Are the Necromancer's Golems of any use whatsoever in Diablo 2?

Question

The class I play most commonly in Diablo 2 is the Necromancer. I've always run the same build (below), but now I want to start trying some alternative builds to mix it up a bit and add some extra interest to my next playthrough.

I generally have stuck to this or similar:

• Raise Skeleton (20)
• Skeleton Mastery (20)
• Summon Resist (8-10)*
• Corpse Explosion (12-15)*
• 1 point in each curse, 5 in Confuse.*
• 1 in prerequisites

        * Extra points once I hit higher levels.

Works like a charm and gets me through all difficulties without much trouble.

This morning I had a close look at the Golem summons, thinking they might be cool to invest a fair amount of points in and then use Corpse Explosion + Lower Resist (For Fire Golem) or similar. I noticed however that all the golems as well as Golem Mastery are quite pathetic.

This makes me wonder.. Besides being a prerequisite for Summon Resist, are any of the Golems actually useful? If so, which one? They seem to die rather quickly and their damage seems to scale up extremely slowly (like 6% per point in an alternate Golem skill). Clay Golem honestly seems the most use with its slowing effect, but it requires 10+ points before it starts getting useful.

Any advice around using primarily a Golem summon and then a combination of other skills (bone and curses) is also helpful.

Asked by Marty Wallace

Answer

The Clay Golem is useful, as it slows down the attacker which allows you to interrupt their abilities (especially useful against bosses). You mentioned this yourself.

All it takes is one point. Resummoning is cheap, so there is no need to buff its health. Besides, +summoning skills will bring it acceptable levels anyway.

The cheap resummoning is also nice against bosses, as it allows you to summon an endless stream of new targets. Just buy enough mana potions beforehand.

So my advice: just invest that one point and resummon it when required.

Higher golems are not worth it. They die too quickly against bosses and don't do enough damage against normal mobs.

However, revived monsters are also useful in some cases. Again, just 1 point is enough as +summoning skill items will bring it to acceptable levels. And 1 point in all prerequisites, of course (I believe this includes some of the golems).

Around level 80, you'll have run out of other places to spend your points anyway.

Answered by Sjoerd

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