Necromancer Build Guide Diablo 2 ResurrectedBone Necromancer. This is a Beginner Build that will comfortably get you throughNormal, which is the first difficulty of Diablo 2 Resurrected. If you are looking for aBeginner Necromancer Build, and aren’t sure where to begin, then this Guide is for you. Check out ourDiablo 2 Best Buildsfor more builds for all classes.
Bone Necromancer Leveling Build
Necromancer Build Guide Diablo 2 Resurrected | Bone Necromancer
The Bone Necromancer uses a combination ofBone Spells,SummonsandCursesto destroy its enemies. You’ll be usingBone Spearas your main way to deal damage, and theIron Maidencurse combined with theClay Golemto deal with Bosses and melee enemies. This Necromancer Build is very safe to play and will allow you to easily clear all Normal difficulty bosses without many issues, making it a perfect starter build for Diablo 2 Resurrected newcomers.
It’s important to note that, while very powerful during the beginning of the game, this Build will only remain viable through the first difficulty (Normal) and up to around Lvl 40. you’re able to still run throughNightmaredifficulty if you insist, but I wouldn’t recommend it as you’ll find much better options at that point in the game.
If you are a new player I strongly recommend you save the respec that you get from completing the first missionDen of Evil. If you do, you’ll be able to talk toAkaraand respect your character into a different build once you reachNightmaredifficulty.
Necromancer Build Guide Stats | Bone Necro
Most Builds in Diablo 2 Resurrected have aStatdistribution that focuses on assigning enough points intoStrengthto meet equipment requirements, enoughDexterityto reach max Block Chance, and then assigning everything else intoVitalityto gain as muchLifeas possible. And while this is true for mostBuilds, it can be confusing to decide when you should assign theseAttribute Points.
LEVEL 40 Necromancer STATS
Strength: Strength is a requirement for most equipment pieces of the game. During your first play through, you’ll want to have enough points to slot the best equipment for each act.
From here you should only assign points into Strength if you find an Item that is worth the investment. If not, just assign the points into Vitality.
Dexterity: For most Builds Dexterity is important to increase Block Chance when using a Shield. Since Block Chance is not that important at the beginning of the game, you won’t be assigning any points here.
Vitality: All remaining points should be spent here. Increasing Vitality will greatly increase your health pool, which is essential to stay alive against large groups of enemies. Vitality also increases your Stamina, allowing you to run much further without needing to rest.
Energy: This build uses a lot of Mana, so we’ll be spending 10 points here to verify you can endure long fights.
Necromancer Build Guide Skills | Bone Necro
The Bone Necro mainly focuses on the Poison and Bone tree, but you’ll also be spending some points in the Summon and Curses trees. You’ll use the following Skills when playing this Diablo 2 Resurrected Necromancer Build:
When cast, this spell summons a barrage of projectiles that move forward dealing damage when they come in contact with enemies. The number of projectiles increases with each level, but only one projectile can deal damage to each individual target each cast. For this reason, this spell works great against multiple enemies, but can’t be used as a point-blank shotgun. Teeth is a synergy to Bone Spear, providing it +7% damage for each point you assign into it.
When cast, this spell creates an orbiting shield of bone that absorbs melee damage. This skill is very useful through out the entire game, but specially during Normal difficulty as it mitigates most of the damage, allowing you to survive most melee hits without issues. Bone Armor needs to be periodically cast to remain effective, so verify to re-cast it each time you end a fight. Bone Armor gains more hit points from synergies than it does from assigning points into it, so you’ll only want to spend 1 point here and then level up Bone Wall to further increase its efficiency.
This will be your meat shield on the battlefield. Though you can only have one out at a time, you can cast the clay golem as many times as you want, allowing you to maintain a near 100% uptime even if it dies since you can just recast it. The Iron Maiden curse works on both you and your minions, and this can be used to abuse most boss fights. Simply cast Iron Maiden on the boss, and keep spawning the Clay Golem as soon as it dies. Bosses deal a lot of damage, so they’ll kill themselves very quickly.
This curse increases melee damage taken by enemies by 100%, but won’t affect magical damage so it’s not that useful for this build. It’s a pre-requisite for Iron Maiden so we’ll only assign 1 point here.
This curse makes melee enemies take damage each time they hit you or one of your minions. The amount of damage is greatly increased, absolutely destroying most enemies and bosses through normal difficulty. This curse won’t work on ranged enemies, so you’ll have to deal with those with either Teeth or Bone Spear. It’s also important to note that Iron Maiden is only useful during Normal Difficulty, and the damage will be greatly reduced as soon as you reach Nightmare due to increased enemy health.
This spell summons a bone structure at the desired location. The structure stops enemies from crossing and will block ranged attacks. Your Bone Spear will still be able to attack through the wall, allowing you to trap enemies and kill them from outside the wall. Bone Wall is a great support spell, but it also provides synergies for Bone Armor and Bone Spear, allowing you to increase both your defense and attack for each point you assign.
Once unlocked, this will be your main way of dealing damage to enemies. When cast, this spell creates a projectile that pierce through enemies, dealing full damage to all enemies hit. As previously mentioned, this spell will pierce through Bone Walls, so if you want to play really safe, just spawn a couple of walls and then attack from behind them.
Skill Distribution
For the Skill distribution you’ll want to first focus onTeeth, then unlock theClay GolemandCurses, and finally focus onBone Spearas soon as you’ve unlocked it. Here is a comprehensive guide on how to assign your Skill Points early on:
LEVEL 40 Necromancer SKILLS
Points Spent
Den of Evil Point
Bone Armor
Clay Golem
Amplify Damage
Iron Maiden
Radament’s Lair Point
Corpse Explosion (Pre-Requisite)
18 - 35 The Fallen Angel 2 Points
Bone Spear
The idea here is that you use Teeth until you can unlock Bonespear and then swap to that. The Clay Golem will be your meat shield, and you’ll use Iron Maiden to deal with melee enemies.
Necromancer Build Guide Runewords | Bone Necro
Runesare a special type of socketed item that will not only provide unique properties, but that can also be combined with other Runes to create what’s called aRuneword. Runewords can be formed by inserting Runes in a specific order inside certain types of equipment. The Item must be Normal Rarity, able to support the Runeword, and it needs to have the same amount of sockets as Runes are required. Note that some magical items have sockets on them, but even if you put the Runes in the right order the Runeword will not be created and you’ll essentially lose your Runes, so be sure to use Normal Rarity items only.
While Runewords are often referred to as End Game equipment, some of them can be crafted very early into Diablo 2 Resurrected, and should not be so hard to come by. If you are lacking a base, you’re able to check with the merchants as they often sell socketed items, but make sure that they are Normal in rarity.
Runewords are the most reliable way to gear up your character while you advance through the game, so I strongly suggest that you take a look at the complete list on our Wiki and periodically check the runes that you have and the Runewords that you’re able to craft.
Runes can be farmed by doing Countess Runs.The Countessis a Super Unique Monster that can be found inside theForgotten Towerin Act I. Each time you kill her she will always drop between 1 and 3 Runes and their level will depend on the difficulty setting.
What Equipment To Use
Elemental Resistances are key when trying to survive in Diablo 2 Resurrected. Most enemies deal elemental damage and having high resistances will mitigate a great percentage of this damage. For this reason, I strongly recommend that you focus on equipment pieces that provide +Resistances during theNormaldifficulty of the game.
you’re able to check your current resistances by opening the Stat menu and looking at the bottom of the menu. Resistances cap at +75%, and ideally you’ll want to max all of them when you are reaching the end ofNormaldifficulty. Make sure to periodically check your equipment to balance them out and get them as high as possible.
Since loot is random, you won’t have control over the equipment that you get during early and even mid-stage gameplay other than creating Runewords. Having said that, there are some general guidelines on the Stats that you should be looking for on your items to make sure that your character scales up with the increasing difficulty.
Nadir (Runeword):Nef-TirRunes – Lvl 13. This Helmet provides a good amount of defense as well as +5 Strength, allowing us to save some Stats during early stages. The +2 Mana per kill is also a great way to keep up our Mana reserves between fights.
Lore (Runeword):Ort-SolRunes – Lvl 27. If you happen to come across a Sol rune then you can use it to craft this helmet which provides +1 to all Skills as well as +30% lightning resistance.
Wands (All Rarities): Wands are the best way to increase our damage early on. You can buy them from merchants like Akara in the rogue encampment. For skills, you’ll want to look for +Teeth at first, and then transition into +Bone Spear once you reach lvl 18.
you’re able to also look for other stats such as Faster Cast Rate or any other skill mentioned in this build.
Spirit (Runeword):Tal-Thul-Ort-AmnRunes - Lvl 25. This Runeword can be crafted on both Weapons and Shields. It increases both your damage, thanks to its +2 To All Skills and +25-35% FCR, as well as increasing your defense, thanks to Faster Hit Recovery, Vitality and Life Stolen Per hit.
Finding a 4 socketed weapon can be a little tricky, but stay on the lookout for Crystal Swords, Longswords and Broadswords. If you happen to play the Secret Cow Level, if you find any unsocketed of these types of Weapons, you may get a guaranteed 4 sockets fromLarzukby completing theSiege on Harrogathquest.
White (Runeword):Dol-IoRunes – Lvl 35. While acquiring the runes might be a little difficult, even at the start of Nightmare, this is by far the best weapon for this build. This wand provides +3 To all Bone Spells, +3 to Bone Armor and +2 to Bone Spear greatly increasing all our main skills.
In addition, it provides +20% Faster Cast Rate, and some Vitality which come in very handy as well.
A very important note here, is that you can craft the White Runeword on wands of normal rarity that already have +skills. So if for example you can craft it on a wand that already has +2 to Bone Spear you’ll end up with +4 to Bone Spear.
Ancient’s Pledge (Runeword):Ral-Ort-TalRunes – Lvl 21. This shield provides a huge boost to resistances. If you can’t find an Ort Rune you can make one by combining 3 Ral Runes inside the Horadric Cube.
Spirit (Runeword):Tal-Thul-Ort-AmnRunes – Lvl 25. If you find the Runes and a four slot Shield then Spirit is a great option as well. This shield provides +2 to all skills and +25-35% FCR greatly increasing your damage, and provides many defensive stats such as Elemental Resistances, Faster Hit Recovery and Vitality.
Stealth (Runeword):Tal-EthRunes – Lvl 17. This is by far the best armor that you can get early on. The 25% Faster Cast Rate is nice, while the poison resistance andFaster Hit Recovery(FHR), which allows you to recover control of your character sooner after each hit, provides us with more survivability. The FHR is very important, as it usually helps you avoid stun locks when surrounded by enemies.
When it comes to gloves you’ll want to focus on defensive stats such as Life and Resistances.
Make sure to swap your belt as soon as you reach Act 2 for the maximum amount of potions. Regarding stats, you’ll want to focus on Life and Resistances. Some merchants might offer magical belts with a lot of life on them, which are a great option.
You’ll want to search for Faster Run/Walk speed on your boots as well as Resistances and Life. Run/Walk speed is important to quickly navigate through the map so make sure to get it.
You’ll want to search for rings that life and resistances as well as Faster Cast Rate.
Similar to rings, you’ll want to find an amulet that provides Life and resistances. An amulet that provides +Bone Skills can also be great for this build.
You’ll find many Charms as you advance through the game. While having these in your inventory is great, they can easily occupy a lot of space limiting the amount of loot you pick up. Try to focus on +Life, +Resistances and +Magic Find as these are the more important ones for your build.
What Mercenary to Select & Gear to Use
Act 2Mercenariesare the best choice for all Builds due to their Paladin Auras and the ability to equipPolearm Weapons. Being able to use Polearms is very important, because many powerful Runewords can be created on them providing various buffs or debuffing enemies. you may recruit this Mercenary fromGreizinLut Gholein.
When it comes to selecting an Aura, you’ll want to select the Prayer Mercenary found on Normal difficulty. The Prayer Aura provides heal regeneration allowing you to survive longer without using Potions. Once you reachNightmaredifficulty, you’re able to hire a Holy Freeze Aura Mercenary, which slows enemies around you providing great crowd control.
You won’t have a lot of spare equipment during the beginning of Diablo 2 Resurrected, but you can equip him with any extra equipment you have or buy him a Polearm from a merchant. If you happen to spare some Runes, make sure to craft anInsight (Runeword)on a Polearm, as this Weapon will greatly increase your Mercenaries’ combat capabilities and improve your Mana regeneration.
Final Tips
Doing a couple of Countess Runs will give you a lot of Runes that will not only be useful for this Build, but for any other character that you might make. Make sure to save all Runes that you find inside your Stash.
If you are having trouble finding a base for your Runewords, make sure to periodically check on merchants as they usually have good bases.
You can assign your Bone Spear and Teeth attacks to the normal attack slot, allowing you to only swap between your complementary Skills. You can attack from your current position by holding shift on PC. If you’re using controller, this will not be an issue for you, however.
If you are struggling with any area, just start spamming the Bone Wall spell and create at least 6 or 7 walls. This will allow you to remain safe while you defeat the enemies.
Don’t forget to periodically cast Bone Armor. This skill is very useful to absorb melee damage, and scales very well through the whole game.
If you happen to find a good Unique or Set item that you like don’t hesitate to swap it with your current gear. I excluded all unique and Set items from this guide because there’s no reliable way of acquiring them early on.
This build is somewhat mana hungry, so I personally like to run my belt with 1x Healing Potions columns and 3x Mana Potion columns, but you’re able to also add Antidote Potions or Thawing Potions. Using these potions will not only cure their respective status effect, but also provide a +50 resistance to their corresponding elemental resistance.
Once you equip an Insight Runeword on your Mercenary he will be your main way to recover Mana, so make sure to keep him alive by using potions on him. To do this, press and hold shift and then right click on the potion you wish to use. If you’re playing on controller, hold down the left trigger and press the appropriate button on the D-Pad.
Stay tuned for moreDiablo 2 Build Guides, and be sure to check out ourDiablo 2 Resurrected Wikifor more information about the game!
