Pride vs Infinity for summon necros

[DarkPrinceLoki]

regardless of which type of summoner you are either lord of mages or fishymancer, the choice for a final polearm is a debate that is ageless, so here we go on to discuss the technical and probable, the fact and usefulness.

[saracen85]

i'm voting infinity solely for the fact that it's the better weapon for the merc to kill monsters with.. and it won't shatter them =)

[Shallie]

Imo Pride is the one to go. In hell difficulty your mages lack dmg so better pump the ones that are responsible for the killing than those you just use to slow and stop the life regeneration.

The only exception is if you have maxed skeletal mages. Then I'd probably go for Infinity but as a fishy summoner who doesn't use mages anyway I say Pride > Infinity!

[roo]

agreed with shallie pride all the way

[Belhemel]

It has to be pride all the way. I guess it really depends on your play style but Pride just has too many beneficial stats for me.

[kalenjder]

pride for sure. infinity is mostly for sorcs.

[safetypro]

Here's a couple more weapons to consider for a nec Summoner Merc:

eth Arioc's Needle
+180-230% Enhanced Damage (varies)
50% Deadly Strike
+394 Poison Damage Over 10 Seconds
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+2-4 To All Skills (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds +4 to the Might Aura

eth Obedience
30% Chance To Cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill An Enemy
40% Faster Hit Recovery
+370% Enhanced Damage
-25% Target Defense
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage 3 Second Duration (Normal)
-25% To Enemy Fire Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
+200-300 Defense (varies)
+10 To Strength
+10 To Dexterity
All Resistances +20-30 (varies)
Requirements -20%
I actually use this on my Summon Nec's Merc and the number of shattered corpses is almost negligible.

I voted for Pride as well however, trying to trade for Sur and Cham runes is extremely difficult. But it would definately be the number one choice.

[DarkPrinceLoki]

Im glad ppl are more for pride, but we are also shooting for the technical soultion. break out the calculators my friends this might get tough.

Pride Stats:
http://www.diablo2.com/article/runewords/ladder-only/items/1-10-runewords/pride-runeword.html

Infinity Stats:
http://www.diablo2.com/article/runewords/ladder-only/items/1-10-runewords/infinity-runeword.html

Merc Stats:
http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=306061

Skelleton, Mastery and Mage Stats:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/necromancer-summoning.shtml#skeletalmage

[Jordan]

I honestly don't know why anyone would put an infinity on their summoner now that G-Merc is patched. Mages just don't do enough damage in hell... or in normal and nightmare at that.

[saracen85]

I honestly don't know why anyone would put an infinity on their summoner now that G-Merc is patched. Mages just don't do enough damage in hell... or in normal and nightmare at that.

if you look past the concentration aura from pride, you'll notice that it doesn't have weapon ed or crushing blow or any life leech thus making your merc just another tool for carrying an aura.

infinity's cheaper. it's conviction will do squat for your skellies' dmg but they'll sure hit more accurately.

and it'll help your corpse explosion by a lot. iirc, CE is the gg skill for most skelliemancers anyway.

the crushing blow and high ed on weapon makes your merc a good killing machine as well.

then again, it's all preference.. =)

[Black Necro]

I honestly don't know why anyone would put an infinity on their summoner now that G-Merc is patched. Mages just don't do enough damage in hell... or in normal and nightmare at that.

Umm, i haven't really cast a vote yet but im asking a question. What is the G-merc that Jordan is referring to?

also, what does gg stand for? had a hard time figuring that out.

[saracen85]

^^ gg = good game. with reference to what i said, gg skill means the ultimate killing skill =)

[DarkPrinceLoki]

in all fairness i do use my merc for his aura and polearm support, he just isnt keeping up with the skelletons. if i teleport (using the enigma that i will soon have or my ammy that i got with teleport charges) ontop of an enemy the skelletons are the ones that surround it and the merc is more offten behind the skelletons. as for enhanced damage, if the merc isnt causing enough damage with might, fanaticism, concentration and amplify damage, then he really has no purpose being my merc if you ask me. :D Also Pride has a 1-99% ED to Demons based on Char lvl Mod, and seeing as almost all monsters in the game are either animals or demons ..... do you catch my drift?

[saracen85]

in all fairness i do use my merc for his aura and polearm support, he just isnt keeping up with the skelletons. if i teleport (using the enigma that i will soon have or my ammy that i got with teleport charges) ontop of an enemy the skelletons are the ones that surround it and the merc is more offten behind the skelletons. as for enhanced damage, if the merc isnt causing enough damage with might, fanaticism, concentration and amplify damage, then he really has no purose being my merc if you ask me. :D

so the polearm question is practically based on your preference on how to kill monsters... =)

skellies (pride)
merc and CE (infinity)

from the looks of it, people prefer the former =)

edit: infinity has frw. i can't believe that runeword was made with the merc in mind. =P

[DarkPrinceLoki]

also take insight in consideration, im not looking at it right now but i dont think it has ED either on it, and the only purpose it has is for the meditation aura it has. spell casters use it for that alone.

also now i know of a build that could use both infinity and pride at the same time, a non cookie cutter build that im going to try on my hero editor first to see how viable it is.

Lord Of Mages, Commando Necromancer.

LOM= uses mages (and sometimes revives) over warriors = infinity merc
Commando = Necro goes into battle as well = pride for himself, merc and revives if any

what you think guys sound viable, im gonna try it.

[saracen85]

insight has weapon ed and critical strike. so, it's physically damaging=)

[Wallenberg]

Well, infinity.

[Sedhrw]

Pride is imo the best, the damage bonus is just too huge to pick anything else, although I have one criticism of it..... Lets just say, Cham + weapon = 3 freezes target, so since you are a summoner, your first summons will be summoned from corpses your merc killed. Unfortunately, with freezes target from the cham in pride, about 4 out of 5 killed monsters shatter after being killed, therefore not allowing you to raise a skeleton from its corpse... VERY annoying.

[DarkPrinceLoki]

not really, i always have my iron golem out when i make my first kill, and even with the freezing from pride 2 kills and i get my first corpse, never have i gone through more than 2 to get the first corpse even when the merc was all i had.

[Belhemel]

if you look past the concentration aura from pride, you'll notice that it doesn't have weapon ed or crushing blow or any life leech thus making your merc just another tool for carrying an aura.

infinity's cheaper. it's conviction will do squat for your skellies' dmg but they'll sure hit more accurately.

and it'll help your corpse explosion by a lot. iirc, CE is the gg skill for most skelliemancers anyway.

the crushing blow and high ed on weapon makes your merc a good killing machine as well.

then again, it's all preference.. =)

Waht do you need leech on your weapn for when your merc is wearing a stone armor and a ll helm like vamp, tals, crown of thieves or even a guiallmes for the CB. As for needing more just cast life tap and your merc will be fine. Though it will be good for CE.

[eNtitY-]

Pride FTW

only get infinity if u planning to Mage Skellies
that will help some

off topic sorry, but
the "hint" if u cast blood golem and cast iron maiden on the monsters, u kinda be like invincible right? read it off www.gamerevolution.com for the cheats of diablo2

[Belhemel]

insight has weapon ed and critical strike. so, it's physically damaging=)

We are talking about infinity not insight. Infinity does have ed but not critical strike. CS is on insight. Pride also has blind target and 20% deadly strike.

[saracen85]

We are talking about infinity not insight. Infinity does have ed but not critical strike. CS is on insight. Pride also has blind target and 20% deadly strike.

that's just a clarification on insight mods with reference to DarkPrinceLoki's post just above it.. =)

[eNtitY-]

you should probably consider Last Wish also
since you're going skellies, the might will help alot

[saracen85]

you should probably consider Last Wish also
since you're going skellies, the might will help alot

1. act 2 mercs can already provide might aura. even higher levels than last wish's.

2. last wish can only be put in swords for act 3/5 mercs. then, you'll lose the benefit of having an act 2 merc aura.

3. even if you can put a last wish in a polearm to give to a might merc, the aura will not stack. the higher one will prevail.

4. if you yourself carry that last wish, see point 3 regarding the aura not stacking with the might merc's. =)

[eNtitY-]

rofl seriously?
they can get higher then lvl 17?
well u can always put on act 3, he freezes people, or launch fireballs

holy freeze merc is act2 nightmare defensive right?

[saracen85]

the mercs'll get lvl17 might once they reach lvl83, aura level 18 when lvl87. plus, the aura level can be boosted further with +skills.

[DarkPrinceLoki]

i think the IM blood golem bug was fixed along time ago......
Also If using fortitude armor for the mecr, then the "no ED" of pride is negated.
fort = 300%ED