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So here ya go te second of my two favorite different build styles. I promise no more for awhile after this. Please let me know if there are any points that need to be clairified. I know for many not familiar with the curse line this can seem a bit confusing.
The Mojomancer-
It is believed by many that a Necromancer build centered around the Curses Tree are not only impossible but if possible extremely unsafe and unproductive. Most of this is a total myth and in fact with as few as 50 points dedicated to the curses you can quest through most the game. Add another 10 or so points in either of the other two spell lines and you can have a competent killer. Within this post we’ll explore the myths of AI curses, how the myths had gotten there, and how to use these skills in combat. We will also discuss the best abilities to use in conjunction with a heavy curses build, as well as those that are less desirable.
Of all the spell lines available in this game the curses remain the only one that has no synergy bonuses. The reason is that if put into the right hands the curses still remain one of the most powerful yet most underused and misunderstood spell lines in the game. You will soon be learning it’s secrets.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t take rushes and haven’t played a Mojo build past level 30 since 1.09. However the entire line is completely unaffected and so works exactly as it did before. The only difference of course is that hell is more difficult than it use to be, however if you actually build a character based on this post and actually play it all the way through to hell, you will easily have all the skills needed to survive hell.
First we will discuss the pros and cons of this build-
The Pro’s:
1) an extreamly rare build. Garented to raise a few eyebrows, perhaps even a few scoffs.
2) Since this particular build requires only a few skill points you can diversify quite well into other paths.
3) No necromancer will be more welcome in group play, curses not only benefit the other classes, they cause no lag.
4) You’ll learn how to better supplement other build styles, often getting more bang for the buck with less skill points from traditional builds.
5) To keep the “Spheres of Influence” no plus skill to the individual AI curses with the exception of Dim Vision.. And really plus skills aren’t necessary. Your gear should be aimed at boosting the other skills you plan using.
6) Crowd control like you have never seen.
7) Entertainment, what is more fun than watching total chaos unfold on your screen?
The Con’s
1) weak against bosses that don’t have minions to use.
2) Slow to start, you won’t really start being effective untill level you obtain confuse.
3) No PvP play at all, TP as soon as hostiled, get chicken...You don’t stand a chance against those even 20 levels below you.
So now we embark up our journey into the mind...You are getting sleepy.....so very sleepy......
The stats:
Now since this is not a complete build I will not really be able to advise on stats. However mana will be very important so do as you feel most comfortable for replentishing be it +mana per kill, or drinking or high mana pool. Leech isn’t much of an option at all, there is no mental mana leech.
Though I should note that resistances should be keep up as high as possible, make this a priority. Especially if you plan on using revives.
The Skills:
This build is based on the main four AI curses. These are (in order of importance) Confuse, Dim Vision, Terror, and Attract. Dim vision and Confuse should be boosted in such away that Dim vision has a bigger radius than Confuse, how much of a difference is up to you and your confidence with this style of play. This build will also work a lot with Life Tap, for fighting isolated bosses with your Merc.
Dim Vision 20- This is the first layer of the sphere of influence, You want this one as big as possible. It will allow you time to look over the situation and then layer your curses appreperatly. Though if you wish you can even keep this one small and simply cast as much is needed, however you are somewhat unprotected with some builds and a larger radius of effect is usually preferable to a smaller one, not to mention as you will soon see there is a lot of button mashing and a longer duration here will make it less so.
Confuse 15- This curse is used to dispose of the melee mob and named and champions. You want it to be smaller in radius than dim so that the ranged attackers do not become confused and attack at random. You want them to stay in the dark until you are ready.
***Important Information: Confuse will override Dim Vision, Dim Vision will not override Confuse. This is the main reason that confuse should be kept at a skill level where it’s radius is less than that of Dim Visions.
Attract 10-20 Though this only works on the simplest of minds. You will use this to control the ranged attackers while the confused mob fights it out too.
Though these spells are typically enough to keep you very safe from attack you also have:
Terror 1- Used for herding any strays that come at you back to the riotous mob.
Total 46=56 points.
You will also benefit greatly from Life Tap as well. The biggest inherent weakness of this build (depending what other skills you plan using) is the lack of an attack against individual monsters. Durry, Diablo, Baal, and the Ancients will be difficult if not impossible to solo. So either make sure you got others to help you on these parts of the game or add skills that will make them possible. At a bear minium a mercenary, life tap, and a few town portals will get you through all but the ancients.
Now you can invest less actually and still use this technique, however the durations drop a lot in hell and you’ll want them as stated above to remain viable in hell mode.
More about the curses and the general strategy:
Dim vision has two main benefits it stops the ranged attackers to halt fighting, it keeps the fast runners still. It will not affect the champions or the named. And its duration is lacking in Hell (as are all the AI curses).
But it is also important to know that it overwrites none of the AI curses, however it will overwrites the damage modifying line of curses. You want this one to have the biggest radius of all the AI curses. So that you can cast it opposite of the screen you are facing and then slide the mouse in towards you a bit and cast confusion in such away that confusion covers all but the outside ranged attackers.
Confusion This spell is chaos with a click. All the monsters will start attacking anything and everything. You get credit for monsters killed by the confused (very helpful for mana regeneration through +mana per kill items). The main benefit of Confuse is that the beasts will attack bosses, named, champs. Likewise the named (etc) will fight them back. When dealing with named (etc) you should cast another spell over them before casting confuse (or cast the damage spell over confuse then recast confused.). The best curses for the bosses (etc) are Life Tap (it will keep the lesser beasts alive while they kill the boss for you), Amp or Lower Resists depending on the surrounding beasts. Stay away from Iron maiden as it will kill off the weaker ones leaving you to deal with the bosses yourself.
Also beware that area of effect spells cast by the confused will damage you and yours as well as the other beasts. Be especially careful with the lightning enchanted ones. You can literially light up the screen into one big energy ball. And although this will typically kill all the enemy’s it will most likely kill you too. In situations like this it is usually better to keep all of them dimmed and let your mercenary or summons take them one at a time. Also this can at times make revives difficult at times too, for example you can turn you screen into a sea of fire with confused Ghoul lords and a few revived ones, it can be difficult to know whose meteor is who’s at times.
So now you got the ranged attackers dimmed, and most the riotous mob busy with themselves you now use terror to heard any that are still after you back to the riot. Keep casting terror and confuse over them till you are safe from danger.
All the while keeping the parameters dimmed, which can be quite the task before it’s built up to the teen levels.
Now you will use attract on select ranged attackers so that they will then start attacking each other. Terror the last standing rioter to help back there. When choosing which ranged attacker to attract pick the ones in the middle of the grouping of them. This way even if they are dimmed they will close the gaps more so that you can then either confuse them or let your mercenary take them out while they are busy. If you are playing without a mercenary you then should terror the last of the enemy rioters in the direction you are heading. Once they move to the edge of your screen cast attract. As the next mob of beasts desends upon that one you start the whole process again.
As you can see you’ve got everything well under control and the kills actually happen faster than you think with this method. Unlike summons confused don’t appear to have any pentelties when attacking others as the summons do at times other than resistances of course..
Using this in conjunction with other builds.
This is an excellent way for necromancers to increase the killing power for summons, it is also a great method for bonemancers who typically have very little crowd killing power. Though perhaps those that most benifit are the Meleemancers and Bowmancers in that they will typically have the points needed to use this technique along with there abilities. Newer players without a lot of plus gear can make better use of the limited + skills needed for summoner and bone builds and remain effective killing machines with less points into those branches. After all if you can get the enemy to kill for you how many skeletons will you really need?
A word here about summons and confuse. You really don’t want too many minions while using confuse, it will make the spell less effective in that you give them more ally targets to choose from, for the best results keep your minions at a minium, or at the very least, if you want to use some, make them ranged attackers so that the confused have to run farther to get to their targets, proximity seems to be a factor when the confused pick there targets, that and who is attacking them. It’s for this reason it has often been shunned as a curse, by far the summoner is the most common necromancer build. And with so many minions it’s no wonder that many have felt cheated out of the skill points when placed in confusion.. After all if that army of skeletons is nearly as big or even bigger than the groups of monsters very few of the monsters will attack each other when a skeleton is melee range.
Companion Skills:
Here we will talk about the best side branches that you will have to choose from, as well we’ll introduce a few hybrid builds with this technique as a base.
The Poison & Bone line:
There are 2 skills that are better than the others in this line, these are Corpse Explosion and Poison Explosion. These two skills are great for killing off the mob. Most are familiar with the benifits of Corpse Explosion, however even without synergies Poison Explosion does a great amount of damage in the tight mob that confusion creates. In large multi-player groups use poison explosion to weaken the crowds before casting the CE. If you plan on using CE a lot with this build I highly recommend pumping Amp damage to a radius that is equil to or just under the radius of CE, that way you wont overwrite the confusion on those that wont get hit with your CE.
As for the bone line of spells personally, I think they require too many points to be effective mixed with other styles of play. Though if I had to choose I would probably go bone spear (20)for the bosses, teeth (20)for the crowds, and bone wall (20)for the synergy bonus for the attack and the obligatry 1 in Bone armor.
Poison Nova and Poison dagger are decent spells as well for modified poison builds. However Nova is too little damage without synergies and dagger puts you into the riot, which isn’t always the best place to be. But don’t worry nova and dagger necromancers can use these techniques to great effect too. Just that there are more drawbacks to using these spells as opposed to corpse explosion and poison explosion.
Summoning:
Because confusion will work better with less summons I highly recommend a golem as your choice here. Of the possible choices there are two that are considerably better than the others.
Clay Golem my personal favorite, huge hit points, resists cold, slows target, seems to taunt. Great distraction for bosses with the hit points to stay in there for a bit.
Fire Golem- hard hitting, area of effect attack which complements confusion quite well. Though a little week at lower levels if you plan on using this one pump it up big for better damage.
And of course if you are going with a golem don’t forget a few points in mastery and summon resists.
Skeletons- Fewer is better. If you simply must have skeletons put one point in Raise and max mastery. Use plus skills from items to get a couple extra skeletons. Likewise for Mages, though I have never tried this with mages you could pump them a little if you like since they tend to try to avoid melee combat and shouldn’t affect confusion too much.
Revives- Ahh the one summon that breaks all the rules. Here is a great addition to the mojomancer build. Though they are stupid you will be raising them in the center of the riot. With a maxed Skeletal Mastery they are something to contend with. Who cares if they get lost on the way to the next battle, you’ll have more in a short amount of time. This is perhaps my favorite build to acomapany the curses. I like to call it the Vodoo (Vudin for you purists) Lord. Attacking with hexes and raising zombies. A very dangerous build too. Throw in a few points in your vodoo doll (clay golem) and really nothing will touch you. When choosing Revives try to get the ranged attackers especially nice are ghould lords, Doom knights, and anything with massive area of effect spells or long range attacks.. They will make very quick work of those in the riot, and unlike the confused you don’t need to worry about stepping in there spell mess.
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Originally Posted by darnocpdx
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