Golemancer Attempt No.1

LozHinge the Unhinged

LozHinge the Unhinged

Active member
Golemancer Attempt No.1

Everyone, please meet GumbyBalboa, a necro with a mission. And a death wish, for that matter. His ethos is based upon the premise that winning isn't important ... what's important is to die trying.
He is a SP/SC Golemancer, who will be attempting to get as far as he can in the game whilst sticking to the following rules:

1. The only points he will put in the Summoning tree will be for Golems, Golem Mastery and Summon Resist.

2. The only points he will put in the Poison/Bone tree will be for Bone Armour, Bone Wall and Bone Prison

3. Points in the Curses tree are free from restriction.

4. He will play untwinked for the duration of the mission.

5. He will be played as if he were HC as far as possible - i.e. I will do my utmost best to be sure he suffers no deaths. (I'm not playing him HC as I don't rate my playing skills sufficiently high and he has enough to worry about, him being a golemancer and all).

6. He will be allowed to use ATMA for muling on and off the character. I had a long think about this and I feel this is a reasonable compromise, given the difficulty of what he is attempting.

7. Use of /Players X is mostly free from restriction, but cheesy tactics (P1 for monster and P8 for chest) will not be employed.

8. Use of Mercenaries is free from restriction.

9. This may be the controversial one - he will be allowed to use any CTC mod on an item, even if this mimics one of his "forbidden" skills. Thus, an item with CTC Revive (or similar) is usable. I'm not 100% sure of all the CTC's that are available, but I'm certain there is a revive type one out there somewhere.

Other rules may be added as I go along, I'm too tired to think of any more right now.

Random thoughts - the name chosen is an especially stupid one and quite deliberately so. My first ever character was given a dumb name and he actually Pat'd - he's a level 93 Summancer and doing pretty well for himself. I'm hoping that choosing a silly name may be a key ingredient for success.

Progress
I was a little bored with my Summoner earlier today and out-of-the-blue decided to start with this project.
I'm glad I did, as I've really enjoyed my D2ing today. GB was at /Players 8 all day and found the going easy for 95% of the time. Slightly worrying moments included meeting Gargantuan Beasts for the first time without any real gear to speak of :smiley: , meeting Treehead Woodfist (first difficult fight), a Champion pack of Night Clan types (they were fierce!) and my only NDE, being trapped in a cell with a boss ghost pack and a dwindling potion supply. On the other hand, Griswold and The Smith were remarkably easy.

You can see one of GB's first encounters here.

You can see one of his first big challenges here.

I may continue to do some screen shots for progress reports à la Insane Wayne & Cosmo the Certifiable Druid (over on the SPF), I'll see if I can improve my skills in that regard (I'm just the same with the camera, the action is over by the time I remember to take the shot). Case in point. :grin:

So, after a few hours play today we have GB having just gotten the Inner Cloister WP. He is Level 19, his stats are at starting quotas with all 90 levelling points unallocated. Skills are Amp Damage 1, Clay Golem 1 with 19 Skill Points unallocated. I imagine that there will be a need to start using these very soon in readiness for Andariel. I really need to locate some poison resist and fire damage gear ...

Current gear includes a Short Sword of Frost (virtually the first magic item he picked up and by far the most useful). It is really bizarre for me to hope that corpses to shatter, bearing in mind I normally play a summoner. :grin: Rare javelins on switch with poison and CTC Ice Bolt. A couple of Preserved Heads that will give +skills to various skills when I eventually start using them. My merc fire-using has a nice 3-soc Hunter's Bow with poison, cold and lightning gems inserted. My first set item is an Artic Binding - very nice. My first unique item has yet to put in an appearance!

More posts to come - I hope!

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Act 1, Inner Cloister
 
So what are you going to do with the allocated points? Are you going to focus on a specific golem? Maybe an IG off of a nice item pickup? Surely you aren't going blood.... I'm curious as to how this is going to work out. Keep us posted.

Also, I would be interested to see a guide for this if it works out- maybe a focus on somewhat of a meleemancer with a focus on a badass golem buddy?

EDIT:

I did some research, and I think a moderately viable build (till hell, that is) that would follow your rules would look like this:

Skill Distributions:
20 Clay Golem or Fire Golem (whichever you prefer)
20 Golem Mastery
20 Summon Resist
20 Iron Golem
1 Blood Golem
1 Bone Armor
20 Bone Wall or Bone Prison
4 Amp/Weaken/Terror/Decrep

Total Skill Points Allocated :106-108, depending on where you want your points
Basically, You pick a primary golem (I would prefer an IG with some decent auras, but if you can't find a good one you can fall back to your fire or clay golem) and then melee your way through. Stat points would mirror that of the melee mancer build. Because of the untwinked status, finding decent +skills gear would be difficult, but I bet you could get a few things to make a nice IG out of. I applaud Loz for this experiment, and I'd like to see it go till the end. I love builds that are a little zany (after my first bonemancer I went with a matador -- very fun). Good luck, dude!
 
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Out of curiosity. Will you be Meleeing with your Golem or are you letting the Golem get all the kills?

Good luck on the quest. By the way. You might want the Iron Golem (Dont recall the skill level you get this at though)before you hit Andariel since hes got some Poison Resistance if I recall correctly. Im not sure you can get Fire before Andy but if you do shes pretty weak to fire. :)

Please keep those updates coming.
 
A maxxed dim vision would be incredibly helpful, allowing your golem to work at his own pace through the fray.
 
Shaman trouble, and in other news ...

I started off today with Andariel in my sights, which meant first clearing a path from the Lvl 2 Cats WP and finding the entrance to Lvl 4. This was achieved at P8 and with the stats from my original post.

I was a little worried to discover that I'd started my current quest at the same time that the Annual Shaman convention was in town. Four Champions and two normal Shamans, all backing each other up. I'd shatter a Dark One corpse only for two others to appear in its place. The action was rather hectic, hence no screenshots! A short breather then, only to discover more Possessed/Champion/Normal Shamans were camped nearby. Finishing off a few tail-enders can be seen here.

The next thing I knew, I was meeting giant spiders and Misshapens. My merc and gumby were equal to the task, but the Clay Golem was looking very second-hand by the end of it. The 1pt Wonder wasn't going to last much longer.

RL called me away before I could get to Lvl 4, so a subsequent restart from Lvl 2 WP was needed. Much preparation (mental and otherwise) was made for Andariel. She's quite a challenge in Normal (in my mind at least!) and I was determined to remain in Players 8.

At the restart, it was time to spend some Skill and Stats points. I wanted to wear some 2os armour I'd picked up (chipped emmys for poison resist) plus a 2os shield (same again). Strength was upped to the minimum requirement. Vitality was boosted too as I didn't want to be insta-killed. You can see this, plus my chosen missile weapon here. In addition, I felt a 1pt Clay Golem with no Mastery wasn't going to cut it, so I plundered the remaining unspent Skill Points. I also took the opportunity to ATMA some poison resist charms onto my character, for obvious reasons.

The approach to Lvl 4 Cats had some challenges of its own, which my upped Gumby handled with ease ... my confidence was growing steadily.

The first meeting with Andariel was, I have to say, nearly a disaster. The new improved Gumby got eaten almost instantly and my merc, Aliza, discovered an almost Act 2 ability to avoid being any use at all. A hasty retreat was called for as I was honestly taken aback by how quickly my Golem was taken down.
I re-grouped on Lvl 3 and repeated this a couple of times - each time the merc found a wall to hide behind and shoot her arrows into. My language at this time was a little choice, I have to say. Successive attempts to engage the big beastiette eventually led to Andy standing in the ante-chamber near the stairs, which really wouldn't do. A quick dash into first chamber to cast a portal and shut the main door to the main chamber (to avoid being disturbed by the various creatures still left in there) was called for, and this worked like a charm. I was finally able to get the Gumby and the merc to attack at the same time, whilst I threw my rare javelins (+17% damage to demons was rather nice). Recasting the Gumby a few times whilst chugging blue and purple pots won the day - although the Golem died at some point during Andy's final moments. A (late) screenshot here. The drop included various rares plus a Crushflange mace :grin: big joy!

Skill Pts spent so far: 1pt in each of the Curses up to Lvl 18, 1 Amp, 1 Bone Wall, 1 in Golem Mastery and 10 in Clay Golem - no unused points at this time.
I have 30 unused Stats points, still pondering where to put these ...

I remembered to speak to Warriv after killing Andy (for the bugged drop), but I haven't yet decided whether I will allow myself to re-run areas (other than the absolutely necessary times when I resume my progress after Save and Exiting).

Some answers ...
@ChronosHammer - the skill distribution you suggest is fairly sound, I think, but I will forego additional points in Summon Resist. My current thinking is for the spare 19 points to go towards maxing Fire Golem. I will be filling the Curses tree with one point each, taking the points away from Bone Wall. As to my end-game Golem choice ... most likely IG, but not sure at this point. And ... what on earth is a Matador? :grin:

@bmathew - I will be (and have been) meleeing with my Golem for much of the time so far - but not at the risk of my own skin. My meleeing will tail off as the game progesses. No Sparky for me yet, I'm Lvl 20 at this point.

@Ed from Russia - no CE for me. It's not about the win, it's about the failing miserably! I'm under no illusions that this will work. :grin:

@bcoe - Dim Vision is one of my favourite curses.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Act 2, Lut Gholein
 
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It sounds like you handled yourself pretty well at the end. Staying with P8 for andy and surviving is impressive. I'm curious to see how you will fare with the pits in act 2....

Congrats and good luck

PS a matador is a build focused on maxing bone armor and utilizing iron maiden to return damage to the attacker for the kill :cool:
 
I'm reasonably certain that this build will be able to make it quite far, maybe farther than some people think, for two real reasons. First, with no restriction on merc, the act 2 should do well as a main killing force with some help from a nice item IG. Second, with no restrictions on curses, a maxed dim vision should be able to handle crowd control so your merc and IG don't get overwhelmed while decrepify + gumby will easily slow bosses to a crawl.

Not to say that there won't be some difficult spots now and again, but I can foresee this going well into nightmare maybe even to hell. Immunes will make life miserable there though.
 
Down the Sewers

Act 2
Only a brief session this evening, so I thought I'd remind myself how tough Radament is in Normal. I re-kitted myself from my ATMA stash to maximise my other resists (esp lightning) after gearing up for poison against Andariel. My current max resist switch now shows a healthy F75/C72/L29/P53 ... waitaminute, 29 Lightning Resist? This isn't good ... oh well, nothing for it.

The sewers were, by and large, laughably easy, even on Players 8. Gumpy was equally happy tanking bosses or large mixed groups of ordinary monsters. I was challenged though to make good use of curses when faced with massed archers. AmpDam was swapped for a combination of Life Tap and Dim Vision, with the occasional Terror thrown in. For a change, I rarely meleed, preferring to throw Strangling Gas potions from afar. Even the mummies aren't poison resistant/immune, so I was able to wreak havoc whilst my supply lasted.

How difficult could Radament be? Or so I thought. He makes Shamans look like the lightweights they are in the raising corpses stakes. I repeatedly beat down his Burning Dead, Horrors and Mummies, only to have them attack me from behind as I approached Radament himself - I just couldn't shatter enough corpses quickly enough. Rinse and repeat ....
When he killed my Gumby (which he did a couple of times) I had to chug blues to get enough mana back to re-cast him. Sometimes I wasn't quick enough re-casting and Rad's re-animated hordes drove me back again. To make things worse, I hadn't replenished my javelins before the fight and ran out part way through.
Eventually, Radament was down to a sliver, so I very bravely ran up behind him to finish him off with my shiny new Crushflange. I hit him and - he turned around and faced me. I faced him back, with a depleted javelin stack as my weapon as I'd forgotten to switch. Noobishness kills, I really have to be more careful! As I bravely attempted to run like hell (I preferred the idea of a back-stab, myself), Aliza delivered the coup de grace and I was treated to a light show ... but look, once again Gumby failed to outlive the Superunique he faced.
No useful drops from Rad, but I'm fairly happy anyway as I had three El runes drop in the sewers (to add to the Ral that The Countess gave me). A 2os Spiked Shield and a 3os Crystal Sword picked up along the way has me considering various options - junking both being uppermost in my mind.

A Book of Skill plus a level up means I have two unused skill points to ponder, plus another ten stat points I have no idea what to do with :scratch:

I imagine I'll dream of Lightning Beetles tonight. :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 21, Act 2, Rocky Waste
 
shhhh.. dont tell anyone.. but this is my build.my golems lvl 41 and wears bram and i win all melee duels. 8) no monsters or cows in hell mode kill my super gumby fighter now...hes immune and nvr dies.o btw i particullay enjoyed the "bane bang" screen shot. 8)-
 
considering someone was able to pat as a mojomancer, i'm fairly certain this can be done with an INCREDIBLE amount of patience

are there going to be any restrictions on your merc? if not, i think this can be done

i think using CE insead of a merc would be harder :)
 
sequoia said:
considering someone was able to pat as a mojomancer, i'm fairly certain this can be done with an INCREDIBLE amount of patience
Click to expand...

How could anyone make Patriarch with a mojomancer? Mojomancers have no enemy-independent way of dealing damage (read: nothing but Confuse, Attract, and IM), and would therefore have no means whatsoever of dispatching any Act Bosses or the Ancients.

With that said, I don't think a Golemancer is possible. I simply think it won't deal enough damage even to overcome monster regen in Hell.



 
Rules update ...

It's just occurred to me that I haven't stipulated some further rules

10. The project will be played in SP 1.11b, vanilla (no RWM/RRM), so no Realm-only runewords will be available.

Some answers ...

@Bliphgar - no pressure, then!

@aiwa - your golemancer ... that's encouraging! I may tap you for advice in the days to come.

@sequoia - patience I have in abundance. I'm slow and steady by nature, which will be about right for this build. No merc restrictions are in place for the experiment.

SSoG - I'm reasonably sure you're right about a golemancer's chances in Hell but it's something I have to try. A powerful merc will go a long way to making the build viable, but maybe that won't be enough. I suppose the fact that I'm using a merc at all is diluting the purity of the experiment, but without either the merc or Corpse Explosion, I feel it is virtually hopeless.
 
Into the Desert ...

Refreshed after his rest and having defeated Radament, GumbyBalboa headed out into the Desert with a vague notion of finding some Horadric souvenirs. Act Two is possibly my least favourite section overall, mainly because I get irritated by the lightning beetles in their various guises.

Gumby tanked these easily, together with some Spear Cats. Aliza was the main killing force here, as she is in most cases. A Buzzard Boss joined in the fun, attracted perhaps by the commotion.
The Stony Tomb was no challenge really, hardly a preparation for the Halls of the Dead to come.

Our welcome to the Dry Hills was warm and enthusiastic, with many residents wanting to rush out and greet us at the earliest opportunity. Matters took a more serious turn when Aliza managed to trap herself between the terrain and some unfriendly beasties. She escaped but it was touch and go for a moment there.

In the Far Oasis, I may have underestimated the effect her narrow escape had had on Aliza - she needed a shoulder to lean upon later on. The relative respite was brief though, when we surprised a group of Champion Death Beetles in some vegetation. They were tough, but wilted under our combined missiles whilst Gumby did his tankin' thing.

I realised we were doing things a little back to front as we hadn't fully explored the Dry Hills (and the Halls of the Dead) prior to clearing the Far Oasis. Before us lay the entrance to the Maggot Lair - I considered turning back, but quickly decided we should go for it. I had, in readiness, upgraded Aliza's gemmed Hunter's Bow to a gemmed Composite Bow. Poison, Lightning and Cold were again the chosen instruments of destruction. It wasn't long before we met a creature that chilled me somewhat. If it teleported between me and my Gumby (Aliza was off somewhere powdering her nose), I may be in a lot of trouble. The Big Nasty did indeed teleport after Gumby had punched him in the nose - where he went, I'll never know as I didn't see him again! Shame :wink3:
Death Beetles appeared next, all lined up in an orderly fashion for their Clay and Arrowshaft Sandwiches.
We didn't have things all our own way though - we had to portal to Town at one stage as Aliza had had a VNDE. We had been swamped at a junction, with Beetles and Maggots coming in from several directions and things happening too fast to process.
When Coldworm's burrow was located, I almost laughed as Gumby was able to tank virtually the entire chamber. I Amp Damaged half-heartedly whilst Aliza took out her near-death angst on the Big Worm.

It was time to re-enter the Dry Hills and make our way to the Halls of the Dead. On the way there, I really did have to laugh - Gumby, faced with two Spear Cats, struck one dead at the exact same time a shaft from Aliza struck the other one down. It looked for all the world like Gumby had struck both down with a double blow of his fists. Wish I could have caught that as a screenshot!

There was less to laugh about in the Halls - the Burning Dead archers and mages, not to mention the Horrors, all had the full backing of Hollow Ones, making progress a two-steps-forward, one-step-back affair at best! Occasionally we made good progress, if the Hollow Ones were within range of my Curses. Sometimes a concerted effort that succeeded in eliminating the intervening undead led to even worse problems ...
Compared to the make-it-up-as-you-go-along tactics I occasionally employed, the times when I was in full control were a blessing.

When we met our first real Aura Enchanted boss, with the dreaded green swirl, I was a little concerned that the battle would be very costly in terms of blue pots and re-cast golems. What I managed to do instead was somehow rush through the door into a room that seem completely full of enemies. I must say I thought my number was up. I ran in circles, dodging mummies, Hollow Ones and the rest until the merc and the golem caught up with me. A very brief respite gave me the chance to cast a portal and ... I was safe.
That Portal was not one I cared to re-use, so we Waypointed from Town to the Dry Hills and re-entered the Halls via the front door. Our second approach to the Aura Enchanted Boss (another random "Warp Jade the Howler") was much more cautious. I teased the creatures out of the room a few at a time and killed them out of range of the Hollow Ones. Clearing out the room was simple after that.

The final push to the last chamber and the Horadric Cube was against an exceptional quantity of all the various kinds of monster the Halls has to offer. The first rush of enemies was daunting, but the combination of a strong tanking Gumby, a merc archer who was actually firing her arrows into the enemy rather than the walls and finally, a necro who was enjoying the range of Curses he has to draw upon, it all lead to a battle that was both savage and short. GumbyBalboa now has the Horadric Staff and Cube in his possession.

Some Tech Stuff ...
I currently have 50 stats points unallocated, plus 5 skill points. I'm in no hurry to allocate any of these all the time that I am not struggling. All progress has been made at Players 8. Current "best" resists are 75F, 72C, 29L, 53P. I really want to improve my Lightning Resistance. Current weapon is Crushflange/Rare Javelin (and occasional use of poison potions), shields are a pair of blue necro heads with moderate plusses to useful skills. Need to improve my armour and helm, badly! Merc is using a 3-soc Composite bow, Flawed Sapphire, Emerald and Topaz for elemental damage.

Footnote - I really enjoy throwing potions. I've never done that before, don't ask me why!

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 24, Act 2, Far Oasis
 
You make sp sound like a truly enjoyable experience. I admire your perserverance and how you've shared your adventures with us.

Good luck with Mr. Balboa! :thumbsup:

Btw you can shop a wand in A2 with say +3 clay golem and cast it. Then switch back to whatever it is that you do use. Just remember to switch back and cast your golems/bonearmor with your weapon switch. (Every little bit helps)
 
In Search of Tal Rasha ...

A small reception party greeted us at the entrance to the Lost City, whose arrival was timed with the Sun abruptly going out. We cast about the City in search of challenges and found none worth the telling.
The trapdoor leading to the Ancient tunnels held more promise and soon Gumby was fighting for his life. We soon learned to cope with the increased danger in the 'Tunnels, even when it came at us Stone-Skinned. At some point in the desert, I had found a very interesting Rare Spear that has 5% life leach and a little lightning damage. "That will prove useful", I thought. I picked it up and stashed it, despite Aliza's questioning look - I haven't broached the matter of her long-term employment prospects. I'm a coward, fearful of the wrath of a woman scorned. :grin:

The Viper Temple was hectic, requiring judicious use of Curses together with Hit'n'Run tactics. Mummy Sarcophaguses are a pain and really slowed things down ... particularly as my golem and merc lack the ability to do BIG damage at the moment. I have Crushing Blow on my melee switch, but I have lately been hanging back from the direct fighting. I'm testing the build and at the same time trying to hone my Crowd Control and other "soft skills" whilst the going is relatively easy.
Confusion and Dim Vision Curses enabled me to thin down the mobs a little and facilitated taking down the Guardians. A Claw Viper boss pack surprised me at one point, but they presented no real problem. In no time at all, I'd found the Altar and the source of Lut Gholein's darkness. The Salamanders fell like wheat before the scythe.

Beneath the Palace, there were seemingly endless groups of Skeleton Archers, Mages and Dune Beasts. Blunderbores, although fearsome in appearance, were generally speaking a pushover on their own. However, combined with the massed missile troops, they were formidible. Again, choice of Curse was the key to success. Sometimes, I need only cast Confusion and sit back and watch the pretty lights. At other times, careful and cautious tactics were required, especially with massed archers hiding behind steel grills. After a few dramas, the Portal to the Arcane Sanctuary was located.

A pure Summonancer, lacking a means of teleport, will find this next part of the quest rather tedious and painful (at least, I did). A more compact team actually relishes this section. I realised before I started that Gumby's killing speed was becoming unacceptably slow. He was also going to suffer from the fire-based attacks of the Ghoul Lords. With this in mind, I allocated three additional points to Clay Golem (now up to 13), and one point to Summon Resist. The killing speed didn't rise appreciably, but survivability against elemental attacks showed marked improvement. Whilst I had the Skill Tree open, I took the opportunity to put a point in Decrepify and, one of my favourites, Attract.
Aliza made short work of anything she pointed her bow at and Curses just added to the fun. All I had to do was wander over and pick up the drops, easy-peasy. Soon however, lightning traps put me in a more serious mind. I used this chance to hone my skills against a lethal lightning attack (think Gloams and Burning Souls). I needed to tease out the monsters clustered by the Traps, a few at a time, but at the same time avoid the bolts themselves. Time and again I'd approach the Trap and then beat a hasty retreat. A couple of times, I equipped my Crushflange and attacked the Traps myself - my lack of patience showing through. I was able to tank several lightning hits in perfect safety so this was an acceptable risk, but I won't be trying this sort of thing in the Flayer Jungle, that's for sure.
I finally located The Summoner - but before I had properly assessed my strategy, Aliza had filled him full of holes and that, as they say, was that!

The way to the Canyon of the Magi is clear.

Stats Update/Tactics/Random
60 unspent Stats points - hmm, Max Block, Max Life? I always prefer the Vitality route, myself

1 unspent Skill point - I think I will first max Clay Golem, then Golem Mastery, and then move up the Golem food chain.

Two more set items have fallen to me. A Cathan's Seal and Isenhart's Horns - Aliza now has a nice hat.

Mana thoughts - my Summonancer character put points into Energy - stupid, I know, but he rarely runs out of mana. My Golemancer, though ... Blue Pot City. My thoughts turn to Insight (darn, I'm playing vanilla) :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 26, Act 2, Canyon of the Magi
 
Go gumby xD I really hope he can tank duriel, because ole gumby is going to need to absorb punishment while Aliza fills him with holes. Good luck though.
 
Hey Loz,

Good luck out there! Nice to read up on your adventures. Hope you managed to find a 'lore' helm for that added lightning resistances/+skiller. Also hope you managed to beat hell, though that's a pretty tall order.

good luck and good hunting!
Kirah
 
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