Newbie Q: Freak Lord

[Diehard]

I've just started playing D2, and the Freak Lord immediately caught my eye - riding on the back of a giant mutant ape shows a certain sense of style...

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any tips or combinations for using the Freak Lord. Clearly he's going to be a potent wizard, but I'd definitely like to make proper use of his trample ability as well.

[Ragnarok-X]

imho the freak lord should mainly be used as an "upgraded" archmage. This means a caster who is able to take a few hits, which would cause the normal archmage to die. The freaklord is imho no trampler because he could be easily swarmed and killed.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Diehard:
I'd definitely like to make proper use of his trample ability as well.

I would never do that, but if that's what you want - just give him astral 5-9 and forge clams until you have enough gems to (1) forge enough +astral items to get him to astral 9 (2) wish for 'power'. That should give him the fighting abilities he lacks to be an effective trampler.

[Vynd]

I agree with the other guys that you don't really wnat to be sending your Freak Lord into the thick of things to trample people. But if you insist on doing it then I would set your Freak Lord up with Air and Astral magic. Then he can cast spells that make him difficult to damage like Body Ethereal, Personal Luck, Mistform, and Mirror Image.

Even with all of that going on, I think it would be very risky to send him charging into the middle of a sizable group of enemies. The trample ability seems more like an extra to me, something that makes your Freak Lord a little less vulnerable if a few enemies get past your front line or in an assassination attempt.

[Diehard]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
I would never do that, but if that's what you want - just give him astral 5-9 and forge clams until you have enough gems to (1) forge enough +astral items to get him to astral 9 (2) wish for 'power'. That should give him the fighting abilities he lacks to be an effective trampler.

Hmm... well, my present Freak Lord invested heavily in astral (and fire), so I'll certainly give this a try. However, I'm getting the impression that the trample ability of the Freak Lord is "just for looks", rather than actually being useful.

[Diehard]

Originally posted by Vynd:
The trample ability seems more like an extra to me, something that makes your Freak Lord a little less vulnerable if a few enemies get past your front line or in an assassination attempt.

Thanks for the info, Vynd, that really clears things up. I think I see how I'll play this guy now...

[NTJedi]

Using a pretender for battle during the beginning of a game can have several advantages. By mid-game it's better to have him in a safe area with preferably a dome. By late-game your pretender should be almost hidden/secret from your human opponents to avoid horror marks, diseases, battle afflictions and curses.... mages can cast spells which will do these. At the start of the game there is not much threat of this.

If you are doing singleplayer there's not as great of a threat for this happening.

[HotNifeThruButr]

There are other tramplers out there. Earth Mother, and I think Shedu, for Arcosnufflepugas. Remember that, when you start trampling a decent sized force, the guy immediately becomes surrounded by enemies. Not very pleasant for him.