Fishymancer - Final Version (updated for 1.13)

[Nightfish]

Good catch. That has been in there for ages and no one noticed. Uh... I put that there on purpose to test you? Yes, I'll go with that.

[OsyncO]

I couldn't figure out how you could say it is easy to take out Andariel on normal and I was about to give up on this build. In my case, the difficulty was due to not using amplify damage. I hadn't needed it prior to Andariel and I thought it was too dangerous to cast it on her. Once you cleared that up, I tried it and she went down pretty quickly.

Thank you for taking the time to create and update this build and answer all these questions. This build has enabled me to enjoy and appreciate this game.

[Nightfish]

Oh, you should always use Amp Damage. On everything. It doubles your army's damage output. Once you get to lvl 24 and have decrepify, use that on act bosses. That makes them a lot less dangerous, especially combined with clay golem.

It's not dangerous to cast it, don't worry You're not playing hardcore so dying is just part of the learning process for you. As it should be. I died a lot back when I started D2. The assassin class will probably never forgive me my first character...

[nurman]

Some people *COUGH* ZARNIWOOP* COUGH* might argue that dim vision is superior in general gameplay and definetly a better place to drop points in (than, say, CE/AMP).

[Nightfish]

DV blinds the screen, CE clears the screen. I know which I prefer.

Tbh, DV can be grateful it gets an honorable mention at all. Personally I don't even cast this spell at all anymore, outside of MPing. Thankfully the build has enough points to spare that after you max RS, SM and CE you still have enough to get DV to 10+ if you feel you must.

[Serdash]

Dim vision is for noobs that don't know how to DODGE!

No seriously, Dim Vision can be a great skill, but you're going to have enough spare points(and hopefully +skills from gear) to have Dim Vision at a respectable level anyways. Once that first body hits the ground Amp becomes dominant again for CE anyways.

[AzureTorrent]

Awesome updated guide Nightfish! I must say I really enjoy your guides.

When I first starting playing again I remember looking at your Fishymancer guide since I was having a hard time starting out a sorceress so I tried it out and well I totally enjoyed the experience! Thanks again for all your work and dedication.

[pulli]

Well I'm currently lv 85... And really wondering where to spend more points: amplify damage has a range of 12 already (which is big enough I think), a point in summon resist only give 0.5 resistance now :/. I can't remember ever having 11 revives.

What's good to put points in now? - unlock all cursers just for the heck of it? - Increase golem mastery (like my clay golem ever dies anyways..)


I do have acomment though:

On a side note, CE is not useless on players 8, don't let the fact that it doesn't scale blind you to that. It does not get a bigger penalty than any other skill. (the only spell that is stronger on p8 is static field, everything else gets the same "penalty")

Can't say I agree with this completely:
-In a fight (let's say a "start") I can choose 2 things: either make the body a revive or let it explode.
Exploding always provides me X extra damage, independent of the player number. Reviving however DOES become "better" if the player settings is higher: the fight takes longer, so the revive does more damage.

MANY skills do become "better" with more players, and especially with the necromancer I experienced that with 8 players it's often better to revive than to CE bodies.. Yet with 1 players CE "pops" everyone and revives would simply slow me down.

[Jason Maher]

Needs more Prayer merc tbqh...

I'm playing two of these buggers at the moment, one of them naked, both HC. I might finally discover how potent CE actually is (my first attempt at a summoner, long before I read this guide, didn't use it, and my only ever Guardian deliberately didn't use it because he was themed to summon as many critters as humanly possible). I might even try Fire Golem this time. I've always loved Gumby because he is such an awesome tank and he slows everything, and didn't see the point in using one of the others when he is so useful.

[Xanadar]

Two questions for the great Nightfish if I may:

1) How much crushing blow on your merc do you need to be effective? I currently have Hone Sundan, Guillaume's Face socketed with an ED jewel, and eth Shaftstop socketed with any Um on him. I want to switch to an Obedience for the extra damage and resists, but then I would have to switch helms to get life leech and lose out on the CB from Guillaume's Face. Am I going to miss that extra CB? I guess another option would be to make a CoH and get life leech there, but I feel like that's a waste of a Ber I'd rather save for Infinity.

2) Do you recommend clay golem or iron golem for WSK/Baal running? How important is it to have the slowing ability on clay golem?

I'm a big fan of your guides. =)