Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by VoX Dei on Feb 12, 2010:

Patriarch Solid_Good, Titan Earthshifter

Patriarch Solid_Good
, Titan Earthshifter


Introduction


I see Fenrir (the villain who we know as Liquid_Evil on the SPF :D ), a monstrous wolf (Druid), already famous for tearing apart Tyr’s right hand (Feral Rage), carving his huge claws deep in Odin’s heart with a swift and powerful move (Fury). As the divine blood of the wisest of the gods, spills into the ground, flames sprout wildly from the innards of the earth (Fissure), and fire starts to rain down incessantly from the skies (Armageddon). There is no doubt… or hope. It is Ragnarok! Alas, the old world and the old gods are doomed to perish in fire…

[“Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner plays]

… Just when all hope seemed lost, Patriarch Solid_Good, a level 86 Titan Earthshifter enters the Blood Moor. Everyone rejoiced for they knew he is the hero that would save the day! Everyone rejoiced for they knew he is not affiliated in any way with the villain that shall remain unnamed. Everyone rejoiced for they knew he is Solid and Good, unlike the Evil villain…

Stats and Breakpoints:

LCS

Hit Recovery: 4 fph

Fury (lvl 29): 7 fpa
2.349 - 13K damage
12.735 AR

Feral Rage (lvl 10; melee backup): 10 fpa
1.728 - 9.096 damage
10.683 AR

both attacks have 33% chance of causing Crushing Blow and 25% chance of procying lvl 14 Fissure (~780 fire damage fully synergized)

Armageddon (lvl 36): 13 fpc
7.203 - 8.142 damage

Other skills used:
- Werewolf (lvl 15)
- Oak Sage (lvl 10)
- Cyclone Armor (lvl 17)
- Enchant (lvl 23 from Demonlimb)


Skills:

Shapeshifting:
20 Fury
1 Lycanthropy and all Fury pre-requisites

Elemental:
20 Armageddon, Firestorm, Volcano
6 (+) Molten Boulder
1 all Armageddon pre-requisites

Summoning:
1 Oak Sage

Equipment:

Weapon: Earthshifter (Shael)
Helm: Jalal’s Mane (15 @ res, 7 str)
Armor: Fortitude AP 27
Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp 10/15
Belt: Hsaru’s Iron Stay
Boots: Hsaru’s Iron Heel
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope 30
Ring1: Ravenfrost 20/240
Ring2: Order Hold
Switch: HotO + Spirit
Prebuff: Demonlimb
Full Inventory: Cube, Key set, and Charms
Rich (BB code):
- 5*Elemental skillers (2*+life; +str; fhr; max dmg)
- 3*Shapeshifting skillers (2*+life, including the precious one; +str)
- @ res/+life LC
- 3*Fine/+life SCs
- 2*@ res/+life SCs (+life; +str)
- 2*Light res/+life SCs
- 2*Poison res/+life SCs

Merc: Hazade, lvl 86 Might enhanced, with 5 frames Jab, and 9 frames hit recovery. He’s equipped with Eth Reaper’s Toll (Amn), Guillaume’s Face (Um), and eBugged Treachery Great Hauberk.

Journey:

Solid_Good went p8 smoothly through Normal, Nightmare, and early Act I Hell (the Ancients were the exception: always p1). He entered Hell at lvl 69 howling like a lunatic, calling air strikes, and cracking monster skulls open right and left with his hurty Earthshifter like there’s no tomorrow. One could say that wherever he went he readily made new friends. As a matter of fact, it didn’t took long for his new found friends to throw him a Welcome to Hell Party. As a result player settings were toned down to p3. However, monsters didn’t care much for player settings and kept inviting him to parties. He successfully refused a lot of invitations, but unfortunately was forced to accept some of them. Cursed/Aura Enchanted (Fanaticism, Might) hosts had terrible manners. The Ancients (note /p1) were particularly cruel and threw him several of these parties! Eventually, Solid_Good prevailed over the combined forces of Evil and cracked open Baal’s skull too. Baal moaned: “Ouuuuch!” and that was The End of the hero’s journey.

On a more serious note, overall:

Pluses - I had a lot of fun with this build as a whole, and that was especially due to the Armaggedon's flavour. Unlike some nay-sayers, I’ve found first hand, this is a usable skill. Sure, it’s heavy skill point wise and a late bloomer, but it actually hits a lot of monsters and the damage is quite nice. The secret to hit a lot of monsters with Armaggedon is to cast it right before engaging in melee. The damage is very noticeable and helpful too (eg, vs. PI ghosts, gloams, PI hell temptresses).

Minuses - I’ve found Cursed/Physical Damage Aura Enchanted (Fanaticism, Might) Uniques, and especially Hell Ancients to be this build nemesis, and Maggot Lair was the most boring place for this build. It had 4 PI Unique Worms which took like forever to kill because the merc was stuck in the tunnels (ie, no Decrepify), and I swear the worms “knew” when I was about to cast Armageddon because they burrowed every time I casted it. They knew...

Best Finds:
- Lum and Ko from the Hellforges (figures!)
- Another Ko from a Burning Dead Archer near Shenk in NM
- Mara’s 28 from a Unique Salamander in WSK 2 Hell
- Tal’s ammy in RoF NM, right before doing the forge
- A not so bad melee rare ring (ar, +str, LL)

Next:

Martial Artist remake / Tornado Wolf. Not necessarily in this order.

Kudos to:
- Liquid_Evil, for creating the Earthshifter, a build no one else would dare, and for playing “the villain” in the short story;
- Neksja, dryzalizer, and Vang, for sharing their personal experiences and insights on this build in their Earthshifter Pat write-ups;
- Me, for Pat’ing the guy and writing this :) ;
- You, for reading it.

Cheers,
VoX Dei
 
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Originally posted by VoX Dei on Mar 13, 2010:

Patriarch Howling-Wind, Wind Wolf

Patriarch Howling-Wind, Wind Wolf


Concept

The build tries to capitalize on Stormlash’s mod: 20% CtC lvl 18 Tornado on striking. That means 20 points into all Tornado synergies (Cyclone Armor, Twister, and Hurricane) for max Tornado damage and using Fury for optimal procing. Naturally, Fury also gets 20 points for pure damage and +AR (cth is very important here). Additionally, I’ve included dual Carrion Winds for the stacked 16% CtC lvl 13 Twister on striking. Finally, Tornado gets the remaining skill points, since it synergizes Twister, and allows playing the char as a regular Wind Druid on switch (which adds versatility and makes a nice IM solution). I call the build ‘Wind Wolf’ instead of ‘Tornado Wolf’, precisely because it’s a wolf that focuses on both ‘wind’ CtCs: Tornado and Twister.

Without further delay, on to the Pat…

Stats


LCS
Rich (BB code):
Ups! Wrong LCS :) Please, check this LCS instead

5 fpa Fury
with:
20% CtC lvl 18 Tornado (1491-1619 damage)
16% CtC lvl 13 Twister (157-165 damage and 0.4 sec stun duration)
15% CtC lvl 10 Static Field
48% Crushing Blow
47% Deadly Strike

4 fph
75% block @ 5 fpb
35% DR

and on switch as a Windy (99/99):

11 fpc
6 fph

Attributes

Enough strength for gear and dexterity for max block, rest vitality.

Skills *1

*1: slvl with hard points / slvl on the relevant side with +skills


Shapeshifting: 24
20 / 33 Fury
1 / 19 WW, Lycanthropy
1 / 14 Feral Rage
1 Rabies

Elemental: 73
20 / 28 Cyclone Armor, Twister, Hurricane
12+ / 20 Tornado
1 Arctic Blast

Summoning: 0

Equipment

Weapon: Stormlash (Shael)
Shield: Stormshield (Shael)
Helm: Jalal’s Mane (15 @ res, +7 str jool)
Armor: ‘Fortitude’ AP 27 @ res *2
Belt: Trang-Oul’s Girth
Gloves: LoH *2
Boots: upped Gore Rider
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Rings: 2 x Carrion Wind
Switch weapon: 'HotO'
Switch shield: 'Spirit'
Pre-buff: Demonlimb
Inventory: full with Cube, keyset, and 2nd mod charms, which summed up to +8 SS, +17% FHR, nice +life, some ar, max dmg, and resists

*2: For a while, I’ve used ‘Treachery’ for Fade prebuff (that’s 50% DR with Stormshield) + Ghoulhide (mana leech source) instead of LoH, but eventually got tired of refreshing Fade, besides mana leech wasn’t really needed. The 20% DgtM on dual Carrion Wind plus the occasional blue pot are sufficient.

Mercenary

Azrael, Might enhanced:
Weapon: eth Reaper’s Toll (Amn)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face (Um) *3
Armor: eBugged ‘Treachery’ Great Hauberk

*3: I did some swapping with a Kira’s (Shael) for the CBF and better FHR, but went back to Guillaume’s (Um), because the merc was clearly dying more often. I think the CB helps with merc survivability a lot more than most of us readily acknowledge.

Journey

Howling-Wind’s journey through Normal and Nightmare was done at p8, except the Ancients (p1). Most levelling was done Furying with Shaeled Ribby/upped Ribby. I thought about using Horizon’s Tornado for the CtC Tornado, but never got to it. I’ve levelled him as much as possible in Pindle (both Normal and NM). He entered Hell mid 70s.

Hell was fully cleared at p3-p1 (about 50-50). Howling-Wind got his paws on Stormlash right before Meph, and that’s where the wind spells procing fest really begun. Act IV and V were played entirely as a Wind Wolf, with the exception of IM areas, notably Chaos Sanctuary, where he also played like a regular Windy. As a Windy he lacked power, because the gear is biased towards melee, and Tornado is not maxed, but he cleared CS the same. As a powerful Wind Wolf, he managed to make a name for himself: Patriarch Howling-Wind.

As a side note, being a wolf with a Cyclone Armor this good is simply great! It takes a lot of souls to put it down. Hurricane, on the other hand, is next to useless for a wolf, with the inherent casting delay and short duration. Still, I tried to use it whenever I could, because it’s really cool visually and every bit helps.

The huge level 82 requirement on Stormlash was tough to handle at times, but truth is only levels ~76-82 took longer. After lvl 82, playing this char as a Wind Wolf becomes a very rewarding gaming experience!

CtC build must have screenies, so:

Diablo

Baal

post-Pat

Notable Finds

Nightmare:
Lem (Forge)
Dwarf Star (Bloody Foothills)
Sparking GC of Sustenance (ToD) :cloud9:

Hell:
24% mf, +97 mana ring (Countess’ Tower)
Trang-Oul’s Girth (Plains of Despair)
Ist (Forge)
7% mf SC (Pindle)
Firelizard’s Talons (WSK3)

Next

It’s a surprise!

Special Kudos go to:
Neksja, for writing Swind, the only Tornado Wolf Pat thread I could find,
DarkChaos, for making the Picasso worthy 99 LCS :)
Thomh, for sharing that same LCS :)
You, for reading!

Cheers,
VoX Dei
 
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Originally posted by VoX Dei on Jun 8, 2010:

The Polar Bear: a 2 in 1 Pat thread!

Patriarch Arcturus, the Polar Bear


Name

Arcturus - Wikipedia

Concept

Simply put, this Pat is a synergized CtC Twister Hunger Bear that plays as a fully functional Wind Druid on switch. Same concept as Howling-Wind, the Wind Wolf.

Stats

100 points to vitality, rest to strength.

Bear LCS
Code:
33% CtC level 22 Twister (390-415 physical damage with 0.4 sec stun length)
50% CB
75% WIAS + 20% OIAS => 6 fpa Hunger
25% FCR => 14 fpc Shockwave
54% FHR => 7 fph
20% FRW
Spirit: Heart of Wolverine

Windy LCS
Code:
100% FCR => 11 fpc
99% FHR => 6 fph
20% FRW
Spirit: Oak Sage

Skills

Elemental: 62

20 / 37 Cyclone Armor (absorbs 1826 elemental damage)
20 / 37 Tornado
20 / 37 Hurricane
1+ Twister
1 Arctic Blast

Summoning: 25

20 / 30 HoW (+223% damage, +228% AR)
1 / 11 Raven
1 / 11 Oak Sage
1 / 11 Grizzly
1 Spirit Wolf
1 Dire Wolf

Shapeshifting: 8

1 / 13 Lycanthropy
1 / 13 Werebear
1 / 8 Hunger (143% dual leech)
1 / 8 Shock Wave (5.8 sec stun length)
1 Werewolf
1 Feral Rage
1 Maul
1 Fire Claws

Equipment

Weapon: Windhammer 230% ED (+72 ar/15% ias)
Switch: ‘HotO’ + ‘Spirit’
Helm: Jalal’s Mane (15% @ res/+7 str)
Armor: ‘Fortitude’ AP
Gloves: LoH
Belt: Hsaru’s Iron Stay
Boots: Hsaru’s Iron Heel
Amulet: Mara’s 30%
Ring 1: Raven Frost 20/240
Ring 2: SoJ
Prebuff: Demonlimb
Charms: assorted dual mod including +7 to elemental

Mercenary: Mighty Kasim

Weapon: Ethereal Reaper’s Toll (Amn)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face (Um)
Armor: eBugged ‘Treachery’ Great Hauberk

Gameplay

As a bear, Arcturus felt a lot like being Kasim’s sidekick and not the other way around. This wasn’t bad per se. It was simply different. Arcturus felt more like a teamplayer as opposed to the usual leading character. Kasim killed slightly faster, broke PIs, and envenomed the few unbreakable ones, while Arcturus provided a formidable tank, additional CB, crowd control, and pets for their team.

As a windy, Arcturus retook the team leader role. However, this only happened in OK infested areas as a way to deal with IM (this is patch 1.11), and in Gloam infested areas due to increased easiness in recasting Cyclone Armor.

Deaths

1 death to a nasty Frenzytaur pack in Hell WSK3

Best Finds

Sharp GC of Strength and Eaglehorn

Thank you for reading,

VoX Dei
 
Originally posted by AJK on Oct 10, 2007:

My lord of the dorks made pat.

Why face evil alone when you can bring an army with you? I proudly present

Patriarch FearlessLeader, lvl. 86, Commandomancer.

Forgive me SPF, for I have sinned. I started playing three skelemancers only to abandon them half-finished because of boredom. However, when I got my greedy paws on a Beast axe, I decided to give my lord of the dorks another chance, but now in a more active role.

I must say that fighting alongside the troops is lots of fun, especially since I tend to play mostly melee chars these days. The only problem is that necros haven't been designed with melee in mind, but those aren't the kind of problems a little (OK, lots of) twinking can't fix. The most important way of keeping the pugilistic pale one alive is of course his vast array of support in the form of curses and an army of pale skinny dudes(ettes?). No, not a herd of warcraft addicts but formerly alive residents of the unhospitable world of D2.

----
Gear
----
* Headgear:
Code:
Plague Casque
Tiara
Defense: 50
Durability: 21 of 25
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xc42f0174
+33 to Mana
+86 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +15
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Increased Attack Speed
Socketed (1: 1 used)
I originally intended to use this circlet on a 'Passion' spear necro, but that one got ditched due to lack of offensive power. This thing has +skills for curses and summons, hefty dual leech, resists, and a jewel saying IAS and AR. Shako, AKA dunce cap, AKA peanut head, AKA [now that's pushing it!] can bite me, leech for the win.

* Rings & ammy: dual angelic rings + angelic amulet. Necro has no AR bonus whatsoever. Zip. I really needed a hefty AR boost to be able to hit stuff. In the end it gave kicked my AR up to 5.1k, decent enough but still not luxurious.

* Armor: 'Bone' Wyrmhide. Since I may be the only SPF'er with this non-assassin 1.11 runeword, allow me to enlighten you:
Code:
Bone
Wyrmhide
'SolUmUm'
Defense: 447
Durability: 17 of 24
Required Strength: 84
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xeb0d8e52
+126 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +30
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spear on striking
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Armor when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)
It's actually a more than decent substitute for a skin of the vipermagi for this build. It has +lots to mana, allowing me to curse like a sailor without boozing up on the blues. The +resists are always very nice to have, but they shouldn't come as a suprise, since this one still costs 2 Ums to create. It has +2 necro skills, again boosting curse length+area and summons.

The best mods on this armor are the CtCs. The CtC Bone Spear has been synergized with 20 points in Bone Wall and a few (should be more) in Bone Prison. This gives the necro a nice piece of bonus magic damage to work with. The other CtC is actually the reason I created the armor in the first place. A melee necro will get hit, at least a brave one will. Due to the criminally low HP of the pale one, a nice damage buffer is appreciated. Especially if it refreshes itself during combat. Because all combat is quite chaotic with this build I couldn't tell how many times it refreshed, but I estimate that I had to cast it myself 30% of the time, because apparently the CtC also triggers when the physical hit itself is absorbed.

* Shield: homonunchuckulus (find a better name and I'll spell it right, Blizzard!)
A great melee shield actually. Lots of +res, lots of +skill, and a high block bonus meant that I could keep my dex reasonably low for 50% block. Yes, you read that right, 'only' 50%. I didn't go for 75% because that would leave me with too little vita to survive even a flayer's blowdart.

* Belt: Trang-Oul's Girth. For the CBF. Nice that it carries a noticeable +mana and +life boost too.

* Boots: Gore Rider. My resists were covered, so a little bit of crushing blow and deadly strike was appreciated. Marrowwalks would have been my second choice.

* Weapon: 'Beast' zerker. The fanaticism on it boosts my entire army and the bonus attack speed and AR (and crushing blow) are one of the three things that can make a necro smile. Death and gore bombs would be the other two.

* Switch: Arm of king Larry and a 'Splendor' necro head (+1 SM, +3 RS, and +1 to all skills). With a prebuff like this, not only do the skellies deal more damage than I, they also have 30% more life. If I can teach them to curse, I can go eat a nice and tasty redundancy sandwich of superfluousness.

* Charms: 6 graverobber's with +7 dex's and 58% GF's worth of suffix. Added to the mix: three amber SCs of something, two steel SCs of sustenance and two plain +5 shimmering SCs.

* Merc: 'Idiot' Wan+Ders+Off+And+Gets+Lost. I don't care. As long as he stays close enough to give me and me dorks a taste of Might. He wears Andy's Visage, ShaelShaelAmn Hone Sundan, and Duress to keep him vertical long enough to stay useful.

-------------
Skills [+gear]
-------------
Skeleton Mastery: 20 [37] --> Army size limited to 12 on switch. Still, more than enough.
Raise Skeleton: 20 [39]
Clay Golem: 5 [18] --> 7262 life. Typical cast once and forget golem.
Mages: 0 [15] --> never used them. Bonus skill on the arm, I guess.
Bone Wall: 20 [26] --> synergy to 'Bone's CtCs
Bone Prison: 4 [11] --> should have spent more here instead of in Dim Vision.
Dim Vision: 15 [23] --> Screen filling, went a bit overboard there.
Amp, Decrep, Pop the corpsie: 1 [9, 9, 7] --> I originally didn't want to be tempted to use CE, so I only spent a point there at lvl. 82. I felt I really wanted to have it in the arcane sanctuary. I was right. In the end, I didn't rely on it, nor spam it instead of fighting. Its small radius prohibited that. I was glad I had it though, against ghosts, swarms, and deadly stuff like gloams.

-----
Stats
-----
Life: 890 :shocked: :cry:
Mana: 463
Pain: 813-2753 (fana + might)
AR: 5103

Str: 128 [158]
Dex: 118 [135] --> 50% block
Vit: 244 [244]
Ene: lol [55]

-----------
Playing him
-----------
Was fun. I mooched a few early levels during MP, but solo'd through Hell by myself. Acts I-IV were played through at /P5, and without much resistance I might add. Only one death due to two popping dolls that exploded with enough force to take down my bone armor and my health bulb in one insignificant moment. Maybe I shouldn't have said that about their mom.

In HellHell, during my search for the mountain of flesh called Izual I learned that gloams do not like necros. Their death rays of doom and other unpleasantness merrily ignored my bone armor and my puny 67% (at that time) LR to smoke me in three hits. Reload.

Second try: yay, gloamless, but a venom lord fries me with his chili breath. Reload. That does it. /P1 from now on.

Third try: gloams again. But this time I didn't try amping them, which caused my doom the first time. I just left them blind and let my army and CE lay waste to them. Easy. The Hellforge gave me a Pul for the troubles. For a non-Gul, that's still nice to pop. Another weapon upgrade.

Act V: I returned to /P3. This act went by rather quickly. Before this act, I didn't really rely on Dim Vision, but this time I was glad I had it. As you can see, I cursed (almost) the entire screen with DV first and amped only the smaller inner circle next. In this way my army can fight undistracted by fiery bolts of annoyingness.

The ancients were easy too. Only half-way through the fight I realized that they spawned cursed+stone skin, but decrepify and a bunch of bones kept me quite safe. The trek through the WSK was not too dangerous. There were gloams, but I learned my lesson in act IV and blinded them by dropping my pants, er.., casting DV.

Conclusion: this is a great way of playing a summoner if you dislike staying out of danger and letting all the others kill for you. If I made another one again, I would
- max out Bone Wall and Bone Prison for maximum CtC Synergy.
- use an 'Oath' war spike (or scourge) for the CtC bone spirit, which actually deals ~1k of magic damage when synergized with Wall and Prison.
- not put 15 points in Dim Vision. Especially with the +skills I have. 8-10 should be enough.
- put a single point in CE early. Damned maggot lair...
- not put a point in attract. I never used it even once. I just like Dim Vision better.

----
Loot
----
NM Forge: crap
Hell Forge: Pul

Hell, Radament's underground club house: Acrobatic GC of Inertia
Hell, Pit: A Ko rune
Hell, LK: A Mal rune
Hell, Outer Steppes: M'avina's Caster
Hell, Outer Steppes: Leviathan

Thanks for reading and expect another 'beastly' patriarch soon.
 
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Originally posted by Are on Jul 16, 2009:

Patriarch Ishmael (Fishymancer)

First things first: A huge thank you to Nightfish for writing the Fishymancer guide for Summon-based Necromancers!

Ishmael the Fishymancer became my 4th v1.11 Patriarch last night, finishing off Baal at level 86.

As per usual, I did full-clear single-pass of all areas throughout all difficulties, at /players 8 for Normal and Nightmare (I switched to /players 1 for Maggot Lair, Arcane Sanctuary and Ancients. In Hell difficulty I switched to /players 1 permanently about midway through Act I. Survivability was not a problem, but I found the pace to be agonizingly slow, plus Corpse Explosion is less useful at higher player settings. It is exceptionally good at /players 1 though, with 1 or 2 CE's frequently killing everything on the screen.

For future summonmancers I will definitely start using crowd-control curses like Confuse and Attract earlier, simply to get monsters away from doorways and other tight spots. When only one or two skeletons have room to attack, things slow down to a crawl even at /players 1. I didn't realize that particular use for the curses until late in Hell difficulty.

A couple of things I found helpful for the above-mentioned annoying places were to unsummon all my skeletons for the Maggot Lair, relying on my Mercenary and a quickly-assembled Iron Golem to make the kills. Since the caves are so tight that only one unit can attack at a time, the skeletons are just in the way. For the Arcane Sanctuary, I relied heavily on Reviving Ghosts since they are not hindered by the various obstacles.


Skill Setup:
----------
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Raise Skeleton
20 Corpse Explosion
1 each other skill in the summoning tree (8 points total)
1 each curse except Iron Maiden, Life Tap, Lower Resist (7 points total)
1 Teeth (prereq for Corpse Explosion)
21 unused skill points


Stats:
-----
STR: 126
DEX: 188 (for max block with Homunculus)
VIT: 181
ENE: 25 (base; I could have had more here)


Equipment:
----------
Arm of King Leoric
Homunculus w/PDiamond
Harlequin Crest w/Um
Skullder's Ire w/Um
Mara's Kaleidoscope
2x The Stone of Jordan
Chance Guards
Arachnid Mesh
War Traveler
Gheed's Fortune
assorted small charms for resists, life and MF

Switch:
------
"Beast" Berserker Axe
Homunculus w/PDiamond


Mercenary:
----------
Act II Might with "Obedience" Eth Cryptic Axe, Vampire Gaze, Duriel's Shell


You may notice that I do not have any source of Teleportation. I did try to gamble a +Necro/Summoning skills amulet with teleport-charges before starting the character, but after 2-3 hours with no luck I gave up and simply decided to do without. I could have used Naj's Puzzler on switch instead of Beast/Homunculus, but I felt that they would work better. I rarely missed the ability to Teleport, but those times I did it would have been very nice to have.

The most likely skills to place the unused skill points in would be Raise Skeletal Mage (maxed in that case) and Dim Vision (5 or so points would be sufficient). None of the other skills are worth multiple points, and to get any actual use out of the Poison/Bone skills you'd need more than 20-odd points. If you don't have access to as much skill-boosting equipment as I've used here, you should probably put ~5 points into Amplify Damage as well.
 
Originally posted by Arfurala on Aug 4, 2006:

Patriarch: LegionMaster

This character was the second character that I created after I restarted playing 4 months ago, and it really took me a long time to Pat him. The reason is not because he got stuck somewhere, in fact he is the easiest character that I have ever played (I don't have a Hammeradin yet), he fears nothing except gloams, even the ancients or act bosses couldn't touch him at all. So I rather felt bored about playing him and therefore I left him alone for a while, untill this afternoon I feel really having nothing better to do and played him again and finally Patted him and therefore here you are.

Summoner Necromancer
Current Level: 81

Gears:


Glyph Cowl
Circlet
Defense: 24
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x76c29169
+18 to Strength
+8 to Life
All Resistances +20
Adds 1-62 lightning damage
Attacker Takes Damage of 4
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels


Shadow Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc298a118
+6 to Strength
Fire Resist +18%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +52%
8% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
10% Faster Cast Rate



Carin Shard
Trang-Oul's Scales
Homunculus
Trang-Oul's Claws
Arachnid Mesh
Marrowwalk
Bahamut's Ring x2

Weapon Switch:
Spellsteel

Stats:
S:106
D:25
V:275
E:89

Skills:

Curses:
Amplify Damage 1

Poison and Bone Spells:
Teeth 1
Corpse Explosion 20
Bone Armor 1

Summoning Spells:
Skeleton Mastery 20
Raise Skeleton 18 (will max)
Raise Skeletal Mage 1
Revive 1
Golem Mastery 5 (Rest goes here? No plan yet)
Clay Golem 1
Blood Golem 1
Iron Golem 1
Fire Golem 20
Summon Resist 1


Merc:
Aura: Might
Crown of Thieves
Steel Pillar
Darkglow

I sometimes read about people putting 1 point in every curse while building a summon necro, I think that's really waste of skillpoints. For this build you will just use Amplify damage as your main curse, and other 'accessory' curses such as Life tap and Decerpify can be obtained from items. Spell Steel is a very useful weapon, it even gives you teleport charges!

Although I only have 1 point in revive, the +skill pushes it up to lvl 11, which is quite enough.

Bosses are no harm once they got hit by a lvl 11 clay golem, then the merc and other minions will take care of them pretty quickly.
 
Originally posted by BaronScarpia on Apr 22, 2012:

Patriarch Geist - Fyshimancer Necromancer (aka the drunk pat thread)

I mean Fishymancer :)!!!

Disclaimer: if you’re minor of 18 (or minor of 21 in some state/countries) you can’t drink. It’s against the law. You should know that.

Disclaimer 2: Drinking at legal age still it’s a way to kill yourself slowly. What seems to be fun is your poisoned body looking for help, trying to get rid of alcohol. You should never drink. But it’s fun, anyway 👋

Disclaimer 3: Don’t drink and drive. Drink and finish a pat instead!

And also, many thanks to Nightfish, for the build and guide. Drunk people can pat it!

So, it was a rough week. Job wasn’t a bed of roses and D3 seems to be what I was expecting for – not great. On several dailies I told – must pat my fishymancer this week(I’m planning to make a sept before d3 comes out). Sundaily was my self-imposed ultimatum.

Problem: rough week + sequel of my all-time bff favored game not making me super-excited + 3 games regional semifinals of soccer on tv = 12+ cans of “King of Beers” (hint) on weekend + one mojito + family pizza night :guiness::guiness:.

Aaaaaaand still made a pat right now.

Story of my life here on spoiler tag – a lot of SPF talking, not really related with pat (read it if you have time to – it’s cute – and I mentio SPFers here):

This sub-forum is great, I wouldn’t like to see this place getting dust never. I’m active part of 5+ forums now. This one is, by far, the most organized and with the most polited and focused forum I saw before.

I know some of you are going to play D3, as I will. Anyway, please, never let this space (D2SPF) die – Flux, TRM (aka dailies), Nightfish (the guidezzz), Thyiad (mod), Sirpoopsalot (mod), RobbyD (1.09 flagbearer), Silospen (GoMule!), Jjscud (runes info), and everyone else. (I’ll fix the names, I promise)

I was a lurker for a 5+ year period (yep, I first saw this place looking for a 1.09 meteorb guide, way before incgamers era) because I was afraid to start an account on a foreign language forum, but I always read the threads here and, at least for me, this is my one-and-only-resource for SP info online (besides the site with the calculators).

Based on my story, I’m safe to say <you> probably made a lot more for D2 SPF than you can imagine, maybe there is an unknown number of lurker having fun with D2 on Single Player because of you, mentioned or unmentioned active user. N

Now, on to the pat:

Character name: Geist
Lvl: 81 | Life: 729 | Mana: 416

Fishymancer killed hell Baal a few minutes before I start to write this.

Basically:

- Yep, you can play a fishymancer untwinked.
- I finished the game with a lvl. 81 char, "a little" drunk (soccer on tv + beers – read disclaimers), with 9 spare skill points (I dropped a couple extra points on summon resist instead plain following Nightfish’s guide).
- I was wearing 2x Spirit and, afaik, I still have enough dex to have max block with homunculus (195 base dex). My block was 46% with Monarch Spirit, for those interested. I need max life on gear for end game.
- I’ve played the game wearing a 4x PT armor and 3x PT mask until Hell Durance of Hate (had to switch because of 1-hit-deaths due to proximity of Stygian Dolls and forge to switch back because of… drinking?).

Hardest part was Normal Diablo. Always recast clay golem. Always. My questing golem is lvl 1 fire golem – he’s cool. The only revives I cared for were Vipers, Succcubae (don’t know the plural of Succubus) and Ghosts. I have lvl 1 Amp damage and spare points will be spent on the pnb skills I don’t have, so I’ll have one point on every skill. Just follow the Nightfish guide and you’ll be ok.

End game itamz!

Head: PT Tal Mask (for res and max life)
Body: Duriel’s Shell (for res and max life)
Weapon/Shield: 2x Spirit
Belt: Fire res and life (Garnet Plated Belt of Mammoth)
Boots: 25MF 28Pres + other mods rare boots
Gloves 16 CRes, 15Fres, 17MF + other mods rare gloves
Ring1: 10 LRes, 16Pres + other mods
Ring2: 29 LRes, 17 Pres + other mod
Ammy: 1 Summoning Skills, 13 all res, +6 LRes, +other mods
Switch: Empty.

Merc:
Might Merc: Insight Tresher, Tal Mask, Treachery (same old, same old)

Stats || Hell Res (geared) (in order of appearence): 175, 196, 163, 26 || 42, 75, 75, 74
Skillz: 20 Skeleton Mastery, 20 Summon Mastery, 20 Corpse Explosion, 3 Summon Mastery, 3 Revive, 1 on everything else.
Hell HF: Ist (also, my best find while questing) (still need a couple guls for hoto...)

PS: Killing hell Baal without CB gear = enough time to drink a couple beers after a great soccer weekend.
PS2: Writing a Pat Thread = enough time to drink a beer after a great soccer weekend.
 
Originally posted by bassen on Nov 7, 2009:

Patriarch Vrykolas

Just finished my summoner build after Nightfishs Fishymancer guide. Well...theres not much to say than I beat the game much more easier than I thought I would. Having all my best items saved from when I quit last time nothing was difficult but still quite enjoyable.

Character name : Vrykolas
Character type : Necromancer
Character level : 80

Strength : 97/161
Energy : 25/42
Dexterity : 50/57
Vitality : 318/357

Skill points

Summoning Spells

20 (31/36) Skeleton Mastery
20 (31/36) Raise Skeleton
1 (12/14) Clay Golem
1 (12/14) Golem Mastery
1 (12/16) Raise Skeletal Mage
1 (12/14) Blood Golem
1 (12/14) Summon Resist
1 (12/14) Revive

Poison and Bone Spells
1 (12/14) Teeth
1 (12/14) Bone Armor
20 (31/33) Corpse Explosion
1 (12/14) Bone Wall
1 (12/14) Bone Spear
1 (12/14) Bone Prison

Curses
10 (23) Apmlify Damage
1 (12/14) Dim Vison
1 (12/14) Weaken
1 (12/14) Iron Maiden
1 (12/16) Terror
1 (12/14) Confuse
1 (12/14) Life Tap
1 (12/14) Attract
1 (12/14) Decrepify
1 (12/14) Lower Resist

Items
Rich (BB code):
Equipment
Head:        Harlequin Crest (74 MF)
Armor:        'Chains of Honor'(25 MF)
Weapon 1:    'Beast'
Weapon 2:    Arm of King Leoric
Shield 1:    'Spirit'
Shield 2:    Homunculus
Neck:        Mara's Kaleidoscope
Belt:        Arachnid Mesh
Ring 1:        The Stone of Jordan
Ring 2:        The Stone of Jordan
Gloves:        Chance Guards (40 MF)
Boots:        War Traveler (49 MF)
Inventory
29x 7 MF SC's (203 MF)
Gheed's Fortune (38 MF)
Horadric Cube
Tome of Town Portal
Tome of Identify

(total 429 MF)


Mercenary:
Town Guard Might merc
Vampire Gaze (20 DR)
'Infinity'
'Fortitude'

Funniest find and best find - Key of Hate (even tho I know it more than useless in SP, but I've never found one before so I actually saved ite 😉)

Future plans
Gathering all Trang-Oul's set items and try him as a vampire
 
Originally posted by Big_P on Jan 26, 2005:

Patriarch Skeletor

Finally, my first SP Patriarch!! His name is Skeletor and he is a Skele-mancer. I loved this build back when I played on Bnet and it still is a lot of fun. I will use this character mainly for Baal-runs (and probably Pindle-runs).

HIS STATS:

Patriarch Skeletor
Level 80
Strength: 111/135 (base/with items)
Dexterity: 158/182
Vitality: 196/203
Energy: 25/52

Life: 920
Mana:466
Fire Resistance: 73%
Cold Resistance: 75%
Lightning Resistance: 75%
Poison Resistance: 69%

HIS GEAR:

Helm: Harlequin Crest (with a Perfect Topaz)
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope (26% resist all)
Weapon #1: Skeletor's Arm of King Leoric
Weapon #2: Blade of Ali Baba (with a 9% mf jewel)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (35% resist all)
Shield #1: Homunculus (with a Perfect Diamond)
Shield #2: "Rhyme" Grim Shield
Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claws
Ring #1 and Ring #2: Dwarf Star
Belt: Gloom's Trap/Arachnid Mesh (I used Gloom's Trap until level 80)
Boots: Marrowwalk (+2 to Skeleton Mastery)

When doing Baal-runs I will switch a couple of items and equip: Skullder's Ire (with a Perfect Topaz), Chance Guards (35% mf) and 2 Nagelrings (29% mf and 30% mf).
I also have a pretty good Gheed's Fortune Grand Charm in my inventory (145/15/37).

HIS SKILLS:

I only list the base points:

Curses:
Amplify Damage: 10
Dim Vision: 1
Weaken: 1
Confuse: 1
Terror: 1
Attract: 1
Decrepify: 1

P&B:
Teeth: 1
Bone Armor: 1
Corpse Explosion: 1
Bone Wall: 2

Summoning and Control:
Skeleton Mastery: 20
Raise Skeleton: 20
Clay Golem: 1
Golem Mastery: 1
Raise Skeleton Mage: 1
Blood Golem: 1
Summon Resist: 5
Iron Golem: 1
Revive: 1

I will try to max out Bone Wall next, to improve my Bone Armor.

THE LEVELS AT WHICH I COMPLETED THE ACTS:

(Normal/Nightmare/Hell)
Act 1: 17/47/71
Act 2: 24/50/74
Act 3: 25/53/76
Act 4: 27/55/78
Act 5: 36/67/80

THE HELLFORGE:

Normal: A Thul Rune, not bad at all.
Nightmare: A Sol Rune, the worst possible!!!
Hell: An Ist Rune, the highest rune I've ever found. :D

MY MERCENARY:

Zanarhi, Level 80
Act 2 Desert Mercenary (Might aura)
Helm: Guillaume's Face
Armor: Duriel's Shell (This will be a perfect Gladiator's Bane when he's level 85)
Weapon: Bonehew/Hone Sundan*

*A note on his weapon: when fighting "normal" monsters, he uses a 305% Bonehew (with 2 Amn Runes). However, when fighting Bosses I equip him with a Hone Sundan with 3 eth Runes in it (-75% target's defense). By doing this he hits the Bosses a lot more often and 80% of his hits will be a Crushing Blow. This is my very own variant of NightFish's Crushing Blow setup (I never read anything about this "trick" on these forums, I don't know if somebody else already posted about this), with the advantage of being able to wear Arm of King Leoric (so you have stronger skeletons). The fact that my mercenary does not have any Life Leech is not a problem, because the Bosses are slowed down by Decrepfiy and the Clay Golem and rarely hit.

Well, that's about it. I hope I get a good map seed soon, so I can't start pounding Baal for some TC87 items.
 
Originally posted by Bliven on Apr 26, 2007:

Patriarch BlivenSkelehead

Hello everyone, I just got my first SP Patriarch, well, sort of. I got Patriarch by multi-playering from act 3 to act 5.

Typically cookie-cutter fishymancer.

20 RS, Skele mastery, Corpse Explosion
7 amp, 1 dim vision, 1 weaken, 1 terror, 1 descrep, 1 teeth
1 bone spear and 1 bone spirit (dunno why lol)
1 clay golem, 1 blood, 4 iron, 1 fire, 4 golem mastery, 3 summon resist, 1 mage, 1 revive.

Gear.
Wand: Magical with +3 summoning +2 LR (since I didn't have a point in it)
Switch: Edge Heavy Crossbow for Thorns aura with minions
Helm: Recently donated Shako, thanks DeadDave!
Ammy: +2 summoning, no other mods....
Body: Trang's
Shield: Homunculus
Gloves: Trang's
Belt: Trang's (thanks DD)
Rings: 23% nagel, +106 mana
Boots: magical 57 def, 31% mf.

Merc:
Random magical lance with Life leech (sometime's steals ele druids insight)
Shaftstop
Was using Gaze, but since my elemental druid's merc has that, I just put tal helm on him. (thanks DD for helm)

So yea, not exactly the most amazing character ever, but my first patriarch none the less ^^
 
Originally posted by Bud Nearly on Jan 25, 2006:

Patriarch Jarai!

Hi.

It's been a while since I played D2, but I've been on it again lately and patted my first character in 1.11. I've chosen for the classic fishymancer and played completly untwinked.

Here goes:

Character name : Jarai
Character type : Necromancer
Character level : 85
Character exp : 1082149493

Strength : 80
Energy : 50
Dexterity : 225
Vitality : 135
Stat Points Rem : 25
Skill Points Rem: 12

Life : 481 / 471
Mana : 355 / 243
Stamina : 283 / 283

Gold (Inventory): 404157
Gold (Stash) : 2150000

Items worth mentioning:

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0x9da61e6
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
All Resistances +35
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Arm of King Leoric
Tomb Wand
One-Hand Damage: 10 to 22
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 36
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x579528e5
10% Faster Cast Rate
+3 to Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Terror (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
10% Chance to cast Level 2 Bone Prison when struck
5% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spirit when struck
+106 to Mana (Based on Character Level)

Rhyme
Superior Heater
'ShaelEth'
Defense: 127
Chance to Block: 62%
Durability: 88 of 88
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x2db8762
+15% Enhanced Defense
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (2: 2 used)


Well, there you have it. He will now go on mf duty while I level up a blizzsorc.

Bud.
 
Originally posted by Caly on Jan 16, 2009:

Patriarch Bob, Mancer of Fishies

Poor guy. Unoriginal build and a boring name to boot. I created him ages ago, and he's been sitting in A2 Hell for months, but I never seemed to find the time to Pat him. Every time I opened up the character screen, there he'd be, looking sadly at me: "You never write, you never call. Is it the whole communing-with-the-dead thing? Is it the hair? What?"

Then, last weekend while playing my Executress, I had my bestest questing find ever: a Homunculus. I say it's my best(est) because I've been looking for it for quite awhile and always felt like Bob was incomplete without it, so having it drop completely unexpectedly from a Fallen in Hell was pretty sweet. And it gave me the motivation to dust Bob off and go kill Baal with him. So that's what I did. I wasn't sure if I should bother doing a writeup or not, but... I like doing writeups. :D

Patriarch Bob, level 83
LCS

Skills:

20 (37) Raise Skeleton = 15 skellies
19 (33) Raise Skeletal Mage = 13 mages, future points here
20 (37) Skeleton Mastery
20 (33) Corpse Explosion
2 (16) in Amp Damage
1 (17) in all golems, Summon Resist, Golem Mastery, Revive
1 (14) in Decrep, Attract
Prereqs

Gear and charms:

Code:
Harlequin Crest
Shako
'Um'
Defense: 141
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf0b33a55
+2 to Strength
+2 to Energy
+2 to Dexterity
+2 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 10%
All Resistances +15
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
+124 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+124 to Mana (Based on Character Level)

Bitter Talisman
Amulet
Required Level: 70
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x833362ad
+6 to Mana
+7% Increased Chance of Blocking
Damage Reduced by 5
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
All Resistances +12
Level 2 Teleport (21/25 Charges)

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
'Ort'
Defense: 279
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x1ffb5699
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
Fire Resist +21%
Lightning Resist +51%
Cold Resist +21%
Poison Resist +21%
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 68
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xe6423109
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 125
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x58cf088d
+99% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x324c0c7c
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf126a310
+50 to Maximum Stamina
3% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+41 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 46
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 45
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5482219a
+50 to Life
+180 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 32%
Fire Resist +45%
40% Faster Run/Walk
10% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Indestructible

Arm of King Leoric
Tomb Wand
One-Hand Damage: 10 to 22
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 36
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x89ca7d2
10% Faster Cast Rate
+3 to Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Terror (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
10% Chance to cast Level 2 Bone Prison when struck
5% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spirit when struck
+103 to Mana (Based on Character Level)

Homunculus
Hierophant Trophy
Defense: 203
Chance to Block:  72%
Durability: 20 of 20
(Necromancer Only)
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 68
Fingerprint: 0x2cd32265
+20 to Energy
+187% Enhanced Defense
+40% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 33%
All Resistances +59
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
30% Faster Block Rate
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Call to Arms
War Scepter
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 35 to 60
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 57
Mace Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xbaaac8f5
+256% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Increased Attack Speed
+4 to Battle Cry
+5 to Battle Orders
+2 to Battle Command
+3 to Vengeance (Paladin Only)
+1 to Redemption (Paladin Only)
+2 to Conversion (Paladin Only)
Prevent Monster Heal
150% Damage to Undead
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 308
Chance to Block:  40%
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x52a7a887
+10 to Energy
+104% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
+4 to Mana After Each Kill

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Burning
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x73512997
Adds 2-4 fire damage
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xa72ec005
+6 to Dexterity
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xbab55fd6
13% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Fungal Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2d796a63
+39 to Life
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)

Fungal Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3f3de67c
+5 to Life
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)

Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x1036c358
Lightning Resist +10%.

Lapis Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc1482408
+13 to Life
Cold Resist +7%

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x576638d1
+16 to Life
All Resistances +3

Coral Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x2eb28ce0
+17 to Life
Lightning Resist +8%

Mercenary: Pratham, level 83 Might Mercenary

Code:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 127
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x4c54f7c5
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

Fortitude
Archon Plate
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1494
Durability: 59 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd3484d47
+200% Enhanced Defense
+300% Enhanced Damage
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +25%
Lightning Resist +25%
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Cold Resist +25%
Poison Resist +25%
Replenish Life +7
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Cast Rate
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+103 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Insight
Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 47 to 449
Durability: 46 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x5f65ea84
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+219% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
223% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Notable finds: Not many. The best were a Kira's (better roll than the two I already had, woot) and a Wolfhowl (also a nice roll). I forgot to make a note of his Hellforges, I know they sucked though.

So... what can I say? It's a Fishymancer. I can quest through the WSK on him while drinking beer and watching Dr. Who, so he gets my Laziness Stamp of Approval. I don't think he even died once, which isn't surprising for a Fishy but is very surprising for a character played by me, because, well, I sort of die a lot. If I ever go HC (lololol) I'll definitely start with this build.

I hated him in the beginning because without Corpse Explosion he really didn't have anything to do other than cast Amp every once in awhile. Sometimes I would mix it up by running around in circles or meleeing things. But once I had CE maxed I found him to be fairly entertaining. I guess I just enjoy exploding corpses. He wasn't a particularly quick killer but he was faster-paced than I'd expected, since the skellies would swarm all over the place and keep killing stuff even if I wasn't ready ("HOLD ON DAMMIT, I SWEAR I SAW A SHAEL RUNE IN THIS PILE SOMEWHERE").

I had issues deciding what to spend my extra skill points on. I certainly didn't need more safety, so I wanted to spend them to get more damage, but I wasn't crazy about the options to do that. I don't much like Iron Golems, I get stressed about them poofing or dying. I tried Revives, but they make me crazy. They disappear if I so much as walk two steps in the other direction, which means I'm constantly reviving new corpses instead of blowing them up. One point there was nice, it means I can revive some Urdars right before fighting a boss or whatever, but I wouldn't want to dump 20 points there. Finally I just stuck a few more points in Amp, and then sunk the rest in Mages. They aren't fabulous, but they're extra damage, they don't poof, and they look cool. Plus they were useful against stuff my normal skellies couldn't do much damage to, like this guy. And sometimes they even ended up doing most of the work when half my army decided it was time for a coffee break.

I don't remember any particular challenges. Though, there was at least one moment of stupidity. When I got to Nightmare Ancients I just spawned them and let my skellies beat on them without bothering to check their mods. I wasn't exactly worried about them, is what I'm saying. But then after Korlic and Madawc died and my skellies went to beat on Talic, I realized, hey, his life bar isn't even moving, wth? Turns out he was unbreakable PI Stoneskin. Whoops. Reroll!

So yeah, that's that. Future plans for Bob: Pit running, I guess. Maybe some WSK too. I'm just glad I finally finished him. Thanks for reading about his somewhat boring adventures. :)
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Colorless Green on Dec 7, 2008:

Patriarch Zarathustra, Magimancer

Well, it's been a while (for me) since my last pat thread, and so I'm quite pleased to present...

Patriarch Zarathustra, level 82 Skeleton Magi Necromancer

Str: 51 (58)
Dex: 25 (25)
Vit: 389 (389)
Ene: 25 (51)

Life: 1045
Mana: 706
Resists: 49/68/75/38
Lower Resist: -65 resists

Rich (BB code):
All values per the german skill calc, and before resists.

Skeleton Magi (16)
  General: 1569 life, 894 def, 67% res all
  Fire Magi: 440-444 (442.5)
  Lightning Magi: 64-693 (378.5)
  Cold Magi: 248-251 (250)
  Poison Magi: 381 damage over 655 sec (0)
  If all fire magi attack simultaneously: 7080
  If 50/50 fire/lightning magi attack simultaneously: 6568
Skeletons (10)
  Stats: 299-302 (300.5) damage, 4728 life, 1041 def, 67% res all
Revives (22)
  Bonuses: +440% damage, +420% life, +50% velocity

Skills:
Teeth: 1 (10)
Corpse Explosion: 20 (29)
Lower Resist: 15 (26)
Terror: 1 (14)
All other curses except confuse and attract: 1 (12)
Raise Skeleton: 1 (25)
Raise Skeletal Mage: 20 (43)
Skeleton Mastery: 20 (44)
All other summoning except fire golem: 1 (22)

Equip:
Golemlord's Circlet of Luck
Bone Mage Plate
Trang-Oul's Claws
Arachnid Mesh
Imp Slippers Light Boots (23 LR, 30 FRW, 10 FHR)
Golemlord's Amulet of Strength
The Stone of Jordan
The Stone of Jordan
Arm of King Leoric (+13 res all/+6 ENE)
Homunculus (PDiamond)
No switch

Charms:
Code:
Graverobber's GC of Vita(37)
Graverobber's GC of Sustenance(34)
Graverobber's GC of Balance
Graverobber's GC of Burning(2-6)
Graverobber's GC of Greed(39)
Graverobber's GC
Coral(8) SC of Strength(2)
Coral(9) SC of Strength(2)
Amber(10) SC of Strength(1)
Ruby(11) SC of Strength(1)
Shimmering(3) SC of Balance
Shimmering(3) SC

Prayer Merc: eth Insight Thresher, eth Treachery Wyrmhide, Vampire Gaze


This char vastly outperformed my expectations. He was enormously fun to play. The play style (unsurprisingly) was much like the fishymancer, except the merc didn't do all the corpse generating. The magi are quite capable of dishing out large quantities of damage on their own - well into the 5 digits of damage per second after LR against most targets. This was basically a fishymancer except with style points instead of being a cookie cutter.

Generally speaking, I only ever used fire and lightning magi - poison got unsummoned pretty quickly (~0.5 damage per second ftl), and if I was expecting to be playing for a while, cold got unsummoned as well, though I started getting lazier about it after a while, and there's really not a huge amount of difference from having a couple of cold magi mixed in with the pwnzors.

Non-magi skeletons were only used as tanks to hold things in place while the magi (and CE) did their work. As I wasn't using amp or a might merc, I don't think they actually contributed any functional quantity of damage. Revives were neat as, unlike the fishy, the enormous amount of elemental monsters were an advantage. I don't know how much they actually helped, but I certainly tried to keep them around whenever I had corpses I didn't need for unsummoning magi or exploding.

Pretty much the entire game was a breeze, except for the obvious maggot lair (which cost me more than a couple TP scrolls to reposition my army at times when the ~3 magi that could find their way on their own were all lightning and against beetles), but it wasn't really that bad. Maybe an extra 5 minutes or so over what it normally takes me to solo. Arcane sanctuary was a cakewalk (as is any open area, particularly open-to-projectile areas that restrict movement.

The CtC bone prison on AoKL was actually quite beneficial to me rather than the usual annoyance (though I like the ctc tele on occy as well, so take this as you will). Nothing melee was ever supposed to get close to me, and it triggered against ranged attackers relatively often. The magi are able to shoot through it, so it was (pardon the cliche) like shooting fish in a barrel.

I have no doubt I'd be fully capable of doing MF runs in a85 areas with this char if I were so inclined, but I'm not so inclined, so I won't. He'd be fine at it, though. His drop luck sucked from what I remember (hel from hell HF).

All in all, I love this char, and to anyone looking to play a summonmancer but not wanting to embrace the cookie-flavored cheese that is the fishy, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. I'm pretty sure he'd hold up fairly well even with less +skills - you don't really need to worry about defensiveness in the slightest, so you can just boost your stuff with whatever you want. Dim vision makes everything GG at all times, so while you'll be a tiny bit slower without 16 magi, you'll still pwnzor your way through everything.

Yay unconventional builds!

-CG
 
Originally posted by Colorless Green on Jun 21, 2009:

Patriarch Klaatu, Golemancer

Patriarch Klaatu, Level 82 Iron Golem Necromancer


Str: 58 (75)
Dex: 25 (57)
Vit: 392 (399)
Ene: 25 (52)

Life: 1289
Mana: 809
Resists: 80/75/75/75

Skills:
Dim Vision: 1 (19)
Amplify Damage: 1 (19)
Decrepify: 1 (19)
Corpse Explosion: 20 (34)
Golem Mastery: 20 (40)
Summon Resist: 9 (29)
Iron Golem: 16 (36)
Fire Golem: 20 (40)

Equip:
Harlequin Crest (Shael)
Bone Mage Plate
Trang-Oul's Claws
Arachnid Mesh
Waterwalk
Mara's Kaliedoscope
The Stone of Jordan
The Stone of Jordan
Heart of the Oak Flail
Homunculus (PDiamond)
Switch: Spellsteel
Charms: 6 summoning skillers, some FHR, some life

Might Merc: eth Insight Thresher, eth Treachery Wyrmhide, Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (IAS jewel)

Iron Golem: eth Obedience Thresher (I have absolutely no idea what the actual in-game stats of my IG are - I can't be bothered to go find a summon calc that I trust to give me accurate information on the topic, and there is absolutely no way to figure it out off in-game stuff. It's strong enough to one- or two-hit basically everything in p1 a5 hell and basically doesn't ever die.)


Well, I haven't been playing very much lately, so this char has been quite a while in the making, but I just found myself in the mood for some of the trance-inducing relaxation that is twinked SC questing, so Klaatu has finally made patriarch.

All in all, I'm rather ambivalent on this char. It was entertaining enough, I suppose, but it was more stressful than I particularly care for when playing twinked SC. If I want to make sure I never die and that my minions never get IM'd and pay super close attention to every last thing, I'll play untwinked and/or HC and/or something else. If I want to play standard twinked SC, I don't generally want to have to pay that much attention.

With all that being said, it wasn't actually very difficult at all to keep the golem alive. The only times it really died were due to getting IM'd mid-swing (which only happened once or twice). It moves fast enough that it rarely gets telepwned (I think it happened to me once over the life of the char), and assuming I pay even a minimal amount of attention, it's easy enough to just use a teleport charge if it's trapped somewhere. It was basically impossible for it to die in combat.

I have to say, I'm quite impressed by the IG's AI. I think it's the most effective AI I've seen on a diablo minion, which is a plus. This would have been hellish if it had the average mercenary AI. The IG moves very quickly and responds to the character movement almost instantly, so it's quite easy to control where it goes.

I didn't really need to recast it very often - I think I used a total of 2-3 insights (very early on while I was learning how to not have him die and/or MP'ing through normal/etc) and 3-4 obediences (which I switched to sometime mid-NM as my endgame base). Considering I have no problem dropping an ist on a class-specific single-use delerium (e.g. for a singer), this character (relatively speaking) didn't actually use up much more wealth than an average quester. Add in the fact that I pulled a gul from the hellforge and my iron golemancer was actually profitable to quest.

All in all, this is basically a fishymancer with style points. It plays exactly the same (DV really scary ranged bosspacks, amp everything else, CE everything to death once a corpse happens). The good AI on the IG makes up for the swarming effects of a wall-o-skellies meaning it's easy enough to generate a well placed corpse in a timely manner. I'm not going to go so far as to actually recommend the build to anyone and everyone, but if you want to play a physical summon build and you find the fishymancer to be entirely too cheesy, this is a good option.

One final comment: in case you're wondering why I have more than one hard point in summon resist, at slvl 29 summon resist, an IG made from a perfect-resist obedience is immune to fire/cold/lightning/poison. I haven't rolled one just yet (and don't feel like sitting around rerolling obediences just to take a screenshot), but it's a neat little additional novelty to the char. It isn't much besides a novelty, because the IG isn't ever going to die short of telepwn, IM, or really, really bad playing regardless of whether it has 98 resist all or is immune to everything resistable.


Anyways, overall, let's say I give this build about a 6 out of 10. Strong enough, but not uber. Entertaining enough, but has its annoyances. Middle of the road. Try it if you have items to burn and want something different, otherwise just stick to the traditional fishymancer.

-CG
 
Originally posted by @Corax on Mar 21, 2005:

Patriarch MadHamish

With a ringing of metal the giant's sword glanced off Hamish's shield as he sidestepped the nearly fatal blow and returned a low slice of his own. The giant Barbarian warrior whirled out of the way and struck out at Hamish as he spun past, with Hamish just managing to roll sideways to avoid becoming a permanent pile of smoking boots.

The two warriors came together again, Hamish lacking the size and strength of his combatant as he had in many fights before relied on being able to avoid taking physical injury and then striking back with a vengeance when his foe was off balance.

Over near the centre of the clearing Hamish's his earthen construct was grappling with a polearm wielding Barbarian whilst being harried by a thrower from the side. Hamish's own Barbarian ally had soiled his loincloth and promptly retreated back to Harrogath at the sight of these three powerful warriors. Hamish however had stayed to face his burly foes even though they towered above him and his clay golem. Acts like this back when he had been learning back in the steamy swamps of Kurast had earned him the nickname MadHamish.

Hamish thrust his shield out to block an incoming sword cut and as skillfully as his foe had done before spun around behind him and delivered a well placed slash to the tendons at the rear of the knees. Seeing his comrade falling the pole barb shook himself free of the clay golem and made to leap to his aid, but the golem held defiantly onto his ankles and the Barbarians advance was slowed enough that Hamish had time to finish off his current enemy and turn to face the next one.

The pole barb hurled himself upon Hamish and hacked madly with his poleaxe, but the clinging golem had wrapped itself around the Barb well enough for Hamish to score an easy kill, throwing his sword through the eye slot of his enemy's helm.

With his two comrades vanquished the thrower turned to flee but found his path blocked in by a towering wall of bone. As he tried to scramble over the wall to freedom Hamish approached and methodically set about slaying the last of his attackers.

Patriarch MadHamish, lvl 79

SKills:
20 Decrepify
7 Attract
20 BoneWall
1 CE
18 Clay Golem
16 Golem Mastery
1 Summon resist

Stats: base(gear)

str: 80 (197)
dex: 130 (190)
vit: 245 (270)
nrg: 25 (35)

Life: 928
Mana: 241
Resists: -6/64/39/-6

Damage:
Vengeance: 115-1894 at 3850 AR

Equip:
Weapon: Kingslayer superior Cryptic Sword
Shield: Pdiamond'd Stormshield
Helmet: vampire Gaze
Armour: Lionheart Archon Plate
Belt: Nosferatu's coil
Boots: Marrowwalks
Gloves: crfated blood gloves
Jewelry: angelic combo + ravenfrost
Switch: Ume's Lament + Homuculus for pre-buff golem and armour
Charms: mostly AR/damage charms

Merc: Hygelac, lvl 79 Barb
Eth Crescent Moon Colossus Blade
Eth Shaftstop
Arreats Face

This was a pretty fun character although I really should of gone with a might merc, but i wanted a build that didnt rely on their merc and could continue just as easily without them.
Ancients weren't that hard as the clay golem with its ~11k life held up and slowed Korlic and Madawc while Myself and the merc(he didnt run away, his loincloth would of fallen off) took down Talic. then we moved onto Korlic and cast a bonewall between us and madawc. then we just chased him down and set about shredding him.

Baal was a loooooooong boring fight as with clay golem/decrep combo he didnt move. His first half of life raced off thanks to the Static on my barbs weapon. but after that it was a struggle as i only had a 50-60% chance to hit. towards the end he started to get boring (about flayer jungle really) so i did alot of hotfooting through the last few acts. hence the low level.

Notable finds:
Ethereal Edge in act 4.
Fal from hellforge
 
Originally posted by CoRnJuLiOx on Oct 29, 2009:

Patriarch Mr. Bones - summon necro.

So, after countless attempts to get a build all the way through Hell, I finally did it. It's your ordinary, run-of-the-mill summoning necro but it means a lot to me because the last time I managed to get a build through the ENTIRE game (that is, all 3 difficulties) was back before the expansion was released, on Battle.net, with help from random strangers and friends.

Here are the stats according to GoMule:
Code:
Name:       Mr_Bones
Class:      Necromancer
Experience: 707587489
Level:      80

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   125/146
Dexterity:  25/35
Vitality:   290/290
Energy:     35/46
HP:         753/753
Mana:       203/233
Stamina:    433/433
Defense:    6/530
AR:         80/130

Fire:       71/31/-29
Cold:       46/6/-54
Lightning:  83/43/-17
Poison:     66/26/-34

MF:         62       Block:      8
GF:         113
FR/W:       0
FHR:        0
IAS:        10
FCR:        0

Amplify Damage: 1/5
Dim Vision: 1/5
Weaken: 1/5
Iron Maiden: 0/0
Terror: 1/5
Confuse: 1/5
Life Tap: 0/0
Attract: 0/0
Decrepify: 8/12
Lower Resist: 0/0

Teeth: 1/7
Bone Armor: 0/0
Poison Dagger: 0/0
Corpse Explosion: 20/26
Bone Wall: 0/0
Poison Explosion: 0/0
Bone Spear: 9/15
Bone Prison: 0/0
Poison Nova: 0/0
Bone Spirit: 0/0

Skeleton Mastery: 20/27
Raise Skeleton: 20/27
Clay Golem: 1/8
Golem Mastery: 1/8
Raise Skeletal Mage: 1/8
Blood Golem: 0/0
Summon Resist: 5/12
Iron Golem: 0/0
Fire Golem: 0/0
Revive: 0/0

Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xc815f175
Item Level: 28
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+6 to Strength

Fungal Grand Charm of Quality
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x42fbce84
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Maximum Damage

Fungal Grand Charm of Quality
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x42fbce84
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Maximum Damage

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xbcb51788
Item Level: 10
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 35%
Replenishes Health 35%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0xab415e96
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Key
Fingerprint: 0x8fe47bd0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Thawing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% to Maximum Cold Resist
Cold Resist +50%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Golemlord's Amulet of Craftmanship
Amulet
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x73b12a72
Item Level: 68
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Maximum Damage

Storm Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x8b447262
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Strength
Replenish Life +4
Lightning Resist +7%
Fire Resist +17%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Rainbow Ring of Energy
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x96260845
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Energy
All Resistances +11

Goldwrap
Heavy Belt
Defense: 34
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0xb0323b03
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Increased Attack Speed
+42% Enhanced Defense
+25 Defense
63% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius

Superior Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 58
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 91
Fingerprint: 0x11d2373b
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Increase Maximum Durability 15%

Gale Fist
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 9
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0x730f863f
Item Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Strength
Fire Resist +8%
Poison Resist +20%
Half Freeze Duration
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

Gravenspine
Bone Wand
One Hand Damage: 3 - 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xb8a710ab
Item Level: 72
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
Adds 4 - 8 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
5% Mana stolen per hit
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+30 to Mana

Rhyme
Pavise
ShaelEth
Defense: 78
Chance to Block: 44
Durability: 60 of 72
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 133
Fingerprint: 0xe37788ce
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Block Rate
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
Cannot Be Frozen
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate

Eth Rune
Required Level: 15
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: -25% Target Defense
Armor: Regenerate Mana 15%
Shields: Regenerate Mana 15%

The Spirit Shroud
Ghost Armor
Defense: 295
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 38
Fingerprint: 0xa6182cb5
Item Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+150% Enhanced Defense
Replenish Life +10
Magic Damage Reduced by 8
Cannot Be Frozen

Lore
Superior Crown
OrtSol
Defense: 48
Durability: 57 of 57
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xfdf9ab1d
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+5% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Energy
Lightning Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 7
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Mercenary:

Name:       Mizan
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Comb-Normal
Experience: 57034888
Level:      80
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   181/226
Dexterity:  146/151
HP:         1630/1630
Defense:    1203/1785
AR:         1913/470598

Fire:       147/107/47
Cold:       147/107/47
Lightning:  147/107/47
Poison:    147/107/47

Gemmed Boneweave
Boneweave
Defense: 477
Durability: 40 of 45
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 158
Fingerprint: 0x1ff0b5a
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Strength
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Perfect Amethyst
Socketed: Perfect Amethyst

Perfect Amethyst
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +150 to Attack Rating
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +30 Defense

Perfect Amethyst
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +150 to Attack Rating
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +30 Defense


Gemmed Grand Crown
Grand Crown
Defense: 105
Durability: 41 of 50
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xc1802b4d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Strength
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Perfect Amethyst
Socketed: Perfect Amethyst

Perfect Amethyst
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +150 to Attack Rating
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +30 Defense

Perfect Amethyst
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +150 to Attack Rating
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +30 Defense


Insight
Colossus Voulge
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 63 - 524
Durability: 48 of 50
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 210
Required Dexterity: 55
Fingerprint: 0x9ed3f642
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
218% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
245% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+2 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

Ral Rune
Required Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Armor: Fire Resist +30%
Shields: Fire Resist +35%

Tir Rune
Required Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +2 to Mana after each Kill
Armor: +2 to Mana after each Kill
Shields: +2 to Mana after each Kill

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

There are a few things I didn't like about this build. First was the killing speed in Hell. The only reason I got through it was because of my merc, who does roughly 2k+ damage with his equipment. Without the merc the skeles can't kill anything. The second was that in places like the Arcane Sanctuary and the Maggot Lair, the skeles couldn't maneuver around the hostiles to whack at them, so I unsummoned them and relied solely on my merc and Corpse Explosion to get things done.

I wanted to use this char to run Hell Meph/Baal/Countess to build up my stashes again (lost them all in a HD crash), but the killing speed is way too slow. I'm relying on +skills items, and I can't really afford to replace any of that with MF. Can anyone offer some advice?
 
Originally posted by domac on Nov 21, 2006:

Patriarch SummonMaster

Most people use summon necro for their starting character because it's a very safe build able to solo hell untwinked and MF at the same time. But I've decided to build summon necro mainly because I have never finished the game with a Necromancer and because I simply wanted to try the "draws his strenght from others" approach. :wink3: After all it was time ... 11 PAT/MAT-s but no Necro so the 12th had to be Necro
(no Druid or Assassin yet) :hide:


So here he is ... Patriarch SummonMaster


STATS
Character screen


Base Values
STR: 85
DEX: 35 (yeah added 10 here)
VIT: 365
ENE: Base


SKILLS
Summoning
Curses
Golem stats



Base Values
20 Raise Skeleton
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Fire Golem
20 Golem Mastery
1 Iron Golem
1 Decrepify
4 Corpse Explosion <- future points go here


ITEMS
HotO 38 all resistances
Shako with perfect topaz
Homunculus with perfect diamond
Mara's 28 all resistances
Skullder's with perfect topaz
Chance Guards 32%
Arachnid Mesh
TearHaunch
2 * rings with life mana, mf, resistances (yeah no soj's) :sad2:
Gheed's 22%
*Spellsteel on switch*


MERCENARY
NM Offensive
Insight Thresher
Tal Rasha's helm
Treachery Etheral Whyrmhide



He wasn't very fun to play I must admit. Maybe if I hadn't twinked ... I started and finished hell ACT 1 and Radament on /p5 but once I got to maggot's lair is gave up and returned to /p1. Of course then I began to understand the awesome power of Corpse Explosion on /p1 so I wasn't man enough to return to /p5 and I finished him on /p1. Yeah cheezy but it was my first necro pat so give me a break :)

Right before ancients I searched for a skill shire and once I found it I raised my Iron golem from IK maul. (socketed the IK maul with 2xETH runes) and went to the summit. Boy I was suprised how fast the ancients fell. It was something never seen before. I guess 12 skeletons with might + revived frenzytaurs + IG with crushing blow were too much for them.

However I did died once, in City of the Damned. I have just found Spellsteel and I played around with teleport ... :)

Hell hellforge gave me a HEL. I guess bad HF drops trend continues.

I was a bit disappointed beacuse I played with over 200 MF and have found nothing but then my old friend Thresh Socket decided to reward my patience. :)


Tnx for reading and sorry for long post but I'm bored :)
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by ERayz on Mar 24, 2013:

Patriarch MindGames - 1.09 Blood Golem/Iron Maiden Necromancer

Hello everyone! I'm fairly new around here, but have been lurking for a while on these forums, mostly reading other people's builds and gathering more "technical" information about D2, more specifically 1.09



I've been playing 1.09 SP since a pretty long time, started around 2006. Unfortunately, I don't really have high level characters yet, thanks (NOT) to a hard drive failure, back in 2009 or so.

The Necromancer always was my least favorite class, because it seemed weak to me, and seemed to require way too much micromanagement compared to other classes even more if you calculate efficiency per output, I mean you need a lot of hotkeys with a Necro on 1.09 if you want to kill efficiently, and even then, it is not very efficient comapred to a Burizon or WW Barb.

I made a few level 80 + characters since the beggining, but never had a necromancer above level 21, and I wanted to change that, so I decided to focus solely on my Necro, until he became a Patriarch. I had no idea what kind of build was viable in 1.09, and it was pretty hard to find any info about the 1.09 Necromancer. But then I stumbled upon a post somewhere on these forums, mentionning the Blood Golem + Iron Maiden combo, also using Corpse Explosion.

In theory this seemed overpowered, since this combo works in a way that the damage reflected by the Golem counts as his own physical damage, meaning he will leech life when getting hit, thus becoming "immune" to physical melee attacks, while damaging mobs AND healing the player ! So, obviously this was very appealing to me, and it led me to play this Necromancer:


Patriarch MindGames, level 68 Expansion Softcore 1.09 Necromancer.

Stats:

Strength: 60 (65)
Dexterity: 25 (33)
Vitality: 195 (245)
Energy: 150 (210)

Skills:

Curses
1 (9) Amplify Damage
1 (9) Weaken
1 (9) Iron Maiden
1 (9) Terror
1 (9) Life Tap
1 (9) Decrepify
1 (9) Lower Resists

Bone and poison
1 (13) Teeth
1 (16) Bone Armor (wasted point)
1 (13) Poison Dagger
4 (18) Corpse Explosion
1 (13) Bone Wall (wasted point)
1 (13) Poison Explosion
20 (34) Bone Spear
20 (32) Poison Nova

Summoning
1 (11) Skeleton Mastery
1 (7) Raise Skeleton
1 (7) Clay Golem
15 (21) Golem Mastery
1 (7) Raise Skeletal Mage
1 (8) Blood Golem
1 (7) Summon Resists
1 (7) Iron Golem
1 (7) Revive


Equipment:

For his gear, I went simple, I wanted to have as many +skills as possible, and a big mana pool, because if there is one thing I don't like, is having to rely on mana potions because we cannot buy them in 1.09

Helm: Peasant Crown
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope, 26 All Resistances
Weapon: "White" in a Bone Wand

Code:
White
Bone Wand
'DolIo'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 35
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x11a291c1
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Blood Golem (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Corpse Explosion (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3  to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi, 34 all Resistances

Shield: Homunculus, 188% socketed with Perfect Diamond

Gloves: Frostburns

Rings: They are pretty weak, but as I said, I wanted a huge mana pool, and I have no SoJ yet. So I just went with what gave me the most mana.

Code:
Great Wyrm's Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xf4b31274
+89 to Mana

Dragon's Ring of Sorcery
Required Level: 23
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x68e00293
+15 to Energy
+35 to Mana

Belt: Gloom's Trap

Boots: Silkweave

I also have 3 Fungal Grand Charms in my inventory. There's one that my Necromancer found by himself during his journey, in Act 3 NM:

Code:
Fungal Grand Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe087a48
+3 to Dexterity
+1  to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)


Fungal Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0xf949b382
+1  to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)


Fungal Grand Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x431ab75b
+2 to Maximum Damage
+1  to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)

The adventure:

I hadn't played D2 in a few months, MindGames was level 18 when I decided to focus on playing him until he became a Patriarch two weeks ago.

I remember at this time, I wasn't planning on making him a Blood Golem / Iron Maiden Necromancer, I just had no idea what I would do, but I used my skill points in a way that if I find a build that suits me, I would have no (or almost) wasted skill points. I originally wanted to play with a Fire Golem, Blood Spirit and lots of revives. I am happy that I didn't, revives can barely follow the player, and will then vanish... Blood Spirit does more damage than Bone Spear, but it doesn't pierce, and travels much slower.

Normal difficulty:

The beggining (pre-Bone Spear) was a bit slow, running out of mana , and potions all the time was a bit annoying, killing monsters was a bit slow, and Corpse Explosion had a short radius.

When I reached level 18 it started to go much better, level 1 Bone Spear had good killing power at this point, and I've put most of my skill points there for a while. Also, Act 2 Merc helped a lot killing monsters when I ran out of Mana.

The Blood Golem / Iron Maiden combo was really powerful through all of Normal, and the merc was doing fine, I barely needed to support him (mostly using life tap in rare occasions when he would be low on life). The Blood Golem had a very aggressive behavior, so he kept running into packs of monsters, which is what I wanted since he was pretty much invincible at this point, and monsters would die really quick to Iron Maiden. And as soon as there was a dead monster, I could cast a few Corpse Explosion, which 1-2 shotted most ennemies.

For bosses, the Golem and my mercenary were doing really well together. Switching curses depending on the situation.

I did Baal runs until level 42, so I could wear Homunculus and use my charms.

Nightmare difficulty:

My merc wasn't able to keep up with me in terms of level, I think he was level 21, when I was around 40 ish. I didn't use him for the first act, because I wanted a Holy Freeze mercenary.

So I bought a merc in Act2, and he was leveling much faster than me, so he quickly caught up to my level. Nightmare was probably the easiest part in MindGame's carreer. Bone Spear was at a fairly high level, killing mobs quickly, my merc was doing lots of damage while surviving very well, and my Golem was just tanking a lot, keeping me at full life most of the time.

In Act 3, he found a Fungal Grand Charm, which made me quite happy :)

I finished nightmare at level 56 IIRC

Hell difficulty:

As soon as MindGames entered Hell, I knew it would be no easy task. Even at the beggining, level 33 Bone Spear could barely kill monsters (3 hits for Blood moor zombies on P1), and my merc started dying at every unique monster pack. Also, with the global physical resistance in Hell, Iron maiden Blood Golem became much less efficient, so did Corpse Explosion.

I decided to not use my mercernary anymore, and to start using Poison Nova as my main killing spell, the golem just used as a meat shield, so the monsters don't aim at me too much. I got to say, Blood Golem + Iron Maiden is overpowered in theory, but in reality, it has flaws. The golem cannot leech on non-melee attackers, so after all, he was pretty weak against spell casters, plus he cannot leech from some kind of monsters (skeletons, physical immuned monsters, and Ancients are good examples).

Least I can say is that he wasn't healing me nearly as much as before, monster had wat bigger ratio of life vs damage, so they couldn't really die from Iron Maiden. Poison Nova was really my best bet at this point, and until the end of the game.

Hell Ancients were next to impossible, they could swarm and kill my golem in no time, and I cannot tank them at all, in fact they one shotted me. So it took me a few tries to kill them, running around shooting Bone Spears, and Poison Nova (Korlic was immune to Poison every time I tried).

WSK went surprinsingly well, even the 5 waves of monsters before Baal went smoothly, most packs have melee attacks, so my golem did well there, and I could cast Poison Nova at will. Baal though, was even harder than the Ancients, he would never let me approach him (so I could not use Poison Nova on him), and whenever I was attacking him from a distance with Bone Spear, he would summon his clone and a million Festering Appendaces around me. about 20 minutes later, Baal dropped no items worth of interest. :(

Apart from the Fungal Grand Charm I found in Act 3 NM, the best drop I've found was a Rare amulet in the Halls of Pain:

Code:
Storm Torc
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x978a9415
+20 to Energy
+32 to Life
Cold Resist +39%
Poison Resist +39%
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels

While it was interesting, I was waiting for Mara, at the same level requirement, but I'll keep it anyway.



Bottom line
:

I think the Necromancer is by far the weakest class in 1.09 (I may be wrong), but despite all the difficulty I had with this character, I had lots of fun playing him, since it was very challenging and different to what I'm used to. I think that if I have to make another Necromancer, I would still use the Blood Golem + Iron Maiden combo, but instead of relying on Bone Spear and Poison Nova, I would use Poison Dagger, since it would require less mana, thus allowing me to put more points into vitality (even though I would need Dex) for better survivability.
 
Originally posted by Evasive on Oct 2, 2009:

SP Patriarch 1: Patriarch Geppetto

I just finished my first SP Patriarch, a pretty safe fishymancer. I said in my introduction that I like to name my Diablo characters after real-life/fictional characters that relate to the type of build that they will end up being so it will be no surprise when I introduce:

Patriarch Geppetto
Level 85


Skills:
Raise Skeleton 20/27
Skeleton Mastery 20/27
Clay Golem 1/5
Summon Resist 5/9
Revive 6/10
Skeletal Mage 1/7
plus prereqs

Bone Armour 1/5
Corpse explosion 20/24
plus prereqs

Amplify Damage 1/5
Decrepify 1/5
Dim Vision 1/5
Life Tap 1/5
plus prereqs

Skill points unused 10

Strength enough for gear
Vitality rest

Resists in Hell:
Fire 43
Cold 31
Lightning 48
Poison 27

Gear:
Helm: Lore Crown
Chest: Goldskin
Weapon: Arm of King Leoric (thanks Ohomemgrande!)
Shield: 3 socket shield with 3 perfect diamonds for the resists
Gloves: Trang's Claws
Belt: Goldwrap
Boots: Tearhaunch
Rings: Nagelring and +4 resist all ring (with other less useful mods)
Amulet: +1 Necro skills + 17mf

Pack:
126/39 Gheeds (self found!)
Various resist charms and mf charms
Tome of identify and town portal
Cube

A2 Might Merc with Reapers Toll (DS + LL, thanks Ohomemgrande!)

The experience:

Normal was pretty uneventful, bash things with a wand until I could get enough in RS. Build my army by putting points into RS and SM. As usual, each of the act bosses proved tough but I managed to get through in the end. Stacked up with resists for Andy and Duriel and then patience for the rest! Some baal runs meant that I finished off normal at lvl 42.

Nightmare was a little more smooth as my army grew as RS and SM were maxed, added points in Corpse Explosion so I could start killing things on my own and then moved onto summon resist and revives to allow my skeleton army to survive. Nightmare was very enjoyable and completed rather quickly. I did plenty of baal runs to level him up to 75 for hell.

Hell was slow, but relatively safe. As usual I went through quite a few mana pots and town portal scrolls casting the golem ahead in the maggots lair and the arcane sanctuary, then running up behind him and popping a TP to regroup the army. The ancients weren't particularly dangerous at all actually and I was pretty happy with the roll on the mods. 11 skeletons, 4 mages, 10 revives, and the clay golem was enough was to keep them occupied while I decrepified them and the Merc went round and finished them off. Worldstone Keep was brilliant, no gloams, no frenzytaurs, a couple of oblivion knights but no Iron Maiden. The Throne of Destruction had assailants and and only a smattering of hell witches and venom lords (or whatever the fire immune versions of them are called). Baal took a long time and I had to TP out to top up on the revives but I managed to whittle him down slowly (or rather my army did) while I kept him decrepified (watched).

Hellforge drops:
Normal: ? (probably El or Eld..)
Nightmare: Ko
Hell: Mal

Notable finds:
Ist rune, Dusk Adherent, Gore Rider, Natalya's Totem

Overall?

I love fishymancers, and I enjoy playing them through the game all the way to Patriarch. My most successful characters on Bnet were always fishys so it was no surprise that I would look to Pat one when I started on SP about 4 months ago.

The game was relatively safe, although could be slow in Hell even on Players 1. I was suprised at how Nightmare flashed past at Players 8 but I am not complaining of course. I also think I have used up my Hellforge luck on this character as I have had nothing particularly good since on any of my other characters. I suppose that is one of those things that Diablo throws at you and ultimately keeps you playing.

Retirement plan

I love playing fishys, so as long as I don't start another one I should be taking Geppetto for a spin quite often far into the future!

My WSK2 and WSK3 spawned with a good run down to Baal so I may use him to run baal occasionally. The only problem is the speed of killing the big man himself...

Other

I would like to finish this off by saying thanks to Ohomemgrande for the Arm of King Leoric and the Reapers Toll that I used on this character. It was very generous of him to give them away to me.
 
Originally posted by exhibit_a on Feb 16, 2006:

New Pat - 1st SP Pat - Skelli

My first single player pat :) All gear was self found in game w/o running areas twice.. (gold items fell like rain, including a second Gheeds :) ) Obviously heavy on the MF and GF. He's my Pindlerunner now.. Baal just took too long to kill on P1..like 15 minutes on just Baal. Soooo slow. Minions went fast though.

------------------------------------


Skelli
Fishymancer
Lvl 83

Gear:
Tarnhelm w/ptopaz
Superior Dusk Shroud - Wealth Rune word
Goldwrap
Chance Guards
2x 29% Nagelring
rare ammy - +2 nec skills + 10% MF
Wizardspike
+2 summon skills grave wand on switch
+2 summon skills Fetish trophy on switch
Fetish Trophy Rhyme runeword
rare boots w/ 20% MF and 20% FRW
res charms (lots :) )
35%/140% Gheeds

Total MF was ~425%

Merc Act2 Might
Shaftstop
Darksight
Rare Thresher w/ 7% LL
 
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