Diablo II

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I wouldn't advise using a puer Golemer. Until you get the Fire Golem none of the other golems will be doing as much damage as they should, no matter how much you put points into them. You really do need some regular skeletons, pumped up with enough points in Skeleton Mastery to make them sturdy enough and do good damage. I tend to use the golems as canon fodder, as they're much more durable than a single skeleton and so they soak all the damage while my skeletons shred everything to pieces, with a little help from Amplify Damage.

 

Well I'm getting a lot of bone spells too, so it's not elusively golems. I just want to mix it up because every necro I've had was skellies... Probably not going to go past normal with him too, so specialization isn't as necessary.

 

I've never gone with a Bone necro but from what I've read they can get very powerful. Bone Spear is a very nice spell and I suppose with enough points invested it can be a real killer. The biggest problem I can foresee is needing a VERY large mana pool as the bone spells are very mana-intensive, and mana is a big problem until level 40 or so (so all the way through Normal).

 

The only problem with golems is you can only have one active at any given time - not one of each type - ONE. It isn't a mana intensive at all though - you can cast one in town and visit Akara (or whomever the appropriate healing character is) to get you mana bulb up to full.

@Ziad - you are right with the bone necromancer. The bone spells are highly synergized with just about every bone spell adding damage to the other bone spells (even bone wall is synergized). Bone spear goes through enemies, so it's great for narrow passageways like the maggot lair where a single spear will hit an entire line of monsters.

But you are also correct about the mana cost. And there is no magic bullet to solve that problem either. Necros don't have an equivalent to spells like Warmth or Redemption. (Although they could hire an act I merc and make the runeword "Insight" in a bow, which would provide the redemption aura. The runes aren't exceptionally high, although I doubt you have if all you have played on is normal difficulty.) Bone spells deal magic damage (not physical) which is unfortunate, given that leech only works on physical damage. I'm sure they made bone spells magic damage for exactly that reason - so you couldn't cast continuously, leeching back all the mana costs.

 

Either immersion or the eastern sun mod lets you have 1 of each golem active at the same time.
Sorry, don't remember which.

 

@Aldeth

Insight only works on polearms and staves, so you will have to give it to an Act 2 merc. Which is actually better, since they already have auras, and you can choose a useful one like might or defiance to boost your skellies. Its Ral Tir Tal Sol, Sol is the highest level of those but its not too bad. A bit of hunting in nightmare should turn one up.

I dont know of any spell in D2 which works with leech? As far as I know, the only way for a spell caster to leech is by using items that give mana or health after kill. Anyway, bone spear being magical means its resisted by extremely few enemies, definitely a good thing.

 

That's why I said that it's unlikely you'd get the runes in Normal, although I'm pretty sure a Sol is possible to drop by Act V. Sorry about messing up the Insight runeword - I really thought it was bows - but you're right that it is better with a polearm anyway.

I also know of no spell caster skill that works with leech, because I know of no spell that deals physical damage.

 

Yep. I've gotten Sol to drop a few times in Act V Normal.
Got a new PC last week and having been busy transfering data and what not.
Looks like the Diablo data went over fine as I was able to resume my Assassan game last night.