Golem choice?

S

Sorac

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Golem choice?

Hi i got diablo 2 (no expansion) resently and im playing a necromancer (Lvl 24). Im playing a single player game and have a question about golems. I have noticed that golems are good for keeping monsters busy while my skeleton mages fry them. But now i have got 3 different golems and i dont know what golem to put points to. Is the highest level golem most powerfull? Im not planing to play this char on any more difficulties i just want to finnish the game with it. You must have gotten this question many times but which golem is the best choice for a first time summoner on the easiest difficulty?:rolleyes:
 
Your choices are really between clay golem (for its slowing monsters effect) and iron golem (with it ability to take on properties of what you made him out of). I'm assuming you are a summoner. If so then, I would suggest eventually putting 1 point into Clay Golem, Blood Golem, Iron Golem, Golem Mastery, and Summon Resist. They are all synergies for each other and rpre-reqs for Revives, so nothing is really wasted here, and as a summoner you will have plenty of extra skill points to use. Try out clay and iron and see which one you like the most.
 
I like the clay golem because of it's looks (Iron looks awfull). But won't the clay golem get to weak and get killed all the time? And one more thing why not fire golem? I have noticed that not many peaple seems to use it but im just curious why.
 
Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew and feel free to raise some corpses.

Clay gets an enormous life boost in later difficulties, so he won't be killed al the time. FG is rather expensive to cast and his life isn't that high compared to Clay. Some builds and people do use him as a distraction, but most go for another tank.
 
Another good reason to use a 1-pt Clay Golem is that the help a lot when you're fighting bosses:
- CG slows them
- CG seems to attract their attention; quite often your CG dies first and you can simply recast, while your skellies remain unharmed.

If you go for an IG, you should get his life up by investing in Golem Mastery. The better IGs are made from equipment that gives an aura (e.g. Pride, Insight runewords). This is quite expensive but will be an additional boost to your skellies.

I suggest you go for a CG for now, try an IG in a later build.
 
Ok i think i'll go with clay but if i do how many of my skill points shoud i put into clay golem? Now i got only 1 point so it dies rather quickly.
 
1pt in Clay, 1pt in Golem Mastery - that should be enough, especially if you have some +skills in the appropriate skills/tree.
If you plan on using an Iron Golem later in the game, you can add further points to GM - but not at the expense of maxing Raise Skeleton/Skeleton Mastery (assuming you're using Skeletons).
 
I tend to use clay until I get my skeletons on their feet (1 in CG and GM), after that I usually switch to IG since the only reason I have the clay aroud is to protect the skeletons from damage and maxed skeletons sumply don't need that protection. Then I make IG's out of decent items (steel RW early, malice RW a bit later, bonesnap mauls when I can, and IK mauls later; I've got a low end Windhammer IG now). After I have the rest of my build basically done I pump GM since once you've got a decent IG you don't want to lose him. Bonemancers can really benefit from a nice Insight IG, since killing a quill rat will take most of your mana ball.

-Starcrunch
 
Hello Necrophiliacs,

You indirectly stated that you are using Skeleton Mages, does this mean that you are doing a Lord O' Mages type build? Are you going to be using the Lower Resist Curse? Are you planning on sinking any (or 20, or 40) points into Golem Mastery and one of the Golems specifically? Each of these factors heavily into the build you are following, as well as the effectiveness of the Golem you decide to use.

For example, the Clay Golem can get by with only one hard point invested into itself and Golem Mastery (i.e. the bare minimum), and prebuffing. The Iron and Fire Golems really need 15-20 (preferably 20) points into Golem mastery in order to have enough health to be viable in Hell. While the Fire Golem exclusively needs 20 points invested in addition to 20 points in Golem Mastery in order to achieve any noticeable damage in higher difficulty levels, and it still will not be that high without the use of Lower Resist and possibly an Infinity wielding Mercenary. Consequently, for limited almost no skill point investment: Clay Golem, for a mid-level skill point investment: 20 points into Golem Mastery and 1 point into each Golem (use them as the situation demands), and for a high skill point investment: Fire Golem.

Finally, bear in mind that the only time that you should really ever put 20/20 skill points into Fire Golem is if you are going with a Lord O' Mages type build and will be using Lower Resist liberally preferably in conjunction with an Infinity Mercenary, and you are planning your skill point distribition around this. Fire Golem will still do alright with just 20 points invested into Golem Mastery and one point invested into itself, as it will serve as a "monster magnet" due to it's Holy Fire like Aura, this crowd control effect is in fact far more noticeable than it's damage will ever be. . .
 
Well i have never heard about about the "Lord O' Mages" build but for the time being im using 4 mages 1 skeleton and 1 golem. I don't think i can afford putting 20 points into golem mastery so thats not really an option. I havent really planned my build as much as i shoud have. I use my golem to stop the monsters, cast iron maiden on them and then let my mages attack. I will probably stick to this untill i get revives and then try to get as strong revives as possible. In other words the golem is just suposed to take the damage instead of my other creatures:tongue: . So if i can get a decent meatwall by just adding some points into claygolem that sounds like the best idea.
 
Lord of Mages is also called 'Lich Lord'; there's a guide in the stickies. A real Lord of Mages (in my view) uses Mages instead of Skellies, and Lower Resist as the main curse. But it's also common to max Mages after RS and SM (and normally CE), to get the maximum army of minions.

Concerning revives: one point there is sufficient; with equipment bonuses you'll have 5-10 revives which is plenty. You can boost them by putting points in Golem Mastery, but no-one does that; Revives are strong enough by themselves.
 
Hello,

Just to clarify, Skeleton Mastery is the skill that synergizes Revives. So by putting points into it, you will increase the effectiveness of Skeleton Mages, Skeleton Warriors, and Revives. Just remember if you are focusing on the mages only, you will need meat shields to “hold the line”, which Revives do quite well if you have the Mana. If you plan on going the Fishymancer route (maxing Skeleton Warriors, Mages, and Mastery), then you will have plenty of front line summons, and Revives will merely be an added bonus, as it is fun to to use heavy hitting monsters to do your bidding. . .
 
I'm so confused. So many people say to put only 1 point in clay golem and I also read that you should put 20 in it, and in a guide on this site, it says that a clay golem plus an ice merc will get you through any boss with ease.

I like this clay guy. I've always liked freeze/slow effects, and when I saw an ice rogue in the rogue encampment(got her at level 4 while I was level 6), I jumped at the chance and bought her. They do seem like a pretty decent combo so far.

Am I going to regret sticking with this golem and just putting one point into the others?
 
Only put one point into Clay Golem. Just 1.

Besides, with half decent gear you'll find that he'll be pretty damn strong. He will never hit hard, but one point into Clay Golem and one into Golem Mastery will give you a tank that will take a real beating. Just grab some gear that will give you a decent number of +summoning skills. They aren't too hard to come buy.


The reason why Clay Golem is popular is because it's a cheap and effective creature. He tanks for you (taking all the hits) and casts slow on enemies when hitting or being hit.
A Clay Golem is my personal choice. One point into Clay Golem and one into Golem Masteries and then one into Summon Resist will do you fine. Just grab some half good stuff.

Some people decide to use a Fire Golem. He does a bit more damage, but I find he dies too quickly and costs too much mana to keep recasting.

If you're rich and can afford to lose the odd good item, then an Iron Golem is for you. These buggers can potentially do some real damage if you use the right item. I'm no expert (in fact, I'm really just a newbie at this stuff), so I can't give you any advice on this thing.
 
Thanks for your input.

I was thinking that he might not be tough enough or have enough hitpoints if I didn't beef him up or get a lot into golem mastery.
 
Minions in Nightmare mode get a good boost to hitpoints. Minions in Hell Mode get an even bigger boost.

He will die a bit, but he's really cheap to resummon. But he won't be killed in one hit.
 
If you want to slow bosses, Decrep and one-point CG is enough. If you like give your merc an (upped) Kelpie Snare (75% slow). Don't use the Holy Freeze merc; Might is more useful and you would have problems with shattering corpses.
 
Hello again,

What I meant is that you put 15-20 points into Golem Mastery so that is boosts the life of all of your Golems. This way you can get by by putting only 1 hard point into each of the Golems, giving you the flexibility to use each Golem situationally, as well as giving your Golems enough life to tank some hits in Hell. If you had read my post, you would have gathered that for a bare minimum skill point investment (you can decide what bare minimum means to you) Clay Golem can get by just fine, and can be re-cast with ease. Putting 15-20 points into Golem Mastery applies mainly to the Iron & Fire Golems. The reasons I suggested putting 15-20 points into Golem Mastery are (1) It worked quite well when I did it myself, (2) If you are going to use an expensive or Unique item or Runeword to make an Iron Golem, you want it to have as much health as possible so that it can tank some hits and hold the line, and if it is going down you at least have some more time to use a Town Portal Scroll and save it, and (3) If you are going to use a 1 point Fire Golem all of the extra life will assist him greatly as a monster magnet considering he will be swarmed most of the time. Additionally, if you use a pre-buffed Clay Golem with 15-20 hard points invested into Golem Mastery it will have a LOT of life, taking pressure off of you during boss fights and allowing you to focus on other things (i.e. needing less re-casts). Hope this clarifies things a bit for you!
 
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