Diablo II Hints

Skills: Poison and Bone

• Poison and Bone is one of the three skill sets that the Necromancer can use.  These spells all give you the ability to take direct action, protecting yourself or attacking the enemy.
  
  Bone Armor -- This skill is useful if you plan to get into the thick of fighting yourself.  Its defensive power goes up straight with the number of levels you put into it.  If you plan to stand back from the action, don't waste too many skill points on this spell.
  
  Bone Prison -- It doesn't seem that useful to me.  You can use it to slow down an opponent, but it won't hold him for very long unless you waste a lot of points on it.  Even at level 10, it still takes only 61 points of damage to knock it down, and that is only one swing for many monsters in Nightmare mode.
  
  Bone Spear -- This skill gives you a strong ranged weapon.  Like Teeth, it does "blow through" damage.  It is great for use in a corridor, where the monsters are in a straight line.  It is also great for situations where they are following you and are lined up.  If you want to stand back from the action, and still hurt even the bosses with big damage, I think this is a good spell to know.
  
  Bone Spirit -- This gives you a great ranged weapon for the higher level Necromancer.  It is very easy to get a hit, as the Bone Spirit will go and find the target even if your aim is bad, or if the target is moving.  This is a powerful spell, and it is also expensive to use.
  
  Bone Wall -- This skill is like Bone Prison, but it can be used to slow down a group of enemies.  This is slightly more useful than Bone Prison, and it can be used with curses like Confuse to help the enemy focus on hitting itself.
  
  Corpse Explosion -- This is a fun spell.  It does a lot of damage (less now that Blizzard has tuned it down) and it works very well on enemies that can resurrect their helpers.  It also makes a great sound.  However, it won't help in the harder levels, as there are not very many bodies about, so don't put too much skill into this spell.  It also tends to use up the corpses that any good Necromancer has to have.
  
  Poison Dagger -- This skill is also great for the Necromancer who is planning to fight.  You will need to use a dagger in your attack, which will limit your direct damage.  To make up for it, you will get a very fast attack, so you can get in, poison the enemy, and sneak away.  Build up your dexterity so that your "to hit" percentage is at least 80% if you want to focus on this spell.
  
  Poison Explosion -- This is the big brother to Corpse Explosion.  It combines immediate damage with slow poison damage.  It is best used in pack situations.  Some people love this spell, and it works well at the lower levels or with easier monsters.
  
  Poison Nova -- This is like Poison Explosion, but you do not need a corpse.  It is a longer lasting and more damaging spell.  It is a bit more expensive in mana costs to fire it, though.
  
  Teeth -- It's often thought of as a worthless spell, but as you boost levels on it, it grows in power as the square of the level.  That is to say each level adds a new tooth, and every tooth you get is a little stronger.  By level 10 you can do 140 damage, and at level 15 it is 260.  Remember that the damage is multiplied by the depth of the enemies, because teeth "blow through" enemies.  For a deep pack of monsters, a salvo of teeth is a great support for your undead army.
  
  

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