When having the new season 9 unique item Hand of Naz equipped and fulfilling its sacrificial requirement, equipping an item with the Aspect of Occult Dominion just increases the maximum number of Skeletal Mages by 2, instead of the expected 4
How many total mages do you have? I mean before they despawn when you port somewhere.
Mine has twelve which reflects the 2 additional of each type from occult dominion which also includes the extra from the skeletal warriors option.
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Hm, good point, very good point indeed… 
I was seemingly confused by the strange behavior that unequipping Aspect of Occult Dominion sometimes lowers the maximum by 2 instead of 4 
Without sacrificing any minions:
| No equipment | Aspect of Occult Dominion | The Hand of Naz | Aspect of Occult Dominion + The Hand of Naz |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors |
4 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| Skeletal Mages |
3 | 5 | 2 (3 max, all but 2 “despawn”) |
2 (5 max, all but 2 “despawn”) |
| Golems | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Overall | 8 | 12 | 7 | 9 |
When sacrificing Skeletal Warriors:
| No equipment | Aspect of Occult Dominion | The Hand of Naz | Aspect of Occult Dominion + The Hand of Naz |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors |
0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Skeletal Mages |
3 | 5 | 3 (no “despawning”) |
4 (5 max, all but 4 “despawn”) |
| Golems | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Overall | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
When sacrificing Golem:
| No equipment | Aspect of Occult Dominion | The Hand of Naz | Aspect of Occult Dominion + The Hand of Naz |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors |
4 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| Skeletal Mages |
3 | 5 | 3 (no “despawning”) |
3 (5 max, all but 3 “despawn”) |
| Golems | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 7 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
When sacrificing Skeletal Warriors and Golem:
| No equipment | Aspect of Occult Dominion | The Hand of Naz | Aspect of Occult Dominion + The Hand of Naz |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Warriors |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Skeletal Mages |
3 | 5 | 8 (no “despawning”) |
12 (no “despawning”) |
| Golems | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
And above observations possibly even just scratch the surface, as I observed varying results based on the order of (un-)equipping the items…
TL;DR: The Hand of Naz is hellishly broken, so maybe that’s what Blizzard means when stating “several minion bugged interactions with the unique item, The Hand of Naz” in 2.3.0 PTR | Known Issues Thread - 5/27/2025 - PTR Bug Report - Diablo IV Forums 
I do end up with 14 with Aspect of Occult Dominion on amulet and The Hand of Naz but do note that it’s hard to tell when the mages “level up” as they hardly look any different.
I thought about occult dominion on ammy but you get more damage putting service and sacrifice on ammy vs the 2 minions. No warriors to explode but the mage damage is better than reanimation or great feast. My build is already aspect starved as it is. A belt slot would be awesome.
3 Likes
They’re just bigger. And if they don’t have enemies to attack for a while, they shrink down.