[Oracle] About the Liche King

[McGyverForTehWin]

I've been playing TQ/IM for a while and got, well, not exactly bored but a bit fed up with Dual Wielding "Mace of Ulta-Death" and "Club o' Hurt" combined with various Masteries and thought to myself "Hey, why not try one of those nifty Mage-classes I've been hearing so much about?" (yes, I actually use the word "nifty" in conversation with myself).

Thought and done, I started out by scouting this forum for a Mage-build that didn't include "Dream" (for reasons I won't divulge) and ended up with an Oracle. Reading "mamba" 's take on the class I decided to play it out roughly as described and therefore chose "Storm" as my primary Mastery and "Spirit" as my secondary, boosting the "Storm Nimbus" -tier as fast as possible.

("Yes this is all nice and well but is it going anywhere?" -Yes it is)

Currently I'm lvl15 and just outside of Athens (or at least I was before the darned computer malfunctioned), I've put 16 points into progressing "Storm", 9 points into "Storm Nimbus", 4 points into "Heart of Frost", 2 points into "Static Charge" and a further 10 points into progressing "Spirit" and finally 2 points on the "Liche King" -summon.
On a side-note, my Int is 286 (including modifiers) if it's of any interest.
Now, while I'm aware of the fact that the "Liche King" -summon could have been acquired sooner, it should still be a powerful summon this early in the game and from what I've read the Liche King generally prods buttocks and is capable of bringing down Hades himself.

So here's (finally) The Problem: The Liche King isn't very good at all. Sure, he helps out a bit in a tight corner and is nice to have for crowd-control but generally he's (so far and it isn't very far, I know) not worth it. And when it comes to the Undead he's downright bad - we ran into a crowd of Desecrated Dead and while I was splintering bone faster than a car-crash, he was getting beaten up by a single skeleton. A single skeleton! And he's supposed to be a Liche King!
Add to this that he's very difficult to control: If I put him on "Normal" he just hangs back and doesn't fire unless I'm crowded and if I put him on "Aggressive" he goes Leeroy Jenkins on me.

So, obviously I'm missing something. Is he just too weak right now and becomes a lot better as I progress him? Am I doing something terribly wrong?

[Graphtina]

pets get huge boosts in epic and legendary

[GWarrior]

put more points in him , only one in his 2nd skill and max the others , then he will be godly . use dark covenant to boost his and your energy , just drink a health potion to cover the health loss . or get % damage converted to health weapons . thats if your melee .

check out my insane melee Oracle thread in the Storm Forum

[McGyverForTehWin]

Originally Posted by Graphtina

pets get huge boosts in epic and legendary

How do you mean, do they get a native boost or or is it due to your own skill progression?

[linksu]

for health liche king gets 4x more in epic, 10x more in legendary.. liche king is good in legendary.. i use it with my spellbinder.. (16 - 1- 12 - 0 + 4 to skills)

[McGyverForTehWin]

Originally Posted by linksu

for health liche king gets 4x more in epic, 10x more in legendary.. liche king is good in legendary.. i use it with my spellbinder.. (16 - 1- 12 - 0 + 4 to skills)

Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for clearing the matter.
I'm curious though, why haven't you invested in "Arcane Blast"?

[Poinas]

Arcane Blast just drains energy, and Death Nova is better anyway.

How many points do you have in Lich?

[McGyverForTehWin]

Originally Posted by Poinas

Arcane Blast just drains energy, and Death Nova is better anyway.

How many points do you have in Lich?

Currently I have invested 3 points in the summon (I'm currently lvl 18 at the entrance to the Labyrinth) and I have begun climbing the tree towards "Death Nova", At the same time I have invested 10/5/5 into "Storm Nimbus" and its two synergies.

[makemesoup]

You just need a little patience, he will be very useful when you invest some points in him.

Personally I maxed Wraith Shell, which gives him killer damage absorption and resistances. I just finished maxing the 15 points for Summon Lich and just started legendary and he hasn't died yet. My toon, on the other hand, has not been so fortunate.
I want to max death nova next as I only have 3 point invested in it.
I haven't put anything into Arcane blast yet.

Anyhow, my point is , he's practically invincible now is what I'm saying. He barely ever died during epic (some bosses he did).

[mamba]

Originally Posted by McGyverForTehWin

So here's (finally) The Problem: The Liche King isn't very good at all. Sure, he helps out a bit in a tight corner and is nice to have for crowd-control but generally he's (so far and it isn't very far, I know) not worth it. And when it comes to the Undead he's downright bad - we ran into a crowd of Desecrated Dead and while I was splintering bone faster than a car-crash, he was getting beaten up by a single skeleton.

There is a reason why I get the Lich King so late, he isn't very good in normal, he will be tougher in epic and tougher still in legendary.

Given enough points, the LK is ok in normal up to mid/late Orient, but then he will run out of steam, no matter what you do. This is why I keep him relatively weak in normal and focus on other skills first, they go all the way and past normal you can add the Lk relatively fast.