This or That?

I've a N/W meleemancer. As you might expect of a Caster/W, I have problem staying alive in some of the tougher areas. My question is about the off hand item.

I use DeathMagic/Curses/Swordsmanship and try to use a MM/MoP build. I have a 5K DM Focus and a 5K Tactics shield. I'm just wondering is it worth the loss of 12 energy and pulling some skill points for tactics to get the additional 16 armor? Or maybe use some big runes to make up for skill lose and trade HP for armor?

I have friends/other characters who are also melee/spellcasters, so although this is primarily for my Necro, any general advice is also appreciated. Thanks!

ummm... im not sure if meleemancers are popular but ive never heard of em. my guess is the reason ur dying is bc of ur little meleemancing??

Meleemancer is an kind of MM/Warrior in one build

I suspect that Blood Magic will help you stay alive, and bringing a shield is a good idea if you don't need the extra energy (which you shouldn't need much). You may want to have an energy set to swap to if you really need it, too.

Make sure that the shield is a Tactics shield and that you meet the req.

Now, after saying that, Meleemancer is tough in GW, and I wouldn't really recommend it for late-game play. Do what you feel like doing, though.

Melee with a caster needs to be done with exteme care. In PvE you often face large numbers of monsters with a variety of damage types (elemental, physical, and armor ignoring). To be able to survive, you NEED defense. This is done through armor for sure, but is not limited to it. Skills that boost armor, heal, block, etc. are also extremely helpful in staying alive. I would guess you have energy problems if using skills with 10 or 15 energy cost, as you have little invested in Soul Reaping and no other source of energy management. Running minions and MoP is extremely effective, but to also stay alive in melee and use Sword skills will make the build average at best. Limit yourself to as few attributes as you can. It has been years (before Factions launch) that I ran a N/W melee build. When I did I used skills like Life Siphon to provide me with some nice health regen, but still ran into trouble staying alive. I failed to make use of skills that would boost my defenses, and even with the extra 10 armor from the insignia, I wasn't able to reduce damage enough. So a shield will help, but I doubt that alone will suffice. Some Tactics skills make help, but again, you start running into attribute and skill slot issues with so many things needed. I'd say if you want to run melee, drop the minions and take Blood or Curses to support your offense/defense, and run some Tactics skills like Watch Yourself or the stances to make your team healers job easier. But I doubt you'll be very effective in the last half of the game, even if you can find a build that will work.

Overall its not the best choice due to the lack of armor. I suppose if you ran several human n/w's all with Save yourselves it would work out fine.

For the most part stick to what a necro does best.

Essentially "The Choice is Yours!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9F5xcpjDMU

My advice would be if you want to be a melee character play one, not with the weakest armoured class in GW.

But maybe you like to play this way, I would suggest to bring an ele protter with you so you won't die everytime you run into those lvl 28 reapers. Also think about bringing a blood bonder.
But a melee mancer is build is kinda if you ask me.

if you really want to have a physical dmg dealing necro, why not chuck a spear? run an orders derv and roll with some other physicals. let the w/ be the frontline

I made my N/W as my first character before I really knew what I was doing...but it ends up being a lot of fun until I get swarmed or my idiot H/H abandon me.

Hadn't thought about a spear, though...that's definitely worth a look.

Thanks for the suggestions...please keep them coming!

Sounds like you cant decide between being a necro or a war. only time i use a wand/shield set is for the extra armor or the +10 vs something. drop the sword skills and put it into SR or blood.