Als je Nu zou gaan sterven ...

[Frida]

wat zouden je laatste woorden zijn???

[cinnie]

zeg tegen dyon dat ik hem nooit vergeten ben

nee ik weet niet watik zou zegge... k denk iets van k hou van jullie ofzo

[Talon]

dih

[Gothic]

dag wereld

[Boogie]

kzou zwijgen

[Conan the Librarian]

Help!

[Methuselah]

dat ligt eraan wie er bij is, als ik nu zou sterven dan zeg ik ik hou van jullie,en van christ want die is er niet bij.

[Kazanka]

ik zei nog even willen zeggen :


Introduction

Assassin is a character that is kind of hard to play in some ways. You have to be very dexterous with your keyboard and mouse because you will have to do a lot of clicking and skill switching and this can bring some pain in your hand. Make sure you put skills to the most accessible keys on your keyboard. I took all these things into consideration when I built my Assassin (as little skill switching as possible). This guide isn't for the players that like to play characters in the most strange and innovative ways.

This guide is a very good reference to players who wish to test out the new character and want to level it up without any problems to at least level 90. Also equipment suggestions are for every player out there not only for the wealthy ones so if you are a newbie check it out it may help you build cheap but very effective Assassin. Also, I have personally tested all the skills and all comments about usefulness will be mine and not taken from any forum posts and other guides.

Skills

I will mark skills on a scale from 1(worst) to 5(best). All marks will be augmented so make sure you read well before you flame. Also very important notice before we start- we are talking about usefulness in 8player HELL games and NOT Normal/Nightmare and NOT Single player games. Also I am taking into account that you have some +skills from items. A note in [ ] means my suggestion on how much skill points should be put into that skill.

Martial Arts

Charge up skills

When you attack a monster (or other player) with a charge up skill, you will do normal attack damage to a monster (but with better attack rating), plus your next attack will have a special ability added. You can release charge ups either with normal attack or Kick finishers (described in detail a bit later). All charge up skills can be charged up to max 3 levels (you can easily notice that because of small differently colored balls which are circling around you), each level either being better than the previous or adding other type of attack. You can also combine multiple charge ups and release them all at once. You have 8 seconds to release all charge ups after after you have hit the last monster. After 8 seconds all unreleased charge ups will disappear.

Tiger strike(5) - [MAX] This is very useful skill for killing act bosses, Unique and Champion monsters. It only increases base damage of your weapon by a certain % (if you have 50-100 claw it will only take 50-100 damage into account, not damage boosted by STR/DEX and Claw mastery!), so this skill works best if used in conjunction with high damage claws. Max this one out, but you don't have to do it right away.

Cobra strike (4) - [1PT] This is an example of a skill that requires only one point to be effective. If you use good damage claws, you will leech tons of life and mana without the need to combine this one with the Tiger strike. If you need instant mana and life cup refill, also charge up Tiger strike and release both.

Fists of Fire (2+) - [1PT] Being very effective in Normal difficulty only, this one isn't that bad at all. 3rd charge has very good area of effect so spam some in a quick succession for good Fire damage effect. You can use Claws of Thunder instead of this if you want (better direct damage). Boost this with +skill items until you reach level 30 when Phoenix strike becomes available. Useless after level 30.

Claws of Thunder (3) - [1PT or MAX] This skill is the most damaging low level charge-up skill. EACH charge will add Lightning damage to your claws. Charge #2 will also release a Nova-like effect, which will damage (and stun!) all monsters in a small circle which can be very useful. Charge #3 will release multiple VERY damaging Charged Bolts which will have pretty good range. If you MAX this skill it can be useful also in Hell difficulty, but the problem is that it's a one-element attack which makes it useless against Lightning immune monsters. You will have to rely on other charge-up skills or traps to deal with Lightning immunes. However if you are looking for a bit different build then this skill may well be useful for you. 1PT as a prerequisite - if you want to go for Phoenix strike. MAX if you want to use this skill as your main elemental/area of effect attack.

Blades of Ice (2-) - [1PT] This skill works slightly differently than other charge up skills as all charge ups do the same cold damage, the only difference is that cold damage gets some range (chargeup #2) and "freeze" duration (charge up #3). The problem is that "freeze" duration is actually "chill" duration in D2X 1.08 so monsters aren't frozen, only slowed. You don't really have a good reason to put more than one point into skill (as a prerequisite). Cold damage sucks at Hell difficulty (even at level 20, it's only like 300 damage), and no freeze means Phoenix strike kicks this skill's ass big time.

Phoenix strike (5) - [MAX] Kickass skill for killing groups of monsters, this one is a MUST for any MA Assassin out there (except if you go for Dragon Tail build). Each level of charge adds different elemental attack, and that allows you to fight all different immune monsters without much problems in Hell difficulty. Max it out as soon as possible and also boost it with +skill items and charms so that you will do as much damage as possible. Fire attack-Meteor isn't all that good because it takes too much time for it to do the damage. Also damage per second is very poor. Lightning is my personal favorite. This is basically very powerful Chain lightning attack and you can release multiple ones very fast. It will deal damage instantly to a whole screen of monsters, and it will also briefly stun all affected monsters. Definitely a killer in hands of a skillful Assassin. Freeze attack works well throughout all difficulty levels and it's much better thing than Mind Blast for crowd control in my opinion. Cold damage sucks though, so you will have to combine this with other PS charges or Traps.

Kick finishers

Kick finishers are a special tree of Martial arts skills, which all base on your character's Kick damage (except Dragon Claw).

You can release all charge ups with Kick finishers (and Dragon claw).

You can calculate your character's Kick damage using this formulab <thanks to Kalbear for pointing that out>:

Min. damage = (STR+DEX-20)/4

Max. damage = (STR+DEX-20)/3

Kick damage seems fairly low but Kick finishers boost that damage by a quite good % of added damage. You will need more STR and DEX than usual if you want to use kick finishers as your main attack (and still remain good at killing things in Hell difficulty).

Dragon Talon (3) - [1PT] This skill is good only at low levels, because it adds a good attack rating boost, and also because kick damage is quite good at early levels (because you don't have all those overpowered claws yet). More points add more damage/attack rating and more kicks but skill only affects one monster at a time so it's not very useful for exping. 1PT as a prerequisite, boost with +skill items if you want to use this one at early levels.

Dragon Claw (4+) - [1PT or MAX] This isn't really a Kick finisher, but instead a finisher when using two claws. If you only have one claw equipped this one won't be available. It's definitely the best finishing move, being slightly slower than Normal attack, but it makes more damage and has a lot of attack rating added (and attacks with both claws simultaneously). You will release charge up only once even though you attack with two claws with this attack. If you don't want to use a shield this skill is for you.

Dragon Tail (4) - [1PT or MAX] A skill of choice if you go for a specific Dragon Tail build. The nice thing is that it adds quite good fire damage to your kick damage in a small radius and it also knocks back all monsters a bit so you will never get overwhelmed when using this one. The bad thing is that you need to boost your STR and DEX much more if you want this one to be relatively effective in Hell difficulty. Combine with Tiger strike for best efficiency of this skill (you will do TS damage only to a monster you are targeting). This skill doesn't do any damage to Physically immune monsters even though it adds Fire damage. 1PT as a prerequisite or MAX if you want Dragon Tail specific build.

Dragon Flight (3) - [1PT or MAX] Basically a combination of Sorceress skill Teleport and Barbarian skill Leap attack, this one is a all-in-one buster. Best used in PvP (Player vs. Player) to reach hostile players quickly and also do a devastating kick on touchdown. It's also very useful for PvM (Player vs. Monster) because you will always have an option to choose the most favourable fighting position (ie., if you get overwhelmed teleport out of a monster group). It can also be used as a good way to transport around if there are monsters on the other side. It would get a 4 if it didn't have two horrible flaws: firstly, it has a 2 second casting delay (after you have cast it once you will have to wait for 2 seconds), and secondly, it requires a monster (not any other like a chest for example!) target to actually work. Also in my observation, a third flaw has been noticed. Your attack speed is almost zeroed when you perform this skill. So if you teleport somewhere, your Traps casting/Attack speed will drop to zero for a short time. 1PT if you need this as a means of transporting, MAX if you need this skill for PvP.

Shadow disciplines

Claw mastery (4) - [1PT-MAX] This skill only adds some more damage and attack rating to your base claw damage, so it's not that useful at all. It also can't be compared to a similar Barbarian skill because it doesn't add any Critical strike chance. You will want to max this skill but it's not required to do so at once. Drop a point or two into it from time to time.

Psychic hammer(1) - [1PT] I can't really find any good use of this skill in action. It probably has some (tiny) use at early levels because it Knockbacks opponents and does some magic damage, but at early levels opponents are piece of cake anyway and you don't need this skill at all. 1 point as a prerequisite.

Weapon block (4) - [1-10PT] This skill is very important if you play with two claw class weapons equipped. It will add a chance to block any physical attack. It works in the same way as a shield, except that you block faster with this skill than you would with a usual (non-faster block rate) shield. Blocking of this skill is not dependant on your DEX so you can have much less DEX if you use two claws. You will have 50% block rate at slvl 10 which is more than enough. Returns at higher skill levels are very poor. If you use a shield, only put 1PT into this skill as a prerequisite.

Cloak of Shadows (2) - [1PT] The most annoying skill of them all, this one will make screen dark, reduce monster defense by a certain percentage (useless), and it will also blind monsters if they haven't spotted you yet (almost useless). Monsters will still attack you if you come too close to them or attack them. This one is probably a bit more useful for Trap Assassins, because blinded monsters won't attack you so you can cast traps around them without any problem, but for Martial arts Assassins it's worthless (except in areas with many ranged attackers, but even there it won't be of much help). This skill is also "beneficial" to other players in your party if they are close to you when you cast it. Shadow master will also cast this one fairly often to annoy your party members. 1PT as a prerequisite, use when necessary.

Shadow Warrior (3) - [1PT] This skill will create your copy which will use two skills you currently have set on your action buttons. This means you have quite good control over what skills she is using. I think warrior can be better than master for MA Assassin that relies heavily on Phoenix strike because she will also use PS(mostly #1 charge-Meteor). Shadow master doesn't use Phoenix strike. Unfortunately warrior has too low life and no resistances and gets killed pretty often even in realm 8player games (even though her life is improved with more players in a game). 1PT in any case.

Shadow Master (4) - [1PT] Shadow Master is somewhat different than Warrior. She has more life and resistances than Warrior. She can use all skills available to Assassin but quite frankly I've never seen her use Phoenix strike or any other area-of-effect charge up skill. She is mostly a caster so she will NOT use combat skills very often. The best benefit of Master is her continuous Mind Blasting of monsters, which can be very helpful(if your connection drops while monsters are around, it will buy you some precious seconds), but also very annoying (if she converts a SINGLE leftover monster you were fighting). She will also cast Cloak of Shadows very often to annoy your party members. Other skills I've seen her using are: Dragon Tail, Dragon Flight, Dragon Claw, Tiger strike, Cobra strike, Lightning sentry, Wake of Inferno, Venom, Burst of Speed, Fade, Blade Fury, Blade Shield, Fists of Ice. 1PT is more than enough.

Mind Blast (4) - [0PT-1PT] Mind Blast is a nice skill mostly because it has pretty good area of effect and good stun duration (which isn't affected by game difficulty level). I don't quite like conversion effect of the skill (because PS Chain lightning won't affect them if they are converted) but most players agree it's definitely good to have. D2X versions 1.07 and 1.08 have a bug which reduces HP of all unconverted monsters (which have been converted with this skill) to 1, so next hit will kill them. You have to be lower level than monsters for this bug to work. The bug will however always work if you leave casting of this skill to Shadow Master which is my recommendation - in that case you don't need to put 1PT into this one. If you want to cast this skill for yourself put 1PT into this skill and boost it with +skill items.

"Aura" skills

These skills will improve your character in a certain way. You can only have ONE active at any time so choose wisely. These "Auras" will not affect your Shadow, Party members or Mercenary.

Burst of Speed (5) - [8PTs] This is the best Aura skill of the three available. Boosting walk/run speed and attack speed into the Sky, this one really improves your fighting effectiveness. You really want as much attack speed as you can get. I suggest you put 8PTs into this one because it maxes out with 8 points (returns are diminishing fast after slvl 8). +Skill items will boost this one further.

Fade (3) - [0PT or 1PT] This skill is more or less optional. It will add tons of resistances and it will reduce curse duration (useless). This one is mainly useful in Hell difficulty if you don't have enough resistances, but I suggest you only use it if you really need resistances over speed. If your Fire/Cold resists are 0 and Lightning is MAX in Hell difficulty you can almost forget this one. It's very useful in certain areas such as Mephisto's durance of Hate and Chaos sanctuary.

Venom (1) - [0PT] This skill is similar to the Necromancer skill "Poison Dagger", the only difference is that this one works as an Aura. It adds high Poison damage to your claws which can be further improved with +Poison damage weapons or Charms. A nice effect is that you can do tons of damage over time, but you do very poor damage over 1 second. For example if you have 5000 poison damage over 20 seconds, you only do 250 damage/second (if a monster has no poison resistance of course) which isn't that much, and even worse it only affects one monster. Undead monsters are highly resistant or even immune to Poison and that's not a very good recommendation for this skill. With a good damage claws you can do like 900 physical damage / second to a monster and that doesn't even include Tiger strike. If we compare Venom to Phoenix strike, PS has an area of effect and it can be used with Burst of Speed. How many successful Poison Dagger Necromancers have you seen in the last year? HINT: Avoid this skill, it's worthless in Hell difficulty. It is however still good if you want to try out specific Venom Assassin build (very dependant on +Poison damage items/charms). Hopefully poison damage will be improved with the new patch and make this skill more useful as it is now.

Traps

Traps are basically devices that do different sorts of elemental damage. Trap casting speed is dependant on your weapon speed so make sure you have fast weapon equipped if you want to use traps a lot. Burst of Speed also helps here. You can have a maximum of 5 traps of the same or different type around at any time per player, so take that into account when you calculate "actual" trap damage (read: multiply by 5). When you cast 6th trap, first trap in sequence will be destroyed. Traps cannot be destroyed by monsters or other players. If you want even more traps, you will have to rely on Shadow Warrior to cast them (Master doesn't cast traps too often) - that can add additional 5 traps. Traps can be used for killing monsters in 1 player Hell games, and used for a lot of additional damage in games with up to 8players(Hell).

Fire blast (1) - [0PT-1PT] This isn't really a trap. It reminds more of an exploding potion, and effectiveness isn't much better either. Mana cost is way too high to use it at lower levels. Unfortunately you have to waste 1PT into it because it's a prerequisite for all traps. 0PT - If you don't need traps you also don't need this.

Shock web (2) - [0PT or 1PT] The only 'real' trap, this one will make a circle of lightning spikes when cast. If a monster steps on the trap he will take some Lightning damage. You can set 5 of these but even in that case damage is too low. 1PT if you go for Lightning sentry/Death sentry or 0PT if you don't need Lightning traps at all.

Charged Bolt sentry (2) - [0PT or 1PT] When cast it will create a device which will automatically target and attack the closest monster with Charged Bolts. Range of this trap isn't very good and damage also isn't that high. Sparks also have another problem - they have a tendency to miss a target. The trap only has 5 charges which isn't enough for its low effectiveness. 1PT if you go for Lightning sentry/Death sentry or 0PT if you don't need Lightning traps at all.

Wake of Fire (3) - [0PT or 1PT] I think this is the best low level trap. It has decent damage and best area of effect of all traps. It will fire a triangular firewall in a monster direction. A fun trap to use in early level duels. 1PT if you go for Wake of Inferno or 0PT if you don't need Fire traps at all.

Lightning sentry (4) - [0PT,1PT,MAX] Definitely best trap if you play as a 'trapper'. It has pretty good damage and range. Lightning will often hit more than one monster so the damage is much better than at first glance. It also has 10 charges which is very good mana/damage efficiency. The bad thing: it will miss moving targets, so make sure you have a meat shield around. 0PT if you don't need Lightning traps at all, 1PT if you only go for Death sentry, MAX if you want to use this trap as additional damage disher in Hell difficulty.

Wake of Inferno (4) - [0PT or MAX] As a personal flamethrower, this is definitely a trap that can be micromanaged very well. It has pretty low range (roughly 1/2 of 640x480 screen) so you can basically tell this one what to attack. Cast it around a monster pack and attack that pack with Phoenix strike. Very deadly combination. Also nice sweetie is very good damage and 10 charges, so it can be used by Martial arts Assassins without a lot of Mana. Definitely best trap for Martial artist, this one will greatly improve your killing speed at all difficulty levels. I would recommend maxing this one out as soon as possible. 0PT - if you don't need Fire traps at all (what a mistake!).

Death sentry (4) - [0PT or 1PT] Death sentry is a funny trap. It is basically similar to Lightning sentry, except that it has a special bonus added - Corpse explosion (CE) effect. Lightning attack is a waste on this trap because it doesn't do as much damage as Lightning sentry and the trap has only 5 charges which isn't a very good mana/damage efficiency. So it is mostly used for its CE effect. Corpse explosion does damage based on hitpoints of killed monster corpse, which makes it very powerful in Single player games. The bad thing is CE damage doesn't scale up with more players in the game so it's at only 1/8 efficiency in 8player games. It's however very effective if you have few monsters standing on few corpses - DS can quickly reduce life of living monsters by 1/2. Also a good thing to know is the fact that CE is 50% fire and 50% physical damage so you can use it against Fire/Physical immune monsters at 50% efficiency. Problems are two. First one is that if monsters shatter (which is common if you use Phoenix strike freeze a lot) there will be no corpse and Death sentry won't do anything. Second one is that you have to waste 4 skill points to get to this trap so if you want only this one get yourself a claw with +1-3 to Death sentry and put it into your second weapon switch and you will have free Death sentry and 4(or 5) free skill points. 0PT - you don't really need this trap to be more effective. Maxing out this trap is not recommended (except if you are a hardcore trapper).

Blade skill tree

This tree has the most strange skills of all characters. They will definitely make you look like a Ninja. Unfortunately they are all worthless. I think Blizzard really has to do something with them, either make them work with Venom (yup, they don't work with Venom) or give them ability to leech back mana.

Blade Sentinel (1) - [0PT or 1PT] This skill will create a spinning blade which will patrol the area from your standing point to the point to which you sent it. Problems are two. First one, damage isn't all that good, and blade has annoying tendency to get stuck on different objects on the ground(like chests, rocks, wells,...). Second one, it has a 2 second casting delay! Forget this skill at all. It's not even prerequisite for anything good. 1PT if you really can't live without Blade Fury or Blade Shield.

Blade Fury (2+) - [0PT or MAX] The best skill this tree has to offer. It will make you look very cool because you will release ninja-like spinning blades. At first casting, you will send 3 Blades towards the target, and after that Blades will be sent in quick succession. This skill is not dependant on either you casting speed or weapon speed so the speed is always the same. Damage in 8player games is pretty poor even with maxed skill, so you can safely forget this one. Luckily it doesn't have a casting delay so you can throw a nice quantity of blades in a short time (if you have a lot of mana). You won't hit moving targets with this one. It could've been much better if it worked with Venom skill (for those Venom Assassins). Got any hints Blizzard?

Blade Shield (2) - [0PT or 1PT] Now this one is funny. When you cast it it will do damage to any opponents that approach you too closely. Damage of this skill sucks however it does have a hidden bonus which can be helpful to some Assassin builds. If you have Knockback, Hit causes monster to flee, Freezes Target or Crushing blow on any of your items (this includes armor, boots, gloves, helms, belts), these blades will also have the same abilities on. So you can have Blade shield that Knockbacks/Freezes opponents, causes monsters to flee (flee % chance has to be over 50% for this to work well) or reduce 1/2 HP of a monster if a Crushing blow is successful. The latter seems like a very damaging capability, however Crushing blow is at 1/8 efficiency in 8 player games, and multiple Crushing blow items don't stack (ie., if you have Goblin Toe boots(25% CB), and Guillaume's face(35% CB) you won't have 60% chance for a successful Crushing blow, but rather each item will be applied to your attack separately, thus making a chance you will have 2 successful Crushing blows in ONE attack). Still, Crushing blow can make quite some additional damage to monsters with high HP (up to around 1000 damage / successful CB), but the downside is you have to rely on Crushing blow equipment, and that's not what I like very much. Also, Blade shield duration is kind of short so you will have to either add some more +skill items or put more points into this skill (NOT recommended).

[Dutchy15]

I love you


Bye bye

[~eef]

Kazanka, liev broertje, beter ben ik er niet bij als jij sterft

[Kazanka]

Secreet schreef:



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nou ehm eigenlijk...


Necromancer Guide
Author: Justin Johnson Page One




Navigation
Introduction
Attribute Allocation
Skills
Skill Allocation
Conclusion
Variants
Introduction

This guide is pretty long. It is oriented to players who have played at least one necromancer before, preferably at least to level 30.

This guide discusses stat point placement in a very specific way, skill point placement in a general way, and equipment choices almost not at all.

Many guides will say, "I recommend {a certain amount of} strength to wear Trang-Oul's Avatar set," but since the vast majority of golemancers will never get all the items of the Avatar set I don't account for that. The only item I recommend specifically is a pair of Frostburn gauntlets or possibly a Stone of Jordan ring, primarily for the mana benefit.

As a general guide, necromancers should concentrate on getting resistances from charms, belts, boots, amulets, circlets, rings, and armor. They should try to get extra skills from jewels, wands, totems, circlets, amulets and rings (if they are really lucky). They should try to get faster hit recovery from charms, belts, boots, or armor, and fast run/walk on any item they can. Anything that is plus-to-life or plus-to-mana is potentially useful to necromancers, but often extra resistances are more useful in the long run. The gloves slot should be reserved for Frostburn gauntlets if a necromancer can trade/buy/kill for them.

To succeed at anything (either in the world of Earth or the world of Sanctuary) it is very important to realize your core beliefs, your end goals, and your path along the way. A Golemancer, which is typically defined as a golem-oriented necromancer variant, is no different.

Golemancer:
Core Belief - "My strength in others."
End Goals - "Ascension to ladder status."
Path Along the Way - "Teaming for maximum effectiveness."

The core belief of the golemancer is that he relies on others to be his strength. He will never wield a sword to hew monsters limb from limb, and he will never hurl frozen orbs that mow down everyone in their path. The Golemancer uses his skills and powers to support the killing power of others, primarily the killing power of his summonable golem and his hireling.

The golemancer build is not a good build for player-versus-player matchups, so if your goal for playing a necromancer entails domination of other players in duels then this build is not for you. The golemancer is a good build for players who want to gain high levels ("my goal is to reach clvl80", ex.) and it is an acceptable build for those who want to gather treasure or simply defeat Baal in all three difficulties.

A character built as a golemancer will not be a powerful killer without his minions or his hireling; he will obviously not be an imposing "Dark Knight" or a deadly "Lord of Mages". He will be sure and steady, reliable but unimpressive, just like his golems.

Golemancers will very likely spread their accumulated points through all three trees, but your main investments will be in skills which aid others in destroying your enemy. The name 'golemancer' is actually somewhat misleading, since it might make people think that your golem is your main killing method, but it is not. A Golemancer's main killing method is his curses, which multiply damage from golems and hirelings, and also manipulate the enemy.

If a golemancer is teamed with a bowazon whom does eight hundred and fifty (850) damage per arrow, then in hell difficulty she is only capable of doing 425 due to 50% physical resistance. With the AD curse from the necromancer the arrow does 1275 to monsters, so effectively the bowazon is doing 425 and it is *the curse* that is doing 850 damage more. In that way, you are more powerful than your teammates (golem included), but without teammates the strength of the golemancer rapidly fades away.

Even if a golemancer is soloing with his minions, if a monster hits an Iron Golem for 100 damage but takes damage from the Iron Golems 350% thorns, then the monster will take 350 damage in normal or hell difficulty. If a golemancer were to use an Amplify Damage curse, then the golem's thorns do three hundred and fifty (350) damage and the curse does an additional three hundred and fifty (350). Whatever physical damage a party may do to monsters cursed with the Amplify Damage curse, that curse will at least match their damage, or it will do twice as much damage as their original attack to monsters with 50% physical resistance.

It is not difficult to see that a curse is often the largest damage contributor to a party. Indeed, the damage potential of the curse skills is second only to certain cooperative-aura skills from Paladin characters.

That's enough of the theory behind golemancy. It is enough for a player to know that curses are the power of necromancers in general and golemancers in particular. A golem is just one of many allies that golemancers can use curses to augment.

Attribute Allocation

Necromancers have long seen strength as a wasted stat for their builds. There are endless debates about the advantages of the Silks of the Victor and how much life or mana the extra strength could have become instead. Instead of "retreading an old tire" try looking at the issue from the other side, i.e. what is the minimum amount of strength a necromancer should have?

Forty-seven is the minimum amount of strength that a golemancer will most likely want, since that is the strength required to use a kite shield (which can hold three gems/jewels or have a three-letter rune word).

If one has forty-five strength then he can wear light gauntlets like the Magefist unique light gauntlets. Fifty-five strength is required for mage plate armor, but a golemancer only needs forty-one strength to wear light plate like the unique Heavenly Garb. Sixty strength is enough strength for the unique gauntlets Frostburns, or any other set of non-exceptional, non-elite gloves.

In the past many necromancers decided to invest seventy-five points in strength so they could equip tower shields. (Tower shields have the best block of any shield type, and the Sigon's set tower shield has both excellent block and plus-one-to-all-skills.) Since blocking has been changed to rely on dexterity, and there are new, better options for a necromancer's shield slot, Sigon's shield is probably a better shield for barbarians, javazons, and many variant character types.

If a necromancer had one hundred strength before the Expansion Pack it was most likely so that he could wear the only armor in Classic Diablo II that added plus-one-to-all-skills; necromancers wanted to be able to wear the unique ancient armor, the Silks of the Victor.

This guide will operate on the assumption that your necromancer will not be requiring more than sixty strength, which is enough strength to use the Frostburn unique gauntlets and rare mage plate armor without reduced requirement enchantments.

The truth about dexterity is... dexterity is a waste for golemancers. A golemancer played to the style advocated in this guide will not be directly engaged in melee, and a small investment in bone armor should save a golemancer on those few occasions he gets surprised by a sudden thrown spear or a melee swing from a monster. This guide recommends that a golemancer leave his dexterity at base value, since he will most likely be totally unconcerned with his blocking percentage beyond level 18.

Vitality and Energy are always a tradeoff that is difficult to manage, but it is easier to decide what to do if one plans on having about 1000 mana at the planned advancement plateau of level seventy-five.

(As an aside, before the Expansion Pack I personally would only plan builds based on an advancement plateau of level sixty-five, but it is clear that a level sixty-five character will not be able to reliably defeat Baal in a hell difficulty game at this juncture, whereas such a character could easily beat Diablo in a hell difficulty game prior to the Expansion Pack. Single player characters may also find that they are able to defeat Baal at a lower level.)

Necromancers start with a base of twenty-five mana and gain two mana per level. That makes for one hundred eighty-three (183) mana at level seventy-five for a base amount. Clearly, you will want more mana than that.

Investing enough energy to get one thousand mana (1000) from one hundred eighty-three (183) with stat points alone is not practical, or even possible. A necromancer will get three hundred and eighty-five (385) stat points from quests and level-ups by level seventy-five, and since he needs forty-five of those points for strength, he will likely split the remaining points in a 3/2 ratio of vitality and mana.

At level 75:
STR:60
DEX:25
NRG:161 (25+136)
VIT:219 (15+204)

MANA:183 + 272 = 455 base
LIFE: 156 + 438 = 594 base

This may look like the necromancer doesn't have enough mana, but if he can obtain a pair of Frostburn gauntlets they alone would take a necromancer to eight hundred and thirty-one (831) mana. With one hundred and twenty (120) more mana from socketed sapphires, charms, plus-to-energy items, et al., the Frostburn gauntlets would take the necromancer to more than one thousand (1000) mana.

If the golemancer is unable to obtain Frostburn gauntlets then Stone of Jordan (SOJ) rings could be used to supplement mana as well. If a necromancer had seven hundred and eighty (780) mana from stats and items then one SOJ would take him to one thousand total (1000).

If a lucky golemancer were to have one SOJ and a pair of Frostburn gauntlets, then he would need only six hundred and seven (607) mana from stat points and items to reach the total of one thousand (1000), which is only thirteen points more than this stat allocation would give using the 3/2 stat point allocation.

(If you are wondering why I chose 1000 mana, the answer is that it is a nice round number. My high-level necromancer Justibone has over 1400 mana, which almost never runs out, and only 550 life, which is not enough for the Expansion. If I had spent those energy points in vitality instead I could have had over 800 life, which is very useful in the new Hell difficulty. With only 550 I am dying too often.)

(In the Lord of Destruction Expansion there are items that add a percentage to life like the SOJ and Frostburns add a percentage to mana. If you can find these items, save them for facing bosses even if you don't add them to your regular equipment. Without a high life total, many necromancers will find that Baal and Nihlathak are very difficult to defeat.)

To be a ladder necromancer you absolutely must cut dying to a minimum. A friend of mine was leveling his necromancer up on the USEast character ladder, but the night I was playing with his team he died twice. Above level seventy-five - and more especially, level eighty - earning experience becomes much more difficult, so every death can ruin literally hours worth of effort.

(Life is important to getting a necromancer on the ladder, but equally important is using the right tactics. My friend, Baron Orm, did reach the rarefied atmosphere of the top 100 necromancers, and he had this to say: "That experience did teach me something...albeit the hard way. Necros *can't* rush! Normally we'll hang back behind our revives, but when the meat-shields are other players my tendency is to try to be out front *with* them. It took awhile to realize/rectify this but once I did [gaining levels] came relatively quickly.")

If a necromancer finds some items that require more than sixty strength to wear he will have to alter his allocation schedule. The most efficient way to do that is to place all points from level-ups into strength until he reaches the required amount, and then to resume the 3/2 Vitality-Energy allocation schedule.

[Luca]

Gaan jullie nu om mij huilen?

zo kazanka dat is een heel mond vol

[Kazanka]

*durft de rest nie te posten*

anders wordt 't zolang

[^AmArU^]

Mam,
mijn deo is op,
kun je nieuwe kopen,
anders ga ik zo stinken binnenkort!

[Kazanka]

spacegirl schreef:
zo kazanka dat is een heel mond vol

tsjah je moet toch wat zeggen, zovaak kan je doodgaan duzze

[Monica]

NU? In dat geval mn moeder roepen, als ze er is is het wel te laat ofzo, dus heb ik niks zinnigs meer kunnen zeggen :/

Als het echt à la minute zou zijn, lekker cheesy

Zeg tegen m'n kleine meid dat ik van haar hou *snik*

[^AmArU^]

`Zeg tegen die kleine dak van em houd - Ik heb hem nooit kunnen gebruiken maar misschien kun je hem op sterk water zetten als herinnering aan me`

[Joostje]

veel plezeier nog lui

[Piccola]

Zeg tegen Sander dat ik van hem hou en dat ie me niet moet vergeten! En dat hij altijd mijn dildo zal blijven! ( ) En zeg tegen Marco dat ik van hem hou en dat ie speciaal is! En zeg tegen Mick dat ie m'n lekkere ding is! En zeg tegen de rest van de wereld: Tot ziens dan maar weer hè?! Ow, en vergeet niet dat m'n knuffie mee de kist in moet hoor!

[DaRealEvE]

Ik zou dan zeggen.. ik hou van jullie allemaal of zo! offuuhh ik blijf nog bij jullie.. op mijn steun kan je rekenen?

[fruitmand]

ik hou van je

of

zeg tegend die die en die dat ik van ze hou

[Krugdinho]

ik mis jullie

shit

Piccola schreef:
Zeg tegen Sander dat ik van hem hou en dat ie me niet moet vergeten! En dat hij altijd mijn dildo zal blijven! ( ) En zeg tegen Marco dat ik van hem hou en dat ie speciaal is! En zeg tegen Mick dat ie m'n lekkere ding is! En zeg tegen de rest van de wereld: Tot ziens dan maar weer hè?! Ow, en vergeet niet dat m'n knuffie mee de kist in moet hoor!

Jij neemt er wel de tijd voor, zeg.

Ik zou.. ehmz.. ik denk dat ik maar 1 woord, of een naam uit zou kunnen brengen: Joost.

[Nanaki]

ik denk zo iets als: UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH *klunk*

[italianboy]

heb ik nog steeds geen ferrari

[Joostje]

Jewel schreef:


Jij neemt er wel de tijd voor, zeg.

Ik zou.. ehmz.. ik denk dat ik maar 1 woord, of een naam uit zou kunnen brengen: Joost.

*bloos*

[punkyfish]

"Ik hou van Dwayne."
"Ik hou van Bart, Linda en Esgo."
"Ik hou van Plien."
"Ik hou van Bjarne, Iko, Omny, Omni."

punkyfish schreef:
"Ik hou van Dwayne."
"Ik hou van Bart, Linda en Esgo."
"Ik hou van Plien."
"Ik hou van Bjarne, Iko, Omny, Omni."

Ennu ga ik weer janken..

'laat het alsjeblieft niet de kikker zijn'

[dclover]

hou van jullie, wees niet verdrietig, ik ga t nu beter krijgen

[Paperz]

Hmmz ik weet niet...

als ik alleen was zou ik misschien wel niks zeggen, of zoiets van: "Dat was me 't ritje wel" of "Awh, nog een rondje??" of "Eindelijk rust" of "ow fuck, volgens mij vergeet ik iets" of iets in die trant...

Als er bepaalde mensen bij zouden zijn wordt 't wat lastiger....

[Tampert]

jonges, kappen met het gejank!! Er zijn veel ergere dingen op de wereld... Bovendien ben ik het maar...

o.i.d.?

naja... als er natuurlijk mensen bij me staan te janken...

anders dan zeg ik wel gewoon doei of hopelijk tot ziens...

als ik NU?
dan zou ik denk ik naar me bed toe lopen.. anders moeten ze me op de bureau stoel vinden en half op de grond enzoow.
misschien zollik nog ff meeltje schrijven naar lieve mensjes. maar jah NU is NU duz NU en sjah dan kan je niet meer meelen en naar je bedl open
godgodgodgodgod wat een onzin zit ik tochweer uitte kramen. whoaaaaah

Nanaki schreef:
ik denk zo iets als: UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH *klunk*

Bwahahahaha!!!! Geniaal.

Nou als ik de kans nog zou hebben iets te zeggen zou het zoiets zijn als 'zet de strijd voort, breng mijn boeken uit en hier zijn mijn passwords'.
Oh en als ik nog 5 minuutjes zou hebben of zo even een aantal dingen de vuilnisbak in kieperen zoals schapenporno en zo...hoeven mensen niet te zien.

[Li]

ik zou niks zeggen, gewoon nog proberen een beetje te glimlachen

[MiSsDeLiCiOuSs]

hmz, ik ontken te sterven ter aller tijden.

[Egyptian]

"Mensen, 't was gezellig"

[scala]

Nanaki schreef:
ik denk zo iets als: UGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH *klunk*

i rest my case

[Black Hand]

NEEEHEEE, IK BEN NOG MAAGD

Zoiets ongeveers dan

[Sithan]

Helaas...ik ben de zwakste schakel...tot ziens!

[crazy_ ella]

jongens, maak het beste van je leven, de mazzel

[LOORY]

tot straks
ik hou van je

[SpiT]

laterz

[MORTICIA]

Het werd tijd !!!

[martijn1985]

Ik ga.


(succes met die oorlog, ik bekijk het wel vanuit mijn skybox)

(en nee, die is niet van mezelf)

[Somebody Special]

Het is beter zo, tot ooit