Started Fresh with Nothing
Okay, so I fired up the game last night thinking, “Right, gonna make a new Necro on a shoestring budget.” Brand new character, absolutely zero gear or gold. Started in Act 1 Normal just smacking zombies with my bare hands because my starter wand sucked. Embarrassing, but true. My first skeleton warrior popped up and I swear it looked as confused as I felt.
The Early Scramble for Anything Useful
My immediate goal? Find literally ANYTHING better than this junk. Focused on:
- Running Countess in the Black Marsh Tower like my life depended on it. Needed those low runes desperately. Took maybe ten runs before she finally coughed up a couple of Tir and a Eth. Felt like a win.
- Grabbing every single yellow wand or head dropped by monsters. Didn’t care if it looked stupid. If it had +1 to Raise Skeleton or +1 to Teeth? Jackpot. Vendor trash fed my gambling addiction with Akara for more chances.
- Killing EVERYTHING for potions and gold. Chugged blues like water because my stupid skeletons kept getting lost or blocking each other. Early necro life is messy, man.
Hitting the Stealth Breakthrough
Remembered that super cheap runeword, Stealth. Need Tal + Eth in a 2-socket armor. Got lucky and snagged a Tal rune from Countess around run #15. Already had Eth. Found a trashy 2-socket Quilted Armor dropped by some random Fallen in the Stony Field. Slapped those runes in. Boom. Instant upgrade. 25% faster run/walk and casting speed? Huge. Suddenly, my dude felt less like a zombie and more like a necromancer starting to hustle.
Patching the Gaps with Vendor Trash & Crafts
My gloves, boots, belt, and helmet were still pathetic rares or even blues. Kept hammering:
- Fara runs in Act 2. Checked her inventory every single time I was in town gambling wands. Finally landed a blue +2 Raise Skeleton wand. Not amazing, but miles better than my starter.
- Crafting Blood belts (Hit Power crafted from Ort runes + jewels) for Life Leech. Anything to keep my bony idiots alive longer. Found a 3-row belt base off a corpse in the Sewers. Tossed some crap jewels in.
- Mercenary duty: Hired the Act 2 Normal Prayer merc for the tiny healing aura. Only affordable gear I could give him? A trash spear and whatever armor had the most defense I found. Mostly kept him alive with my own potions.
The First Real Minion Army
By the time I hit Act 3, things started coming together:
- Raise Skeleton level 8-10 thanks to the +skills wand and levels. Had maybe 5 skeletons wobbling around.
- Clay Golem rank 1 because the slow helps so much against bosses.
- 1 point in Amplify Damage for tougher enemies and bosses. Crucial.
Tackled Normal Mephisto. Strategy? Dump skeletons, cast Amp Damage, cast Clay Golem on him, run around like a headless chicken dodging blizzards and reviving minions. Took a few tries – lost all skellies once and had to run back to trash mobs to rebuild. Ugly, but effective. He finally dropped. Loot was mostly junk, but hey, Act 4!
Where It Stands Now
Finished Normal. My gear is still laughable to any rich character:
- +2 Raise Skeleton Wand (blue, shopped)
- Stealth Armor (runeword)
- Crafted Life Leech belt
- Trash magic boots, gloves, helm with basic resists or life
- Amy with a sapphire for mana (desperate)
- Rings with fire res and poison res (Act 2 quest rewards)
Total cost? Basically zero. Just time grinding Countess and checking vendors. Is it optimal? Hell no. Can it get you through Normal and start farming Nightmare Countess/Pits? Absolutely. Your skeletons do the heavy lifting. You just need to survive long enough to keep them up. It’s janky, cheap, and totally doable if you start from literal rock bottom like I did yesterday. Time to push into Nightmare!