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Meleemancers guide v 1.01 - ish

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-3. Disclaimer
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This is a warning that GOOD MELEEMANCERS ARE DIFFICFULT TO MAKE, i.e. GOOD
MELEEMANCERS ARE VERY HARD TO MAKE. Harder than most commandoes (the really hard ones that can save battle ships underseige, for example). You can make one mistake and take ages getting them back on track, that said, One thing can easily change a Meleemancer for the better. This could be anything from a few stat points a few extra levels or better equipment. Of course this can happen to any character, but it seems to affect meleemancers to an even greater extent.
Next point is that: GOOD MELEEMANCERS ARE BRILLIANT, i.e. GOOD MELEEMANCERS ARE
PRETTY COOL. They can help others excel especially when entering new areas or acts. They can also offer some more unconventional assistance from the spells they use. The amount of times i've had heard good responces to the support i've offered to others is part of what compelled me to write this faq/guide.

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-2. Contents - Just so you know which bit to skip to
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0. Introduction, why does this text exist

-2. Contents, for navigation and what.

----- The bit about how to play ------

1. Curses, what to use and why

2. Poison and Bone spells, the other stuff, you know the ones

3. Summonings, the bits you might use.

4. Tactics, what to do

4.1 Distraction, the first bit
4.2 Killing, the important bit
4.3 Running away, this bit doesn't exist because you basically back off.

5. Others, what do others say?

----- The other bits that are there for whatever reason ------

6. Gear, what equipment you can get that might be nice.

7. What's been done? What's been done by others and myself.

-1. Stuff, just bits and pieces about legal stuff and contact stuff

-Pi. Thanks and credits.

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0. Introduction
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This Faq is written primarily for the Diablo 2 expansion: Lord of Destruction, hencforth refered to as LOD. Whilst some of this guide will apply to players of
Normal Diablo 2 (D2), there are significant changes made in LOD that make some of the advice contained within unsuitable.
This guide was written by someone who has many names, but on the Gamefaqs internet site is commonly known as Snuffkin. You should only be able to find this guide on the Gamefaqs website, or my HD. If you find this file on my HD then you probably shouldn't be, so go to www.gamefaqs.com and get it from there.
This guide is of course protected by International Copyright (c) of Snuffkin
(Me) E-mail address to come later.
This guide is genrally based at Necromancers that don't rely overly on summoned monsters. That is to say they don't summon 20 or so monsters to fight for them.
They mainly use them for protection, distraction or other tactics. They usually aren't as physically weak as most normal Necro's or as mana intensed. In a way they are more like a druid but without shapeshifting or a lame selection of elemental skills. Infact, Druids look alot like Necro's, except they're ginger and more furry, oh and less evil.

Most people would then go on to ask, why not just play as a Druid? Well the obvious answer to that is "Because we want to" or "They're gingers and I don't like gingers" or "They're not as evil or sinister". However a better answer would be a list of skills and variences that exist, such as the curses, the spells such as Corpse Explosion and... because we want too. Actually the point of curses is quite significant because it can help others in a number of ways, more of that later, but if everyone that wanted to be a more fighting based
Necro selected a druid they'd be no one to cast Amplify Damage or Lower resist or Iron Maiden, etc. It's the same for making any character that is different from the norm, others get extra benifits. For example, someone may be slated for making a Paladin using defiance, until the point when another Paladin comes in using Fanaticism (like so many others) and you get the benifits of both.
Note that a number of Paladins using Maxed Prayer is quite useful, especially when backed up by Act 2 Mercs using the prayer aura.

*Bit you may want to read*

Anyway, Meleemancers are quite competent when made correctly, and absolutely rubish when they aren't. This guide is here to advise you on what works and what doesn't. The variety you can get out of a Meleemancer is great, one of the many reasons Necro's are among my favourite chars.

*Semi important bit*

One of the things you should remember when you play as any kind of Necro is that you need to stop people from killing you. Okay so that's a good idea with any class, but with a Necro, you need to find a way to distract attention away from you. If the attention of monsters is aimed at you, you probably won't survive that long, unless you're in somewhere easy. There are many ways to do this with a Necro, but we're looking for ways that don't involve summoning your own army and have you stand around watching. I would have to say that distraction is the key to any Meleemancer who wants to be succesful, or at least have an easy life. What will follow are a number of tactics you can use, looking at curses and what they can be used for, looking at ways to distract monsters, looking at poison and bone spells and seeing how they can be used to your advantage. Also looking at summonings, how you can use them and what to look out for. What will not follow is a list of skill statistics, listing how they progress each level. If I were to include them in this guide I would just have to copy them from another source, to which there is no point and you may as well get that information yourself if you want exact figures. I will recomend how much to shove in each skill however, note that 6 is enough for most curses. Also note that this is not strictly speaking a Faq, although it does cover some frequently asked questions, it is more of a guide, here to offer advice and GUIDEance not tell you the radius of Dim Vision at skill level
24. However if there is enough request then these may be included.

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1.CURSES
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All the useful curses, and what they can be used for.

1. Amplify Damage
Of course used to increase the phsyical damage done to a cursed monster. Very useful, especially when you want to do more damage to things when you hit them.
Recomended that you put around 6 or 7 points in this as it will give you good enough range. 6 or 7 points is about right for any curse your'e going to use, although in some cases you may wish to put more in.
A good curse, can be stacked with other curses too. May not want to invest to much in it though.

2. Weaken
Only good against bosses or things that just hit too hard and your'e not having much luck distracting them. I'd put 1 point in it, and save it for those rare moments. Not one you'd commonly use unless you were in a bad area.

3. Dim Vision
The first of the direct distraction curses (DDC). Useually works, but some monsters will still continue to attack you. Again i'd say around 6 or 7 points but it's up to you if you want to use it.

4. Terror
This spell saves lives. A DDC curse, but mainly used to save your life. Stacks with other curses too, best used with attract or confusion. Invest well or don't invest at all, just remember it's great for easing preasure given by hoardes.

5. Confuse
Great when stacked with Iron Maiden or Amplify/Lower Resist. Perhaps less reliable than Dim Vision, generally unreliable. Great for Unique monsters, watching the minions all turn arround and beat on the Unique is a great laugh, especially when you poison a bunch of them. A reasonable DDC but cast another curse first, like Amplify, so you can kill any that come to you anyway.

6. Iron Maiden
This skill works with Blood Golem, dispite what they say, this skill still works with Blood Golem. You can effectively deal with any melee attack that isn't Physical Immune with this spell and blood golem. One of the curses that you may want to ram up to 20, but you can still settle for less. Only works on melee fighters, so do something else to the rest, like Dim Vision.

7. Life Tap
This spell saves lives, but only if you can hit the enemy. Other fighters in your company will love this curse. May even be the only thing keeping them alive, and rather sadly they may not even know it. Needs again around 6-7 points to be worthwhile as the radius for it is quite small. Only works with physical attacks, not spells or anything.

8. Attract
Cannot be used on Unique monsters. Best cast on something with lots of health and combined with Iron maiden or Amplify/Lower Resist. More reliable than confuse and more costly. Don't need to many points in this to make it effective, but you may want to shove some in just to get the duration up.

9. Decreprify
A great curse, but it costs loads to cast and the radius and duration aren't too good. Probably have to max this one if you intend to use it instead of
Amplify. Slows considerably and Lowers Physical resist (but less than Amplify), apparently also weakens but again to a less extent than Weaken does. Mainly used by Necro's that get involved in dueling or PKing. A good curse but the mana cost and ammount of skill points you need can make it to expensive.

10. Lower Resist
Great for Physical Immunes. Sorcs love it, as does anyone who doesn't use
Physical attacks primarily. A good one to max, but you may not be able to afford to, so just stick around 6 or 7 maybe more. Useful when combined with poison too, but you may find a use for this one to rare to put points on. If you use Corpse Explosion however, I would recomend this over amplify. As recently pointed out, Lower Resist also also amplifies the damage done by
Elemental effects on weapons and of course, Berserkers, and lets face it,
Berserkers are great.

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2. Poison & Bone Spells
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A mixed bunch, but still some useful stuff.

1. Teeth
Sounds like Keith, which reminds me of Psychic Force, which directs me to
Setsuna, which then goes to his Dark Knives move, which is more useful than this skill. Fairly useless after a point. If you start using this from the beggining and shove everything you can into it till you max it, it'll last you till about act 3 normal. After it's a bit weak but still viable. If it did beter damage it'd probably be his best offensive spell. Sadly it isn't.

2. Bone Armour
Some people love this skill, I think it's a waste of mana. Only absorbs phsyical attacks but only 120 points worth, which is fairly useless later on.
Better for summoners that just sit back, or anyone that doesn't get too close.
Too costly early on though, unless you have loads of mana spare. For me this is a waste of mana for a meleemancer.

3. Poison Dagger
Right now, all Poison is a dodgy investment. Poison damage seems to keep changing with each patch. It does work as a skill, the AR bonus is great for a melee mancer. Daggers are good weapons if you can find one, and a zod rune to deal with low durability. If you can get the right equipment then this is a good support skill, wouldn't rely on it to do everything though. Like all poisons, works best when the target won't be doing anything to attack you, or when you can damage them through other means.

4. Corpse Explosion
Great but costly. Does half Fire damage and half Physical, great for killing PI monsters, which is why I prefer to use it with Lower Resist, as Fire Immunes can be killed easily with other means. All you need is one corpse and you can kill loads others. Points only increase the range, so if it's your main offensive then max it, otherwise just put enough to make the mana cost manageable. Note that in recent patches this has had the range and therefore effectiveness changed so be wary as it's best on closely bunched groups.

5. Bone Wall
Bone Prison is better, even if this does have more health. If you want one earlier though, this is a better choice, but really it's better to use Prison.

6. Bone Spear
If Teeth fired 20 odd of these, then it would be a great spell, but then you could say the same thing for teeth firing Frozen Orb. Good but some still prefer Bone Spirit dispite Spears greater distructive power. Upto you as they have similar Mana cost, but Bone Spirit has safer boss killing potential.

7. Poison Explosion
Only ever costs 8 mana, which is great for a meleemancer. Doesn't rely on enemy