Curse

Sowaka · Oct 26, 2006, 05:28 AM // 05:28

Now, I havent actually played the game yet thanks to numorous reasons... my brand new computer being repaired being one of them. But I have been researching alot about this game so that I dont have as many questions to ask while playing the game. One build that I am extreemly interested in is a minion summoning necromancer, so far I know of two good builds for it, A necromancer Monk which heals his minions (you can heal your own minions, right?) and a Necromancer ranger which uses the Nature rituals benefited from wilderness survival to boost the stats of allies and minions around an area. I was wondering, what would be the most common and most fun/easiest of the two to use? Would the area affect nature rituals provide a noticable boost in the efficiency of the minions and their lifespan or would healing them give me better results and earn me more favor from team mates who would like to be healed?

Also, regarding the summoning spells that create minions, is there only one skill spell that will actually create a minion from a corpse for you or are there different types that summon different minions? And say, if I wanted to make seven minions, would that take up seven skill bar slots or just one for the skill?

Thanks in advance!

Pick Me · Oct 26, 2006, 01:39 PM // 13:39

Well, Welcome to the Necromancer profession (as soon as your computer gets back from the repair shop).

Necromancers have several ways to create minions.

Animate Flesh Golem (e)
Animate Bone Horror
Animate Bone Minions
Animate Bone Fiend
Animate Vampiric Horror
Animate Shambling Horror
Jagged Bone (e)

(e) - Elite Skill; you can equip only one at a time

Jagged Bone is an enchantment that creates a Jagged Horror out of an animated minion (any animated creature) once it dies when still enchanted.

Shambling Horror creates a Jagged Horror when it dies.

You cannot create a Jagged Horror any other way.

The more points into Death Magic, the more health, damage, armor and size the animated creature has/does.

Death Magic allows you to control 2 + 50% of the level of DM you have. Which means at level 12, you get 2 + 50%x12 = 8 minions max to control. At level 16, you get to control a maximum of 2 + 50%x16 = 10 minions.

Many people like using N/Mo when they MM. Heal area works great. Blood of the Master and Verata's Sacrifice (Prophecies only) heals minions, but at a price of your own life (sacrificing % of max health).

Night Fall only skills are Jagged Bone and Animate Shambling Horror. Faction only skills are Animate Flesh Golem and Animate Vampiric Horror. Prophecies only skill is Animate Bone Horror.

Hope this helps.

Sowaka · Oct 26, 2006, 06:31 PM // 18:31

Wow, much thanks! ^___^
When you're summoning minions, would a build with some decent soul reaping be any good or should I invest as many points as I can into Death Magic?

And since I only have Prophecies at the moment (I'll probably only get the other two games once I complete Prophecies), it looks like I only have the Animate Bone Horror, Animate Bone Minion, and the Animate bone fiend skills to choose from. Are there any major differences between the three creatures and only take one of the skills with me or take all three?

EDIT: Sorry, just Wiki'd the three types. From what I have read bone fiend and bone horror are the best considering that bone minions can only reach a max level of 10 while Fiends can reach 19 and horrors can hit level 20. So, if I manage to get my death magic to level 12 I'll probably create three bone fiends for faster ranged attacks and five bone horrors to fight up front since they have higher defence. And since Death magic also boosts skills that deal shadow and cold damage, I'll most likely carry along one shawdow damage spell and one cold damage so that when I first start I can kill a few monsters to turn into Horrors and then use the two spells to support my minions while fighting. As for healing spells, would anything that says that it targets an "ally" affect a minion as well?

Yobz · Oct 26, 2006, 11:14 PM // 23:14

Yes you want at least 10 in soul reaping. When anything dies (including your minions) you gain the amount in soul reaping as energy and health.
Blood of the master is great for healing your army.

For Prophecies only you may want to consider the following:

A). Aura of the Lich (elite)- minimise damage from health sacrifices, allowing you to heal your minions without worrying about your own health that much.
B). Offering of Blood (elite)- sacrifice 20% health and gain energy.

Whilst it is handy having a direct damage skill (eg death swarm) to use to drop a foe quickly to start your army with, once your undead army is up you should probably concentrate more on keeping them alive than doing damage yourself.

Bone minions can be handy as it raises 2 of them from the one corpse. You can use their lack of life to your advantage as energy management. Cost 15 to cast, gain 2 x death @ 10 soul reaping = 20 energy +whatever regenerated in the mean time.
Offering of blood (elite skill) as mentioned is another form of energy management.

Other skills worth considering:
Enfeebling blood - cause weakness on foes, thereby minimising damage they are causing to your minions.
Dark Bond - transfer damage that you take, to your closest minion instead.

Probably the only monk spell you need is Heal Area (and maybe rebirth or ressurect). You don't NEED to have your secondary profession as monk, as you can use skills like Aura of the Lich and Blood Renewal instead.

Pick Me · Oct 27, 2006, 01:11 PM // 13:11

Agreed, you don't need to be a N/Mo to be a MM. I have a N/Me and I do just fine.

My end stats (you can have upto 200 attribute points - but you need to complete two 15 attribute point quests - you'll find them later in the game) are:

Soul Reaping: 12 + head piece + minor rune
Death Magic: 12 + minor rune
Blood Magic: 3 + minor rune

To be a true MM, you should have DM: 16 (12 + head piece + Superior Rune)

I use Blood Renewal for my self-healing.

Yes, Minions are considered to be allies, even though their health bar does not show up on your party grid. Also, you can die if you sacrifice yourself too much, so beware.