How the engine works
The Core Skill upgrade removes Bone Spirit's charges and cooldown. It costs 30 Essence, then consumes all the Essence you have left and deals 3% more damage for every point consumed. So the build is a race to hold as much Maximum Essence as possible and refill it instantly. Astral Projection makes the spirits spiral around you, piercing and exploding, instead of seeking a target. Vengeful Sinew makes each one explode a second time. Bone Storm supplies about half of your Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed. Skeleton Mages are on the bar only because Gift of Death gives 50% more Essence regeneration per active mage. Bone Prison and Golem are the new support buttons on the current endgame bar; Sever and Corpse Tendrils are off that bar.
Who it's for
Players who want the fastest way through Helltides, the Undercity and mid-tier Pits, and a build that also pushes well. It is slightly weaker on bosses than Blood Wave and it is not a budget build.
3.3.0 PTR watch
The 3.3.0 PTR fixes Bone Spirit not properly counting Resource Cost Reduction when it works out its damage, and Blizzard doesn't say which way that moves the numbers. The Shadow Mages Barrier upgrade also drops from 3% to 1% per attack. It's PTR only and can still change, and live Season 15 play is unchanged.
- Rating
- S to A-Tier
- Difficulty
- Moderate (Essence upkeep)
- Key stat
- Maximum Essence, with the regeneration to refill it
- Must have
- Vengeful Sinew (unique chest)
The bar
This is the pushing bar as of 23 Sep. Only Bone Spirit does the damage. Bone Prison and Golem are support. Two minion buttons stay as utilities, not as an army. Sever and Corpse Tendrils are off the current endgame bar (they can still show up in older prose or a speed-farm swap). There is also a Shadow damage-over-time version of this skill built on the Unfinished Business upgrade, but it needs a different set of uniques and is harder to gear, so this page covers the Bone version only.
The damage. Take Core Skill, Maximum Essence (each enemy hit raises Maximum Essence by 2 for 15 seconds, up to 20) and Astral Projection. Rank 15. Four or five casts get the ring of spirits going; after that you refresh it.
Press - to refreshRoll The Bones gives Critical Strike Chance and cast speed that grow with skill ranks. Duration Increase consumes up to 4 Corpses for 2 more seconds each, and Barrier gives 50% of Maximum Life. Rank 15. It must never drop.
Keep it upOn the current endgame bar for the Life Imprisonment attack-speed bump before you dump spirits. Confirm ranks and the exact upgrade path in the client.
Press - before the dumpOn the current endgame bar to pull the pack in. Confirm which Golem and which Book of the Dead pick you are running in the client; you are not sacrificing it while it sits on this bar.
Press - each packYour Essence engine. Gift of Death gives 50% more Essence regeneration for each active mage. Rank 15. Keep the full number alive at all times; raising them also consumes Corpses for Flesh-eater.
Keep it upOne point, with Master of Puppets, Healing and Vulnerable. They consume Corpses automatically so you don't have to think about Flesh-eater. For speed farming, some setups still swap a utility slot for Blood Mist (Blood Rush); confirm off-bar swaps in the client.
Keep it upPassives
There is no Key Passive. Every point goes into skills and upgrades: Bone Spirit, Bone Storm and Skeleton Mage to rank 15, and one point in each utility. Iron Maiden still wants ranks even though it is not on the bar; the Teb rune applies it for you. Blood Moon Breeches is off the current endgame pants list, so do not lean on it for curses unless you keep a copy on purpose. Confirm Decrepify ranks in the client if your curse path still needs them.
Book of the Dead
Sacrifice the Warriors for damage, and keep Shadow Mages with their Barrier upgrade. A Sacrifice halves how many of that skeleton you can raise rather than removing them, which is why a single point in Skeleton Warrior still works as a Corpse consumer. Golem is on the current endgame bar for the pull, so do not sacrifice it on this setup. Confirm the live Golem Book pick in the client.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors: Reapers, Sacrifice | You deal 15% more damage. The number of Reapers you can summon is halved. |
| Skeletal Mages: Shadow, Barrier upgrade | Shadow Mage bolts give you and the mage a Barrier for 3% of your Maximum Life for 4 seconds, up to 30%. |
| Golem: on the bar | Used to pull packs. Not sacrificed while it is on the current endgame bar. Confirm Iron vs Blood (or other) in the client. |
What to wear
A one-handed weapon with The Gloom Ward on the shield slot. Vengeful Sinew and Leoric's Crown still do most of the unique work, and the rolls on Sinew matter: you want Maximum Essence and Essence per Second on it.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Vengeful Sinew | Chest. Bone Spirit explodes an additional time for 45% of normal damage, and Bone Spirit deals 40% more damage. Comes with guaranteed ranks to Bone Spirit. Drops from The Butcher. Try to get Maximum Essence and Essence per Second on it. | Mandatory |
| The Gloom Ward | Shield. Takes the shield slot on the current endgame bar (as of 23 Sep evening). Shadow damage applies Shadowblight, then deals bonus Corrupting damage on repeated Shadow hits against that target. Confirm the current proc count and multiplier in the client. Target-farmable; check the live boss table. | Core |
| Lidless Wall | No longer on the current endgame shield list. Still a Bone Storm Critical Strike Damage option if you already have one. The Gloom Ward is the shield on the current endgame bar. | Variant |
| Leoric's Crown | Helm. Counts as jewellery and doubles any gem socketed in it, so your best Soul Splinter goes here. Drops from any boss. | Core |
| Tibault's Will | Pants on the current endgame bar. 20% more damage and 25 Essence regeneration while Unstoppable and for 5 seconds after. Its regeneration was halved this season. Drops from any boss. | Core |
| Blood Moon Breeches | No longer on the current endgame pants list. Still fine if you want summons to apply Decrepify or Iron Maiden for you. Tibault's Will is the pants on the current endgame bar. | Variant |
| The Undercrown | Helm for the early game. Four extra Skeleton Mages means four more helpings of Gift of Death. Wear it until your gear has a Greater Affix Essence per Second roll, then move it to a charm slot. | Variant |
| Gravewalker's Hand | Unique Charm. Raises Essence generation, and your Bone skills deal 0.5% more damage for each point of Essence you have when you cast. A huge multiplier for the sixth slot. | Charm |
| Crown of Lucion | Helm, the damage alternative to Leoric's Crown. A very large multiplier, and its cost increase doesn't hurt because Bone Spirit consumes Essence rather than spending it. Take Leoric's Crown if you have a strong Soul Splinter for it, this one if you don't. | Variant |
Before they drop
There is no comfortable version of this build without Vengeful Sinew. Stay on your levelling setup or the Minion build and farm The Butcher until it drops. Until Leoric's Crown, wear Aspect of Glynn's Anvil on a legendary helm, or The Undercrown for the extra mages. Get at least two ordinary Essence per Second rolls on your gear before you stack Maximum Essence.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Aspect of Bursting Bones | Amulet. Bone skills gain damage for every point of Maximum Essence you have, up to 200. This is the main multiplier and the reason Maximum Essence is the key stat. |
| Aspect of Rapid Ossification | Ring. Every 100 Essence you spend reduces your Bone skill cooldowns, and your Bone damage is 20% higher. It is what keeps Bone Storm permanently available. |
| Aspect of Serration | Ring. Bone and Corpse skills gain 10% Critical Strike Chance and more Critical Strike Damage. |
| Aspect of Compound Fracture | Gloves. After 10 Critical Strikes with Bone skills, your Bone skills deal more damage for 5 seconds. With spirits orbiting you that is always. |
| Splintering Aspect | Main hand. Bone skills deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies. Keep a Vulnerable source up; Corpse Tendrils is off the current endgame bar, so confirm what applies Vulnerable on your setup. |
| Shielding Bones | Transfigured onto the amulet as a second aspect for pushing. Casting a Bone skill grants 2 stacks of Resolve. Pair it with Glynn's Anvil and Resolve tempers on helm, chest and pants. |
| Exploiter's Aspect | Boots for pushing. 50% longer crowd control, and more damage to Unstoppable enemies. |
| Aspect of Creeping Cadaver | Boots for speed farming. Every 20 metres travelled triggers a random equipped Corpse skill, and consuming a Corpse raises your Movement Speed. Useful when you still run Corpse Tendrils off the endgame bar. Pair it with Aspect of Deluge on a ring. |
Maximum Essence is useless if you can't refill it
Every cast empties the bar. If your regeneration can't refill a bigger bar between casts, the extra Maximum Essence adds nothing. Build Essence per Second, Gift of Death mages and Lucky Hit restore tempers alongside it, not after it.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximum Essence | Helm, chest and amulet. Bursting Bones counts it up to 200. |
| 2 | Essence per Second | Helm, chest, pants and boots, ideally as a Greater Affix on the uniques. |
| 3 | Attack Speed | Gloves, rings and amulet. Bone Storm supplies about half of what you need. |
| 4 | Critical Strike Chance | Gloves, rings and amulet, plus tempers on weapon and shield. |
| 5 | Maximum Life | Helm, chest, pants and boots, and as the temper on the first three. |
| 6 | Critical Strike, Vulnerable and Physical damage multipliers | Gloves, rings, amulet and weapon. Spread them evenly: multipliers of the same type add together, different types multiply. |
| 7 | Ranks to Bone Spirit and Bone skills | Guaranteed on Vengeful Sinew, and on boots and charms. Bone ranks also raise Roll The Bones. |
Hard targets
100% Attack Speed and 100% Critical Strike Chance. With your Bone skill ranks, Bone Storm gives about 50% of each, so gear has to find the other half. 30,000 Maximum Life or more. Maximum Essence counts towards Bursting Bones up to 200.
Tempering & masterworking
Maximum Life on helm, chest and pants. Critical Strike Chance on weapon and shield. Critical Strike Damage on gloves. Movement Speed on boots. The Lucky Hit chance to restore Essence on the amulet and both rings. When you start pushing, Resolve stack tempers on helm, chest and pants are your main defence. Masterwork Maximum Essence and Essence per Second first, then whichever damage multiplier is lowest.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Gems: Skull in the weapon, Topaz in the shield and pants, and an Emerald or Diamond in a ring.
- Runewords: Tam + Teb in Vengeful Sinew for pushing. Tam gives 25 Offering each time you cast a Core skill and Teb spends it to cast Iron Maiden. For speed farming use Poc + Que for an Earthen Bulwark Barrier and Tam + Mot for a Dark Shroud shadow.
- Soul Splinters, in priority order: Black Soulstone, then Anguish and Hellfire in Leoric's Crown where they are doubled, then Pain. Hellfire removes Critical Strike Chance, so only use it while you are well short of the 100% target.
- Talisman, mid game: the full five-piece Bone Weaver set, a large multiplier with Essence regeneration, plus Gravewalker's Hand in the sixth slot. Look for + to Bone skills on charms first, then + to Core skills for Gift of Death.
- Talisman, finished: Seal of the Diamond Mind lets you run two sets at once. Use four Berú of Desecration charms, which form Corpses, apply both curses near your Corpses, give 25% damage reduction and add a large multiplier, with two Bone Weaver charms.
Paragon
Starter board with the Corporeal glyph, then Bone Graft with Essence, Scent of Death with Eliminator, Frailty with Exploit and Flesh-eater with Amplify. On Frailty, run Dominate until you have the points to make Exploit worthwhile. Level glyphs in this order: Essence, Exploit, Amplify, Corporeal, Eliminator. For speed farming, put Gravekeeper on the Starter board and move Corporeal to Flesh-eater.
| Glyph | Where and why |
|---|---|
| Essence | Bone Graft board. Level it first. |
| Exploit | Frailty board. Dominate sits here earlier on. |
| Amplify | Flesh-eater board. The node itself needs you to keep consuming Corpses. |
| Corporeal | Starter board. |
| Eliminator | Scent of Death board. |
Mercenary
Hire Raheir with Provoke, Shield Charge and Raheir's Guard. He keeps you alive and also adds a damage multiplier. The reinforcement is Aldkin with Field of Languish for more damage reduction. This build dies to mistakes more than it runs out of damage, so both slots go to defence.
From fresh 70 to finished
This is a build you move into, not one you start on. Expect to farm for it on something else first.
Stay on your levelling build or the Minion build. Kill The Butcher for Vengeful Sinew and collect legendary gear with Essence per Second and Maximum Essence.
Respec when it drops. Wear The Undercrown or a Glynn's Anvil helm, put Bursting Bones on the amulet and Rapid Ossification on a ring, and keep every mage alive. Essence will feel tight.
The Gloom Ward takes the shield slot on the current endgame bar. Tibault's Will is the pants pick on that bar; Blood Moon Breeches and Lidless Wall are off it. Finish the five Bone Weaver charms and add Gravewalker's Hand.
Reach 100% Attack Speed and 100% Critical Strike Chance with Bone Storm running, and 30,000 Life. Add Leoric's Crown with your best Splinter in it. From here Bone Storm never drops and the spirits never stop.
Swap to four Desecration and two Bone Weaver charms. Transfigure Shielding Bones onto the amulet for pushing, or switch to Creeping Cadaver and Deluge for one-to-two-minute speed Pits. Confirm any Blood Mist mobility swap in the client; Sever is off the current endgame bar.
The rotation
Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed and a Barrier. Rapid Ossification keeps resetting it as you burn Essence, so recast it the moment it is ready.
Pull the pack onto you.
Life Imprisonment for the attack-speed bump before you dump spirits. Confirm the upgrade in the client.
That gets the ring of spirits turning around you.
Skeleton Warriors consume Corpses for you. Check your mages are all alive.
Path from pack to pack and stop only to refresh the spirits. Sever is off the current endgame bar; use whatever mobility you confirmed in the client.
On bosses
Walk around the boss in the opposite direction to the way your spirits are circling; they pass through it more often and land more hits. Keep Bone Storm and all your mages up. Open with Golem and Bone Prison when the fight allows it. If you use the Dominate glyph, a single point in Blood Lance with its Overpower upgrade lets you drop a stack so the glyph's bonus triggers again. Single target is the build's weakest area, so expect longer boss fights than Blood Wave.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- Strong clear while moving once the spirit ring is up. Sever is off the current endgame bar; mobility now depends on your confirmed off-bar swap or simply pathing with the ring.
- Massive area damage that follows you around, so you clear while moving.
- Doesn't need a Mythic to work.
- Resolve stacking makes the pushing setup very tanky.
Where it struggles
- Hard to gear. It wants Greater Affix Essence per Second on uniques that are already hard to find.
- Essence management is the whole game, and it punishes lapses at once.
- A lot of upkeep: Bone Storm, mages and Corpses all need watching.
- Weaker on bosses than the other two builds.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Letting Bone Storm drop. It is about half your Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed. Without it the build collapses.
- Letting mages die. Each one is 50% more Essence regeneration from Gift of Death. Resummon immediately.
- Stacking Maximum Essence without regeneration. A bigger bar that doesn't refill between casts adds nothing.
- Stacking one kind of multiplier. Same-type multipliers add together. Spread Physical, Critical Strike and Vulnerable damage evenly.
- Going a long stretch without consuming a Corpse. Flesh-eater switches off. Let the Warriors eat Corpses, or consume them yourself when you raise mages.
- Still gearing Lidless or Blood Moon as mandatory. Both are off the current endgame bar. Farm The Gloom Ward and Tibault's Will for those slots.
Not for you? The other Necromancer builds: Blood Wave · Minion Necromancer.
Frequently asked questions
What gear does Bone Spirit need to get started?
Vengeful Sinew (unique chest).
Who is Bone Spirit suited to?
Players who want the fastest way through Helltides, the Undercity and mid-tier Pits, and a build that also pushes well. It is slightly weaker on bosses than Blood Wave and it is not a budget build.
How do I move from levelling into Bone Spirit?
Follow the Necromancer levelling guide to level 70. There is no comfortable version of this build without Vengeful Sinew. Stay on your levelling setup or the Minion build and farm The Butcher until it drops. Until Leoric's Crown, wear Aspect of Glynn's Anvil on a legendary helm, or The Undercrown for the extra mages. Get at least two ordinary Essence per Second rolls on your gear before you stack Maximum Essence.