Quote:Ok, so I've decided to start d2 again, haven't really played since the first ladder of 1.10 and don't really remember much. I think I'll start a necromancer because that is what I started playing d2 with.
Okay, just a question before I might answer any of your own questions. What are you looking to do with this necro?
If you are looking for a necro that can realistically expect to solo hell diff up to killing Baal as a non-twinked character, then you will be looking at different builds than if you were just trying to find a fun build to play around with. If you are probaly going to spend most of your time in normal, feel free to branch out and try many skills.
Personally, my favorite necro build is a simple summoner. With skel mastery/raise skeleton/skel mage maxed, and a little time spent on NM countess/NM baal, you can easily cobble together an untwinked necro capable of finishing hell diff solo. I play HC, and as such usually max dim vision as well, but the extra points could be spent in corpse explosion or revives.
Both poison or bone can also be effective in Hell, but IMHO they are harder to get off the ground in normal and NM if you are untwinked. Not impossible at all, but harder. They really come into their own in late NM and beyond, or when twinked with effective(not necessarily rare) gear.
You really need to find a focus though for a necro(or any spell caster)if you want to go far into hell; there are enough synergies that to be effective with any particular skill, it seems like your choices are actually more limited than before the synergies existed. As you choose your focus, certain things will change: for example, if you went poison, most likely lower resist would be your curse of choice in most situations, but if you use an Iron golem or skels as a main damage source, as mentioned, Amp is definitely better. With bone spells, many would suggest maxing dim vision; it will allow to kill with near impunity.
EDIT: PS: Also, all of librarian's above advice is spot on.