Hi Everyone, and thanks for stopping by.
Welcome to my version of the CE Summoner!
What is a CE Summoner?
For those of you who don't know, CE stands for Corpse Explosion, and it is one of the more fun skills of the Nec that most people don't use at all because it is strictly for PvM. Combined with Amplify Damage, it packs a huge amount of damage. For my purposes, I decided to combine it with Raise Skeleton to give this build a small twist. I'll explain more as I go along.
However, before I move on, I will say that there are certain monsters this build will have high difficulty killing, and you will have to suck it up and run past them, get someone to help you, or prepare to sit for a long while. On the brighter side, this Nec is party-friendly, meaning that you don't have to raise minions and cause lag for others. Additionally, this build CAN EFFECTIVELY SOLO ALL ACTS IN EACH DIFFICULTY. How do I know? I just did it on Hardcore.
Gearing this Nec is really cheap, and as always, I'll include my own preference at the end later on. The gear I'm about to show you costs anywhere from a few PSkulls to some Gull-value items.
Gear
Helm: Wormskull
Weapon: Ume's Lament
Shield: The Ward OR 3-Sock PDiamond Tower Shield
Armor: Goldskin
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: Tearhaunch OR Hotspur
Belt: Bladebuckle OR Nightsmoke
Left Ring: FCR 2x FR/LR/PR (any combination of any 2 works)
Right Ring: (FCR) 2x FR/LR/PR (any combination of any 2 works)
Amulet: (FCR) +1 or +2 Nec Priz Amulet OR The Mahim-Oak Curio
There's nothing fancy here at all, and you can find a lot of this gear by trading. The overall ideas are to:
1. Get High FR/LR/PR - Since this is a PvM Nec, you're going to need to max out these three resists as much as possible. But don't forget to leave a tiny bit of room for some CR. You're going to need it in Hell A3.
2. Get 50 FCR - Ume's Lament + Magefist + one piece of FCR Jewelry will get this for you easily. It is possible to not have any FCR at all and still be effective, but I still recommend having this much for casting CE. Also, one insteresting tidbit is that Corpse Explosion is a considered a Fire Skill, and Magefist will add +1 to it.
The reason why I didn't include Sigon's Guard or Silks of the Victor in this build is simply because having maxed out PvM Resists is much better than two more added skills; you really won't need them anyways. You can argue this point if you wish, but I'm just talking from my own experience.
Stats
60-80 Base Str (depending on gear), Base Dex, Base Energy, Rest Vita
Str will vary with each Nec, but don't forget that The Ward adds 10 Str, Bladebuckle adds 5 Str, and Tearhaunch adds another 5 Str - a total of 20 added Str to wear Goldskin at 60 Base Str.
Skills
20 Raise Skeleton
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Corpse Explosion
10 Amplify Damage
1 Clay Golem
1 Golem Mastery
3 Summon Resist
1 Raise Skeletal Mage
1 Revive
1 Teeth
1 Bone Spear
1 Bone Armor
1 Bone Wall
1 Bone Prison
1 into every other Curse on the Nec Tree
The two most important skills on that list are Amplify Damage and Corpse Explosion. If you didn't already know, CE deals half Fire AND half Physical Damage. And as you know, Amp Damage adds to the amount of Physical Damage done to a monster. Raise Skeletons are there because they, too, produce a small but very important source of initial damage and a first-kill in a pack for soloing purposes. Not only that, but they also serve as your main defense. Revives are there for backup and more damage, the Bone Skills are for some added Defense, and having at least one point into every curse gives your Nec party-friendly versatility in case your minions aren't welcome - in other words, less lag for everyone else in the party.
How to Play the CE Summoner
Some of you may already be familiar with how this Nec works, so you can skip this section if you like.
The main way this Nec works goes like this: after building your army, cast Amp Damage on a monster pack, watch carefully when your minions make the first kill, then use that dead body to blow away the rest of the pack with Corpse Explosion. The effect is that you start with one dead body and use the rest that are created after the initial Explosion to kill the rest. If you're in a party where other players kill faster than you, just leech off the dead bodies they leave behind and blow up whatever monsters are left standing. The idea is simple, but you really need some common sense when playing; you may end up doing more harm than help. For example:
1. Don't explode the entire pack of dead bodies when there's nothing left to kill. Although the rest of the dead bodies poof as you leave the area, you may need to come back to them in case your minions are squashed and you need to summon more. Additionally, if you're in a party with an HDin that uses Redemption to regain health and mana in a hurry, if there are no more bodies around, they won't be able to replenish.
2. If your party complains of too much lag from your minions, don't summon too many, or don't summon at all! They will probably kill faster than your minions, and you can support them with the right Curse or Amp-CE kills. However, if your party is really pathetic and can't kill a thing, then go ahead and summon away!
3. Remember that Amp + CE is your main source of damage. Using a minion with a Cold source of damage may/will shatter your first kill in a pack, leaving you with no corpse to explode for consecutive multiple kills.
There are a few more that I haven't mentioned, but those are the three potential problems to watch out for.
The First Kill
About now, you're probably wondering how to get the first kill en route to building your army. If you're playing with other people, you don't have to worry about that since you can just summon using the dead bodies they leave behind. However, if you decide to test your skill and solo in a private game, that first kill is really annoying - especially if you try this in HC. Ouch!
The way I did it was to shop for a Wand that had at least +1 Nec Skills with Bone Spear and/or Golem Mastery. After that, go out, and find the weakest possible monster you can attract, and make sure it's not a Supre Unique or a Minion of one. In my case, I picked on Fallen and Quill Rats in Act 1, Sand Leapers in Act 2, Cloud Stalkers in Act 3, and Flesh Beasts in Act 4. Do your best to lead at least one of them back to town. Summon a Clay Golem to help kill that lone monster, and if you're in Act 1-3, hire a Merc, too. You can help your minions by providing Amp Damage and shooting the monster with Bone Spear. If it tries to run, use Bone Prison to trap it and continue the killing process. If for some reason your Golem and Merc take too much damage from that monster or some other source, just come back to town and heal up. See why I had you stay close to town?
There will be some occasions when you lead too many monsters back to town, and your Golem and Merc won't be able to handle them without Skellies. In this case, just make another game! Cheap, but effective, hehe. And don't forget to re-equip Ume's Lament once you have your minions ready!
What You Can't Kill and How to Make it Killable
If you're soloing in a private game, you will eventually encounter a monster or monster pack that will totally wreck your minions no matter what you do. If you have a buddy that you can call to come help you, or you can loader up a multi-purpose killer, then forget reading this section. However, for those that are brave enough to take on the challenge alone, this section is dedicated to you.
Some of the monster packs that you will have a lot of problems with are mostly Super Unique packs that are Cursed, have Holy Freeze or Fanaticism, are Fire and/or Lighting Enchanted, are Extra Fast, just deal way too much damage, or have a combination of any of these. There are also the ones with Conviction that also use elemental attacks as their main source of damage. (Physically Immune monsters aren't a problem because Amp Damage increases Physical Damage just enough to eliminate that Immunity.) So what do you do about them?
The First Option is to run away. Simple, no? However, you won't be able to do this all the time, which leads me to the really annoying Second Option: make a new game and pray that the same one you may encounter doesn't spawn with the same attributes. Then again, there are instances when you have to kill them to complete a quest, like killing Andariel in Act 1. In this case, I present the Third Option.
Killing any difficult Super Unique or one of the final bosses at the end of each act is really a challenge, and you'll need some fancy playing in order to survive them. In this case, Decrepify is your friend, and you can pull it off Ume's Lament, or putting hard points into it. Slowing down the boss allows your minions to get in more hits and do more damage. (The only exception here are Super Uniques and Duriel who have Holy Freeze that will slow down your minions. Your minions should be able to take on the Super Unique if there aren't too many surrounding minions. For Duriel, the good news is that he attacks one minion at a time. If you continuously summon a Golem in directly in front of him, there is a good chance he will turn his attention to it and attack that instead, giving the rest of the minions the opportunity to hit him.) However, that alone won't be enough. In order to keep your minions healthy enough to kill the Supre Unique or boss, you'll have to hit town numerous times to heal up and make sure your minions are ready for another round. It takes quite some time in order to pull this off, but trust me, using this tactic on any seemingly unkillable monster or monster pack does work.
Leveling
Of course, this is probably the hardest part of building this Nec, and you'll probably want someone to Chant you to get the ball rolling. But if you want to take it easy and go through the game normally, or you don't have a Chanter readily available, use the method below:
Up to Level 30, make sure you have Raise Skeleton maxed out with one point into Amp Damage, Corpse Explosion, Clay Golem, Summon Resist, and Decrepify. Once you have these in place, depending on how you intend on playing your Nec, leveling the other required skills will vary. If you plan on soloing in a private game most of the time, or if the group you mostly play with can't kill effectively, max out Skeleton Mastery, and get 15 into Amp Damage then Corpse Explosion in that order. If playing with a group that kills like there's no tomorrow, get 15 into Amp Damage and Corpse Explosion, and work on Skeleton Mastery later. In either case, placing at least 1 point into each of the other Curses should be last.
I mentioned not to completely neglect CR in the Gear section, and that is for those annoying Heirophants and Mephisto in Act 3 who will drop an occasional Blizzard on you and your minions. Keep that CR high enough to be able to survive those!
My Build
I played with my own CE Summoner on HC, and I wish I had better gear to put on it. On SC, this is the gear I would be aiming for:
Gear
Helm: Wormskull
Weapon: +2 Nec 20 FCR +3 Bone Spear
Shield: 17/30/20 High Priz FR/LR/PR Stacked Grim Shield (PDiamond Sock)
Armor: 24 FHR 9x Life 2x FR/LR/PR Mage Plate (any combination of any 2 works, PRuby Sock)
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: 30/10 3x FR/LR/PR or 2x FR/LR/PR Demonhide Boots (any combination of any 2 works)
Belt: 24 FHR 1x+ Str 3x+ Life 2x FR/LR/PR Demonhide Sash (any combination of any 2 works)
Left Ring: FCR 5+ Str 2x FR/LR/PR (any combination of any 2 works)
Right Ring: The Stone of Jordan
Amulet: +2 Nec High Str High Life/Mana High Priz FR/LR/PR Stacked
This is an extremely rich build, and it will take a lot of resources to get gear that high-end. I don't intend on spending that much on this character, but considering the fact that I'm getting bored with making mainstream characters, I may invest a lot to get this gear.
Stats
45 Base Str, Base Dex, Base Energy, Rest Vita
In my experience, 45 Base Str was enough for me, and it was mostly because I had to wear Magefist. I don't recommend keeping this Nec as a Pure Vita character because you'll have to rely on a lot of Str Gear, which gets really annoying.
Skills
20 Raise Skeleton
20 Skeleton Mastery
20 Corpse Explosion
10 Amplify Damage
1 Clay Golem
1 Blood Golem
1 Iron Golem
1 Fire Golem
1 Golem Mastery
1 Summon Resist
1 Raise Skeletal Mage
1 Revive
1 Teeth
1 Bone Spear
1 Bone Spirit
1 Bone Armor
1 Bone Wall
1 Bone Prison
1 into every other Curse on the Nec Tree
With an added +6 skills from my gear, having 1 point into every skill, except for the Poison ones, gives me the ability to have A LOT of extra killers and a bigger guard for soloing and the ability to help out my party with any one of the Curses on the Curses tree. Any Skill Points past Level 82 will go into Summon Resist to add more elemental resistance for my minions.
Wow, lengthy guide, but at least I got most of my main points across. Thanks for reading, and I hope you, too, will enjoy making this Nec.