War Chieftan Necromancer

[arrunique]

Imagine a necro who does not sit idly by cursing occasionally while his minons do all the work but one who is right up on the front lines swinging away!

Take your standard summoner necro and give him a BEAST runeword weapon. All of his troops would get fanat making up for the lost skills and he would add a grizzly to his menagerie.

And since you got this big stick why not beat on a few people with it?

One aspect of this build I'm not sure about is this: Do skeleton mages shoot faster when affected by fanat? If so then it makes sense to put skills in mages, if not 1 is enough. Anyone know the answer to that one?

Skills
20 skeleton
20 skel mastery
1 bone armor
20 bone wall
20 bone prison
1 amp
1 decrep + prereqs
1 dim vision
1 clay golem
1 golem mastery
1 summon resist
1 revive

if mages are affected by fanat then replace bone wall with 20 skeleton mages

Gear
Weapon: Beast Cadeceus(or other elite but I think for necro cadeceus is best) -- Build depends on it
Shield: Homonculus -- only necro shield with decent block
Armor:

• Ideal -- Chains of honor or Enigma
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• Realistic -- Guardian Angel or Trangs Armor
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• Thrift Store -- Twitch<>
  [st]Gloves: Anything with resists
  Ring 1: Wisp -- Add a HoW to the mix for ever more damage
  Ring 2: Raven -- A must for any melee char
  Amulet:
  • Ideal -- Crafted safty amulet: +2 necro skills, 10% block, prismatic, life/mana or Highlords
    <>
    
  • Realistic -- +3 summon amulet
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  • Thrift Store -- +1 necro and resists<>
    [st]Boots: Marrow or Gore or anything with run and resists
    Helm: Shako or Andy ideally, anything will do focus on resists and skills
    Belt: Mavina for run and mana leech or any belt with resists and life
    Switch: Demon limb socketed with hel to enchant yourself and your merc
    
    Merc:
    Might Merc with Doom or Crecent Moon pointy stick -- Bramble armor if you can afford it
    
    
    Stats:
    Str - around 100
    Dex - between 130 and 170 at 99 depending on if you wear GA or not
    Vit - Rest
    Mana - Base, you will be leeching or just slurp potions to keep up the curse output
    
    Geared up I would imagine this build to be a true wrecking crew which overcomes some of the annoyances of a traditional summoner build. With max synergies bone armor is 600+ points of physical immunity.
    
    The only probs I can forsee is building up enough resists to max in hell leaving yourself vulnerable to bosses and black souls. Well that and the build depends on a lot of really expensive gear. This might be another one of those to edit up and single player just to see it in action.

[Pansesus]

I'm afraid your necro will be in great danger if you build him in this way. Necro is a very poor melee attacker even with "beast". It is the only way to improve his attacking efficiency by putting skill points into Poison Dagger. I think you have forgotten that.

One of the most common concepts in necro buid is that the buggy shoes(Marrowwalk) is badly needed, since it could save many points that could be spent on other important skills(I think you don't quite understand how it works, if you put 0 point in bone prison, your bone spells will receive great synergy bonus--actually level 33 bone prison, huge boost. But this bug is disabled if you put any point into bone prison), and this pair of shoes is MUCH easier to find than those "beast", "Doom " or "Crecent Moon" you have mentioned above. To build a melee necro, you must max Bone Armor, which serves you perfectly with bug shoes, and this is another point you have missed.

It is a very good idea using "beast" to enhance your skels, but I suggest you to transform it into an iron golem, summoner necros also need + skill weapons, aren't they? AFAIK, Fan aura won't increase mages' attack speed, but I'm not sure of it.

[Pansesus]

Sorry, i posted it two times due to the Lag :P

[Bun-Bun]

Necro is a very poor melee attacker even with "beast". It is the only way to improve his attacking efficiency by putting skill points into Poison Dagger. I think you have forgotten that.

I can think of a few other ways. AR charms, Eth runes, RavenFrost, etc. I like Grim's Burning Dead on a Necro - it looks good and halves monster's DR. A Necro will never be the melee killing machine that other classes are, but he can contribute, especially if he's got a bunch of durable helpers.

One of the most common concepts in necro buid is that the buggy shoes(Marrowwalk) is badly needed

I rather dislike this concept. I don't think it's necessary and it tastes strongly of Velveeta. If there's ever another patch, I'd suspect this exploit will disappear, so building a character around it is a bit dodgy.

To build a melee necro, you must max Bone Armor, which serves you perfectly with bug shoes, and this is another point you have missed.

Last I checked, the BA synergies get you more armor points than the BA skill points, so maxing BA is not an optimal strategy.

It is a very good idea using "beast" to enhance your skels, but I suggest you to transform it into an iron golem, summoner necros also need + skill weapons, aren't they?

Using such valuable runes in a releatively ephemeral golem is a strategy for the very rich. My golems don't survive all that well in the long term.

I rather like the "Beast" meleemancer idea. Maybe someday I'll find the runes to try it out. :(

[Raziel]

I've been racking my brain for a way to combine "Passion" and Trang-Oul's set to make a zealing Vampire.

I'm sure it's possible, and probably hilarious to see, but i've yet to see how it would actually kill anything...

This post has made good start for me though :) Thanks!

[Pansesus]

Last I checked, the BA synergies get you more armor points than the BA skill points, so maxing BA is not an optimal strategy.

Well, he HAS maxed BW, and I suggested him to put points in BA instead of BP, if he has got the buggy shoes.

Using such valuable runes in a releatively ephemeral golem is a strategy for the very rich. My golems don't survive all that well in the long term.

Iron golem won't die easily if you put enough points in GM and SR, sometimes they will disapear for no reason(maybe too far away), though, but this problem would be overcomed by using enigma.

I rather dislike this concept. I don't think it's necessary and it tastes strongly of Velveeta. If there's ever another patch, I'd suspect this exploit will disappear, so building a character around it is a bit dodgy.

I feel sorry for this, too, and really don't like the bug. But most people still seek for the shoes, and I got to use it. Looking forward to having a new patch

I can think of a few other ways. AR charms, Eth runes, RavenFrost, etc. I like Grim's Burning Dead on a Necro - it looks good and halves monster's DR. A Necro will never be the melee killing machine that other classes are, but he can contribute, especially if he's got a bunch of durable helpers.

His damage is still very low, and It doesn't sound very attractive to use so many charms and runes to build such a char without enough damage. Unlike summoner druids, necros can't get hp and elemental protection from his skills. I can hardly imagine what would happen if he is facing hordes of Black Souls, and that is the point. :D

[arrunique]

Well, he HAS maxed BW, and I suggested him to put points in BA instead of BP, if he has got the buggy shoes.

I'm not going to rely on any bug so that is out.

Iron golem won't die easily if you put enough points in GM and SR

The build doesn't have room for points in GM. In single player with a trainer why not make runeword iron golems? Now I'm actually curious to see if they keep their auras.

I'll get a paladin to help me test skel mages. If they aren't affected then I'm probably going to skip mages and revives and their prereq golems alltogether and save the points.

His damage is still very low

This is a summoner necromancer so he will be relying on his buffed skeletons and merc for damage, just like every other zookeeper. The difference is this guy gives up some summoning skills for a fanat aura. Any melee damage he does is incidental, I never said this guy would hit as hard as a barb or werewolf druid. I think it would be fun to charge up with a clutch of skeletons and lay the smackdown on guys. Between decrep and fanat the damage should be acceptable enough to help skeletons.

Notice I emphasized defense like max block so the occasional hits he does take will have to go through the blocking and bone armor to damage him.

necros can't get hp and elemental protection from his skills

A necro's main protection is that 90% of the attackers will be targeting his minions and not him. He will be spending about half his points in VIT.

I can hardly imagine what would happen if he is facing hordes of Black Souls

Anyone facing hordes of black souls is moving too fast.

In the gear you see I included the Wisp Projector which has lightning absorb. Also I emphasized resists in his gear including giving up skills to get up to 90% light resists from guardian angel. Finally as if that wasn't enough he will have enough dex to keep a lightsaber on the switch, just for those souls.

[Obi2Kenobi]

One of the most common concepts in necro buid is that the buggy shoes(Marrowwalk) is badly needed, since it could save many points that could be spent on other important skills(I think you don't quite understand how it works, if you put 0 point in bone prison, your bone spells will receive great synergy bonus--actually level 33 bone prison, huge boost.

Um... you do realize that Marrowwalks also add to skeleton mastery, right? The only boots that will add to the skeletons, I might add.