melee necro question

[protoshoggoth]

I'm trying out the melee necromancer idea and was wondering if anyone has any advice. (I'm poor, so any advice of the "use ridiculously powerful Elite Unique X" isn't going to help me much.) I wasn't able to glean much info doing a search of the LL.

Nephilite is level 48 and has been doing well. It's certainly a fun build. I decided to give this strangeness a try when I found Ribcracker with my MF barb...the staff seems to work great for the melee necro, though admittedly I'm only starting act 4 NM, so what wouldn't work well up this point? :) Of course the sight of a necro with a staff almost justifies using it in and of itself.

Basically I'm pumping str and vit. Having ribcracker and hence no shield I was hoping to get by with a dex-less build; admittedly this means I'm using a 3 diamond helm *cough* for AR. Is no dex really viable for one of these guys? My chance to hit at the moment (on the LCS) is ~60%, so it's starting to become a problem.

As far as skills...he has ten points saved at the moment, which I'd like to spend. I keep hemming and hawing about this.

He has 10 points in bone armor (which I'm beginning to regret somewhat, though it's still handy) and no other bone/poison skills.

I think a golem is acceptable in the melee necro world, though I'm steering clear of revives. He uses a blood golem at the moment (1 pt). What kind of golem should I really shoot for? (4 pts in summon resist and 2 in golem mastery.) I'm leaning towards iron, though their life expectancy is a little low without a pack of assorted undead morons hanging around to help absorb attacks.

Of course he curses like a drunken sailor, which is to say continuously. He has 3 points in amp and 6 in decrepify. I have two in lower resist, so far I've only been using that when partied with a sorc. I do resort to IM/BG at times (1 pt.), but don't feel like much of a proper melee necro when I do so. I haven't gone in for the AI curses yet, though I'm certainly thinking about it.

Item-wise, he is entirely outfitted with shopped and gambled items, other than 'cracker of course.

He's currently using an act 3 cold merc, I'm figuring I may go with an offensive act 2 hell merc (if I ever get to act 2 hell :) ). That would certainly help with the AR situation.

[Archon_Wing]

I personally don't recomond blood golem unless it's absolutely necessary. BG is really only effective with IM/or thorns merc, and neither goes well with the build.

You're better off using a clay or iron golem. You could use fire but the high mana cost sucks.

Pumping dex to get attack rating generally sucks. You're better off keeping those +ar charms that you will find. Or dex charms. But spending 50 stat points for what a few grand charms can do is imo a waste. :)

I think it's practical for you to use the angelic halo ring and amulet together? It gives 12 attack rating per level and is not really hard to find.

You should max bone armor. Along with decrepcify, you can see it is 400 more hp. If you have damage reduction (% or absolute) your bone armor will last even longer.


If you can find items that can give you crushing blow (Gullamine's face) that would be nice. And it's not especialy rare.

I think attract works well with this build. You may or may not like it.

From my experience, you may need a minimal amount of life leech. You don't need tons though.
How will you deal with Physical immunes?

[protoshoggoth]

How will you deal with Physical immunes?

Er, good question. I was planning on lower resist and something on the order of a 6-topaz weapon, although never having done it I don't know how well that will go.

[Archon_Wing]

I personally recomond a bow socketed with perfect emeralds. You can also try buying elemental weapons from vendors. By the time PIs become an issue, you will be able to buy one.

A Shocking Repeating Crossbow would do. :)

[Raz]

Terror is a curse that can become your best friend. With good use of it, you can separate the monsters;besides it will aid you to get out of some terrible situations. It is a pretty handy "panic" button. When you get surrounded, use it. A couple of points there won't hurt.

My 2 cents :)

Edit:
To expand on this, here´s Elric's Guide to Cursing. Not everything may apply for you, but it is a handy guide nonetheless :)
http://www.geocities.com/elricofgrans/guid...des/curse1.html

[jhartelt]

my melee Necro is just 22, but i already found the aim aura very usefull. the poison dagger skill can be used to give AR AFAIK. you just do not get the poison when not using a dagger.

another way to raise chance to hit is to stay in an area where the monsters have your level. with lvl48 that would be somewhere in act3 or even end of act2.

[kier]

Try getting a Grims burning dead grim sythe, my nec uses it unless he is gathering his army :P It's my favourite nec item in the game i think :P Allthough most nec items are cool. BTW, my nec is called grim-weeper and he has named the sythe :P

[protoshoggoth]

the poison dagger skill can be used to give AR AFAIK. you just do not get the poison when not using a dagger.

Hm, that's interesting. I had no idea.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice!

[the Langolier]

For curses, I suggest Terror/Dim Visioin for the AI curses to use versus all the normal monsters you face. And don't forget one of the most helpful melee curses around - Life tap! One skill point and presto - 50% life leech! Here's a few strategies you can use with these:

1. Dim Vision monsters you come across to lower the number you will have to face at a time. Use terror immediately before dim vision to make it even more effective. You can also cast decrepifyfe tap on the nearest pack of enemies since at that point dim vision won't be doing anything. Meanwhile all the other enemies are patiently waiting their turn.

2. This one doesn't use so the AI curses so much. Cast decrepify on the enemies in the rear so they advance slower, then cast life tap on the few in front. As you take out the decrepified, you can swith and attack those with life tap whenever you need to refill the life globe.

[jhartelt]

the poison dagger skill can be used to give AR AFAIK

I found a thread over in the AmazonBasin that proves me wrong in this. So please, do not invest in PD if you do not plan to use a Dagger.

[protoshoggoth]

Thanks for the correction. I hadn't put any points into it yet, but may well have done so in the future.

[Baal]

Even though Dim Vision is quite nice, do be careful where you aim it.

If you cast it on one of those Vultures that can flap up into the air, they can actually land in midair and be impossible for you to affect, yet they can slap you quite easily. :angry:

Laters,
Baal.

[Brista]

My chance to hit at the moment (on the LCS) is ~60%, so it's starting to become a problem.

The Character Screen is accurate regarding chance to hit in the current version, I believe

[whereagles]

I had a melee nec once, but I didn't have patience to go beyond A5 normal. (Single player, 8-ppl mode, untwinked.) He had blessed aim merc, but the merc killed a lot more than the nec, so if you wanna feel like a real melee nec, dump the merc.

Attack rating is a problem, but the nec's VERY SLOW swing is much more annoying. But it's not too hard to fix them with some diamonds and ias jewels.

As for skills, I think max decrepify and bone armor are good choices. Then a couple pts in crowd-control curses like confuse, attract and terror and you shd be fine. I also decided to go with 20 bone spirit because of phys immunes, but mainly because of act bosses and hell ancients. Those guys are pretty scary to melee with :)

[Guen]

Basically I'm pumping str and vit.  Having ribcracker and hence no shield I was hoping to get by with a dex-less build; admittedly this means I'm using a 3 diamond helm *cough* for AR.  Is no dex really viable for one of these guys?  My chance to hit at the moment (on the LCS) is ~60%, so it's starting to become a problem.

Check out the multi item set bonuses on the Angelic, Hsaru, Berserker, and Sigon sets. +AR/Level is great for these kinds of builds.

The Angelic Wings + Halo(s) tends to be the most popular set combo. Huge AR and lots of other good bonuses too!

- Guen