Hi,
I have recently restarted with D2 after more than 9 years and I am trying to build a summoner.
I read several guides and most mentioned Marrowwalk as the boots of choice for this built. However, after getting one pair for free from a member of the UsWest LD forum, I can not fsee the big benefits of wearing these. The +2 to skeleton mastery increases life and damage of the skeletons by a mere 2-3% and the bonus to STR is of no use to me. What is left is the +17 to dex (in case I want to go for max block), but then Waterwalk would be a better option (+15 dex + 45-65 HP).
I am afraid I am missing something and would really appreciate the advice of you guys!
It really doesn't make much difference. From a pure 'max summon skills' standpoint Marrowwalk is the choice but summoners do just fine with 20/20 and only a handful of +skills. Wear any boots you want. Waterwalk is a nice budget option even if you don't want max block (+life), and War Traveler is preferred if you plan to mf a lot.
Yep, as the +skills don't have that much of an effect I never bothered with them myself. Pre-Enigma I used Aldur's (40FRW is nice) or WT for the MF, right now I'm using a pair of tri-res boots as my resists are a bit lacking. If you're going max block then Waterwalk is a fine choice.
Well, the STR is of use to you, and everybody else. It means you can skip putting those points in str for gear reqs, and put them in vit instead, unless marrow walk are your highest str requirement item. (Which I suppose it could be)
On the low end of gear, I often go with nat's boots for the dual res + frw. For MF there's always WT obviously, or tri-res+frw+mf boots are money on the high end. Waterwalk has already been mentioned, and then there's sandstorms, which are pretty decent for basically every class.
The problem with marrowwalks is that they are boneweave boots. So in many situations they could be the heaviest item you have and the str comes in no use at all.
I would just wear Marrowalk unless I need extra surviveabilty. And as a pure summoner I usually do not. And I don't think a summoner is a good choice for MFing, he's too slow for that.
In any case you may put the boots on before summoning and change them after. If you have good gear it's quite rare to see melee skeletons fall so it might be worth to do so.
My necro has Enigma on a Mage Plate, so at level 80 he has enough str to wear the Marrow (about 135 str). With the bonus of +20 str he can reach 155, but for what? I don't think I need a Spirit to substitute the Homunculus. So, from my point of view is a +17 dex + 3% more skelly dmg against a nice boost to HP (waterwalk) or res (Natalya) or HP + res (Aldur's) or MF (war traveler). I know in the end it does not make a huge difference, but I like to get other's opinion.
From my standpoint the extra strength bonus is normally wasted on a necromancer since in two of my own builds they were in fact the heaviest item that was to be worn. Theres only two real uses I see for the str bonus would be either for a spirit monarch instead of homunculus to reach a faster cast rate breakpoint (not really necessary on a summoner) or to be able to use spirit monarch on switch paired with a CTA for the additonal +skill.
A case could be made that marrows provides the str required to wield a beast zerker axe, if you have only one beast. It also has level 33 bone prison, that's something I guess.
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