Dr. Strangebuff - Summoner Nec

[dominikake]

on the on switch gear, Crafted Necromancer Shield, how/where do you get the dex from? -requirement runes?

also, what situation would you use Hounfor oskill?

Thanks!

[HechtHeftig]

on the on switch gear, Crafted Necromancer Shield, how/where do you get the dex from? -requirement runes?

also, what situation would you use Hounfor oskill?

Thanks!

Hounfor grants +10 skills. So it's really good when you summon your totems, since they will keep the additional damage from +10 skills.

I get dex from charms. The rest are points invested.

-req orbs and jewels aren't too shabby to open up more stat points for energy.

[dominikake]

on the on switch gear, Crafted Necromancer Shield, how/where do you get the dex from? -requirement runes?

also, what situation would you use Hounfor oskill?

Thanks!

Hounfor grants +10 skills. So it's really good when you summon your totems, since they will keep the additional damage from +10 skills.

I get dex from charms. The rest are points invested.

-req orbs and jewels aren't too shabby to open up more stat points for energy.

Chamrs? You mean the Cycles in the triune?
I just need to get my merc def up and get the Goetia Plate and the Ghul rune.. moar farmin

[HechtHeftig]

With charms I mean the rewards for doing the ubers levels like

Horazon's Focus

Horazon's Focus
Required Level: 90
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
(3 to 5)% Life stolen per Hit
(3 to 5)% Mana stolen per Hit
-50 Defense
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes

and later even

Silver Seal of Ureh

Silver Seal of Ureh
Required Level: 90
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+1 to All Skills
+(21 to 30) Spell Focus
+(11 to 13)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+(11 to 20) to Strength
+(11 to 20) to Dexterity
+(11 to 20) to Vitality
+(11 to 20) to Energy

from Quov Tsin.

Triune isn't really adviced for this build. You can't see the meteors due to your summons blocking the view. But those cycles aren't that important.

[caincake]

So I've been playing summon necro throughout this ladder, using this guide for pointers quite a bit, and there's one thing that I don't get. The guide implies that Black Mass isn't worth putting a skillpoint into, yet I've been using it and have found it to have amazing utility even with a single point. I mean 20% avoid for the whole party, ITD and 500+ LoA for minions and a pretty hefty velocity bonus on top of all that increases both your offensive and defensive capabilities by a whole lot. For the life of me, I can't think of a reason to not spam this between teleports when playing a pure summoner build.
So looking at your guide I'm wondering if I am missing something here. Is there a better way to spend time between teleports?

[HechtHeftig]

So I've been playing summon necro throughout this ladder, using this guide for pointers quite a bit, and there's one thing that I don't get. The guide implies that Black Mass isn't worth putting a skillpoint into, yet I've been using it and have found it to have amazing utility even with a single point. I mean 20% avoid for the whole party, ITD and 500+ LoA for minions and a pretty hefty velocity bonus on top of all that increases both your offensive and defensive capabilities by a whole lot. For the life of me, I can't think of a reason to not spam this between teleports when playing a pure summoner build.
So looking at your guide I'm wondering if I am missing something here. Is there a better way to spend time between teleports?

My mouse buttons suck. Sometimes they just stay locked and thus when I change the skills, I teleport to the wrong point and end up dead. It happened to me multiple times in the previous patch before I started writing a guide for this build, so I decided to play without using Black mass at all. It wasn't that harmful since the enemies in the farming areas die quickly anyway, so there wasn't really a point to use it imo. And sometimes it's just better to cast Boneyard in order to quickly kill enemies than to use Black mass (Vizjun, Bremmtown and so on).

Since this build doesn't rely on Black mass, I figured it's better to spend that point in Frostclaw totem for more damage.

[caincake]

Fair points, cookie for the info.

[bradr]

For the Merc Gears:
What do you socket & MO?

First mo it until you have 200% Enhanced defense/damage
Then socket JAH runes for more defense and damage.
Rest of Mo's can be used for Magic find, except on the bow. On the bow you can use deadly strike and/or enhanced weapon damage.

cool btw whats the difference tween enhcd dmg and Ench weap dmg?

ive never been clear on that

[bradr]

Since you want the most defense possible, I'd use the strongest base like gauntlets etc.

However, it really depends on the items you have available and how much strength those give you. My merc reaches 872 strength with

Glor-An-Fhaidha's Firebark

Scales of the Serpent

Scales of the Serpent
Gothic Plate (Sacred)
Defense: (7481 - 8308) to (9074 - 10078)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 675
Item Level: 105
15% Chance to cast level 40 Arachnomancy on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 12 Time Strike on Striking
(31 to 40)% Hit Recovery
+90% Damage to Undead
Adds 200-300 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-35% to Enemy Poison Resistance
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +(25 to 30)%
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+50 Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (6)

Deadfall

Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)
Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

and

Lamen of the Archbishop

Lamen of the Archbishop
Amulet
Required Level: 110
Item Level: 120
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+4 to All Skills

these items are ofc endgame already. and 872 strength really isn't necessary. The most important part is: How much strength can your merc reach? Then look here to see how much strength which items in which spot needs and which you should use.

My merc also reaches 42k defense that way.

Crafts are only one option. The TU equipment from early game section should be enough to give some decent defense. Deadfall shouldn't be swapped out with crafts. It's simply too strong until you find a better SU.

thanks okay do i wqant str for my merc? or dex??
what i saw had me crafting the non named items with abondond shrines for dex bonus..??

was that suppossed to be str instead?

and whoever asked about gaining dex craft the necro shieild using abondond shrine gives dex bonus etc frees up points for energy..since we want hounfor we might as well use a shrine that gives us a benefit in a stat we dont want o to dump a lot of points in,...and -req crafted jewels.. i used those to wear my crafted greaves...and the body armour without needing to blow 600 str points and so i didnt need a ton of dex to wear the circlet

[HechtHeftig]

Your merc needs dex, because all bows get more damage with dex, so abondoned crafts are correct.

You just need to watch out for the crafts because they have a str requirement. Orbing -req on them would be a waste since you want your merc to have lots of ED for more defense and more MF for easer farming (eventuall even total character defense for even better survivability if your merc dies too often)

You don't need a dex crafted necro shield. Just use any shrine available. It's just your switch weapon and you only want to get hounfor. The other stats really don't matter. Orb it with -req and put -req jewels in.

ED= improving the base damage of your weapon.
EWD= improving the total damage output (it basically applies only in the character screen)

As for sockets in your other defensive armor: I'd advice either PGems with + max resist (5 of each type) in order to reach +90 max resist with Azmodan's heart or minion life jewels.