Bone PvP Necro Author: soulesschild Version: 1.10 Page 1 Navigation I. Introduction II. What is it? III. Why? IV. Stats V. Skills VI. Breakpoints/Terms VII. Items VIII. PVP Strategy IX. Ideal Setups X. Thanks Here it is, all colorized for the beauty of you readers and ease of reading, also included strategy for hammerdin as I somehow forgot it ? Tried to edit all the errors I could find, added some synergy energy. Do feel free to message me on USWEST at *xxholyxx4 to duel, discuss strategy, etc. Or AIM/MSN contact me at s0ulesschild (0 is a zero) and soulesschild@hotmail.com, you can also e-mail me at that address. Enjoy =) I. Introduction Who am I? I'm known as soulesschild on the forums, previously mastafuzor. Played necromancers for PvP in early 1.09 before soft core became all messed up, then moved onto hardcore, now I'm back on ladder dueling and soon will drop to nonladder to become my dream necromancer. II. What is it? A bone necromancer is a necromancer that specializes his/her skills in the poison/bone tree. The main skills are Bone Spear and Bone Spirit to deal out massive amounts of damage. III. Why? Well now that necromancers have finally gotten the boost we deserve, we pretty much have become a reckonable force in the PVP scene, not that we weren't before though *wink wink*. And seeing that everyone wants to know how to make one, I've provided a guide. IV. Stats Enough chitchat, onto what you guys all want. Stats are pretty basic, here's the rundown with some comments. Strength: Enough to use your gear. Given for most classes, you can also calculate +str gear, but be warned if you take it off, you might not be able to equip certain equipment that has high str requirements, also if you die, then try to pick up gear and you can't because you use +str gear, then you wont be able to pick up all your items, so be warned. Dexterity: Now here is where some debate, max block or no/minimal dex? I duel in Clan-Honor which restricts skills such as bone spirit/bone wall/bone prison, so blocking is more of an issue then it is in public games. With a Homunculus, you need around 193 dex total at level 99 for max block, the best thing would just be putting points into dex until you see 75% block in your screen. However, some choose no dex, instead wanting mass vita which can work, but think of it this way, 75% block means 75% chance to take no damage and potentially last longer. Though if you use no dex, then you can have more life, but a crappy chance to block, it's your call really, I prefer having max block. However, if you duel only public games or in dueling leagues where there are no limitations on skills, then feel free to go mass vita and minimal dex to use gear. Vitality: Everything here. More life = live longer in duels, nothing much to say. Energy: None. That's right, you heard me, NONE. Now some of you may be saying, If I don't have a single point into energy how am I to have mana to kill things?!? The answer here is +mana items along with %more mana items. Though, if you cannot afford some of the items, maybe 50-100 energy is ok. Comparison of Vitamancer and DR/Block Mancer. What is a vitamancer? A necromancer that has mass vitality for massive amounts of life, usually has no block, also usually has low str due to wanting more vitality. A DR/Block necromancer is a necromancer who has less life but maxed block. Which one's better? It all comes down to personal preference and where you duel. If you duel in public games, block is less of an issue as you can spam bone prison/decrep all you want, use enigma etc, so you most likely will not be getting hit often. However, if you duel in a league such as Clan-Honor or just don't want to be a lame necromancer that spasm BS/BP all the time, then you would choose the blocking route. However, do remember that when running, block is reduced to 33%. Also remember if you choose the vitamancer route, you can die in one hit to a good barb, even with your high life. V. Skills Oh yay, the fun part :) The skills! Synergy Information Teeth : Gives 7% Bone Spear, 6% to Bone Spirit Bone Wall: Gives 15% Teeth, 7% to Bone Spear, 6% to Bone Spirit, +15 damage absorb to Bone Armor, 8% life to Bone Prison Bone Spear: 15% to Teeth, 6% to Bone Spear Bone Prison: 15% to Teeth, 7% to Bone Spear, 6% to Bone Spirit, +15 damage absorbed to Bone Armor, 8% life to Bone Wall Bone Spirit: 15% to Teeth, 7% to Bone Spear Poison Bone Tree Teeth - Maxed eventually, you can either max this first and less points into bone prison or max prison first and then teeth. This skill can also be used in duels as a multishot type of thing, if you plan to do this, max this first before prison. Gives 7% synergy to bone spear, 6% synergy to bone spirit Bone Armor - Before in 1.09, people would max this, but now with synergies, there is no need as each point into bone prison/bone wall gives +15 damage absorbed AND gives extra damage to bone spear/spirit/teeth Bone Wall - Maxed, gives 15% damage synergy to teeth, 7% to Bone Spear, 6% to Bone Spirit, +15 damage absorbed to Bone Armor, and 10% extra life to Bone Prison. Also can be used in duels to stop other characters and their projectiles. Corpse Explosion - 1, just a pre-requisite, can also be used in leveling purposes. Bone Spear - Maxed, This in 1.09 was a weak skill compared to Bone Spirit, but now the damage is just a bit less then spirit when maxed and synergized, also gives 6% damage to Bone Spirit and 14% to Teeth Bone Prison - Maxed eventually, same thing applies as teeth, if you want a higher teeth damage, then max teeth first, then this, else just max this, mana cost goes down as points go in, eventually gets to 1 mana per cast, useful for trapping those annoying characters ;) Bone Spirit - Maxed, Still a great skill now that it has a contender, tracking, high damage, unblockable, just slow, still a great skill. Gives 7% synergy to Spear, 14% to teeth. Summoning Tree (Optional) Clay golem - 1, useful as a distraction, can slow characters as well Golem Mastery - 1 point, boost golems life/speed just a bit Summon Resist - 1 point; give that golem some resists against those trappers/sorcs Curse Tree (Optional) Decrepify - 1, the IMO best curse in games now, 50% slow, 50% physical damage reduced, what else could you ask for? Then again I wish it had a longer duration and radius, but then we'd be too cheap. Useful to slow down those fast melee characters for a short period of time. If you don't wish to you skill points here, try to find a wand with +3 decrep on it. Amplify Damage - 1 to use in team duels/PvM Lower Resist - 1, no longer lowers magic resist, but useful in team duels/PvM for elemental characters VI. Breakpoints/Terms This is a list of important information you need to know on gear selection etc. Cast Rates- 0% 15 frames 9% 14 frames 18% 13 frames 30% 12 frames 48% 11 frames 75% 10 frames 125% 9 frames This means, the faster cast you have, the faster you shoot bone spirits/spear. At least try to get 75%, any lower and you'll be casting like a slow mofo. Faster Hit recovery Druid/Necromancer(Base=7) Fhr efhr speed(frame) 0 0 13 5 4 12 10 9 11 16 14 10 26 21 9 39 29 8 56 38 7 86 50 6 152 67 5 377 91 4 This is faster hit recovery, meaning the more you have, the faster you recover from being hit, an important thing on characters that use a stun attack on you, a.k.a Smiters and trapsins. Don't mind the efhr part, I currently assume it's some number related to how much FHR you have. Something to aim for is 39% FHR (Thanks mooffy) Blocking- Total Blocking % = [Blocking x (Dexterity - 15)] / (Character Level x 2) Round up on decimals. Some blocking calculations with certain shields at level 99: Stormshield: 236 Dex for 74.7% block Homunculus: 220 Dex for 74.5% block Whistan?s Guard: 185 Dex for 74.7% block Blocking drops to 33% when running. Faster Blocking Rates- -10% 7 frames 0% 6 frames 20% 5 frames 40% 4 frames 75% 3 frames Higher the number here, the faster you block I think (someone clarify?) Note: Damage reduce is now capped at 50% Terms: PvP - Player VS Player PvM - Player VS Monster DR - Damage Reduction, usually referred to as a percent Nec - Necromancer Asn - Assassin Barb/baba - Barbarian Pally - Paladin Zon - Amazon Dru - Druid MDR - Magic damage reduce R/W - Run/walk FHR - Faster hit recovery CBF - Cannot be frozen Str - Strength Dex - Dexterity Nrg - Energy Vit - Vitality FC - Faster cast Clvl - Character level Slvl - Skill level IMO - In my Opinion FBR - Faster block rate IBS - Invisible Bone Spirit BS - Bone Spirit BA - Can mean Blessed Aim or Bone Armor FoH - Fist of Heaven BH - Blessed Hammer WoF - Wake of Fire WoI - Wake of Inferno PN - Poison Nova LR - Light Resist/Lower Resist CR - Cold Resist FR - Fire resist PR - Poison Resist LS - Lightning Sentry BP - Bone Prison BW -Bone wall VII. Items I will list item ranking in order from best to ok. *Note* Some mods of an item I have not completely listed due to that they really don't matter. Also, some item gears I have not listed rich/poor selections just due to laziness :P Also if you see something like xx-xx it means the numbers can vary. Helmets Rare Circlet: Potentially one of the best helms possible if you get a good one, mods to look for are: +2 necromancer skills, faster run/walk, faster cast, +str/dex, +resist, I currently have a +2, 30 run/walk, 20 faster cast, and 21 light resistance Harlequin Crest: +2 skills, +2 all attributes, 50 magic find, +life/mana based on level, 10% damage reduction. The best caster helmet in 1.09, it comes in second, gives massive life/mana boost, usually I alternate between my circlet and Crest Crown of Ages: 10-15% damage reduction, +1 all skills, 1-2 sockets, all resist +20-30, 30%FHR. Good helm, damage reduce, +1 skills, 2 free sockets, +resists, FHR, not a bad helmet to use Peasant Crown: +1 all skills, 15% RW, +20 vitality, +20 energy. A great helmet if you can't afford any of the above Lore (OrtSol): +1 all skills, + energy, +light resist. Something to use until you find peasant or better Tarn helm: +1 all skills, magic find, gold find. Good helmet to use until Peasant crown and for magic finding :) Wormskull: +1 necromancer skills, + poison resist. Just listed this because it has +1 necromancer skills, you really shouldn't need resort to use this, and you can usually get a tarn/peasant crown for gems Body Armor Chains of Honor (DolUmBerIst): Great armor, +2 To All Skills,+200% Damage To Demons, +100% Damage To Undead, 8% Life Stolen Per Hit, +70% Enhanced Defense, +20 To Strength, Replenish Life +7, All Resistances +65, Damage Reduced By 8%, 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items. My personal favorite, as using Enigma's teleport is usually considered bad mannered and is banned in private dueling leagues, you can free up sockets/gear for res for mana/life items instead of resistance gear. Do try to socket and make runewords in elite, light type armors (Wyrmhide, Dusk Shroud, Scarab Husk, Archon Plate.) Enigma (JahIthBer): +2 To All Skills, +45% Faster Run/Walk, +1 To Teleport, +750-775 Defense (varies), + (0.75 Per Character Level) +0-74 To Strength (Based On Character Level), Increase Maximum Life 5%, Damage Reduced By 8%, +14 Life After Each Kill, 15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana, + (1 Per Character Level) +1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level). Another great end game armor, great for PvM and PvP if your opponent doesn't care about you teleing around like a mofo, though, using this armor for the massive str boost is also a viable idea, as well as for the run/walk bonus. Vipermagi: +1 all skills, 30% faster cast, +20-35 all resists, magic damage reduced by 9-15. A great armor if you are going for the 125% faster cast breakpoint, UM a good one and you've got +50 resists right there. Guardian Angel: +15% max all resists, 30% faster block rate, 20% increase chance of blocking. Good against sorcs/trapsins due to the 15% max all resists, has increased block as well as faster block rate. Que-Hegan's Wisdom: +1 all skills, 20% faster cast, 20% faster hit recovery, +15 to energy, magic damage reduced by 6-10, +3 to mana after each kill. Another great armor if you don't need resistances, helps reaching a breakpoint for faster hit recovery, though you could just shael a vipermagi ;). Shaftstop: DR 30%, +60 life, +250 defense vs. missile. +life, damage reduce, useful when dueling melee characters. The Spirit Shroud: +1 all skills, Cannot Be Frozen, Magic damage reduced by 7-11, replenish life +10. Great alternative to Vipermagi if you cannot afford it, +skills, an important CBF mod. Stealth (TalEth): MDR 3, +6 dex, +15 to max stamina, poison resist +15, regenerate mana 15%, 25% faster cast, 25% FHR, 25% r/w. Great rune word armor if you can't afford any of the above armors, I still use it sometimes when I need that extra boost of R/W and FHR ;) Amulets Crafted Amulet(Perfect amethyst + ral rune + jewel + magical amulet): Can possibly spawn with +2 necromancer, 10-20% faster cast, +str/dex, 5-10% mana regen, and a skew of other nice mods. The only downside to this is if you get a +2 nec amulet, the level requirement will always be level 89 *Note* You must be at least level 89 to craft an amulet with +2 skills, otherwise it will always end up with +1 skills, also the ilvl (item level) of an amulet makes the mods, try to use magical amulets from hell, gamble with a high level character (96+) to get the best possible ilvl for crafting. Rare Amulet: Potentially can be the best amulet second to a crafted amulet. Mods to look for are +2 necromancer, +str/dex, +resists Maras Kaleidoscope: +2 all skills, +5 all stats, +20-30 resists. Good overall amulet. +skills, resists, stats. Cats Eye: 30% faster r/w, +25 dex, +100 defense vs. missiles, +100 defense. Good amulet for r/w and dex boost Eye of the Etlich: +1 skills, other mods. Nothing really nice here other then +1 skills, a crafted amulet can get better Boots Rare boots: Rare boots can be the best choice here, some nice mods to look for: 30% f/w, +res, +str/dex Waterwalks: 20% R/W, +15 dex, +45-65 life, 5% max fire resists, heal stamina 50%, +100 defense vs. missile. Great boots, +dex, +life, 5% max fire resists. Good boots if you wish to save points into dex for tweaking. Sandstorm Trek: 20% R/W, 20% FHR, +10-15 str, +10-15 vit, 50% slower stamina drain, repair durability 1 every 20 secs, +1 stamina based on clvl. Also great boots, same R/W as waterwalks, has +str, faster hit recovery, slower stamina drain, not bad to use for the +str. Marrowwalk: 20% R/W, +10-20 str, +17 dex, +1-2 skeleton mastery, regenerate mana 10%, heal stamina +50%, half freeze duration, level 33 bone prison charges, level 12 Life tap charges. Nothing really spectacular about these boots other then the marrowwalk bug (see below). Use it if you really really need the str/dex. *Note * There is a bug with these boots in which if you have NO points into bone prison, you will get a level 33 bone prison synergy which in the end, raises your spear/spirit damage by about 1k. Though some dueling leagues don't allow it and some consider it a bug. Aldurs Advance Set Battle Boots: 40% R/W, +50 life, +180 stamina, +40-50% fire resists, 10% damage taken goes to mana, heal stamina +32%. Great boots, I use them currently on my necromancer till I find better. Lots of nice mods, max r/w on boots, +fire res, +life, damage taken to mana. Natalya's Soul Set Mesh boots: 40% R/W, Heal Stamina Plus (0.25 Per Character Level) 0-24% (Based On Character Level), Cold Resist +15-25% (varies), Lightning Resist +15-25% (varies) Good boots if you lack in the resists department. Gloves Trang-Ouls Claws Set Heavy Bracers: 20% faster cast, +2 curses, +30 cold resist. Great gloves, faster cast, +2 curses for prolonging those curse durations, cold resist. If you wear 2 set items you get 15% mana regen and +18 fireball, wear 3 you get +13 firewall and another 15% mana regen, not bad but it's not worth wearing the other set items other then the belt. Magefist: 20% faster cast, 25% mana regen. Faster cast and mana regen, what more could you ask for? Frostburn: 40% maximum mana, other minor mods. Just a huge mana boost if you're lacking in the mana department. Belts Arachnid Mesh: +1 all skills, 20% faster cast, 5% maximum mana. More mana, +1 skills, faster cast, couldn't wish for better mods other then resists ;). Crafted Belt ( Perfect Amethyst + Ith rune + magical light belt type [light belt, sharkskin belt, vampirefang belt] + jewel) : Can possibly spawn up to 10% faster cast, +str, regen mana, max mana. Mods to look for are 10%+ faster cast, +str/dex, FHR, +res, + mana/life Verdungo's Hearty Cord: 10% FHR, 10-15% DR, +30-40 vitality, replenish life +10-13, +100-120 stamina. Great belt to use against melee characters, + life, damage reduce, replenish, that's about it though. Thundergods: +160-200% Enhanced Defense (varies), Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage, 5% Chance To Cast Level 7 Fist Of The Heavens When Struck, +20 Lightning Absorb, 10% To Maximum Lightning Resist, +20 To Strength, +20 To Vitality, +3 To Lightning Fury (Amazon Only), +3 To Lightning Strike (Amazon Only). Good belt to use for tweaking/light absorb. Also useful for the extra +20 str to use a Stormshield. Gloom's Mesh: +120-150% Enhanced Defense (varies), 5% Mana Stolen Per Hit, Increase Maximum Mana 15%, Regenerate Mana 15%, +15 To Vitality, -3 To Light Radius. + mana/life, not a bad combo, I'd take a crafted belt over it however. Upgraded Nightsmoke (1 Shael Rune + 1 Tal Rune + Perfect Diamond= Exceptional Version of Armor): +30-50% Enhanced Defense (varies), +15 Defense, 50% Damage Taken Goes to Mana*, Damage Reduced By 2, All Resistances +10, +20 To Mana Upgrade this belt for the damage to mana, and resists, also has a tasty +20 mana :) Rings [COLOR=Sienna] Stone of Jordan: +1 all skills, 25% maximum mana. +skills, mana, enough said. Bul-Kathos Wedding Band: +1 skills, + (0.5 Per Character Level) 0-49 To Life (Based On Character Level), +50 maximum stamina. Great ring to use if you don't need the extra mana as life is always juicy :) Ravenfrost: +15-20 To Dexterity, 20% cold absorb, CBF, +40 to mana. Good ring to use if you need cold absorb/dex/CBF Manald Heal: 20% mana regen, replenish life +5-8. Great low level ring to use when you're starting out at first Shields Homunculus (72% chance to block): +150-200% Enhanced Defense (varies), +5 To Mana After Each Kill, 40% Increased Chance of Blocking, 30% Faster Block Rate, +2 To Necromancer Skill Levels, +20 To Energy, Regenerate Mana 33%, All Resistances +40, +2 To Curses Skills (Necromancer Only). In my opinion, THE best shield to use for PvP necromancer, high block rate, +2 to necromancer, +2 to curses, + res, +nrg, extremely high block (highest of all unique necromancer heads), regen mana, 30% FBR 1.08 Visceratuant (60% block): +2 To All Necromancer Skills, +80 Life, 30% Faster Blocking, +25% Chance to Block, +80% Enhanced Defense. Great shield if you can get your hands on one for a good life boost, +2 necromancer, also has decent block. However some dueling leagues ban 1.08 items. Darkforce Spawn(32% block) : +140-180% Enhanced Defense (varies), +1-3 To Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only) (varies), +1-3 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only) (varies), +1-3 To Curses (Necromancer Only) (varies), +30% Faster Cast Rate, Increase Maximum Mana 10%, (Ladder Only). Pretty good shield, if it spawns with +3 to poison bone, rest is irrelevant. Good to use when reaching that next casting breakpoint, otherwise, so so IMO Boneflame (30% block): +120-150% Enhanced Defense (varies), +20% Faster Run/Walk, +2-3 To Necromancer Skill Levels (varies), All Resistances +20-30 (varies), 15% Chance To Cast Level 3 Terror When Struck. So-so shield, it's a unique necromancer head so I decided to list it, nothing spectacular, its got R/W which can be useful if you're into the whole massive R/W thing. Stormshield (67% block): + (3.75 Per Character Level) 3-371 Defense (Based On Character Level), +25% Increased Chance Of Blocking, 35% Faster Block Rate, Damage Reduced By 35%, Cold Resist +60%, Lightning Resist +25%, +30 To Strength, Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10, Indestructible. Great shield to use against melee characters, try to -15 requirement jewel/secondary mod this so you don't use as much str, with a jewel the str requirement will drop down to 133. Lidless Wall(40% block): +1 all skills, 10% maximum mana, +10 energy, 20% faster cast. Good for reaching the next cast breakpoint, pretty useful if you can't afford Homunculus Whistan's Guard(87% block): +175% Enhanced Defense, Half Freeze Duration, 40% Faster Block Rate, +55% Increased Chance Of Blocking, +5 To Light Radius. Nothing spectacular here either other then it's insanely high block rate. Weapons Heart of the Oak (KoVexPulThul, Can only be made in flail type weapons a.k.a Flail, Knout, or Scourge): +3 To All Skills, +40% Faster Cast Rate, +75% Damage To Demons, +100 To Attack Rating Against Demons, Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal), 7% Mana Stolen Per Hit, +10 To Dexterity, Replenish Life +20, Increase Maximum Mana 15%, All Resistances +30-40 (varies), Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges), Level 14 Raven (60 Charges), +50% Damage To Undead. Godly thing this is, +3 skills, 40 faster cast, +30-40 resistances, +10 dex, 15% maximum mana, replenish life, couldn't ask for more other then mana regen :P Boneshade: +50% Damage To Undead, +2 To Necromancer Skill Levels (Necromancer Only), +1-2 To Bone Spirit (Necromancer Only) (varies), +2-3 To Bone Spear (Necromancer Only) (varies), +2-3 To Bone Wall (Necromancer Only) (varies), +4-5 To Bone Armor (Necromancer Only) (varies), +4-5 To Teeth (Necromancer Only) (varies), +25% Faster Cast Rate. Great wand if you get a good one, look for +3 bone spear and +2 bone spirit, others are pretty irrelevant, though +5 teeth is a bonus :D White Wand (DolIo) - Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%, +10 To Vitality, +3 To Poison And Bone Skills (Necromancer Only), +3 To Bone Armor (Necromancer Only), +2 To Bone Spear (Necromancer Only), +4 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only), Magic Damage Reduced By 4, 20% Faster Cast Rate, +13 To Mana. Find a wand with +3 bone spear, +3 bone spirit, +3 decrep/bone armor and you've got yourself a godly wand :), could potentially have +5 bone spear, with +6 bone armor :D Wizardspike: + (2 Per Character Level) 2-198 To Mana (Based On Character Level), 50% Faster Cast Rate, Regenerate Mana 15%, Increase Maximum Mana 15%, All Resistances +75, Indestructible. Good weapon, +massive mana, mana regen, maximum mana, a whooping +75 all resistances, 50% faster cast, great weapon to use IMO. Suicide Branch: +50% Damage To Undead, +1 To All Skills, 50% Faster Cast Rate, Increase Maximum Mana 10%, All Resistances +10, +40 To Life, Attacker Takes Damage of 25. Great wand to use, +life, +1 all skills, 50 FC, use this over wizardspike if you have enough mana/resistances for the +life/+1 skills. Charms Charms to look for are 10x Poison Bone Charms with +life/FHR, small charms with faster run/walk + mana, +life/mana charms, small resistance charms, and a good annilius charm with high res/stats for tweaking. Socketing your Items: Stuck on what to socket into your items? Here's some things to remember. Pick accordingly to your needs -15 requirement jewel/mod, sometimes can be a great socket into a weapon if it has +15 or so all res, or into a stormshield to lower that massive str requirement to 133. Jah gives 5% extra life in helms/armor, while giving +50 life in shields Ber gives 8% damage reduce in helms/armor/shields Cham gives cannot be frozen in helms/armor/shields Um gives +15 all res in helms/armor, +22 all res in shields VIII. PvP Strategies I will add and elaborate more in later revisions :D A note that you should set your hotkeys to A S D F Z X C V (Q W E R if you need extra keys) as its fast and easier then the F1-12 keys IMO. Spear is sometimes better then spirit even if it doesn't do as much damage, it's faster, spirit is a lot slower, keep that in mind. Bone armor with damage reduce is your best friend against melee characters as you absorb all their physical damage. Please, don't be a lame necromancer and spam bone prison like 300x times, once or twice is enough, some private dueling leagues ban it completely. Due to the fact that melee dueling is almost pointless against necros, my melee character strategies are very brief, might add more later on if changes are implanted. Remember, practice is key, I cannot guarantee you that you will beat everyone just by following these strategies. General things to aim for: Around 1k+ life, 1.2k recommended, having below that life count can be a problem. 1k+ mana, spear and spirit are bone mana costly, especially if you are spamming it at 125% faster cast, you can run out of mana quicker then you can imagine, so 1k+ mana or more is good. 60%+ run/walk, 100%+ recommended, being able to run faster is crucial as you can't teleport away like sorcs can. Comparison of Bone Spirit vs. Bone Spear Alright, I'm going to show you the pros and cons of using Spirit and Spear. Bone Spear PROS: Travels a lot faster, can pierce through monsters/bone walls/etc, less mana CONS: Doesn't track, only travels straight, can be hard to hit running characters, less damage Bone Spirit PROS: Does a lot more damage then spear can, tracks, can turn invisible CONS: Slow, only hits one target, more mana Both are great skills, I love to use both, but here's how to maximize their efficiency. If you catch someone in a prison, use spear instead of prison as it kills them faster and gives them less time to escape your prison and potentially run away. Decrep + Bone Spirit is a deadly combo, use it well ;) Use spear against teleporting sorcs or long range characters in an attempt to "snipe" them out. When using BS on teleporting characters, fire BS in a semi circle pattern to maximize the chance of hitting them. Mooffy's Strategy: "there are a couple of things you can do with bspear/spirit. one would be to send spear left and right of your opponent. then spam spear straight down the centre (at the guy). if you time/aim it right, he'll dodge the spear and run it into some BS or IBS. since bspear moves faster then bspirit, you can use it try to get them moving in the direction you want, hopefully into a pile of bspirit (hehe). remember to lay your bspirit before your bspear!" Some special notes IBS - Invisible Bone Spirit - Ah the fear of all characters, what is it you ask? It is when after a certain distance, bone spirit becomes invisible! Similar to the invisible guided arrow glitch/bug. If you're losing life and you see nothing on screen, you are most likely getting hit by IBS or IGA (Invisible Guided Arrow). How do you do this you might ask? Read on about Bone Spirit. Mooffy(Edited/Paraphrased) "IBS turns all funny damage and sometimes does not stun or the hit animation does not show (duration may be effected too). if your running around and your health suddenly drops for no apparent reason, your probably running into IBS. " Mooffy's Bone Wall Notes - "you can also stand behind bonewalls and lay your own bspirit out. any incoming bspirit should hit the wall unless they have you name-locked. to make your own bspirit go through your wall you have to stand close to it before casting bspirit. as you mentioned BS goes to the spot you clicked before it starts tracking, use this to get a BS far out enough so it doesn't turn around and hit your wall. probably the best way to lay bspirit out is random bspirit in their general direction. watch your opponent and see how he runs, try to predict where he will go next and send a few bspirit off in that direction." Mooffy's Golem Notes - "recast your golem to keep it in front of you. some people get fire golem, its fire aura does a bit of damage and it does damage on casting. I think the mana cost is too big. its got one big fun thing though: killing someone by spamming fire golem beside them. this a great and very surprising finisher. however you have to judge their health, if their hp is still high you'll just look stupid and blow a crap load of mana =(. if their resistance is really horrible you can actually drop them from full health with this =) I believe it does 100 physical and 100 fire damage. oh yeah you can stand in town and cast it outside and get some funny kills if they have bad res." Bone Spirit Information - Bone Spirit tracks yes. But what many do not know is that it tracks after it passes its targeted spot, or if you name lock someone. What I mean by ?after it passes its targeted spot? is that where you click your arrow, your BS will travel to, if it doesn't hit anything, it will begin to seek a target on its own. This is where IBS comes in. After traveling awhile after its targeted point, BS will turn invisible and still track, becoming the infamous IBS. How far it has to travel I have not yet found out, I just know that after awhile it turns invisible. Mooffy: "I'm not sure about 1.10, but in 1.09 if a bspirit started tracking you, it wont stop until it disappears. Also in 1.09, a bspirit that has a target will go through bonewall/prison. If its changed then never mind. bspirit sticks around for about 6 seconds (I think), so you can run and count to 6 and you should be okay. " Mooffy is correct in that BS will go through walls/prison if it has a target (name lock) and that it does last six seconds and will disappear if it does not find a target/hit a target. Bone Armor - In 1.09, each individual spirit (the things circling the necromancer) would take the amount of damage listed, so if you absorbed 300 damage, you could in fact absorb 900 damage, I assume it still applies in 1.10 as sometimes when barbs WW me, I still have my bone armor left. Also in 1.09, the damage that bone armor would take would be after damage reduce gear was factored in, however I'm not sure if it still applies in 1.10, right now I'm assuming it does. Here's how it goes, say someone does 2k damage. Now let's say you have 50% damage reduce, that damage goes to 1k and then bone armor kicks in, so you would absorb 1k damage. So remember, BONE ARMOR IS YOUR FRIEND against melee Bone Wall/Prison - Their life is scaled to difficulty and players in the game, in a hell 8 player game, prisons/walls can have around 4k life each. Also, bone wall/prison are friendly now, meaning that other players not hostile to you cannot attack them, and you cannot attack the walls either, so in short, if you trap yourself, you have no way of getting out until someone breaks it or the time duration (24 seconds) runs out. (Thanks Mage-Killer for reminding me) PVP Penalty - When dueling against other characters, your damage is reduced to 1/6th of what it shows on screen, so if you do 600 damage, it will do 100 damage to a player. Bowazon Since your Bone Armor can absorb massive damage, you can try to bone prison them and spear/spirit them to death. If you can't, stay afar and spam a mixture of bone spear and spirit and eventually edge your way closer, be sure to use that clay golem as a distraction for her arrows. If you somehow get locked and are forced to run, run in a zig-zag and throw up bone walls to stop the guided arrows, remember Bone Armor is your friend here. A zon that has high evasive can be a problem as dodge/avoid/evade can now dodge all attacks, including magical/elemental/physical. Things to aim for: 50% damage reduction, max block, 75 faster cast ;125% perfect. Charged Strike Zon These guys are deadly if you are not properly equipped. Get maxed light resist and a T-gods against these guys, if you don't, you're a fried necromancer. If you really want to be lame, wear 2x wisp projectors, t-gods, and guardian angel, they won't hurt you at all, though their throw damage could possibly hurt. Strategy is similar, try to bone prison/decrep them and send those lovely spirits/spears at them. If you cannot get the resist gear, stay far far away, be careful as their lightning bolts can travel through your walls. Evade applies here as well, so be careful and for the love of god, don't stand still against them! Always keep on the move. Also be careful that some can have a pretty nasty throw damage. Things to aim for: High light resist with a bit of absorb, DR gear is optional. Wind Druids An important thing to remember here is that tornado is a PHYSICAL attack and can be BLOCKED. So damage reduce and bone armor will help immensely here. Strategy is pretty similar to charged strike zon, don't let them get close as they can stun you and eventually kill you. Try to prison/decrep, however, decrep is usually your best friend here. Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, DR gear, CBF against hurricane Fire Druid They love to run and make you run into their Armageddon, so don't follow to closely behind. Decrep/prison and kill, a dwarf star or two is recommended here as a fully synergized fire druid can be painful. Be aware however not to stand still as they can cast a volcano at your feet which can hurt. Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, good fire resist, absorb (if allowed) Melee Druid Just let them come to you and spear them to death, decrep if necessary. DR gear is optional. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, faster run/walk gear Melee Barb I'll say it again, BONE ARMOR IS YOUR FRIEND! Long as you got bone armor on, you can afford to take a few hits or two, though be careful if they run up to you and berserk is magical damage just like your spear/spirits, so you armor won't save you :P. Duel them like you duel druids, just keep on your toes for WW, if they are foolish enough to do a long WW, punish them with spears and spirits. Keep on the move and decrep if necessary. Be careful of being too cocky and getting to close as some barbs are skilled and will short WW you, short WW = death for you so don't get close. DR gear and faster cast gear is optimal here. Also, if they get close, switch to Walk mode so your block doesn't drop to 33%. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, faster run/walk gear Throwbarbs/Hybrid Barbs Now this gets interesting, they can range attack and melee you, and have high life, can be a problem. You may use your golem as a distraction but be aware that they can frenzy charge off it and become a speeding demonic machine gun and mow you down, don't get too close as they can switch to whirlwind/berserk, prison can be your friend here as well. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, 125% faster cast Fireball Sorc These girls can hurt and kill you immensely quick, doing around 15-20k per fireball at fast cast is death. Stay on the move, spear is your friend here, you can spirit once or twice if they start to get close. Keeping on the move is key here, NEVER EVER stand still against a fireball or blizzard sorc, you try that and I guarantee you're a dead necromancer unless you're wearing massive absorb. If you maxed teeth first, its also good here, as its like an Amazon's multishot. Wear guardian angel and 2x dwarf stars to minimize the damage, add in rising sun if you want to be evil and immune. You can also throw up a bone wall in a square position, sort of like a fort around you to take random fireballs, just don't trap yourself in as they can just come and drop a meteor and you are screwed. :P Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, lots and lots of run/walk charms/gear, high fire resist gear, absorb (if allowed) Blizzard Sorc As like fireball sorcs, these girls hurt, doing around 4.5k per second, its got a nice radius and it can stun you. Also, if they have a maxed cold mastery, it lowers your cold resists as well Stay on the move and use spear, try to cast bone spirit in a circle, you might get a lucky hit or two. Teeth is useful here as well. Don't forget about the bone wall strategy. Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, lots of r/w, stacked cold resist gear, absorb if necessary Frozen Orb Sorc Possibly can do 900 damage per shard, these can hurt as well. Stay on your toes and try to avoid the shards/orb. Teeth is useful here to spam like multishot, don't spirit as often as you most likely will not hit them because they most likely will attack and then teleport away from you. Try to make use of the Bone wall strategy. Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, cold absorb, stacked cold resists, lots of r/w Lightning Sorc As with any synergized sorc, they can pack a punch, however, doing upwards of 15-20k lightning damage per hit. However, they need to stand still to cast it and must wait for it to be completely done, so take advantage of this, if you sidestep lightning, punish with spear and teeth. Don't forget that lightning can go through bone walls/prisons. Things to aim for: 75/125% faster cast, run/walk gear, light resist gear, absorb if necessary Zealot Paladin This shouldn't even be hard for you unless they have charge as well, look at the below strategy if they are like this. Just spear/teeth/spirit as they need to get close to attack you, prison if you want, decrep if you just want to be really mean :P Things to aim for: Damage reduce, high run/walk Fist of Heavens/Foher A fully synergized FoHer can dish out huge amounts of lightning damage, with conviction on you, it's almost a guaranteed instant kill, so with that said, DON'T EVER LET THEM GET CLOSE TO YOU. However, if you wish to just run up to then and kill them, here's how to do it. Wear about 325 lighting resist to achieve 75 light resist in hell, if your dueling in nightmare, wear about 275 to have maximum resist. How do you do this? One option is to stack up on the small charms with +11/10 light resist, ten of these will give you about 100 lightning resist, try to look for ones with +life as well. You can also wear a 4 Ort light type armor for 120% light resist. Or wear Chains of Honor for +65 all res and other nice mods. A few gear suggestions for reaching 325 light resist: Kira's Guardian, +70 all res with UM rune for +85 all res. Wizardspike with a +15 all res jewel, 90 res. +30 res from Anya quests. Total of 205 all res so far. Add in a Homunculus with UM, +55 all res, 260 all res so far. Perfect Maras +30, 290 res so far. Perfect Annilius Charm, +20 all res, 310 all res so far. Add in 2-3 10 light res small charms for 330 or so light resist and 310 all resist. Throw on TGods or guardian angel and you'll be able to tank them very easily. Also remember to have your golem out to take the occasional FoH hits as if they FoH you off screen, your golem will take the hit instead of you if it is in front of you. (Thanks Mage_Killer) Things to aim for: **Stacked light resist gear**, lots of run/walk, 75/125% cast FoH Variants FoH/BH (Mage): These guys can hurt quite a bit, they first try to FoH you and if that fails they use charge to get right smack next to you and spam hammer which is an unblockable magic attack that can do massive damage just like your bone spirit. There are some gear variations when dueling a mage. If FoH is their primary attack, stack up on that LR and spear/spirit, try to prison/decrep if their running circles around you. If they use Hammer as their main attack, you can go less on the LR stacking because they most likely will not have as high of a conviction as a pure FoHer, go for 125% faster cast and lots of run/walk, do not ever stand still against them because if they charge into the right angle, it can be a fatal one hit KO. Things to aim for: Stacked LR depending on main attack, 125% faster cast, high run/walk FoH/Smite (Vindi/Templar aka V/T): These guys will most likely not duel you as often as a mage build might but be wary, smite stuns you and if they are fast enough, will keep you stunned and result in your death. Same strategy applies vs. mage, don't let them get close and alter gear depending on their main attack. Things to aim for: Stacked LR, Damage Reduce, Faster run/walk, 125% faster cast, FHR Smite Variant Now these guys depending on their build can be very dangerous depending on their secondary skill, however you most likely will not find a problem with them, just don't let them get close enough to Smite you, prison/decrep if necessary. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, lots of run/walk Charger Oh boy, where do I start with these bad boys? One, they can do an obscene amount of damage, upwards of 24k with a 2 handed weapon, factoring in PVP penalty, that's about 4k per hit, which usually means insta-kill. Also, people can charge lock you, meaning they just click on your name and just keep clicking and they will keep charging at you until they lose the name lock or you die. Vigor + Charge = super insanely fast paladin, so be careful. Also Charge desyncs a lot, meaning that they will hit you when it doesn't show them on your screen, after you die, they suddenly appear, with you dead on the ground. There is absolutely no way to escape this unless you teleport or WW out if you're a barb. So by common sense, you shouldn't let them get close. Decrep is a great curse here as it massively slows down the speed they charge at you. Spear is your friend as it goes straight and you can spam it as they charge in. A neat little way to stop chargers is either to stay in a spot with a lot of holes, so that it interrupts their charge, or bone walling yourself into a nice little fort so that they cant hit you, but be warned, pure chargers can most likely destroy your bone wall in 1-2 hits. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, 125% faster cast Hammerdins Nasty fellows these guys are, able to do around 15k damage per hammer that is magical and unblockable. Ouch. These guys play two ways. One is to take the defensive and run away casting hammers, hoping that you will follow and run into a hammer which can be near death. Another one is using charge to a) get close to you and hammer or b) become a charger and charge lock you to death. Another thing is that they can easily break out of your prison due to hammers doing so much damage. How do you counter these then? If they are defensive, use spear and NEVER EVER go right at them, curve around them, if you can hear a hammer flying sound, stay away until it goes away else you may run the risk of running into one. If they play offensively, try decrepping then spirit/spear. This might be a long game as they can vigor + charge away from your BS/Spears. Things to aim for: Damage reduce if necessary, lots of mana 1k+, 125% faster cast Melee Assassins These assassins generally try to get close or stun you, then teleport in with Dragon flight (DF) and try to kill you. Usually you will win most of these duels due to the fact that one, you can still cast your spells as they hit you, two, bone armor absorbs their damage, and three, if you have max block they won't be hitting you as hard. Something to watch out for however are Kicksins. They play the same strategy as melee assassins but use kicks instead of claws, they can pack quite a punch so don't underestimate them. Decrep and your golem is useful here as if they try to DF in, they will target your golem if they do not have a lock on your name, giving you time to hit them with BS/Spear. Also remember to have your golem out here to take the Shadow Master if it DFs or when you are fighting the assassin. Things to aim for: Damage reduce, faster run/walk, FHR Trapsins and their variants Alright, what fun these babes are. Fully synergized they can do around 6k per trap, and with 5 traps out, that's about 11k lightning damage, not added to the fact that they can mind blast/stun you to keep you still for their nasty little traps to fry you. Some trappers may use WoF/WoI. Stack up on that LR or FR depending on the trap they use, not as much as VS a Foher, just enough to have around 100 LR or so in hell, wear guardian angel/tgods if necessary, and get some FHR so you recover faster from their mindblast/traps. One variant that is quite deadly however is a trapsin that uses traps/kicks. They use traps to stun you, then move in for the kill, their 10 shot traps still shooting at you and you kept still because they are attacking/block locking you. Stay far away, teeth/spear here, don't try bone prison/wall as LS shoots right through, keep on the move to avoid being hit by the traps. As like Fohers/Melee Sins, have a golem out for the Shadow Master and the occasional trap. Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, stacked LR, damage reduce if necessary, FHR Bone Necromancer Ah, same class duels are always very interesting =) Things to remember are to remember to watch out for IBS and to stay out of screen range to avoid being prisoned/locked. Spear and teeth are good here if you think you can hit them. You most likely will be using spear a lot to try and spear them ;) Keep golem up to absorb spears/spirits, if a BS starts to track you, run for a bit and throw up a bone wall, it will hit the bone wall instead of you. If possible, try to force the other necromancer into a cornered area using a combination of spear/spirits/teeth and eventually killing them. Having 125% faster cast can give you the extra edge you need to beat another bone necromancer. Remember, if they are far away, don't go wasting mana firing spears/spirits randomly, just wait for your mana to regen, the worst thing that can happen is that you run out of mana and the other necromancer can run after you and potentially prison you. Good luck here =) Things to aim for: 125% faster cast, 60+ (100+ recommended) run/walk, +mana items Poison Necromancer Haven't dueled a lot of poison necros, but just stay out of PN range, try to stack up on PR gear, wear a guardian angel for 90 poison resist and get some form of poison length reduction (I.E. Death gloves), generally you can get close to prison them as they most likely will not be able to break out of it, so you can just watch them die horribly to your spear/spirit :) Things to aim for: 90% poison resist, poison length reduction IX. Ideal Setups Here are some ideal setups if you don't know what to use. If I have something like XXXX (Jah/Ber) it means the ideal socket into the item Charms 10x P/B charms with +life/FHR 1x Annilius 9x small charms with +life/mana/ run walk/ resists 125% Faster Cast Rare Circlet (20%) Vipermagi (30%) Trang Gloves/Magefist (20%) Arachnids Mesh (20%) 20% faster cast crafted amulet (20%) White Wand/Heart of the Oak/Wizard Spike/Suicide Branch (20/40/50/50) Homunculus 2x Sojs Aldurs/Sandtrek/Rare/Waterwalks Total Faster Cast= 130% Damage Reduce Shako *Ber*/ Crown of Ages (10%/18%/10-15%) Shaftstop/Vipermagi (30%) Verdungo's/Arachnids (15%) 2x Sojs Homunculus/Stormshield (35%) Trang Gloves/Magefists Wizard/Whitewand/Heart of the Oak Aldurs/Sandtrek/Rare/Waterwalks Total Damage Reduce: 53%/55%/65% Ideal/All-Around Setup Shako/Rare Circ/Crown of Ages (Jah/Ber/Cham/Um) Vipermagi/Chains of Honor/Enigma (15 all res with second mod/Jah/Ber/Cham) Heart of the Oak/Wizardspike/White wand/Suicide Branch (Ko, Hel, -15 requirement +15 all res) Crafted Amulet/Maras 2x Sojs/Bul Kathos Rare boots/Sandtrek/Waterwalks/Aldurs Arachnids Homunculus (Jah/Ber/Cham/Um) Poor Man's Setup Pesants Crown Vipermagi 2x Bahumts (+100+ mana) rings Glooms Mesh Aldurs/Nats Boots Rare/crafted Amulet Magefist/Frostburns Homunculus/Lidless/Whistans Guard X. Thanks Thanks to Diabloii.net for having a great forum, thanks to the necromancer forum for being the best forum ever :D, Blizzard for creating this game and finally releasing version 1.10 lol, special thanks goes out to Darkwind, Stuff, Loser, and for helping me build my necromancer along in ladder and providing me countless hours of fun, thanks to the necromancer forum posters (Beatboxer especially), thank you Mage-Killer and mooffy for additional strategy information, and the rest of you guys out in the Necromancer forum for helping me improve this guide as it goes along. Thanks guys and happing dueling =) soulesschild 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?