl 87

My Gear:
Harlequin Crest Shako with ptopaz, Homunculus Hierophant Trophy, War Travs, Chance Guards, Goldwrap, 2 rings with total 45 MF, amulet with 23 MF, Ume's Lament Grim Wand, Trang-Ouls Armor (eventually i want enigma), and Grim Shield with Rhyme rune word (switch)...total 250 MF and 275 MF (switch)

I've been Mfing in the pit and each time it takes me way too long and i find nothing.

Started with the beginning of your thread, felt sorry for you and was going to suggest that we start a donation fund for you as your equipment was quite lacking. I'm sure most people commenting here could probably donate something (I was thinking i could give you a duriels shell/tals mask for your merc). However, your gear has come along way in a short time already. When you say you haven't found anything, take a long look at your beginning thread and to your recent post. I'd say you found plenty, maybe you didnt find the shako, trangs, war travs but obviously you found something that was worth trading for these items (unless these were donated to you). Now you even have your eyes googling over enigma. Don't get stressed over not finding certain items, my experience has been when I've obsessed over finding something particular, it never drops. However, as soon I trade for one or stop obsessing, it drops. Go figure. Keep it up, you'll get there.

ez

P.S. Keep us aprised of your gear as you go, interesting to see you grow.

[MetalDeth]

So my main question is where should i be MFing......should i just keep on continuing with the pit?

[MetalDeth]

I eventually want my gear to be: Shako, Homunculus, Goldwrap, War Travs, Chance Guards, Gheed's, Rhyme on switch.....(I have all these) PLUS.........(The things I don't have)...Enigma, Heart of the Oak, Gull on switch, and Mara's Kaleidoscope...a lot of expensive stuff....until i get everything, my resistances will stay negative and i can only Mf places that dont have bosses and dont take a long time

[MetalDeth]

I now have Shako, Homunculus, Goldwrap, War Travs, Chance Guards, Gheed's, Rhyme on switch, and I just recieved Hoto.........now what i want to do is get good armor for my merc so he doesnt't die......maybe armor that gives him crushing blow and health regeneration.......anything you guys suggest?

[the_tree]

If you want gear i would suggest that you start by getting the trang-oul set. You can easily buy it with pgms and it will definetly work well in nightmare.

How many pgems do I need to get that? Anyone selling? :eyelash: