Aura effects and Iron Golem
#1
Okay, I just spent that past hour and a half writing this same post, but it was lost when I accidentally right-clicked on something. [Insert a string of profanities here]

Long, witty, impeccably organized story short (sob), all aura effects work from the runewords like Beast, Doom, and Exile, with IG.

Beast is superior, in my opinion, because it grants an aura that is not attainable with a merc. Also, it (Fanatacism) is something you cannot put on your merc (Holy Freeze via Doom).

Doom is good, but it is better to put it on your merc rather than use for your IG. Exile is good, but Defiance is not as useful as Fanatacism by far, and the chance to freeze, along with Doom on your merc, makes First Corpse Fetching extremely irritating, and the chance to override your own hard curse work is undeniably limiting. Same goes to Delirium and Gloom.

If I put Dim Vision on Archers, Terror on a Fanat Moon Lord pack, Confuse on some regular monsters, and Decrepify on a boss, I expect it to stay that way, on threat of death to whomsoever ruins my hard curse work. If my IG ruins it, he's gone. If some arse who traipses in with Delirium that thinks its their only means of survival in hell (a zealing melee sorc, perhaps? cough), they're gone too <_< :o ;) :angry: :( :ph34r: :)

Other nice candidates for IGs, if anyone was wondering, include Blackbog's Sharp (Unique Cinquedas with 50% slow target and nice poison damage), Hwanin's Refuge (Set Excep Scale Mail with 10% chance to cast Static Field), Stormrider (Unique Tabar that's cheap with lots of lightning damage), Stormspike (Unique Stiletto that's the same deal as Stormrider, but in a smaller package), any Paladin shield with inherent resistances and 4 sockets for either more diamonds/ED jewels/elemental damage jewels/Ber runes (hehehe), or Iceblink (Unique Splint Mail with freeze target mod).

The Crescent Moon runeword is a viable option but I have found that it is not as effective as passive bonuses (auras), defensive capability, or things with a chance to cast when hit, due to the poor AR of the IG.

In my experiments, a freakishly powerful Necro has a Prayer Merc bearing Doom and an IG made out of Beast, with many Revives and skeletons with high Skeleton mastery in tow. Fanat provides great offense, Prayer provides great defense, and Holy Freeze provides both.

Man, I should've done my old post in Word, to avoid this ugly mishap.
Comments and criticism is more than welcome-it's demanded :rolleyes: . And I hope someone has more good suggestions on IG items, as it's fun to think of the possibilites.

Buena Suerte!
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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#2
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.....

I believe I have just discovered what I will be wasting my time with for the next while. :( :) :( :)

I've been meaning to make a serious attempt at a meleemancer (my previous outings never got past lvl 18ish for one reason or another) for quite some time. Now I have a very compelling reason to do so.

How deadly does a meleemancer with a "Beast" Iron golem and an act II merc of either the holy freeze or might flavour sound?? Hmmmmmmm? :)

Toss in either a "passion" or "famine" weapon for me to wield, add in bone armor for those inevitable oh so close calls ;) and top it all off with curses ranging from decripify to terror and what do you get??

I don't know, I'll have to go see and find out!

Toodles

--Tfarcraw

Note: I do realize that this equipment is not very realistic for a ladder character but I sure it's perfectly viable for non-ladder or after some time has elapsed and these thing become available for trade (or after many, many rune-finding runs)
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#3
Thanks for clearing up some questions I had about the new rune words.

Beast certainly sounds like a wonderful idea for an IG ;) , on the other hand I think Breath of the Dying and Chaos also seem like good rune words for making an IG from, and Hand of Justice for a suicide IG (it certainly seems wasteful, but if they take down your IG they should suffer for it :rolleyes: ).

Some other good items for an IG are the gloves from the Cleglaw set and a Baranars Star socketed with a perfect emerald for elemental full spectrum dominance.

Good hunting!
Prophecy of Deimos
“The world doesn’t end with water, fire, or cold. I’ve divined the coming apocalypse. It ends with tentacles!”
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#4
Do you now get your item back when you unsummon an IG or something? If so, go for it. Otherwise, save those runes you find and use them on something worthwhile, not on a silly minion that you can make with random junk that drops. I don't think one item can make or break a golem and golems die.
--Lang

Diabolic Psyche - the site with Diablo on the Brain!
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#5
You cannot regain your item.

The point of using great items for the IG is to maximize its power. Of course, using any "junk" is certainly possible, but why settle for a cracked dagger or an Arcing Great Sword if you can potentially have an extra Act 2 Mercenary, with level 16 Fade activated and huge damage return?

The IG Necro can now use some insidiously powerful items; I suggest people use them.

Buena Suerte.
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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#6
No problem, Assur.

Actually, I did test Breath of the Dying (BotD) and it honestly wasn't as cost effective as Beast, or even Doom. The fact that your IG doesn't really make many actual KILLS (it does land some hits though) makes the Poison Nova mod, which is one of its most valuable mods, rather useless. The extremely high ED is a plaintive point when modifying its puny damage, which is 7-11, i believe. That's like getting an ultra-Cruel Scimitar for the price of Vex, Zpd. and some other rare runes.

Indeed, I also tested Chaos :o :lol: and failed to mention it. The reasons were: a) it is ridiculously not cost effective, B) the chance to cast frozen orb is typically a very bad mod for a Necromancer, who is looking for corpses, especially when factoring in a Doom Merc, and, c) most of its mod truly wouldn't benefit an IG that much.

Hand of Justice is interesting; I didn't test that one initially. After testing it 5 minutes ago, I have concluded that it is simply erroneous for this build to activate that many monsters with both your Merc's Holy Freeze and the IG's Holy Fire. It basically makes it into a Fire Golem that is not recastable. Nix. Good idea though, if you can handle the hordes :)

Buena Suerte Assur.
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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#7
Hullo Tfarcraw.

See my 1.10 Daggermancer strategies in the Armory. I don't know how to link because I have the computer mastery of a two year old.

For a meleemancer + IG build, I'd suggest foregoing Poison Nova synergy, thus saving 20 points, and spreading that into IG and Mastery.

Though physical damage isn't the biggest point for the daggermancer, the IAS would help a lot, and your merc would be a great killing machine.

Buena Suerte.
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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#8
:o Wow, this is highlighted by Bolty in the News section? Bolty, I'm so flattered!

*Giddy school-girl giggle* :P

Um, nah, just kidding. :rolleyes: Well, about the giggling. I do hope more people pay attention to the utility of Iron Golem, though, and experiment with some more item combinations.

I would go so far as to assert that the IG is the most powerful minion in the game; it can adapt to any situation!

So keep the ideas rolling, please. I love the possibilities entailed by IG's skill theory. Though I won't be able to test much with school starting next week (hich school senior year, woot...), I'd be delighted to proffer whatever meager input I can garner for the expert Lurkers interested in IG.

Buena Suerte.
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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#9
As you can see from this series of screenshots, an Iron Golem will also turn into an Undead Stygian Doll when made from Delirium (the Delirium used here was slightly modified to make testing easier).
Modified Runeword
Helm on ground
Golem from helm
Golem following master
Viola!
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#10
Intolerance, great work.

Do you have the stats for the delirium spell? I was wondering if

a) the golem hp is transferred to that of the stygian doll
B) if golem mastery affects the hp of the transformed golem
c) what the damage is on the doll, and how it is converted from the golem
d) if the IG still retains the fade effect

Buena Suerte!
In war, intelligence is the single greatest commodity.
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