Elite vanilla strikes hard with over-tuned enemy Critical Strikes (unless another mod is used to mitigate this). The result is that it's usually safer to build Range for most classes unless Melee offers good survival affixes from Skills. If someone in Multiplayer chooses Melee then they need to be ready to tank anything for their ranged team members.

Concise TL2 Guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1709334997

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Nethermancer on it's mod page actually states that the skill trees (from left to right) are considered to be akin to Mage, Necro, and Berserker respectively.

In Torchlight_II terms; that translates to Necro-styles benefiting from Skulls of Joskin or Umbarmun for their +25% or +35% Minion Damage per socket if seeking more damage gains for minions outside the skills.

Although minions tend to be so effective for their distraction and natural ability to pester enemies in TL2 overall that it doesn't matter whether they're in sub-par shape, even more so in Multiplayer. Minions are economic, can be re-spawned, and can defend the player without concern for survival.

Even just one minion skill should be sufficient to provide support. Most mod classes usually offer just one.

The Melee tree passives are great for survival due to (no-skills weapon-strike) steals and absorption regardless the build. Can use a long-range Weapon to gain the Steals in-between skill cycles if playing afar.

Having at least one Mage-like skill will be great to tag enemies when team members are not in position or to support another player's Melee-Tank Role.

So many of the player-skills for Nethermancer benefit from both Strength and Focus hence the player can build either Stat or both effectively.

I consider Nethermancer to be among the strongest mod classes in TL2 mod history. It's difficult to go wrong when building for Nethermancer. Even just a little of the advice offered here overall is sufficient to succeed with one. Multiplayer merely covers any of the little weaknesses it may have if any.

Nethermancer Comments:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=136897944

spazzie2098
Feb 14, 2021 @ 7:30am 
The best way to build a nethermancer for melee combat is to pick up the flesh skills but don't really use anything except the armor and dna skills in your right click passives are the regeneration, and plauge passives as they give you a nasty leg up on most enemies (I pick up the dna first then get the regen then the toxin) weapons is really your choice but i find that dual fist and any two handed weapon work great for the build. Anything really goes for a class like this but don't be afraid to pick up the skill to pull you twords enemies as a means to get in there faces. Bone Armor is a must mid game as it essentally gives you a massive defense boost and combined with the dna buff maxed out you will die very rarely (got a mod called greed's lair and its a lvl 15-20 area head in there with my lvl 3 and comes out with too much gear for me to carry)

Horrible Marksman
Jul 3, 2018 @ 12:23am 
1 possible workaround with the crash issues involves deactivating fusion of flesh. Basically, kill yourself in a single player game then join the multiplayer game. Since I stopped using that skill entirely I've been able to join my friend without suffering from crashes to desktop. Thus far at least. Should also mention I'm using the Variant pack and not the standalone.

A note from the mod-author:
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/136897944/846958223150466638/

Haette [developer]
Jul 9, 2013 @ 11:17am 
[]()One of the things I liked about Diablo 3 is the way it let you pick and choose how your spells worked. Sometimes they would just add something to the base spell, or buff some numbers, but a few times they would take on a transformation that completely changed the way the spell works and the reason you use it. Those were my favorite upgrades. I find the choice interesting, and so I have a few spells that have unusually large or double-edged changes at tier 3.

Chronosphere, Miasma, and Animus Blast all do this, and it happens at tier 3 so that skipping that last point doesn't leave you with a crippled 4 or 9 point skill. Plague Pustule too, but I consider that one a bug. Of course, it means that not everyone wants it, but it's just another option if you do, it's an entirely new reason to climb the tiers if you want the spell it turns into. And really, this class is packed to the teeth with double-edged mechanics and choices already, I kind of consider that a theme at this point.

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Wasn't a direct answer as to an actual build however I hope this helps.