Need Help on Skeleton Mage Build

PoB Link:

I'm playing in HHC and at the moment I'm having issue on deciding what gear would be best for a Skeleton Mage build. I'm deciding on Pledge of Hands w/ Kaom's body (or another high HP chest) or a 1H & Shield for fast movement with Brightbeak or in general, shield charge. If I were to run Pledge then I don't think I would have much survivability but if I went the 1H there might not be enough damage to run high maps or clear uber lab fast enough. Everything is in detail on PoB besides some minor thing and I'll fix the dex problem myself. Just curious which would be the best option while not losing too much. Thanks for anyone that helps out in advance.

You can always switch to SRS when the skeleton thing fails :)

I made an SRS character before so now I feel a bit bored of it. Just trying something new but thanks for suggestion! Trying to avoid SRS a bit since I made a starter so now I have a bit of currency to work with.

The reason why I said it is because I don't believe your skeletons build is viable in endgame. They have terrible life and AoE attacks from bosses will just wipe them in one hit.

But I never actually played a skeleton summoner, so maybe the feeling I get from the numbers on paper is wrong.

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zagibu wrote:

The reason why I said it is because I don't believe your skeletons build is viable in endgame. They have terrible life and AoE attacks from bosses will just wipe them in one hit.

But I never actually played a skeleton summoner, so maybe the feeling I get from the numbers on paper is wrong.

Important to note here: skeleton and skeleton mage are two different things. I'm pretty sure OP is planning on using the summon skeletons threshold jewel which lets you summon skeleton mages. Those are ranged and deal more damage, though elemental instead of physical.