Just thought I'd leave this here

WOW, that's EXACTLY what I expected/was hoping for! :O

Skeleton Mages live on!

"

Boem wrote:

Going to assume CWDT self-damage is the source for this not being the case.

It does make sense until you look at the already present abuse tactics that can be done with this.

Peace,

-Boem-

I think it's much more likely that Skeletons work "as-is" and that there's no reason to point the boat in a different heading.

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Skeletons were added because summoners didn't have have non-corpse summons to do damage.

SRS stole these traits away from Skeletons entirely. It's not worth it to try and make them compete head-to-head in the exact same niche; it's a losing battle. The recent buffs to Skeleton damage (removing the 50% less elemental damage, increased stats) seem like wasted work. When it comes to damage, SRS is just Skeletons++.

What Skeletons are good at is being able to be point summoned (i.e. "over there" instead of at your feet) and for moving slow and body blocking enemies while drawing some of their aggro (i.e. more defensive in nature).

MI Skeletons is about the only remaining legitimate use of Skeletons afaict, and it's because of those "desirable" properties of summoning them at a distance and letting them get targeted and die.

---

The code already exists for having a buff/aura that spawns skeletons at nearby enemies feet on some fixed interval. It's a thematically awesome necromancer defense and it makes the most of what is left from skeleton's portfolio. Match made in heaven.

As a mana-reserving effect, it competes with offensive auras (which summoners adore) and other defensive auras (AA, Disc), but isn't cleanly one or the other which makes the theorycrafting that much more fun.

Anyway... this is all multi-year-old Suggestions stuff. If GGG is still committing to making them try to do more direct damage, then all I can say is "SRS does it better". At least this will capture some D2 nostalgia bux on the way.

So does this add to the normal skeleton cap?

I don't know how to feel about this

"

AvocadosNumber wrote:

So does this add to the normal skeleton cap?

(Stab at implementation) It likely just replaces the first 3 you summon with mage variants.

Ex. 8 max skeletons:
XXXXXXXX

Ex. 8 max skeletons with 1 dead reckoning:
MMMXXXXX

Ex. 8 max skeletons with 2 dead reckonings:
MMMMMMXX

Ex. 2 max skeletons with 1 dead reckoning:
MM

"

Qarl wrote:

Cool! Now add Selfless Leadership to the game again! :P

They count as skeletons within your limit, they don't increase the number of skeletons you can have.

Stacking the Jewel gives you more mages. You always summon mages if you have space in your limit for mages.

Skeletons have pretty good Life, about half of Zombies, so their Minion Instability damage is actually quite nice.. And with the Necromancer Chaos MI-type Passive and Abyssal Cry... Things can get real.


It'd be nice to use Army of Bones/this Jewel to be a pure Skeleton Summoner, maybe with some Zombies (but no Spectres,) and just boost them via Auras/Supports and while some attack they also explode as new ones are cast. (So they'd get into melee range, attack, explode, repeat. Hopefully.)

Though Skeletons could be better, they need better AI and, in my opinion, A LOT less duration. Have them be timed quick fighters, the other Minion Skills already cover other niches.

"

Boem wrote:

^i have made CoC skeletons. without any other summons.

Though this was before the +2 skeleton jewel had a "reduced duration" attached to it.(in beta)

It worked very well with how gimmicky the build and items where lol.

Peace,

-Boem-

edit : you can skip a lot of summoner nodes when you focus pure skeletons and that jewel. since it's more oriented around sacrificial damage then sustained army.

Huh, never considered CoC, always seemed like you'd be better off using SRS or simply having the skeletons to bodyblock and take hits while your spells do the damage. Unless the latter is exactly what you did. In which case yeah, skeletons are good then though I'd still say lacking otherwise.

ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!! :D