[3.14] Odif's Old Obsolete Skel Mage Guide, New one is in a new thread

I was wondering if you do the Skele mages, do we still use the unique glove? Or do we just need the jewel and everything erlse can be random. Also would you use the hextouch curses when we do skele mages, and do we need to take EE??

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pluke89 wrote:

after i almost gave up on this build (not ODIF fault,just ggg nerf's :D) i saw this & bought me dead reckoning immediately,gotta say HUGE improvement aswell for single target AND clearing (y)

Kudos to Odif for finding a build that is so functional and easy to swap once you can afford Dead Reckoning. If the build holds up, I'll be really tempted to min-max it with cluster jewels and one 6L body armor with mages for clearing and another 6L body armor for bossing, along with a jewel to swap with Dead Reckoning.

In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun mostly steamrolling my way around the first conqueror rotation. Just upgraded to a pair of 10c sceptres with +1 to all spell skill gems. Like the witch says, "everything dies".

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exilekami wrote:

¸is it better to level with infernal legion or melee damage and minion damage support

The guide recommends using infernal legion on SKITERBOTS in act 2, because they are immune to damage.

But you could start using it in act 1 on SRS/Skeletons.

Its a valid choice.

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Skua99 wrote:

With 'Dead Reckoning' being so cheap, is it worth switching over to Skeleton Mages with only a 4 link chest or should I hold off?

I am guessing the 4 gems would be:
Vaal Summon Skeleton
GMP
Pierce
Spell Echo

Does this sound about right?

I don't know.
It seems a bit weak, only one dps support, spell echo.
But maybe it would work.

I would wait till 5 link.

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dragonboi250 wrote:

I was wondering if you do the Skele mages, do we still use the unique glove? Or do we just need the jewel and everything erlse can be random. Also would you use the hextouch curses when we do skele mages, and do we need to take EE??

Yes.
Triad Gloves do nothing for mages....BUT....they make the zombies do elemental damage.

So all dps minions are doing elemental damage.

As far as EE, because we use ANGER aura, most damage is fire, less cold, and even less lighting. (Zombies, fire mages, cold mages do no lighting damage, lighting mages do lighning and fire damage.
So we proc EE with a lightning spell.

We use Elemental Weakness as a curse, which helps all our damage.

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GERWARIC wrote:

Kudos to Odif for finding a build that is so functional and easy to swap once you can afford Dead Reckoning. If the build holds up, I'll be really tempted to min-max it with cluster jewels and one 6L body armor with mages for clearing and another 6L body armor for bossing, along with a jewel to swap with Dead Reckoning.

In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun mostly steamrolling my way around the first conqueror rotation. Just upgraded to a pair of 10c sceptres with +1 to all spell skill gems. Like the witch says, "everything dies".

Thank you for the feedback.

I put a lot of thought in how to structure the build so the transition to Skel Mages would be seamless.

I am glad it is working for you.

And yes, while the guide does not talk about min/max'ing the build with cluster jewels and such, you CAN do it.

Once you have currency, a high level necromancer, it's easy to transition to any necro minion build.

And while expensive, cluster jewels REALLY up minion dps.

Think of this build as "perfect for newbies" or think of it as "A stepping stone to better things for experienced players".

So how much life can we have at lvl 90?

Damn i really hate those mobs that explode darts when they die

Not sure if anyone talking about this glove, I have been using this for es build, with hextouch somewhere else, you get 2 curse on hit, with awakened hextouch, you can get 3 curse on hit.

Ok, my day 2 Ritual journey.

I am still using Vitality instead of Skitterbots.
Not sure when I will switch over. Vitality is just so strong, and dps is so good right now, even without Skitterbots.

I only made it to the start of Act 10, in part because of all the disconects, and because I spent too much time in Heists.
(So much loot in Heists!)

As I started Act 8, I realized i was 9 levels higher than the zone i was in, I already had good enough gear to kill Kitava act 10, so I changed strategies, and stopped doing Rituals.

Acts 8 and 9 went quick.

In Act 9 I finally bought a Dead Reckoning and switched over to Skel Mages. (Cost me 4 chaos)


This led to a spending spree.
I bought a corrupted 6l body armor for 10 chaos.


A +2 minion gems helm for 2 chaos


And some 25% move speed boots for 3 chaos.



Doing act 9 with the new set up, the clear was MASSIVELY better, with only a small decrease to single target.

Clearly the superior set up is Skel Mages. (So far)

Only downside is there are so many projectiles flying everywhere, it can be hard to see incoming damage that needs manually dodging, hard to see ground effects.

I still have not colored my Triad Gloves to 2r/2G, as I need to save up some chromatics for that, or get the delve crafts.

Let me know how it is going for you all.

P.S.
The price of melee weapons with +1 all skill gems is MUCH cheaper than wands.
I think tomorrow I will buy 2 melee weapons with +1 all skill gems. Harder to get the right colors on sockets, but so much cheaper.

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exilekami wrote:

So how much life can we have at lvl 90?

Damn i really hate those mobs that explode darts when they die

Depends a lot on gear.

6k life is doable by level 90.

Getting block and life gained on block, with mistress of sacrifice and bone armor, helps ALOT with porcupine death darts!