They have had these kind of fix come from community for years but they prefer to not offend the purists
Regardless, having been playing using them in hell now for a while. They are very viable. As far as my gear goes, aside from the torch, it is all pretty normal. Trangs is easy to find, dclone walks almost every day and easy enough to kill for anni … I traded for 1 um rune [found the other 2 myself] and the torch. Rolled skillers with pgems, nothing there that is above average at all. If you read the post, you’d see my ammy and skillers are plain jane. I’d say pretty average. I don’t have any summon gcs with 45 life, hell I don’t have any with life. I don’t have enigma, maras, shako, etc … so yeah pretty average. As to my merc having stone and obedience, I cubed those low runes myself from countless countess runs. Great defense on the armor and great killing with his weapon. AS far as might merc go, that is the only real beneficial merc for your army of summons. What do you need inifinity for? You have different elemental mages, you skels, merc, and your own skills. Good defense and good res and souls are a joke. If I need to, I can use amp or lower res, even decrepify. I rarely ever use other curses than those three and again, my char perfectly viable in hell. Maybe YOU need to learn how to play the game.
As far as where I put my points, obviously you didn’t read the post. I stated very clearly and in capital letters, it’s a matter of personal preference. Just because it isn’t your way or you don’t like it doesn’t make it wrong but it does make you the troll, obviously.
And yes, invested points in summon res … after primaries are filled, you put points where ever you want. doesn’t matter. Summon res is beneficial, so yeah, added to it. I didn’t know I needed your divine approval to work my char the way I wanted it. Also, if you read my post it says, “Now if you’d like to know where I put my points …” and I listed what I did. Typically, after I reach max in what I want for my build, I make sure when I hit 90+ I add a point in each and every skill in each tree. I have them all. But, again, I rarely use that many. You end up with more skill points than needed to build a strong necro.
Nowhere do I behave like you and say it has to be this way or that way. Nor did I cut down someone just because they did it different. You have major issues.
I don’t answer to you and I am very happy with my summoners performance. I won’t change a thing.
Between trangs and arm of leoric, there are just too many benefits to not use them. No one is into sets anymore, everyone thinks you need enigma, shako, spirit, etc … this makes it easier and cheaper to get the gear if you cannot find it.
Now if the summon necro could not perform in hell or kill baal or kill d-clone … I’d be right there complaining. But, there is no reason to complain, he works perfectly fine as is.
I don’t care what a sorc has or what druid has, He is not a druid, he is a necromancer. Get over it.
Now pick apart parts of my post so it is out of context so you try to make yourself look good. You are good at that!!!
Next time try to read the entire post before trying mockery and selective snips. You might learn something.
My mages die with one shot from Diablo, Act III (i think it’s act III).
yes, yes they are. they’re weaker than the trash mob minions around unique monsters. like a LOT weaker
1 Like
I don’t understand, I don’t have that issue. do you have more than 1 hard point in that skill? Do you have your summon res skill built up? Do you pump your skel mastery?
Are you talking in normal when all of your skills are still low? Because that’s normal for big D to drop your skels with ease. They are not built up yet.
Diablo is one of the easier ones to kill. Hell my mages survive D-clone and he is a lot stronger.
OH and it’s act 4. How long have you been playing?
I don’t see where they are weaker at all. Matter of fact they are stronger now than they were and perform rather well. Having 16 skels meat shield backed up by 16 mages casting various spells works great! No matter what immunes I run into.
You snipped his post instead of the entire thing … lower res does help sometimes, a lot. So does amp, so does decrepify. The summons and curses are meant to work in conjunction with one another to reach the desired result. Sorry you feel like doing so might be too much work. It’s not a simple “tele-shift/left click-pot-pot-town portal-rinse/repeat” like the overbuffed mindnumbing hammerdin which most chimpanzees can play. Most chars that are successful actually require play skills and thought and planning.
Milox did a great run down of the actual numbers on mages and outlines why mages will never stack up to Warriors.
I’ll state again what I have been saying all along: mages are a great ‘extra damage’ spot to park 20 pts into. By lvl 87 you can max Warriors, Mastery, CE and Mages as well as all curses and 1 pt in all other summons. For the straight 20 pts you can’t get better damage. 20 pts in Bone Spear, Nova or any golem will not get you the damage that mages will. If you want ‘utility’ many people will put pts in golem so the iron golems will be better.
On their own they are nothing compared to the Warriors. This is outlined in Milox’s thread on how you can boost the damage of Warriors in far more ways than you can mages. Getting them to be ‘stronger’ will take a lot more balancing them just ‘boost their damage’ or make them into archer. Archers is the one everyone wants because it will basically double the damage a normal summoner does by putting the damage mages do on par with the damage skellys do. If skellies are doing 20K dps, currently mages are like 7K thus total dps is 27K. With archers you make that 40K dps.
1 Like
Working on the mastery skills. They are still in single digit territory. I have 5 melee, 4 sorcery, 1 iron golum, and now 2 revived.
I am in normal mode. Not yet finished Act IV. Diablo keeps one shotting all my raised peeps.
Yes Act IV. I was mistaken.
Been playing since D2R went live but I don’t get much time to play because of IRL stuff (bills, work, etc.). My necro is level 35, I think, this week.
If you’re new to D2, stick to the leveling guide on maxroll. Other wise that’s not the way to level whit a summoner. You start maxing your skele warriors, and put like 3 in mastey occasionly, one in clay golem and golem mastery, one in amplify and iron maiden, all other points go into skele warriors untill maxed, in act 2 around Arcane sanctuary you put 1-2 points into corpse explosion. You kill Diablo as you kill all bosses. Spam clay golem while Diablo is under Iron Maiden effect. Once you maxed skele warriors you max mastery than CE, and then you can put points elsewhere, like Decrepify.
1 Like
In Normal, you will have issue with mages and even low level skels, especially at Big D. Get to where you have 9 skels and hit mastery hard, put 1 or 2 points in mages, 2-3 in clay golem and golem mastery and get some points into summon res [people who have never played HC totally underestimate the importance of resistances, not just for you, but for your merc and your summons as well] … mind you, you will be a higher level than the desired flight-mode people want to be in. I am usually past 25 when I finally get to ancts. I like to make sure I have decrep as well for act 4 and above in norm. Do yourself a favor, try out clay golem and decrepify on Big D and see how much of a difference it makes in killing him. See for yourself, don’t take my word for it. Clay might die easily in Norm, but, keep casting him and keep decrepify on D and you’ll see.
By the time you are into NM maybe act 2, you should have max skels, pretty close max skel mastery, have a golem with a few mastery, and some points in summon res and have up to decrepify.
This where you really start to see a difference.
Things like Trangs set combined with skill gc’s and with arm of king leoric will give your army a tremendous boost. AN act 2 might merc from NM will boost your army ability as well.
Normal is meant for the start of the build process and learn the strengths and weakness of your build and make adjustments.
By mid-NM you should have the kinks worked out.
By end-game, you’ll be unstoppable.
edit:
You haven’t been playing that long. There are a lot of things to learn. Either from others or by trial & error. I have been playing necros since about 2001. Practice makes perfect. Hang in there …
1 Like
Being somewhat new to the arena, there are many, many leveling guides out there. Here are some pointers:
[Keeping in mind, that this is how “I” build my Necromancer. And as such, is only my opinion. The build can be tweaked a million ways to Sunday and there are a lot out there that will tell you that their way is the only way. Mine is a proven successful build, FOR ME. If any part of it helps you, then awesome.]
Skills I recommend you max out in somewhat of an order:
Summoning Tree:
Summon Skeleton
Skeleton Mastery
Summon Resistances
At least 10 points into Clay Golem [my preference]
At least 5 points into Golem Mastery
Then max out Summon Skeletal Mage
1 hard point in each of the other summoning skills. Your skills items/gear will enhance each one of these.
Poison and Bone Tree:
1 in Teeth
1 in Corpse Explosion [Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT HAVE to max this skill. It only increases the area of radius. Typically, between the one hard point and the plus to skills items and gear, the radius works just fine. Your choice.]
1 in Bone Armor
1 in Bone Wall
Curses:
1 in Amplify Damage
1 in Weaken
1 in Terror
1 in Decrepify [This skill is important especially if you use Clay Golem a lot. This combined with Clay Golem vs. bosses works wonders]
1 in Iron Maiden
1 in Life Tap
1 in Lower Resistances [Can be important vs. creatures with multiple immunities. And works well if you are in a party to help out casters]
- Again, 1 hard point and your plus to skills items & gear will enhance all of them.
** After achieving this level, all other skill points you earn are pretty much “extra”. Feel free to enhance any skills you deem necessary for your play style. I recommend at least 1 point in everything and then getting picky. LOL. Try it out, worst case, reset your skills at Akara or get a Token of Absolution to reset your skills and fill them as you see fit.
GEAR:
As far as gear goes, again, preference. You always start off with like Lore, Spirit, Viper, etc … this is this stuff that gets you through…
Recommendation [What to work up to, in time. For end-game.]
Full Trang Ouls Set
Arm of King Leoric
Marrowalks
+3 Summon Ammy
7 x +1 Summonimg GC’s
Torch
Anni
Rings are up to you … 2 x Soj’s [if you can ever get them, lol. or some good res rings.
I recommend for resistances purposes, socketing the Armor/Helm/Shield with Um Runes. That’ll add +52 to all res’ and the 3 Anya quests adds another +30 … that gets you to +82 with ease. Your gear has added res’ built in as well.
MERCENARY:
Act 2 NM Might Mercenary. It will increase your army’s damages. Currently mine has level 19 with +220% damages.
Don’t forget to equip your merc as well.
It took me a while but mine has:
Obedience Thresher [Great damages and res.
Stone in a great hauberk for 1566 defense. Adds to vitality and res.
Lore for the helm [LOL, for now. Is all I could get at the moment] It is +1 to all skills he has, adds Light res of 30%, Damage reduction by 7. Just a little added help.
Stat points [ another area in great contention with a lot of people. But, here’s my take]:
Enough Str & Dex to wear all gear [you are not melee, you do not need max block. You work behind an army and cast spells.]
Energy 0 [you are not a caster, the mana you will need is low and your gear will provide for it.]
Vitality [Every single last point you can get! LOL. Life, like resistances, keeps you alive.]
- Just a little synopsis just to help you along and give you some ideas. Use one idea or all of them. As long as it helps you along.
** Check out Arreat Summit web page. It has been around a long time and has tons & tons of information for you.
1 Like
As afr as damages go, you’ll have to look up how they meet up and enhance but:
My skels are lvl 44
My Mages are lvl 43
My skel mstry is lvl 46
Now damages:
skels
754-758 damage
Life 819
AR 1355
Danage +287%
Life +368 from mstry
Damage +92 from mstry
Damage from merc +220%
Mages
Life 673
Def 890
Life +368 from mstry
Improved missile damage from mstry
Revives
Life +230% from mstry
danage +460% from mstry
My summon res is at lvl 41 and has resist all +72% [not counting any inherent res they have initially and from leveling].
A lot of information but you can see where I am going with it.
1 Like
My question here would be why the Arm and not a Hoto?
+3 skills, res and everything.
I would figure this to be a better advange.
The dmg is too low. Also, with 25% chance of a poison mage - you can frequently get a lot of useless psn mages whose dmg does not stack. In players 1 - an entire 12 army of psn mages cant kill any mob in Hell.
Furthermore, while they provide ancillary meat shield from flanking attackers - they also block doorways and bridges. Any narrow passage becomes a major problem. Weve all seen this in locations like River of Flame, Maggot Lair, and Tombs. Then the only option is teleport which is very risky, and essentially neutralizes the survivability advantage the summoner has.
That final problem severely limits the number of areas the necro can effevtively farm as summoner (and the clear speed).
For example, Pindle is fine as a run - but if you summon any mages at all as you approach him - they will block the doorway and often prevent your merc and skeleton warriors from entering. Ive had a lvl 92 necro die in HC to this mistake.
Ive tested countless ways to do the build and at the end of the day, mages are just bad and only for RPG/lulz
1 Like
Just FYI, Diablo in normal is notoriously hard for the summon necro. Literally, the summoner is one of the best starter characters, but normal Diablo is the BANE of its existence for sure. Everyone struggles there.
Best point, as stated above, is use decrepify and keep casting clay golem on top of him. Just try it. 
3 Likes
This is why:
One-Hand Damage: 10 To 22 (16 Avg)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 15
Base Weapon Speed: [-20]
+50% Damage To Undead
10% Chance To Cast Level 2 Bone Prison When Struck
5% Chance To Cast Level 10 Bone Spirit When Struck
- (1.25 Per Character Level) 1-123 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 To Terror (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 To Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
So let’s see ……
That’s
+5 to raise skeleton
+5 to skeleton mastery
+4 to raise skeleton mage
+2 to all other summoning skills
…. the important base skills for the most important part of your army is better than +3 … I reckon if you’d had read up a bit, you just might have noticed this. Maybe.
So, evidently, you figured, well, wrong.
I can farm ANY AND ALL areas of the game in Hell with 8 total players in the game. So where do you get your information from?
I’d like to see where blizz has told you that the faster you kill the better the drops? Fast or slow, drops are NOT determined and calculated UNTIL the death of the enemy.
So, your argument holds no water.
Show me the code in the game where it says:
“WAIT! Recalculate. He killed it faster then anyone else!”
DROPS ARE NOT CALCULATED AND DETERMINED UNTIL AFTER THE ENEMY IS DEAD. It does not have a flag or anything that says, the kill started at this time and was completed at this time!
Your best option is to use Arm to Summon up your skellies and then switch to HoTo…More over Beast. Summons retain the level they were summoned at, which is why when you get a skill shrine you then re-summon everything you can.
For leveling a summoner you dump all your pts into Raise Skelly until it is maxed. Make room for Amp, Iron Maiden, Mastery, Clay Golem and you have maxed skellies by lvl 23, 21 if you kill Izzy by then.
Normal Diablo is best killed with IM and Clay Golem.
Summoners can farm anywhere.
Mages need better damage scaling.
Thank you for the responses, everyone.
My skill tree relates the following:
Summoning
- Raise skeleton: 9
- Skeleton mastery: 8
- Clay golem: 1
- Golem mastery: 2
- Raise skeletal mage: 7
- Blood golem: 1
- Iron golem: 2
- Revive: 2
Poison and Bone
- Bone armor: 3
Curses
- Amplify damage: 1
- Iron maiden: 2
Character characteristics because my character matters (level 35)
- Strength:73
- Dexterity: 67
- Vitality 65
- Energy: 56
- Attack damage: 150-182
- Attack rating: 817
- Defense: 195
- Stamina: 205
- Life: 264
- Mana: 165
- Fire resistance: 80%
- Cold resistance: 29%
- Lightning resistance: 33%
- Poison resistance: 27%
The only socketed item I have is a double axe called Gale Song, a purple and a green gem, top most level gems.
I think me needs to respect me necro 
1 Like
Alright guys. I’m going to write down what you need (gear) in order to be a godly summoner necro, or at least what I’ve had for years in original D2. I was hoping that whoever linked that video they would mention what I want to now, but they didn’t.
If anyone already wrote before me what I am about to then dismiss this.
What I’ve read through the comments, I just see people that don’t have enough knowledge or just can’t afford the best gear.
I don’t want this to be a wall of text but I’m afraid it will be so quickly without anymore delay:
Skills: The only difference in skills is that instead of skele mage I max Iron Golem for it’s better survivability.
The only curse I ever use is amplify damage.
Now gear: this is the part where most will give up for obvious reasons or will have a mediocre summoner.
You need as much +skill gear and AURA gear if you want hell to be a walk in the park
My build gear: Enigma, arm of leoric, marrowwalk, spirit, shako, trang gloves, 2x soj, mara or +3 summoner amu
Now to me that is honestly very basic, the bare minimum
Here is though, what will set me apart from everyone else:
Merc gear: hire one with might aura obviously
Helm: eth andy or eth vampire gaze
Armor: Fortitude
Weapon: Pride with lvl 20 Aura
Last but not least you make an iron golem out of the runeword: Beast
With iron gol maxed out he never dies, probably wouldn’t even need to max it out but what else to put points in to?
In original d2 it happened to me very few times that the golem disappeared. That sucks.
I guess they fixed it now in D2R.
That’s it. In my opinion pride 20(yeah 16-19 aura will do until you get one with 20) aura and beast iron golem are a must. You can switch things up.
If you want to crank things up even further, switch out a soj with wisp projector. That has a lvl 5 heart of wolverine on it
Hell diablo and baal go down in 3 seconds max, but for that enigma is key.
Instead of waiting for your army to get to them you teleport on top of them.
The great thing about enigma is that you have full control over your army.
So when I teleport on top of any mob or boss, the whole army is stacked and instantly attack whoever I teleported on. This is how you can take out any mob instantly
- always casting amplify dmg for 100% more physical dmg your army tears through anything except uber tristram.
The 3 lesser ubers, andy, duriel and izual I can kill with this necro.
With a little tweaking for survivability maybe uber tristram could be doable.
Good luck to you all.
PS: now in D2R and with patch 2.4 I’m doing the same thing with the druid. So far so good.
No iron golem, but we have heart of wolverine!
make them use magic arrow, so they deal phys dmg and a tiny bit of magic dmg 
1 Like