Summoner Necromancer Build

[Vlad 411]

This thread is for comments about our Summoner Necromancer build for Diablo 2.

[stonegolem 0]

While leveling up a character, how do we know the amont of stats we need in the future? I might put everything into vitality but I can't use any good weapon that I find then. Also, I might put enough str points, then I may find an item with lots of extra str, making my spent stat points obsolete. Is there any suggested way to spent stat points during leveling a character for this build?

[Oxygen 446]

20 hours ago, stonegolem said:

While leveling up a character, how do we know the amont of stats we need in the future? I might put everything into vitality but I can't use any good weapon that I find then. Also, I might put enough str points, then I may find an item with lots of extra str, making my spent stat points obsolete. Is there any suggested way to spent stat points during leveling a character for this build?

The short answer: While leveling, put most of your points into vitality, and only add strength/dexterity when you find upgrades that require more of either.

The long answer:

The best way to manage stats is to plan your build around your "perfect" gear:

• How much strength is needed for the item with the highest strength requirement? For most characters, this is 156 (Spirit Monarch).
• How much strength will my perfect gear provide in total? Subtract this number from the highest strength requirement value.
• If you are not trying to reach maximum block chance, do the same process for dexterity. Note that some classes do not use dexterity at all.
• If you are trying to reach maximum block, invest into dexterity until you reach 75% block while your perfect shield is equipped; you can see your current block chance in the character sheet.
• Everything else goes to vitality.
• Nothing goes to energy.

If you feel like you've made a mistake, you can always respec your stat points.

[stonegolem 0]

On 9/24/2021 at 5:03 PM, Oxygen said:

 

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I appreciate that.

[Riku 0]

On paper Pride looks like a winner, but when you factor in the drawbacks Infinity is a better weapon for the Merc.  Pride freezes and shatters monsters preventing a corpse and blind overwrites your curse.  Infinity on the other hand increases damage of corpse explosion and increases hit rate from ~70% to ~95% at end game.  Also Infinity has enhanced damage affix which significantly increases Merc dps over Pride. 

[Oxygen 446]

16 hours ago, Riku said:

On paper Pride looks like a winner, but when you factor in the drawbacks Infinity is a better weapon for the Merc.  Pride freezes and shatters monsters preventing a corpse and blind overwrites your curse.  Infinity on the other hand increases damage of corpse explosion and increases hit rate from ~70% to ~95% at end game.  Also Infinity has enhanced damage affix which significantly increases Merc dps over Pride. 

Thank you for the comment, it's certainly an interesting discussion. I'd have to check whether minions have attack rating issues to the point where Conviction would outdo Concentration in terms of actual DPS gains for the entire army. The Blind point is certainly interesting, but I do believe that monsters which can typically be blinded generally aren't the truly dangerous ones you'd absolutely want to Curse, and so, I'd say it's fairly moot. Shattering corpses certainly is a good point, however, as is the increased damage output for the Mercenary itself.

I shall look into some numbers during the day. It may be worth recommending Infinity as well regardless of the conclusion.

EDIT: In hindsight, Infinity is the way to go; I really like the Chance of Crushing Blow, too, and the higher damage improves Merc survivability through leech. @MrLlamaSC, how do you feel about this? Shall we replace Pride with Infinity?

[MrLlamaSC 5]

Honestly I think there is a debate to be made for many weapons on this Character. Insight for Mana, Infinity for Conviction, Pride for Concentration, or maybe even just something like an eBotD for big Damage on the Mercenary. Ultimately, I think it comes down to the desire of the player and a bit of that style. If they are playing heavy Corpse Explosion, Infinity could provide more overall damage. If they are sitting back more and letting Minions really flood everywhere (and getting more Revives involved and such) I think Pride can perform better. Overall, I think both can go there for sure.

[IcePhoenix 0]

Been seeing people talk about Treachery being a better merc armor than Fortitude.  Is that true, or is it build specific and Fortitude is still better for Summonmancer?

Also is nobody gonna talk about the Trangs Gloves having the wrong tree listed for + skills

[MrLlamaSC 5]

Treachery and Fortitude are both solid, but in different ways. Treachery has big IAS and gives Venom + Fade which when procced are extremely solid. Fort gives higher defense and 300% ED (and some res) which gives a massive damage boost. Personally I like Fort more but Treachery has its fans and is a great alternative.

Also whoops lol! Fixing the gloves.

[Saubon 0]

On 9/29/2021 at 12:33 AM, Riku said:

On paper Pride looks like a winner, but when you factor in the drawbacks Infinity is a better weapon for the Merc.  Pride freezes and shatters monsters preventing a corpse and blind overwrites your curse.  Infinity on the other hand increases damage of corpse explosion and increases hit rate from ~70% to ~95% at end game.  Also Infinity has enhanced damage affix which significantly increases Merc dps over Pride. 

Conviction from infinity should give your summons and merc more dps than pride. And it buffs corpse explosion which is main source of your dmg if you farm normal mobs. Only bad thing about infinity is its price.

 

Also while beast is best for ubers where your main source of dmg are your summons, for normal play I prefer HOTO. With higher fcr breakpoint you can clear mobs faster (and teleport faster), not to mention you can summon higher lvl skellies without switching weapon.

 

btw. thanks @MrLlamaSC for making these guides, I love your content

[Azlind 0]

Honest question, why do clay golem? Why not put those points into mage? Doesn’t mage synergies with regular skeleton? I get putting one into it to get some resistance. But the mage would also give some elemental damage. 

[sboc 0]

Let's discuss Beast.

I really don't understand it. Sure - fanatism is nice. But honestly - so is HOTO. So basically - to give your skeletons a level 9 fanatism I would have to give up the resists, the +3 to skills, the 40% FCR.

I'm using Enigma. Means I can teleport and that 40% FCR - I need to get that from somewhere and those would be my rings. I'll then only loose 20% FCR in total when using Beast over HOTO if put on 2 10% FCR rings. But that means I loose 2 more points from my SOJs.

Do you see where I'm going? That's 5 points less in Skeleton Mastery. 5 points less in Raise Skeleton. 5 points less in Skeleton Mage (they suck but they are better than nothing). It's 5 less revives I can have.

On top of that I actually lost a ton of resists.

Beast is a weapon I would recommend ONLY for Ubers. And I'm not even sure here.

And somewhere along those line a discussion on Pride vs Infinity should be appropriate 🙂

Edited October 27, 2021 by sboc

[MrLlamaSC 5]

Mages are just awful unfortunately. Not worth the points at all. Clay golem at least has some good value and a fantastic slow!

In regards to the Hoto vs Beast debate and Infinity vs Pride, ya they both have good reasoning and honestly a lot of times it depends on your playstyle, other gear, charms, etc. Beast will still overall give you that stronger army for damage output, but you do lose a lot of other affixes. (Though you gain stuff like big Strength from Beast that will give you much more life later).

Infinity vs Pride has once again some different pieces. Depends your revives, playstyle, etc. I think Infinity is always fantastic, especially the more you play and get into it. Pride is more sit back and let it all go.

[Paedrig 0]

“Further, reviving Minions, Champions, or Unique monsters retains some of their special bonuses, making them a priority to Revive.”

i have had no luck reviving Champions or named Uniques. After perusing old D2 forums, I’ve found that these enemies are not revivable by design. I’ve completely removed revive from my build as a result. It would be prudent to have this section updated.

 

Source: https://www.diabloii.net/forums/threads/i-have-a-question-about-revives.147799/

[Chalk6ixNZ 0]

I dont understand why you have Beast as a weapon instead of Arm of King Leoric for a summoning build (when the Arm increases your skills to summoning all round). Beast IMO isnt BIS for a Summoning build. You dont deal damage, your minions do.

[Cajiin 0]

My personal favorite merc setup is infinity with gullium face and treachery for all the extra crushing blow for bosses etc. Just use life tap to heal him.

[Theo54 0]

I am using an act 1 merc equipped with FAITH. This gives my army level 14 Fanaticism. Why isn't act 1 merc listed as an alternate to act 2? comments?

[Dreadnaught702 0]

I'm confused about the eth Beast, wouldn't it just break ? From what i read putting Beast into a eth 5 socket PB is impossible because you cant turn an 5 socket eth CS or DB into a PB.

[NocturneOfSolace 0]

While on paper this build seems good, in reality after trying to go through it, Diablo absolutely destroys it once you reach him, even with 1 level of Summon Resist, he shreds through your skeletons and the golem like they're made of paper, leaving you without an army and causing you to be hosed cause you will rapidly run out of corpses to reanimate skeletons from

So, good luck making it to even Lord of Destruction with this build, I don't know what else I could do differently, but my playthrough came to a screeching halt once I made it to Diablo

I want to be clear, I am not trying to attack this build, I am sure it is user error and just the fact I'm a n00b but I genuinely don't understand how this build can make it past Diablo

Edited July 6, 2023 by NocturneOfSolace
clarification

[EspadaYeDaga1 0]

How would an act3 fire mercenary with dual dragon, flickering flame and hand of justice?  It would add enchant and lvl 45 fire aura to minion damage and reduce fire resistance for corpse explosion. Only drawback is a lot of fire immune monsters. Possibly solved by a fire sunder charm?

Edited October 16, 2023 by EspadaYeDaga1

[EspadaYeDaga1 0]

On 7/7/2023 at 9:45 AM, NocturneOfSolace said:

While on paper this build seems good, in reality after trying to go through it, Diablo absolutely destroys it once you reach him, even with 1 level of Summon Resist, he shreds through your skeletons and the golem like they're made of paper, leaving you without an army and causing you to be hosed cause you will rapidly run out of corpses to reanimate skeletons from

So, good luck making it to even Lord of Destruction with this build, I don't know what else I could do differently, but my playthrough came to a screeching halt once I made it to Diablo

I want to be clear, I am not trying to attack this build, I am sure it is user error and just the fact I'm a n00b but I genuinely don't understand how this build can make it past Diablo

Use life tap to keep your minions alive