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Beastymancer
0.Contents
1. Presentation
2. Introduction
3. Skill point distribution
4. Explanation
5. Equipment
6. Stat point allocation
7. Hireling
8. Gameplay and Strategy
9. F-Buttons Distribution
10. Marrowwalk Bug
11. Final Words
1.Presentation
Game: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction v1.10
Class: Necromancer
Build: Beastymancer (expansion of the Summoner-build by LegitKiller)
Difficulty: Soft-or Hardcore Play
Purpose: PvM
Updated: 16-04-04
Version: 1.01
Written By: Scampi2, with big thanks to LegitKiller
2.Introduction
This is a guide that will instruct you how to build a Beastymancer, an expansion of the Summoner. It uses optimal point allocation strategy for the items showed below.
BE WARNED: you MUST be able to afford about 4 sojs to be able to make this build.
If that isn’t the case, I refer you to LegitKillers guide for a summoner which is more basic then this one and doesn’t require that godly.
Now why build a Beastymancer??
The answer is quite simple: it’s godly, it’s fun. With this you can add a new dimension to your Diablo II Experience. Why? Because the Beastymancer offers quite versatile gameplay…But I will tell you more about it later in this guide.
The Beastymancer has no problems solo-ing Hell difficulty and can do MF Baal runs in a jiffy. I wont go through MF though, but the items needed are the same as used by other chars (Shako, Skullders or Enigma, Nagelrings, Goldwrap, War Travelers,…).
He is also pretty party-friendly when u don’t summon and just cast spells.
I can say that this build is one of the most safest in the game because it’s hard to get killed by ANY enemy while u haven’t got a single problem killing ANY monster…
3.Skill Point Distribution
This I can’t take credit for. I just copied it from LegitKiller because… well it’s the best !
I tried different versions of it and I have to admit that no other Skill Distribution works better then the one shown below for this build. So if you follow this, you will encounter no problems.
SUMMONING SPELLS
SKELETON MASTERY (L1) 20 MAX 2nd
RAISE SKELETON (L1) 20 MAX 1st
CLAY GOLEM (L6) 1
GOLEM MASTERY (L12) 1
SKELETAL MAGE (L12) 20 MAX 4th
BLOOD GOLEM (L18) 1
SUMMON RESIST (L24) 1
IRON GOLEM (L24) 1
FIRE GOLEM (L30) 0
REVIVE (L30) 1
POISON AND BONE SPELLS
TEETH (L1) 1
BONE ARMOR (L1) 1
POISON DAGGER (L6) 0
CORPSE EXPLOSION (L6) 20 MAX 3rd
BONE WALL (L12) 0
POISON EXPLOSION (L18) 0
BONE SPEAR (L18) 0
BONE PRISON (L24) 0
POISON NOVA (L30) 0
BONE SPIRIT (L30) 0
CURSES
AMPLIFY DAMAGE (L1) 1
DIM VISION (L6) 1 + REST AFTER LVL 85
WEAKEN (L6) 1
IRON MAIDEN (L12) 1
TERROR (L12) 1
CONFUSE (L18) 0
LIFE TAP (L18) 1
ATTRACT (L24) 0
DECREPIFY (L24) 1
LOWER RESIST (L30) 1
TOTAL BUILD POINTS: 96 reached @ char lvl 85
4.Explanation
Your main attack that does physical damage, are your skeleton warriors. That’s why you need to max Raise Skeleton first. To improve the damage and life of your skeletons, max Skeleton Mastery. U only need to put one point into Golem Mastery and Clay Golem, the +skill items will do the rest. Why Clay Golem? Because it slows your enemies big time because of the large number of Hit Points.
U can max Skeletal Mages after you maxed Corpse Explosion. They are great versus Physical Immunes and can do quite some damage when upgraded to high levels.
Summon Resist improves resistances of your skeletons. Put one and only one point in here because the + skills will do the rest.
Blood Golem and Iron Golem are prerequisites for Revives and will improve the hitpoints of your Clay Golem as well (synergies). Also put one point in Revives, you won’t need them much but can be useful against Baal. One point because… indeed .
Teeth serves as a prerequisite for Corpse Explosion. In my opinion, Corpse Explosion must be the best spell in the game (although some Hammerdins will say something else). It’s just great to clear the board empty in one sweep. There was a big discussion a couple of months ago whether to max it or not. It seems (and I agree fully) that maxing really helps you. So it’s definitely worth the skill points.
One point into Bone Armor as well. That’s because of the bug with the Marrowwalk Boots, but I’ll tell you more about it later in this guide.
Now for the curses. Amplify damage is your main curse. This is because A) it enhances greatly the damage your skellies do and B) it’s the only Curse that works properly with Corpse Explosion. Weaken, Iron Maiden, Terror and Life Tap are used only as prerequisites for Lower Resist and Decrepify. Lower Resist works for parties with Sorces (when doing Baal Minions Experience Runs) and Decrepify must be used for bosses. Dim Vision is a good spell for using against those Spear Cats in Act V and even more useful against the Black Souls in Worldstone Keep Areas.
5.Equipment
Now let’s go to the most interesting part. I STRONGLY recommend that you trade for the stuff below if you haven’t got it already. This is because I used this equipment for the point allocations that follows later. So DIFFERENT GEAR = DIFFERENT POINT ALLOCATION.
To give a simple example: The Beast runeword can be socketed in a Berserker Axe (like you should do) or in another Axe, Scepter or Hammer with different requirements.
If you like the idea of the Summoner but can’t afford the stuff listed below, you should check out LegitKiller’s guide where you can make a very nice Summoner too, without the godly stuff (although I saw him recommend 2 Sojs either).
Remember: Trangs set may be nice for looks but isn’t the best setup for this build !!
Helm: Harlequin Crest (Shako) (clvl 62/ str 50) socketed Um
Amulet: +3 to Summoning Spells (clvl 45) (prefer with good 2nd mod like +life or +mana)
Gloves: Trang-Ouls Gloves (clvl 45/ str 58)
Armor: Enigma runeword OR Trang-Ouls Armor (clvl 49/ str 84) socketed Um
Belt: Arachnid Mesh (clvl 80/ str 50)
Boots: Marrowwalks Boots (clvl 66/ str 118) with +2 to Skeleton Mastery
Rings: 2 Sojs
Weapon Setup I: Beast runeword in Berserker Axe (clvl 64/ str 138)
Homunculus (clvl 47/ str 58) socketed Um
Weapon Setup II: Arm of King Leoric (clvl 36/ str 25)
Boneflame (Succubus Skull) (clvl 72/ str 95) with +3 to Necromancer Skills
Charms: 10 + Summoning Grand Charms preferably with good 2nd mod (+life, faster hit recovery, faster run/walk perhaps…), Annihilus, and resistances small charms to fill it up, depending on your needs. Make sure Lightning Resistance is maxed and Cold as well. Poison and Fire are not that important, but are worth maxing too.
Explanation: I guess everyone will agree that the Shako works great. It offers +2 to all skills, mana, life and has some damage reduction as well. You get a nice bonus in the way of 50% MF. Socket it with an Um rune. I have to say I used a +3 to summoning tiara with +91 to life as 2nd mod (and socketed Um) for a long time, but I returned to the shako because it’s just better.
The amulet: you can discuss whether Mara’s Kaleidoscope isn’t a better approach. Certainly when you use Enigma, then perhaps I would recommend this (because you miss some resistance points from the Trangs armor socketed Um). Bear in mind that your main skill distribution is summoning so 1 point more in it, upgrades many skills. So that’s why you should stick with a nice +3 summoning amulet.
Gloves: Trang-Ouls. Especially in combination with Trang-Ouls Armor very effective. You get +2 to cursus, faster cast rate and some nice cold resistance. You also receive 15% regenerate mana bonus (2 To set items) which is nice when you have to cast Corpse Explosion (CE) a lot. The 25% to poison skill damage doesn’t work in combination with CE but hey: you can’t have it all…
Armor: Trang-Ouls or Enigma for the very rich. Personally, I never used the Enigma before.
Why? Because I’m not that rich to afford one. But I guess it is at least as good as the Trang-Ouls, which works very nice as well. Socket the Trang-Ouls with Um.
Belt: Arachnid Mesh. I used Glooms Trap for mana and regeneration for some time, but the Arachnid is definitively better. +1 to all skills is great+ it has some mana and faster cast rate. What else do you need for a godly necro??
Boots: Marrowwalks. Definitely speaks for itself, +2 to Skeleton Mastery is a must and you have the bug that isn’t fixed yet (see further).
Rings: 2 Sojs. +1 to Skills, mana mana and mana, damn I love them.
Weapon Setup: First, use Weapon setup II to raise your Skeletons, Clay Golem and eventually Revives. Switch to Beast and Homunculus afterwards. Why? Your raised skeletons will have the bonuses from setup I even if you switch. The only thing that might happen is that you lose 2 or 3 skeleton which is not a disaster. U can easily create 16 of each type.
The skeletons will now have the Fanatism Aura from your Beast Weapon which will improve their attack speed and almost double their Damage. When you also have (and you must) a might mercenary this rocks. Greatly!
6. Stat point allocation
As stated before, this is based upon the equipment mentioned above. And still I advise the reader of this guide to calculate it again because of the annihilus or mods on grand charms, etc.
Particularly the required strength and dexterity. When using a Beast runeword implemented in a Berserker Axe, you need 138 strength and 52 dexterity. Calculate down with your available equipment and see how much strength is left to allocate (for example: marrowwalks give + 16 to strength then 138-16=122 left and so on). Base your allocation on your available items !!
Here’s what I got:
Starting Attributes for necromancer:
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 15
Energy: 25
Life: 45
Mana: 25
Stamina: 89
Each Character Level:
Life: +1.5
Stamina: +1
Mana: +2
Final Attributes:
Strength: 138 (depends on your equipment)
Dexterity: Base (don’t put any points in it, except when your equipment tells you to)
Vitality: All the rest (around 300 or so)
Energy: Base (you won’t have any mana problems when using my stated items)
Attribute point effect:
1 point Vitality = Life +2
1 point Vitality = Stamina +1
1 point Energy = Mana +2
U need a lot of life to prevent that one hit kills you. That’s why you should put as many points in there as you can spare.
7.Hireling
The Act 2 Nightmare Might Mercenary (Offensive) works best and should be used by the Beastymancer. It almost doubles the damage done by your skeletons.
U can equip him with Bonehew (2x Amn or Shael+ Amn), Shaft and Gaze as a regular setup or you can go berserk giving him BotD Warpike, Enigma or Stone Armor…
Doesn’t matter much, I promise you he won’t die anyway except from Iron Maiden time to time…Can’t do any about it, pity.
This mercenary is also great for producing the first corpse to cast CE as a following up by yourself. He is also party friendly while he shares the Might Aura with other party members.
No other merc comes close to this !
8.Gameplay and Strategy
I will discuss gameplay for hell difficulty because that is the goal.
The first thing to do when starting a new game is to cast your clay golem and turn on bone armor. Make sure your merc is alive since he can produce the first corpse. Then you go to Nihlathak’s portal in Act V and raise skeletons in the area in front of Pindle’s temple. The corpses there are already dead, so you can summon a bunch of skeletons there for free !
You can raise skeletons else as well, but this is the easiest way.
First raise the Skeletons, then the Skeletal Mages and eventually revives. Use Amplify Damage when you encounter enemies. Once the first body is raised, switch to Corpse Explosion and kill the rest of the bunch. You can remain switching between those two skills killing regular enemies (Immunities don’t matter much). When you would encounter Physical Immunes, you could try and cast Lower Resist, just watch the lifebar of your enemies and see which goes the fastest (Lower Resist or Amp Damage, this is more like a luxury problem).
When you enter an area known as risky (such as the Worldstone areas), cast Dim Vision. It will stop the Black Souls casting their lightning. They will do nothing until your warriors reach them and then they die pretty fast and you will have no harm. Again cast Amp Damage and CE when the skeletons start fighting the Souls. Dim Vision works great against casters and archers as well. Just cast DV, let your skellies reach the enemies, switch to Amp Damage and CE, job done.
When you want to beat up Act Bosses such as Baal, just run up to him and cast Decrepify.
You will notice that he won’t or nearly won’t cast anything and will be slowed down greatly. Let your skeletons do the job afterwards. You can use Amp Damage as well, but then you can encounter some heavy defense from the boss (such as Baals Mana Burning Fire Breathing, hehe what a name).
Another tip: if you don’t use Enigma, you can use a tp to gather your army. This works great when for example doing Baal runs. Just run up to him, cast Decrepify, put a tp and go through it. Then enter it again and your army will be standing next to him. Cast some more decrepify and he will rest in peace really soon. Especially with the Beast.
HOWEVER! What could be more fun then to see the faces and omfg’s from party members when they see you transform into a Werebear! I wouldn’t advise it when you do runs on your own, but you can cast it while entering the throne to Baals Minions (because of much life), then if he laughs for the first time, switch back to your normal outfit and see there faces. Expressions like: “Huh, a necro doing that?? How?? Why”. Just godly.
Bear in mind that you can’t cast anything while transformed into bear shape. You can do about 1k-3k damage with it and it’s just fun to play in hell act 1 to 3 like this.
9.F-Buttons distribution
Of course you can choose this at random, but I’ll give you my setup:
F1: Amplify Damage
F2: Corpse Explosion
F3: Dim Vision
F4: Lower Resist
F5: Raise Skeleton
F6: Raise Skeletal Mage
F7: Clay Golem
F8: Revive
F9: Bone Armor
F10: Town Portal (but when you have 10 skillers, you need to put 4 tp’s in a slot from Belt)
F11: Decrepify (only for Bosses and not needed in combination with other curses)
F12: Nothing (I would suggest you use Teleport Skill from Enigma here)
10.Marrowwalk Bug
Yes, there is a bug with Marrowwalks!
The 33 charges on the Bone Prison act as if the BP was actually at level 33. It will help Bone Spear/Spirit, and Bone Armor by acting like a level 33 synergy. My bone armor absorbs over 600 damage at the moment. So it’s definitely worth the one skill point.
11.Final words
Enjoy !!
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Originally Posted by scampi2
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