Diablo Class Listings

Necromancer

necromancerOverview:
The Necromancer is Diablo II's primary pet class. They can choose to specialize heavily in their minions, and function as a landscape carpeting army, or focus on their unique "bone" magic, using their pets as simple meat-shields while they tear apart Demon-kin with magic and poison. A Necromancer is a strong beginner class, since they require almost no equipment to be highly viable, and the swarms of pets not only soak up damage, but peel enemies away from him, protecting him from harm.

The downside to this amazing character class is it's speed. Or more accurately, it's lack there of. The player is at the mercy of the AI of their minions which, at times... can be tragically stupid. A necromancer must also pay a good deal of attention to how they navigate the terrain, lest half their battalion get hooked on an obstacle, and abandoned. This being said, some of the top-flight gear will help with this problem, and, frankly, with how invulnerable a well built Necromancer is, it's not an entirely unfair trade-off.

Spell Recommendations:

Summoning Spells:
• Clay Golem
• Raise Skeleton
• Revive
• Skeleton Mastery
• Summon Resist
Poison & Bone Spells:
• Corpse Explosion
• Bone Spear
• Bone Spirit
• Bone Armor
• Bone Wall
Curses:
• Amplify Damage
• Lower Resist
• Decrepify
• Life Tap
• Dim Vision
Top Spells:
necromancer necromancer necromancer necromancer necromancer necromancer

Primary Stats:
Primary: Vitality
Secondary: Dexterity
Tertiary: Magic

Recommended Mercenary:
Type: Normal Act 2
Aura: Prayer (Combat)

necromancer
Mercenary Armor:
• Vampire Gaze (Um)
• Shaftstop (Um)
Mercenary Weapons:
• Insight Runeword
• Pride Runeword
• Doom Runeword
• Obedience Runeword

Noteworthy Skills:
necromancerCorpse Explosion: One of the most powerful PvM skills in the entire game, corpse explosion turns a monster corpse into an explosive bomb, dealing fire and physical damage. The more hit points the dead monster had, the more damage the explosion deals. Since the skill scales with the number of players in the game, it is an incredibly useful asset to any Necromancer.

necromancerAmplify Damage: This impressive spell DOUBLES the physical damage dealt to a target - a huge boon for both a Summon based Necromancer and their allies. This ability can also break physical immunities, making the power priceless to any melee centric character. The fact that the skill is amazingly powerful with only a single skillpoint further magnifies it's potency.

necromancerLower Resist: This spell reduces the elemental resistance of monsters - and like Amplify Damage, is capable of breaking immunities. While it's highly useful to a poison Necromancer, or for ramping Corpse Explosion damage, the skill truely comes to it's own in group play - any elemental class partied with a Necromancer spamming Lower Resist will clear herds of demons in seconds.

Equipment Suggestions:
necromancer A Necromancer's potency flows from any bonus to skills gear he can acquire. Wands and Fetish Heads are a great source of these, although some Runewords can compete as well. A Poison based Necromancer will want to look for equipment that reduces percentile poison resistance or boosts their toxin's damage, while a Summoner should seek gear that projects auras, such as Might, Concentration, or Fanaticism, to buff their minion horde. Cast speed is a great help for any Necromancer build.

Tip:
Revives are the game's single best meat shields - with only 1 point in skill investment!


Primary Gear Recommendations:

Build Armor Helm Weapon Shield
Bone Mage Enigma Runeword Necromancer's Circlet of the Magus White Runeword Darkforce Spawn
Summoner Enigma Runeword Harlequin Crest Beast Runeword Spirit Runeword
Poisoner Bramble Runeword Harlequin Crest Death's Web Trang-Oul's Wing
necromancer necroact2 necroact3