Skeleton Necromancer

[arrunique]

Just refresh your character's timer when it gets that low.

Or play a couple of hours and the timer goes away. Well it doesnt go away, it just gets set to 90 days.

In answer to the original question, Yes skelemancers are very viable and are probably the best class to start from nothing, doubly so in hardcore.

The build is fairly straightforward:
20 raise skeleton
20 skeleton mastery
1 corpse explosion + prereqs (or skip if you are a purist)
1 bone armor (if hardcore, if softcore then it can be skipped)
1 clay golem
1 golem mastery
1 summon resists
1 amp damage
1 decrep + prereqs
optional 1-10 dim vison - If you are in hardcore it is probably worth maxing

I haven't had great utility out of either confuse or attract so I never bothered with either.

At this point you have several options and lots of spare skill points
full summoner - 20 mages, 10 summon resists, 1 revive (let skillers increase the numbers), max golem of your choice (I like clay), rest in golem mastery
hybrid boner - 20 bone spear 20 bone spirit - I wouldnt just because bone spells aren't nearly as effective without synergies
hybrid poisoner - 20 poison nova and poison explosion, 1+ in lower resists - I haven't seen any of these but the damage numbers seem to work out ok

Best of luck!