Hey fellow demon slayers,

i finally managed to reach my first ever 99 BNet Char. And i did it on Hardcore Ladder. With a Necromancer.

Since i didnt wanna screw my motivation i decided to play self found on a budget for the most part and didnt find or buy any noteworthy high runes, so "Enigma" and "Beast" and even a "Call to Arms" swap weren't involved.

So since its not the typical META fishymancer and i want to celebrate my achievement a bit i decided to put up a guide for the community to adapt. I had lots of fun playing this guy and i hope so do you.

Difficulty
This Necromancer is capable of playing P8 Solo, but due to how Corpse Explosion works it excells in kill speed on P5 or P3 Difficulty, depending on your gear levels.

Its always a good addition to any Party, since it provides:
- Fanaticism Aura
- Might Aura
- Meditation Aura
- Amplify Damage (or any other curse like Lower Resistances if you'd like to dump some in the Curses tree)

Whether on a playthrough, in Terror Zones, Baalruns, Diablo Clone or Uber Tristram: this guy can clear every game content i can think of and is very versatile and easy, safe and chill to play.

I farmed torches and Anni with him on HCL

On my main gear i was sitting at around 1700 HP and overstacked res of +2xx and a raise skeleton / skeleton mastery level of 47.

Skill Distribution
We are a Summoner, so we like an army of minions.
The main damage comes from Skeletons and we are making great use of the bone armor synergy (see gear section), so i opted for the following spread of Skills. Prerequisites are typically skilled when unlocked.

Summoning
20 Points Skeleton Mastery (max this scond)
20 Points Raise Skeleton (max this first)
1 Point Clay Golem
1 Point Blood Golem
1 Point Iron Golem
1 Point Golem Mastery
1 Point Summon Resist
1 Point Revive

Poison and Bone
1 Point Teeth
20 Points Corpse Explosion
1 Point Bone Spear
1 Point Bone Armor
20 Points Bone Wall
1-19 Points Bone Prison

Curses (feel free to adapt to your party's need here or personal playstyle)
1 Point Amplify Damage



Stats

Enough strength to wear your equipment, dump rest into Vitatlity. Some People might opt for max block / dexterity on HC, but we dont, since it doesnt synergize well with our gear.

Gear

The core idea on this build is to make use of some amazing item procs. Namely being;
- "Bone" Armor (Sol Um Um) -> provides a 15% Chance to auto cast Bone Armor when struck -> with the hard points into Bone Armor synergies this can block hundreds - thousands of physical damage!
- "Boneflame" Shrunken Head -> provides 15% Chance to Cast Terror on the attacking foes -> another self-sustaining layer of security that sends enemies away
- "Arm of King Leoric" -> provides a 10% Chance to cast Bone Prison when struck -> another self-sustaining layer of security that blocks enemies / damage from reaching you directly
- Teleport Charges Staff on Weapon Swap -> easy positioning or speed running when necessary, also your danger exit option -> i shopped a magic version and socketed it for extra res, but naj staff works too (more charges)

As outlined above these core items provide some fun synergies, that guarantee for a very strong safety net already. On the rest of gear pieces we are looking for + skills, more resistances (ideally stacked so conviction wont have an impact), life, damage reduction and some magic find.

Here's a full list of items i was wearing on my Nec when i hit 99:

Main Gear P5-P8
Head: Circlet +3 Summoning Skills (Necromancer) + 112 Life (just hit 1os at larzuk :()
Chest: "Bone" in Mage Plate
Main Weapon: "Arm of King Leoric" socketed with 8allres jewel
Main Offhand: "Boneflame" socketed with Um Rune
Weapon Swap: Magic Tele Staff socketed with some res jewels or a Naj Staff
Amulet Option 1: Rare +2 Necro +29 Strength +8 Life +15 All Res +25 MF (a generic Maras works well here too)
Amulet Option 2: +3 Summoning Skills / 27 lvl 3 Teleport Charges (i typically use this in baalrungs, when i carry Ondal XP Staff on Weapon swap)
Ring Option 1: 2x "Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band"
Ring Option 2: Wisp Projector
Ring Option 3: 2xSafety Crafts / Rares with life, res and mf (fcr is good too but not necessary)
Gloves Option 1: Rare Triple Res Gloves
Gloves Option 2: Bloodfist
Belt: Aarachnid Mesh
Boots Option 1: Aldur's Advance
Boots Option 2: Marrowwalk +2 (i personally very rarely ever used them)

MF Gear P1-P3
2x isted Eth Ali Baba
Circlet +3 Summoning Necro / 20fcr socketed with 1x PTopaz
Splendor in a +3 Raise Skeleton / +3 Bone Armor Shrunken Head
Goldwrap
War Travelers
Couple 7mf SCs

Inventory
Torch -> prio: res
Anni -> prio: res
6-8 Summoning Skillers, preferably with Life or Extra Gold
6-8 Small Charms with life/res and/or mf
Cube for extra space

Merc
Act 2 Offensive Merc with Might Aura. This merc very rarely dies. On paper it looks squishy, but the attack speed paired with the buffs from these items make him an absolute monster. Budget but still P8 capable!

Weapon: Hustle in Eth Giant Thresher
Armor: Treachery in Wyrmhide (could easily be upgraded)
Helmet: Bulwark in Great Helm (could easily be upgraded)

Iron Golem
Use a random insight to provide meditation aura via Iron Golem. When build of an Elite pole it also deals quite significant Damage to help with these first kills needed to raise skeletons.
I experimented a bit with a switch of eth insight on merc and hustle golem, but eventually the golem keeps dying now and then and its easier to replace an insight, than a hustle.

Playstyle

Terror Zones
Depending on the zone / enemies within and the player count you either want to precast skeletons in A5 Pindle Portal or Frigid Highlands. Avoid any early amp/fana packs before you have at least 5 Skeletons up.

Use Amplify Damage on monsters as soon as you see them - also works in tight corridors or behind doors if you cast it on a spot that cou can see and it will still effect the monsters in the room.

Use Corpse Explosion as soon as a monster dies, this hopefully triggers a chain reaction. On higher player counts you have to be a bit more patient due to the damage scaling of CE you will need 5+ Explosions for a pack.

Use revive on high value monsters like Urdars who have the crushing blow mechanic. But be aware that revives can lead to a "cluster" of monsters when teleporting, which will be slowerbat swarming out again than pure skeletons.

Generally stay away from monsters in melee range. Be aware of ranged threats like archers, quill beasts and such. Make sure your meat shields are positioned so that they block shots and move behind them if they dont. Use telport on weapon swap if necessary.

Move out of range of convition aura when possible. Be aware that the aura still lingers a short moment after the boss dies. On death explosions or frost novas and lightning enchanted can pose a serious threat here, especially when on mf gear and low res. I developed a habit of staying just out of on death effect ranges when a boss dies to be save.

Be aware of stygian dolls' on death explosions. Though the physical portion of damage gets blocked by bone armor they can come up in packs and multiple explosions can very well yield in a death. Especially dangerous when amped or conviction is present.

Never ever teleport into an area you dont have sight on AND expect hard monsters to be. That is especially often the case when entering a new level, due to how boss spawns work in D2R.

Be wary of any damage auras like fanaticism, might and amplify damage effects. Those can not only pose threat to yourself, but also your golem and merc. Position them via tele swap if necessary.

Baal Runs

Gain Battle Orders Buff at WP -> move to a5 pindle anya portal and summon as many skeletons s you can before the undead awake -> move to town -> go into TP and tank for the party

The greatest threat in my opinion are souls and enemies that have peircing attacks like the javelins in a5 frigid waypoint. Your minions cant block these.
So i typically skip all souls or put on light absorb gear when playing in such areas.

Easier terror zones with lots of low hp enemies, like flayers or fallen you can easily enter right away without precasting skeletons.

MF Runs

Put on your MF Gear to reach 300+ MF and be aware, that your resistances take quite a hit. So be extra cautious, rest see TZ playstyle. Use Teleport swap to teleport on top of act bosses.

[first post here, still work in progress, ill maybe edit a bit later when things come to mind]

Thanks for everyone who made it so far, hope it encourages other people to play necromancer more

This post was edited by ferdegulasch on Dec 7 2025 04:56am

Bump

Thanks for sharing, dude. It was a fun read.

Bump

Congrats on 99 !

Thanks m8, was my first time on BNet. Was having a blast

My fav build for 25 years

The truth is you use revives and ce most of the time. Insight is pretty much a goto.

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