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Fire Nova
Fire Wall
Fire Bolts
Lightning Wave
Bone Cage

STRATEGY  :    Here it is! The final battle to decide the fate of humanity! The concluding match between the forces of good vs. evil! More importantly, the last boss of Diablo II!
Kill Diablo and the game is over! Sure, you're gonna miss the long, sleepless nights playing the game! You're going to remember the good times you had with your faithful
GOLEMS and SKELETON WARRIORS. It's been one hell of a ride
(In fact, the ride took you right into Hell!), but now it's time to end it! Once and for all!

Diablo has three ranges for his attacks. Get close to him, he will either try to strike you with his Ice Claw melee attack or unleash his Lightning Wave. The Ice Claw is really nothing to fear by itself. But, get hit with it, and you'll slow way down, making it easy to follow it up with another Ice Claw or strike you with his Lightning Wave. The
Lightning Wave is a multi-hitting lightning attack, much like the Fetish Shaman's Inferno. The Inferno does lots of damage, but Diablo's Lightning Wave will do a colossal amount of damage if you stay still, even with the best
LIGHTNING Defense on the entire planet! So, close range is very risky.

At mid-range, Diablo will unleash his Fire Nova (imagine
a Poison Nova, only it's made of fire), Lightning Wave,
Fire Wall and Fire Bolts (much like a Charged Bolt of fire).  The Fire Nova will outright kill your SKELETON
WARRIORS and SKELETAL MAGES. And, with your SKELETAL MAGES always keeping a distance from a baddie, Diablo will use
Fire Nova for sure to get them!

At long-range, Diablo's attacks are just limited to Fire
Bolts, Fire Nova and his Fire Wall (which he won't do too much). This is where you should be! Keep a good distance from Diablo! He can't do much damage with his Fire Wall if you keep moving. The Fire Bolts are pretty easy to dodge as well and the Fire Nova will spread out, so you can move in between the fire balls with precise movement.

Now, while keeping a distance, run around Diablo, just enough so you can still see him in the screen. Stop occasionally to cast AMPLIFY DAMAGE on him and your long- range offensive spell on him. I hope by this time, your
Necromancer has already learned BONE SPIRIT! Having this spell will eliminate the need for you to accurately aim.
BONE SPEAR can work, but if Diablo's moving around as well, so it is pretty easy to miss with BONE SPEAR.

Having a FIRE GOLEM is good, too! He will absorb any of
Diablo's Fire attacks into his health, but since his main close range attacks are non-fire based, your FIRE GOLEM will die pretty quickly. Which is, actually, a good thing!
The FIRE  GOLEM will explode next to Diablo, giving off a few extra points of damage (I'm guessing Diablo's got good defense against Fire). Any extra damage is good! Just don't bother creating a new one. It's better to do it solo (for once).

If you need to run back to town via Town Portal, run away from Diablo! I mean, FAR AWAY! Diablo will usually cast Bone Prison around Town Portals! So, if you're going to use a Town Portal, either go behind a wall so Diablo can't see the Portal, or open it up far away from him.

In conclusion, in facing Diablo in the final battle, pelt away with your BONE SPIRIT or BONE SPEAR spell with
AMPLIFY DAMAGE on him. It'll take a long, long time, but it is the easiest method I found to kill Diablo!

[FROM: Ja Mes Kor

As for Diablo in Normal, my friend actually suggested to use the BLOOD GOLEM instead of FIRE, and you need to re- cast your BLOOD GOLEM numerous times (he was at level 31).
I tried and found that you may still need to run around a bit like you suggested. My stand is: BLOOD GOLEM is your blood of survival till ACT 4. ]


-Ja Mes Kor

[FROM: Jason Lane

Regarding Diablo tactics.  The very best tactic for a
Necromancer against Diablo, from what I've seen, is to get someone else to help you.  This is easy enough, as many characters, in higher difficulties, have major problems with Hephasto.. and an IRON MAIDEN-wielding Necromancer will, as I said, laugh at him. ]


-Jason Lane


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H. Tips and Hints

1) PUT THOSE STAT POINTS IN YOUR STRENGTH

Although you won't be needing to get up close and personal with the baddies most of the time, it's better to be safe and sure. In order to increase your Defense Rating, you'll need good armor of have good
Dexterity. Unfortunately, increasing your Dexterity won't do much for your Defense Rating when your Necromancer is at a very high level.

So, what you want is a good armor, shield, etc. In order to do that, you need to be strong enough to carry the stuff. This is why
Strength increase should be the Character stat you should be putting your points into. Getting items that can increase your Attack Ratings is pretty easy to find!

2) SAVE AND UPGRADE THOSE GEMSTONES

In the last Act, where a lot of the baddies do huge Elemental damage to you. That's why you need to get those Gemstones and upgrade them. Diamonds, when attached to a Shield will increase all your
Elemental Resistances. Putting an Amethyst in your Shield will increase it's Defense. Adding a Skull into your Helm will increase your Mana recovery and will recover Life! Finally, the Emerald in your Headgear will increase your Dexterity!

3) GET A FAST WEAPON BUT NOT A WIMPY FAST WEAPON

Since you won't be fighting that much, you'll want a weapon that hits hard and fast for quick getaways. I know that you'll probably find a weapon that does Enchanted Damage or get a Hammer that does more damage than your very fast sword, but the fast hit-and-run style really works well for a Necromancer.

But don't go overboard on the speed department! If you get surrounded, and you've got a fast weapon but does little damage (for example, a Dagger), you won't be able to clear out the bad guys around you!

Also, two handed weapons aren't meant for the Necromancer. Since you need two hands on a two handed weapon (Duh!), you won't be able to carry a Shield! And your Shield is needed for added Defense, and if you've added Gems into your Socketed Shield, it's needed to take most of your Elemental Damage.

Swords work well. They have fast attacking speed while delivering modest damage to the opponent. There are other weapons that have
Enhanced Attacking Speed so, even though those type of weapons are slow weapons normally, the added speed will be welcome while doing the same amount of damage.

[FROM: Ja Mes Kor

In another Necro FAQ, someone actually suggested to use a really damaging 2-handed weapon in later ACTs...I think this may be true in
Nightmare...I found one Maul and went back to get it imbued and it does nearly 90 dmg on average and it kills off enemy faster. A gemmed shield is useful when you meet up with those irritating elemental attacks... otherwise I keep the shield for later uses. ]


-Ja Mes Kor

4) LEARN THOSE USEFUL SPELLS AND USE THEM!

You've gotta love those spells the Necromancer has! Sure, a lot of them suck big time and aren't worth getting, but the ones that really work well, really work damn good!

AMPLIFY DAMAGE is bound to be one of your faves! It costs only a few Mana points, yet it will double the damage you and your minions can do!

CORPSE EXPLOSION does a huge amount of damage! Kill a baddie and cast it on the body! BOOM! A few more baddies are bound to die, setting up for more CORPSE EXPLOSION attacks! Also, exploding a corpse prevents the dead body from being ressurected by creature that have the ability to raise the dead.

BONE SPEAR and BONE SPIRIT also does a lot of damage! BONE SPEAR is great for huge groups of monsters. The BONE SPEAR will eliminate a few of them, setting them up for CORPSE EXPLOSION. The BONE SPIRIT, on the other hand, will only hit one baddie, but will to massive damage, and will chase the targeted monster!

5) SUMMONING MAKES SURE YOU'RE NEVER ALONE

Any SKELETON WARRIOR and MAGE are really good in times when you need assistance quickly. They can provide distractions if you need to run away. Not only that, using those spells will deny the body to be ressurected ever again.

REVIVED creatures, although they are active for a limited time, are really powerful if you use this spell on Champions and Uniques.
They also get a big boost on their life stats. It's great on Bosses, like Mephisto (if you manage to get Level 30 at that time) and Diablo!

Finally, the jewel of your Summoning monsters, the GOLEMS! The
CLAY GOLEM is tough enough to last till the end of Act I, and BLOOD
GOLEMS work wondrous against huge amount of baddies. IRON GOLEMS are real bad boys! They can take a beating and dish it out as well! It's
THORNS Aura also help it kill tough monsters, especially the Extra
Strong, by returning 150% of the damage back to the attacker.

And, last but not least, the FIRE GOLEM will absorb Fire Elemental attacks to its health, has a Fire Aura as well and really hits hard!
Another ability that the FIRE GOLEM has that no one really exploits is the fact that, when it dies, it explodes, delivering Fire Damage to the surrounding baddies!

The Summoned Monsters are Mana expensive, but, then again, YOU
ONLY HAVE TO CAST IT ONCE! Unlike your other spells, like AMPLIFY
DAMAGE and BONE SPEAR, the effect of the spell and the damage it does either has a time limit or is instantaneous. They can last for a long time. And, when they do die, you can always make another one, and return to the nerest town and recharge you Mana!

6) SAVE THAT IMBUE

In Act I, when you return the Horadric Malus to Charsi, she'll say that she'll Imbue one of your ordinary Items with Magic properties. It may be tempting to use it immediately, but don't! Save it until Act IV!

In Act IV, the ordinary Item you can buy are really good! So,
Imbuing an item that you get during Act IV, and Imbue that Item, you'll get a really powerful item!

I suggest Imbuing the best armor you can get later in the game, then go back all the way to the Rouge Encampment. Go to Charsi and give her the armor and have her Imbue it. After that, she'll give you your new, powerful Magic Armor!

7) CHEAT!

You heard me right! Cheat! For example, if you're gonna Gamble or get a Ring as a reward, save the game first! Then, go back to Windows (you don't have to exit the game) and copy all the save game data from the save directory of Diablo II to another directory.

Now, load the game again and do whatever you want. If you get a lousy item from Gambling or a crummy Ring for a reward, go back to the
Main Menu of Diablo II by saving the game. Since you didn't want what you got, simply overwrite that save game with the one you copied to a different directory! You're back again without the said Item and you can try again!

Do this when you're about to use the Imbue! Imbue it and then, if you think the new Imbued Item sucks, just do the above process!

8) IF YOU CAN PLAY MULTIPLAYER WITH YOUR FRIENDS, DO SO!