how to get past duriel

[sandra11bullock]

this is such a noob question, but i got so far and this duriel is just wiping out my mini army too easy. i've got a act 2 assistant, 5 skeletons, 3 skeleton mages, a bloody golem so how do i kill duriel or do i have to start over with a new necro? also can you link me to some guides that apply to version 1.12, or whatever the latest version is? all the guides on lurker lounge are outdated. circuit city was going out of business and i got d2 battle chest for 30% off the $40 price. and a 14 day WoW game! thanks for the reply.

[Hammerskjold]

Since you have Blood Golem, you already have Clay golem right, you can use Gumby to try to slow Duriel down.

If that doesn't work for you, do you have anything in the Curse tree? Amp Damage, Iron Maiden, or Decrepify comes to mind. If you don't have any of those, you might be able to shop some wands (or find some shrunken heads) that might have those skill.

Unless you're playing a variant that forbids any Cursing or something.

[BruceGod]

Also, what level are you and which merc are you using? The prayer merc will heal your minions and the defiance one will make them get hit less often. Also, adding points to Skeleton Mastery will make your skeletons do more damage and increase their hitpoints too.

[librarian]

Heiho,

short guide for Necro Summoners in 1.1x:

max out Raise Skeleton (do this before anything else, stray points should just enable essentials like SkMastery, AD, CG, CE)
max out SkMastery
max out CE
invest one point into curses (CO and AT to taste), Summon Resist, Golem Mastery
with low equipment push AD a bit further, same with LR for party/SkMages/PN
enable Revive if to taste

then max out what you like, SkMages for a huge army, some Poison Nova plus syns for more action - bone spells will be too low to be of great use without top gear
if you don't like to max out CE because of style (in terms of efficiency there's no reason for not doing so) you may push poison skills to max (needs high level ambitions, max out PE last - gives you chance to stab away at troublemakers with a dagger)

get gear with +skills; +5 summon is easily possible selffound without too much trouble

use Mighty Guy (Act2 offensive from Nightmare) and keep him alive

as soon as corpses are freely available, poof them away

_______________

If you're brave enough, use an IthElEth weapon against troublemakers like Duriel; if you aren't give it to your hireling and keep him alive. Will need some time and maybe some town hopping for heals, but is sufficient.

[sandra11bullock]

is there anyone here that would be interested in getting on open bnet and helping me get past duriel? i have to go back to work next week and i'd love to see act 3 before i run out of time. so if anyone would be so generous just reply to this thread and/or send me a message thanks very much ! i think i'm on us east.

[BruceGod]

Maxing PD for any reason other than adding synergy to Poison Nova is a waste of time, IMO. You already have CE to clear corpses, and Skelly necros don't need to engage in actual combat.

[Archon_Wing]

Oh man, I've done that bastard so many times. Stock lots of gold by selling random items on the floor so you can resurrect your merc repeatedly. Then buy a crapload of town portals and mana potions and watch as your merc and golem slowly take him down. Buying a random wand with + bone spear may or may not help. Use iron madien if you have it, otherwise just keep spamming amp. If you want to level to 24 before taking him on, which is really tedious but can be worth it, decrep makes him, and most of normal, a piece of cake. I'd level in the false tombs.