Why Can‘t I Summon a Skeleton?

As an avid gamer across RPGs and sandbox crafting titles, I‘ve certainly faced my share of frustrating errors when trying to raise skeletal allies. Nothing is worse than desperately needing your skeleton crew to tank enemies, only to find your summoning efforts fail!

So whether you play classic hack‘n‘slashers like Diablo 2, pirate adventures like Sea of Thieves, open world crafting sandboxes like Minecraft, or brutal action RPGs like Elden Ring – let‘s uncover what restrictions may be blocking you from flooding the battlefield with bones.

Diablo 2 Necromancer Summons

As a veteran Diablo 2 Necromancer player with countless hours perfecting my summoner builds, not being able to raise new Skeleton Warriors or Mages in the heat of combat can lead to rage quits!

The Necro‘s bread-and-butter is surrounding themselves with an army of undead followers to overwhelm enemies. But if your skeletons are on cooldown or capped out, you can find yourself frighteningly vulnerable.

Here are some common reasons you may find your skeleton summoning efforts failing as a Necro:

Your Raise Skeleton skill isn‘t equipped

This one catches new players especially – if Raise Skeleton or Raise Skeletal Mage isn‘t actively one of your usable skills on your bar, summoning just won‘t work! Don‘t forget to memorize it!

You already hit the summon cap

One downside of Necro summon builds is they face firm limits, based on skill investment, for how many minions can be active. For Skeleton Warriors, you max out at 8 with sufficient Raise Skeleton investment. Mages cap at 10.

So if you spammed skeletons thoughtlessly before a boss fight, you may have already depleted your capacity – leaving you unable to call reinforcements when they‘re wiped out!

There are no corpse resources nearby

An open secret among veteran summon Necros is the dependency on enemy corpses to fuel raising new skeletons. Unlike Golems with no limits, you can‘t just endlessly spawn skeletons from nothing!

This can become a nasty issue with certain boss fights that immediately destroy or remove corpses after kills. It forces you to play more cautiously and avoid sacrificingkey DPS skeletons.

You Sacrificed your skeletons

One powerful tactical ability for Necros is Sacrificing your own skeletons to explode for area damage. However, this does put minions on a brief cooldown before they can be resummoned. So sacrificing recklessly right before a horde can leave you quite exposed!

So in summary, as a Diablo 2 summon necro:

• Before boss fights, conserve skeletons rather than spamming needlessly to the cap

• Lure enemies back to cleared areas still full of corpses to sustain summons

• If desperate – respec skills/stats to increase skeleton caps further!

Now that you understand the main limitations around summoning undead warriors and mages as a Necro, let‘s explore…

Sea of Thieves Skeleton Appearance Curses

As a grizzled Pirate Legend with countless storied adventures across the Sea of Thieves under my belt, unlocking the ability to take on a skeletal visage yourself is an iconic rite of passage!

But for many pirates struggling to unlock this boney blessing for themselves, they find themselves wondering – why can‘t I summon up the Skeleton or even Gold Curse appearance after hours of play?

Well, like many mystical rituals, there are challenging requirements standing between you and embracing skeleton-dom…

You Haven‘t Reached Renown Level 75

The Skeleton Curse requires attaining an intimidating Renown Rank of 75 with the Reaper‘s Bones first for most pirates.

Considering Reaper grades only go up when cashing in high value Emissary flagged loot, that likely means hundreds of quests and PvP skirmishes! So have some patience mateys!

You Don‘t Have 200 Wins in Arena

Arena introduced a separate path to the Skeleton Curse – winning 200 matches. However, with Arena now retired and closed, this shortcut is no longer an option for up and coming legends.

You Aren‘t a Pirate Legend Yet

The iconic cursed Gold Hoarder appearance is only available to Pirate Legends who have hit Athena 10 and become living legends. If you can‘t quite take on a gold sheen, it likely means there are still ancient trials left to overcome first!

So in summary, to unlock skeletal powers in Sea of Thieves requires:

• Grinding to 75+ Reaper‘s Bones reputation grade
• Retiring 200 opponents across Arena seasons
• Completing the Pirate Legend Athena voyages

So assemble your best crewmates, sail the seas endlessly, and never lose hope of embracing the Curse one day!

Now then, what if we pivot from ancient magical rituals, to the more scientific realms of…

Minecraft Spawners and Skeleton Farms

As a dedicated Minecraft survival builder with countless automated farms churning away to fuel my vast construction projects, having a steady supply of mob drops is critical.

And that means when I discover a dungeon spawner, especially skeletons, I go to great lengths to carefully transport the magical device back to base!

However, all too often, new players mining through tunnels excitedly stumble upon these farms, only to break the spawner – and find themselves thinking… why didn‘t it drop an item? Where did my skeleton grinder go?!

Well, harvesting these tricky devices takes precise steps – or your efforts will be for naught!

You Need Silk Touch to Harvest Intact

The most common mistake is attempting to crack open a dungeon and loot the spawner bare-handed. Without the Silk Touch enchant, spawners drop no items and simply burst into experience orbs.

So make sure you are carrying a Silk Touch diamond pickaxe before attempting to claim your skeleton farm!

Spawners Turn to XP Without Silk Touch

If you neglect Silk Touch, say goodbye to that rare spawner find! Hence why carrying an enchanted Silk Touch tool at all times is so critical while caving.

Skeletons Have a Chance to Spawn Without Bows

An interesting feature of skeleton monster AI is they have a percent chance to spawn weaponless! So if you were hoping to use that spawner to farm arrow drops and bone meal, be prepared for some of the skeletons to come out unarmed.

So in summary, when claiming skeleton spawners in Minecraft:

• Carry a Silk Touch I or II enchanted pickaxe before mining
• Carefully isolate the spawner with blocks before breaking
• Transport to base intact to construct an XP and drop farm!

Now then, what if your goal isn‘t farming monster drops from cruel randomized algorithms, but instead rallying spiritual allies to your noble cause? Well then, we must discuss…

Elden Ring‘s Summoning Mechanics

As a struggling Tarnished and Elden Lord aspirantfacing relentless demigod bosses, I quickly learned the value of summoning spectral warriors and skeleton militiamen to draw aggro in intense showdowns.

However, in my early foolish days, I would often stand before fog walls, furiously spamming my summoning bell or spectral steed whistle – wondering why I still faced the coming trials alone…

Until I realized the arcane arts standing between me and my skeletal guardians!

Your FP Cost Isn‘t Met

It‘s easy to forget when feverishly scrolling through spells and incantations hoping for a miracle – but all summoning requires sufficient FP to cast!

So if your bar is drained and flickering after previous encounters, naturally no spirits can heed your call. Time to chug some cerulean flasks!

You Aren‘t Near a Summoning Stake

While spectral ashes can be used repeatedly, actual summoning has key location requirements. Namely – you must be near a Summoning Pool stake or Marika resurrection statue for spirits to be called upon!

So fruitlessly using the finger at any random point is a recipe for disappointment. If you don‘t see the icon onscreen, search for a nearby point of power first!

You‘ve Summoned the Maximum

Easily forgotten in the heat of an intense showdown, you can only rally a limited number of summoned creatures at once. This cap can be expanded with certain gear, but exists nonetheless.

So if your full squadron was banished in the last attempt, using the finger again too soon while crossing the fog wall won‘t reproduce results!

So in summary, to call upon skeletal guardians in Elden Ring:

• Check mana and drink cerulean flask to meet FP costs
• Scan for summoning stake icons before attempting to use
• Pay attention to notification banners for summon caps

I hope these insights help you diagnose why your desperate attempts at rallying reinforcements seemingly fail at the worst times! Now enough undead armies – time we speak instead of reviving…

While my examples here focused on necromancy, dark magic, and broader summoning – the root causes of finding yourself unable to raise up skeletal companions tend to boil down to limitations set by developers, be they cooldown timers, capped totals, spell requirements, or summoning anchors.

So if you ever have errors flooding the screen or find your digital graveyards abandoned when hoping to unleash boney champions, carefully check your summoning mechanics against these covered bases!

Of course, I‘m always happy to dig into other summoning, spawn, and raise dead mechanics across the gaming catalog! So if you have questions on generating your own skeletal swarms, please message or comment below so we can unravel the secrets together!