I just died twice, and figured it's a sign to make a new character..haha

So a Summoning Necro on HC.

Max block, for sure? Right?

How important is fcr for me?

Gear for my necro:
Beast
Natures Peace (oak, and I can revive the monsters infront of pindle)
Fcr ring
Arachnids
Trang Gloves
Marrow Walks
Hopefully I get a 3summon 10fcr amulet..or crafted 8fcr to hit 48fcr bp
CTA + spirit
And for a shield, I'm pretty sure even though I have minions.. I still need max block, correct?
I don't want to die anymore

Gear for my merc:
Vamp Gaze
Bramble <can 3 auras be activated on my merc?>
Pride

I think I'm going for a might merc.. is that a good idea?


Skills, this is where I need help the most..

Thanks in advance

Oh god idk about hc but for softcore I would use
beast
enigma
trangs gloves
arachnids
2 20 circ
2 20ammy
spirit no need max block skellies take hits and you can't block elemental.
2xsoj
travs/treks/waterwalks/marrows
torch
anni

merc act 2 mightier
infinity
treachery
andys

max skeleton mastery, skeleton, corpse explode
1+ points into summon resist, amp, revive, golem mastery,
1 point into clay golem, attract, dim vision,

If anything else I missed let me know

I like,

I maxed revive then Skilled summon resist until deminishing returns and then moved onto amp for larger radius. Golem mastery and golem are 1 point wonders unless using an iron golem made of pride or insight. You can also try making a crushing blow iron golem for help on bosses. Summon army with arm of king leoric or hoto/spirit for
added + skills.
when attacking cast attract->amp->corpse explode ~3x-> summon skeleton-> revive. Summon only when needed. Try to stay away from ranged attack revives as they cause the most lag.

i use s/s for my necro

jsut cuz i dont like taking chances in hc

Shields are pointless on a summon necro. If the monsters are getting by your army when you have so many defensive curses you deserve to die. With this build you can go full vita if you don't use spirit. Low req beast along with a gg summon head or homu and you can do full vita. The only chances of being hit are by ranged attacks. Most ranged attacks are magic/elemental YOU CAN NOT BLOCK THEM. Use decrep/dim vision on ranged attackers.

Pride on a merc has a tendency to freeze corpses making them useless to revivie/summon.

You can use an insight iron golem out of anything low end for the aura.

Resists are way more important than block. If you go near an enchanted unique when it dies it can kill you instantly without resists/sorb. Beast/Spirit or Beast/whatever isn't too good for teleporting so you might want a hoto/spirit on switch for summoning/teleporting around and then switch to beast/whatever when you want to kill.

Since it's hardcore you might want to get a high level bone armor with extra pts - meaning pump the wall/prison.

Omfg seriously the only time I died while playing me necro was when I teled into a pack and got stun locked or mana burned. Fhr is way more important than the bone armor. As for teleing I only used my necro in chaos/Baal runs so I didn't tele much, just the river. With these builds you run around a lot more than tele.

Did this build, and that is very effective:

Shako (dam red. + life+mana SKILLS)
Maras (SKILLS + Res)
Wizz (FCR + RES) / HOTO
ARach (FCR SKILLS)
Bul (SKILLS + LIFE) Or (FCR ring with res and life)
SPIRIT (SKILLS, FCR, RES)
ENIGMA!!!!!
TO gloves (FCR, CR, +2 curse)
MARROW/TREKS!

SWAP nn to tell you (CTA+SPIRIT)

Merc (Act1 fire arrow, faith bow, insight, andy)

Iron golem (Insight)

Skills
20 skeleton mastery
20 raise skeleton
20 blood golem (Gives iron golem more life)
20 golem mastery (Gives iron golem more life and res)
1 revive
1 C/E
1 Amp dam
1 Summon resist
1 bone armor
1 lifetap for ubers

Then, you should be good to go.

NN block. You got many summons.. Go full Vita! Should have 2500-3000 easy with BO.

This build is so good. If you wanna uber, you really wanna use hoto, and a 3 summon fcr helmet.. and just get as much + summon skills as possible. Really important. your faith merc is also very important. Fana is crucial !!!

Good luck!

You do wanna hit 125% fcr. Really important for tele, curses and C/E.

For skills, all you really need is 20 skeleton mastery, 20 skeleton, and 20 corpse explosion (CE does a LOT of damage at high levels, and it has a long range), but I'd recommend 20 into skele mages as well after those (to help with physical immunes, though you can kill PIs with corpse explosioin as well). I'd also recommend 1 into summon resist, revive, amp, decrepify (the slowing sure is nice on extra fast fanta specials). I'd put any remaining points into bone armor.

Max block isn't necessary...just be cautious and stay behind your minions and you should be fine. Max block will require quite a bit of dex, even if you use stormshield...and those points are better spent in vitality imo.

Yes, I'd use the act 2 might merc.

Here are the changes I would recommend to your gear:

Beast
Natures Peace (oak, and I can revive the monsters infront of pindle)<-seems like ok choice, but Bul-Kathos or a rare ring with strength, life, and res would be better
Fcr ring <-personally I dont think fcr is very important for a summoner, but if you can find a good fcr ring (strength, life, res) this is ok
Arachnids <-for hardcore, it would probably be better to wear dungos (life, replenish life, damage reduction) or tgods (adds a lot of strength, light sorb helps a lot on souls...you should at least keep it in stash)
Trang Gloves <-good choice
Marrow Walks <-good choice
Hopefully I get a 3summon 10fcr amulet..or crafted 8fcr to hit 48fcr bp <-switch this to maras or rare/crafted with skills, life, res, str
CTA + spirit<-yep, of course
Shield <-spirit monarch (the fcr should allow you to swap out arachs and the ammy and still make the 48 fcr bp)
Armor<-use Enigma unless you want to play safely and not telport at all...if you're gonna walk a lot use CoH
Helm<-Shako-Life, +All Skills, and damage reduction

Gear for my merc:
Vamp Gaze <-good choice
Bramble <can 3 auras be activated on my merc?> <-good choice, if you want to increase his survivability use shaftstop or levi
Pride <-good choice, if you want to increase his survivability use reaper's toll (massive life leech)