Bonemancing, cont.

[rsed]

Bonemancing, cont.

So my lvl 87 bonemancer finished all the quests through hell and is MFing the WSK, Pindle, plus Eldritch/Shenk. Thanks to someone on this forum, I snagged a Homunculus in very late NM; then found a HarleqCrest, and it's been a relatively easy combo of leveling and MFing ever since.

I used Homunc, but put NO points into dexterity the entire game... mostly vitality, some energy, enough Str to wear whatever. Is this how most of you bonemancers operate? I couldn't find a PvM guide to this build, so learned from trial and error and suggestions here. Bone Wall/Prison are just so useful; I'm going to miss them like I miss teleport after running a sorc.

 

[Mad Mantis]

I used Homunc, but put NO points into dexterity the entire game... mostly vitality, some energy, enough Str to wear whatever. Is this how most of you bonemancers operate? I couldn't find a PvM guide to this build, so learned from trial and error and suggestions here. Bone Wall/Prison are just so useful; I'm going to miss them like I miss teleport after running a sorc.

For the Bonemancer PvP Guide = PvM Guide. Blocking is highly personal and I've heard of quite a few Bonemancers who went without block.

 

[RetroStar]

Putting points into energy is a big waste. Mana pots solve most problems.

 

[OmegaHatred]

re:

I was curious as to what your gear is for mfing and what skills you use.

 

[rsed]

I was curious as to what your gear is for mfing and what skills you use.

I'm at about 300% (this is my first online character, so I'm not rich). Harlequin Crest, 4-ptopaz scarab husk, 35% magic amulet (no other mods!), 25% magic ring, 20% on the other ring and the rare boots, a bunch of unspectacular charms, plus 23% on the merc's Insight.

I rely on gumby (clay golem) to find monsters, casting him ahead of me at all times, then dim vision, bone wall, or bone prison (depending on monster and merc behavior); spamming spirit or occasionally spear, amplify damage once the merc has killed something, then CE. Decrep for Baal. All the bone skills are maxed (except teeth), +8 skills thanks to gear.

good luck, it's fun... not super speedy, but not painfully slow either. Everything can be taken out one way or another.

 

[Phesto]

all i do to kill baal with my bonemancer is get him near a pillar (there are plenty, obviously, so this isn't difficult), and edge my way around it until my spirits are able to track him, stand there, and spam them until he moves, makes a duplicate or dies. if done right, the only thing he can hit you with is his tentacles, but all you need to do is stand still and kill the ones that can reach you / are redirecting your spirits*, which is easy. he usually takes a ton of hits before doing anything relevant, and because a "sweet spot" is usually one that's close to him, he takes those hits quite rapidly.

*not sure if you know this, but spirits begin tracking monsters from the point at which you click to cast them (if you don't click directly on a monster, obv), so what you'd want to do against baal is make your spirits "boomerang" around a pillar. ex: baal is to the northeast of a pillar and you are to the southwest. you simply edge down, away from the pillar a bit, and start edging your way to the right, firing one spirit with each step until one tracks baal, at which point you just stand in place and spam them.

 

[rsed]

all i do to kill baal with my bonemancer is get him near a pillar (there are plenty, obviously, so this isn't difficult), and edge my way around it until my spirits are able to track him, stand there, and spam them until he moves, makes a duplicate or dies. if done right, the only thing he can hit you with is his tentacles, but all you need to do is stand still and kill the ones that can reach you / are redirecting your spirits*, which is easy. he usually takes a ton of hits before doing anything relevant, and because a "sweet spot" is usually one that's close to him, he takes those hits quite rapidly.

I used to take the time to find the same kind of spot, but after a while my impatience won out and I just run up to him, cast gumby and decrep (from just a few steps away, in direct line of sight), quaff a purple, and keep spiriting him with occasional decrep interludes. I timed it once: Baal makes one move for every 8 bone spirits I cast. And he looks so....helpless this way. Nice.

 

[Dazuni]

Well as for me usually what I do with baal is to teleport/run/stand right next to him, cast decap, cast clay on the other side of baal.

Clay is a higher priority target then necro, so baal will go and attack clay.

My boner have 125 cast rate it is probably faster then baal recovery rate on decap and clay. His only get away is teleport.

Not sure if it is just me. If you stand very very very close to baal his triangle cold thing will not hit you.

 

[Phesto]

I used to take the time to find the same kind of spot, but after a while my impatience won out and I just run up to him, cast gumby and decrep (from just a few steps away, in direct line of sight), quaff a purple, and keep spiriting him with occasional decrep interludes. I timed it once: Baal makes one move for every 8 bone spirits I cast. And he looks so....helpless this way. Nice.

yeah, CG and decrepify are of course great on bosses. i got decrepify, but found that i never really needed it, and that it's counterproductive at low levels. of course if you want to keep your merc alive you need curses, but i found that the HF merc was not as helpful as i'd imagined he'd be, because the monsters that are a threat to this build (fast-moving melee, bone spell casters, souls occasionally) can be dealt with via combat-casting a one-point CG / stop-and-go spirit casting (causing a constant swing and miss).

there's one more thing i wanted to mention, although i'm not sure how well-known it is. when fighting the super uniques outside of the worldstone chamber, you can go back to the entrance of that room and block it off with bone walls, sealing the monsters inside. if you have a merc, golem etc. with you while on the outside of the walls, any melee monsters therein will disengage you completely and either stand in place or wander aimlessly. this probably happens because monster AI has summons and mercs set at a higher priority than you and your skills. the walls should form a crescent shape that bends inward toward the monsters, and begins and ends to the left and right of the path, just inside the room, giving you a good view, space to work with and space for monsters to gather. this is not meant for the first three battles, which should already be easy for the bonemancer, but it can suffice regardless. this takes less than five seconds.