Re: Meleemancer Guide - Preliminary version
I was long here, so I'm in dept telling you how I've ended:
My meleemancer defeated Hell Baal! In Single Player, Hardcore mode. With ladder only runewords activated.
Big Thx for Mantis for the tip about caging the Ancients, it really helped.
Actually my strategy was: put down bone walls, because that prison requires target, so you can't do that until you activate the guardians. Then click on the pillar, and run to the edge of the screen, so only 1 ancient will follow you there (usually the one with whirlwind). Kill him.
Then go up, cage Madawc, kill the other. If you manage to kill the second Ancient, even if your merc dies, you will be able to survive (assuming you dropped down a couple of manapotions to be able to keep Madawc caged). The other two might come out from boneprison, but not Madawc, and your weapon can reach through your own walls remember. So it is a safe end.
To Mantis: in the end I had 175+ Dexterity. In multiplayer mode I'd get on the top of things Anni and Torch. With this stat I had bloody high hitchance. With Enchant and the Blessed Aim (from the merc) ca. 90%. So no problem can be there with my equipment-suggestion I earlier made.
Now to Ghoulz's description: being able to survive, and being a meleemancer are two different things. Being a meleemancer means, you can kill things.
Bone runeword SUCKS HARD. It overrides your own bone armor, what is 1000% more efficient (and reliable). Just compare the data: from Bone rw you get 110 dmg (on normal difficulty), while from your own skills you can get 810! Or if you never spend into BA itself, still 690. Darn high difference.
The other stats of the armor are useless too, only the resists are acceptable (the mana is ok too, but the merc will have insight, and that'll give you enough mana). Get sorrounded without BA, and you'll die, no matter what.
Also in multiplayer, where you only do runs, and "the sorceress will blast them with magic, and the barbarians will hit face to face", you might rely on support, but what you actually do? If you build a support character, then you are not meleeing. If you actually meleeing, then you'll need Dim Vision, in wich case you won't be hit many times, you won't face large groups. So Bone rw's bone spear ability will not appear often (and it is weak anyway). The dmg red. will also be useless, as you have BA. The +skills also won't mean much.
The other main problem with Ghoulz's idea is the use of the shield. When you meleemancing, shield gets in your way. Necros block in a horribly, fatally slow way. Do not use a shield with a meleemancer, you'll regret it. For example: you won't be able to recast your BA, what is basically your life.
Also to be safe amongst Souls, no Thundergod's required. Interrestingly the elemental percentage of attacks are always acceptably low (if your resists are high of curse). The thing that CAN hurt you are Nihlatak's snakes. They are even ridiculously hard to be DimVisioned, better just quit if they are there, but Nihlatak himself even on Hell difficulty is a joke (so a good character to gather destruction-keys).
Oblivion Knights worth also squat, you just go there and beat them while the rest is blinded.
Now on the item-section of Ghoulz:
Weapon: for Normal bring The Chieftain, for Nightmare bring Insight (with high AR), and for Hell I brought Obedience and I was very satisfied. Obedience covers everything this build needs all at once, I don't see a point overcomplicating things.
Shields: big no-no here.
Helms: Gaze has no use (remember: BA comes first before dmg red.). Guillome is a good choice, but I went with Biggin's Bonnet for the AR and life.
Gloves: fcr is not usefull for this build. At least definitly not so useful to sacrifice a whole item for that purpose. So no on Trang. The best choice I still think is a Blood Crafted gloves, that'll work against anything.
Belts: fhr do not plays for this build (remember, we have BA). So any suggestion on that is worthless. Get instead come nice resists and statboost here (that's why Credencum is suggested).
Armor: Forst: you don't need the fcr, but otherwise sounds nice. But if you invest into the build, go with Tyrael. Fort gives dmg what is nice, but still remains second compared to what Tyrael offers (RIP, CBF etc.). Enigma is not good as you don't need the mobility (you take away the monsters' mobility with DV remember?). CoH is an ok suggestion again, but still beyond Tyrael.
Amulet/ring: in the end you won't need the angelic combo even without a BA merc.
On switch a Safety Crafted shield with high elemental + magic resistance is suggested, and not just for Hell. Multiply shot monsters with magic projectiles (oblivion knights, greater mumies) can be a pain, especially early on. Later a CtA maybe.
The merc's weapon should be INSIGHT to be able to cast your spells. This build casts its spells frequently.
I was long here, so I'm in dept telling you how I've ended:
My meleemancer defeated Hell Baal! In Single Player, Hardcore mode. With ladder only runewords activated.
Big Thx for Mantis for the tip about caging the Ancients, it really helped.
Actually my strategy was: put down bone walls, because that prison requires target, so you can't do that until you activate the guardians. Then click on the pillar, and run to the edge of the screen, so only 1 ancient will follow you there (usually the one with whirlwind). Kill him.
Then go up, cage Madawc, kill the other. If you manage to kill the second Ancient, even if your merc dies, you will be able to survive (assuming you dropped down a couple of manapotions to be able to keep Madawc caged). The other two might come out from boneprison, but not Madawc, and your weapon can reach through your own walls remember. So it is a safe end.
To Mantis: in the end I had 175+ Dexterity. In multiplayer mode I'd get on the top of things Anni and Torch. With this stat I had bloody high hitchance. With Enchant and the Blessed Aim (from the merc) ca. 90%. So no problem can be there with my equipment-suggestion I earlier made.
Now to Ghoulz's description: being able to survive, and being a meleemancer are two different things. Being a meleemancer means, you can kill things.
Bone runeword SUCKS HARD. It overrides your own bone armor, what is 1000% more efficient (and reliable). Just compare the data: from Bone rw you get 110 dmg (on normal difficulty), while from your own skills you can get 810! Or if you never spend into BA itself, still 690. Darn high difference.
The other stats of the armor are useless too, only the resists are acceptable (the mana is ok too, but the merc will have insight, and that'll give you enough mana). Get sorrounded without BA, and you'll die, no matter what.
Also in multiplayer, where you only do runs, and "the sorceress will blast them with magic, and the barbarians will hit face to face", you might rely on support, but what you actually do? If you build a support character, then you are not meleeing. If you actually meleeing, then you'll need Dim Vision, in wich case you won't be hit many times, you won't face large groups. So Bone rw's bone spear ability will not appear often (and it is weak anyway). The dmg red. will also be useless, as you have BA. The +skills also won't mean much.
The other main problem with Ghoulz's idea is the use of the shield. When you meleemancing, shield gets in your way. Necros block in a horribly, fatally slow way. Do not use a shield with a meleemancer, you'll regret it. For example: you won't be able to recast your BA, what is basically your life.
Also to be safe amongst Souls, no Thundergod's required. Interrestingly the elemental percentage of attacks are always acceptably low (if your resists are high of curse). The thing that CAN hurt you are Nihlatak's snakes. They are even ridiculously hard to be DimVisioned, better just quit if they are there, but Nihlatak himself even on Hell difficulty is a joke (so a good character to gather destruction-keys).
Oblivion Knights worth also squat, you just go there and beat them while the rest is blinded.
Now on the item-section of Ghoulz:
Weapon: for Normal bring The Chieftain, for Nightmare bring Insight (with high AR), and for Hell I brought Obedience and I was very satisfied. Obedience covers everything this build needs all at once, I don't see a point overcomplicating things.
Shields: big no-no here.
Helms: Gaze has no use (remember: BA comes first before dmg red.). Guillome is a good choice, but I went with Biggin's Bonnet for the AR and life.
Gloves: fcr is not usefull for this build. At least definitly not so useful to sacrifice a whole item for that purpose. So no on Trang. The best choice I still think is a Blood Crafted gloves, that'll work against anything.
Belts: fhr do not plays for this build (remember, we have BA). So any suggestion on that is worthless. Get instead come nice resists and statboost here (that's why Credencum is suggested).
Armor: Forst: you don't need the fcr, but otherwise sounds nice. But if you invest into the build, go with Tyrael. Fort gives dmg what is nice, but still remains second compared to what Tyrael offers (RIP, CBF etc.). Enigma is not good as you don't need the mobility (you take away the monsters' mobility with DV remember?). CoH is an ok suggestion again, but still beyond Tyrael.
Amulet/ring: in the end you won't need the angelic combo even without a BA merc.
On switch a Safety Crafted shield with high elemental + magic resistance is suggested, and not just for Hell. Multiply shot monsters with magic projectiles (oblivion knights, greater mumies) can be a pain, especially early on. Later a CtA maybe.
The merc's weapon should be INSIGHT to be able to cast your spells. This build casts its spells frequently.