Introduction

     Why write a guide to cursing, isn't it all straight forward? Well, that's what I once thought until I found out that so many people use curses in bad ways: if they are not casting Iron Maiden on Oblivion Knights, they are stacking Weaken and Attract and wonder why it doesn't work well. No one can tell you how to use curses best for you, but I hope to give you information that can help you to make better use of the curse tree. While I am at it, I'll also write about the Curse Necromancer: this is no curse-pimp as many people believe, but a style that can actually kill Baal solo. The Curse Necromancer is the style I find most enjoyable, and as such spend most of my time playing...and this is how I got to know the curse tree so well.

The Curses

     Amplify Damage is the first curse in the tree and the only one available from character level 1. The effect of this curse is to reduce the physical resistance of your target(s) by 100%. In practice, this will usually double the damage delivered, but against physically resistant targets the effect can be much greater. For example, if you fought something with 95% Physical Resistance and cast Amplify Damage on it, then it would now have -5% Physical Resistance: this is twenty times more damage than you would have otherwise done! An extreme example, but this is one effective curse, though do note that it does not work against Physical Immune foes.

     It's hard to go wrong with Amplify Damage. If you are allied mostly with people using physical attacks, or if you yourself have a physical attack (eg Corpse Explosion) then this will be an invaluable curse. Swarms and Ghosts (and 'Ghostly' type Champions) are the best foes to cast this one, though it's worth making use of this against almost all foes.

Statistics
Effect: -100% Physical Resistance.
Radius: 1^1/3 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 5 + (skill level * 3) seconds.
Mana Cost: 4 mana.

     This curse is available from character level 6, and is perhaps the easiest to explain: it reduces your foe's awareness of you and your allies. In simple terms, this means that you have to be next to those effected by this curse before they will attack you. This is pure heaven for anyone using a ranged attack as they do not have to worry about being attacked all the time - and such fighters are usually more fragile anyway. Note that champions, uniques and Oblivion Knights cannot be effected by this curse.

     The trick to this curse is actually getting it to stop the darn critters. You see, if they are in the middle of doing something (eg chasing you to beat your head in) then they'll keep that up and this will not kick in until after they complete that action, though, with this example, they could swing and miss thus ending that action - good old 'tempting fate' strikes again! How to handle this depends on the situation: anything that interupts what they are doing is fine though. If you or a Sorceress hit them with a spell, then immediately following up with this, it should work, or if another character stuns them with any attack, then this curse will work. If you are alone, or just want to handle it yourself, then the Terror curse (see below) will solve the problem: hit them with Terror, then immediatly follow up with Dim Vision to have a field of blinded critters.

Statistics
Effect: Reduced radius of sight.
Radius: 2 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 5 + (skill level * 2) seconds.
Mana Cost: 9 mana.

     The second curse available at character level 6, this one is a little disappointing: it is the only curse that is made obsolete by another curse. Another simple effect to describe, is simply reduces the damage the cursed deliver by a third. Early on in the game you get the interesting choice of selecting between faster kills (Amplify Damage) or recieving less damage - personally I believe that killing them in half the time is more beneficial all round than lasting 33% longer in melee combat. However, as I say this, against hard hitting foes (Cursed or Extra Strong Bosses especially) this can be useful.

     You cannot go wrong with using this curse: simply cast it and it will work as you'd expect. I would recomend keeping it on hotkey for the early levels as a pannic button: if you or an ally are unexpectedly swarmed by more than you can handle, this curse can be quickly thrown up to improve your chances of survival. Also, if you are mainly using Skeleton Magi, or allied with Sorceresses, then this can make them last longer against an attack - that is the main use for this curse. It is also handy in Normal difficulty when you reach the jungles of Act III, where the pygmies are hard hitting, but cannot take a hit: this is where the curse excels.

Statistics
Effect: -33% damage.
Radius: 5^1/3 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 11.6 + (skill level * 2.4) seconds.
Mana cost: 4 mana.

     Iron Maiden, that's like the curse, right? Right? No, it's not the ultimate, only or best curse there is...but it's not a bad curse either, especially not for a skill unlocked at character level 12. This is the one that 90% of Necromancers use, for the simple fact that it increases in effectiveness as your opponents get harder (and also because it's a no brainer to use). What it does is it returns the damage recieved, increased by a factor; that is, when the cursed hit anything, they suffer significantly more damage than they delivered. This is like a money tree: you get all the damage and don't have to do a thing!

     Iron Maiden can be used in two ways: exclusively, or intelligently. Many Necromancers will cast Iron Maiden on everything that moves, and while this will (sort of) do the job most of the time, it's not the best way. If you are up against 50% or higher physical resistance, it is usually not the most effective curse to use, and it is worthless against ranged (but not ranged attacks at melee distance) and magical attacks. However, it's not a bad curse: if you are facing something that delivers huge damage per attack, but doesn't have much life, then you have a prime target: 'Bezerker' type Champions are the ideal target; them Pygmies in the Act III jungles are funny to use this on too ;)

Statistics
Effect: 175 + (skill level * 25)% Damage returned.
Radius: 4.6 yards.
Duration: 9.6 + (skill level * 2.4) seconds.
Mana cost: 5 mana.

     Character level 12 cannot come too soon: Terror is the perfect curse to use in an emergency. If you, or an ally, are surrounded and in trouble, just cast this and laugh as your problems run away from you. This curse will make any critter effected by it stop whatever it is doing and flee from you; if you give chase, it'll continue to flee for the duration of the curse. What more can I say about it, Terror will change the game for you, and if used well it can make you many friends.

     The art in Terror is to get the critters to go where you want them. When you go to cast it, you need to think what you want to do, and position yourself as required. If you want to rangle the cattle, then position the critters between you and your allies (or a dead end) and cast - they'll scatter, but usually in the general direction of what you want. If you want to protect someone, position yourself behind them so that all critters flee away. If you are breaking up a group into several more manageable groups, get in close and then cast to scatter them to the four winds. The best part of Terror is that other AI curses (Dim Vision, Confuse and Attract) stack with it: after casting Terror, you can cast something else and they'll still flee from you. This leads to the best tactics!

Statistics
Effect: Causes cursed to flee caster.
Radius: 2.6 yards.
Duration: 7 + (skill level) seconds.
Mana cost: 7 mana.

     Confuse is a frequently misunderstood curse, but without it I would be lost; it is just so useful! Imagine having a bunch of revives, as early as character level 18...without needing corpses! That's what this curse is like: if you have half the critters on screen cursed with this, then they'll help you to get rid of the rest. Note that it does not effect champions, uniques or Oblivion Knights, though this can work to your advantage. In addition, the duration of this curse is halved in Nightmare and quartered in Hell difficulty.

     There are two ways that I recomend using confuse: the first is for general usage, and is almost obsolete once you get Attract, while the second is a more specialised useage. If you want to pit two groups of foes against each other, the easiest way to do it is by a combination of curses: you may cast Terror on the first followed by Confuse and guide them into the second, or alternatively you may have one large group, cast Confuse on the lot of them, then overwrite this with another curse (I recomend Amplify Damage or Iron Maiden) on half of that group. Note that if you do this, Iron Maiden will stack with confuse for a couple of seconds. The second tactic is more devious. As mentioned before, there are some foes that cannot be aflicted by this curse: if you cast this on everything around them, then their minions will all turn on them.

Statistics
Effect: Aflicted attack anything not cursed.
Radius: 3^1/3 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 8 + (skill level * 2) seconds.
Mana cost: 13 mana.

     Who needs life leech equipment when you have a Necromancer about? From character level 18 you get this lovely curse that grants an amazing 50% life leech! Cast this on an Act Boss and no one using physical attacks will likely die - bar cheesy one-hit-kill attacks that shouldn't exist anyway. This curse, like Terror, is a life saver, and will make you many friends - though only with characters using physical attacks. Remember that there are some things you cannot leech from (eg Skeletons), no matter what.

     The problem with Life Tap is knowing when to use it over other curses. Firstly, do not use it at all unless the majority of your team are using Physical Attacks. Secondly, you do not need it against most foes, and almost never against normal critters. As a general rule of thumb, I tend to use it most of the time against Act Bosses, and agaist uniques that hit hard and take a lot to kill (eg Hephasto), except when I am allied with a majority of spell casters. However, that is just what I do and you may prefer to use other curses in those cases.

Statistics
Effect: 50% of damage delivered returned to life.
Radius: 2 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 13.6 + (skill level * 2.4) seconds.
Mana cost: 9 mana.

     This curse, available at character level 24, is my baby: I rock it to sleep each night and feed it demons three times a day. Anything you tag with this curse will become an instant critter magnet, and will become the attention of a severe beating by anything within the radius of effect. Attract is like Confuse in many ways though: it will not work on (neither affecting them, nor drawing them away from you) champions, uniques or Oblivion Knights, has its duration halved in Nightmare and quartered in Hell, and critters will continue their original actions before they chose to attack the aflicted target. Despite this, it's a curse I stand behind!

     Using Attract is an artform that takes a little practice to get right. The easiest way to make it useful is to cast Iron Maiden on a mob, then Attract on several in it - running circles around the mob yourself, you will effectively be playing as most Necromancers do with Revives. With practice you'll find better tactics, such as using Terror to separate mobs such that you have select critters near each other, cast Amplify Damage upon them, then attract on an individual or two - with the right combination of critters, little will survive this.

Statistics
Effect: Draws other critters to attack the aflicted.
Radius: 6 yards.
Duration: 8^1/3 + (skill level + 3^2/3) seconds.
Mana cost: 17 mana.

     Decrepify is a powerful curse that also becomes available at character level 24. Combining the effects of two previous curses, and adding a third of its own, it manages to set itself apart as an all purpose curse for assisting melee fighters. Firstly, it reduces physical resistance by 50%, and this alone is quite handy - though not as good as Amplify Damage. Secondly, it reduces the damage the aflicted delivers by 50%; this staggering figure is greater than Weaken alone does. Finally, it reduces the movement rate of the cursed by 50%, making them sitting ducks for hit-and-run tactics, or easy pickings for ranged attackers. Note that the physical damage reduction will not affect physical immunes, but the other effects do still work.

     When do you use Decrepify? Well, as mentioned, it is a general purpose spell for melee fighters. If you want to protect melee fighters from recieving a lot of damage, this is your curse. If you want to assist them, but it isn't essential that damage is boosted too high, then use this over Amplify Damage; if they don't need extra life leech, then use this over Life Tap. The main problem with this curse is the small radius, but quickly covering a large mob is not a problem, so do not worry about that. Note: do not use this in conjunction with Confuse or Attract. Some people have been doing this since the release of Lord of Destruction, but it is a pointless practice and something I urge you to avoid: the two effects cancel themselves out, but they are now slower, so you have nerfed your own attack.

Statistics
Effect: -50% Physical Resistance, -50% damage, -50% movement speed.
Radius: 4 yards.
Duration: 3.6 + (skill level * 0.6) seconds.
Mana cost: 11 mana.

     Do you want to make friends with a Sorceress, improve your poison, or make Physical Immunes a little easier to handle for all involved? Well, this is the curse for you! Reducing the resistance to Poison, Cold, Fire, Lightning and Magic (eg Bone Spirit) by a significant figure, this is the Amplify Damage of the non-physical kind. Like Amplify Damage, you can reduce their resistance to negative values, but you cannot affect immunities. However, if you cast it on - for example - a Fire and Cold Immune, the Poison, Lightning and Magic resistances will still go down. Do note that this skill is affected by diminishing returns, so each point you add will improve the skill by less than the previous - this does not mean avoid adding points, but I'd not recomend going past skill level 10 unless you plan to max this skill.

     You cannot go wrong with this curse, simple as that. If you are using Poison Attacks or you are allied mostly with magical attackers, then this is the best curse to use. If you are using corpse explosion on a Physical Immune, or an melee ally is using an attack against high-resistant/immune foes (eg Berserk, Vengance, etc), this will help more than anything else. Whenever magical attacks are the order of the day, this curse will likely be the one you use 90% of the time.

Statistics
Effect: -(25 + [45 * [110 * skill level / (skill level + 6)] / 100])% resistance to all magic.
Radius: 4 + (skill level * ^2/3) yards.
Duration: 18 + (skill level * 2) seconds.
Mana cost: 22 mana.
_{Note: you round down the resulting value from between a '[' and a ']'.}

Curse Etiquette

     Any who know me will tell you that I have a thing about etiquette, and when it comes to cursing I am no different. It is very easy to become a bad curser, so here are a few sugestions to being a little better.

     * Do not overwrite another person's curse without good reason. Many Necromancers will overwrite useful curses with Iron Maiden against opponents where Iron Maiden is of little to no use. However, it can be very good party play to cast Confuse, for example, on a group Terrored by another Necromancer.

     * Be an asset to the team. If you are in a party with five Sorceresses and you are an Arty Necromancer, don't use Amplify Damage with your Corpse Explosion but rather use Lower Resistance; if you're a Zoo Keeper, then use Decrepify. Using your curses in ways such as this you can be an asset to others, but not simply become a curse-pimp.

     * Have fun! Playing God with curses can be the funniest sight at times, so try to enjoy it. If you learn to use all of your curses to the best effect, you might just find your tired old Necromancer getting a new spark of life...or un-death, depending on your style.