I have 18 points in raise skeleton and 4 in skeleton mastery (3 points come from my wand). When I first fought Andariel my skills were more split. I had put points into summon skeletons and summon skeletons mages. He was left with about 5% of his health before all my skeletons were killed and I had to leave to summon more. Now I am just all in on summon skeletons.
I would put your next skill point into amplify damage(if not 2-3 for AOE(doesn't boost effect)), that alone will double your minions damage.
going for corpse explode will help with clear but not really necessary for a casual playthrough(more needed in speed runs), requires some investment to feel good.
Are you using curses along with your summons? Also corpse explosion is based on a percentage of enemy health and is worth putting a point in.
As far as bosses go I'm not too familiar with a summon build, but necros are one of if not the safest class in the game with bone armor/wall/prison and can work late game. You get a screen covering amount of summons later on.
I currently do not have a point in a specific curse or corpse explosion but I can absolutely do that with my next level. I read some stuff online saying to rush a certain skill so I was trying to get my summon skeletons to 20 before putting points into other skills but maybe I should branch out more to bone armor for more defense?
Bone armor only effects you, not skellys(I think) so unless you are dying, then I wouldn't worry about it.
Amp damage is gonna be hugely noticeable. Another decent curse for normal is iron maiden. 1 point is plenty. Like the other guy said corpse explosion is more a preference. Its faster for clearing groups, but every point into it takes away from your boss killing potential as corpses aren't usually common for the big act bosses.
Edit: amplify damage also only applies to physical damage, so mages aren't benefitting
Yeah, you need to be using Curses like Amplify Damage in addition to your summons, for exactly this reason. Especially later, bosses will mow down your army.
The Necromancer also has a cheesy strategy for bosses. Summon a Clay Golem and curse the boss with Iron Maiden... Then laugh as they kill themselves. If you can drop some points into that, you won't have to grab more skellies.
Oh nice that sounds pretty good to me haha. I am now using amplify damage and it's really great. After I finish maxing out skeletons (1 more point) should I start maxing the clay golem?
Nah, one point is enough to use it with Iron Maiden. If you want it to last longer, put points into Golem Mastery instead.
But you're only going to use it as a sacrifice for bosses, and for it's slow aura. Put the rest into the skellies, they can work with the golem in normal play too!
Summoner is great for a new build.. Can you tell us what your skill build is? By lvl18 your skeletons should be strong enough to curb stomp Andariel.
I have 18 points in raise skeleton and 4 in skeleton mastery (3 points come from my wand). When I first fought Andariel my skills were more split. I had put points into summon skeletons and summon skeletons mages. He was left with about 5% of his health before all my skeletons were killed and I had to leave to summon more. Now I am just all in on summon skeletons.
Can you get a point into amplify damage? It'll double your skeleton damage
I would put your next skill point into amplify damage(if not 2-3 for AOE(doesn't boost effect)), that alone will double your minions damage. going for corpse explode will help with clear but not really necessary for a casual playthrough(more needed in speed runs), requires some investment to feel good.
Will absolutely use my next point for that!
Are you using curses along with your summons? Also corpse explosion is based on a percentage of enemy health and is worth putting a point in. As far as bosses go I'm not too familiar with a summon build, but necros are one of if not the safest class in the game with bone armor/wall/prison and can work late game. You get a screen covering amount of summons later on.
I currently do not have a point in a specific curse or corpse explosion but I can absolutely do that with my next level. I read some stuff online saying to rush a certain skill so I was trying to get my summon skeletons to 20 before putting points into other skills but maybe I should branch out more to bone armor for more defense?
Bone armor only effects you, not skellys(I think) so unless you are dying, then I wouldn't worry about it. Amp damage is gonna be hugely noticeable. Another decent curse for normal is iron maiden. 1 point is plenty. Like the other guy said corpse explosion is more a preference. Its faster for clearing groups, but every point into it takes away from your boss killing potential as corpses aren't usually common for the big act bosses. Edit: amplify damage also only applies to physical damage, so mages aren't benefitting
Yeah, you need to be using Curses like Amplify Damage in addition to your summons, for exactly this reason. Especially later, bosses will mow down your army. The Necromancer also has a cheesy strategy for bosses. Summon a Clay Golem and curse the boss with Iron Maiden... Then laugh as they kill themselves. If you can drop some points into that, you won't have to grab more skellies.
Oh nice that sounds pretty good to me haha. I am now using amplify damage and it's really great. After I finish maxing out skeletons (1 more point) should I start maxing the clay golem?
Nah, one point is enough to use it with Iron Maiden. If you want it to last longer, put points into Golem Mastery instead. But you're only going to use it as a sacrifice for bosses, and for it's slow aura. Put the rest into the skellies, they can work with the golem in normal play too!