Lichdom Questions?

[Furey]

Didn't like the old necromancer, but love love love the new tree, so I'm back and trying nightmare with my higher necro. My last one was a ghoul and so the question of Lich was irrelevant, but now I'm thinking lichdom so here are my questions:

1. Generally, whats the strategy for becoming a lich? Get the questline done, pump 5 points into and suicide yourself ASAP?

2. Do people put a cat point into the tree before becoming a lich? (to get Lich 6?)

3. The spell line that opens for you, is it already trained, or does that require a cat point as well?

Thanks in advance!

[Mewtarthio]

1. Generally, whats the strategy for becoming a lich? Get the questline done, pump 5 points into and suicide yourself ASAP?

You need to be level 24 to max Lichform (it breaks the usual pattern), so as long as you've got the class points saved up, you can safely put it off until then. I recommend doing so, since the "Now for a Grave" quest is very dangerous for a Necromancer (and downright ridiculous for a minion Necromancer).

2. Do people put a cat point into the tree before becoming a lich? (to get Lich 6?)

Nope. You've already got 1.3 mastery in Necrosis, so a 5-point investment gets you Lichform 6 by itself. You could spend a cat point to cut that down to a 4-point investment (and transform yourself a level earlier), but I'd consider a category point to be more valuable.

And, no, you don't get any secret bonus from Lichform 7 (cat point + maxed talent).

3. The spell line that opens for you, is it already trained, or does that require a cat point as well?

It's yours for free.

[Sradac]

unless you absolutely need lichform for some reason, I generally save it as a free extra life.

Which makes me wonder...if you have both lichform up and you drank the blood of life, which one fires first? I would hate to come back as a lich and waste that blood of life charge

[HousePet]

Since you have to actually click the blood of life, I can't see it being wasted if you don't click it.

[Mewtarthio]

Lichdom kicks in before the death dialogue pops up, and therefore overrides the Blood of Life.

And there are plenty of reasons to go Lich ASAP (ie at level 24). For one thing, it's a pretty unreliable extra life: Either you only turn it on in dire straights, which is unreliable (you could be confused, silenced, or suffering spell feedback) and risky (burst damage, anyone?), or you go into every dangerous fight hemorrhaging mana. Second, a number of the transformation's effects have build implications (easier access to Cunning prodigies, extra class tree, loss of infusions), so you're less likely to mess up your build if you get those accounted for sooner rather than later. Lastly, the life rating doesn't apply retroactively.

[Furey]

And there are plenty of reasons to go Lich ASAP (ie at level 24). For one thing, it's a pretty unreliable extra life: Either you only turn it on in dire straights, which is unreliable (you could be confused, silenced, or suffering spell feedback) and risky (burst damage, anyone?), or you go into every dangerous fight hemorrhaging mana. Second, a number of the transformation's effects have build implications (easier access to Cunning prodigies, extra class tree, loss of infusions), so you're less likely to mess up your build if you get those accounted for sooner rather than later. Lastly, the life rating doesn't apply retroactively.

Have to agree with this. Lich is awesome. I'm running nightmare difficulty, but since becoming lich (about level 30 I think) the game has felt more like normal mode. I've easily squished all opposition, have returned to the west, killed all backup guardians in a yawnfest, and am ready to face the real big challenge, Shade of Telos (who has caused my other nightmare characters a *huge* pile of trouble). Not to jinx myself, but I'm thinking stun immune and 85% cold resist will make him a joke as well.

Once this guy dies (ha ha...dies...get it?) my next nightmare necro will definitely be hitting Lich earlier than this one...they are like a combination of hits-like-corruptor with utility-of-mage and protection-of-summoner. My favorite character to date, next to my doomed, but running those on nightmare makes my eyes bleed.