Raise Skeletal Mage

 is a Skill in Diablo II which is part of the Necromancer's Summoning Spells skill tree. It creates a skeleton wizard that fights for the Necromancer.

Lore
''Dead warriors are not the only heroes that a Necromancer may summon to inhabit his creations. Many a Necromancer regales in raising the corpses of long dead wizards and bending them to his will. The priests of Rathma feel that this is the proof of the dominance of their particular branch of the mystic arts. ''

Synergies

 * Gives synergy to: None
 * Receives synergy from:
 * Skeleton Mastery
 * Summon Resist

Like Raise Skeleton, Raise Skeletal Mage creates a loyal minion from a corpse. Skeletal Mages are ranged attackers that can be very useful to a skilled Necromancer. Although the damage they deal is limited, especially at higher difficulty levels, they can have special advantages over regular melee Skeletons. In any case, a Necromancer can summon Skeletal Mages to distract monsters with additional targets. Thus occupied, monsters may struggle to reach the Necromancer, further protecting him.

Skeletal Mages cast elemental bolts of fire, cold, lightning and poison in combat. Each Mage uses only one type of elemental attack, which you cannot decide when using this skill. However, you can repeatedly raise Skeletal Mages until you get the type of Mage that you want. Skeletal Mages have high resistance to elemental attacks, especially to those whose element they use themselves.

Although they deal much less damage than regular Skeletons and grow in power much slower, Skeletal Mages can still reach decent damage with the aid of Lower Resist (or Conviction granted by ). They serve well as a ranged minion when paired up with regular Skeletons and Golems, who usually take the most damage, considering they are melee based. They also attack from afar, allowing a Necromancer to make novel use of Bone Walls and Bone Prisons to lend his Mages free shots against melee enemies. Use these skills wisely, however, as your regular Skeletons can be severely impeded by such obstacles. Skeleton Mages can also damage monsters who are Immune to Physical, such as Ghosts on Hell difficulty, which your regular Skeletons may struggle with. In addition, Mages that use cold attacks can slow enemies and Poison Mages can prevent monsters from healing themselves.

However, Skeletal Mages also have disadvantages. Mages are physically weaker than ordinary Skeletons and are vulnerable when caught alone. They also have a tendency to block doorways when attacking in tight spaces, limiting the maneuverability of your other minions. Mages who deal cold damage can cause monsters to shatter when killed, leaving no corpse for the Necromancer to use for Corpse Explosion or for creating and resurrecting more minions. Occasionally, however, this effect is desirable, for example when facing monsters that can be resurrected by enemies, such as Fallen and Mummies. In any case, while you cannot decide what elemental attack a Skeletal Mage uses, you can Unsummon any offending Mages as desired.

Skeleton Mastery increases the life and damage of Skeleton Mages, as do further skill points placed in Raise Skeletal Mage. This chart shows the damage a Skeletal Mage can deal based on the combination of these two skills and the type of element that the Mage uses.

Skill Progression
Damage Chart