Vash,
You have said you want a direct damage Zookeeper without Thorns. No problem. However, I don't personally think that Prayer is the way to go, and I think points in Fire Golem are wasted ... he does nothing whatsoever as far as offense past normal difficulty. Skeletal Mages ... they are slow, very slow. Be prepared to protect them with revives. :)
I think if you want a Direct Damage necromancer, you want a Might Merc (act 2 nightmare offensive), and you want to max Skeleton Mastery. The extra points in Skeleton Mastery will more than make up for prayer anway, and in Hell, I dont think Prayer will significantly help you. For direct damage, you want a Might Merc and the max Skeleton Mastery.
I would personally build mine like so, assuming at least +4 or more to skills in the end:
Skeleton Mastery 20
Golem Mastery 10
Fire Golem 1
Summon Resist 1
Revive 10
Skeletal Mages 10
Dim Vision 10
Attract 10
Amplift Damage 5
Lower Resist 1
Corpse Explosion 1
Bone Armor 1
Pre-Reqs 11
It is true that you could get by with 5 points or even 1 point in your revives and your skeletal mages, and just 1 in Amplify Damage, if you have a LOT of +skills, but my personal preference for a minion build is to actually sink some points into them. I also only recommended 1 in Corpse Explosion because you are going to be pounding enemies to dust. If they are immune to physical, you are out of luck anyway, especially since you dont plan to invest in Bone Spirit (I hate Bone Spirit too). The mages are slow but if you have to kill a Phys Immunes, they can work with Lower Resist ... slowly.
You might want to put some elemental damage on your merc. I've always wanted to take an elite 6-socket spear and drop 2 amns in it and 4 jewels of thunder in it, along with a 3-socket helm with jewels of thunder, and a good resists armor (like maybe a goldskin, or that druid set armor with 30% lightning resist) socketed with a jewel of thunder also. Of course that is a lot of jewels of thunder. I'm just dreaming. :)
OH! And regarding Dim Vision ... someone earlier said it isnt useful for Zookeepers because your minions engage them and so the blindness is pointless. That is essentially true. I just put 10 there because I love it. It is my favorite Necro curse ... heck, it is my favorite Necro Skill, other than maybe Bone Prison. :) Anyway, I still find it useful in a Zookeeper build when you have a lot of casters. Even if the casters get engaged by your troops they are still prevented from casting spells at range and such. Nice. It is also useful when low on minions and you want to more safely get a few more bodies. Shutting down the whole screen to let your merc safely tank one or two .. thats useful. Dim Vision is tricky at first to use but in the end, it rocks when used well.
Anyway, I think if you want to put the smack-down on some skulls, you need max Skeleton Mastery and a Might Merc, with liberal use of Amplify Damage (and/or Decrepify).
Lewis
You have said you want a direct damage Zookeeper without Thorns. No problem. However, I don't personally think that Prayer is the way to go, and I think points in Fire Golem are wasted ... he does nothing whatsoever as far as offense past normal difficulty. Skeletal Mages ... they are slow, very slow. Be prepared to protect them with revives. :)
I think if you want a Direct Damage necromancer, you want a Might Merc (act 2 nightmare offensive), and you want to max Skeleton Mastery. The extra points in Skeleton Mastery will more than make up for prayer anway, and in Hell, I dont think Prayer will significantly help you. For direct damage, you want a Might Merc and the max Skeleton Mastery.
I would personally build mine like so, assuming at least +4 or more to skills in the end:
Skeleton Mastery 20
Golem Mastery 10
Fire Golem 1
Summon Resist 1
Revive 10
Skeletal Mages 10
Dim Vision 10
Attract 10
Amplift Damage 5
Lower Resist 1
Corpse Explosion 1
Bone Armor 1
Pre-Reqs 11
It is true that you could get by with 5 points or even 1 point in your revives and your skeletal mages, and just 1 in Amplify Damage, if you have a LOT of +skills, but my personal preference for a minion build is to actually sink some points into them. I also only recommended 1 in Corpse Explosion because you are going to be pounding enemies to dust. If they are immune to physical, you are out of luck anyway, especially since you dont plan to invest in Bone Spirit (I hate Bone Spirit too). The mages are slow but if you have to kill a Phys Immunes, they can work with Lower Resist ... slowly.
You might want to put some elemental damage on your merc. I've always wanted to take an elite 6-socket spear and drop 2 amns in it and 4 jewels of thunder in it, along with a 3-socket helm with jewels of thunder, and a good resists armor (like maybe a goldskin, or that druid set armor with 30% lightning resist) socketed with a jewel of thunder also. Of course that is a lot of jewels of thunder. I'm just dreaming. :)
OH! And regarding Dim Vision ... someone earlier said it isnt useful for Zookeepers because your minions engage them and so the blindness is pointless. That is essentially true. I just put 10 there because I love it. It is my favorite Necro curse ... heck, it is my favorite Necro Skill, other than maybe Bone Prison. :) Anyway, I still find it useful in a Zookeeper build when you have a lot of casters. Even if the casters get engaged by your troops they are still prevented from casting spells at range and such. Nice. It is also useful when low on minions and you want to more safely get a few more bodies. Shutting down the whole screen to let your merc safely tank one or two .. thats useful. Dim Vision is tricky at first to use but in the end, it rocks when used well.
Anyway, I think if you want to put the smack-down on some skulls, you need max Skeleton Mastery and a Might Merc, with liberal use of Amplify Damage (and/or Decrepify).
Lewis
Lewis
aka *westcats, USWest, SC
aka *sevencats, *weirdcats, USEast, SC
aka *westcats, USWest, SC
aka *sevencats, *weirdcats, USEast, SC