Welcome to the Necronomicon. This is a collection of builds, guides, and other resources created by the Necromancer community. Whether you’re a new player seeking advice for your first season, or a more experienced one looking for a quick reference to skill and item mechanics, you’ll find that and more in the links below.
Please help me keep this thread current and accurate by submitting more links in the comments. Thanks for your feedback and support. Serve the Cycle!
A note on links: I now have the trust level to post links to certain websites like Blizzard and YouTube, but fansites like IcyVeins and Diablofans are unfortunately still blocked. I can get around that by wrapping these URLs in tick marks (`) but you won’t be able to click on them. My final goal is to make this thread a Wiki so that the community can collaborate on it, but I do not yet have trust level 3. Once I do, I will be able to create a Wiki.
Starting a new class can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are several guides specifically created for new Necromancers. Take a look at these, and you’ll be pushing into higher Torments and mastering your set dungeons in no time. Uphold the balance, and discover your true calling as a Priest of Rathma!
NEW PLAYER GUIDES
► Diablo 3 Difficulty Overview by Bagstone https://d3resource.com/difficulties/index.php
The Necromancer has builds to fit many different playstyles. With the right combination of skills and gear, you can transform your Priest of Rathma into a commander of the undead, a visceral melee battlemage, or a ranged attacker who keeps enemies at a distance with crippling curses. New players should turn on elective mode in the options menu to freely assign any skill to any hotkey.
I have organized the builds listed here into five broad categories (Blood, Corpse, Minion, Melee and Ranged Caster) along with brief explanations for each. If you want to play a support role in groups with your Necromancer, you’ll find those builds in the Corpse section.
Are you looking for popular Necromancer builds in 2.6.5? Rathma Singularity and zDPS support Necro are a powerful team combination. Corpse Lance builds excel in both speed runs and high GRs, and are frequently used as Rift Guardian killers in groups. Necromancers can also run Thorns builds with the Trag’Oul, Inarius, or Legacy of Nightmare sets.
► Ratrun Rathma Group DPS by Arkismall http://www.diablofans.com/builds/94503
► Necro Support by sVr90 http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92847
► Pestilence Poison Lancer by Lord Fluffy http://www.diablofans.com/builds/95302
Blood builds focus on spending your own health to cast empowered skills. Many of these builds use the Trag’OuL’s Avatar set, which increases the damage of all Blood skills. Trying to cast a Blood skill with insufficient life won’t kill your Necromancer; the skill simply won’t activate. Necromancers also have many ways to quickly regenerate health, such as Devour @ Cannibalize and Siphon Blood.
► BLOOD-SPLOSION by J_Macc http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92971
► Blood Nova SpeedFarm by Lord Fluffy http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92573
► Curseless Blood Nova Trag’Oul by Vyntrox http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92963
► Trag’Oul Blood Lance (4-Man Group) by codax755 http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92814
Most enemies that die near the Necromancer leave a corpse behind. Corpse builds consume these remains to tear monsters apart with Corpse Lance or Corpse Explosion. These flexible skills can be used with many different sets. Some Corpse Necromancers use Land of the Dead to deal massive damage in short bursts. Others prefer skills and items that provide a more consistent supply of corpses, like Flesh Golem and Moribund Gauntlets. Necromancers can also fulfill a pure support role in groups, providing corpses and curses to benefit their allies.
► CorpseMancer Speedfarm by Lord Fluffy http://www.diablofans.com/builds/91330
► Support Necro 3-Man by Lord Fluffy http://www.diablofans.com/builds/94924
► zNecro Support by sVr90 http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92847
Minion builds swarm enemies with undead horrors the Necromancer summons and controls. Minions include Command Skeletons, Skeletal Mages, Command Golem, and monsters raised by Revive. The Enforcer legendary gem is a great choice for any of these builds, providing a substantial boost to both damage and survival for your precious pets. Minions are also supported by the Bones of Rathma set, the Jesseth scythe and shield, and a variety of other legendary items and skills.
Melee Necromancers enter close quarters to fight with skills like Grim Scythe and Death Nova. Many of these builds use the Grace of Inarius set, which surrounds the Necromancer with a storm of bones and grants a large damage bonus against enemies caught in its radius. Melee players must also balance their damage with toughness and healing to survive amidst dense groups of monsters.
► Bone Storm Build by Daleme2. (Note: This build was created before the 2.6 hotfix that reduced Bone Storm’s proc rate. It can still be played, but the Mirinae gem will be less effective.) http://www.diablofans.com/builds/90751
Ranged Casters unleash death from afar with projectiles like Bone Spirit and Bone Spear, the latter of which is supported by the Pestilence Master’s Shroud set. These builds are often more fragile than their melee counterparts, so stay mobile and use crowd-controlling abilities like Decrepify to keep monsters slowed and weakened.
► Blight Spear SpeedFarm by Lord Fluffy http://www.diablofans.com/builds/94596
► Cold Legacy of Nightmares for the Mog by Comandalore http://www.diablofans.com/builds/92806
► May the Bones Fly! (T13 Bone Spear) by Ktosiowiak http://www.diablofans.com/builds/91447
Thanks for the replies, and sorry for the delayed response. I was traveling yesterday and didn’t get a chance to edit the OP. I think I have enough replies to post the other sections now, but feel free to keep posting with any builds / resources you’d like to add! This is a place for discussion, like anywhere else on the forum.
3. ITEMS, GEMS, CRAFTING & COSMETICS
In Diablo 3, a character’s power is highly dependent on the items he or she equips. Items can boost your Necromancer’s stats, provide useful effects, and even alter the way skills work. Read these articles to discover the variety of items available to you, including crafted gear, bounty-exclusive loot, legendary gems, and cosmetics.
►Legendary Drop Rates & Blood Shard Prices for 2.6.1 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cM-s4e66ql2zsrkfkfKXmvVJ4zmngzxdzVLk9gvLvT8/htmlview#
► Bounty-Exclusive Legendary Items from DiabloHub http://www.diablohub.com/database/sorting/bounty-bags
► D3 Max Stats.A useful tool for looking up the possible affix rolls on any item. http://www.d3maxstats.com
Sorry for leaving this comment on this post but i gotta say something about d3 necro compared to d2 necro personally d2 necro hands down is way better then d3 and i hope the go more that rought with a d4 necro
Where in D3 Necromancer can you “not” have skeletal mages and skeletons at the same time? The Command Skeletons skill gives you 7 skeletons that you can command to a target. The Skeletal Mage skill casts a mage and you can have up to 10 active and they last for a short duration. Gear and skills can allow 2 to 4 mages per cast and some gear and skills can increase their duration. It is nothing like D2 and your army of skeletons and mages filling the screen, but there is definitely nothing preventing you from having both active.
UPDATED FOR SEASON 18 ![:skull:](https://d1hnj6esvk269c.cloudfront.net/en/d3/images/emoji/twitter/skull.png?v=6" ":skull:")
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