Necro weapon ? -- 4 a noob

Okay, I've been playing a few hours here, and a few hours there and I'm really not sure what is the best weapon for my necromancer... Right now I'm level 5 and just switched from my starter trucheon to a cold staff... Only because it does 3-5 and the starter does 2-4. My question is what is a good weapon for my Necro in these low levels? Right now I have the cold staff in one hand and my bone idol (compusa) in the other. What makes me ask is I just met my Necro trainer at the catacombs and she was equipped with a hammer??? My goal is a N/Mez build, but right now I'm still a pure necro doing all the profession quests before locking in.

Any guidance you can give would be great because I just keep salvaging everything... Speaking of that is there anything special as a necro I should keep? I have everything: wood, bone, hide, dust, iron, etc... Can I get rid of some of this to free up some inventory space???

Thanks for reading and I look forward to the responses!!
Mark
Character - "Haley Oakley" Necro lvl 5

bump... anyone have any advice...

TIA

Well, a bit of advice. You are not getting any benefit from your Bone Idol while you are using that staff. You have to use a 1 handed weapon to gain benefit from something in your off-hand. You will find better one-handed weapons sooner or later.

sorry, I am not using a staff... It is a "frost wand". It is one handed... Sorry about that confusion..

You will need close to 11-13 hides for the cheapest Necromancer gear set in post-searing. For the better armor pieces from a crafter, its 12 hides and 150 gold just for the torso, and all you get is 15 more armor. Not worth it, in my opinion, becuase your money could be better spent on skills, and I survive fine with just a healer henchmen. I havnt done any missions yet, just trying to save up some money so I can get my other chars off to a better start.

For a little more background, there are two crafters in post-searing Ascalon. One sells the cheaper gear that needs alot less hides and is alot cheaper(100 gold cheaper). The other crafter sells gear thats needs 12 hides just for a torso, and all the gear cost 150 gold apiece. Gold doesnt grow off trees, you know.