I have been playing Necro a fair amount since Day 1 of D2R.
Since then, I have built out a fairly GG psn Necro and have also been experimenting with many setups that I've found throughout these forums, other guide websites (such as Maxroll), and youtube.
Broadly, they include variations of these three primary configurations:

- 3pc Trang (75fcr)
- Spirit + Arachs (125fcr)
- Bramble

In the end, after countless hours of testing, the answer to my question might simply be "preference", but I wanted to do a gut check and see what other people like to run for their psn Necros.
Below I'm going to list out my personal thoughts for each setup...

Preface: Skills & Merc
- In general, I have always preferred max Raise Skeleton for the defensive meatshields. They let you tele more aggressively and prevent your merc / Insight golem from getting randomly ganked.
- I have tested the max AOE version with 20pts in CE etc, but mostly found this to be mostly unnecessary. The radius from CE is already ~10-11 yards in my usual setup and feels like a waste of points that could be more productive elsewhere.
- For my merc, I'm running A2 Might with Infinity (Thresher) / Treachery / Gface (15ias). This is one of the highest damage setups available to help generate corpses, increase damage from CE, with lots of CB + fast frames for boss killing.
- There is no leech on this Merc because, frankly, he doesn't get hurt that often thanks to the skeles. If he does get in trouble, casting Life Tap will instantly fill his health to full.
- I tried a bunch of other merc setups as well (even ebotd), but this one is definitely the best for me. Could have a whole other topic on this, but I have pretty much already made up my mind.

3pc Trang (75fcr)
- This is the reasonably-costed, highest damage setup without wearing something like a jmod full of facets.
- The -25epr set bonus from Trangs does some serious work, making nova a true damage spell and not just a corpse generator, allowing me to clear Cows/Chaos just as fast as the 125fcr setup.
- Since psn Necro's best farm spots are generally in set locations (Chaos/Trav/WSK/Cows/Pit), 125fcr tele is not "mandatory". In addition, nova doesn't benefit from fcr in the way that other casters do, as nova just overwrites itself.
- The downside of this setup is the lack of fhr and the terrible block recovery from wearing Trang shield. I have gotten myself killed with aggressive tele into packs of melee mobs that put me in block / recovery animation.
- The other downside, while trivial, is the lack of +skills from Spirit / Arach, meaning smaller BOs, smaller curse radius, and slightly weaker skeletons. But do not be fooled by the "lower" nova damage from this setup - the -25epr will do more than +1 skill would ever.

Spirit + Arachs (125fcr)
- This is what I've seen many recommend (especially from Maxroll) for 9frame cast rate.
- I will admit that this setup feels the smoothest, especially in p5+ where you'll be casting Lower Resist as part of your rotation.
- Defensively, it is quite easy to reach 86fhr thanks to Spirit, meaning I can be as reckless as I want with aggressive tele. Overkill for PVM? Maybe. I just hate dying
- The only downside to this setup is the lack of damage. You get more +skills for BO, curses, skeles, all at the cost of -25epr (or -30 if you facet Trang shield). This difference is noticeable, even at p1, especially in Cows and vs Venom Lords in Chaos.
- While you have less nova damage, 9frame tele and 86fhr allows you to spread novas much more freely than with Trangs. You're also able to capitalize on the first corpse quicker with CE. In the end, it's roughly the same speed as 3pc Trangs for me.

Bramble
- I will preface that I don't actually think this is a viable runeword for psn Necro. The damage is nice but the lack of mobility is a huge turnoff.
- Even with massive 15K+ novas, I just don't see how this setup is practical for p1 or split farming, where speed is a huge priority.
- The lack of tele and even the frw from Enigma is sorely missed. I feel like I wasted a Sur and Ohm to be completely honest

In the end, I have a hard time deciding between 3pc Trang and Spirit+Arachs. It's a push in terms of pros and cons, at least for me. But I'm always curious to hear if others have differing opinions or feel strongly towards one setup over the other.

This post was edited by manbat on Dec 20 2021 06:06pm

Trangs

125 fcr

get corpse, boom goes the room

this discussion has been useful

If using Bramble, I would go with 3p Trang.
If enigma, 125 Fcr.

That said, I run a budget Poison necro with full trangs and a Harmony merc.

I'd say 3 piece trangs with 75 fcr. You don't need 125 fcr to cast a poison spell lol.

I like maxed skeleton mastery with the rest of points in revive, but I just like having huge revive armies lol.

This post was edited by Dr_Lecter on Dec 31 2021 10:34am

I'm maining Nova Necro RN. Got everything except enigma so I'm in full trangs rn. No point to switching out gear till then.

Im max res, 2k life post buff, 9.1k Nova damage. 250 mf - can be 11k Nova by switching into bks/psn facets instead of ist/ptopaz on sockets but I found the DPS loss to be irrelevant for running pits even on p8.

Basically I don't even bother summoning minions anymore. When I get enigma I'll probly do it just for telestomping boss packs.

On p1 you one hit everything, no lower res or ce needed or used

On p5ish you still one hit everything except certain unique packs. You one hit them if using lower res tho. Still never use ce, stuff dies too quick to bother

P8 you still one hit most things. Use lr and very rarely ce


It feels really nice to play. It's locked to running certain content but it's prolly my fav build. Just waiting on enigma to finish things out