How the engine works
You keep three kinds of minion alive and buffed, and they do every point of the damage. You curse the pack, then command the Skeleton Warriors onto the target you want dead, which gives them 25% more damage for 10 seconds. Activating the Golem makes you Unstoppable and hands you Ferocity stacks. Army of the Dead is there mostly for its upgrade: while it is active your minions take 90% less damage and deal 30% more. Later, uniques add more skeletons, curse for you and make the mages focus whatever the warriors are told to attack.
Who it's for
New players, anyone who loved the levelling army, and anyone who wants a relaxed build that clears Helltides, hordes, Pits and casual bossing. It is the cheapest Necromancer to start. It pushes less far than Blood Wave or Bone Spirit.
- Rating
- A-Tier
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key stat
- 100% minion Attack Speed
- Must have
- Nothing — works without uniques
The bar
This is the fresh-70 bar. When Blood Moon Breeches drops, your minions start cursing for you, so Iron Maiden leaves the bar and Corpse Tendrils takes its place.
Front line and main damage. Master of Puppets adds 3 warriors. Its command sends them at a target with 25% more damage for 10 seconds and gives you 3 Resolve. Rank 15.
Press — each packRanged damage. Coven adds 2 mages, and you gain 5% Critical Strike Chance against enemies they damage. Rank 15. With The Undercrown they focus the target your warriors are commanded onto.
Keep it upGargantua gives you one larger Golem with an aura that raises your other minions' cast and Movement Speed. Commanding it makes you Unstoppable for 3 seconds and grants 3 stacks of Ferocity. Rank 15.
Press — on cooldownTaken for Unyielding Commander: while it is active your minions take 90% less damage and deal 30% more. Cooldown Reduction cuts 20 seconds off it and Corpse Generation gives a 50% chance of Corpses. Rank 15.
Press — on cooldownYour manual curse until Blood Moon Breeches. Blood Maiden makes it a Blood skill, with Execute and Fortify, and Ferocity and Overpower. One point.
Press — each packInexorable Reaper makes it a dash for getting around maps. For bosses and pushing, swap it for Blood Mist as a get-out-of-jail card. One point.
MovementJoins the bar once your minions curse for you. Get Over Here! casts it on you with no Corpse needed; it pulls, makes enemies Vulnerable and Fortifies you. One point.
Press — each packPassives
There is no Key Passive. Put 15 ranks in Skeleton Warrior, Skeleton Mage, Golem and Army of the Dead and one point in everything else. On the mage and Golem upgrades you choose between Ferocity, Resolve and Overpower: take Ferocity for Attack Speed until you reach 100%, then Resolve for defence. One point in Decrepify with Unholy Frenzy applies the curse to your own minions instead, raising their cast and Movement Speed.
Book of the Dead
Reapers for damage and a Stun, Shadow Mages for a Barrier on you, and the Bone Golem sacrificed for Attack Speed. A Sacrifice doesn't remove the Golem. It halves its damage, and you still summon it as a Gargantua for its aura, Unstoppable and Ferocity. There are two ways to run the Golem slot. The Sacrifice gives you Attack Speed towards the 100% target. Keeping an Iron Golem with its shockwave upgrade gives you a Golem that actually hits. Take the Sacrifice until your Attack Speed is capped from gear.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors: Reapers, second upgrade | Reapers deal 50% more damage and have a 15% chance to Stun for 1 second. |
| Skeletal Mages: Shadow, Barrier upgrade | Shadow Mage bolts give you and the mage a Barrier. |
| Golem: Bone, Sacrifice | You gain 10% Attack Speed. Your Golem does 50% less damage. |
What to wear
Start with a two-handed scythe and nine legendaries. The uniques below are upgrades, not requirements, but the finished version is very specific about them. Unique stats roll randomly, so expect to need several copies of each.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| The Undercrown | Helm. Four more Skeleton Warriors and Mages, 15–25% more Summon damage, and commanding the warriors makes the mages focus the same target for 5 seconds. The centrepiece of the finished build. | Core |
| Blood Moon Breeches | Pants. Your summons have a 7–10% chance to inflict Decrepify or Iron Maiden when they deal damage, and you deal 50–60% more Critical Strike Damage to cursed enemies. Frees a bar slot and adds a large multiplier. | Core |
| Pact of Bone | Ring. Your minions gain Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance, up to 46% Attack Speed, and when one dies the rest enrage for 3 seconds. It covers most of the two stats you need. | Core |
| Deathgrip | Gloves, for a warrior-focused army. One more Skeleton Warrior, their attacks cleave and deal more damage, and the target you command them onto takes more damage from them. | Variant |
| The Hand of Naz | Gloves, for a mage-focused army. One more mage, a large area attack, and your mages become Arch-Mages that teleport out of danger. | Variant |
| Bloodless Scream | Two-handed scythe, or a Unique Charm. Your Darkness skills Chill enemies and deal more damage to Frozen enemies and bosses. Wear it as the weapon in the warrior version, or slot it as a charm and keep Reanimation on your scythe. | Charm |
Before they drop
Nothing to wait for. Wear the aspects listed below on legendary gear with a two-handed scythe. On every piece look for Intelligence and Maximum Life, with ranks to Skeleton Warrior on helm and boots, and Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance and Vulnerable Damage on gloves, rings and amulet. Temper Summoning damage on gloves, rings and amulet.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Aspect of Reanimation | Two-handed weapon. Your summons gain damage the longer they stay alive, up to 90% after 10 seconds. Your minions are very tough and rarely die unless you do, so this is always at full value. |
| Hellbent Commander Aspect | Amulet. More Summon damage. It earns the amulet slot because you run all three minion types. |
| Aspect of Amplified Damage | Gloves. You deal more damage to Cursed enemies, which is everything once the curses are automatic. |
| Aspect of Heavenly Strength | Helm, then chest once The Undercrown takes the helm. Damage reduction while wielding a two-handed weapon. |
| Aspect of Hardened Bones | Chest, while Heavenly Strength is on your helm. More damage reduction, and a chance to form a Corpse when you take damage. |
| Aspect of Glynn's Anvil | Pants. Plus 2 maximum Resolve and 3–4% damage reduction per stack. Resolve stacking is this build's main defence. |
| Exploiter's Aspect | Boots. 50% longer crowd control and more damage to Unstoppable enemies. Very good for clearing speed. |
| Crushing Aspect | Ring. You deal 45–65% more damage while Fortified. Your Fortify comes from the helm temper. |
Attack Speed and crit before multipliers
The Cult Leader paragon node scales with minion Attack Speed up to 100%. Add your own Attack Speed to the Minion Attack Speed line on your character sheet; that total needs to reach 100%. Until it does, and until Critical Strike Chance is also 100%, damage multipliers are the wrong thing to chase.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attack Speed | Gloves, rings and amulet, plus Pact of Bone, Ferocity stacks and the Golem's aura. |
| 2 | Critical Strike Chance | Gloves, rings and amulet, and the weapon temper. |
| 3 | Maximum Life | Helm, chest, pants, boots and weapon. |
| 4 | Summoning damage | Tempers on gloves, both rings and amulet. |
| 5 | Critical Strike and Vulnerable damage multipliers | Weapon, rings and amulet, once the two 100% targets are met. |
| 6 | Ranks to Skeleton Warrior | Helm and boots. |
| 7 | Armour and All Resist | Chest and pants, with Armour as the temper on both. |
Hard targets
100% minion Attack Speed is the first priority. Paragon gives 8% Summon Attack Speed and 6.5% Attack Speed, four stacks of Ferocity give 20%, Pact of Bone gives up to 46%, and the Golem's aura covers the rest. Then 100% Critical Strike Chance and 30,000 Maximum Life. For the hardest content, aim for 40 or more Resolve stacks.
Tempering & masterworking
Helm: chance for minion attacks to Fortify you, which is where all your Fortify comes from. Chest and pants: Armour. Weapon: Critical Strike Chance. Gloves, both rings and amulet: Summoning damage. Boots: Movement Speed. Later, a Greater Affix Resolve stacks temper, masterworked, sends your defences very high.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Runeword Nagu + Ceh in the helm. Nagu earns Offering for keeping summons alive, and Ceh spends it on a Spirit Wolf for 8 seconds. With Pact of Bone, each wolf that expires triggers the ring's enrage.
- Runeword Cir + Que in the pants for an Earthen Bulwark Barrier. Swap to Igni + Gar for up to 10% Critical Strike Chance if you are short of the 100% target.
- Gems: two Amethysts in the weapon, two Topazes in the chest and a Diamond in a ring.
- Soul Splinters: start with Black Soulstone and Anguish in your jewellery. The long-term order is Black Soulstone, then Damnation, then Pain.
- Talisman: you need a six-slot Seal, ideally with a damage multiplier or Critical Strike Chance on it. There are two ways to fill it. The full five-piece Black Shroud set suits the build because every skill here is a Darkness skill, and it gives damage reduction plus a strong multiplier. Seal of the Diamond Mind with four Waking Touch and two Black Shroud charms gives minion Attack Speed, size and Life instead. Take the full Black Shroud set: its multipliers are worth more than Waking Touch's Attack Speed once you are near 100%.
Paragon
Starter board with the Essence glyph, then Wither with Abyssal, Scent of Death with Warrior, Frailty with Eliminator and Cult Leader with Deadraiser. Cult Leader's legendary node is why Attack Speed comes first. Level the Warrior glyph before any other, for its large additive damage, and take each glyph to 25, then 50, then 100. If you lean on mages, put the Mage glyph on Wither and move Abyssal to the Starter board.
| Glyph | Where and why |
|---|---|
| Warrior | Scent of Death board. Level it first. |
| Essence | Starter board. |
| Eliminator | Frailty board. |
| Abyssal | Wither board. |
| Deadraiser | Cult Leader board. |
Mercenary
Start with Varyana hired, running Bloodlust, Hysteria, Cleave and Bloodthirst, and Aldkin as the reinforcement with Field of Languish for damage reduction. Once your own Attack Speed is sorted, switch the hire to Subo, who reveals the map and adds a little damage. Keep Aldkin as the reinforcement either way.
From fresh 70 to finished
You won't have the gear on day one. This is the order it comes together in.
All-legendary gear, a two-handed scythe with Reanimation, Nagu + Ceh and Cir + Que, Summoning damage tempers, whatever charms you have, and Varyana. Cast Iron Maiden yourself. If Sever is starving you of Essence, a point in Corpse Explosion with the upgrade that gives Essence back pays for it.
Chase Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance on every glove, ring and amulet you pick up. Level the Warrior glyph. Reach Cult Leader on the paragon boards.
Your minions now apply both curses. Drop Iron Maiden for Corpse Tendrils and enjoy the Critical Strike Damage against cursed enemies.
Four more warriors and mages that focus fire on command, and most of your Attack Speed and crit from one ring. Move Heavenly Strength to the chest and finish the Black Shroud charm set.
Deathgrip and Bloodless Scream for a warrior army, or The Hand of Naz for a mage army. Masterwork Resolve tempers and keep both 100% targets while you swap multipliers in.
The rotation
Iron Maiden early on, or Decrepify if you prefer its Weaken and instant Resolve. With Blood Moon Breeches your minions do this for you and you skip the step.
Command Skeleton Warriors onto the most dangerous target. They deal 25% more damage for 10 seconds, and with The Undercrown the mages join in.
Unstoppable for you and three stacks of Ferocity. Use it every time it is ready.
Cast it whenever it is up. Your minions take 90% less damage and deal 30% more while it runs.
Corpse Tendrils to bunch the pack for your warriors' cleave, Sever to reach the next one. Resummon anything that died.
Your minions tank everything except ground effects aimed at you. Stepping out of them is most of your job.
On bosses
Swap Sever for Blood Mist so you have an escape. Keep the warriors commanded onto the boss so the 25% bonus never lapses, and hold Army of the Dead for the dangerous phase if the fight is short. With Pact of Bone, resummon your mages as the ring's timer runs out to trigger its enrage again. Summoners are among the best boss killers on the class.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- Works at level 70 with no uniques, and carries straight on from a minion levelling character.
- Relaxed to play. The army tanks for you and the rotation is short.
- Real control: the warrior command picks the target and the mages follow.
- Handles every kind of endgame content, and is very good on bosses.
Where it struggles
- You can be squishy. The minions are tough; you are not.
- The finished version is very gear specific, and uniques need the right random stats.
- Pushes less far than Blood Wave or Bone Spirit, and clears maps more slowly.
- The minion playstyle isn't for everyone. You direct the damage rather than deal it.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Chasing damage multipliers first. Until minion Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance are both at 100%, nothing else is worth as much.
- Never using the warrior command. You give up a 25% multiplier and, with The Undercrown, the mages' focus fire.
- Choosing Waking Touch charms for the minion stats. Minion size and Life do very little. Black Shroud's multipliers are better.
- Forgetting the Golem button. It is your only Unstoppable and a free three stacks of Ferocity.
- Standing in ground effects. The army can't soak those for you.
Not for you? The other Necromancer builds: Blood Wave · Bone Spirit.