Good untwinked partner with Summon Necro?

[oblivions wind]

Hey guys

So me and my friend might possibly be playing Diablo 2 together soon just so he can experience the game (he has never played it, only D3) We will be playing on battle.net but in private games only.

He is making a summon necromancer and this is where i am puzzled, I want to make a decent strong untwinked character that would compliment him well. I realize untwinked alot of things are not viable later in hell mode but maybe it would be different if there was a summon necro with me.

I am generally looking for a really good character to go with him considering good skill synergy and being generally strong untwinked. I know casters seem the best untwinked but none of them, as far as i know, provide melee damage buffs such as fanaticism and HotW, however melee character's are not the best untwinked.

I am not expecting one class/build to stand above the rest, i would just like your thoughts on the matter.

Thanks guys

 

[tougeznut]

I would make a Sorc centered around the enchant skill. Huge fire damage and AR buff. With leftover skills you could put points in static field to make it even easier for those skellies to finish off their prey.

sent from my GalaxySIII

 

[BobCox2]

Sorc Enchant is high level and a Pal can 1 point thorns etc.

I like a pray max build Abbot etc with 5 max zeal and Vengeance and Smite.

 

[Black Lotus]

For low levels (maybe entire Normal, up to 45), it would be best to be partied with Paladin.
Blessed Aim/Prayer mercs combined with Might or Concentration aura and Amplify damage are REALLY deadly even untwinked.
Also, necro should be planning for CE switch at level 24 (stats reset or just putting points into CE after certain level) so that after meditation aura available, most damage comes from high level CE chains while Paladin and mercs make the first corpses.
At higher levels, build insight runeword to replace meditation and use fanaticism to help might+thorns mercs kill even faster.

The problem with Sorc, is that by the time it gets Enchant, necro does not even need it and enchant sorc is pathetic killer untwinked. Necromancer does not help Sorc in any way, too.

Druids and Barbs are friendly with HoW and BOs, but thats all about them (pal's auras beat that).

All other classes are generally untwinked exp leechers when partied with my CE necro in multiplayer games.

 

[oblivions wind]

So your saying make a zealot who also focuses on the meditation aura? thats a pretty neat idea actually any ideas on skill points?

 

[Black Lotus]

If we can assume that Paladin is able to take care of normal Andariel himself, then skill progression may look like this:

Act 1.
1pt into RS, SM, AD (also shop wand with +RS and look for +RS heads).
You wont need Clay Golem and Bone Armor unless there is enough +skills equipment on you (like prebuff wand with +3 CG and 1 hard point in skill so it wont disappear after switch).
At level 6 or so, start spending points into CE. Since CE is nothing but future investment now, you should have enough points in RS (with +skills) to kill things OR continue maxing RS now to do stats reset later.

Paladin is pumping might/zeal, kills Andariel.

Act 2.
Get Prayer and Blessed Aim mercs, shop or gamble for decent polearms. If your mercs do not obliterate everything in this act, then you're doing something wrong (bad equipment, dont cast AD?)
Max might in tombruns. Duriel may also be killed by Paladin, or with Iron Maiden curse.

Act 3.
You should be lvl ~20-22 at this point, grab Meditation at level 24. You may want something with huge +mana, or even spend points into energy to increase mana pool. Use CE chains to kill.
Necro finally gets clay golem (also mastery and summon resist), then max RS, then max SM (every point in RS is "better" than SM, no 50/50 distribution!), and decrepify. Latter is semi-must vs mephisto and must vs Diablo.

You can actually beat Baal with that setup, at least I did so without paladin around.
In nightmare, get might/holy freeze mercs. Make Insight runeword, then max fanaticism.

 

[oblivions wind]

Hey guys thanks for your help, i have decided to make a zealot

 

[Grislum]

Hello all, long time no see! Ive been lurking for a while again after getting back into D2, and this is a cool thread Several years ago I got my little brother into d2 and suggested fishymancer as an awesome starting character, and looking at options, I decided on...a wind druid! He got a might merc in nightmare, I had a prayer merc from normal, and it was awesome! All the skellies plus my bear provided incredible safety for me, my Oak Sage boosted his skellies life to insane heights, might aura helping my own merc and my bear, my merc healing his minions, but that's not the best part. Tornado is physical damage, and with Amp doubling that, good lord lol. I didn't even think of using HoW, that would have been wicked. So anyway that's my experience