drt1245

drt1245's Bone Necro Guide

In 1.10 Bone Necro combos (such as Summoner/Boners) were much easier due to the Marrowwalk Glitch (there was no need to max Bone Prison). However, in 1.11, the Marrowwalk Glitch is gone, and Bone Necros have much less free skill points. Because of this, I will go over several different setups, however the only difference in these setups is in skills (unless you go for max block), the stats and items remain the same.


Stats
Strength - Base. Torch + Anni will provide enough strength for your Enigma, which will allow you to wear the rest of your items.

Dexterity - Base. None of your items should require more dexterity than provided by Torch + Anni. More on Max Block later.

Vitality - Everything else here. You want lots of life.

Energy - Base. You should have a decent amount of mana, and mana pots are easy to get, so there is no need for energy.

Max Block - If you want max block, you should probably use Homunculus for a shield, and you will need to get enough dexterity for 75% chance to block. To do this, every time you level, simply put points in dexterity until you have 75% chance to block.



Items
This section is organized by item class, seperated into the different choices. Blue is best, green is decent, and yellow is...bad (but usually cheap).

Armor
Enigma - Gives teleport and +2 all skills. Get Mage Plate if you have a 20 stats Torch and 20 stats Anni, otherwise, use Breast Plate for the low strength requirement.
Chains of Honor (CoH) - Really not any cheaper than Enigma, and you lose teleport so...get Enigma.
Vipermagi/Que-Hegans - You lose +1 skills, so really you want Enigma. But both of these are a lot cheaper.

Helm
2 Necro Skills, 20 FCR Circlet - You need the 20 FCR, and you want at least +2 PnB skills, so you want either +2/+3 PnB skills or +2 all Necro Skills. +3 PnB skills can only appear on a magic circlet, which takes away from the possibility of other mods. Socket it with an Um if you don't have max resists otherwise, Shael it.
Shako - A good helm for the +2 Skills, Damage Reduction, and Life/Mana. Once again Um it or Shael it.
Shako - If you can't get Shako, don't make this build.

Amulet
Mara's Kaleidoscope - A great amulet for the +2 all skills, 5 stats, and resists. The more resists the better.
Any + Necro/PnB skills amulet - Whatever you can find that adds to your PnB skills.
Any + Necro/PnB skills amulet - Same as above.

Weapon
+8 Bone Spear White Runeword (Dol Io) - Find a 2 socket wand that gives +3 Bone Spear and make the White runeword in it for a total of +8 Bone Spear. Additionally, any other skills on the wand (especially curses, such as Amplify Damage) are great as well. Drognan (the act 2 merchant) occasionally sells them in Normal, but regular wands (the ones that are called "Wand") cannot get 2 sockets and Yew Wands need to be upgraded to be able to get 2 sockets (you can upgrade the wand by putting it in the Horadric Cube along with a Ral & Sol rune and a Perfect Emerald).
Heart of the Oak (Hoto) - Gives more FCR and resists than White, but you lose a lot of + skills. IMO, White is much better.
Boneshade - Adds a lot to most bone spells, but I prefer White.

Shield
+3 Skills Boneflame - You want one with higher resists (30 is max). This is a great shield because of +3 Skills and resists. Socket it with a Perfect Diamond or Um.
+3 PnB Skills Darkforce Spawn - These are more expensive and don't give resists, but give 30 FCR. If you want more FCR, go for this shield. Once again, socket it with a Perfect Diamond or Um.
Homunculus - This is the shield you should use if you go for Max Block, otherwise, try for a Boneflame.

Gloves
Magefists - Great gloves for the 20 FCR and mana regeneration. Very cheap too. Also, the + fire skills gives +1 to Corpse Explosion.
Trang-Oul's Gloves - These gloves give 20 FCR and 30 cold resist, but I prefer the Magefists for mana regeneration.
Bloodfists - Don't use these....really....get Magefists.

Rings
SOJs - +1 Skills and Mana make these great rings.
BK Rings - Gives +1 to all skills like an SOJ, but gives life instead of mana. Generally, SOJs are better for casters.
Rare FCR Ring(s) - You really shouldn't need FCR, but if you insist, go on ahead.

Belt
Arachnid Mesh - The best belt for any caster. +1 all Skills, 20 FCR and even a (very) small mana boost.
Crafted Caster Belt - More FCR is better, but really, try hard to get Arachnid. More info on Caster Belts here.
One of the above - If you can't get either of those, you shouldn't be following this guide.

Boots
Sandstorm Trek - If you can get Ethereal ones, thats even better. These boots give a nice Vitality and Strength bonus, and the Poison Resist is nice when dueling Poison Necros.
Marrowwalk - These give strength and dexterity, so if you want max block, you may want to wear these boots (so you can put less points in dexterity). Additionally, they give +(1-2) skeleton mastery if you plan on summoning.
One of the above - Boots aren't too expensive, get Sandstorms or Marrowwalk.

Charms
Really Good to Have
Necro Torch - Stats is the most important, but high + resists are nice too.
Anni - Once again, stats are more important than resists
PnB Skills Grand Charms - With life or FHR mods are the best, but also much more expensive. Get what you can afford
Also Helps
5 FHR Small Charms (These are really useful, because of this character's lack of other sources of FHR)
18+ Life Small Charms
14+ Mana Small Charms
4+ All Resists Small Charms
Other Stuff
Small Charms with Dexterity if you want to save on points for Max Block
Whatever other charms you can find that do something useful



Skills
Because of the Bone Necro's shortage of skill points, there are several different variants you can use, which I'll go over here.

(Mostly) Pure Bone
Poison and Bone
1 Bone Armor
1 Corpse Explosion
Max Teeth
Max Bone Wall
Max Bone Spear
Max Bone Prison
Max Bone Spirit

Summoning
1 Clay Golem
1 Golem Mastery
1 Summon Resist

Curses
None

Max Bone Prison/Wall last, and make sure you do the summoning skills first (Clay Golem makes a good tank). After you done everything here, you may want to either get curses or skeletons. This variant does more damage, but has less meat shields.



Bone/Summoner
Poison and Bone
1 Bone Armor
1 Corpse Explosion
Max Teeth
Max Bone Wall
Max Bone Spear
Max Bone Spirit
Everything else in Bone Prison

Summoning
0 Skeleton Mastery - You should use either White Runeword or Marrowwalk boots
1 Skeleton
1 Skeleton Mage
1 Clay Golem
1 Golem Mastery
1 Summon Resist
1 Blood Golem
1 Iron Golem
1 Revive
(1 in everything except Skeleton Mastery and Fire Golem)

Curses
None

Bone Prison should get points in it last. It is not possible to max Bone Prison unless you level to 99. This variant will allow you to get an army of meat shields. You skeletons will not be very strong, but your revives should be able to take a beating. This variant will also have slightly less damage (unless you level to 99) because of a synergy that is not maxed.



Tables!

So there's my guide. Please comment.

L4E

unless i missed something, that build (the blue) will get u to 100fcr, which is 25fcr too much and 25 too little. I actually think bloodfists would be better than trangs or mages if ur not looking to reach 125fcr, since, like u said, necros barely have FHR

to get 125fcr without sacrificing skills : darkforce should be blue, boneflame should be green
if u dont want 125fcr, well fcr gloves are pointless (or even the circlet could be replaced by shako)

drt1245

Unless I messed something up, it should get you 80 FCR, enough to get to the 75 breakpoint. Now you got me worried, I keep re-counting it...but I get 80.

FraterPerdurabo

80%FCR is pointless, and it seems that your build will be lacking on FHR as well. Low FCR and low FHR = bone nec loses his purpose, anyone with even a little skill can own you in a duel, not even speaking of duels in which you have the char disadvantage.

I don't really like your guide for that very reason, you don't list your equipment according to breakpoints. It's not OK to just choose from any of the 3 that you have listed. Make builds including the most effective equipment.

Don't forget the possibility of using Spirit/Stormshield, both can be very effective on a bone nec.

I.e. this is what I had for my bone nec:
+2 nec 20%fcr 2 sox circlet Shael Shael
Enigma
+2nec 20%fcr +mods amu
HOTO
Stormshield "Eld" (alternatively you could use a 7%/+9/+9 facet)
Trangs
Arach
Treks
FCR ring
Soj

FCR: circlet 20 amu 20 hoto 40 trangs 20 arach 20 ring 10 = 130%fcr (125% vital for PvP)
FHR: circlet 40 treks 20 2xpnb skiller 12%fhr + 5%fhr sc +mods or just 6x5%fhr sc + mods = 86%FHR breakpoint (vital for PvP)

You get 43%DR (alternatively I could have used BerShael in circlet, resulting in max dr% but I would have had to make up for the FHR loss) and max block.

VS casters use White instead of HOTO and Spirit instead of Stormshield for massive damage.

If you cannot afford a +2nec 20%fcr amu use a 2nd FCR ring.

drt1245

I disagree on the FCR. I find 80 to be fine, I do just fine it duels. And as far as FHR, your build only has 20 more from items, and that requires either a magic circlet or another mod to spawn on a rare one, which in my experience, are much harder to find. That said, if you can get one, I agree, the extra 20 FHR is very helpful.


The only reason I see to use Stormshield would be for DR (and some extra defence), and I have never felt the need for DR on a bone Necro because of his bone armor. If it runs out, you can just recast.


I was under the impression that you were limited to 10 FCR on an amulet, and the Arreat Summit agrees with me. However, I cannot remember if they were availible in an earlier patch or not.


With this setup, your FCR ring uses it's effectiveness, you'd be better with another SOJ. And besides, why use Spirit over a 3 PnB Darkforce Spawn?


With your build, I see a massive loss in skills, as well. If I counted correctly, you lose 3 to all PnB skills, and an additional 6 to Bone Spear.

FraterPerdurabo

Don't take this offensively, but you are a PvMer. Get some experience in PvP and then you'll see how wrong your statements are.

Crafted caster amu, available in all patches.

1 soj 1 fcr ring.

FHR and resi and mana.
Like I said, your build is fine for PvM, but in PvP you have to sacrifice a lot of damage for safety.

drt1245

Wow...thats the most one of the most senseless arguments I've heard. If you reread what I wrote, you'll see that was my opinion, and in my what I've found based on my experience...just because you disagree doesn't mean I'm wrong. Different people duel different ways...



Eek...I can't believe I forgot that.


What I'm saying here is that with White and Spirit, your FCR ring is not needed to reach another breakpoint, so I belive you'd be better off with the extra skill from an SOJ.


I suppose you're right about the Spirit. I'd forgotten just how much FHR it gives, but as far as resists, you can Um a Darkforce...but, you're right the mana & FHR do make Spirit better.

FraterPerdurabo

Ok, I'll explain what I mean.
Invalid point. PvP is all about frames. If you have slow FCR, you are an easy target. If you have low FHR, you will be FHR locked after the first hit = gg.

PvP is not for you if you aren't rich. You don't find items, you buy them.

Nice idea, but not that simple. It's like saying that a Wind Druid might as well have negative resists since he can recast Cyclone Armor.

drt1245

I agree that frames are important, but even so, it doesn't matter how fast you attack (or move) if you don't do enough damage.



True. However, Necros have a somewhat fast cast rate to begin with, as such, the 75 FCR breakpoint will get you to the same speed as a 163 FCR Druid. I don't find it to be too slow.



I agreed with you on getting the a better FHR circlet if possible, and that was really the only FHR difference...



I agree that PvP is not cheap, but it is quite possible to find items. I found my 20 FCR Necro circlet, and I find it to be one of the nicer ones that I've seen.



You do have somewhat of a point, however, getting resists for a Wind Druid is much easier than getting DR on a Bone Necro. Grab a Torch, Anni, Maras, Hoto, and Spirit, and you'll have decent resists on a Wind Druid, and with practically no loss.

However, getting DR on a Bone Necro is much more difficult, partially due to there being less items that actually give DR. It really comes down to personal preference... whether you'd rather do more damage, or have more DR. Personally, I prefer damage.

FraterPerdurabo