Summoner Necromancer Build -D2R 2.5

14/01/2022 14:50:50
D2R Builds , Diablo 2: Resurrected , Game Guides

Summoner Necromancer Build -D2R 2.5

Summoner Necromancer Build - D2R (2022)

 

Build Introduction


The Summon Necromancer has always been one of the most popular builds in Diablo 2 with good reason. It can cast an army of skeletons and revives who can deliver a great deal of damage, and also act as a meat shield, protecting your necromancer and the whole party. This build is a great ladder starter, budget gearing options are viable, parties love it, it has insane single target damage, especially with an Enigma armor, and is even able to farm Uber Tristram. The downside of the build is that summoners require a great deal of time to summon their armies, and it’s not considered to be amongst the best for magic find. On the upside, you can be an incredibly valuable member of your party, especially at hardcore.

Related Guides

Mercenary Guide | Magic Find Guide | Charms Guide | Quest Rewards Guide | Hardcore Guide | Levelling Guide | Secret Cow Level Guide | Restating and Skilling Guide | Item Upgrade Guide | Cube Recipe Guide |

Gameplay


Attacking skills: 


Most of the attacks are performed by Skeletons, Revives, Skeleton Mages and your Golem, but your primary attacking skill will be corpse explosion, which delivers 50% physical and 50% fire damage. You should also use Amplify Damage as a curse to double the physical damage output of your summons. If corpses are available, Corpse explosion can quickly clear any area due to it’s huge damage. As both Corpse Explosion and your summons deal both elemental and physical damage, no monster will be able to resist your attacks. If you want to farm Uber Tristram, make sure to go there with an army of Urdar revives, as they have a fairly high % chance of crushing blow which quickly reduces any Boss’s life.


Movement: Teleport is by far the best choice for movement, as it carries your whole army with you. If you can’t afford an enigma, have a switch weapon or amulet with teleport charges. Running is only doable on close distances, as moving farm away from your army unfortunately kills your summons. Once you have an Enigma, aim for the 65% or 86% faster cast breakpoint to teleport in 16 of 15 frames.


Survivability: The summonmancer heavily relies on it’s army as a meat shield. Most of the enemy damage will be absorbed by your minions. Having a high level Bone Shield can absorb a great deal of damage, and you should always have it casted. Aim for 75% All resistances on Hell, and try not to teleport into the middle of monster packs. Walking instead of running can keep your block chances high, and is suggested for Hardcore. Having a Call to Arms to cast Battle Orders can greatly increase your life and mana. In addition, you can also wear a Stormshield and put points on dexterity to increase your block chance up to 75%, and cap your physical damage resistance at 50%.


Party and Solo play: This build thrives in parties. You can simply raise your army by the corpses left behind from your party members. In solo, raising your army is fairly slow, but once that’s done you will be able to farm at decent speed. Cast Amplify Damage at enemy monsters, so your summons can deal doubled physical damage. In parties, other curses can be considered both for survivability and damage increase. Lower Resist can help out elemental casters, Life Tap heals melee attackers, and Decrepify acts both as an offensive and a defensive curse by slowing enemy monsters and increasing physical damage. Alternatively you can use Bone Wall or Bone Prison to reduce enemy monster mobility.


Magic Find: Summon Necros are not considered to be good Magic Finders, as casting their army takes a while and limited Magic Find gearing options are available. If you are looking to MF, this is probably not your best build of choice.


Stats

Strength: Put just enough points on it to be able to wear your gear.

Dexterity: Put just enough points on it to be able to wear your gear. If you play hardcore, you can put extra points on dexterity to boost your chance to block up to 75%.

Vitality: Put all remaining points on it.

Energy: Don’t put any points on it.


Skills


  • Curses: 1 point on Lower resist and all prerequisite curse

  • 20 points on Raise Skeleton

  • 20 points on Skeleton Mastery

  • 1 point on each Golem

  • 1 point on Golem Mastery

  • 1 point on Summon Resist

  • 1 point on Raise Skeletal Mage

  • 1 point on Revive

  • 1 point on Teeth

  • 20 points on Corpse Explosion

  • Optionally 1 point on Bone Wall and Bone Prison


The remaining skill point allocation is up to your preference. You can either boost your survivability by putting points on Bone Armor and it’s synergies, or put further points on Revives and Skeletal Mages.


Breakpoints - Check out  our Necromancer Breakpoints guide.

Items, Gearing

The listed items are organized by slots. 

  • The usefulness rating of an item is based on how good it is for farming. 

  • The price rating reflects the cost of the item (cheaper ones are available after ladder starts as budget options), higher price ratings reflect exponentially higher cost for an item.

  • Magic Find ratings are added to items that are good options for MFing.


Adding sockets and improving your items

  • If you complete the act5 quest Siege on Harrogath, Larzuk will grant extra socket/sockets to your items. Use the quest to add sockets to your gear and put useful jewels, runes or gems in your item sockets.

  • You can also upgrade your unique items from normal to exceptional quality and from exceptional to elite by using Horadric Cube recipes. After upgrading, your armor pieces will have more defense, and your weapon pieces will have more damage. The downside of upgrading is the increased strength/dexterity requirements.


Helm

  • Magic Circlet with +2 to Necromancer skills -usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

  • Peasant Crown unique helm - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10

  • Harlequin Crest Shako unique helm - Usefulness 9/10, price 6/10, Magic Find 10/10

  • Rare Circlet with +2 to Necromancer skills, 20% faster cast rate, 2 sockets - Usefulness 10/10, price 6-10/10


Amulet

  • Any amulet with +1-2 to necromancer skills - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

  • Mara's Kaleidoscope unique amulet - usefulness 9/10, price 7/10

  • Crafted rare amulet with 2 necromancer skills and 20% faster cast rate - usefulness 10/10, price 6-10/10

  • Magic amulet with 40-50% to magic find - price 5/10, Magic Find 10/10


Weapon


Shield


Switch Weapon


Switch Shield


Body Armor


Belt


Rings

  • Rare ring with +resistances and/or +life - usefulness 3/10, price 1/10

  • Raven Frost unique ring - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10

  • Stone of Jordan unique ring - usefulness 8/10, price 6/10

  • Rare ring with +10% FCR, +life, +allresist - usefulness 10/10, price 6-10/10

  • Nagelring unique ring - magic find 9/10, price 3/10

  • Magic rings with 40% MF - magic find 10/10, price 6/10


Gloves


Boots


Charms


Mercenary

Have a Nightmare Act2 offensive mercenary (Might aura) to provide your summons extra damage.


Ethereal items don’t lose durability if your mercenary wears them, so having ethereal item bases for each gear slot is preferred due to their increased defense on armor items and increased damage on weapons. In many instances ethereal items that are great for mercenaries will be much more expensive than non-ethereal ones.


Mercenary gear:
Helm - 


Weapon - 


Body Armor-

 

Rpgstash.com will have D2R items in its Ladder selection already on day 1. We will be doing our best to let you buy 2.4 ladder items right at the beginning of the season including the new runewords, so you can climb the ladder rankings as fast as possible!

Check out our other build guides:

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