Murdering Demons For Fun And Profit

Reposted from an older blog. Originally posted on 08/29/06.

Yeah, so I'm not exactly a top of the line, cutting edge gamer. The two games I've been playing the most recently are a GBA game based on a card game and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. What can I say, though? They're both tons of fun, and they both tap into my inherent need to manage and manipulate complex systems. Also, my need to LAY WASTE TO ALL THOSE TO DARE STAND BEFORE ME.

Yes. That too.

Seeing as anyone who would want to know the basics about LoD most likely already does, let's get into talking about my current experience with the game, and my current character, of whom I am very proud.


Meet Necrophage. He's a (currently) level 86 Necromancer, and the world of Diablo II belongs to him. No, seriously.


The funny thing is, if you look at his stats, he's nothing to write home about. Anyone who plays/has played LoD online to any serious degree might chuckle at his rather unspectacular numbers. His equipment, too, while impressive in its own right, is less than ideal. Take a look:


Helm: Harlequin Crest (Socketed with a Thul Rune)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (Socketed with an Ort Rune)
Weapon: Carin Shard (Socketed with an Ist Rune)
Shield: Homunculus (Socketed with a Perfect Diamond)
Gloves: Frostburn
Belt: Gloom's Trap
Boots: Infernostride
Amulet: Rare with +1 to Necro skills, +35 Poison Resist and +15 to the others, some dex, some life, and 75% poison length reduction.
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Dwarf Star

(Non-Diablo II players might want to hop on over to The Arreat Summit for more information on all this stuff.)

Yes, battle.net players, you are free to laugh at my lack of an Enigma, Arachnid Mesh, Marrowwalk, Annihilus, or Hellfire Torch. It's okay. I understand. I am at peace with Necrophage's utter lack of leet-ness.

Why? Because even without the best equipment setup he could have, he still makes short work of everything the offline game has to offer. Hell Baal? Joke. Hell Diablo? Joke. Hell Mephisto? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA. With the exception of the one time he got double-teamed by a Dark Shape boss with an Extra Strong modifier and another boss who locked him down with Holy Freeze before he could get away, he has never died on Hell difficulty, and he probably never will again. I've done Hell Pit/Countess/Meph/Diablo/Baal runs almost every day for two weeks now, and he's never been in danger of being killed once.


So what makes the game run so smoothly for our friend Necrophage? Well, for one thing, Necromancers are seriously just way too powerful. It's pretty silly how unbalanced they are compared to, say, an Amazon. But the real key to his power - as is the case with every character - is his build.

Necrophage is a standard Fishymancer build, with the only difference in approach being that I'm investing my spare points in Raise Skeletal Mage. After seeing this solo Uber Tristram run and hearing that player sing the praises of using skellie mages, I decided that would be the best outlet for my spare points, and honestly, I couldn't be happier. With a current base army of 24 minions and a current total army of 44 when I'm fully up and running, I think that the mages help a great deal in numbers alone. However, their real use comes from their ranged capability and - more importantly - their ability to prevent monster heal on Hell (poison mages) and slow Super Uniques (cold mages). With a group of cold mages + clay golem + Decrepify, I can pretty much lock down any boss to the extent where there isn't really a fight going on anymore.


Besides, where else was I gonna put those extra points? With +skills I have 20 Revive, 10+ to all my curses and 13 in golems and Golem Mastery. Skellie mages were the perfect investment beyond that. I haven't regretted the decision once since I made it.

All told, his Skill Point distribution looks like this:

Summoning:


Poison and Bone:


Curses:


And with all that he's basically invincible. These numbers aren't all that difficult to achieve, either. Remember, he only gets one +skill level from the Skin and one from his amulet. I've also chosen to use the Carin Shard instead of the Arm of King Leoric, on account of the Arm's tendency to get me trapped in Bone Prisons when I get hit, but the Arm would provide even more +skills. I make up for the lost +skills with charms, but yeah, there's definitely room for improvement. The point is that he doesn't need it.

The only other build-related issue to discuss is my choice of stat point distribution. Astute players might have noticed that I've chosen to invest in Energy over Dexterity: i.e. life over blocking. Whichever you choose is a matter of play style, but I am very happy with the fact that while I may not block very often (I have about 30% chance), I don't get hurt particularly badly when I do take a hit. I'd rather be able to soak up the damage from a surprise rush from a group of Moon Lords than have to rely on blocking to save me. Besides, taking the time to block means having less of a chance to cast Attract or Confuse to get myself out of sticky situations.

Anyway, that's pretty much all you need to know about Necrophage, and about my thoughts on LoD Necromancers in general. To sum it up: if you want to build a Necro, I suggest using Fishy's guide, investing in Raise Skeletal Mage beyond that, putting enough points in Strength to wear your gear and then dumping the rest in Energy, unless you want to drop a few in dex just to get a little extra blocking. That's pretty much what I've done, and I've never had a Diablo II character who was anywhere near this powerful.

And now that I've driven off anyone who cared enough to even start reading this post, I shall flee into the night. Er, the day. Afternoon. Whatever.