Poison Necromancer Build

While this character struggles being built from scratch, after the accumulation of some gear the Poison Necromancer becomes one of the strongest Heroes in the game capable of quickly tearing down most areas even on /players 8 in no time at all. This character also uses way less Skill Points than most characters, leaving a lot of room for options in what to add to the build.

• 1 point to all prerequisites

• 20 points to Poison Dagger — Synergy for Poison Nova, required

• 20 points to Poison Explosion — Synergy for Poison Nova, required

• 20 points to Poison Nova — Main damage skill, invest points immediately, required

• 1-20 points to Corpse Explosion — Supplemental area of effect damage against Poison Immunes, required

• 1+ points to Lower Resist — Main Curse, 1 point is usually enough with skills bonuses from items, required

• 1 point to Bone Armor — Physical defense, optional

• 1+ points to Bone Wall — Optional defense synergy (gives more defense than investing more points into Bone Armor), optional

• 1+ points to Raise Skeleton — Can be great to max out for hybrid Poison/Summon build, optional

• 1+ points to Skeleton Mastery — If maxing for Summons, placing points here can help as well, optional

• 1 point to Clay Golem — Best Golem in the game for PvE due to the Slowing effect on hit, optional

• 1 point to Golem Mastery — Help increase the survivability of Golems, optional

• 1 point to Summon Resist — Increases Resistances for summons, optional

• 1+ points to Revive — More tanky summons and damage, optional

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

How much Strength Does a Poison Necromancer Need?

Enough for gear — For a Poison Necro 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 Poison 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 Poison 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 Poison 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.

You can either hire a Defensive (Holy Freeze) or Offensive (Might) Desert Guard Mercenary in Act 2, Nightmare difficulty, depending on whether you want to slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage of your Mercenary.

• Weapon: Ethereal Insight or The Reaper's Toll

• Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude

• Helm: Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune