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Summoner Necro

The Summoner Necro guide

Written by MrLlamaSC for Icy Veins, shown here with his permission. Read the original on Icy Veins· Skills and items link to their pages.

›Introduction

The Summon Necromancer is a classic build that can raise a large army of Minions through Raise Skeleton, Raise Skeletal Mage, Revive, and a Golem of their choosing. Combined with an array of debilitating Curses, this build is popular both for solo and party play.

›Summoner Necromancer Skill Build

  • 1 point to all prerequisites

  • 20 points to Raise Skeleton — Max immediately, required

  • 20 points to Skeleton Mastery — 1 point immediately, then max after Raise Skeleton, required

  • 1 point to Clay Golem — 1 point immediately, required

  • 1+ points to Corpse Explosion — Area of effect damage to support your Minions, required

  • 1 point to Summon Resist — Resistances for Minions, can respec out of points later on, required

  • 1 point to Amplify Damage — Main damage curse for your Minions, required

  • 1 point to Decrepify — Main survivability curse for your Minions, required

  • 1+ points to Revive — Supplemental Minion, optional

  • 1 point to Iron Maiden — Useful for killing Bosses in normal, optional

  • 1 point to Life Tap — Improves survivability for Minions and melee party members, optional

  • 1 point to Bone Armor — Can be helpful to have a little extra physical Damage armor, optional

›Summon Necromancer Stats Discussion

The following section discusses how many attribute points should be allocated to each of the primary stats.

How much Strength Does a Summon Necromancer Need?

Enough for gear — For a Summoner using a Spirit Monarch, this will be 156 Strength as that is usually the highest Strength requirement for commonly used gear. If choosing to use another shield with lower Strength requirements, then just adjust your Strength to that value. This number always changes based on the gear you are using, though, so make sure to always double check the requirements for each piece of gear you have as well as how much Strength each piece will provide once equipped.

How much Dexterity Does a Summon Necromancer Need?

Enough for Gear — Dexterity is great for increasing Block Chance, particularly with Homunculus, but if you are not planning on investing points to max that out, it is often not worth taking any additional Dexterity, as the return on Defense is very low.

How much Vitality Does a Summon Necromancer Need?

Everything else into Vitality — 250+ points. Every excess attribute point should be allocated to Vitality, as long as you can meet the Strength and Dexterity requirements of your items by the time you wish to equip them. Not only does this increase your Life total, but this also increases the chance for Healing Potions to crit, doubling their healing output. Further, additional Life reduces the chance that you will be put into hit recovery.

How much Energy Does a Summon Necromancer Need?

Nothing — Allocating attribute points to Energy in a final build is universally considered sub-par for almost every character due to the widespread availability of Mana Potions. While leveling, if you find yourself struggling with Mana you can allocate a few points to Energy that you can then remove with a respec later on.

›Summoner Necromancer Mercenary

You want an Offensive ( Might) Act 2 Nightmare Mercenary here because you do not want to have any Cold damage that could shatter corpses. The Aura also improves the damage of your Minions.