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Complete Necromancer Guide:
Version: 1.03
Skill Level: Newbie to Veteran
Game Type: Any
Author: Wraithfighter
Objective: A Complete Guide of the Necromancer
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Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Equipment
Chapter 3: Poison and Bone Skill Tree
Chapter 4: Summoning Skill Tree
Chapter 5: Curses Skill Tree
Chapter 6: Experience and Skill Points
Chapter 7: How to Handle Bosses
Chapter 8:Neat Tricks
Chapter 9: Common Necro Types
Chapter 10: How to Deal with Certain Monster
types
Chapter 1: Introduction
I consider myself to have mastered the early Necro skill tree.
This type of thing happens when you have to do 3 different characters
to find the best one. It is the basis for your late game, since the
points are abundant and they must be chosen wisely. For the
Necromancer is one of the most dependent class on their skill tree.
Only the Sorceress matches the Necro in that area. Without skills the
necromancer is useless. No early strength to equip anything good, so
in the early game, the Necro is dependent on his minions. What you
will see is my opinion on necros and I will stand by it.
Before you read on I am assuming a few things about you.
1. You are not an idiot.
2. You are nervous about fighting hand to hand and want to avoid
that as much as possible.
3. You are not cheating in anyway, for example trainers, storing
ume's lament on another character to give to your new Necro, stuff
like that.
4. You want to win.
5. You are willing to run if necessary, but stand and fight if you
can.
Thank you.
Chapter 2: Equipment
The equipment is a very important thing for a Necro. Since you
won't be doing much hand-to-hand fighting you should not be concerned
about damage and defense rating. In some cases a rare light plate
will be better than a rare Ornate armor, so be prepared to give the
ornate armor up. And gamble, gamble, gamble. That is where I got a
majority of my current necro's stuff.
Weapons:
The best weapon is a powerful weapon. Early on you will have to
use a sword or bow or your trusty little wand, preferably with +3 to
teeth. If you want to use a wand, good luck, because you won't be
able to help your men in melee. I would suggest in the early game
(The early game is Clvl 1-17) to use a bow to be able to help your
men with out getting yourself hurt. As the character gets stronger,
and so does the monsters, you should visit Akara, Drognan, Ormus, or
Jamela to find a good wand with plenty of +x skills. At Clvl 18, you
get bone spear, so find a wand with +2/3 to it. Since the only
difference between a wands, yew wands, bone wands, and grim wands are
the damage, don't let the kind of wand bother you. Also, take every
wand in the wilderness you find, since +x to skill y modifiers are
not magical. Find better wands, and if you find a Necromancer's Wand (magic modifier, +2 to all
Necro skills) or an Ume's Lament (unique
wand, +2 to Necro skills) stop there, it won't get better.
Armor:
At first, get what you find. Later on, you should try to find a
rare or unique armor. A good early game armor is Arctic Furs (Set Quilted armor, 48 defense, +5
to all resistances), for it is very strong armor and is light with a
+ to all resist. If you find a Silks of the
Victor (unique armor, +1 to all skills), PUT IT ON AND KEEP
IT! The only armor with + to all skills, it is very rare and
valuable. Other than that, + to resistances or + to mana armors are
the best. Remember that, unless you are doing meleemancer fun,
defense won't matter since it doesn't protect you while you are on
the run. Finding rare armor is much more important than finding armor
with good defense.
Helmets:
As always, find what you can in the early game and put it on.
Later on, two helms are best. Either a Socketed Great Helm with 2
Perfect Skulls, or a Unique helm with + to all skills. The 2 skull
great helm will regenerate mana quickly and your health will
regenerate well too. This is a big thing for 2 reasons. One is the
fact you will have to use far less potions than with out it, also
there is the regenerate life aspect. If you get hurt in battle, but
don't have any potions for the amount of damage you received just run
away and let all the attention fall on your minions. This will let
you survive much longer.
Shields:
The shields you use will basically be useless from a defense
perspective, so you will just need them for more magical properties,
and perhaps high blocking since blocking works while standing,
attacking, spell casting, and running. If you get a Set Tower Shield,
you have just hit the jackpot! Sigon's
guard is the only shield with + to all skills, so this will
help you a lot. A Socketed shield with 3 perfect diamonds can help
you with your resistance situation, but only get one if you need it.
Shields:
Look for rare jewelry and hope you can find some that give plus to
skills, like a necromancer's amulet, or stone of Jordan. Those are
the ones to look for, but if you can't find either, just look for
rare ones that give lots of useful stats.
Glove and Boots:
As always look for rare ones. Some give + to all skills, but they
are uniques and you will probably never find one. As before, look for
good gloves or boots with lots of magical properties and they will be
good enough for most.
Belts:
Find belts that give 4 rows for potions and that have special
properties that will help you. No real specifics in this category for
what to wear, but what to put in is another story. The best
assortment is 1 slot for Health potions, 2 slots for mana potions,
and 1 slot for rejuvenation potions.
Belts:
This is the best possible Necro. Watch and be in awe
Helm: Wormskull (Unique Bone Helm, +1
to all Necro skills)
Amulet: Rare amulet with some of
these modifiers: Necromancer's (+2 to
Necro skills), of wizardry (+21-30
mana), Wyrm's (+41-60 mana), Vulpine (10% of damage goes to mana), Triumphant (+1 to mana after each kill), of regrowth (+5 to life regenerate) or Eye of Elitch (+1 to all skills).
Armor: Rare Mage plate or SILKS OF THE VICTOR! (+1 to all skills)
Rings: Rare rings or STONE OF JORDANS!(+1 to all skills each)
Weapon: Rare wand with Necromancer's modifier or UME'S LAMENT! (+ 2 to all skills)
Shield: Rare shield or SIGON'S GUARD! (+1 to all skills)
Belt: Rare belt or NIGHTSMOKE! (50% Damage to mana)
Gloves: Rare gloves or FROSTBURNS! (+40% to mana)
Boots: Rare boots or TREADS OF CHTON! (Fastest run/walk, 50% of
normal stamina drain)
With all of the +skills modifiers, you can have a max of +9 TO ALL
SKILLS! That will really help you out.
Belts:
Above all importance is how much the armor you have weighs. The
heavier it is, the slower you go. With a heavy armor, you lose 10%
speed and with medium armor you lose 5%. You definitely should take
weight into consideration. Fortunately only the armor and shield have
an weight, so the rest is up to you.
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Armor Name
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Weight of Armor
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Armor Defense
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Quilted Armor
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Light
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8-11
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Leather Armor
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Light
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14-17
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Hard Leather Armor
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Light
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21-24
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Studded Leather Armor
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Light
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32-35
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Ring Mail
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Medium
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45-48
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Scale Mail
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Heavy
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47-60
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Breast Plate
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Light
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65-68
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Chain Mail
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Medium
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72-75
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Splint Mail
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Medium
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90-95
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Light Plate
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Light
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90-107
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Field Plate
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Medium
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101-105
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Plate Mail
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Heavy
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108-116
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Gothic Plate
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Medium
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128-135
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Full Plate Mail
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Heavy
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150-161
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Ancient Armor
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Medium
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218-233
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Shield Weight
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Shield Name
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Shield Weight
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Shield Defense
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Shield Blocking
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Buckler
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Light
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4-6
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20
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Small Shield
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Light
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8-10
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25
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Large Shield
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Medium
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12-14
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32
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Kite Shield
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Light
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16-18
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28
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Spiked Shield
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Light
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15-25
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30
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Tower Shield
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Heavy
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22-24
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44
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Bone Shield
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Light
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10-30
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40
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Gothic Shield
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Medium
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30-35
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36
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Chapter 3: Poison and Bone Skills
This would be your secondary skill tree, and you should pursue a
few skills on it.
Teeth: Fires tiny little projectiles that
do little damage.
Required Lvl:1
Required Skills: None
Suggested Points: 1
Reason: Although teeth may seem like a useful spell since it is
the only ranged attack a Necro has early on, you'd be better off with
a bow and arrow. Only reason for putting a point in it is for the
skills later on.
Bone Armor: A defensive shield
Required Lvl:1
Required Skills: None
Suggested points: 1
Reason: You will need it early on, and there isn't much else to
put points into in early levels. It will help you survive a lot in
the early levels, but is useless after lvl 10. This will also help
when going into unknown areas since there is no damage carry-over
from the destruction of the bone armor. It could be the difference
between a narrow escape and sure death.
Poison Dagger: Enchanting poison damage
into a dagger.
Required lvl:6
Required Skills: none
Suggested points:1 or none
Reason: You should get it as a prerequisite, and that is only if
you want to get poison nova.
Corpse Explosion: Makes a corpse a bomb.
Required lvl:6
Required Skills: Teeth
Suggested points:3 or 4
Reason: The first skill you need all game, you will learn to love
this skill, because you can blow up a corpse and it deals 60-100% of
the creatures life before it died. Very useful, but additional points
become useless because it only increases in range. This skill can be
a very handy panic button. For example, if your golem is being
overwhelmed, you cast this a few times and a few monsters die.
Bone Wall: Creates a Wall of Bone (no duh!)
Required lvl:12
Required Skills: Bone Armor
Suggested points:1 or none
Reason: If you get it, you will only use it for dire escapes from
loads of enemies. I've found that it can be a very useful skill in
the catacombs when your being chased by 5 banished you just cast this
in front of a door and you can get a few seconds of a head start.
Definitely get this if you go hardcore since it may save your life a
few dozen times.
Poison Explosion: CE except fixed poison
damage
Required lvl:18
Required Skills: Corpse Explosion, Poison Dagger
Suggested points: 1 or none
Reason: Get it only if you want Poison Nova. Useless otherwise.
Bone Spear: Fires a powerful piercing
attack
Required lvl:18
Required Skills: Corpse Explosion
Suggested points: 1 or 7+
Reason: Some Necros, like mine, specialize in Bone Spear for the
piercing effect. In truth, it has about the same damage : Mana ratio
as Bone spirit, so either one will do. BUT SPECIALIZE IN ONLY ONE! I
choose bone spear since it goes through an opponent, allowing you to
hurt a bunch in one attack.
Bone Prison: Creates a prison of bone
around target
Required lvl: 24
Required Skills: Bone Wall, Bone Spear
Suggested points: 0
Reason: No point in using it unless you want to PK everyone. Too
weak and too late.
Poison Nova: Fires a ring of poison from
you
Required lvl: 30
Required Skills: Poison Explosion
Suggested points: 0 or 1
Reason: The only nova skill you get, it is good for killing
Fallen, Ratmen, or Fetish. They kill fallen in one second, leaving
the shaman up for grabs. This is in nightmare, of course. If you
don't want to use the skill points on the prerequisites, don't get
it.
Bone Spirit: Fires a guided missile of
powerful damage
Required lvl: 30
Required skills: Bone Spear
Suggested points: 0 or 7+
Reason: the more powerful, yet more mana taxing, bone attack, it
seeks a target and deals lots of damage to it. Use this or Bone Spear
but not both.
Chapter 4: Summoning Skills
The main skill tree, you will learn to love the guys you get here.
Raise Skeleton: Summons a weak little
skeleton
Required lvl: 1
Required Skills: none
Suggested points: 1
Reason: Only good in the early game, these guys are necessary if
you want to survive early, but skill points in this are useless after
lvl 12. Get a wand if you want a 4 man army.
Skeleton Mastery: Improves strength of your
non-golem minions
Required lvl: 1
Required Skills: Raise Skeleton
Suggested points: As many as you can spare
Reason: This skill improves all of your minions other than your
golems, and this includes revives, which are a late game beauty. Love
it.
Clay Golem: Your first golem, it can be
summoned anywhere and is good only in early game.
Required lvl: 6
Required Skills: None
Suggested points: 2
Reason: Some say only one is needed, but a clay golem with only
one point will start dying quickly after lvl 12. The monsters just
get too tough. This is the only golem you will have until lvl 18, and
that is too long a time.
Golem Mastery: Improves your golems.
Required lvl: 12
Required Skills: Clay Golem
Suggested points:10+
Reason: This will increase the golem's defense, but not much else.
A necessary skill, and put more in if your golem is dying too fast.
Skeletal Mage: Creates a mage that can
shoot cold, fire, lightning, or poison.
Required lvl:12
Required Skills: Raise Skeleton
Suggested points:2 or 3
Reason: Good backup for your golem, and the elemental damage is
killer, but not good enough for a Clvl 40 skill.
Blood Golem: Golem that shares damage and
life steal.
Required lvl:18
Required Skills: Clay Golem
Suggested points: 2
Reason: A good skill, and you need it for taking on bosses with
the BG/IM trick. Duriel is no match for this bad golem. With life
steal, it can heal you, allowing you to be fighting fit quickly. Very
useful.
Summon Resist: Another passive, it
increases your minions' resistances.
Required lvl:24
Required Skills: Golem Mastery
Suggested points:3-4
Reason: A good passive, and it is key later in the game, but there
are lots of other places to put your points.
Iron Golem: Golem summoned from item,
getting defense and magical properties from item with thorns
included.
Required lvl: 24
Required Skills: Blood Golem
Suggested points: 2
Reason: Good to use, and thorns only comes into affect at Slvl 2.
Can be helpful, but you can sell magical items, and you have to use a
metal item only.
Fire Golem: Summons a golem of fire which
heals itself on fire.
Required lvl: 30
Required Skills: Iron Golem
Suggested points: As many as you can afford
Reason: A great golem, fire only helps it, and deals a ton of
damage too. Muy Kick ass. Also when it dies it deals massive fire
damage.
Revive: Revives a monster that was just
killed
Required lvl: 30
Required Skills: Iron golem, Skeleton Mage
Suggested points: as many as you want
Reason: the men you revive are powerful, stronger than before, but
have a lifespan of 3 minutes. So be wary when you put points into
this skill. The more points, the more men you can revive, but you may
never be able to sustain 10 at a time.
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