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|  Diablo 2 LoD v1.10 Necromancer FAQ  |
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Contact:
ICQ - 247502075
E-Mail - gib_mir_ein_j_gib_mir_ein_v@web.de
=> please contact me if I made serious mistakes and/or typos (English is not my
mother language but German is)

This FAQ is (c)2003, Jonas Villmow


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I   Stat Points
II  Skill Points
III Style of Playing


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|  I Stat Points  |
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For the maximum of 505 (98*5+3*5) stat points, I recommend the distribution as
follows (per level):

Strength:  2 Points
Dexterity: 0 Points
Vitality:  1 Point
Energy:    2 Points

Keep this combination up until you have around 100 strength or until you got
enough for a certain armor you possess and want to use. Once you reach this
state, change to the following combination:

Strength:  0 Points
Dexterity: 0 Points
Vitality:  2 Point
Energy:    3 Points

Since you plan on only having around 100 strength, you will be able to get
vitality and energy on a high level. I recommend vitality and energy on around
200. Since I am of the opinion that mana means life for the necromancer,
(because he has to cast spells in order to deal damage like the sorceress) I
suggest raising energy faster than vitality (i.e. stop on 200 energy and then
put all points into vitality).

At the end (i.e. lvl 99) it may look like this:

Strength:  100
Dexterity: 25
Vitality:  230
Energy:    230


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|  II Skills  |
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  Corpse Explosion ------ 20 + 1 --> for prerequsites
+ Bone Spirit ----------- 20 + 1
+ Golem Mastery --------- 20 + 1
+ Fire Golem ------------ 20 + 2
+ Lower Resist ---------- 10 + 6
+ Summon Resist ---------  5
+ skill(s) of your choice  4
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=                         110 (maximum amount of distributable skill points)


As you can see, I skipped various skills that other Nceromancers like very much.
For example Revive, Iron Maiden and Poison Nova. This is because I figured out
that many players use skills which do not play perfectly together. Revive is ok,
but in v1.10 you will not get 20 revived for 20 skill points put in. This makes
the skill considerably weaker. Furthermore, a maxed Fire Golem in combination
with maxed Golem Mastery is much more powerful and thus useful even in
multiplayer games, with Paladins and Barbarians. For further explanations, read
section III.


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|  III Style of Playing  |
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These recommendations build up a balanced and powerful Necromancer at the same
time. He is primarily meant for playing in closed B.Net (even in open B.Net but
the realms are *full* of hackers and lamers). This is how you should deal with a
bunch of enemies:

1) Cast LOWER RESIST until all the enemies are affected

2) Use BONE SPIRIT to kill a monster in the group (while your FIRE GOLEM and
friendly Barbarians / Paladins tank the enemies)

3) Cast CORPSE EXPLOSION on the dead monster(s). This should be deadly in
combination with LOWER RESIST mentionend in step 1.

An addition, get a Barbarian mercanary. I recommend these over the act 2 mercs
because they play more defensively and thus live longer. Furthermore, you do not
necessarily need the aura, because you are not a Summonancer.