starting necro

cyborg, your plan seems pretty good as far as skills, just one quick thing. The a3 merc that heals is the bloodmage and he is fire and poison based. I would focus on fire spell dmg runes as Ort runes will do nothing for him. Obviously once you start gearing the merc for real go for high def fascinating crafted sacred pieces and socket them all with kra runes (fire pierce).

Also, I disagree about parasite being shite and about dagger/shield being bad. Parasite works just fine for clearing with enough damage and, while leveling, a 2h scythe is better, dagger plus shield is amazing for end game and ubers. The defiler ssu dagger is a game changer for dagger nec, it makes parasite truly powerful and the deathlord morph is amazing. Just some thoughts

atm idk if i'll play nec that far into the late game, it comes down to if i enjoy the playstyle. . . the melee style necro i'm not a huge fan of atm while leveling. . . .

does it change much later on? atm it's just, right click and carnage auto through people, which has a very very small AoE radius. ik i get the slow leap later on but is that all melee necro gets offensively? if so, it's not really my style lol.

as for merc. i guess i'm kind of used to the abjurer for lightening dmg output.

Pinball wrote:Bonesplitter > Raptor Scythe base btw

Damage wise, yes.

But its way harder to reach max fpa with a Bonesplitter (414 IAS) compared to a Raptor Scythe (270 IAS).

Carnage is your single target, parasite is your AOE. Parasite gets better as you gain more targets. You could also try the Medusa O-skill (ix in scythe) lol.

where i can find starkiller for xbow wep?

Root93 wrote:where i can find starkiller for xbow wep?

Tiered unique stinger crossbow. Find a tier 1-4 stinger crossbow as a drop or gamble for it, and cube with two arcane crystals and an oil of enhancement. If you're new, you'll definitely have two crystals by the end of act 3.

OP auto carnaging through mobs is not, in my opinion, the way to play melee necro. It comes down to deciding when to carnage and when to parasite. Parasite is AMAZING for groups of mobs that are relatively spaced out, as in not in one dense clump. Parasite mechanics are a bit weird and will not jump right if the mobs are too grouped up but it works amazing, even while leveling, at killing things across the screen. Coincidentally, you have a skill tailor made to kill large groups of enemies tightly grouped, carnage, which also happens to be one of the most amazing single target boss killers in the game. If you can get through the leveling melee necro isn't the fastest farmer in endgame but he is extremely safe, powerful and is an amazing uber killer, regardless if you go 2h scythe or dagger/shield.

Last thought, on the merc. Abjurer is definitely higher damage output but don't discount bloodmage. He casts real fast and puts out quite a bit of fire damage. Also keep in mind he shoots punishers real often, and poison damage spells can proc on kill effects, unlike all other spells. Just some intriguing food for thought. If you stick with abjurer it is better for him to socket nih runes in all his gear so he can stay in superbeast longer rather than pierce or straight spell dmg.

atm i'm messing with totem as it seems to fit my playstyle a bit more. at least for the leveling process. . . . though i'm curious. totemic mastery is +1 totems every 5 hard points. However, i only have 2 frostclaw and don't have 2 fireheart. is there a way to manipulate which totem gets the bonus? i see both fireheart and frostclaw pretty equal, but can't see a reason for stormeye anywhere.

also, for totem nec. is it a decent or poor idea to go up to iron golem and 1 pt resurgence. without stacked minion health/resistances him or the Jinn almost feel like might would die in an uber without those stats stacked, but idk.

You cant choose the specific totem to get that bonus. That sucks when the only good totem is Fireheart and you need 30 points into Mastery to get max 5 Fireheart.

Yes. Stormeye sucks damn hard. Ive told Marco so many times but meh.. dont think it will be changed. Dumb reworked skill.

If your jinm is that fragile then make it become target of BtS

another alternative i was considering, strictly for leveling and nothing else (would respec around the 100 mark to w/e build at that point. maybe earlier. it's main objective is to speed clear through the early content rapidly, and build some of my earlier stuff. sort of how i play a twin fang strike sin till 80-100's then transition to other specs, as that's when the TU starts to fall off and ubers become a thing) is a pestilence build.

weapon - The Compensator
shield - Destroying Angel
Chest - Queen of Glass
Gloves - Vilehand
helm - Glowskull
belt - Moonwrap
boots - Rabbits Foot

Skills

Pestilence - max
Rotting flesh - 7-8 points. enough to get me to mephisto | or 2-3, enough to kill andarial a few times to pick up The Compensator
Embaling - max
Death Ward - max
1 pt - iron golem
nightwalker - remaining.

edit: i even considered changing a couple of the poison dmg items for +str%/+dex% items with high innate armor, even without poison dmg. as it feels the multiplicative bonus and higher survival may be nice. I can swap to melee/bow later at the 100-105 mark for ubers at that point.

what do you think is one of the fastest builds to get from 1-100ish with? . . . . atm my mind is leaning totem, pesti, rotting flesh + stormeye/fireheart (with just a genaric +spell dmg setup to boost rotting flesh for screenclearing trash, and stormeye/fireheart for bosses. . . 1-5 points iron golem for boss tanking is likely something i'd go with in either build though, as he seems bulky enough that pre ubers he'll survive on his own fine.