I was also a big Necro (and Barbarian) guy in D2. I was in a guild called Of The Crypt, most of us were high level necros that would go around collecting ears (PKing people). I still talk to some of those people. D2 necro was a lot of fun for PvP.
Anyway, I personally like the gems I have socketed currently. I've read through every page on this post I'm pretty sure those are also the ones grim favors. I did use empower level 4 last league but its because I had a +1 gem level / minion damage staff. He does recommend minion speed as an option, I don't prefer it, I pretty much run and cast skeletons in the middle of packs anyway. Zombies are more of for my protection, so having them near is fine, and they seem to teleport to me if I go too fast.
Hmmm maybe I should read through every page in this thread as well. I took your advice and got myself a maim support gem and a fortify support gem. Btw how did you color your QE and BotB? I was thinking of maybe using the jeweler's method for both. Or is it better to just go straight to 6 sockets then use chromes? And which one should I try to 5-link/6-link first? And while we're on the topic, what gems do you recommend I should socket in my offhand in order to 20q?
Sorry for the barrage of questions :P Thank you again!
I'm trying to decide between Seven Step Boots and Alberons. With Alberon's I can hit almost 1200 strength which would give me a 13th Zombie! Or I could swap out some jewels for MOAR life, maybe more minion damage? I'm at 1194 Strength right now, and can easily get slightly better gear for that extra 6 to get the next Zombie.
Here's the Path of Building link for my character if you guys want to look at it to give advice
https://pastebin.com/tSDUr7xS
Or the items I'm currently running vs my Seven Step. That move speed lose hurts a bit, but it's still mostly bearable I guess with Alberon
I'm considering maybe a Stygian Vise belt with a Watcher's Eye or something? What do you guys think / advise? I've got hundreds of chaos to spend, but not really sure where to focus first. I don't have all 20% quality gems, but wasn't sure if it was really worth sinking 10-20 chaos per gem to get 20% quality before addressing potentially much bigger return changes
I'm only sitting at about 6650 health, which is mostly what I feel like I should increase.
TLDR; Should I increase Strength by 6 to get a 13th zombie, focus on Health instead and lose some strength, ignore both and get all 20% quality gems, or do something else entirely
Don't worry about the 13th zombie IMO, won't make a noticeable difference. Get more life 1st, minion dps 2nd. For the gems, I've found it best to collect superior gems as I level and sell them for GCP. Buy 17%+ quality ones and finish them to 20 with GCP, they are quite a bit cheaper than full 20% ones. Also for the zombie leech, I was in a no regen t15 last night and didn't realize it, I kept having to use mana potion but not life.
I was also a big Necro (and Barbarian) guy in D2. I was in a guild called Of The Crypt, most of us were high level necros that would go around collecting ears (PKing people). I still talk to some of those people. D2 necro was a lot of fun for PvP.
Anyway, I personally like the gems I have socketed currently. I've read through every page on this post I'm pretty sure those are also the ones grim favors. I did use empower level 4 last league but its because I had a +1 gem level / minion damage staff. He does recommend minion speed as an option, I don't prefer it, I pretty much run and cast skeletons in the middle of packs anyway. Zombies are more of for my protection, so having them near is fine, and they seem to teleport to me if I go too fast.
Hmmm maybe I should read through every page in this thread as well. I took your advice and got myself a maim support gem and a fortify support gem. Btw how did you color your QE and BotB? I was thinking of maybe using the jeweler's method for both. Or is it better to just go straight to 6 sockets then use chromes? And which one should I try to 5-link/6-link first? And while we're on the topic, what gems do you recommend I should socket in my offhand in order to 20q?
Sorry for the barrage of questions :P Thank you again!
Use the vorici calculator for each, I think I did chromatic for the Queen's and Vorici 1B for the Belly. Belly was roughly 400 chomes I believe, Queen's was less. I bought mine already 6l cause they were much cheaper than me doing it myself. I did have 5l I did before on my own before I had excess currency. With my 5l Belly I let what colors I got dictate what gems I used to an extent, stil try for all red/blue but sometimes its too expensive to try to perfectly color a temporary 5l. Try to 5l your skeleton one first, I've always put them in my weapon, idk if either is easier.
In offhand I'm mostly trying to get zombies to 20/20 so I can corrupt, its not really worth it to do w/ Vaal skeles, just buy a 15% + one to use. Corrupt zombies to try for 21/20. I also have some minion damage and brutatlity ones I think.
Well, while we're on the subject of advice, if any more experienced than me with the build can review where I'm at so far, that'd be great.
https://pastebin.com/xzjLpMHJ (PoB)
I consider the skill tree pretty much complete, so I'll be focusing on the life% nodes with all the remaining skill points I receive. So my main focus from here on out are maxing out the gems (and levelling copies to corrupt), actually getting some good flasks and probably save up for a 6L Belly.
I'm still debating whether I want to save up chromas to force a 2B4R in my Queen's Escape. Obviously, Ruthless, Maim and even Empower would have the average single strike damage to rise anywhere from 22~38%, but probably to no real necessity, as the increased attack speed allows the skeletons to have a higher total DPS (by a paltry 1.5% over Ruthless, but still).
At the very least, I don't have to worry about Elemental Weakness at all, so I'm satisfied \o/
Well, while we're on the subject of advice, if any more experienced than me with the build can review where I'm at so far, that'd be great.
https://pastebin.com/xzjLpMHJ (PoB)
I consider the skill tree pretty much complete, so I'll be focusing on the life% nodes with all the remaining skill points I receive. So my main focus from here on out are maxing out the gems (and levelling copies to corrupt), actually getting some good flasks and probably save up for a 6L Belly.
I'm still debating whether I want to save up chromas to force a 2B4R in my Queen's Escape. Obviously, Ruthless, Maim and even Empower would have the average single strike damage to rise anywhere from 22~38%, but probably to no real necessity, as the increased attack speed allows the skeletons to have a higher total DPS (by a paltry 1.5% over Ruthless, but still).
At the very least, I don't have to worry about Elemental Weakness at all, so I'm satisfied \o/
Looking good, I'd get rid of faster attacks for skeletons, they almost always 1 hit stuff for me even at t16. Faster attacks will help for bosses, but there are other red gems that do as well. It didn't cost me many chromes to do the Queen's, not nearly as bad as the belly. Are you over 1000 str? If not I'd get rings with str, or get rings with str anyway and get rid of str jewels you are using.
Looking good, I'd get rid of faster attacks for skeletons, they almost always 1 hit stuff for me even at t16. Faster attacks will help for bosses, but there are other red gems that do as well. It didn't cost me many chromes to do the Queen's, not nearly as bad as the belly. Are you over 1000 str? If not I'd get rings with str, or get rings with str anyway and get rid of str jewels you are using.
Aye, I have 1008 strength. I actually forgot to link my gems as well, since you remarked on not getting PoB to work.
Unfortunately, I'm going to be quite reliant on strength jewels, as all three suffix slots on rings will be taken up by resists. The purpose is to ensure I'm at least 33% over the elemental cap, which completely negates the effects of Elemental Weakness. Arguably, this probably isn't as much of an issue with minion builds, although I have been known to be quite neglectful of important information (like not reading the maps with phys reflect or no life/mana regen).
The purpose of the +9 str/dex jewel is to ensure I'm at 155+ Dex for a max level Phase Run.
Thanks for your advice, though. I assume you'd recommend Maim over Ruthless, given the base attack speed of skeletons?
If you want to be super cheap with your gems, level it to level 20, sell it with a GCP and get a quality 20 level 1 gem back and level it again. For me it didn't take took long to get everything back to level 17 again.
also my RNG sucks tried to get 2 blue and 4 reds and never happened on my queens. I got 3 red and 3 blue multiple times but never 2 blue and 4 reds.
Last edited by motokorth on Sep 13, 2018, 7:33:56 PM
you answered your own question... a lot easier with Alberon's Warpath. I'm at roughly 1040 with no Str specific jewels, a few of my life/minion damage jewels have Str on them. My belt is also better for this build than what most people are using IMO. You can also try to get rings that have 65 str (str & all attributes) rather than the standard 45-55 single mod.
Holy crap, you weren't joking, those belts are NICE. I just switched off mine to one and gained a bunch of stats. I copied some of your passive changes to give up minor health nodes for ele resist nodes, and I *gained* health, strength, and have better resists too . . .
People are sleeping on those belts, I think they are BIS
Dude sold me this one for a single chaos and I gained a bunch of health and strength upon equipping
you answered your own question... a lot easier with Alberon's Warpath. I'm at roughly 1040 with no Str specific jewels, a few of my life/minion damage jewels have Str on them. My belt is also better for this build than what most people are using IMO. You can also try to get rings that have 65 str (str & all attributes) rather than the standard 45-55 single mod.
Holy crap, you weren't joking, those belts are NICE. I just switched off mine to one and gained a bunch of stats. I copied some of your passive changes to give up minor health nodes for ele resist nodes, and I *gained* health, strength, and have better resists too . . .
People are sleeping on those belts, I think they are BIS
Dude sold me this one for a single chaos and I gained a bunch of health and strength upon equipping
Lol I messaged him trying to buy it as soon as he posted it too. I knew I shouldn't have posted them in here haha.
Been having fun with this build, made some modifications but mostly following the guide. Using femur of the saints with a level 21 vaal summon skeleton for a nice level 23 total and sitting on about 8,300 HP. Damage feels good and haven't died in a while.
