Necro build bone spear + clay golem?

I've not played much necromancer, is there a (popular/powerful) build that uses a combination of Bone Spear and Clay Golem?

I've heard Clay Golem is very popular due to a slowing mechanic, and I believe Bone Spear is a useful spell for carnage throughout the game.

I ask because I've randomly found a normal Bone Wand that has +3 to Clay Golem and +2 to Life Tap. Socketed with the White runeword, it would seem to be a pretty great necro weapon if the build is viable.

you normally socked Bone wands with White when they have +to bonespear

Maybe once they buff the Bone skills for necro but for now you might get through NM like that but hell I don't think so.

FngrUrBty wrote: 4 years ago

Maybe once they buff the Bone skills for necro but for now you might get through NM like that but hell I don't think so.

What? Necro is arguably the most versatile class. It has crowd control (curses, Bone Wall) and summons, which are one point wonders. Bone spells deal magic damage, and there are literally only 4 immune monsters in the entire game.
Clay Golem is also one point wonder. Its slow has diminishing returns, so it's not worth to invest skill points. +skills bonuses will buff it enough.
As the golem is just to slow the enemies, find a wand with Bone Spear bonus instead.
Use Corpse Explosion as well. It scales with monster health (but not with /players).

Jeeluc wrote: 5 years ago

you normally socked Bone wands with White when they have +to bonespear

That is true, however, with one of my necro builds, I used a +3 to Raise Skeleton to make White and it turned out good. This nec build uses Bone Spear and Bone Spirit plus OPW (one point wonder) into synergies so that he has some ranged attack in addition to the skelly army.

FngrUrBty wrote: 4 years ago

Maybe once they buff the Bone skills for necro but for now you might get through NM like that but hell I don't think so.

No offense but you're doing it wrong.

Necros are ridiculously good at clearing literally everything across hell in record time. Given, bosses take a little longer than with a Java or Sorc or the like but the way there tends to be just as fast, if not faster (usually faster). Partially because the versatility in "non-stacked" (i.e. normal mob distribution, not pre-stacked to make your Java blow everything up in 1 hit) damage output is just brilliant, partially because throwing amp/decrep around for your merc makes him go nuts on anything that may otherwise be running off/taking a sec longer and partially because (if geared correctly), you are only 1 frame behind a 105 Sorc in Teleport speed, again making the way there just so much faster.

Having had a Bone Necro as my main-of-choice for 20 years, dominating both, PvE and PvP, the devs now going "yeah, Bone necs need to be buffed" honestly made me chuckle more than just a little bit.

As for something slightly more specific:
- Yes, you want Clay Golem. But only 1 point. Along with 1 point in Golem Mastery and Summon Resist. Necros tend to stack up so much +skill that that is more than sufficient to have your golem become quite probably the strongest tank-minion in the game. Do note that he is not there to deal any significant damage, don't even hope for that. He's only there to prevent damage, either by tanking it himself or by slowing down mobs (especially bosses) to the point where they just don't do anything anymore. Literally. Clay Golem + Decrepify = most bosses just stand there, no longer getting any attack or spell off. Depending on your overall build and playstyle, there is an argument to be made for Iron Golem instead but that's really a matter of choice and dependent on a few other factors.

- Yes, Bone Spear is a skill of choice (note: "a", not "the"). That includes single target PvE. It may not look like it initially but once you get enough +skill, Bone Spear actually passes the damage of Bone Spirit at right around half the mana cost and with faster projectile speed. That holds true even when both get the same final skill level so not even counting the higher extra skills you can get for Spear vs. Spirit (e.g. White). Spirit actually becomes extremely situational and ends up hardly ever being used in PvE once you get your gear up to par.

- White is quite possibly the best "long term" weapon in the game in the sense that as you lvl your char, you can get a solid White extremely easily and for cheap (hit up Drognan on normal until he sells you a 2 socket +3 Spear Wand) and you can still use that same White for end-game content and be quite efficient doing so. Given, there are extremely hard to get end-game White bases out there that you will likely never see (e.g. 3 Spear + 3 Spirit + 3 Decrepify/ Revive) but most of the time, you won't miss it. Depending on your overall build and playstyle, White actually typically remains in the top 3 weapon choices for a Bone necro.