Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by Neksja on May 30, 2008:

Patriarch Luumyrkky, Poison/Bone Hybrid Necro

Hello again 😃

I found some time ago wand with 2 poison nova and 2 bone spear. Immediately I wanted to build a hybrid around it and today, he killed Baal. Here's Luumyrkky posing next to Baal's corpse.

So, what is my hybrid? Let's start with skill and stat layout:

20 Poison Nova
20 Poison Dagger
20 Bone Spear
20 Bone Wall
8 Bone Prison (maxing this at the moment)
1 in Poison Explosion, Teeth, Bone Armor and Corpse Explosion

0 in Curses and Summoning trees.

Strength: 58
Dex: base
Vitality: 387
Energy: base

Life: 1278
Mana: 544
Resists: 80/75/75/75

Yep, all skills are in PnB tree. The only way I wanted to do it. I've found a very nice +5 Lower Resist wand ages ago, so it's used also with my Trang-oul poisonmancer. That combined with 'Splendor' head with +3 Decrepify, I needed no points in Curses. I don't like Necro's summons anyways, so that was easy decide not to use that tree.

So, was it good build? Hmm, not very good. It was actually almost decently effective all the way to act3 Hell, but those last two acts were quite difficult. Bone Spear killed PI's with ~5-10 shots. But on the other hand, I was pleased with Poison Nova. Usually 2-3 Novas killed everything, when I used LR. Didn't much try PN without LR. But here is some damage numbers:

Bone Spear: 1999-2102
Poison Nova: 4480-4613

Not very massive, right? But I didn't expect much better. How about we check his gear now?

Harlequin Crest
'White' Bone Wand
Skin of the Vipermagi
Homunculus 'Pdia'
Trang-Oul's Claws
Arachnid Mesh
The Stone of Jordan
The Stone of Jordan
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Waterwalk

Switch:
Rare wand
'Splendor' Fetish Trophy

5 PnB skillers, rest charms resists and life.

Code:
Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 135
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4f108378
+2 to Strength
+2 to Energy
+2 to Dexterity
+2 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
+121 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+121 to Mana (Based on Character Level)

White
Superior Bone Wand
'DolIo'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 8
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 35
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8aa96088
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
+3 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
150% Damage to Undead
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc9937d7c
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
All Resistances +33
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels

Homunculus
Hierophant Trophy
Defense: 211
Chance to Block:  72%
Durability: 16 of 20
(Necromancer Only)
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x330967a1
+20 to Energy
+198% 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)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 74
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x2bfabdae
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 138
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe9ec6142
+120% 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: 0x55cbe89d
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc825160c
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x755ed509
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +25
+2 to All Skill Levels

Waterwalk
Sharkskin Boots
Defense: 121
Durability: 12 of 14
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4e0d673f
+15 to Dexterity
+56 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
+204% Enhanced Defense
Heal Stamina Plus 50%
+100 Defense vs. Missile
+5% to Maximum Fire Resist
20% Faster Run/Walk

Merc, act2 Holy Freeze:
Code:
Insight
Cryptic Axe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 172 to 749
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 93
Required Strength: 155
Required Level: 59
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x88a8c9dc
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+233% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+3 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
210% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 27 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xf7c3489d
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 19%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 632
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6a94dc41
+15 to Strength
+162% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+101 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+81 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Gear is not so expensive, if you cut out Soj's and Mara's and possibly those skillers. I think I could've managed without those, but I want to reach lvl40 skills to use. Merc died awfully lot, I should've changed his gear a bit, but I didn't actually know how. Perhaps Glad's Bane would've helped him to face Physical attackers. Or just few levels to make him safer.

Drops, nothing special, Hell HF was Hel 😠 and can't remember NM HF anymore, but nothing fancy I promise :rolleyes: Overall, he didn't see much Green or Golden items.

I wouldn't recommend this build, if you're not prepared to lowish damage. Sometimes it felt like it took forever to kill some Poison Immune, but then again, I liked snipering those Bone Spears. And playing him was both fun and challenging. But I admit, this kind of Hybrid doesn't work for many people here.

I know, I'm sure I forgot something so ask and I'll answer. Thanks for reading.
Neksja
 
Originally posted by nualum on Nov 23, 2009:

Rime of the Ancient Poisonmancer

Finally finished my poisonmancer, and I did a traditional writeup, but it seemed a little boring, so thought I'd spice it up a bit:

The short, short version

80 str + 150 dex + 275 vit = healthy poisonmancer
60 poison + 1 CE + 20 skeletons + 10 curses + 3 piece Trang's = dead monsters

The longer version
Code:
The quest of Pyrshal starts deep in the West
To hunt the source of evil in its nest
With Deckard Cain to guide him on his way
He ventures forth to battle night and day

His early skills are spent to call undead
Who keep him safe as they run out ahead
His jewels of Envy clear entire fields
A prelude to the novas he will wield

He pauses at the monastery gate
A timely twink will seal Andariels fate
An angel's raiment made for quite a suit
But ravenclaw makes ev'rything else moot

Soon Warriv says, "The caravan's prepared"
The tasks of Lut Gholein were to be dared
The blasts of fire make quick work of the act
And all of Kurast too, in point of fact

At level thirty things become more fun
As novas power cannot be outdone
Out goes the bow and on a wand of 'White'
While skin of snakes and tarnhelm add some bite

His Merc's insight keeps mana needs at bay
So on they march despite D'ablo's dismay
Atop the mountain he will find the keep
And even Baal himself is put to sleep

So Pyrshal goes to rest his weary head
And wakes to find a very diff'rent bed
His progress 'gainst the primes has been a dream
But skills and loot are still his, it would seem

And so he starts the questing up again
Beginning with the clearing of the den
Along the way he wears his brand new gear
Girth, Claws, and Wing of Trang'Oul his most dear

Near fifty percent block's enough he felt
And eighty strength's enough to wear his belt
For all the rest he builds to fill up holes
With skills, resists, and MF as his goals

With hearty summons to protect his flank
His poison power he is free to crank
Again he rips right through the hordes of Hell
Until to Anya he can bid farewell

He rests again, a champion indeed
But Tyrael says, "Wait, we still have need"
This too has been a dream and you must wake
You're ready now, your true quest to partake

His anger mounts and soon must find a valve
Demolishing more fallen proves a salve
No more a pawn of angels nor their foes
To all things living he shall now oppose

His novas drain their life and then in spite
Explodes their corpses, much to his delight
No boss of hell can stand up to his wrath
And soon he finds the ancients in his path

They call to him with words that make him pause
"Give up your anger, and accept our cause
The worldstone must be saved or all is lost
The wars will rage again despite the cost"

He laughs at them: "Now stand aside buffoon,
To poison damage you are not immune
The hordes of hell are welcome on this plane
Above them AND the mortals I will reign"

Down to the throne he ran without delay
Until alone did Baal stand in his way
Baal said to him "Of you I have no fear
Resists and massive life will see me clear

I can survive your poison all day long
There are no corpses to help you along
How can you think that you will rule instead
When all who live hold me in highest dread"

He laughed and grinned at Baal, "You are so wrong
Have you not seen the fools I've brought along
Behind the golem and the wall of bone
Enough CB to see your large life blown"

It happened just as Pyrshal had it planned
Decrepify would make it almost bland
Baal's life was crushed until its nearly done
And Pyrshal finishes what he'd begun

So Tyrael comes down to him once more
And sees the worldstone damaged to its core
Dismayed at what he sees, he drops his head
And sees a blast of poison as it spreads...

Phew, hope that was entertaining... got a bit longer than I initially set out for.
For the less poetically inclined:

Patriarch Pyrshal
LCS

Skills
20 Poison Nova, Explosion, Dagger
15+ Summon Skeleton
1 Corpse Explosion, Clay Golem, Golem Mastery, Summon Resist, Skeleton Mastery
1 All curses except attract & confuse

+10 PnB (+12 nova)
+8 Curses
+6-8 Summons on switch

Stats
Str: 75 (102)
Dex: 125 (158)
Vit: 275 (287)
Eng: 25 (30)
Life: 746 (1000)
Mana: 187 (394)
Resists: 35/75/75/12 (approx)

Gear
White wand (+2 pnova, +2 LR base)
Shako (ptopaz)
Vipermagi
Trang's Belt, Gloves, Wing
Natalya's Boots
Rare rings (+15 dex & resists mostly)
+2 PnB amulet
Switch: +5 summon skeletons (golemlord wand & oskill head)
Charms: Gheed's, Life/Mana, and resists
Skillers: None

Very far from optimized, but it got the job done nicely. Zippo for style points though. 🇳🇴

Relevant Readouts:
Code:
White
Bone Wand
'DolIo'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 7
Durability: 14 of 15
Required Level: 35
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xba0ff068
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Lower Resist (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Summon Resist (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
150% Damage to Undead
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Chaos Circle
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xf0707215
+15 to Dexterity
+31 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +29%
Cold Resist +26%
Replenish Life +4

Ghoul Touch
Ring
Required Level: 14
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xe994200d
+3 to Energy
+98 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 1
Lightning Resist +16%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 1 Fire Bolt (22/22 Charges)


Mercenary
Started out with a holy freeze merc w/ insight, which was fine through nightmare where it really didn't matter, but he is in fact TERRIBLE for this build :nono:
1. Poison damage on insight causes override issues
2. Too many shattered corpses
3. Crappy damage against the only enemies I really needed help with

Anyway, once I came to my senses (about the time I was running into seriously poison immune foes), I replaced him with a Might merc and made an ethereal cryptic axe Obedience for him (I would otherwise have been disappointed with a Fal from the hellforge). MUCH better. Final setup was eth Obedience cryptic, crown of thieves, and a relatively crappy rare armor.


Fights
Most of the going was pretty easy. Megademons however, are a pain in the butt :evil: - very slow poison damage, and half corpse explosion damage... when you need 3 corpses to bring a pack down and you're stupidly dragging a holy freeze merc around, that takes a while. Post-upgrade, his physical damage was enough to plow through them... when the skeletons didn't get in the way! :banghead:

The ancients were cursed, but absolutely no threat. I think I used one mana potion - decrepify, clay golem, poison. The minion waves weren't too much trouble, but Ahsab required many revivals throughout the WSK... for instance the convicted gloams just outside the throneroom. It was nice to have the summons around then, but dim vision and quite a bit of retreat/revive/attack did the trick. Baal was as harmless as the ancients - the crushing blow on obedience knocked him down quickly. Got an ilvl 99 Cathan's Seal for my trouble.


Finds
Templar's Might in the flayer dungeon, only my second TC87. Also found a rockstopper with a pretty good roll along the way.
Forges were Lum/Fal
He also dragged along a set of rushees that netted (for NM & Hell): 2 Sol, 4 Hel, Io, Lum, 3 Ko, 2 Lem, Um :xxx:

All in all, rather unlucky so far - hopefully things will improve in the pit. This will definitely be my last set of drag-along rushees - it's too disruptive when questing, and the self-MP lag is annoying. 1.09 classic here I come!


What? All this text and no screenshots?
Well, I did say at the start that the conventional writeup seemed a little boring. He did make an appearance in the Monster Name Tournament (Direct Link to Image)... note the lack of skeleton support :p


Closing Comments
He was worthwhile, but not particularly exciting. Mostly I just need another a85 runner to relieve AT a bit, and he'll adapt well for the task. Poisonmancer as a general build definitely gets the thumbs up.

Would I recommend this particular flavor of poisonmancer? The sweet spot is probably around the +8-12 skill range (with or without 3 piece trangs) - lower than that would be slow goings (you'd want more points in lower resist), and higher than that the skeletons would slow you down more than helping you. If I had a dweb and some skillers, I would definitely rebuild without them - they're very useful for stopping enemies in place if your damage isn't enough to really get the job done, but they don't contribute anything and can bog down the group in many areas. Curses and bone spells could provide perfect crowd control and safety with more +skills.


Other Build Analysis
I think I've pretty well covered the skeletons and mercenary choices. I ran some numbers on unique vs partial Trang's, and without better peripheral gear, decided Trang's is the way to go. As for blocking, the basic options were none (15% ctb, ~1200 life), balanced (51% ctb, ~1000 life), or max (75% ctb, ~870 life). Given that he's a slow blocker, I think the balanced approach was a good choice.


Bit of extra verse that didn't really fit in:
Code:
His destiny is now to run the pit
With some persistence who knows what he'll get
Some special thanks go to sirpoopsalot
My trade with him was crucial to this plot
His name is fun and seems like a cool dude
Suppose there's too much fiber in his food?

What's Next?
For Pyrshal, the repeatedly mentioned pit-running. Throw on skullder's, gamble a better amulet, and probably swap some resists for MF on the rings. Not likely to try much beyond /p3 without some additional skills (mine or his :scratchchin:), but we'll see how it goes.

Otherwise, I'm about halfway done with the setups for four sorceresses in four versions - racking, rushing, collecting, and LK - once I've got them to the point they can start on their assigned tasks I'll come back to questing with a Barb and Druid - haven't pat'd either since restarting.
 
Originally posted by TedDeeBoy on Jan 22, 2007:

1.10 Pat - InNeedOfUV

Introducing

Character name : InNeedOfUV
Character type : Necromancer
Character level : 89
Character exp : 1570280496

Strength : 88 / 157
Energy : 25 / 25
Dexterity : 25 / 62
Vitality : 397 / 397
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 1099 / 1001
Mana : 590 / 201
Stamina : 579 / 549

Res 75% ResAll

Skills : Summoning
RS 20 / 28
SM 5 / 15
SR 1 / 9
CG 1 / 9
GM 1 / 9

P&B
PDagger 20 / 29
PoisonExp 20/ 29
PNova 20 / 31
CE 1 / 10

Curses : each Curse 1 / 9

Damage
PNova : 4765 - 4980 over 2 seconds
Firewall : 997 - 1032 per second

Gear :

Code:
Full Trang's Set : socketed in Helm and Body Armour pTopaz , in the shield PDiamond

Wand :
Gale Brand
Grim Wand
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 11
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 42
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x9b53dcdd
7% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Iron Golem (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead

Ammy : Stone Noose
Amulet
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x102a1901
+26 to Strength
+4 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +25%
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
8% Chance to cast Level 3 Chain Lightning on attack

Rings : Nagelring 29%MF

Fortuitous Ring of Fortune
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x34ceb719
37% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Boots: Marrowwalk +18 to Strength +17 to Dexterity +2 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)

No Switch Weapon : Its a theme build. No transforming out of Vampire form

Charms

Gheed's Fortune 38%MF
Fungal Grand Charm 

Small Charm of Good Luck 6% 
Coral Small Charm of Greed Lightning Resist +9% 5% Extra Gold from Monsters
Small Charm of Balance 5% FHR
Serpent's Grand Charm of Dexterity +5 to Dexterity +59 to Mana
Snake's Small Charm of Good Luck +8 to Mana 6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Serpent's Grand Charm of Balance +46 to Mana 12% Faster Hit Recovery
Amber Small Charm Lightning Resist +10%
Garnet Small Charm of Balance Fire Resist +8% 5% Faster Hit Recovery
Ruby Small Charm of Life +9 to Life Fire Resist +11%
Garnet Small Charm of Sustenance +14 to Life Fire Resist +9%
Ocher Small Charm of Life +9 to Life Lightning Resist +7%
Small Charm of Balance 5% FHR
Amber Small Charm of the Glacier Lightning Resist +11% Adds 3-6 cold damage over 1 seconds
Small Charm of Good Luck 7% 
Sapphire Small Charm Cold Resist +11%

Merc : A2 NM Offensive (Might)

Wealth MP
Stealskull 36%MF
Arioc's Needle with Amn 198ED, +4 skills

Forge NM Um , Hell Ko

The Hell Ancients: they died without any incident, took about 2 minutes

Deaths : 3 all embarrasing, stupid and totally due to the operater's fault!

Good Finds
Messerschmidt's Reaver in the Pits and Carrion Wind in Act5 on the Arreat Plateau are the one that comes to mind, both were grailers. A shadow skiller of Dexterity in Act 2 Hell

For the Stat Monkeys

25% DR
60 FRW
45 FCR, 18 frame cast
52 FHR, 8 frame recovery
0 FBR, do not know what block rate he uses, he is max vita anyway.
165 MF, 301 MF with Merc Kill

Gameplay :

I leveled him in the Hell Pits, the Hole, and place other place under the Cold Plans, generally anywhere dark on /p5 and /p7. He then made a sprint through Hell on /p1 and /p3 for Bosses to Pat him. He is a decent killer of non posion immunes, would be significiently better with the one important item missing, DWeb, and a few more + skills would not hurt. Also while lvling I combined the that process with some MF as well.

I enjoyed the FRW and mobility, big mana pool and fast mana regeneration the Trang's set combined with Marrowwalk, it like playing a Sorc with lvl 6 Warmth. Generally I used the mobility by spamming the CG as the Decoy at the edge of the screen then motored in behind the CG, if monsters where attracted to the CG, I would to LR, PN, Attract, PN rinse and repeat. If the merc caught up eventually, I would make LR was only, one more Nova, Amp and finish with a CE when bodies were available.

In fact I was charged near the front line a bit, I was reckless with him, but with the 25%DR, 75 Resall and 1.1K life he isn't fragile. The skeles are a little fragile without the pts into Skeleton mastery, although they are getting better now.

The merc did not require DR, with the crowd control curses and other summons he was rarely targeted, leeched back what damage he took or died quickly if picked on, as usual (not very often though).

I made use of Firewall with the summon build for Poison immunes, which was simple to aim, then and polished them off with CE. Also I did not use the cheese Marrowwalk bug for bone armour.

His only draw back was the use of the Vampire breakpoints for FHR and FCR means he is slow, This can be a problem in deadly situations eg with Cursed Fanaticism monsters around and getting the Attract or DV curse casted fast helped.The FHR bp seemed acceptable to get away from dangerous situations combined with FRW. I will look for 20 extra FCR elsewhere to hit a 16 frame cast which should be attainable.

I like this char due to the speed and numerous hotkeys which make this an active build, much more a Fishymancer CE chain spams. This Poison/Summoner char is extremely viable HC selection at lower players settings. However for a more sturdy setup, I would a few extra pts in skeleton mastery and take a few from a posion synergy. I should not have died once and I died in some stupid ways not paying attention. I have a few NDEs in dangerous areas but it hepled me to contentrate on the game.

I will switch the Merc weapon's because A Needle is not a good choice for this char because its poison damage cancels my Poison and with ITD that happened frequently, but with MF setup he cant wield weapons heavier than STR 193 and I had no other Elite Spear or Polearm except Reaper's Toll which, generally, is another bad choice for a Necro's merc. Bonehew ready with the merc when he is old enough although a Tomb Reaver would complete the MF theme nicely. He could do with FRW LL circlet to keep up the pace.

His Future, he will replace my Fishymancer as a general MFer in areas once the Fishy hits 95. He has great versitility , he could run cows, Pits and many areas, and rush other chars. I think he could run Baal and WSK with a merc weapon change to add CB and DWeb for the char, but not at /p8 required to hit 99.

Next : I have a Blizzballer coming along in her 30s, a Javazon at 17 then some other builds below 10. I several ideas just not time to play them all with MFing and lvling the Fishy, but something that is NOT a Necro!
 
Originally posted by Xdeathfire on Aug 2, 2008:

Patriarch Dracula, Trang-Oul's Poison/Summon Hybrid

Well, this is my latest Patriarch, which I have had alot of fun playing. I would easily say that this is the most fun I have ever had with a char going through the game. So much better than the very cheasy and very boring hammerdin. I think the name is pretty much self explanatory here.

Character name : Dracula
Character type : Necromancer
Character level : 83

LCS
Strength : 35(112)
Energy : 25(31)
Dexterity : 198(223)
Vitality : 247(257)

Life : 778 / 692
Mana : 612 / 189
Stamina : 439 / 393

Summoning Tree
Poison and Bone Tree
Curses Tree

My Gear:

Code:
Blood Mark
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xfc000ef3
+6 to Energy
+34 to Mana
Lightning Resist +7%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
10% Faster Cast Rate

Order Circle
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 92
Fingerprint: 0x4bd413bf
+18 to Strength
+6 to Maximum Stamina
+66 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 1
Fire Resist +8%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Beast Circle
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xf072fe86
+16 to Strength
+4 to Mana
Cold Resist +15%
Poison Resist +22%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 73
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc9c564fd
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Trang-Oul's Girth
Troll Belt
Defense: 142
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x3feb47db
+66 to Life
+45 to Mana
+30 to Maximum Stamina
+79 Defense
Replenish Life +5
Requirements -40%
Cannot Be Frozen

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Cold Resist +40%
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 126
Durability: 48 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd779808e
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+163% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 10
49% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain

Trang-Oul's Guise
Bone Visage
Defense: 225
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xd725ef4b
+150 to Mana
+97 Defense
Replenish Life +5
Attacker Takes Damage of 20
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Hit Recovery
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Trang-Oul's Scales
Chaos Armor
Defense: 857
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 84
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xa60540e9
+150% Enhanced Defense
+100 Defense vs. Missile
Poison Resist +40%
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -40%
40% Faster Run/Walk
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Lightning Resist +50%
Damage Reduced by 25%
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Socketed (1: 1 used)

Heart of the Oak
Flail
'KoVexPulThul'
One-Hand Damage: 1 to 24
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 55
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x853ed8e
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +39
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
7% Mana stolen per hit
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
40% Faster Cast Rate
75% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+3 to All Skill Levels
Level 4 Oak Sage (25/25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Trang-Oul's Wing
Cantor Trophy
Defense: 175
Chance to Block:  60%
Durability: 20 of 20
(Necromancer Only)
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: **
Fingerprint: 0xc5f899a9
+25 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
+30% Increased Chance of Blocking
+125 Defense
Fire Resist +44%
Poison Resist +40%
+36 poison damage over 2 seconds
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 23 Venom When You Level Up
+5% to Poison Skill Damage

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
-30% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Replenish Life +15
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Socketed (1: 1 used)

Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x232f16f0
+36 poison damage over 2 seconds
100% Chance to cast Level 23 Venom When You Level Up
+5% to Poison Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Poison Resistance

Mercenary Items :

Code:
Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 315
Durability: 47 of 50
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x439c194
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
+177% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +33%
12% Life stolen per hit
85% Extra Gold from Monsters

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 707
Durability: 39 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9dbdd839
+15 to Strength
+198% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+103 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+83 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Insight
Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 50 to 487
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x6fda1565
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+246% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+6 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
210% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

I also had 5 PnB skillers and various small charms of good luck.

Thoughts regarding gear:

Well, I had and possibly still have hopes of somehow turning him into a MFer of some kind so thats why I have the War Travs on, sandstorm treck would've been alot better in terms of stat points saved, and socketed my helment and armor with ptopazes. He actually reaches something like 198 MF, which is okay considering the gear he has on.

I did go max block which explains that HUGE dexterity investment. I was thinking that since in vampire form, you move incredibly fast, I would be in the front lines of every encounter initially to cast Lower Resist and Poison Nova to set things off and so I don't want to get killed by some nasty archer pack or an extra fast pack that catches me off guard. The horrendous casting breakpoints for vampire form doesn't help much better. After getting him patted, I would say that I neither regret spending all of those points into dex nor would I heavily recommend it. While the blocking is nice, vampires use their hit recovery instead of block animation which, again, poses a problem since it is very easy to get stuck in block lock. Had I had Fungal Grand Charms of Balance, I suppose that issue would be resolved.

As for my fcr, vampire form has HORRENDOUS casting rate, probably worse than amazons who have it pretty bad already. As such, I think I hit either the 90 or the 80 breakpoint which is sufficient for getting a spell off quickly and when I need it.

Progress:

Normal was the epitome of boringness. Act 1 is always easy given that you're twinking, but from Act 2 all the way until Act 4 when I got poison nova, it was like watching paint dry. I have a very low initial str investment since alot of it comes from my gear so I couldn't really equip any weapons. Also, poison explosion is the worst skill that looks impressive. Right now it lists as doing 50,000 damage, but its horrible lasting duration of the ground and its low radius as well as its god awfully long duration makes it very very unusuable compared to how fast and easily poison nova kills.

Nightmare was the one shot kill difficulty. Basically, I cast Lower Resist, Poison Nova, everything dies before my skeles/merc even get to the monster. I think I literally got through the whole difficulty in 2 days and Acts 3-5 in just one 2 hour sitting.

Hell gave me a pretty tremendous decrease in killing speed, but it was still pretty fast for anything not poison immune and so I played through all of it on /players 3. What really shined here was how much this build can survive. I did not die a single time through Hell even though I had some really really horrendous monster spawns. In the Frozen River, Gloams spawned which were Poison Immune which just made me ready to quit and reroll the area in hopes of getting better spawns. However, I got through it with probably the most intense battle ever. Once I got a few gloams down, I revived them. Unfortunately, revives have the most horrible AI and so they tended to wander around and attract other pacts. So for around 10-15 minutes, I fought a constant battle against Gloams and Succubusses. The whole screen was literally filled with lightning. The problem was that i couldn't really tell which of them were from my revives and which were from the enemy gloams. Eventually I got pass.

One thing that was really intense about this build was how many hotkeys I had. I had 9 skills that I used very reguarly and had to switch quite fast between them during battle so it was a really big hassle getting used to the skill switching and stuff.

The fire aspect was the build was slightly underwhelming. Of the 3 skills the full set gives you, only the firewall really did enough damage to be noticable in Hell. Lower Resist and my gear usually broke most Poison Immune Monsters down to a point poison nova did decent damage, but if the immunity couldn't be broken, firewall and lower reisist was good enough until a corpse gets down and mass CE spam

Finds:

Nothing really nice, hellforges were ??/Fal. One weird thing in Act 2 Hell happened. I literally ran through maybe 80% of the act killing nothing, but still managed to find 3 unique amulets, a noz relic, an atmas, and a 25 maras(my fourth self found one, don't know how I keep on finding them).

As for future plans, he will go into retirement right now since I have multiple potential characters in various stages of development. Next character will be a Druid with a build that I think is very unique.
 
Originally posted by Caly on Dec 7, 2008:

Patriarch Dark_Cloud, Bowmancer

Yep, a Bowmancer, aka a Dark Ranger. Not just a summoner or CE-spammer who occasionally shoots a bow. I made him to be my first character to use my shiny new Fortitude. Since one of the best things about Fort is that it makes wacky builds viable, I figured I should go ahead and actually make a wacky build.

Introducing Patriarch Dark_Cloud. He is named after the main character in Aztec by Gary Jennings, one of my favorite books, and which I just finished re-reading for the bazillionth time.

LCS
Level 83
Life: 1622 w/BO
Mana: 319 w/BO
Resists: 75/35/80/25
Damage: 705-2491
AR: 11832

Skills:
20 Bone Wall
20 Golem Mastery
1 in Corpse Explosion (rarely used, see below)
1 Fire Golem
2 Summon Resist
5 in Amplify Damage, 10 Dim Vision, 3 Attract, 5 Decrepify
1 in all other curses except Lower Resist
Prereqs

Gear:
Head: Kira's socketed w/Argent Jewel of Fervor
Neck: Angelic Wings
Armor: Fortitude Archon Plate
Weapon: Shael’d Buriza
Weapon switch: CTA & Lidless. Had Demon Limb in stash along with a shield socketed with strength jewels so I could equip it (short on Hel runes)
Belt: Goldwrap (for the IAS)
Gloves: LOH
Rings: Angelic Halo, dual leech rare
Boots: War Traveler
Charms: Mix of resists, life, FHR, dex, and Sharp large charms. Hexing charms would have actually been useful for this build, but I don’t have any :)

Readouts:

Code:
Kira's Guardian
Tiara
Defense: 95
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 77
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x21e850c
+67 to Attack Rating
+53 Defense
All Resistances +55
15% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Socketed with: 
Argent Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x41dd1670
+67 to Attack Rating
15% Increased Attack Speed

Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1a10dfe5
+3 to Light Radius
20% Damage Taken Goes to Mana

Shadow Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 89
Fingerprint: 0x1474aeb
+15 to Dexterity
+16 to Mana
+66 to Attack Rating
6% Life stolen per hit
5% Mana stolen per hit

Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x683e113e
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

Goldwrap
Battle Belt
Defense: 88
Durability: 16 of 18
Required Strength: 88
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x6fe8e336
+50% Enhanced Defense
+25 Defense
57% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius
Required Level +5
10% Increased Attack Speed

War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 122
Durability: 48 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xccb7205d
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+155% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 8
33% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 86
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x44a39549
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

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)

Buriza-Do Kyanon
Ballista
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 98 to 371
Required Dexterity: 80
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 41
Crossbow Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x16c75e47
+35 to Dexterity
+199% Enhanced Damage
+91 Defense
Adds 32-196 cold damage over 8 seconds
100% Increased Attack Speed
Freezes Target +3
Piercing Attack [100]
+207 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
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: 276
Chance to Block:  40%
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6e2317f8
+10 to Energy
+83% 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

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: 94 to 171
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x76a0a838
+196% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +17%
Adds 222-333 fire damage
9% Life stolen per hit
123% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
Level 23 Enchant (4/20 Charges)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Gemmed Tower Shield
Defense: 23
Chance to Block:  44%
Durability: 46 of 60
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0xd92b9828
+24 to Strength
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Shimmering Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1cb86f9e
+23 to Life
All Resistances +15

Sharp Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc8a0d9ea
+22 to Life
+21 to Attack Rating
+6 to Maximum Damage

Sharp Large Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xfa632dab
+23 to Attack Rating
+6 to Maximum Damage
5% Faster Run/Walk

Sharp Large Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xecdedfb6
+10 to Life
+44 to Attack Rating
+6 to Maximum Damage

Sharp Large Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x786f8e81
+44 to Attack Rating
+4 to Maximum Damage
8% Faster Hit Recovery

Fine Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xdbe350ac
+2 to Dexterity
+15 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage

Sapphire Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x5982106d
+2 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +10%

Amber Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x5d88362
+5 to Life
Lightning Resist +30%

Coral Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xab75b467
+28 to Life
Lightning Resist +25%

Mercenary: Haseen, level 82 Blessed Aim Mercenary

Code:
Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 338
Durability: 25 of 50
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xcb196b72
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
+197% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +33%
12% Life stolen per hit
97% Extra Gold from Monsters

Treachery
Dusk Shroud
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 418
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0xa74462ac
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Obedience
Cryptic Axe
'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 230 to 1057
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 72
Required Strength: 122
Required Level: 59
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd6b5ef13
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+247 Defense
All Resistances +29
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (5: 5 used)

Notable finds: He found quite a few S/Us since he had about 100MF through Normal and Nightmare and 60-ish through Hell (purely by accident). The only interesting drops were a Titan's from Duriel (higher ED% than the one my Fishy was using, too) The Gnasher (grailer), two Nokozoan relics within half an hour, and a couple nice jewels: a 34% Ruby, and a Scintillating Jewel of Spirit (12 res/8 life).

Hellforges were Lem and Lum, in that order. I was annoyed about the Lum but the Lem was nice since I'd just burned one to make Treachery for my merc. :)

So my rules for this build were: no summons other than a golem, and while I did put one point in CE it was not meant to be used primarily for killing. Luckily I wasn't really tempted to use it for that due to the mana cost and small range at one point (plus the Freeze on the Buriza didn’t leave me many corpses). I really only used it occasionally for corpse disposal, and a couple times around OKs. More on that later.

Okay, thoughts on the build:

1) I guess the first question anyone would have looking at this guy is whether he can actually kill anything. The answer is, he definitely can with the right gear. You could not pay me to play this build untwinked. But with Amp, Fortitude and the Burrito he did perfectly respectable damage all the way up to Hell Baal. He slowed down a bit around certain high-HP monsters in Acts 4 and 5 but the merc's damage kept things moving along quickly.

2) The skills for this build aren't really that important, which is probably obvious given that I have 17 leftover skill points. :D Golem Mastery was an easy decision, since I intended the Fire Golem to be my main tank, and while he is recastable I didn’t want to be summoning him every 5 seconds because of the high mana cost. Curses, also a no-brainer; I just added points as I felt I needed them, for more range or longer duration. Bone Wall was intended to be a synergy to Bone Armor but I also wanted to use BW itself for additional crowd control. Which brings me to the next point:

3) I heart Bone Wall. It works so well for this build because you can shoot through it, and it's an added layer of safety against ranged attackers. I thought about synergizing it further but the hitpoints scale up so well in Hell that it wasn't needed.

4) Unfortunately, the Chilling Armor proc from Fortitude overwrites Bone Armor. I was a bit afraid that would be the case. It's not a big enough drawback for me not to use Fort, but it is annoying. Chilling Armor itself is nice, actually, because it slows ranged attackers, but since it procs on hit it also tends to overwrite Bone Armor when I'd need it most. However, I'm bad about remembering to refresh BA, so having CA as a passive proc meant that I always had some form of defense active. I'd usually cast BA when pre-buffing, and then just let CA do its thing. So I think it worked out okay.

5) This guy is surprisingly safe and effective. I only died 3 or 4 times in Hell, which is a record low number for me, since I'm usually quite impatient and do stupid things to get myself killed. So that should say a lot for how safe he is. He's ranged with two meatshields so his relatively low life and defense are no big deal. Ranged attackers are neutralized with Bone Wall and Dim Vision, and the proc from Chilling Armor helps too. Iron Maiden isn't an issue (except for the merc). Mana Burn hardly matters since he doesn’t need mana to attack, just to cast the occasional curse, and blue pots and leech work fine for that. Physical immunes are a non-issue thanks to Amp. Life Tap allows life leech against undead. He can really handle just about anything.

6) The only real challenging parts were around OKs/Death Knights. Not because they're a danger to me, but because they kill my merc. I tried taking his weapon off but he still died, and without his aura I had a hard time hitting often enough to kill stuff. So I did allow myself a bit more liberal use of Corpse Explosion around them. The Throne of Destruction was my worst nightmare: OKs and Hollow Ones to rez them, ugh. Took me forever to get through that mess. But the best part was that Baal bugged out on me and wouldn’t summon his minions (also happened in Nightmare, seems to be a bug related to Bone Wall from what I can find by searching). Which meant my only option was to S&E and reclear! Yay! *cries*

To sum up: this is definitely the most challenging and fun character I’ve played yet. Lots of strategy required, but I never felt like there was anything I couldn’t handle. I definitely recommend making one of these guys, as long as you have either 1) Fortitude or 2) lots of patience. ;)

Some screenies:

lol doortrap
charge this, jerks
This is the kind of situation that would make my other characters pee their pants
FAIL
Cursed Fanat Hell Ancients + Decrep = lols
I politely express my displeasure with Baal for bugging out on me
Damn, I look good

Retirement plans: Now that I’ve proven to myself that I could Pat this guy without relying on CE, I might stick my remaining points there and use him to run the Pit, just for fun. He can carry about 250 MF without sacrificing killspeed and it’ll add some variety to my MF runs.

Thanks to: the people who convinced me to make a Fortitude. You guys were right, best use of a Lo rune ever :D
 
Originally posted by Cygnus on Oct 24, 2008:

Patriarch Tuurngasuk: Beast necro. Skellies on streroids!

Nightfish wouldn't approve :rolleyes:


Patriarch Tuurngasuk, Commandomancer.

1/7 of Beast Sept

Level 79

Skills
Raise Skeleton 20 (24)
Skeleton Mastery 20 (24)
Clay Golem 20 (24)
Golem Mastery 16 (24)
Summon Resist 1 (5)
Curses 1 (4) each
Corpse Explosion 1 (4)
Teeth 1 (prerequisite)

Stats
Strength 219
Dexterity 75
Vitality 291
Energy 35

Resists 75f/70c/75l/9p

Life 971 (human), 1796 (bear)
Mana 241

AR 3074
Damage 970-2688 (human), 1103-3057 (bear)
Defence 700 (human), 980 (bear)

Gear
Beast Decapitator
Skin of the Vipermagi (scintillating jewel)
Brimstone Brow, rare circlet (fervour jewel)
Immortal King's Detail
Immortal King's Forge
Angelic Wings
Angelic Halo
Raven Frost
Shadow Nails, rare Wyrmhide Boots
assorted AR and resist charms + 1 summoning skiller

Brimstone Brow
Circlet
Defense: 26
Durability: 34 of 35
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x454a2a3a
+32 to Life
+7 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +39%
Poison Resist +15%
6% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Increased Attack Speed
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Shadow Nails
Wyrmhide Boots
Defense: 71
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4068fe34
+13% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +29%
Lightning Resist +33%
18% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery


Mercenary
Raissa, act 1 fire rogue

Harmony Blade Bow
Iron Pelt
Rockstopper

Damage 508-1032

Finds
Impressive haul, considering the tiny amount of MF he had.

Ko rune (Hell Barracks)
Gheed's Charm (Hell Fire Eye)
Ethereal Edge (Hell City of the Damned)
Lem rune (Hell Forge)
Azurewrath (Hell Diablo)
Ondal's Almighty (Hell Cows)

Deaths
* Fanatic FE cursed zombie boss in hell catacombs 4. One shot kill as I tried to squeeze through into the middle room when in human form.
* Might Spawner boss aided by amping Vile Witch at entrance of hell WSK 1

* * * * * * * * * *

This one deserves an explanation :) It's almost like I've been deliberately going against NF's guide. Well, I was, sort of. Beast would be a nice improvement over the rank and file summoner necro and I didn't want it *too* easy.

Step 1: Ditch the might merc. Between the extra damage and attack speed of the fanaticism aura, damage dealt by the skeletons is comparable to that of a summoner without Beast.
Step 2: Hire a rogue and slap a Harmony on her.
Vigor + Fanaticism = fast skellies.
Vigor + Fanaticism + FRW = even faster necro.
Step 3: Use corpse explosion sporadically. I was an army general, dammit. Lead troops into the battlefield, not blow up things from afar. This reduces the need for corpses, so the occasional shattering corpse wasn't a big issue.

I hoped misclicks would land me in trouble. Worked exactly as planned :) Rushing into the middle of boss packs can be fun. Unfortunately, steep diminishing returns ensured it wasn't insanely fast. Sad necro.

Bear form = big life, no amp. Human form = fragile. The most commonly used "curse" was Werebear. Shapeshift, amp, shapeshift, kill, shapeshift. You get the idea.

The skeletons were quite fragile in the later acts in hell. Otherwise, I was happy with their performance. Gumby was a great tank. He better be, with 10000 life.

I did use corpse explosion in areas where I had to get rid of corpses and when I simply wanted to move ahead quickly when facing numerous hordes (cows, flayer armies, zealots)

Raissa died twice in the first four acts of hell. And half a dozen times in act 5. Substantial improvement over the walking aura.

3000 AR may appear low, but the "L" in LCS stands for "Lying". It doesn't account for the Inner Sight that Raissa frequently cast. Without hit, I was hitting around 65% in late hell. With it, it was easily 80%+.

There were a few tough situations in hell. The usual terrors were easy to handle. Gloams were everywhere: Great Marsh, Izual's area, Frozen River, WSK 2 and the throne of destruction. Yawn. Dolls were easy too. Let the skeletons tank them, explode them from afar. Frenzytaurs hit hard, but could be handled with a little care. Even an extra strong, extra fast boss wasn't much trouble. He ate skeletons for lunch but Gumby could tank him with occasional recasts. Sszark spawned extra strong, cursed and fanatic. Good grief. Travincal entrance was zany. Two champ packs (7-8 in all), 1 boss and 3-4 regular Hierophants with a gazillion zealots around to help them out. It was skelly carnage, multiple NDEs and several rejuvs but somehow I managed to clear it.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lots of fun. Except OKs. The other usual annoyances like reviving monsters, spawners weren't too bothersome.

I want to do the sept with 7 different merc types, which was part of the reason to go with the rogue. Worked out very well, I must say.

I have an assassin planned next, and will be playing my midas tourney char as well.

Thanks for reading!
 
Originally posted by Doctor Clock on May 31, 2010:

A song of Ice and Poison, Patriarch Melmoth

“Come and see the blood in the streets,” Pablo Neruda.


Patriarch Melmoth, the Toxic Rifter

Level 86 Necromancer

Poison and Bone Spells:

20 (34) Poison Dagger
20 (33) Poison Explosion
20 (33) Poison Nova
1 (10) Corpse Explosion
1 (10) Bone Shield
1 (10) Bone Wall

Summoning Spells:

4 (8) Clay Golem
13 (17) Golem Mastery
1 (5) Revive
1 (5) Fire Golem
1 point pre-requisites

Curses:

1 point in all curses except Attract

Stats:

Strength: 130
Dexterity: 230
Vitality: 265
Energy: 30

75% block
999 life with Poison Dagger set-up
1015 life with Rift set-up

75/75/75/85 Resistances with Poison Dagger and Rift set-up.

Poison Dagger damage: 22k-23k
Poison Explosion damage: 39k-42k

Items:

Helm: Andariel’s Visage (Ral)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Armor: Treachery Wire Fleece
Weapon 1: Blackbog’s Sharp (+3//-4 Poison Facet)
Shield 1: Trang-Oul’s Wing (Perfect Diamond)
Weapon 2: Rift War Scepter
Shield 2: Homunculus (15% IAS jewel)
Gloves: Trang-Oul’s Claws
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Belt: Trang-Oul’s Girth
Ring 2: Dwarf Star
Boots: Sandstorm Trek

3 Poison and Bone skillers and various life/resistance charms in backpack.

Mercenary:

Waheed Act 2 Defensive

Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest
Infinity Thresher
Treachery Archon Plate


The concept:

Stab things and shoot frozen orbs

Words:

This was a character I had been sitting on for a while. I really like poison damage and poison based builds, but I always have one problem with them. After I’ve poisoned something, what do I do while I wait for it to die? Of course I wouldn’t have this problem if I just use Poison Nova, but I can’t be bothered to use skills that actually function efficiently.

I tried Berserk from Passion and Vengeance from Kingslayer, but neither of them were that impressive. Finally settled on Rift. Gimmershred would probably have been just as effective (if not moreso), but Frozen Orb looks cool. And it isn’t how fast you kill demons that matters, its how good you look doing it.

I think the general strategy for Daggermancers is to max Dim Vision and sneak around. I don’t really do subtlety very well though. I just spammed Lower Resist and stabbed everyone in the face and then switched to Rift for corpse shattering fun. Strategy be damned. Used Revives for meat shields. Tried out Fire Golem for a couple of acts. His Holy Fire aura drew a lot of attention, which was good, but he cost too much mana to recast and the slow from Clay Golem helped keep my merc alive, so I reluctantly stuck with Gumby.

His biggest draw back was awful FBR. Aside from that, he killed fairly well. Not terribly fast, but one poke from his dagger was enough to kill everything in Hell outside of act bosses. Poison Explosion is also very deadly in areas where enemies clump together. Things turned green then died. Whenever enemies are spaced out it is pretty useless, though. The ctc Poison Nova from Andariel’s Visage was great for taking out small annoying critters like Flayers and Fallen.

I was very surprised with how sturdy he was. Bone Wall helped some, but I didn't use it very often. His only DR came from Fade, which wasn’t always on, and he had low life and pitiful leech. Only died once in Hell when I was running through packs of mobs trying to find a waypoint so I could stop playing for the day.

Rift was a lot of fun, especially the thwack sound scepters make. Did decent damage with Lower Resist and Conviction up. You could probably make a pure Rift-necro with Nightwing’s Veil and Ormus’s Robes or something like that. Would want a lot better FHR/FBR. I’ll leave that to VoX Dei, though.

He was a lot of fun to play. Probably retirement for him. Maybe the occasional Pit running if I ever feel so inspired.

Thanks for reading.
 
Originally posted by EasyG on Jul 6, 2007:

Patriarch FireMage (Necromancer)

I decided it would be fun to make a necromancer using the fire skills from trang's set, so here we go:

lvl 79
1050 life
590 mana
75 resist all
25% pdr
21% block
#Deaths: 0


Equipment:
Trang's set
HOTO
Mara's
BK ring
Nagelring (have to find a second skill ring)
Marrowwalk (1)
3 summoning skillers
2 hexing skillers:wink3:
rest of inventory is empty
nothing socketed

I used +3 ammy, +3boneflame and shako (needed the mana too)to prebuff Fire Golem

skills:
Lower resist:18 (31)
-66 resists

Skeleton Mastery 20 (35)
Summon Resist: 1 (15) 62%
Golem Mastery: 1 (15)

Raise Skeleton 1 (15)
Mana cost: 20
Number of skeletons: 7
Damage: 143 - 145 (ø144)
Attack Rating: 756
Defense: 756
Hit Points: 2254
Resist lightning/cold/fire: 62%

Raise Skeletal Mage: 20 (34)
Mana cost: 41
Number of skeletons: 13
Poison damage: 273
Poison duration: 520 Seconds
Cold Damage: 181 - 184 (ø182.5)
Cold Duration: 12.75 Seconds
Fire damage: 319 - 323 (ø321)
Lightning damage: 51 - 504 (ø277.5)
Defense: 718
Hit Points: 1277
Resist lightning/cold/fire: 62%

Fire Golem (with Prebuff): 20 (37)
Mana cost: 410
Damage: 18 - 47 (ø32.5)
Fire damage: 978 - 1072 (ø1025)
Aura Fire Damage: 92 - 94 (ø93)
Attack Rating: 768
Defense: 223
Hit Points: 4710
Absorb Fire: 95%
Resist fire: 162%
Resist cold: 62%
Resist lightning: 62%
Resist poison: 62%

Fire Ball: 24
484-542 Fire Damage

Fire Wall: 19
2205-2249 Fire damage per second

Meteor (never used): 16
1028-1121 Fire Damage
361-405 Fire Damage per second

stats: enough str to use marrowwalk, rest in vita

I could lvl two more lvl and put thos points in lower resist and get rid of the two hexing charms, after that skill points could go in summon resist or Raise Skeleton.

Merc: Prayer merc with Insight stick (made in Voulge, didn't want him to deal damage) + Kira's and GA.

This Character was a lot of fun, I went p8 for normal and NM and did hell at p1. The fire damage is huge (don't forget lower resist), so I probably could have gone at higher player settings too.
The most difficult part in the game was in the Choas Sanctuary, lot's of fire immune and curses made it hard for my skellies to survive.

The nice thing of this charater is that it is very safe and still allways busy, with all kind of things (raising skellies, curse, fire wall, fire ball). Most medium monsters in hell, which weren't Fire immune died in 3 Fire Walls. If there were Fire Immune monsters, I was busy unsummoning my Fire Mages, and summoning new mages. This was ideal:
1 Poison Mage
3 Cold Mages
9 Lightning Mages (After Fire highest average damage)

The last thing I want to say about this char is that it's safety is unbelieveble. It has a huge amount of FRW and with a lower resist curse fire resist was around 50% and the rest still 75%:cool:
And the dual prayer aura from merc refilled life superfast, so I could easily run through monsters without any danger.
 
Originally posted by humbuggerer on Apr 14, 2011:

Patriarch Yuri - 'Grief' Daggermancer

All the talk about daggermancers over in NF's thread got me motivated to finally post this guy.

Name: Yuri
Class: Pokemancer
Experience: 770912575
Level: 81

Naked/Gear
Strength: 78/103
Dexterity: 121/136
Vitality: 265/265
Energy: 25/25
Life: 1017
Mana: 244
AR: 14826

Poison dagger: 60k -- 64k damage over 14.4 seconds (from onderduiker's calculator)

Resists:
Fire: 58
Cold: 39
Lightning: 75
Poison: 75

Skills: (plus pre-reqs)
Curses:
Dim Vision: 5/10
Lower Resist: 1/6

PnB:
Poison Dagger : 20/31
Corpse Explosion : 10/21
Poison Explosion : 20/31
Poison Nova : 20/31

Summoning:
Skeleton Mastery : 1/4
Golem Mastery : 1/4
Summon Resist : 1/4
Revive : 1/4

Gear:
Plague Needle poignard (s/shael) (Fool's, HCMTF, KB)
Trang's wing
swap: 'Grief' PB/ Trang's wing
Havoc Horn tiara (s/Jewel of Fervor) (2 Necro skills, 20 FRW, 19@, 39 FR, 33 life)
'Bramble' (50 psd) (Thanks to bcoe!)
Ghoul Torc amulet (2 PnB, teleport charges)
Trang's claws
Trang's girth
BKWB
Blood loop ring (20 LR, 20 CR, 16 PR, 10 FCR)
Storm Slippers boots (36 LR, 10 FHR, 30 FRW)

Charms: 4x PnB skillers, some LR and life charms

Code:
Havoc Horn
Tiara
Defense: 50
Durability: 24 of 25
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xe4b45c8d
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+33 to Life
+7 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +39%
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
20% Faster Run/Walk
All Resistances +19
15% Increased Attack Speed
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Jewel of Fervor

Plague Needle
Poignard
One Hand Damage: 6 - 58
Durability: 10 of 16
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x527c796d
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 - 3 cold damage with 3 sec Duration
Knockback
Hit Causes Monster to Flee
40 to Maximum Damage (Based on Char Lvl)
334 to Attack Rating (Based on Char Lvl)
20% Increased Attack Speed
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Ghoul Torc
Amulet
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xbd2a4d39
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+21 to Mana
+20 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Level 2 Teleport (15/25 Charges)

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xcf8ebc1b
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+50 Maximum Stamina
4% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skills
40 to Life (Based on Char Lvl)

Blood Loop
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0xbbe41222
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+2 to Minimum Damage
Damage Reduced by 2
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +20%
Poison Resist +16%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Trang-Oul's Girth
Troll Belt
Defense: 146
Durability: 15 of 18
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 91
Fingerprint: 0xae10f90b
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+66 to Life
+27 to Mana
+30 Maximum Stamina
+84 Defense
Replenish Life 5
Requirements -40%
Cannot Be Frozen
Set (3 items): 
Cold Resist +40%

Storm Slippers
Wyrmhide Boots
Defense: 55
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xfe00c201
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+27 Maximum Stamina
Lightning Resist +36%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 70
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x5c5f0ff9
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer only)
25% to Poison Skill Damage

Bramble
Archon Plate
Defense: 799
Durability: 58 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xb91f0812
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+300 Defense
Poison Resist +100%
+13 Life after each Kill
50% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 21 Thorns Aura When Equipped
Level 13 Spirit of Barbs (33/33 Charges)
50% to Poison Skill Damage
Fire Resist +30%
5% to Maximum Cold Resist
5% Increase Maximum Mana
15% Regenerate Mana
4 Sockets (4 used)

Grief
Phase Blade
One Hand Damage: 31 - 35
Indestructible
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 136
Fingerprint: 0x969635e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+12 Life after each Kill
39% Increased Attack Speed
Damage +372
Ignore Target's Defense
35% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
151 Damage to Demons (Based on Char Lvl)
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
25% Target Defense
+2 to Mana after each Kill
20% Deadly Strike
Prevent Monster Heal
+5 - 30 Fire Damage
5 Sockets (5 used)

Trang-Oul's Wing
Cantor Trophy
Defense: 181
Chance to Block: 40
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xe4c257fe
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+25 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
30% Increased Chance of Blocking
+125 Defense
Fire Resist +44%
Poison Resist +40%
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Set (3 items): 
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Set (4 items): 
Replenish Life 15

Trang-Oul's Wing
Cantor Trophy
Defense: 180
Chance to Block: 40
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xcd2b726b
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+25 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
30% Increased Chance of Blocking
+125 Defense
Fire Resist +40%
Poison Resist +40%
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Set (3 items): 
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Set (4 items): 
Replenish Life 15
20% Faster Block Rate
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Might Moron:
eth 'Obedience' cryptic axe
Tal's hat
Nat's shadow (s/3x shael)

This character took advantage of a bug in the way venom interacts with certain poison attacks. Put simply, it adds the poison damage rate of venom to the entire length of the poison, which has a drastic effect on the amount of poison damage applied per second (more than doubling it, in this case).

Strategy: First proc venom with the 'grief' ... Dim vision, then stab the baddies one by one and watch them run to their dooms (an average monster took 2-4 steps). Against PoIs, switch to the 'grief', amp something and hack away. Was it tempting to use PN instead? Not really. I'll get plenty of PN when I respect this guy for enigma, I figure, and he was actually pretty effective most of the time. Oh yeah, and corpse explosion. LR was only used on act bosses and the minions of destruction.

Compared to other melee characters, he was very effective in some situations. Example: ghosts, which I normally find to be a big nuisance, were very easy. As were frenzytaurs (physical immune? *yawn*) and the ancients. Revives are great tanks, of course, and the better monster types rarely die (the same few venom lord revives tanked the minions of destruction and baal before finally timing out). The real problem this character had were packs of ranged things, and especially PoI ranged things. Some more thoughtful use of curses would probably have taken care of this problem.

All in all, if you told me I'd enjoy playing a single-target meleer with a 12-frame attack, 8-frame block, and 7-frame hit recovery, I'd call you crazy. But I actually kind of liked this guy.

Thanks go to bcoe yet again for letting me use the epic 'Bramble'

I also have to thank onderduiker for his many useful threads and guides.

And thank you for reading. :)
 
Originally posted by Kimppi on Sep 16, 2011:

Patriarch SweetDreams, Dreaming Avenger of Mages (eh?...)

Or Dual Dream/Kingslayer/Skeleton Mage Necro. Some quick rambling:

I got the idea for this one ~9months back, wondering if LR would be any use with Dreams. First he was going to use Passion but after sticking it on, I was reminded it had those nice CtC's that messed the plan of using Lower Resist completely.

Remembered Kingslayer and after some feverish searching I had the base for that. Blazed through the game until I got to A2 Hell and completely stopped playing him.

He was shelved ~6 months ago until I decided to finally finish him before someone gets the same idea before I had a chance to write about it. :p

Some self-playing and some MP later he was Patted.

It was obvious from the start that he would be vastly inferior compared to Pala/Sorc but I wanted to try it anyway as some strange build. Going was fairly slow at p8 but there never really was any danger because of all the meat shields.

Now to the part I'm best at, copy-pasting info:

Stats:

Level: 86
Strength: 98/187
Dexterity: 134/157
Vitality: 263/283
Energy: 25/25

Life: 1033/1751
Mana: 342/537

Resists:
Fire: 63
Cold: 42
Lightning: 75
Poison: 12

Damage(LCS): 207-4851
AR(Enchant+Blessed Aim): 6382

Skills:

Prereqs:
Amplify Damage
Weaken
Iron Maiden
Terror
Life Tap
Decrepify
Teeth
Bone Spear
Raise Skeleton
Clay Golem

Rest: (Base/BC/Switch)
Lower Resist: 10/16
Bone Armor: 1/7
Corpse Explosion: 1/7
Bone Wall: 20/26
Bone Prison: 10/16
Skeleton Mastery: 20/32/36
Golem Mastery: 1/13/17
Raise Skeletal Mage: 20/32/36
Blood Golem: 1/13/17
Summon Resist: 3/15/19


Gear:

'Kingslayer' ATMA-bugged 1.07 Cryptic Sword
'Dream' Diadem
'Dream' Troll Nest
'Enigma' BP
Lava Gout
Nosferatu's Coil
Rare Res Boots
Highlord's Wrath
Beta BKWB
Raven Frost

Switch: Beta CtA+Spirit

Code:
Kingslayer
Superior Cryptic Sword
MalUmGulFal
One Hand Damage: 29 - 480
Indestructible
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 89
Required Dexterity: 99
Fingerprint: 0x3f3c6f8d
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion
+30% Increased Attack Speed
318% Enhanced Damage
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+3 to Attack Rating
33% Chance of Crushing Blow
50% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to Vengeance
+10 to Strength
40% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Gul Rune
Socketed: Fal Rune

Dream
Troll Nest
IoJahPul
Defense: 395
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 73 of 74
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x88627f43
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 15 Confuse when struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Enhanced Defense
+173 Defense
+10 to Vitality
+50 to Life
+53 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +10
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Io Rune
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune

Dream
Diadem
IoJahPul
Defense: 276
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x812f8007
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 15 Confuse when struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Enhanced Defense
+201 Defense
+10 to Vitality
Increase Maximum Life 5%
+53 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +17
18% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Io Rune
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune

Enigma
Breast Plate
JahIthBer
Defense: 818
Durability: 49 of 50
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x63745b41
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to Teleport
+753 Defense
+64 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced by 8%
+14 Life after each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
86% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune

Nosferatu's Coil
Vampirefang Belt
Defense: 60
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x80760c2d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Increased Attack Speed
7% Life stolen per hit
Slows Target by 10%
+15 to Strength
+2 to Mana after each Kill
-3 to Light Radius

Doom Nails
Chain Boots
Defense: 8
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x8b209bfc
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
Cold Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +30%
Fire Resist +27%

Lava Gout
Battle Gauntlets
Defense: 142
Durability: 38 of 38
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 88
Fingerprint: 0xa850ccc2
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Chance to cast level 10 Enchant on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 13 - 46 Fire Damage
+196% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +24%
Half Freeze Duration
+20 Maximum Durability

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xfb023795
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
32% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xc3aafa31
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
4% Life stolen per hit
+43 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x42e53bf9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+245 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Call to Arms
War Scepter
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 36 - 62
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x78950e65
GUID: 0x633bcacb 0x39fc35f 0x0
Item Level: 54
Version: Expansion
+2 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
268% Enhanced Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to Blessed Hammer (Paladin Only)
+1 to Holy Shield (Paladin Only)
+1 to Redemption (Paladin Only)
+13 to Battle Cry
+7 to Battle Orders
+12 to Battle Command
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 136
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x2e6a54f
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+90 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+5 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune


Charms:

Some Graverobbers, a couple with Lightning damage. Rest Allresist.

[/code]
Graverobber's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x34c1e5c5
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+28 to Life

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xb1bc2753
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Dexterity

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xfbcae585
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+7% Faster Run/Walk

Graverobber's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x8fc7b3e1
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Graverobber's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xf34955e7
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Graverobber's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x40cd9296
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Shimmering Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x7437bfa5
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +15
35% Extra Gold from Monsters

Shimmering Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x436f016f
Item Level: 90
Version: Expansion
+9 to Life
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd88f15d2
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xda3cd8fc
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Life
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x39b7e8a6
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x6e653274
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +5

Arcing Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xda08e2f8
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 43 Lightning Damage

Arcing Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x2fd549c4
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 43 Lightning Damage

Arcing Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xa8c695d9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 39 Lightning Damage
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Shimmering Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x2cd81428
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life
All Resistances +15
[/code]


Mercenary:

Blessed Aim moron

Vampire Gaze
'Fortitude' Scarab Husk
'Infinity' 1.07 Superior Thresher

Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 25 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x38536b33
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 18%
Magic Damage Reduced by 14

Fortitude
Scarab Husk
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1332
Durability: 2 of 28
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x8e644306
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+86 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +30
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

Infinity
Superior Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 84 - 987
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0x2b6c5afb
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
368% Enhanced Damage
-48% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+43 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune


Would you look at that, I actually managed to take some screenshots too!

1 2 3 4 5

Now since I suck at writing and always forget half the stuff I was supposed to type this is going to be the end of this short writeup. Ask some questions or something.
 
Originally posted by NagisaFurukawa on Apr 22, 2008:

Patriarch Nonohara, Meleemancer (HnG 1/3)

Yes, yes. Another one. Almost no work at school means a lot of free time, ok?

Introduction
Introducing Patriarch Nonohara Kaede (??? ?). Despite being just a shade over 18 years of age, all but a few of his hairs have paled. Well versed in both taijutsu (~ martial arts) and kenjutsu (~ swordsmanship), he was assigned the role of looking over the growth of a weak, vulgar, and unpredictable boy, Koutarou (FITTINGLY represented by the Clay Golem...). Despite being a subordinate, Nonohara will never hesitate to cause harm to his master, so long as a lesson is learned.

Strength: Very powerful attacks.
Weakness: Slow, unchainable swordplay.
Overdrive: "Safety Shutter", an engulfing flame released from his sword.

Powerful attacks? Check. 'Oath' Balrog Blade.
Slow, unchainable swordplay? Built-in. Necro + Normal Attack?!?
Overdrive...? Close enough. CtC Bone Spirit and Holy Bolt on strike. It looks pretty when they both get shot out. Holy Bolt obviously does nothing, but the Bone Spirit did some nice damage (this IS a necro, after all).

Yawn. That's the gist of it as far as where the idea came from. Originally, I was planning him out to be a Titan necro with stacked MDR, but MDR is applied before resists... meaning one hit deaths from a lot of sources. x). I'd say he was the most fun character I've ever made though.

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

Vitals
Name: Nonohara.
Level: 84 (1041675521 EXP).

Strength: 155 (205).
Dexterity: 70 (80). <- Darn swords... Why doesn't people just use axes???
Vitality: 260 (292).
Energy: 25 (41). <- Same base Energy as Assassins?!?

Physical Damage: 1009-2580 @ 15 frames (1096-2691 with Enchant).
Bone Spirit CtC Damage: 1278-1387.

Attack Rating: 2748 (8738 with Enchant, 80+% chance to hit).
Defense: 1289 (~75% chance of being hit...).

Life: 987. <- LOL.
Mana: 222.
Resists: 75/75/85/75. <- Good game.
Absorb: +20 Lightning, +14 Magic. <- Gloams do zero damage.

FHR: 60% (7 frames).
FCR: 0% (15 frames). <- Who needs it?
FBR: 0% (11 frames). <- Blocking's for losers.

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

Skills
Clay Golem: 20.
Golem Mastery: 20.
Summon Resist: 1.

Bone Armor: 1.
Bone Wall: 20.
Bone Prison: 20.
Bone Spear: 5. <- Future points here.
Corpse Explosion: 1. <- Thought about it, but too imbalanced.
Teeth: 1.

Life Tap: 1. <- Main curse.
Decrepify: 1. <- Ordinary PIs.
Iron Maiden: 1. <- Normal Diablo.
Terror: 1. <- Maggot Lair.
Weaken: 1. <- Stone Skin Ancients.
Amplify Damage: 1. <- Bigger PIs.

Clay Golem
Name: Azumamiya Koutarou (?? ???).
Level: 20.

Life: 10518. <- ahahaha.
Mana [Cost]: 72.

Damage: 22-53 (63% slow).

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

Equipment
Code:
Oath
Balrog Blade
'ShaelPulMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 88 to 505
Two-Hand Damage: 328 to 798
Required Dexterity: 77
Required Strength: 175
Required Level: 53
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x265ed8df
+10 to Energy
+301% Enhanced Damage
50% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+14 Magic Absorb
Indestructible
30% Chance to cast Level 20 Bone Spirit on striking
Level 16 Heart of Wolverine (20/20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (14/14 Charges)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: 96 to 175
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x693ce39c
+202% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +17%
Adds 222-333 fire damage
7% Life stolen per hit
123% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
Level 23 Enchant (15/20 Charges)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Kira's Guardian
Tiara
Defense: 154
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 77
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7232fa1a
+6 to Energy
+104 Defense
All Resistances +82
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x60991114
+6 to Energy
All Resistances +13

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
'Ort'
Defense: 703
Durability: 148 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x923718b2
+15 to Strength
+195% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +50%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+105 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 84
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xfa1769cd
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 154
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xe0907b6e
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+191% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck

Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 174
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3ef58f8e
+15 to Strength
+12 to Vitality
+164% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +45%
20% Faster Run/Walk
20% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Slower Stamina Drain
+84 to Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x50007f45
+3 to Light Radius
20% Damage Taken Goes to Mana

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+75 to Life
+1 to All Skill Levels
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xd08a7852
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1008 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xbeb348fd
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1008 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Steel Grand Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x6d043843
+110 to Attack Rating
7% Faster Run/Walk

Amber Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xd4f0085a
Lightning Resist +11%
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x51c25de0
All Resistances +14

Steel Grand Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x322d62a2
+116 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-25 lightning damage

Sharp Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x1e0664f7
+65 to Attack Rating
+8 to Maximum Damage

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1e80cb3f
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Boreal Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x7979266f
Adds 7-11 cold damage over 1 seconds
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe441d12e
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Steel Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x518d1a62
+8 to Life
+32 to Attack Rating

Sharp Grand Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xa60a5f6
+54 to Attack Rating
+12 to Maximum Damage

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

Mercenary
Name: Jemali.
Level: 83 (69517816 EXP).
Class: Desert Mercenary - Defensive (Nightmare, Holy Freeze).

Equipment
Code:
Obedience
Thresher
'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 84 to 991
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 84
Required Strength: 112
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xf7f07345
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+266 Defense
All Resistances +21
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (5: 5 used)

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe726e80a
+100% Enhanced Defense
+6 to Minimum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 20%
Lightning Resist +26%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
7% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Ambergris Jewel of Bliss
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x927fcd54
+6 to Minimum Damage
Lightning Resist +26%

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 992
Durability: 126 of 126
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x40a8e6cd
+15 to Strength
+192% Enhanced Defense
+35% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+105 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (1: 1 used)

Ruby Jewel
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x96975cb0
+35% Enhanced Damage

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

Ramblings
Well... this is probably the best themed builds I've done in a while. It seems pretty original, though you can never be sure with the talent around here. Almost everything fits the character quite nicely. Few mods are wasted.

1) 425% Damage vs Demons is awesome. You can really tell when you're hitting something that is a demon, versus hitting something that isn't one.

2) Iron Maiden was a pain. This is my first melee build in quite some time. I totally forgot how much it sucked to be IM'd. I didn't die, but my merc sure did (as expected).

3) Speaking of Iron Maiden, it really does work against Normal Diablo. Poor Koutarou... Getting killed by Diablo over and over and over and over and over again. x).

4) Battles were simple. Set up mazes using Bone Walls. The ranged attackers stand and hit the wall, and the melee attackers get funneled in a few at a time. Recast the Golem to distract some enemies and take some hits, and crowd control really becomes a non-issue. Sure, Dim Vision and Attract would have made this build even nastier, but I don't like having more than 6 hotkeys on the main switch (F1, F2, F3, V, C, E = Life Tap, Decrepify, Bone Wall, Bone Armor, Clay Golem, Normal Attack).

5) You might have noticed that Nonohara gets ZERO leech from his gear. Yup. Life tap is seriously overpowered. What's it doing on a necro?

6) Hell Ancients was quite entertaining. At first, I was kind of worried. My merc died right off the bat, and I never reroll my Ancients (unless I die, of course). It was a little less painless than expected, though the entire ordeal still took well over ten minutes. Who fails more, the guy getting smacked by the Golem, or the guy throwing axes into the wall. ahaha~

7) This is my last male character for a while, I bet. Finding a name that fits a build for a male is almost impossible...

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

Twinking
Levels 1-2: +1 Raise Skeleton!
Level 3: Scepter from Akara.
Level 8: +41 Max Damage Cap/Breast Plate.
Level 12: Angelic's.
Level 15: Raven Claw.
Level 24: Bonesnap.
Level 29: Steeldriver.
Level 31: Ribcracker.

Future Plans
1) Nothing really. I'll take him out for a spin every now and then. He's destined to duel against HnG 2 and 3 a few times, but I'm unsure how that will be arranged. x).

2) HnG 2/3: Katsura Hinagiku. Student council president and leader of the kendo club. Beat down Nonohara in her school's Butler Tournament. Naturally, a Ribcracker user (female) of some sort. Stealing one of NF's builds seems likely, but I'm open to all suggestions.

Special Thanks
~ Darkoooo for the ethereal 1.07 Balrog Blade. I told you it was going to be stupid. x).
~ San for the Thundergod's Vigor.
~ bassen for the Steel Grand Charm of Inertia.
~ Anyone who was silly enough to read such a long Patriarch thread. =). I'm tired just proofreading it. ahaha~
 
Originally posted by purplelocust on Jun 27, 2009:

Patriarch Zarquon, ghostly meleemancer necro in vampire form

Story:

Zarqon was a troubled young man and took some time to find his true calling. Originally he had wanted to be a curse-only melee necro, but somehow during his early years he heard stories of the amazing transforming necromancers using the full Trang-Oul's Avatar. This became a lifelong fixation. Unlike the other devotees of Trang Oul and the transformed cult, he decided he would continue his way of the sword and axe as a vampire. And not just any vampire- a filmy ethereal vampire under the effect of Fade. The palest, most ghostlike necro ever... Sometimes progres was slow but eventually he became quite strong, often with the help of trusted associates BeauBeau the BO barb and Erriaptrix the budding ranged enchantress. Later in his career, he suffered from indecision (a chronic condition for my characters) but nevertheless was able to defeat Baal.

Summary:
Minionless melee necro using full Trang-Ouls for vampire form, switching to and from Treachery for the Fade. The +3 Fire Mastery on the complete Trang-Ouls meant that being enchanted for melee was a nice plus, much like a melee enchantress. I equipped him with elemental damage charms to have a good mix of elemental damage and make good use of lower resist as a main curse. A Holy Freeze merc, who was often enchanted, wielding Crescent Moon was a good balanace of damage types as well.

Concerns:
AR was an annoyance- he used an ITD weapon almost the whole game. Even with AR charms and a decent Enchant, AR was still on the low side. He stood in constant awe of his merc's ability to actually hit bosses and SUs. A Combat shrine was a godsend for AR, so when there was one near a WP it became an addiction. But with Fade, the combat shrines' effects never lasted long.

Fire skills:
Generally not used. I would forget that I had them until the monster was almost dead if it was a protracted battle. The exceptions were when I was leveling by doing NM Baal runs where Meteor and Firewall were pretty helpful against Baal. Fire skills were used sparingly as a result.

Resisted temptations:
No Clay Golem (or any summons), no Corpse Explosion. Each of those would have made things more manageable.

Skills:
Poison/Bone: 1 in Bone Armor, 20 in Bone Wall for the synergy bonus to BA
Curses: one in each curse.
Summoning: none, not even a clay golem
60 unallocated. Indecision.

Stats:
Level 80

Str: 51/106
Dex: 92/142
Vit: 197/212
120 unallocated. Indecision.

Life: 832 / 2274 after BO from BeauBeau
AR: 966 pre-enchant, 3419 after. Blegh. Thankful for ITD.
Damage: 2386-3338 enchanted with main CM Phase blade, 2911-5349 with Gimmershred on switch.
Defense: 12k after Shout

resists before Fade: 49/75/59/75
after Fade: all maxed


Gear:
Full Trang's
Mara's
Crescent Moon Phase Blade/ Gimmershred on switch
War Travellers
Raven Frost and crafted blood ring

Charms: no skillers, lots of elemental ones totalling 285 max lightning, 71 max cold and 41 max fire. I have some great elemental damage jewels I sorted out for him but I never got around to socketing and inserting them. Some FHR, life and AR from charms.

Merc:
Vamp Gaze+ eth Cresent Moon thresher + Treachery

Gameplay:
I started him some time ago and don't remember much about his progress through normal and early NM. For curses, it was mostly Lower Resist. I thought about maxing Dim Vision as that works well for the "one monster at a time" necro builds but I've done that before, and I thought about maxing Confuse to use it for crowd control, but I didn't. Confuse is good but can lead to problems (see Deaths, below.) With the +skills from Trang's, 1 point in each of Lower Resist, Dim Vision, Confuse, occasional Life Tap and Decrepify were plenty.

Attack speed was not fast in vampire form. I didn't have enough patience to experiment or sort out breakpoints in vampire form. They are not good, in summary. The "slap the monsters with the back of your hand" animation was appropriate for the Most Pasty Appearing Necro ever. It did pack some punch when it hit. I tried him with a 110% IAS PB and it still seemed pretty slow and without ITD, that was not good. He had Lightsabre on switch for much of the game but Crescent Moon was generally more effective. The -enemy lightning resists in combination with LR meant that the CtC Chain Lightning softened up monsters noticeably and was the closest thing to an effective area of effect attack. Azurewrath was a possible non-ITD weapon but he's still not high enough level to use one.

Hell was played at /players 1 alone or MP'd with a second computer with a BO barb or enchantress. Most of Hell was really at /players 2, then.

Gimmershred was slower but it was hitting pretty hard with the Lower Resist. It was only used against targets where ITD wouldn't work, and it was slower, so I actually didn't use it that much.

I only had one point in LR. With the +skills, that put it at -52% resists and maxing it would only have improved that to -60-something, so I didn't think it warranted the extra investment, even though it was by far my most common curse.

The Ancients were pretty smooth, but not quick. First spawn: cursed + Fanatic and I just barely got a TP before the red bulb drained completely. Second roll had some unpleasant mods, and the third effort was a winner with no real nasty mods and the fight went on for a while but with no great drama.

The Throne was pretty good- none of the waves were too bad, with Dim Vision helping to slow the pace. A standard method was cast LR, then DV, so then the boss/champions/SU would be the only one to worry about, and then after the boss/champions/SU were gone, then switch to LR on the minions and ordinary monsters. For Lister's pack that doesn't work, but it wasn't too bad with some standard separation methods.

Baal took a while and I switched between LR and Decrep. I did remember to use Fire Wall and Meteor on Baal, but only because the Enchant wore off during that battle. That was poor planning but not too bad.

That was the first full Trang's necro I've played and I must say the speed of play was great. Lots of FRW suits an impatient player nicely, although the merc did have a tendency to go astray, overall it was quite nice. One of the reasons I don't play HC as much anymore is because of the overall pace of play- not liking to walk instead of run and so on, and of course the vampire form is great for that.

Deaths:
Some, but not many. None to IM, which is a plus for a melee character. One memorable death was in Hell CS, where Confuse had created a huge tangled mess of monsters and drawn in several more bosspacks than I would have liked. The naked Zarquon had wimpy 1-point curses so using Terror and so on for corpse retrieval was tedious.


Finds:
One socket Tomb Reaver (non-ethereal) from Hell Diablo was the highlight. Some reasonable socketed items but not much to get excited about. A Torch of Iro from Hell Meph's quest drop.


Possible plans for the future:
I think I'll invest some of those skill points and see how much CE helps. I think LR is not as good of a curse as Amp for CE but it certainly will help. I also thought about converting him to an Iron Golemancer, to make use of a plethora of IK Mauls I have, but I think the exploding route will be more of a draw as a good mob killer. It's not like he needs his mana for anything else. I also forgot about dexterity for a while and need to get blocking back up.

Screenshots where you can barely see Zarquon due to excessive pastiness:

Fighting Diablo

Fighting Baal
 
Originally posted by RadTang on Aug 12, 2016:

Patriarch IndianaBones and the Temple of Baal

Finally.. my 3rd hell ever character made through it ! 1st was a barbarian - with a poor gear and no combat skills. He couldn't even cope with simplest of Fallen. 2nd - a sorceress. Meteorb. No tele or SF. She stuck at hell Ancients. IndianaBones was better. He made through the whole adventure. And he is back.

I haven't finished the game at 100% - there's a small unexplored part of WSK lvl 3 (there spawned a terrible, undefeatable bosspack so I skipped it) and Moo Moo Farm (cows were too strong - portal from Tyrael led me straight into a strong boss pack).

The training was hard. I managed to get some money for a lowly wand with +1 RS. No cool clothes. No armor. Not even a shield. Gradually, my skills were honing. Even now, I don't have best in slot gear. And my wand is a merely a magical one. You can buy it in shop. You can't however buy my skills and swag. Lvl 31 RS + SM + CG bitchez ! 14,000+ life on CG ! He's pretty much immortal. Thick as a brick.

The Baal fight was easy. Ancients were a bit harder but still, I wasn't even scratched. Hell, I am fine except that flu caught somewhere on that damn Arreat ! I had to pee in these ice caves... Took a lot of Abominable furs. Nice blankets. And swaggy toilet paper.

I am rich. I can buy everything. I really do have Gheed's Fortune. In inv and in GoMule's bank. I am retired now. With these ~7 millions I am going to rent some hot Rogues.

No Cain Screen - I had to figure out how to do printscreen on this laptop. It doesn't have this as a separate button. And Polish edition has a different font.

My stats:
Name: IndianaBones
Class: Necromancer
Experience: 1698058789
Level: 90

Naked/Gear
Strength: 90/102
Dexterity: 25/30
Vitality: 400/400
Energy: 25/25
HP: 1008/1122
Mana: 203/409
Stamina: 553/738
Defense: 6/509
AR: 80/164

Fire: 188/148/88
Cold: 177/137/77
Lightning: 178/138/78
Poison: 143/103/43

MF: 139 Block: 2
GF: 290
FR/W: 43
FHR: 0
IAS: 10
FCR: 10


My gear:
Skull Visage
Tiara
Defense: 47
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xb00b7a51
Item Level: 91
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
7% Mana stolen per hit
+26 to Life
All Resistances +12
67% Extra Gold from Monsters

Viper Gorget
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xb514178e
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+7 to Strength
Replenish Life +3
+27 to Mana
Cold Resist +33%

IndianaBones's Bone
Mage Plate
SolUmUm
Defense: 241
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xabdfd2c9
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Chance to cast level 10 Bone Armor when struck
15% Chance to cast level 10 Bone Spear on striking
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+137 to Mana
All Resistances +30
Damage Reduced by 7

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0x5e04699e
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+59 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Entropy Turn
Ring
Required Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0xfdf1a2f4
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
14% Chance to cast level 5 Charged Bolt when struck
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Maximum Damage
+33 to Mana
Cold Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +9%

Goldwrap (upped)
Battle Belt
Defense: 88
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 88
Fingerprint: 0xd922f707
Item Level: 38
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Increased Attack Speed
+52% Enhanced Defense
+25 Defense
78% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius
Required Level +5

Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 47
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0xed0170d7
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Indestructible
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+50 to Life
+180 Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 32%
Fire Resist +42%
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana

Rune Knuckle
Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x82b94e6b
Item Level: 40
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+58% Enhanced Defense
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +26%
Poison Resist +13%
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sapphire War Staff of Teleportation (switch)
War Staff
Two Hand Damage: 12 - 28
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 24
Fingerprint: 0x6c27888c
Item Level: 90
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Meteor (Sorceress Only)
Cold Resist +35%
Level 5 Teleport (36/48 Charges)

Golemlord's Bone Wand (main)
Bone Wand
One Hand Damage: 3 - 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x1a77285
Item Level: 93
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Decrepify (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Attract (Necromancer Only)

Stone Shell (main)
Sexton Trophy
Defense: 54
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 33
Required Strength: 47
Fingerprint: 0x9b83d06
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
Adds 13 - 28 Poison Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+2 to Fire Golem (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Lower Resist (Necromancer Only)
Replenish Life +3
All Resistances +24
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Half Freeze Duration
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond


Skills:

Amplify Damage: 1/6
Dim Vision: 1/6
Weaken: 1/6
Terror: 1/6
Attract: 0/1
Decrepify: 1/8
Lower Resist: 0/3

Teeth: 1/6
Corpse Explosion: 20/25

Skeleton Mastery: 20/31
Raise Skeleton: 20/31
Clay Golem: 20/31
Golem Mastery: 6/17
Raise Skeletal Mage: 1/12
Blood Golem: 1/12
Summon Resist: 5/16
Iron Golem: 1/12
Fire Golem: 0/4
Revive: 1/12

Charms:
Garnet Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xe3880edd
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +9%

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x4518d15e
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ocher Small Charm of Flame
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x71b0f481
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 2 Fire Damage
Lightning Resist +7%

Rugged Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x708ea266
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 Maximum Stamina
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Garnet Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x7c6bd3e4
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +9%

Coral Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x329d1cbb
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +8%

Jade Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x576e20a2
Item Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Poison Resist +9%

Amber Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x64e99674
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +11%

Lapis Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x28158cbf
Item Level: 65
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life
Cold Resist +6%

Snake's Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 24
Fingerprint: 0xa238f6a3
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Mana
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x7156ad5a
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0xe1434f78
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Graverobber's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x27cea2b5
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x7b8ddfc7
Item Level: 73
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +3

Emerald Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xece735c2
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
Poison Resist +10%

Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0x9062b909
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Lucky Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Fingerprint: 0x10fffd49
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ocher Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x79d78473
Item Level: 2
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +7%

Jade Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x702431c3
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +9%

Sapphire Large Charm of Strength
Large Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x7ba986e7
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Strength
Cold Resist +14%

Coral Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x59493946
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +9%

Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x557c9c26
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
145% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 13%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ocher Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xcf2658bb
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +7%

Ocher Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x73dcdb77
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +7%

Coral Large Charm of Strength
Large Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0xec70d4e1
Item Level: 42
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Strength
Lightning Resist +11%

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xe26d4e6b
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xf77c1581
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +3

Mercenary:

Name: Leharas
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 88453884
Level: 90
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 195/210
Dexterity: 157/182
HP: 1967/2107
Defense: 1444/2465
AR: 1970/1970

Fire: 207/167/107
Cold: 204/164/104
Lightning: 174/134/74
Poison: 174/134/74

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 716
Durability: 46 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x20018af0
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+198% Enhanced Defense
+112 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+90 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability


Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 305
Durability: 41 of 50
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x9960d3b5
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
11% Life stolen per hit
+168% Enhanced Defense
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
Fire Resist +33%
81% Extra Gold from Monsters


Bonehew
Ogre Axe
Two Hand Damage: 112 - 582
Durability: 31 of 50
Required Level: 64
Required Strength: 195
Required Dexterity: 75
Fingerprint: 0x87c0897d
Item Level: 73
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 16 Bone Spear on striking
+30% Increased Attack Speed
302% Enhanced Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 14 Corpse Explosion (24/30 Charges)
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Realgar Jewel

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Realgar Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xfb193baf
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
22% Enhanced Damage

Now, I am going to enjoy the last hours of my holiday trip. Killed Baal and pat'ted my necro in a sleepless night.

The battle with hell P8 Baal lasted about 18 minutes. I was reading women mag and recasting decrepify every few secs. :) Not even single skeleton died ! I wasn't even scrathed.

Anything more I should add ;) ?

Edit: Untwinked and 100% P8 ;) And haven't got Arm of King Leoric :( Still, I was a unmovable, undefeatable moving wall of blades and bones. ;)
 

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Originally posted by RobbyD on Sep 20, 2010:

Patriarch MasterGomez, 1.09 Minion/Melee Artillary Necro (MMAN)

I am extremely pleased to present Patriarch MasterGomez, my sixth Mat/Pat and first Necromancer.

MasterGomez represent #6 of the 1.09 Septumvariate I have as one of my goals before moving on to 1.10+, and also, surprisingly, is the first character that I consider an "Honorary Guardian" in that he never died once before becoming a Patriarch.

On to the details:

LCS

Level 79

Str 106/130
Dex 154/180
Vit 200/222
Ene 25/66

Endgame Resists: 70/64/79/80

Skills:
P&B Skills:

Poison Dagger 1/13 (w/Blackrog's) <-- Main melee skill
Poison Nova: 8/19 (w/Blackrog's) <-- Wasted points
Corpse Explosion: 20/30 (w/White)
Bone Spear: 20/35 (w/ White)

Curses:

All: 1/14

Summoning:

Golem Mastery: 16/24 (28 with casting gear)
Iron Golem: 1/9 (17 with casting gear)
Revives: 2/10

Gear:

Helm: Shako with 14Res@ jewel
Ammy: Rare "Plague Noose" (+2Dex, +19Ene, 11/25/11/11, +2 Curses)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (28Res@, 12 MDR) with 29%LR/7FHR jewel
Weapon/Shield 1: Blackrog's Sharp (89AR/1-91 lightning damage jewel)/Homunculus (pDiamond)
Weapon/Shield 2: "White" Bone Wand (+3 Bone Spear staffmod)/Homunculus (pDiamond)... the wand was shopped from Normal Drognan
Belt: Thundergod's Vigor (yeah, 120 str req, but this is a part melee character, so the Lightning absorb is absolutely critical for survival in 1.09)
Rings: Raven Frost (19Dex, 202AR), Stone of Jordan
Gloves: Venom Grip
Boots: Silkweave

Charms: 3xHexing GCs, 2xGraverobber's GCs, 1xFungal GC, Serpent's GC of Vita, Serpent's GC of Balance, 3xToxic SCs, etc.

Merc: Act 2 HF Merc (Vamp's Gaze, "Smoke" eth Loricated Mail, Hone Sundan (AmnAmnShael)

NM HF: Pul
Hell HF: Pul

Master Gomez is what I have dubbed a Minion/Melee Artillary Necromancer (MMAN) in that the build takes elements from the Minion-Based Artillary Necromancer (MBAN) build but also makes use of pumped poison damage using Blackrog's Sharp with Poison Dagger (along with 3x Toxic Small Charms in inventory) and the poison and CB from Venom Grips to get into the fray himself. The driving idea here is so that he's not at the mercy of the Merc and Golem being able to do all the tanking. To help out, he totes a Homunculus with a pDiamond in each weapon switch (Dex pumped to keep 75% blocking) and always keeps a Bone Shield up. For PIs (unbreakable in 1.09), Lower Resists with the poison and level 35 Bone Spear on switch were used.

A couple of NDEs - Hell Duriel just about took him out (full bulb + fresh Bone Armor) in one hit - the bulb looked mighty empty, and Hephasto put a serious hurt on him after taking out the crew. Otherwise he usually had time to get to town as his posse bit the dust.

Progression:
My blog has posts detailing MasterGomez's progression, so I'll just point out some nutshell experiences and observations:

- A pure P8 Minion approach was viable through Hell Act 2 (well, I forced it through the Tombs). Anything non-PI was just fodder to the mix of Might merc and Amp. But the PI bosses were too much on P8 by Hell Act 3. That's when he turned into an artillary necro.
- CE on P1 worked as expected, but I only ended up relying on it for really tough groups - I really preferred the minion/melee approach (Durance was cake with reviving those Fetish Dolls).
- Tanking with the Sharp DID (in my opinion) indeed help greatly with Act Bosses - Merc and Golem tended to stay alive in boss fights (Ancients were an expected exception).
- Amp Damage simply doesn't attach to PIs in 1.09 (they don't get the red flame). A good way to use this is to apply Lower Resists to a boss pack with a PI unique first, and then Amp.
- Once I lowered to P1, LR + Bone Spear (as weak as it is, even at level 35)WAS actually an effective PI killer (LR + CE worked nicely as well). LR makes a noticable impact on Bone Spear effectiveness.
- The Poison delivered from PD, Blackrog's Sharp, Venom Grips, & Toxic SCs was also quite effective on P1, especially with LR. With a really tough PI boss, I would LR, stab, then switch and spam with Bone Spear. With this approach, nothing really stopped progress. Endgame was easier than I expected.
- If you pump Dex for blocking, you CAN actually hit monsters with PD. I only went with 1 point + skillers and an AR jewel, and he hit a decent amount. Of course an Eth rune would have made this irrelevant, but I hated to waste all those Dex points.
- Poison Nova was worthless - I pumped it a little in lieu of Golem Mastery to my ultimate regret - I think you really just need to stick with your direct damage skill of choice and max it out. PN is probably awesome sufficiently invested in, but didn't help with my build. Stabbing delivered much more poison.

Future Plans:
Either retirement or cows.

Next Character:
1.09 Assassin (#7 of the Sept) - Blender/Phoenix Strike build.
 
Originally posted by @TheNix on Aug 18, 2019:

Patriarch Hugh_Encry, Slow-Mo-Mancer (1.13)

Patriarch Hugh_Encry, Slow-Mo-Mancer with eBoTD.

Level: 84

St – 103 (155)
Dx – 139 (190)
Vt – 243 (275)
En – 25 (77)

HP 1006
Mana 461

Damage: 596 – 1615

Resists:

Fire: 75
Cold: 75
Ltning: 75
Poison: 75


Skills:

Clay Golem: 20/28
Golem Mast: 20/28
Corpse Exp: 20/28
Bone Wall: 18/28
Bone Armour: 18 (switch)

Amp Dam, DV, Weaken, Terror & Decrep: 1/11
Teeth, P.Dagger, BSpear/Spirit, Skelly, Mage, Revive, Blood Golem, Iron Golem & Resists: 1/9


Equipment:

Weapon 1:

1.07 eth BoTD Berserker Axe
“Um” Homunculus

Weapon 2:

Boneshade (+7 BA)
“Splendor” Zombie head (+3 BA)


Harlequin Crest with 14% resist all jewel
“Chains of Honor Archon Plate
Laying of Hands
Gore Rider
String of Ears
Seraph's Hymn
Manald Heal & Raven Frost

Heaps of AR charms


Merc (Act 2 – Holy Freeze)

Blackthorn’s Face
“Treachery” Wyrmhide
Eth Kelpie Snare upped


Random musings:

This is my first mat/pat back from my Path of Exile experiment; in fact it has been over a year since my last mat/pat! The first thing I noticed about D2 on my return was that, even though it has aged well, it has aged. Okay, the build itself. If I had not gone down the route of insane overkill of the slowing effect the build would have unfolded rather well; but if you are going to overdo something – REALLY over do it!!! I started with Skellies and poison dagger to get him going but that was soon cast aside. I kept to the slow-mo-mancer theme by almost exclusively using Decrep as my curse, but I was not obsessive about it. I used Amp Dam on unbreakable PIs and DV on ranged attackers and resurrectors. I put full points into CE to help with clearing speed, but I always got the first corpse with my trusty BoTD. I put a point each in Bone Spear/Spirit for emergencies, but I never used either of them. I never used Bonewall either; just as a synergy for Bone Armor. I only had one death that I remember (I’d love a death counter!) and that was to the Hell Ancients; as I was surrounded my nine revives, a gumby and a merc at the time, I have no idea what hit me. I went down the max block route rather than the vita one. Safety was never really much until last in Act 5 Hell and the gloams; DV worked alright, but there were a few hairy moments as the last few areas were choc-o-block with them. Bosses were no a challenge at all, just a trial of patience really. Interestingly, this is one of the few character I have play a considerable amount of time playing wrong handed.


So, five down in my BoTD sept:

1. Heeeere’s Johnny, Frenzy Barb
2. Rev_Quick, Avenger
3. Lizzie, Enchantress
4. DameDeMort, Blade Fury Assassin
5. Axazon, Passives Amazon (unfinished)
6. Unrak, Werebear (unfinished)
7. Hugh_Encry, Slow-mo-mancer
 
Originally posted by TopHatCat64 on Feb 26, 2011:

Patriarch Cairn - Skeleton Bear

Patriarch Cairn


The blade twisted and writhed in hand like a poisonous snake.
"Soon, you shall feed" whispered the hunched figure to himself.


The Planning Stage

Oh Beast, how I have dreamed of you. As a devoted proponent of off-beat builds, Beast has been my holy grail since the day it was revealed. Part of the reason I took a lengthy break last year was because I had plain run out of ideas for weird characters. There was one last frontier I had yet to explore: top-end runewords. But without the patience for HF runs, they remained unattainable. And then, 1.13c, my salvation. Many LK runs later, I had my Beast zerker. My mind started churning.

Outside of werebear/werewolf/druid summons/shock wave/geddon, you (obviously) cannot cast any spells while in wereform. Passives, auras, and sustained effect spells would seem to be the only options. But what about Chance to Cast spells? That lead me to the combination of Oath (CTC Bone spirit) and Bone (CTC Bone Armor and Spear). All Non-timered spells that wouldn't screw up my ability to keep attacking. A necro could synergize the native spells and put a spin on what is my least favorite class.

I went with a Blessed Aim merc instead of the usual Might merc because:

A. The focus of this build was on firing out as many Bone Spirit/Spears as possible. Both procs are CTC on striking, which means an attack that doesn't miss. BA helps that, Might does not

B. I don't have much physical damage to boost, making might's effects negligible.

Thus, Cairn was a born, a Bone Spirit/Spear/Armor proc'ing Necro-Bear.

Gear: The first order of business was determining what weapon for Oath. The usually suspects of zerker/cryptic/scourge loomed large initially but without Fortitude in my armor slot, my physical damage as going to be pitiful no matter what weapon I chose. Therefore, I went for pure speed to maximize my CTC chances. Yes, the unpopular choice of a phase blade - it can't be ethereal and 1.07 offers no boost in damage. It really does look ugly but it was the weapon best suited for this particular build.

Dracul's was my glove of choice and the sole reason I was able to stay alive in Hell. As you can see down in the stat section, my physical damage is ridiculously bad - so life leech was effectively useless as a way of regaining life. I was hitting so often that Drac's popped off consistently enough to keep me comfortably in the red.

My choice of shield was trial and error:
1. Moser's with 2 pdiamonds: Block% was too high and too slow
2. Moser's with 1 pdiamond and 1 shael: Block% is still too high, speed is tolerable
3. Plain kite shield with 1 pdiamond and 2 shaels: Block% is tolerable, speed is tolerable but I wondered if I could squeeze anything else out of this gear slot
4. Pelta Lunata with 1 pdiamond: A Rhyme small shield was my only other choice for low blocking% and decent block speed, but I ended going with Pelta's small boost to vit and str

Skills: Maxing Teeth, BW, and BP were the obvious choice because they synergized Bone Spear AND Bone Spirit (and BW/BP synergizes Bone Armor). I ended up maxing Bone Spear because Oath has a greater chance of proc'ing Bone Spirit (30%) then Bone does of proc'ing Bone Spear (15%).

Leveling and Observations

Cairn performed largely as I had hoped. A steady stream of bone spirit/spears provided the majority of my offense while my furry form and bone armor proved to be a pretty solid defense.

Before Hell, my physical damage was decent enough to be noticeable but once I hit the big leagues, it was effectively nothing. The CB from Guillame's was my only real non-magic damage. The life bar on a monster I was attacking generally ticked down slowly until I proc'ed a spear (small chunk of damage) or a spirit (big chunk). Luckily there aren't many magic immunes in the game, so I was able to chug through just about everything I encountered.

Ghosts were my most difficult adversary. I'm not sure if it's because ghosts can stack on top of each other or what, but I'd often get into a situation where I'd have a huge train of bone spirits boomeranging around a pack of ghosts without actually hitting them. Demonlimb's enchant proved to be the only way I could defeat them.

Proc'ed bone spirits ended up being most useful against spear cats, archers, and anything that liked to hit and run. Especially those annoying leapers! Many times I found myself whacking a leaper away, and then watching a proc'ed spirit home in for the kill on the now-distant leaper.

I died 5 times with this guy. Twice in NM, sadly. I was still in "LK Run mode" and I wasn't really focusing like I should have been. Fangskin, Gloams, and The Ancients took me down in Hell.

Other bits of note:
- I got a different Flayer Dungeon Lvl 3 map. I don't think I've ever gotten a different map on the bottom level of the FD. I had thought it was a static set up. Apparently not!
- Urdars are too big to fit up the stairs in the River of Flame. They just mill around at the foot of the steps. Possibly helpful if you ever have to retreat up them and you need some breathing room.

Stats
Code:
Lvl 82

Physical damage: 317-338
Fire/Physical damage w/ enchant: 516-628
Bone Spear damage: 537-585
Bone Spirit damage: 1972-2140
AR w/ enchant and blessed aim: 16737 (93% cth reanimated horde as an example)
6 fpa

Life (in bear form): 2461
Resists: 62/-21/62/9
CTB: 29%
Str: 74 | Dex: 105 | Vit: 296

20 BW
20 BP
20 Teeth
20 Bone Spear
11 Bone Spirit
1 BA

Gear
Code:
Guillame's 'fire res/ias jewel'
Angelic Wings
'Oath' Phase Blade
'Bone' Archon Plate
Pelta Lunata 'pdiamond'
Dracul's
Brimstone Buckle*
Bramble Nails*
Raven Frost
Angelic Halo
Switch: 'Beast' Berserker Axe / Eth 'Spirit' Monarch

BA Merc: Eth 'Obedience' Thresher | Duriel's | Crown of Thieves

Brimstone Buckle 
Mesh Belt 
Defense: 52 
Durability: 16 of 16 
Required Level: 63 
Required Strength: 58 
Fingerprint: 0xe907fa3 
Item Level: 86 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+24% Faster Hit Recovery 
+28% Enhanced Defense 
+23 to Strength 
+31 to Life 

Bramble Nails 
Greaves 
Defense: 53 
Durability: 24 of 24 
Required Level: 29 
Required Strength: 70 
Fingerprint: 0xc7935b3b 
Item Level: 62 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
5% Chance to cast level 3 Frost Nova when struck 
+30% Faster Run/Walk 
+10% Faster Hit Recovery 
+41 Defense (Based on Character Level) 
Lightning Resist +39% 
Poison Resist +30%
 
Originally posted by TopHatCat64 on Mar 20, 2011:

Patriarch Flood - Summoner Bear wielding Beast

Patriarch Flood

The Planning Stage


After I posted up my latest mat/pat thread (for my bone spirit/spear/armor proc'ing necro bear Cairn), nulio made a comment:

nulio said:
Skeleton Bear made me think it would be a summoner with Beast always on and bear form. Perhaps a Bone Bear?

Well, there you go, sounded like another fun use for Beast.

Fishymancers are as basic as you can get, but fighting alongside my skellies as a bear put a decent spin on it, I thought. Gear-wise, I had to balance +skills with traditional melee gear. I went through a couple options but in the end, the only real caster piece in my loadout in Skin of the Vipermagi. With AoKL and Homunculus on switch, I ended up with 11 lvl 35 skellies, pretty poor for a pure Fishy, but I'd be helping everyone out with the fanat aura from Beast. That was the real appeal of this build for me, having dual damage auras (with might from the merc) offensively and having lots of minions soaking up hits that I would ordinarily be dealing with as a melee character.

Skill-wise, it was the standard max skellie, max mastery, with the 1 point golem and resist wonders. I had about 40 points left over from there, so I decided to go with bone prison and bone wall to power up bone armor. My bone armor usually got knocked off after every decent pack, but I would have shape-shifted after every major encounter, anyways. After my last pat, I knew from experience that letting werebear expire on its own tended to turn me back into a human at the worst possible times.

I called him Flood because that's how envisioned this character playing: a wave of orange-aura'ed skellies inundating packs of monsters.

Leveling and Observations

Was Flood as effective as a standard fishymancer? Nope. Being in wereform meant no corpse explosion, and no CE meant slower killing (darn you Blizz! Why didn't you make a runeword with CTC Corpse Explosion?). I originally was going to to use Atma's Scarab as my end-game amulet, to squeeze in a little bit of cursing. However, I found that I needed AR too much, so I ended up with the standard Angelic's combo.

A summoner bear wielding Beast did have it's merits over your everyday skelliemancer (that doesn't have Enigma):

Scouting ahead/leading the way
Being a ~2300 hp bear with bone armor meant that I could take a decent amount of punishment. As such, I was able to advance into enemy territory without fear of getting ambushed by a fast pack of melee monsters. True, skelliemancers can scout ahead with clay golems, but let's be honest, there are times when you just want to run ahead and drag your pack of skellies along with you as fast as possible.

Fighting in narrow quarters
Being built for melee combat, narrow corridors and small rooms were merely inconvenient, instead of being a serious pain-in-the-*** for your standard fishy. For doorways, usually a standard fishy is stuck with one skellie pounding away until he can create a little room for the rest of the skellies. Sometimes terror can clear the way, but not always. In my case, I was the lone fighter fighting in the doorway, and I daresay I was more effective at it then one skellie.

One downside of packing on so much melee gear, is that my skellies ran out of steam by Hell A4. My army was still excellent tanks throughout the entire game, but offensively, they just weren't getting the job done in the very late game. 80% of the time in A4/A5, my merc and I were getting the kills while the skellies just held up the mobs.

When I got a relatively straight battle line in a small room, I'd usually focus on killing monsters at one end of the line. That way, any skellies milling around in the back could run around the the newly created hole and start enveloping the remaining monsters. As the next monster fell, my skellies and I were able to roll up the flank.

I also had fun with OK's, since they like to run away. I would run behind them and then flush them straight into my angry mob of skeletons to be eviscerated.

No deaths for Flood, my first for a Necro (yes, I have died with a fishymancer before, sad!)

Stats
Code:
Lvl 82

Fire/Physical damage w/ enchant + might + fanat: 972-3099
AR w/ enchant: 6312
8 fpa

Life (in bear form): 2345
Resists: 75/49/65/75
CTB: 11%
Str: 100 | Dex: 29 | Vit: 346

20 Sk
20 SkM
20 BW
20 BP
6 BA
1 CG
1 GM
1 SM
1 Amp

Gear
Code:
Guillame's 'fire res/ias jewel'
Angelic Wings
'Beast' Berserker Axe
Vipermagi 'res all jewel'
Moser's 'shael pdiamond'
LoH
Bone Lock*
Sandstorm Trek
Raven Frost
Angelic Halo
Switch: AoKL / Homunculus

7 summoning skillers | 7 light resist sc's

Might Merc: Reaper's | Duriel's | Guillame's

Bone Lock 
Demonhide Sash 
Defense: 43 
Durability: 11 of 12 
Required Level: 28 
Required Strength: 20 
Fingerprint: 0xec3fca9b 
Item Level: 87 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
14% Chance to cast level 5 Nova when struck 
+24% Faster Hit Recovery 
+24% Enhanced Defense 
+54 to Life 
Cold Resist +28% 
Poison Resist +10%
 
Originally posted by TopHatCat64 on Dec 4, 2018:

Patriarch Matau - Brand-wielding Necro Bear

Stats

Code:
Lvl 82

Normal Attack: 1203-1450 (w/ Might)
Bone Spear: 1108-1174

Life: 2514 (as a Werebear)
Resists: 75 F, 18 C, 80 L, 33 P
Str: 95 | Dex: 76 | Vit: 304

Skills
20 Bone Spirit
20 Teeth
20 Bone Wall
20 Bone Prison
10 Bone Armor
1 Clay Golem

Gear

Code:
Guillaume's Face 'all res jewel w/ dex'
Mara's Kaleidoscope
'Brand' Demon Crossbow
'Fortitude' Archon Plate
Havoc Hand crafted gloves*
String of Ears
Gore Rider
Beast Gyre rare ring*
Raven Frost
Switch: eth 'Beast' Berserker Axe / eth 'Spirit' Monarch

Merc: eth 'Infinity' CA / 'Fortitude' Archon Plate / Crown of Thieves 'ias jewel'

Charms (combined stats): 198 life, 84 fire res, 76 light res, 31 poison res, 10 cold res, 32 min damage, 10% fhr, 7 dex

Havoc Hand
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 10
Durability: 10 of 14
Required Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x5d9c3b90
Item Level: 92
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Increased Attack Speed
2% Life stolen per hit
7% Chance of Crushing Blow
+55% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
+19 to Life
Lightning Resist +12%

Beast Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x213c44c2
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Minimum Damage
6% Life stolen per hit
+15 to Strength
+17 to Life
+1 to Mana after each Kill

The Planning Stage

In my last mat thread, ffs suggested that:
ffs said:
A physical melee Bear Necro with synergized Bone Spear CtC is on my to do list, though because of the knockback I'll most likely go with Bonehew.

Sounds pretty cool! Let's give it a whirl.

I made a necro bear 7 years ago that also utilized CTC bone spirit and spirit with Oath and Bone, so I was interested in comparing play styles between the two builds.

In keeping with the Southern Pacific theme I established with Tilafaiga, Matau is named after the bone hooks used by the Maori people of New Zealand.

Leveling and Observations

This guy was a lot more powerful then my previous necro bear for a couple reasons:
  • Much higher physical damage output - Oath attacks a lot faster (6 fpa) than Brand (8fpa), but the added damage from Fortitude, Brand's amp proc, and the might merc, the added deadly strike from Brand and Gores, and the extra crushing blow from my blood gloves and Gores meant my overall physical damage output was a lot higher. I wasn't able to pack on all that extra damage on my last necro bear because I had to sacrifice a lot of gear slots for survival (Drac's, res belt, res boots) and a better hit chance (Angelic amulet and ring, BA merc)
  • Much better chance to hit - Of course, all that extra physical damage goes to waste if I can't hit anything. Without Brand's ITD and Infinity's conviction aura, all I had was about 980 AR with my final gear :eek:. With the two, I could consistently hit everything from trash mobs to act bosses. That freed up the merc and some extra gear slots for the aforementioned added damage.
  • All the life leech I needed (without Drac's) - All that added physical damage and high chance to hit, coupled with 21% life leech from my blood gloves, rare ring, and String of Ears, meant I no longer needed Drac's to survive in Hell. I was able to leech back all the life I needed without having to continually drink potions.
  • More consistent magic damage - Oath fires off bone spirits 30% of the time, Bone fires off bone spears 15% of the time. Brand blasts off spears 100% of the time. That consistency meant I could always count on firing off a ton of spears when I started attacking.
Enough with comparisons, how did this guy play?

For a character with Werebear and a weak Bone Armor as his only defensive skills, I felt surprisingly safe. So safe, in fact, that I manage to go through the game without dying (I know all you HC folks are laughing right now :D), but that rarely happens with my non-barb characters, even when I'm packed to the gills with defensive gear.

Part of that safety was actually due to the knockback on Brand. Before I started this guy, I was thinking I'd have to grit my teeth and just deal with the annoyance of KB, but it turned out to actually be a benefit on this character. Against single enemies, I could stun-lock them against a wall and against groups, the knockbacks helped keep me from being totally surrounded. There must be some kind of formula for knockback, because it's definitely not 100% of the time (THAT would have drove me bonkers).

As a necrobear, I could only use normal attacks, but that had its upsides when I squared off with ghosts - probably the monster type I least like encountering. Usually, the mana leeching from ghosts means you're forced into an annoying attack-mana-potion-attack-mana-potion sequence. With normal attack, I don't need any mana! The other aggravating thing about ghosts is how they stack on top of each other, so you get hit by 10 of them at once. Bone spear's auto-pierce meant that I could blast through any number of ghosts with each attack. Tack on my amp proc breaking their physical immunity and ghosts were no trouble at all. *Bustin' makes me feel good!*

Finally, as a melee character, proccing Brand's amp damage felt a lot more natural this time around. Amp went off very consistently, probably even more so then with my previous bowazon, since I was in front of my merc more often.
 
Originally posted by Vang on Aug 3, 2008:

Patriarch Bloody Spears!

Ok, after looking at that sounds like a bad Brittney reference, anyways...

Bone spear. What can I say? I have never had the thought of doing a bone mancer, as they just never seemed appealing to me, high mana, decent damage, but starts really boring. Maybe why my highest to date was like level 30..

So how to spice up a character that looks fun, since:

a: It can pierce
b: with proper arranging of character, can hit multiple targets?


Answer: Get meatshields that can't kill well but can last forever!

Now that we have that, lets see what we can come up with that is out of whack!

A: Blood Golem!
B: Lifetap!

Looks like I'm on an A and B kick! Ok, next problem. Mana. I need to lay on that button and never let go!

Solution:

A: Insight duh!
B: Energy points and +to mana items.

With that settled, my original goal was to go 20golem mastery, 20 Blood Golem. But well, Golem doesn't need that much and Blood Golem just adds to his pitiful damage(no bonus to life from himself, although mastery would add more)

So I switched it around, I'd go 1 into revives as well to add a few more meatshields, giving me with +skills 7revives, 4mages, 1 Holy Freeze merc to further slow them down, and 1 Blood Golem. Sounds like a sound plan, now does bone spear actually kill well? Yeah, sure does.

  • So with my Blood Minions and my Bone Spears, I headed out into the Depths of Hell difficulty. Act1 was settled on /p3 like normal to give me a slight boost, and was handled quite well.
  • Act2 on the other hand, was very nice compared to my last two guardians in the Maggot Lair and Arcane sanctuary, everything dropped dead quite fast. The tomb was another story, I died twice, and on my third time in, I got a map with no stupid Ravagers(guys who are immune and raise undead) Act2 also was the only act I used any Corpse Explosion in, against those stupid things!
  • Act3-Act5/Ancients: Simple and Easy normal waypoints given and nothing posed a Threat, Diablo didn't kill My Mercenary which was a nice change.
  • WorldStone and Minions and Baal: Fairly Straight forward through this part, Stupid Undead spawn posed the only time consuming fight that lasted..3minutes maybe. Baal actually wiped everything out, save the Mighty BLOOD GOLEM and me! I headed into the River to get some big head bashers, and used my Ume's Lament for its Decrepify to slow him down enough to not move an inch, and he died shortly after.

Thoughts:

Blood Golem isn't that bad. He lasted quite a while and rarely died actually. He only had 2300 life and 70-190damage w/ 136%returned. Using Potions to heal me and him also was fun, and saved him a couple of times. Overall he performed well above what I expected and really took a pounding.

Bone Spear @Level 33 isn't bad at all, and was very easy to kill with and great to spam. Probably the coolest spammable spell in the game IMO.

Lifetap+ Minions+Blood Golem+Mercenary was very effective. Other than the Baal wipe, I rarely had anything die(though Blood Golem on both NM and Hell Lister's minions hated him and he did die, very odd) If need be I did get Attract to get the spare archer pack or two off my back. It was well worth that one point investment to get that.

ITEM FINDS! Yes, I actually found a few decent items.

Lem Rune from Hell Hellforge
Trang's Helm
36%ed jewel
14cold resist/15ias jewel!
BONESNAP(not ethereal, but kind of funny dropping for one of my Baal drops, considering my Assassin used it to knock his head off last time)

Stats/Equipment:
Level 80
Str: 60
Dex: base
Vit: 264
Energy: 130
Life: 903
Mana: 523

Skills:
10 Blood Golem
5 Golem Mastery
1 Revive
1 Summon Resist
1 Lifetap
1 Attract
19 Teeth
20 Bone Spear
20 Bone Spirit

Equipment:
Vipermagi(23%) ptopaz socket
+2 Rare Necro Circlet(resist)
+1 Crafted Necro Amulet(7%fcr, resist, +61mana)
White Wand(+2 bone spear on it, for +7total)
Homunculus
Trang's Gloves
Nightsmoke
Rare Rings(resist and each had 10%fcr)
Rare Boots(36lr/19fr/25pr/20%frw)
Switch: Ume's Lament/Rare Necro head(gave +2more blood golem more)
Mercenary: Tal's helm, Ethereal Insight, Upped Shaftstop

Charms: +life/resist.
 
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Nov 28, 2012:

Patriarch Nathaniel- BoTD wielding titan meleemancer

When I made my BoTD a few months ago I knew I was going to do this build, sometime or the other. So anyway, just completed this pat, was great fun! In order to make it more of a challenge, and more of a true meleemancer, I put additional constraints on myself..

-no skeletons
-no revives
-no CE
-titan ( all points in str )
-p5 hell as far as possible

Nathaniel was able to accomplish all these, and became a patriarch at lvl 87.

Good stuff

LCS

Skills

20 Bone wall
20 Bone prison
1 Bone armor
20 Poison dagger
20 Poison explosion
1 clay golem, golem mastery, summon resist
5(10) Amplify damage
1(6) Decrepify, life tap, dim vision
1 in all prereqs

Gear

Ethereal 'Breath of the Dying' War pike
'Bone' Sacred armor
Crown of Ages
Metalgrid
Verdungo's heart cord
Trang oul's claws
Ravenfrost
Nature's peace
Rare boot ( resists fhr frw )
Switch: call to arms, spirit monarch

Charms: A collection of AR and life charms mostly.

Readouts

Code:
Breath of the Dying
War Pike
'VexHelElEldZodEth'
Two-Hand Damage: 240 to 1308
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 122
Required Level: 69
Spear Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd4897d05
+30 to Strength
+30 to Energy
+30 to Dexterity
+30 to Vitality
+390% Enhanced Damage
+50 to Attack Rating
15% Life stolen per hit
7% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Light Radius
Requirements -20%
60% Increased Attack Speed
-25% Target Defense
Prevent Monster Heal
200% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Indestructible
50% Chance to cast Level 20 Poison Nova When You Kill an Enemy
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (6: 6 used)

Bone
Sacred Armor
'SolUmUm'
Defense: 576
Durability: 48 of 60
Required Strength: 232
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x897a611c
+142 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)

Nathaniel's Crown of Ages
Corona
'Ort'
Defense: 393
Required Strength: 174
Required Level: 82
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x842a9670
+50% Enhanced Defense
+144 Defense
Damage Reduced by 14%
Fire Resist +23%
Lightning Resist +53%
Cold Resist +23%
Poison Resist +23%
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to All Skill Levels
Indestructible
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 69
Durability: 10 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x1ecc2b2c
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Grim Greaves
Heavy Boots
Defense: 5
Durability: 4 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc74bed4d
+2 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +36%
20% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 127
Durability: 10 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x84eb9552
+37 to Vitality
+105 to Maximum Stamina
+93% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 13%
Replenish Life +12
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xcd8de9be
Damage Reduced by 9
Poison Resist +30%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xd752f8f5
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+244 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Metalgrid
Amulet
Required Level: 81
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xd6b7090b
+403 to Attack Rating
+347 Defense
All Resistances +27
Level 22 Iron Golem (11/11 Charges)
Level 12 Iron Maiden (20/20 Charges)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 17 to 52
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x708d6b82
+252% 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
+3 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
+2 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 142
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x1265eeb9
+22 to Vitality
+97 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+4 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Charms

Code:
1: Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9504b178
+18 to Life
All Resistances +4

2: Beryl Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x20b01baf
+14 to Life
Poison Resist +5%

3: Sapphire Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x570440ec
Cold Resist +10%
5% Faster Hit Recovery

4: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xeff8fcea
+18 to Life

5: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x8549a897
+19 to Life

6: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xe73dc92a
+19 to Life

7: Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9019f836
+37 to Life
+114 to Attack Rating

8: Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x86e504e5
+25 to Life
+105 to Attack Rating

10: Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xaddd56dd
+22 to Life
+131 to Attack Rating

13: Steel Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1095c6
+20 to Life
+27 to Attack Rating

14: Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x2a29a38e
+29 to Life
+121 to Attack Rating

15: Steel Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xb394b879
+31 to Life
+63 to Attack Rating

16: Steel Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xb0a28cd9
+15 to Life
+33 to Attack Rating

17: Ruby Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x550ad3f9
+29 to Life
Fire Resist +29%

18: Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 83
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xf4f6164
+42 to Life
+116 to Attack Rating

Merc: Act 1 Fire rogue

Gear

Code:
1: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 108
Durability: 15 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x69f7ca3b
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

2: Fortitude
Wire Fleece
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1455
Durability: 28 of 32
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 59
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x8dd50047
+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
+87 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

3: Faith
Superior Great Bow
'OhmJahLemEld'
Two-Hand Damage: 53 to 231
Required Dexterity: 107
Required Strength: 121
Required Level: 65
Bow Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x76b75d99
+280% Enhanced Damage
+65% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +15
+120 fire damage
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ignore Target Defense
300% Bonus to Attack Rating
75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
Level 12 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
10% Reanimate As: Returned
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Thoughts

Melee necromancers are teh sh!t1!1
Well not really. But to be honest, I thought it would be a lot harder than it actually was. Melee necromancers have decent damage thanks to amp and good survival through bone armor/bone wall, which was the beginning of the build, add some good items to that and it becomes fairly decent.

The armor slot was the one I had the most problems deciding. Fortitude seems straightforward, but has two problems. The big one being that chilling armor procs overwrite the bone armor and that's just a no no. The other being that my forti was in a wire fleece and just looked ugly on the necromancer. It did push the LCS into some scary numbers though.

I played through all of act 1 with 'Bramble' armor to increase poison nova damage. The poison nova procs have an interesting property: the chance to cast triggers when the monster is killed by a poison nova, not necessarily by a melee attack. In other words, it was possible to get a chain of poison novas going, but this didn't happen much because low level poison nova doesn't do enough damage at high psettings and monster hps and resist climb throughout the game making it less and less relevant. It did do some decent background area damage but not a deal breaker.

For Act 2, I decided to try my 'Prudence' sacred armor. That is one of the runewords that seem pretty cool defensively- huge defense, resists, fhr, mdr, but in practice it's not really the best choice for any build. This one was an exception though it's a fairly good defensive armor. I played through all of A2 with this, but in A3 I took my old 'bone' armor for a trial run to see how effective the self procs of bone armor were. It proved pretty good and became my final armor choice. In keeping with the titan theme, I made a new 'Bone' in a SACRED armor!

Prudence roll was quite good
Code:
Prudence
Sacred Armor
'MalTir'
Defense: 3585
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 222
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xbb0946d9
+169% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 3
Magic Damage Reduced by 17
All Resistances +34
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Repairs 1 durability in 4 seconds
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 2 used)

As for the others, I used a boring old shako till level 82 ( which I hit around the end of A2 ) when I could equip my Crown of Ages. I would have preferred a 2os one with nice jewels of fervor to hit 14 fpa instead of 15 but didn't have one so whatever. For the early parts of A1 and A2 I used a highlord's wrath. Had a lot of problems hitting stuff until I decided to go all out on AR, with a metalgrid amulet, my best RF and steel charms, and enchant from demon limb. Having to go back to town to re-enchant was a nuisance but it definitely made a difference. Nature's peace ring was equipped mid way through A1 when I got really tired of carver shamans resurrecting crap when I had my hands full with two or three boss packs. In fact, generator/reviver units ( maggots, flesh spawners, horadrims, sarcophagi ) were the bane of this character, because he only has a single target attack and tends to get swarmed by packs of these.

The A1 mercenary was selected for the following reasons
>To provide fanaticism aura for IAS and some dmg/AR
>She can shoot over bone walls. Even though enemy ranged units behind the bone wall cannot shoot over it. Don't ask me how that works, but its really useful.
>She has a built in PI killer with fire arrow, for those things that were unbreakable with amp.

She performed excellently and almost never died. I'm kind of a fan of A1 mercs now.

The archer merc killed a lot of stuff and created reanimates. So now, instead of having a summoner necro with a merc with a big stick, we have a necro with a big stick and a merc that reanimates. Ahh, how times change. The reanimates were tanky and very helpful.

Speaking of which. Ah, Bone wall. This thing is incredible when put to the right use. With a 5 range weapon one can easily poke through the bone wall and keep the monsters away. I used it through all of hell- it was integral to this character. Bone wall is an interesting skill because it cannot simply be spammed without thinking. You need it to be in the right place to block monsters and still hit them. On occasion, natural walls proved useful too ( 5 range ftw )

A war pike has highly variable damage. Along with the double damage chance on highlords ( which I was still using in A1 ), I often one hitted things with a high damage roll and that was cool. The countess and Pitspawn fouldog, iirc were killed in one hit.

I guess the most interesting thing abut this build was how easy it was. Don't misunderstand- it doesn't kill anywhere as fast as any cookie cutter, and there were plenty of hair-raising moments involving multiple boss packs. But it wasn't glacially slow or anything ( even on p5 throughout almost all of hell ), and survival is way better than you might think. About 90% of the game was just smooth sailing. I took a couple of screens to illustrate this

Your typical triple boss pack pounces, hoping to make a tasty snack of a necromancer foolish enough to go without summons. No sweat.
The triple boss pack a short while later. They weren't too happy.

I enjoyed this character a lot more than my two handed phoenix striker. He did not need mass town trips, and was actually a net saver on full rejuvs ( I muled rejuvs off the character, not on ). A little slow at killing but bearable. On occasion when I lowered it to p1 he almost felt like a superman.

The journey

Normal and nightmare were demolished with skeletons, poison nova and CE. Nuff said.
Nathaniel started hell mode at level 74. Act 1 was easy enough. I began to start practising bonewalling. My first death came which was silly- to a cold enchanted spike fiend boss in the dark wood ( I had -20 CR at the time ), and a fanaticism skeleton archer pack in Tristram gave me some trouble, but otherwise nothing major. Most monsters died in one or two hits. There was an unbreakable PI who was quickly killed by the fire arrows of the rogue.

Act 2 had two huge nuisances- Maggot's lair and Arcane sanctuary. For different reasons than a normal summonmancer. Maggots lair had PI itches, and maggots which kept spawning crap faster than I could kill them ( and they were often PoI, PI or both ). Arcane sanctuary had PI ghost which can fly over bone walls and stack on top of each other and attack you. Oh man. I lowered it to p1 to complete these areas. Otherwise not much problem. Sarcophagi constantly spawning mummies were trouble, and horadrim resurrectors but not too much as I had RIP. Radamant spawned stone skin and took ages to kill for some reason.

Act 3 was where I had equipped all my final gear including the Bone armor which helped a lot. Flayers were easily dispatched, barring a few infernos from multiple shamans that was sometimes a threat. More bonewalling. This git was trouble- unbreakable PI and supplied the might aura to two nearby boss packs of thrashers ( you can't see them because I lured this guy away somehow ).

Battlemaid Sabrina in Kurast temple was an unexpectedly powerful foe and I took three tries to beat her. The first two times I rushed in like an idiot, got surrounded and had to S&E. The third time I bonewalled the entrance after clearing the two side rooms. Those gals are crazy fast and you can't really survive them when surrounded.

The Kurast causeway had a big sign up, which said 'Welcome to Travincal. Please bonewall here'. Councils were easily dealt with, and proceeded to durance. I've said before that with range 5 weapon you can kill bone dolls while being out of detonation range. Which is true, hard to achieve in practise, but doable. Anyway bone armor helped in absorbing doll explosions as well. With impeccable timing, I hit my last needed level- 85 in Durance 3, to put my final point into life tap ( additional points were put into amp after this for bigger radius ). Meph was easily killed by alternating amp and tap on him though I had forgotten to lower it to p1 so it took a while. Life tap was sometimes used on unleechables for free heals, but not much otherwise.

Act 4 had three irritants. Corpse spitters, flesh spawners and maggots. These are frustrating on many melee characters but especially on this one- they seem to have an insane amount of life and DR. Say what you will about gloams, they atleast die quickly when amped. Dim vision was spammed on offscreen gloams ( overriden by amp or tap when I got close ), about the only use for the skill. Annoying PI unbreakable gloam. River of flame spawned maggots and flesh spawners and I just couldn't cope with them, so I rerolled to get abyss knights, venom lords and urdars. Ahh, much better. Hephasto spawned PI and FI and took forever to kill. Chaos was fairly easy, and Diablo was easily killed by lowering to p1 and alternating amp and tap on him.

Act 5 wasn't too hard as I got lucky with easy monsters spawning in most areas. Demon imps and quillrats in foothills, no slingers anywhere, no PI death lords, no gloams in river of flame. Still it was quite action packed. Serpent's bone spears was not reduced by bone armor or resists so it did a lot of damage to a fragile character. Frozen river spawned witches and snow things.

The Nihlathak levels were all done on p1 because I wasn't getting the waypoint and didn't want to reroll in case of flesh spawners/moon lords/horadrim/maggots. Luckily none of them spawned so Nihl was a real breeze ( p1 ). However, halls of vaught spawned two types of PIs and tomb vipers. Ah, gotta love how the game throws you a curveball at times. Nihlathak was quickly dispatched, as befitting a traitor to all necromancers.

My second ( and last ) death came in the ancients way- very embarassing, I died to a plain white Dark lancer. No amp, no boss packs, no other monsters around even. The only thing I guess could have happened is that she managed to hit a number of crits when my bone armor and cta was down.

Ancients were decrep'ed and killed on the first try (p1). The WSK and throne were done on p1. Floor 2 spawned gloams and horadrims which were pain but still Dim vision and RIP helped. The minions didn't give much trouble, though Baal took a really long time to kill without crushing blow. He managed to clone himself and teleport around even with decrep and clay golem slowing. But he was finally defeated and The End!

Finds

A random Mal
plain chilling skiller
Hell forge was a Lem

Sept completion

Patriarch Ralf, untwinked single pass co op concentrate barb
Matriarch Traxex, everything enchantress ranger
Patriarch Asmodean, holy bolting zealot
Matriarch Arianne, Infinity wielding phoenix striker
Matriarch Purba, poison amazon
Patriarch Nathaniel, BoTD wielding titan meleemancer

Thanks for reading!
 
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