I love necros in D2, love their curses and summons, but they can be boring. Using IM/Revives can get boring, and let's not even mention the cheese heads who use BG/IM (On a side note, this combo is pretty worthless because a fire golem will protect you better with his Holy Fire drawing monsters to himself)
Now, Sirian has shown how you can use Skellies and a clay golem to good effect, but what about the least used golem?
Fallomin - the potty mouth necro - can only use one bone spell, that is bone armor, can use any curse, but can only use the Iron Golem once he is a high enough level to do so.
This is a very freeing way of using a necro actually.
"Why?" you ask.
You rarely (if ever) use Iron Maiden after you get a couple points in Iron Golem, his innate thorns allow you to use other curses like Atttract/Dim Vision (good combo, you cast attract on the first monster in the horde charging you, then DV the rest, DV will not override Attract, the only target the blind monsters have is the attracted one, very good crowd control skill)
I even find myself using Life Tap to heal up my golem or myself, I find myself using it over Decrepify or Amp Damage on some bosses.
Terror is of course always useful in getting out of sticky situations, and Lower Resist is always a good party spell.
Now, I'm sure you have seen the problems with this setup, very little damage output. In order to even be able to hit monsters in higher levels you have to get an ITD weapon. Right now I'm using the Skewer if Knimitz. It takes a while to kill mobs because you are actually having the monsters attack eachother and your golem with you dashing in to speed a monster on its way.
It takes strategy, skills, thought, and is a hell of a lot of fun.
Just as a personal preference, I like to pump Golem Mastery between levels 12 and 24, stopping to put points in attract and decrepify. My golem has a base life of 1407 hps right now with just me in the game. It allows you to forget about him and not have to worry about recasting him, its like partying with a dumb tankazon who never takes treasure, its great.
So give it a try, its really fun, a breath of fresh air in the cookie cutter crowd on B.net.
My arty necro has been looking for his iron golem! My joy, my pet, my beloved spike! He disappeared when my account was looted, and I have not seen him since! You bought him on EBAY didn't you! You BOUGHT MY PET, YOU THIEF!!! That golem is FENCED I tell ya! Stolen MERCHANDISE!!! GIVE BACK MY LVL 17 IRON GOLEM SPIKE!
I like spiky cause he makes barbs fear and respect me.
-The necromancer walkes into the Lut bar, followed by his clanky, grating, spike covered iron golem>
-A cluster of barbs immediably stop talking - all eyes are on the necromancer and his "pet">
-As he approaches, the barbs at the bar clear a space, all eyes are nervously on that iron golem. Whispers can be heard in the background - "My GOD that thing is lvl 17!">
-Baron SilverDeth-IX enjoys his brew, knowing that barbarians will be affording him a great deal of "space" from now on. Affectionatly, he pats spike, wincing in pain as he lacerates himself on the golem's thorny body. Looking down at the trail of red blood trickeling from his hand, he cannot help but smile, imagining what would happen if one hit spiky with a 300 dmg lance.....>
Looking down at the trail of red blood trickeling from his hand, he cannot help but smile, imagining what would happen if one hit spiky with a 300 dmg lance.....>
Too bad that the Golems thorns didn't extend to the Necro as well... -text-
April 13 2001, 9:19 AM
... of course that would make him too strong in PvP, but would CERTAINLY become more useful in PvM. Also, does Amp Dmg increase the dmg taken form the Golems thorns?
Dix...
Thought provoking comment of the day:
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
... is (going to be) a lone iron golem made out of anything that does poison damage. i realize that his damage won't stack with mine; i do it just for kicks
If your iron golem does a poison attack while your poison is in effect, it will override it. Surely your poison dagger will do more poison damage than your iron golem, so you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. I would opt for golem damage that simply adds to your poison damage, like physical or fire/cold/lightning.
Apropos, I am developing a poison dagger necro. I intend to use only PD, curses, bone armor, and a golem. There seem to be several takes on the best golem to develop for this purpose; Iron to do real (thorns) damage, blood to keep me alive, fire to draw fire. Can anyone chime in on the pros and cons of each type?
I've been interested in trying out something very similar, as I am a big fan of Spike (and yeah, I call him that too...Clay is Stubby, don't use the others).
While growing my current necro (whom I'm already losing interest in...I thought it might be different this time), I use him all the time, usually buying a nice weapon with +damage and +ar. Plus he's a hell of a lot smarter than those damnable revives.
