Clay Golem Class: Necromancer Required Level: 6 Skill Tree: Summoning Spells Active Cost: 15 Mana Raises a Golem from the earth to fight for you. Damage Type: Physical Synergies: Golem Mastery, Summon Resist, Blood Golem, Iron Golem, Fire Golem Other Stats: Summon; Only one Golem of any type can be active at a time  |
Clay Golem is a Necromancer Skill in Diablo II, and first of the Golem skills.
Description
While it is fairly simple for a Necromancer to animate dead tissue, it is another matter entirely to instill the spark of life into inanimate objects. The Clay Golem is the simplest form of this complex art, creating a servant directly from the earth to serve the Necromancer. The intense drain this places on the psyche of the caster only allows him to maintain a single Golem of any type at a time.
General Information
Clay Golem produces a mysterious being from the very earth that follows the Necromancer and fights his enemies. The Golem approaches monsters and strikes them in close combat, amidst withstanding attacks meant for its master. Its unusually high life and endurant nature makes it excel at this last job, by keeping the attention of monsters on itself, thus protecting its master. Although its attacks deal insignificant damage later in the game, they greatly slow opponents (including Act Bosses), further preventing them from harming to the Necromancer. As such, Clay Golems can act as powerful tanks, provided the Necromancer has other means of dealing damage.
Investing more points into Clay Golem slightly increases their damage and attack, but particularly their life and ability to slow opponents. Like Skeletons, a Clay Golem provides amazing crowd control and exceeds at pacifying enemies with its slow, particularly when aided with Decrepify and a source of cold damage. An enemy slowed by all these sources can barely move, which greatly reduces its ability to cause damage. The effect is particularly visible against Act Bosses, whose threat drops remarkably when slowed. Clay Golems recover very quickly and can sustain massive amounts of damage before being destroyed. Even more, they can be relatively cheaply replaced at any time. Hence, a Clay Golem acts, in all ways, as a shielding unit.
Clay Golems have three major drawbacks. First, they cause very little damage on their own. A Necromancer will have to supplement his Clay Golem with other sources of damage to make them worthwhile. Poison and Bone Spells and Skeletons are all excellent sources of damage that appreciate the distraction a Clay Golem can offer. Secondly, only one Golem can be in service at any time. As such, they cannot be made in numbers, and further, Clay Golems compete for skill points with Blood Golems, Iron Golems, and Fire Golems. While investing in more than one Golem grants mutual benefits through synergies, this wastes skill points because only one Golem can exist at a time. Further, while Clay Golems have the most life, other Golems may be more useful, depending on the Necromancer's skill set.
Golem Mastery increases the speed and life of all Golems. Clay Golems particularly benefit from the bonus life they receive from this skill, though the speed bonus is usually not very necessary, as Golems keep up decently well when following their master. Golem Mastery also grants a small bonus to all Golems' attack rating.
Skill Progression
Defense: 20
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mana Cost | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 39 | 42 | 45 |
| Damage | 2-5 | 2-6 | 3-8 | 4-10 | 4-12 | 5-13 | 6-15 | 6-17 | 7-19 | 8-20 | 9-22 |
| Life | 100 | 135 | 170 | 205 | 240 | 275 | 310 | 345 | 380 | 415 | 450 |
| Attack Bonus | 80 | 100 | 120 | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | 220 | 240 | 260 | 280 |
| Slows Enemies | 11% | 20% | 27% | 33% | 37% | 41% | 44% | 46% | 49% | 51% | 53% |
| Level | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mana Cost | 48 | 51 | 54 | 57 | 60 | 63 | 66 | 69 | 72 | |
| Damage | 9-24 | 10-26 | 11-27 | 11-29 | 12-31 | 13-33 | 13-34 | 14-36 | 15-38 | |
| Life | 485 | 520 | 555 | 590 | 625 | 660 | 695 | 730 | 765 | |
| Attack Bonus | 300 | 320 | 340 | 360 | 380 | 400 | 420 | 440 | 440 | |
| Slows Enemies | 54% | 56% | 57% | 58% | 60% | 60% | 61% | 62% | 63% |
Synergies
- Gives synergy to:
- Blood Golem: +20 Attack rating per level
- Iron Golem: +20 Attack rating per level
- Fire Golem: +20 Attack rating per level
- Receives synergy from:
- Golem Mastery
- Summon Resist
- Blood Golem: +5% Life per level
- Iron Golem: +35 Defense per level
- Fire Golem: +6% Damage per level
Trivia
- Of all Golem types, the Clay Golem is closest to the original concept in Hebrew mythology. Here, God creates Adam from the earth, and so the creation of golems from clay is symbolically similar to the creation of Adam from the earth.
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