Worlds Greatest Char

[xD]

hi, first of all i want to say that the necromancer the best char is you can chose

Vitamancer vs Maxblock

Regarding maxblock; I admit that most of my necromancers on the private realms use maxblock. On this realm (Asia) the zon's and the barb's tend to deal a bit more dmg and often tvt campsites are setup with a four man team of zon, barb, hammer and nec. It's also way easier to achieve maxblock there without sacrificing vital stats. Building this char on for example the Europe realms you wont find the proper gear. I would say only a handful of guys have the wealth and knowledge to build proper maxblock necro without using unpermed items. This guys already know how to build and play the char. I've seen allot of guys swapping from other char such as maxblocked sorc to necro and build with maxblock. Often this guys hit about 2800 life on their build and using stormshield so they have close to nothing in dmg.
What's the fun in just staying alive as a tank and amp for the team?
The pros with maxblock is that you can play more offensive vs camp tvt teams (zon+nec or pala) and you can amp for your team without risking your life as the vitabooner does.
The cons on the other hand is allot longer list. First of all this builds often end up with low life and low dmg.
Absorbing elements are hard. Mana is often low.
In "clan fights" I would say that 9/10 teams has a necromancer that amp for his team regularly. Once amp'd it's the same as playing with zero %dr. So is it so clever to build this standard stormshield maxblock necro?
This stormshield build can stack resi allot easier then the build I would do. Ask yourself, how often do you spot a sorc in a 4n4 clan match. What's more likely is a trapper in the other team. What will you do then?
Hoto 40fcr - tg - 20fcr helmet - 15fcr amu - 2*10fcr rings - to 20fcr is 115fcr so you must use wizzy to hit the proper fcr bp. Then you must add extra dex if you want to maintain maxblock (if not arach build). And seriously how much dmg do you think you'll make with this eq. Making spears dealing 4000dmg after the pvp penalty that's about 680life loss for your challenger minus some magic absorb from example spirit so let's say your shot takes 650life each hit from your challenger. Compare that to the average dmg my vitamacer does with tvt eq (coa-bb-hoto) 5114dmg and after the penalty 869life each hit. To make another example let's say u fire upon a 7500life bvc without any magic absorb with the both setups.
Maxblock first will shoot 680 - 1360 - 2040 - 2720 - 3400 - 4080 - 4760 - 5440 - 6120 - 6800 - 7480 - 8160 dead.
Vitamacer will deal 869 - 1738 - 2607 - 3476 - 4345 - 5214 - 6083 - 6952 - 7821 dead.
This example might be a bit extreme. I mean the mb nec got wizzy but it's just to prove a point. If your a good player in a 4n4 duel game you can without a doubt shoot and hit twice as many hits as in the sample above.

If you decide still that maxblock is the way to go at it then this is the best perm build I can think of on the Eu realm; 1.08valk "sheal" - Homunculus "ber" - Hoto - Amu 2nec 15fcr dex life - Shadowdancers/prelod pair - Bugbelt - To gloves - 2*fcr dex life rings (str if u use sd) With this build you'll land around 3300 life depending on your rings and amulet. You will have major mana problem if the rings don't boost it. You might as well use 20life 17mana sc's since your fucked if an elemental char such as a sorc is in the other team. I would just swap to another char in that case. You can wear tg if you stat 25dex extra but you won't hit maxed resi anyway.
36dr leave you rather vulnerable for druids.


Stat Attributes

Base Stats On a Necromancer
15 Strength
25 Dexterity
15 Vitality
25 Energy

Attribute Point Effect
1 Vitality point gives 2 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 2 Mana

Stat Suggestions

Strength Don't be afraid to add up to 15points in str if your not all that rich to buy ridiculous eq. 156str req of spirit M is what you aim for. Also don't be a lazy bastard, boost your char to at least lv93!
Dexterity Nothing in this build. This is the current build I use.
Vitality Remaining stats in here.


Recommended Skill Distribution

Poison and Bone Spells:
Teeth: 20
Bone Spear: 20
Bone Spirit: 20
Bone Prison: 20 (Last priority)
Bone Wall: 20
Bone Armor: 1
Corpse Explosion: 1

Summoning skills:
1 clay golem
1 golem mastery
1 summon resi

Curses:
1 ampfily damage

Changing and perfecting your build for different tasks means you "steal" points from bone prison and add where you see fit.
Kaspermancer means you add around 10points in amp so you don't have to go to close to cast it vs zon based tvt teams.
Anusmancer means you build a hybrid with psn nova high skilled.
Anti-Matsmancer means you skill clay golem enough so he got 16k life with your own bo to tank 2 hammers (for aggro play vs hammers.)
You can also put points in lower resi curse but I really suggest to get it from some sort of item seeing it's allot of skills wasted.
I prefer the standard build, fooling around with this other builds are more for private realms such as Asia (lv99realm.)


Faster Caste Rate and Faster Hit Recovery

Break Points:

Frames - Faster Cast Rate:
15 - 0
14 - 9
13 - 18
12 - 30
11 - 48
10 - 75
9 - 125

Frames - Faster Hit Recovery:
13 - 0
12 - 5
11 - 10
10 - 16
9 - 26
8 - 39
7 - 56
6 - 86
5 - 152
4 - 377

125/86 is standard. Only time you may drop fcr bp is while using switch to cast for example lower resi or psn nova.
The only time you may need 152fhr is duelling stun char such as assa or barb.

Equipment Suggestions

Helm
I don't really like shako but it should be mentioned as a option.
A simple 3pb 20fcr 2soc helmet is rather cheap and does the trick duelling vs casters, you may want more then one.
The more expensive option and what I use myself is 2necro 20fcr 30+life 2soc helmet.
As standard helmet duelling any melee you should wear coa.
You may also use a diadem like 2necro 20fcr str life mana resi vs casters.

Armor
No shocker, JahIthGer

Weapon
Most basic weap is also the best, hoto. Use oak charges if no rules say otherwise.
White wand is awesome when u which to deal massive dmg. Good add on this wand can be lower resi curse.
Other useful weaps are wizzy (mainly for cr stack) and spirit sword to hit 152fhr bp. Also death web to boost nova if you use it.

Shield
Spirit M is the obvious choice.
A suggestion when duelling es sorc is either splendor rw or rare/magic shild that boost nova.

Gloves
To gloves you'll use 90% of the time and bloodfist the rest. Some builds are made without bloodfist entirely and works just as good.

Belt
Bugbelt/verdungo depending on realm and wealth.
Caster belt can be awesome but hard to find one with good stats.
Arach is a lovely belt as well.
TG for light abs.

Boots
When it comes to boots it depends allot on your other eq.
If str is missing any prelod or sandstorm is what you need.
Some use resi and fhr rare pairs. Aldurs boots is awesome and if you got enough str and resi for sure a top choice.
Myself I use mainly a pair of crafted blood boots. I need 10fhr boost from the boots to skip a 5fhr sc.
I still have less life then with aldurs but I gain quite allot of lrep.
Just keep in mind frw is important for a necro so aldurs boots will help save your ass in many situations, comparing those to wasterwalks then aldurs is by far better. Hotspurs for fire abs.

Amulet
If you have followed my advices you'll notice by now there is a shortage of space left in the stash so it's important you try to get the very best amulet and rings you can for overall use and not 10 to swap around with.
I prefer one amulet with 2nec 20fcr str or life boost and another one for cr stack and no more.
Some use 3pb 100life for nvn, that's also a good and often cheaper option.
The 20fcr amu is something you'll need tho. Investing in a 20fcr amulet means you'll be using one instead of two fcr rings so in the end it's just as pricey to get a 10fcr one.

Ring
Soj is awesome, I try to always use one. Bk I haven't got in the stash.
Depending on if str is needed your fcr ring should look like this 10fcr str/lrep life mana resi
Raven should be in your stash, dwarf and wisp u might as well skip.
I've tested using bugbelt instead of TG and wisp instead of soj in tvt. You might as well then use the soj instead of wisp because wisp alone helps close to nothing.

Few examples
When I refer to "standard tvt eq" it means the most basic eq you'll end up using most of the times when you duel more then one challanger.
Coa "ber + ber or -req jool depending on if you use dungo or bb" - hoto - 20fcr amu - spirit M - enigma - to gloves - soj - fcr ring - aldurs. This setup gives you allot of dr, decent lrep, decent dmg and good resi. It's easy to swap for hotspurs vs firesorc and tg vs assa or light sorc. Wear one 5fhr sc to hit the fhr bp unless you got fhr in boots or coa jool.

If a coldsorc enters the game you swap hoto for wizzy "30-40cr boost from jool" and the soj for a raven. Also swap the boots for a stacked resi pair. If you got more stacked gear wear them as well. In 1n1 sitations you may have a helmet with 2 open soc where you can add two cr stacked jools. If you're rich and got lots of stack from the eq then you could most likely play with 20/17's and 20/5's in your invent. Otherwise try to get ahold of some sc's with 20life 11cr.

Duelling a windy 1n1 you should use coa, white wand and arach. Raven instead of soj. Other option is 2nec 20fcr 30frw helmet that you berber or bershael and bugbelt. It depends on your play style. Your "standard tvt eq" with a raven or 152fhr dual spirit and two fcr rings works as well (not quite as good though if you ask me). Keep in mind that hurricane is cold dmg and it's vital to have 75% cr so you make sure that his hurricane can't put you into fhr animation.

When you duel other necros or hammerdins mainly 3 things matter. Life, dmg and frw.
Use your 3pb 20fcr/2nec 20fcr life helmet, white wand and aldurs.
If you got a casters belt then wear it with to gloves, if not then bloodfist and arach.

Duelling sorc's and trappers 1n1 then swap to resi boots, perhaps u use 20life 15@ jools in your helmet to hit max resi wearing white wand.
White may boost the dmg around 1k compared to hoto so it's a major win if you can wear it duelling elemental fire and light.
If you like you could wear 152fhr eq with spirit sword and a extra fcr ring vs assa.

Duelling barb the standard tvt eq works just fine. Some may prefer 152fhr to make his leaping almost useless. Wear spirit sword and a extra fcr ring then. Same goes for tvt; if the other team have a barb and you end up caught in his leap and killed by his team then consider trying the 152fhr setup.

[QUOTE=RambunctiousBoy,May 5 2010 08:01pm]Roughly 2 years ago I wrote my first Necromancer guide. I finished it and added lots of flashy colours I was certain it was perfection achieved. Little did I know back then that it was a whole other more advanced duel scene in the game. TvT (team vs team) duels brought solid rules outside the tours and guys more and more stopped going to the public duel games. I'm glad we evolved to expand the duel scene, nowadays there are lots of private leagues that with open arms invite curious new members. I recently read my old guide and noticed lots of flouts. As my gaming matured and I left the pub duel scene for tvt and tours only.
It's not a horrible guide, far from it. It's just a bit one-track minded for pubs. Anyone building a duel char to duel in the pubs I would suggest that build or reading just about any necromancer guide posted, they all tend to focus on allot of abs and defensive style.
The skill distribution in the build is also a bit different. Legit duelling appeal to most of the good duellers. Even if you prefer the pubs I would suggest you to tryout the tvt and learn from the best, I'm sure you soon notice pubs are way to easy and stick around the tvt's.
If you want a challenge then read the rules (each realm may have different once) and sign up.

With 1.13 tokens came. Token allows you to swap the build unlimited. I like to think people wont abuse this, since it will cause 5min breaks between each duel and lots of flaming and eventually it will destroy the realms. People will end up going to private realms where no Tokens exist. On the other hand I've seen guys rejoining the same Asia (lv99 realm) tvt with 4-5 chars of the same class after seeing swaps in the other team. It's really no difference but at least it's faster to just rejoin a game then spending 5-10mins replacing all the skills and stats and then swap all the gear.

I'm in love with the char necromancer. That means asking me about the pros and cons you'll end up listening to 10mins of pros and that's it. In general people tend to say the best about the nec is the fact that it's magic dmg and the worst is the low life. The low life is somewhat true. Look at your screen and compare with your friends, I'm sure they beat you (considering you built with the same wealth.) What many guys forget is how awesome your bone armor and clay golem really is. Same goes for the windy (druid) without it's zoo he is dead in an instant but with it, he is a force to recon with. What I noticed as the major problems for the guys trying to master the necro is finding a good rhythm. For example chars like windy and barbarian you play aggro, trying to namelock and chase down your opponent the entire duel. If you try to pull this off with a necro you'll end up dead in a heartbeat. I've seen what I refer to as "ibs whores", necros running and always trying to duel 1-2 screens off, spamming spirits in hope for random hits. The trick is finding the flow, knowing when to stomp and when to flee. Fast evaluation of the situations and good reflexes is what it takes to beat the best. Youtube is full of educating videos of pro's in action.

Vitamancer vs Maxblock

Regarding maxblock; I admit that most of my necromancers on the private realms use maxblock. On this realm (Asia) the zon's and the barb's tend to deal a bit more dmg and often tvt campsites are setup with a four man team of zon, barb, hammer and nec. It's also way easier to achieve maxblock there without sacrificing vital stats. Building this char on for example the Europe realms you wont find the proper gear. I would say only a handful of guys have the wealth and knowledge to build proper maxblock necro without using unpermed items. This guys already know how to build and play the char. I've seen allot of guys swapping from other char such as maxblocked sorc to necro and build with maxblock. Often this guys hit about 2800 life on their build and using stormshield so they have close to nothing in dmg.
What's the fun in just staying alive as a tank and amp for the team?
The pros with maxblock is that you can play more offensive vs camp tvt teams (zon+nec or pala) and you can amp for your team without risking your life as the vitabooner does.
The cons on the other hand is allot longer list. First of all this builds often end up with low life and low dmg.
Absorbing elements are hard. Mana is often low.
In "clan fights" I would say that 9/10 teams has a necromancer that amp for his team regularly. Once amp'd it's the same as playing with zero %dr. So is it so clever to build this standard stormshield maxblock necro?
This stormshield build can stack resi allot easier then the build I would do. Ask yourself, how often do you spot a sorc in a 4n4 clan match. What's more likely is a trapper in the other team. What will you do then?
Hoto 40fcr - tg - 20fcr helmet - 15fcr amu - 2*10fcr rings - to 20fcr is 115fcr so you must use wizzy to hit the proper fcr bp. Then you must add extra dex if you want to maintain maxblock (if not arach build). And seriously how much dmg do you think you'll make with this eq. Making spears dealing 4000dmg after the pvp penalty that's about 680life loss for your challenger minus some magic absorb from example spirit so let's say your shot takes 650life each hit from your challenger. Compare that to the average dmg my vitamacer does with tvt eq (coa-bb-hoto) 5114dmg and after the penalty 869life each hit. To make another example let's say u fire upon a 7500life bvc without any magic absorb with the both setups.
Maxblock first will shoot 680 - 1360 - 2040 - 2720 - 3400 - 4080 - 4760 - 5440 - 6120 - 6800 - 7480 - 8160 dead.
Vitamacer will deal 869 - 1738 - 2607 - 3476 - 4345 - 5214 - 6083 - 6952 - 7821 dead.
This example might be a bit extreme. I mean the mb nec got wizzy but it's just to prove a point. If your a good player in a 4n4 duel game you can without a doubt shoot and hit twice as many hits as in the sample above.

If you decide still that maxblock is the way to go at it then this is the best perm build I can think of on the Eu realm; 1.08valk "sheal" - Homunculus "ber" - Hoto - Amu 2nec 15fcr dex life - Shadowdancers/prelod pair - Bugbelt - To gloves - 2*fcr dex life rings (str if u use sd) With this build you'll land around 3300 life depending on your rings and amulet. You will have major mana problem if the rings don't boost it. You might as well use 20life 17mana sc's since your fucked if an elemental char such as a sorc is in the other team. I would just swap to another char in that case. You can wear tg if you stat 25dex extra but you won't hit maxed resi anyway.
36dr leave you rather vulnerable for druids.


Stat Attributes

Base Stats On a Necromancer
15 Strength
25 Dexterity
15 Vitality
25 Energy

Attribute Point Effect
1 Vitality point gives 2 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 2 Mana

Stat Suggestions

Strength Don't be afraid to add up to 15points in str if your not all that rich to buy ridiculous eq. 156str req of spirit M is what you aim for. Also don't be a lazy bastard, boost your char to at least lv93!
Dexterity Nothing in this build. This is the current build I use.
Vitality Remaining stats in here.


Recommended Skill Distribution

Poison and Bone Spells:
Teeth: 20
Bone Spear: 20
Bone Spirit: 20
Bone Prison: 20 (Last priority)
Bone Wall: 20
Bone Armor: 1
Corpse Explosion: 1

Summoning skills:
1 clay golem
1 golem mastery
1 summon resi

Curses:
1 ampfily damage

Changing and perfecting your build for different tasks means you "steal" points from bone prison and add where you see fit.
Kaspermancer means you add around 10points in amp so you don't have to go to close to cast it vs zon based tvt teams.
Anusmancer means you build a hybrid with psn nova high skilled.
Anti-Matsmancer means you skill clay golem enough so he got 16k life with your own bo to tank 2 hammers (for aggro play vs hammers.)
You can also put points in lower resi curse but I really suggest to get it from some sort of item seeing it's allot of skills wasted.
I prefer the standard build, fooling around with this other builds are more for private realms such as Asia (lv99realm.)


Faster Caste Rate and Faster Hit Recovery

Break Points:

Frames - Faster Cast Rate:
15 - 0
14 - 9
13 - 18
12 - 30
11 - 48
10 - 75
9 - 125

Frames - Faster Hit Recovery:
13 - 0
12 - 5
11 - 10
10 - 16
9 - 26
8 - 39
7 - 56
6 - 86
5 - 152
4 - 377

125/86 is standard. Only time you may drop fcr bp is while using switch to cast for example lower resi or psn nova.
The only time you may need 152fhr is duelling stun char such as assa or barb.

Equipment Suggestions

Helm
I don't really like shako but it should be mentioned as a option.
A simple 3pb 20fcr 2soc helmet is rather cheap and does the trick duelling vs casters, you may want more then one.
The more expensive option and what I use myself is 2necro 20fcr 30+life 2soc helmet.
As standard helmet duelling any melee you should wear coa.
You may also use a diadem like 2necro 20fcr str life mana resi vs casters.

Armor
No shocker, JahIthGer

Weapon
Most basic weap is also the best, hoto. Use oak charges if no rules say otherwise.
White wand is awesome when u which to deal massive dmg. Good add on this wand can be lower resi curse.
Other useful weaps are wizzy (mainly for cr stack) and spirit sword to hit 152fhr bp. Also death web to boost nova if you use it.

Shield
Spirit M is the obvious choice.
A suggestion when duelling es sorc is either splendor rw or rare/magic shild that boost nova.

Gloves
To gloves you'll use 90% of the time and bloodfist the rest. Some builds are made without bloodfist entirely and works just as good.

Belt
Bugbelt/verdungo depending on realm and wealth.
Caster belt can be awesome but hard to find one with good stats.
Arach is a lovely belt as well.
TG for light abs.

Boots
When it comes to boots it depends allot on your other eq.
If str is missing any prelod or sandstorm is what you need.
Some use resi and fhr rare pairs. Aldurs boots is awesome and if you got enough str and resi for sure a top choice.
Myself I use mainly a pair of crafted blood boots. I need 10fhr boost from the boots to skip a 5fhr sc.
I still have less life then with aldurs but I gain quite allot of lrep.
Just keep in mind frw is important for a necro so aldurs boots will help save your ass in many situations, comparing those to wasterwalks then aldurs is by far better. Hotspurs for fire abs.

Amulet
If you have followed my advices you'll notice by now there is a shortage of space left in the stash so it's important you try to get the very best amulet and rings you can for overall use and not 10 to swap around with.
I prefer one amulet with 2nec 20fcr str or life boost and another one for cr stack and no more.
Some use 3pb 100life for nvn, that's also a good and often cheaper option.
The 20fcr amu is something you'll need tho. Investing in a 20fcr amulet means you'll be using one instead of two fcr rings so in the end it's just as pricey to get a 10fcr one.

Ring
Soj is awesome, I try to always use one. Bk I haven't got in the stash.
Depending on if str is needed your fcr ring should look like this 10fcr str/lrep life mana resi
Raven should be in your stash, dwarf and wisp u might as well skip.
I've tested using bugbelt instead of TG and wisp instead of soj in tvt. You might as well then use the soj instead of wisp because wisp alone helps close to nothing.

Few examples
When I refer to "standard tvt eq" it means the most basic eq you'll end up using most of the times when you duel more then one challanger.
Coa "ber + ber or -req jool depending on if you use dungo or bb" - hoto - 20fcr amu - spirit M - enigma - to gloves - soj - fcr ring - aldurs. This setup gives you allot of dr, decent lrep, decent dmg and good resi. It's easy to swap for hotspurs vs firesorc and tg vs assa or light sorc. Wear one 5fhr sc to hit the fhr bp unless you got fhr in boots or coa jool.

If a coldsorc enters the game you swap hoto for wizzy "30-40cr boost from jool" and the soj for a raven. Also swap the boots for a stacked resi pair. If you got more stacked gear wear them as well. In 1n1 sitations you may have a helmet with 2 open soc where you can add two cr stacked jools. If you're rich and got lots of stack from the eq then you could most likely play with 20/17's and 20/5's in your invent. Otherwise try to get ahold of some sc's with 20life 11cr.

Duelling a windy 1n1 you should use coa, white wand and arach. Raven instead of soj. Other option is 2nec 20fcr 30frw helmet that you berber or bershael and bugbelt. It depends on your play style. Your "standard tvt eq" with a raven or 152fhr dual spirit and two fcr rings works as well (not quite as good though if you ask me). Keep in mind that hurricane is cold dmg and it's vital to have 75% cr so you make sure that his hurricane can't put you into fhr animation.

When you duel other necros or hammerdins mainly 3 things matter. Life, dmg and frw.
Use your 3pb 20fcr/2nec 20fcr life helmet, white wand and aldurs.
If you got a casters belt then wear it with to gloves, if not then bloodfist and arach.

Duelling sorc's and trappers 1n1 then swap to resi boots, perhaps u use 20life 15@ jools in your helmet to hit max resi wearing white wand.
White may boost the dmg around 1k compared to hoto so it's a major win if you can wear it duelling elemental fire and light.
If you like you could wear 152fhr eq with spirit sword and a extra fcr ring vs assa.

Duelling barb the standard tvt eq works just fine. Some may prefer 152fhr to make his leaping almost useless. Wear spirit sword and a extra fcr ring then. Same goes for tvt; if the other team have a barb and you end up caught in his leap and killed by his team then consider trying the 152fhr setup.[/QUOTE]

Dueling Strategies

Finally we got down to the fun section. Lots of Necromancer guides have been written and posted on allot of boards thought the years and explaining pretty much the same as I have done above. Standard eq and how to skill and stat. My personal opinion is that many of this guides leave the person with a good char but nothing they can handle in the duels and they end up selling it a few weeks later.
Dueling strategies often say for example " Trapsin [Hard]: Wear on Wisp. Spam spirits around her, don't get caught in his Mindblast, kill her. Note: Some trapsins are really really REALLY hard to duel. I've met some so far on Europe and I couldn't stand a chance. In case the assa is a defwhore, spam ibs in her direction. She won't hunt you down, so why would you bother chasing her?.. If you're facing some offensive assa, it's all about the timing. You will have to cast as much spears as you can, right before the lightning sentries hit you (and the mindblast also...). If you get caught into her MB, try not to panic, walk away, and tele when you feel you have a free second.” – Source member fdp.
You browse through this fast, you build the char and then you come back to learn how to duel the char. At first this may look like valid information helping you to win this battle. A more experienced dueller would say ”why wisp and not tg?” – ”How do I avoid getting caught and if I do why don’t you wsg?” There is just a few for example and I could keep at it all day. It’s your own fault if you don’t ask yourself questions like; why? how? true? How about this?
Seek information from multiple sources if the best way. How do you know the information I share ain’t a late 1st april joke if you never played the char and seek no other information. The advice to ”criticise the source” is valid whatever you read.
Keep in mind the real purpose of the vitamancer (your new char) is 1n1 and some 2n2. It often works in tvt as well but you have to adapt to a more defensive style then. If I were to write a easy to hard scale on "how to duel all the classes" I would place windy as semi-hard and es sorc as hard, the rest as easy. There will always be some duellers to tough for you on other classes as well. One of the good things about diablo is the all classes have fairly good odds to beat one and other in mano a mano.
If you handle your necro correctly and have the proper gear you’ll only have a disadvantage vs the two chars mentioned above.
Recasting golem bone arm and oak (if oak is allowed) should be printed in your backbone, don't fumble with the hot keys or even think about it. Mixing high class chainlocks with beautiful walks and wsg is poetry in motion. I'm way to lazy to add some sort of strategies for chars like java and shaper this time around. They hardly ever pop up in tours or tvt and when they do they tend to be laughed at. On a scale I would say necromancer is top 3 hardest char to play well. If you duel in a team like barb zon pala necro then the major pressure is on you. While your team probably stay close to the zon you're expected to amp the other team and also help your zon aiming at the right spot. If you go suicide and the other teams necro amp and they go at it aggro your team is bound to lose.

Depending on your previous chars, your current eq and your opponents you must learn to adapt. Make sure to know the basics such as namelock, chainlock, walk style, wsg, recast and then use them as you see fit. My own problem playing nec is that I tend to lose my patience sometimes and go at it to aggro into a certain death. Playing 2n2 I prefer to team up with an assa and 3n3 with assa+barb or pala+zon. Since you often in tvt play on "your own" try to get two guys of the other team in your tail and setup a trap for them. If the other team all camp around a zon try to fire the train of love from example south, travel to the east or west and show yourself on their mini map there. Camping teams tend to move just a little bit to the side. While dancing this dance with a zon trying to snipe a good way is to add 2 bonewalls in front of you. One at the far end of your screen and the other a bit closer, this way you can easy relocate when you see the first one break and at the same time he give up his location. As always seek patterns to own the field. Be on your guard at all times.
The section beneath will be about 1n1. Keep in mind that a tvt is really full of 1n1 1n2 and 2n1 situations. When you face other situations such as a zon and hammerdin attacking you I hope you understand the basics. How the pala boost the zon’s speed or dmg and how jumping the zon might get you caught in old hammers and you die asap. I think the best way to really become a good dueller is if you tried out all the chars in duels and know their pros and cons.

Amazon My eq: http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/73/screenshot019px.jpg
Almost all of them spam multi arrow when u approach in hope to kill your golem and bone arm and then get you into an fhr animation. Sometimes u get stuck to zon's with max fpa due to animation, live with it. Anyway once you decided to move in the trick is playing aggro. If the zon kills your golem and bone arm then don't let your namelock go, recast them then telestomp. Once that golem got his hit in it's a auto win. Staying on the zon's head (namelocked) all his arrows will miss due to bug. If the zon is a good player, knowing how to wsg properly then make sure to send him the train of love (bunch of ibs spammed from off-screen) so you have him in motion while you attack and not standing still sniping at you. Bone prison is to my knowledge banned on all realms on non-teleporting chars. If you haven’t got the hang of locking you can always do this duel of each others mini-map sniping. I doubt the zon will continue duel you if go at it this way but it’s allowed. Teeth is nice to cast if the zon have low life and spirits mixed with spears if he try to stay close and run in circles. Spears should be your main attack since they travel way faster than spirits and a good zon will try to run in a zick-zack pattern doing wsg and fire one arrow once your not on top of him shooting. I try in this duel to as fast as I can chainlock him. If you let him off the screen (firing like 5 spears) and then continue the chain he got allot better odds to dodge you. But if you fire 2spears or one spirit and one spear and then repeat the lock sequence you’ll be allot closer to him and your odds of impact is boosted. Same goes for giving your golem more chances to get a hit in.

Note: wsg means Weapon Switch Glitch and help you get invisible or get out from fhr locks. Normally you wsg by repeatedly spam the ”w” button. This video is an example of wsg created by Jeppe and it’s educating in understanding how a zon can move around. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fvab5-dfrk&feature=related

Assassin My eq: http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2918/screenshot018el.jpg
Make sure u know how to wsg properly and this is easy. Trapper or hyb doesn't matter. If he def (trapcamp) you ibs (invisible bone spirits.) If he chase with no traps out you stomp (namelocked attack) him and then wsg out. Teeth is nice to spam, annoying as hell to lose small chunks of the life all the time and takes out his shadow pretty fast. Assa can often be fooled at least once if you curse them with amp. They swap on instinct to fade, you stomp with golem and their ias trap laying speed is close to none. If you want to hit your spirits in a one on one situation you can either setup a train and teleport in it for aggro challengers (def anti-stomp and rather lame if you ask me) or shot where you think your challenger will move next. If your both visible on each others mini-map shooting spirits in his direction only a fool would fall for. Try instead to setup your train where you think he’ll move next and perhaps move yourself to trap him there. Ultimate is having spirits to hit him and stomp with spears at the same time for full fhr animation. The thing to be careful with is attacking with the mb (mind blast) swirl on top of your head. But if the assa have no traps out and just keep you in a mb lock without traps out there is no reason to panic, stay there and shot him. He is forced to swap hotkey to wof, ls or fb and then you make a run for it. If he got a good chainlock then wsg in patterns as you saw Jeppe do in video above. He did not fire a single shot in the video and clearly you should, once you got a bit of a distance to him shot a spirit/spear or teleport out. An experienced assa will have you in lock and constantly add traps so if you stop to fire then his trap hit you and you risk getting caught. A more inexperienced assa will hold his mindblastlock and rarely swap to traps, no reason to flee then. A good assa will most likely also use fireblast even if he just got the one base skill in it. Fire blast has an awesome stun effect and if you forget fire resi this is what will take you down. You can swap your soj for a dwarf if you notice that the trapper put lots of skills in fb, grabbing hotspurs will make your wsg to slow and you'll end up dead. If you face a somewhat "lame" assa that run off, camping on other sides of corners, keep in mind that his trap will disappear after about 1.5 screens distance if he teleport and 2.5 screens distance if he walk/run. So watch your steps, often these guys hide a bit behind a corner and lay 5 traps out in the open and just sit there with their greasy smile and await you. If the trapper using burst of speed (in 1n1 they all will) invite you to get close (stomp when he got no traps out) be prepared that he will most likely use his high frw to his advantage dodging your spears while he lay 1-3 traps to start a lock chain. Most things in life that looks to good to be true are to good to be true.

Note: If you seek on youtube ”necro vs trap” you’ll mainly find trappers beating necros. The reason for this is the fact that people tend to think it's no achievement to beat the trapper playing with your necro, at least not worth recording because it may look like all you do is defwhore spamming. True or false it's still worth a few minutes of your time to watch these videos.
If you browse the eq you'll see I use hoto and bloodfist. Try to use white and to gloves and stack the resi. That is my ultimate goal but right now the stash is so full and only one pair of boots would make me able to swap to white setup and I haven't got my hands on them yet.

Sorceress My eq: light http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2918/screenshot018el.jpg - fire http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6097/screenshot020zy.jpg - nova switch http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8573/screenshot021nu.jpg - cold http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6715/screenshot022qc.jpg
Make sure to abs all that you're allowed to, stacking cold might be tricky. It's really just es sorc that may cause you troubles.
And by troubles I mean you're more or less doomed to lose if your opponent is as rich in skills and eq as you. If you got nova then use it and play defensive. If you haven't got nova then stomp with spears and pray u don't lose the chainlock. The sorc could just tank you and flee to regen once his mana is low. If it's like a tour match you know he will flee to regen his mana several screens away from you, so avoid stomp. Let him shoot your golem down meanwhile you hit your spears then relocate and recast the golem. Stack a lot of mana and use allot of spirits. High frw and running first few yards and then tele to prevent getting massacred from stomping sorc (while nova switch with less fcr.) If you try to take them down by spear chainlocks then try to get a few spirits in before u start the sequence. As long as the sorc go at it aggro you have the advantage with homing attacks and protection in golem. Necro vs sorc is probably along with nvn my personal favorite duels. If the sorc mass def it’s pointless, 90% es or higher that is. Any lower es and you can play a bit more defensive and pick your attacks. What I try to say is that if the sorc got max allowed lrep (27 on eu) and 90% es or higher he will gain his full life back if he read Anton's book "How to MAXTELEPORT". Stomp and then chainlock, each player knows that you will land on his head. Sorc vs Sorc or svs have made this northspamming into an art. This "rashas" some of them have forgot how to lock or just dosen't bother to learn. Keep that in mind and if you see your challanger act just like this then land close to him (not to the north or namelocked) and get a few free hits while he is northspamming. Massive dmg is a must to stand a remote chance to win a tank situation vs a sorc. Your Spear should be at least 5900 max dmg.

Note: Here is a video to show how frustrating this duel can be if the challenger play def. It’s actually me playing and recording this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5jO6A4Nzh4 as you can see my chainlocks are rusty in this duel and I stand no chance because of that.

Barbarian My eq: http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/73/screenshot019px.jpg
Just stay on your toes. If he jump and ww you when your golem is stacked and bone armor is up you'll hardly notice any dmg. But if you get cocky and allow him to get in a zerklockchain your down in 2-3hits. Keep in mind that when u stop to spam spirit a screen away from him your golem may walk into his screen and give him a chance to unsummon lock it. Once you teleport he'll do the same and end up on top of your head to start lock chain. So be careful and make sure that each time he try a drive-by ww he eat at least one spirit, preferably more. Travel in spirit and fire spears once he gets closer. The inexperienced barb generally try teleport close to you and then ww right away and this can easily be countered. While the more experienced often mix his game up with maybe zerklock then chain to ww. Example if you stay to the north of the screen and have the barb directly to the south, then 9/10 barbs will teleport and land just in front of you to the south to then start a triangle ww sequence. Many barbs tend to make the first ww through you way to long. Take advantage of this, once you see him teleport towards you then teleport in the same line he comes from. Land a bit less then half the screen away from your previous location and spam a few spears at your last known spot. Since ww take far more dmg in a drive-by you can be fairly sure he wont lock you in this situation. There is also the old bone wall trick but this ain't gm. If you ask a barb which char he hate the most to duel most of them will say necro or pala so don't let our winning reputation down. You may also stomp the barbs once in a while. It's unexpected and mainly result in a win if not used all rounds.

Note: bvc is the best 1n1 char according to me, but it’s also the hardest char to play with. I have one myself. A real good barb should be the perfect 1n1 char in tours but I have yet to seen one. I have duelled a few decent ones on Asia. Here is a video from the barb perspective I made with a friend on Asia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy2xkq4AZMs he is rather new on the necromancer char. Same goes for necro vs barb as in necro vs assa, people tend to think it's not any major achievement to win as necro duelling barb so it may be hard to find good recordings.

Paladin My eq: http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5500/screenshot024lr.jpg
V/T or any kinda hyb like libby or mage just snipe em, southwalk and snipe. Don't always southwalk directly to the south. A hammerdin figuring you will southwalk have 33% chance to hit your really, you either walk southeast, south or southwest. Change your pattern so his odds stay low. For foh u have golem and bonewalls u can cast. Foh will strike the first object in it's path and in most cases this is your golem unless he got you in a lock. Escape the lock and return to the battle, wear tg if you feel his dmg does an impact. For libby charges just tele a lot, almost never land. If you're allowed to bone prison them according to the rules then for God's sake do it. Once you do land fire one spirit and then off you go. The only Paladin I can get irritated on is the libby seeing as he sync charge all the time but you should win this fight. This incompetent chargewhores deserve the worst possible treatment you can give them. A paladin that charge you can lock and chase offensively. Perhaps he charge into golem or get trapped by some object on the map.
For your own sake make sure you get the duel to an open area of the map so he can’t hide from your spirits and you always have the southwalk run paths open. A good way to duel a hammerdin can be starting at the north of the map and travel south. Shot spirits and travel in them and if he uses oak spam teeth in all directions as he moves in. If the hammerdin smites you then get out of there, even if it’s low dmg as long as the swirl is on top of your head you're very vulnerable. Hammerdins with good throwlocks can cause you a great deal of damage but in 1n1 situations you just should win easy. it's harder to keep track of the throwlocking paladin in 4n4. The ball is really in the hammerdins corner, he must get on top of your head and trick you to entering his joder. But who say you can’t go at this aggro, golem tank one hammer and oak another. You can jump him spear once or twice then tele away and recast, repeat. The hammerdin also has several blind spots inside his hammerfield where you can stand and fire without taking damage. I have played more bvc lately you learn how to jump in blind spot and zerk the hammerdin, this can for fun be used by any char. The best and most used blind spot is to aim for his right foot.

Note: Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_n8vrpYn8I It's a great example on how you could and should act in a duel vs a hammerdin.

Druid My eq: http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3233/screenshot026qz.jpg
Use raven and high frw and play walk style. Teeth till zoo is down then play aggro when he flee to recast. It might sound like an easy task, it’s not. Keep in mind that most windy's are just horrible north spammers and all they do is tele off spamming north and hope you will stomp. In this duel the best way to deal dmg and stay alive is really the walkstyle. You got 5 ways to go instead of 3 as you do vs the hammer, from east to west. But this duel may last 5-10mins, if the windy is good at recasting (or you're bad at aggro gamestyle) then he has a 20% chance to hit you each time he move in to attack which is awful odds for you. So make sure to mix in some teleports to lower his odds further. Most windy’s will use a zoo of 5 wolves. You will spam them down with teeth. Some will use bear. If the windy use bear I would suggest 1-2 teeth till oak is down then spirits and spears. Once you killed his zoo it’s not just move in and grab the win. This is somewhat of a cat and mouse game. At first you'll be a scared mouse and once his zoo is down you'll be a cocky mouse. Worth noticing is the fact that your still the mouse. Chase him and don’t give him room to breathe when he want to recast. Once he stops nothing say he must recast right away. Most of the windy’s I have dueled they stop and fire a few nados to the north and then recast. Especially if you chainlocked them once when they flee they almost always stop and northspam in hope that you will chainlock them. Use the same trick as vs the northspamming sorc. Test to land close to him but not on top or to the north. Often you can see them spamming north till they die (hilarious). If you can wear white wand and maintain high dr you should do just that. Windy have low fhr and high dmg spears may get them into full fhr animation till they die. Either way they got the upper hand in this battle, you're screwed if they get one good lock in. It takes time to kill them if they def (run several screens off as soon as one wolf dies.) If they do run away, let’s say for example to the south then you can try spamming train of love to the north. Get the Windy to enter your line and teeth him as he lands and you have good odds to get him into full fhr animation. Don’t forget to recast yourself in this duel, both golem and bone armor. You can also amp (or any other curse) them, I know some of the windys get really annoyed and lose vision.

Note: Here is a video from Asia(lv99 realm) where you sadly see maphack, but look at this necro in action. He does just about everything right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rukX_YNovlk Extra note is that 152fhr eq can be used this duels and you would not play walkstyle or need a raven then. Why I don’t focus on this setup is the fact that spear dmg often land around 4.7K and I think it’s way to weak, same as teeth makes low dmg. You surely can escape more easy but it’s way harder to take the windy down.

Necromancer My eq: http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5500/screenshot024lr.jpg - vs defwhores I use this http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5451/screenshot025v.jpg
Live and let die. The ultimate duel and skill test in this game. The one jumping first almost always wins. If time is given then recast and bo your golem. Teeth is allowed on US realms but not on EU unless both duelers agree otherwise. Anyway just try to get the first lock then stomp and chainlock. If you fear that your challenger got the lock or are about to take it, a good way to dodge is to use allot of frw and run dodge then spear yourself or tele out and try to lock him faster the next time around. Conquering this battle takes awesome reflexes and to think one step ahead. Best challenger I faced so far is Eero.

Note: NvN is an art form. If anyone wish duel in nvn I got eu scnl nec. I might get one in ladder. I also got access to Asia (lv99 realm.)

Additional info

I used to have lots of clips saved from nvn and other duels but I recently installed win7 so they have all gone lost. On request I can try to duel vs certain class or just show some technique.
Don't stare blindly on your life and dmg. Keep in mind lrep dr frw and mana is important. I try to use 5 sc's 20life 17mana just to have 1100+ mana with my own bo all eq’s.

Videos on chainlocks (not made by me) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwf9IebGyPk - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo6fKvQ40EA&feature=related

My Necromancer

Picture of my own stash and cube: http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9064/invent.png It’s may look like there is space left but there is not. With some eq’s I wear death web and nova shield and then the stash is completely full. I got almost a full mule of items on the side that I may use for the char as well. Right now for example spirit sword ain’t in the stash but I usually try to have it there since it’s more and more dual stun this days and less sorc's in tvt's. Also items such as sc with 20/11 or mass resi stack for example chars such as psn necro or foher are on this mule. Aldurs boots and white wand with nova and lower resi and splendor are also currently on spare mule. I haven’t perfected everything since 1.13 came out. The reason to this is that ladder tvt is nightmare game and no ladder tvt is hell game so I have to stack more resi now.

See ya in cowruns

just saw that those links / pictures links don't work.... sry if anyone is able to fix it i would really appreciate it

[xD]

would realy like to hear some comments even if its worth a "tldr" ^^

[Dragonelf]

I can´t comment a copy paste guide without even mentioning the original author

http://forums.d3jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=187504

[xD]

[xD]

too bad that it is not necessary to bump a topic cuz this forum is dead or?

[Ipad]

bvc that zerklocks >
Hdin >

[uhkdemon]

You're pathetic,, lmfao. Stealing a guy's guide without citations, or giving credit.

[Economy]

ripped guide lol

[Nens]

[nSybastian]

copy/10

[roundbear]

JahIthGer typo

maxblock is the best

[Farter]

I play pub's alot, so max block is a complete fail... To be honest I find it pretty hard to get hit at all with a necro, unless I just can't be bothered to play

[Haterswillhate]

nice guide

[Berzerk]

errr i think druid / nec / hdins are probably the best

druid more then the others...

[G0D]

[YupIKnowRight]

Nice guide dude, good job!

[xZzZ]

copypasta

[Deranged]

Who created this guide?

[Hardcore]

nec is a great char yes, but not the best

[nSybastian]

imo
no mb in pvp/10