Ancient Of Mu Mu, McFleagle - Poison Nova Necromancer

Ancient Of Mu Mu

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Jan 22, 2010
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Background:

Coming back to the game after a good 6 years I decided to finally optimize builds thanks to the Build Efficiency 101 thread on the old forum started by FFS and this meant farming runewords. I had a few characters in stash with a lot of good set items and uniques already.

I started running Lower Kurast superchests and within a few weeks had my first Enigma, Grief, and Fortitude followed by Infinity and then CTA and HOTO. Currently I have a Lo rune in stash and a few vex’s on down. (Time for some more runs.)

Next up was to focus on specific builds. I had a summoner necromancer already with no respec’s left so started a Poison Necro with the sole aim of being my most efficient pit runner, players 7. I generally like builds that can cope with at least P3 Hell simply to gain XP and advance.

The Journey:

McFleagle was equipped from stash with a gemmed sword and Biggins Bonnet plus Hsarus boots etc. I don’t remember too much of the initial slog as it was a bit tedious with simply poison dagger and The Diggler, followed by Jade Tan Do. At level 30 poison nova took over with Blackbog’s Sharp as the weapon soon after and then Wizspike before finally making a HOTO flail.

I swapped the Act 2 Blessed Aim Mercenary for my preferred Might merc once I hit nightmare.

Once I got Poison Nova, the going got easy and the build became fun. Finally entered Hell around level 67 and using the Wizspike I ran pits for a while to level up before completing Baal at around level 81. He’s currently running pits at players 7.

Standard tactics- hit monsters with Lower Resist curse and then Poison Nova followed by Corpse Explosion. Watch everything drop.

McFleagle favorite curse: ”’You lilly-livered ninnies, mah wee grannie hit’s harder than that!’ (This lowers monster morale to the point where they become easy prey for his followup attack.)

The Gear:

Helm: Harlequin Crest(with perfect topaz)
Amulet: Mara’s amulet
Armor: Trang Oul’s Scales
Weapon: HOTO Flail
Gloves: Trang Oul’s Claws
Shield: Trang Oul’s Wing (3 Trang-Oul’s set items give -25 poison resistance)
Rings: Raven Frost/Naglering(26%MF)
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Boots: War Traveller(31%MF)

Stats and Skills:

75 into strength,
153 Dex, going for max block which is currently around 67%
242 into vitality

Summon Spells:

Required prerequisites : 1 point
Clay golem : 1 point
Golem mastery : 2 points (may increase-dunno)
Summon resist : 1 point

Curses:

All prerequisites : 1 point
Lower Resist: 1 point (breaks most poison immunes:)

Poison and Bone Spells:

Required prerequisites : 1 point
Corpse Explosion: 15 (radius)
Poison dagger : 20 points.
Poison explosion : 20 points.
Poison nova : 20 points. Main attack!

Currently sitting on 2 points spare-will dump into either amp damage or corpse for radius.

Merc is Act 2 Desert Might with Insight Eth Thresher and Treachery Armour.

Summary:

A huge amount of fun!

Don’t need skeles at all with Gumby and Merc being more than able to tank and close to max block is awesome.

Gear has yet to be optimized (MF is only 167%) and Deaths Web is grailer. This build along with my Dtalon/Trapsin are currently being leveled and will be a mainstay once all gear acquired or rolled.
 
Last edited:
Always wanted to make a poison necro but when tried haven't had the gear. Will check my inventory after reading this. Maybe I will try sgain
 
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Hi queenEm, it's a surprisingly (to me) fun build that feels very safe and clears areas fast. The key is the break (most)poison immunes from the Lower Resist curse. It was for me sometimes slowish going in Normal until you get Poison Nova. (I didn't want to respec from another build)
 
It is a fun build, one of my favorites...and quite pretty visually as well. I've often run mine as a full trangs build and played around some with lower resist and the fire spells for variety (really only /p1 viable except firewall since no synergies) The cast speeds while in vamp form are annoying though.
I find it makes a decent /p1 countess runner if you have a short map too, no immunes in the tower if I remember correctly.

And built well(not full trangs but best in slot gear) it also makes a great cow runner too though you have to watch that you don't kill the king.
 
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It is a fun build, one of my favorites...and quite pretty visually as well. I've often run mine as a full trangs build and played around some with lower resist and the fire spells for variety (really only /p1 viable except firewall since no synergies) The cast speeds while in vamp form are annoying though.
I find it makes a decent /p1 countess runner if you have a short map too, no immunes in the tower if I remember correctly.

And built well(not full trangs but best in slot gear) it also makes a great cow runner too though you have to watch that you don't kill the king.
Good point re cow runs CaseyJones, I was making half hearted attempts with my LF Javazon but frankly, found it frustrating on P5 let alone P7. It wasn't clearing them as quickly as I would have hoped and merc kept dying despite Treachery and Infinity. Will take necro for a stroll in the meadow:)

PhineasB, thankyou for the welcome:)
 
For Pit runs, will you use Enigma instead of Trang's Scales? I have an unfinished pnova necro using basically the same gear as you (I also lack dweb) and I look forward to seeing how you adjust gear to include Enigma if you do.
 
Hey snickersnack, Currently Enigma's on the Hammerdin. I think my cunning plan was to wait until I found Trang's belt before swapping into Enigma just so I could keep the - poison res bonus. Also waiting for Homunculus (I swear the game knows when you need something and then makes you waaaaaiiiiiit) If I find Homunculus first I'll swap out shield, armor and add some facets for - poison res.
 
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Hey snickersnack, Currently Enigma's on the Hammerdin. I think my cunning plan was to wait until I found Trang's belt before swapping into Enigma just so I could keep the - poison res bonus. Also waiting for Homunculus (I swear the game knows when you need something and then makes you waaaaaiiiiiit) If I find Homunculus first I'll swap out shield, armor and add some facets for - poison res.
Cool, thanks for your response! I have trang's belt as well as homonculus, so I will try both out at some point.
 
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