02-25-2004, 04:42 AM
I will confess that not only am I behind you in quests (clvl 80 and at the River of Flame Waypoint) but I have been blessed with better equipment than you (Trang's Full set was just completed and not only looks nifty but aids immensely for the PI/PI combinations that bite this build so much).
My necromancer uses Poison Dagger most of the time, Poison Explosion much of the time and Poison Nova some of the time (I have yet to max that one). When the monsters are Poison Immune he uses Fire Wall on them. He has pumped Bone Wall just to get his Bone Armour up, which now absorbs about 400 damage.
He uses a Holy Freeze mercenary.
He has a single point in all curses except: Confuse and Attract (zero) and Dim Vision (10 - to get the radius high enough). I have spent no points in the summoning tree.
The main M.O. is to cast Dim Vision ahead of him and then assess what sort of monster we have to deal with. After that, I find I usually cast Decrepify and scamper around the statue-like monsters, stabbing as many as possible, re-casting Decrepify often, before it wears off. Then I back off and keep the Decrepify up and let the merc jab them to death, and aid the process with Poison Explosions. Renewing the Dim Vision on the ranged attackers is sometimes needed too, as the poison damage takes so long to finish monsters off.
Sometimes the mercenary needs a bit of Life Tap to keep going and then I can switch back to Decrepify. Depending on how hard the monsters are hitting and where they are placed, the Poison Immunes get either Decrepify or Lower Resist cast on them and then I throw Fire Walls on them.
Of course, the presence of companions changes the M.O. A recent expedition with a Bone Spells only Necromancer had me casting Dim Vision almost exclusively so he could nail the blinded monsters with his incredibly high damage Bone Spears. Other expeditions with a WereBear mean it is pointless to bother stabbing the monsters because he will kill them so much faster than I can, so I stand back and just keep using Poison Explosion on the ones he does kill, and keep the right curses going.
When playing solo, this seems to be a fairly safe build that kills in the 'slow but sure' mode. Slvl 31 poison dagger and slvl 30 poison explosion have high damage over rather long periods of time.
On the other hand, I have yet to go visit Nihilathak in Hell with him, and that will be a difficult journey. There are a lot of PI/PI combinations in Act V overall that I have yet to have the fun of encountering. :rolleyes:
If nothing else, building this guy has given me a very healthy respect for the power of Dim Vision and Decrepify. Dim Vision makes almost any monster helpless (except Bosses and Oblivion Knights) and Decrepify breaks Physical Immunity AND slows down all monsters.
My necromancer uses Poison Dagger most of the time, Poison Explosion much of the time and Poison Nova some of the time (I have yet to max that one). When the monsters are Poison Immune he uses Fire Wall on them. He has pumped Bone Wall just to get his Bone Armour up, which now absorbs about 400 damage.
He uses a Holy Freeze mercenary.
He has a single point in all curses except: Confuse and Attract (zero) and Dim Vision (10 - to get the radius high enough). I have spent no points in the summoning tree.
The main M.O. is to cast Dim Vision ahead of him and then assess what sort of monster we have to deal with. After that, I find I usually cast Decrepify and scamper around the statue-like monsters, stabbing as many as possible, re-casting Decrepify often, before it wears off. Then I back off and keep the Decrepify up and let the merc jab them to death, and aid the process with Poison Explosions. Renewing the Dim Vision on the ranged attackers is sometimes needed too, as the poison damage takes so long to finish monsters off.
Sometimes the mercenary needs a bit of Life Tap to keep going and then I can switch back to Decrepify. Depending on how hard the monsters are hitting and where they are placed, the Poison Immunes get either Decrepify or Lower Resist cast on them and then I throw Fire Walls on them.
Of course, the presence of companions changes the M.O. A recent expedition with a Bone Spells only Necromancer had me casting Dim Vision almost exclusively so he could nail the blinded monsters with his incredibly high damage Bone Spears. Other expeditions with a WereBear mean it is pointless to bother stabbing the monsters because he will kill them so much faster than I can, so I stand back and just keep using Poison Explosion on the ones he does kill, and keep the right curses going.
When playing solo, this seems to be a fairly safe build that kills in the 'slow but sure' mode. Slvl 31 poison dagger and slvl 30 poison explosion have high damage over rather long periods of time.
On the other hand, I have yet to go visit Nihilathak in Hell with him, and that will be a difficult journey. There are a lot of PI/PI combinations in Act V overall that I have yet to have the fun of encountering. :rolleyes:
If nothing else, building this guy has given me a very healthy respect for the power of Dim Vision and Decrepify. Dim Vision makes almost any monster helpless (except Bosses and Oblivion Knights) and Decrepify breaks Physical Immunity AND slows down all monsters.
And you may call it righteousness
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake