The Commando-Mancer V3.0 Author: TheKbob Version: 1.10 Page 1 Updated: 27 April 2005 Original Posted: 13 April 2004 Navigation I. Skill point allocation II. Stat point allocation III. Gear IV. Gameplay and tips V. PvP Strategies VI. Thanks to... Introduction Disclaimer: It seems some people do not understand that this can be an expensive build. It can still be enjoyed with lower end gear, but please remember that this is more or less the professional level of Summoner.  There was a time when the necromancer was just a bothersome lackey for the other classes, a Curse B*tch to say the least. Now that 1.10 is upon us, the Poison Necro, Bone Necro, and the even lowly Summoner are brought into full power. The Necro grows weary, though, of spamming spells or just standing there watching his minions go to work. He is ready. He lays down the wand that has molded to his hand and unsheathes a mighty weapon to now lead by example and take charge of his army. He shall become the Commando-Mancer! The Commando-Mancer is 3 builds rolled into one and I shall briefly explain the 3 separate parts. 1) Summoner The Summoner is a basic build. Your main skills revolve around the summoning tree, where you would max Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery, and possibly mage (Personal preference comes in here). 2) MeleeNecro This is a very scarcely used Necro variant, but some are known to take this path. This is where a Necromancer acquires Melee gear and shoots for direct physical damage, with support spells such as Bone Armor/Wall/Prison and curses. Golems are used in this build as a meatwall. Poison Dagger is most likely maxed, but not for the Poison Damage. This will be touched on later. 3) Auramancer This is an Item build new to 1.10. This is when you stack as many items on any necromancer type that give auras. With a Mercenary and Items these auras are attainable: Fanaticism, Thorns, Holy Freeze, Might( Act 2 Mercenary) and more. Most of the time, this is a variant of the Summoner build, because skeletons stacked deep with these auras are a mean force of reckoning. The Commando-Mancer is a compilation of these and I will now set into on how this build functions. I. Skill Point Allocation The Commando-Mancer uses his elite force of Himself and his subordinates, his skeletons, to mass the enemy and achieve victory. Here is the Skills you need to acquire and hone. Summoning 20 Skeleton Mastery 20 Raise Skeleton 20 Skeleton Mage *(1) 1 Revive *(2) 1 All Golem Summons, Golem Mastery, and Summon Resist Poison & Bone 1 Teeth 1 Corpse Explosion 1 Bone Armor *(3) 1 Bone Wall 5+ Poison Dagger *(4) Curses 1 Decrep, Life Tap, Attract + Pre-reqs 1. It’s a personal preference to max these for most people. True they are weak to start out, but later on they can be an asset. Phys Immune monsters should not be a problem, though, do to Amplify Damage (and Possibly Decrepify) break a monster Phys Immune. 2. Revives aren't the best any more. Some say go for them, but one point and some + skills should give you some if they are ever needed to be called into battle. Bad = 3 Minutes of life and they don't "Auto-Tele" or appear next to you as skeletons will. In Hell, you can use these more to your benefit by bring back hard hitting monsters. Also, there is a new bug with revived in PvP. This will be touched in PvP section, but it is considered very Bad Mannered to use these in duels. 3. Some may find that more Bone Armor may be required to join the ranks, I shall leave this to your decision. My Commando has only 1 point in this skill and is doing fine currently. 4. Poison Dagger is a known bug that has not been fixed. It has been around for a long time, so it is not frowned upon and is now seen as just part of the game. When Poison dagger is being used as your main attack (In the square by your Health Sphere), you will not get the Poison Damage bonus from the skill, but you will get the AR (Attack Rating) bonus free of charge! No use of mana either. So basically, free AR. Some challenges have come to the actual existence of this “bug/Feature.” I feel it exists, but just so you all know, some have tried to say it doesn’t work. I will have to do some testing in the future. This skill allocation can be completed as early as level 73, though including the use of all skill Qs. 73 is rather easy to get to and leaves some more attainable points to the casual player to tweak the build as necessary. You will have + Skills for this build, so your skills will get a boost. II. Stat Points Strength Always enough for highest req. There is a new way to lose your items, and not by body popping. There are reported incidents where people grab their bodies, but are unable to pick up all their items due to not having enough base strength. Then while this body is still on the ground, they die again. If these bodies are not collected, then loss of items can occur if you leave a game because only 1 Body can go with you. Also, more strength is more damage!  I am trying with my newest Commando to not get the max strength, but enough strength to run enigma, but not from charms so that I do not have to worry about the strength bug. Dexterity Enough for base for weapon and 75% Block To block or not to block, that is the question. Get max block for this build or at least 50%. More dexterity= more AR= means you can hit stuff. Your % to block going up is just a sweet, sweet bonus. Though, just get max block with your chosen shield. Do not pass this exact amount at your current level for it will be wasted points. Just watch every time you level. If it drops 1%, then add 1-2 points to get it back to 75% and rest to vitality. Note - 193 Dexterity is needed at clvl 85 for the recommend shield, Homunculus. Vitality Everything else. Life is Life Energy None, nada, NOOOOOO!!! The only time where mana is a problem is when your first summoning your army and their are 2 solutions: 1) MANA LEECH 2) MANA POTS Easy and quick. III. Gear I will offer from Cheap to the Best of the Beast... er best . Weapons 1) Beast Rune Word weapon Great damage plus the king of Mods: Fanaticism! Helps you and your skeletons. The repair bills for the durability dying quickly on rune words is kind of a downer, but just stock up some ort runes. 1 ort + Weapon in Cube = Fixed! Use it till it breaks then clean it up and go on! (Weapons of Preference: ) Caduceus = Not the highest damage, but fast and has high Durability (70). Very Rare, though. Base -10 Bezerker Axe = Best damage, but can't rival speed and 26 durability. Pricey too. Base Zero Ettin Axe = Middle ground in Damage and Speed, but 24 durability. Easiest to find. Base 10 Warspike = Almost (almost...)on par with caddy except with durability. 26 Durability. Base -10 Even better is the ability to go Werebear, but this shall be noted more in Gameplay. Beast is Highly suggested. 2) Other Rune Words 2a) Passion Good damage and speed. Has monster flee that is annoying, though. But, it does give you zeal and berserk, two great melee skills. Also, it has Heart of the Wolverine charges so this would be like a mini Beast. 2b) Crescent Moon Damage, speed, Ignore Target Defense and the king of all on strike mods: Static. Another good and cheap choice. Note - Doom Rune word is a bad choice. Holy Freeze = Shattered Corpses. I suggest if you want a doom, get pole arm for your Mercenary and don’t equip it until your army is at 100% 3) Baranar's Star Cheap and good damage. Boost to AR is stellar and its got loads of IAS. Get this weapon if you can't get a rune word. 4) Fleshripper This can be more for a Poison Necro hybrid of this. It has good damage, speed, helps you hit, has slow, and many more mods. This is truly one weapon with no bad mods. Special On Switch, I highly suggest Call to Arms. One Handed of any kind will help you and your skeletons survive. There are some 1.10 weapons that are worth mentioning, but I will leave that to you to search through databases to find if there is something else you may want, but they are expensive so... a good Rune word or Baranar's are both fine choices. Armor 1) Enigma Teleport, + skills, + Strength, DR, + Life... and more! VERY GOOD ARMOR. Would be hard for me to choose whether to use Beast Weapon or this armor if I could only afford one. They both add a blend to this build. Try for one, if not... *Note* Required for PvP. More info on this is PvP Strategies. 2) Shaftstop Tried and true. Um'ed would probably be a good choice for this old school hit. Note - Valor is a worthy mention, but it too is expensive, and I really don't like it. Also, Chains of the Honor or Bramble get an honorable mention, but if you can afford these, MAKE AN ENIGMA! Helm 1) Shako Skills, life, mana, DR... just get one! 2) Gaze Dr and duel leech. Some cold damage as well. Honorable Mention: Andy’s Visage (*LADDER ONLY*) +2 Skills, IAS, some other good mods. Throw a Ral Rune (+30% Fire Res) in it to cancel out -res and it can be a descent helm, though w/ that - res and high level req (not to mention looks), Shako is still better. Honorable mention would be a Rare circlet with Run/Walk, ED, Life, Mana, + to Necro and more, but that can be expensive as well and Shako still kicks the crap out of it. Shield 1) There was a Tie here between Stormshield and Homun, but after testing, Homunculus comes out on top. Stormshield requires too much dexterity for max block and Homun will add to you better than the mods of Storm. Now you may say that you wouldn’t have max Damage Reduction., but Max block with the res, skills, and such of homun will help more against the real enemy of a Commando: Spell Casters 2) Lidless wall Not the greatest block, but throw and eld rune in it and that will help with block., but homunculus is about the same price, but this shield still has a use. Use this on switch with Call to Arms to help boost Battle Orders another Level. Gloves 1) 20% IAS/ Duel Leech/ Other mods gloves. Good stuff right there. Crafted ones with crushing blow add for a nice tough. 2) Bloodfist Cheap, easy to get uniques. 3) Laying of the hands 20% IAS and loads of damage for Demons (I.E. end bosses). Should have a pair of these handy. Boots 1) War Travs + Damage, Strength and Vitality... yeah good boots 2) Gore Riders Deadly Stike and Crushing Blow... also nice boots.\ 3) Marrowwalks. These boots can give the infamous +33 synergy boost to your Bone Armor and the strength mods can help you. Also, what summoner doesn’t like +2 Skeleton. Mast? **There is the known synergy boost “Bug//Feature” with these boots. I do not use them, but not because of that. Marrowwalks are defensive for this build, adding to your bone armor. I would rather have the added damage off War Travs. 4) Crafted Blood boots If you need more life leech, and maybe some res, then shoot for some of these. You can make 'em too! 5) Aldurs Advance +Life and Fast Run/Walk Belts 1) A:Gloomstrap Mana Leech, + Vitality, more mana, and regenerate mana! 1) B: Verdungos DR, Faster Hit recovery, a load of Vitality. My new belt of choice IF you have mana leech from another source. 2) String of Ears Life leech and Dr. Remember DR is capped at 50%, so don't go DR crazy! Rings Slot 1: Ravenfrost A must-have! You Must have this ring. Cannot be frozen plus dexterity and AR. Just get one! Slot 2: 1) My new #1 Choice: Wisp Projector Use this to summon one of the three Druid Sages. It costs about 2-3K for Oak Sage charge and about 5-6K for Heart of the Wolverine charge. This ring has many uses. 2) Duel leech ring. Not just dupes anymore! These can be found now, as well. Very nice choice. 3) Bul Kathos Wedding band +1 skills, life leech, and + Life. A good choice 4) Manald More mana leech and stuff. Amulet 1) Mara's + Skill, res and stats. If you need res, this is the ticket! 2) Highlords +1 Skill, Deadly Strike, IAS, light res. 3) Cats Eye Dexterity, IAS, and run/walk 4) Crescent Moon Duel leech basically Charms At least 4 Summoning charms, maybe more. Small res//life//damage are good to have. Just mix an match here where you need the most. Low damage? Get max charms. Low life? +20 lifers are a nice touch. Res issues? +X all small charms or just 10-11% of one type are nice. Don’t forget that Lovely Annihilus! Socketing 40% Ed/15% IAS jewels are a nice touch for that added damage and speed, as well as Um runes for needed Res. in Hell. P Diamond in a shield such as Homun can be a good thing because it gives just a few points less of res all. Hel Rune in a Stormshield can reduce the amount of strength. ( Hel SS has 133 Strength req.) 15% IAS Shaftstops are also in high supply, so that can be a great speed bonus too! IV.Gameplay Level 1-25 Get at least 5 points in Skeleton Mast. and then proceed on to max Raise Skeleton first. Try to get some of you support spells, but mainly curses for now. Other spells, such as CE and Golems will not take off really until + to Skills are acquired. Nothing like running around with a big 2 Handed sword too! Get to Baal by level 25 because... Level 25-50 These levels can be gained quite quickly from normal Baal runs and this is when you get most of your gear. Raise Skeleton should be maxed at this point as well (level 50). You should be stomping in Norm and ready for Nm. (Note= Summoners, to me, seem a bit slow in beginning NM. Proceed on, the killing gets better as lvls are achieved) Level 50-70 Power through Nm to get to Nm Baal runs! You should be getting the last touches of gear (Shako being a big one) and finishing off Skeleton Mastery and moving towards your next skill, be it Skeleton Mage or some other that you wish to branch off ( I still highly recommend Mage though!) Level 70+ Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Slide some Mf gear on him such as a P topaz Shako, Skulders, Rhyme, or a nice +2 necromancer//MF amulet. You should be able to take Hell Mephisto at a good level + Mercenary. *Note* In Hell, it can be hard to get the skeleton summoning ball rolling, so it is suggested that you should make Skeletons in Act 1 then proceed onto other acts if you are having difficulty. Mercenary Act 2 Might is the best for this build. You should either have fanaticism or heart of the wolverine (or both) to help your skeletons hit. Here is the gear I would use on him for the situations of: PvM Gaze Chains of Honor // Bramble // Shaft Crescent Moon weapon // anything big and fast PvP Ber Gaze Chains of Honor // Bramble // Shaft Doom Pole arm or BotD or anything big and fast Werebear If your using a Beast Weapon (Highly Recommended), then you will get the chance to morph into a Werebear. You get +3 Werebear and +3 Lycanthropy from the weapon and + All skills (such as found on Shako, Sojs, Maras, etc.) boost the level of these skills. Going Werebear means you cannot Cast any spells, but when times are rough and you need to kick into high gear, the damage, AR, and Life boosts are awesome. V. PvP Strategies This did not start out as a PvP build, but I have found that he can do well. I’ll give some outline of how to duel a bit. This is not your Clan Honor build, so Enigma is HIGHLY Suggested. Oh, and if you get life tapped by anything non-caster... It’s done for the most part. **Revive Bug** If you revive a monster that is larger than you (Ex: Yeti type), you will be immune to almost all attacks (Save ones with explosiveness to them, Ex: Glacial Spike, Fire ball). This is VERY bad mannered. Also, your skeletons wont fan out. I do not know if they still attack, though. This will require some testing, but just so you know this exists. Paladins Foh- Teleport and stay stacked in one spot. I would choose to Amp because most will teleport and if you do score a hit, you want it to hurt. Don’t let your skeletons scatter or holy bolts will scatter and smash them. Zealot- teleport next to em, but let your skeletons spread a bit and decrepify them. Life tap can help when you get low on life. Go bear for the kill. Charger: Make sure they don’t click you. Decrep here is needed and teleport on them so they can’t get charge lock. Go Bear and hold down shift and wait for them to run into them works some, but still bill careful. Re-cast bone armor as needed. Amazons Bow- Get in close, decrep, and they die. Nothing like Avoid, Dodge, and evade lock. Javazon: These can hurt, A LOT!!! DO NOT STOP TELEPORTING. Decrep here and keep your necromancers stacked in one spot. The lightning fury will not be able to spread and they won’t be able to hurt you much. *Note* Not many poison javas out there, but if you get poisoned, just stack on them and hope your skeletons don’t kick it. *2nd Note* lightning strike would spank you. Sorry, but hang it up here. Sorceress Amp all Sorceresses. Fire- DO NOT TELEPORT. If you stack in one spot the radius from fireball will toast ALL of your skeleton. Use them as meatwalls, go bear and try to work in some hits. Cold: NO GO.... glacial spike can actually freeze your skeletons solid which is a bummer. Also, Blizzard rips. A Frozen Orber can be beaten, but its hard. Light: Not many out there, but chain lightning will shred you. Jump them before they Jump you. Assassins Whirlwind: Iron Maiden them for fun, though they will be low phys damage, more poison// Open Wounds. Stack your skeletons so you don't get hit and switch between amp and maiden. Trapper: Ugh... I Hate these things. Don’t teleport. Go bear and mob them with your skeletons. They can’t mind blast all 28-30 of yah. Amp or decrep... hard choice. Kicker: Easy Pickings. They come to you and you swat em. Decrep them Barbarian Whirlwind: Iron maiden. Yes its cheap... but you have no way of combating these giants. Iron barbs: Decrep them and stack em deep. Go Bear and its a battle of the bulge here. Warcry: Stun you skeletons.... GAH! Go bear and smack them. Thrower: They don’t stand a chance. Druid Any Werewolf or Bear minus a rabies build will get stomped . Rabies will chew your skeletons so just get in there and hit em before you die. Elementals: Wind = Shred and Fire = Pounded. Sorry guys. I usually only beat Elementalists on more luck then strategy. Necromancers Bone: You will own these. For some reason, though, the Bone spears won’t hit you if you are all stack on one spot. Its great. Poison: Same with rabies druids, Just get in there and hit them while your skeletons last. Summoners: Best fights. Just have fun. If you meet another Commando, though, pray it isn’t me! MWAHAHAHAHA! VI. Shout outs! Thanks to Beatboxer for originally giving me this idea that I flowed with. Thanks to UltimaFury for reposting my guide so I could update it. Thanks to MadMantis for support and great ideas. Thanks to Diabloii.net for helping me many times with items and more. Thanks to the gang at forums.diabloii.net  (formerly rpgforums.net) #18 (the Necro Forum!) They helped me get back on track, and now I’m offering my two cents worth to help others! Thanks to Axurewrath (A.k.a. Deathz). Newb helped me get some new gear and for remaking my new Commando. Thanks to the Gang at forums.diabloii.net (formerly rpgforums.net) #17 (The Druid Forum) for giving me something to own up on. Just kidding! Thanks to Dark Knight for being so prompt at sticking my guide again and again. Thanks to HoS for being my best little Commando lackey and bringing attention back to my build. v3.0 Corrections and Additions. v2.0This new version will include updated Gear, Strategy, and PvP, which I have found that the Commando-Mancer can be quite adept at. TheKbob 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?