Build Introduction
Bone Spirit Necromancer is among the best, if not exclusively the most efficient boss-killing, Necromancer build available in the current patch! With lots of Crowd Control, the ability to generate insane amounts of Essence, and doing respectable damage for the sake of clearing, this build just takes you to a whole new level of playing the class.
This build is a variant of the Bone Spear Endgame Necromancer. To access the original version of the build, click the button below:
Bone Spear Necromancer Endgame Build
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Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Fun to play
- Huge damage numbers
Weaknesses
- Somewhat squishy
- Build requires proper gearing to function
To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.
Build Requirements
This build does not have any mandatory unique items, it’s preferred not to use any unique for the best experience playing the build. However, it does require you to have proper modifiers on your gear or it will feel very lackluster. Luckily it is very similar in terms of both gearing and aspect powers to the classic Bone Spear Necromancer allowing you to play that one till you have the correct modifiers on your gear to play this beast of a build!
The goal is to be able to cast Bone Spirit on demand without worrying about your Essence pool. It is not recommended to play this without the correct aspect powers and modifiers on your gear listed in this guide.
Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points
Recommended
Suggested Skill Bar
Bone Spirit 
Bone Prison 
Blood Mist 
Decrepify 
Corpse Tendrils 
Bone Storm
Follow the points allocated in the Skill Tree above for the complete 58-point build. The additional 10 skill points are completed using the Renown system.
Book of the Dead
Since we are focusing entirely on dealing brutal damage with our Bone skills, we have no interest in bothering our minions, so they will all be sacrificed in the name of Lilith.
- Melee Skeletons; Skirmishers are the sacrificial choice here, providing extra Critical Strike Chance.
- Mage Skeletons; Cold Mages sacrificed provides extra damage against targets that are Vulnerable.
- Golem; Iron Golem sacrificed provides tons of extra Critical Strike Damage.
Paragon Board
The Paragon progression system unlocks at Level 50 and provides a vast amount of character power. On the Paragon Board, bonuses range from minor stats onMagic Nodesto more powerfulRare GlyphsandLegendary Nodes.
As you path towards Glyph Sockets andLegendary Nodes, you should prioritize Damage, Intelligence, Resistance, and Life for Normal andMagic Nodes. Glyph radius increases as you level them up. Therefore, if you cannot fulfill Additional Bonus requirements early on, skip allocating extra Nodes for now. It’s also important to point out that you might not have the Glyph you want when you reach your first socket; if that is the case, simply slot in any Glyph providing any beneficial stats for you until you get the correct one.
Listed below are images of the pathing you should take along with the locations of the Glyphs and order you should choose your Paragon Boards past the initial Starting Board.
1. Starting Board
For the Starter Board, we will path along the right side to get the Sacrificial Glyph to scale damage against Vulnerable enemies. If you are able to collect enough Intelligence within radius, depending on the level of your Glyph, you should. Once done with the board, we will head on north and attach Bone Graft.
2. Bone Graft
Bone Graft should be rotated to have the Legendary Node easily accessible on the left-hand side. We begin the route by rushing that Node and picking up both Rare and Magic Nodes, as we do a diagonal push to the top right corner moving in to the socket slot. Optimally we want the Amplify Glyph slotted in here, and only pick up extra Intelligence Nodes within radius if the Glyph level has enough within radius. The next step from here is to path to the left for our third board, Bloodbath. We will come back to this board to path to the right side once the third board is finished.
3. Bloodbath
Bloodbath will need to be rotated so you have the Legendary Node located as close to your starting point as possible as we will be rushing it before we pick up any and all Rare and Magic Nodes. Finally, finish the pathing with the socket slot in which we will use the Essence Glyph. Similar to previous boards, we will only be going out of our way to pick up extra attributes enabling the bonus modifier if we can, based of the Glyph level. Once done we’ll grab all Rare and Magic Nodes on our way to the 4th board up north; Hulking Monstrosity.
4. Hulking Monstrosity
Hulking Monstrosity will be positioned so the Socket Node is again located as close to our starting point as possible. The socket slot here is what we want and it will be used for the Scourge Glyph. You should take the extra surrounding intelligence nodes to reach the bonus modifier from this when you can. This board is exclusively here to give us another Glyph to play with. Let’s head to the right for our 5th board being Scent of Death.
5. Scent of Death
Scent of Death will be rotated so we can grab the Legendary node quickly then rush over to the Socket node before taking any extra nodes. In here we’ll use the Territorial and as the previous Glyphs, we’ll take the needed attributes to enable the bonus modifier as soon as possible. Now we’ll head back to our 2nd board to head out on the right side of it to grab our last one!
6. Flesh-Eater
Flesh-Eater is our final board and we are only looking to get the Socket node and slot in the Corporeal in combination with the surrounding Magic and Rare nodes.
Paragon board images courtesy ofd4builds.gg.
Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats
The Season of Loot Reborn brings us an incredible shift in how gear and itemization are done. It is a major and will affect the game beyond Season 4’s confines. For further details, make sure to read our Tempering and Masterworking section below.
Legendary Aspects
Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the assigned slot. Additionally, if you are trying to farm a specific item, we recommend using your Obols to target farm them!
| Gear Slot | Gems | Aspect / Unique | Legendary Aspect / Unique Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helm | Royal Ruby | Aspect of the Void | Blight’s defiled area, when spawned, pulls in enemies around the affected area. |
| Chest | Royal Ruby | Aspect of Hardened Bones | You and your Minions gain 15-20% increased Damage Reduction. |
| Gloves | n/a | Aspect of Swelling Curse | Bone Spirit’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 10-25%. Your Maximum Essence is increased by 2 for each enemy hit for 15 seconds. |
| Pants | Royal Ruby | Aspect of Shielding Storm | Each time that Bone Storm damages an enemy, gain a Barrier equal to 2-5% of your Base Life for 10 seconds. |
| Boots | n/a | Aspect of Slaughter | You gain 20% Movement Speed, Lose this bonus for 2-5 – 5 seconds after taking damage. |
| Weapon 2H Scythe | Royal Emerald | Aspect of Serration | The Ossified Essence Key Passive also increases the Critical Strike Damage of your Bone Skills by x1% per Essence above 50, up to x80%. |
| Amulet (50% Scaling) | Any Resistance Jewel | Aspect of Grasping Veins | Gain x% increased Critical Strike Chance for 6 seconds when you cast Corpse Tendrils. You deal 30-75% bonus Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils. |
| Ring | Any Resistance Jewel | Shattered Spirit’s Aspect | Casting Bone Spirit also launches 18 Bone Splinters in all directions dealing 200-500% increased damage and generating 6 Essence per enemy hit. |
| Ring | Any Resistance Jewel | Aspect of Plunging Darkness | Bone Prison spawns a pool of Blight that deals 80-125% bonus damage over 6 seconds. |
Gems
See below for a more detailed explanation of the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category.
| Weapon Gems | Armor Gems | Jewelry Gems |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Emerald For Crit Damage. | Royal Ruby For increased Maximum Life. | Royal AmethystRoyal SapphireRoyal Ruby |
Which Elixirs Should You Use?
Visit the Alchemist and craft an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Elixir of Precision to increase Attack Speed. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from things like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded!
Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes
Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. To masterwork, you will need rare materials that only drop from The Pit. Be sure to check our Tempering guide, our Masterworking guide, as well as our guide about The Pit for more details about these topics.
| Slot | Targeted Gear Affixes | Tempering Affixes |
|---|---|---|
| Helm | 1. Maximum Resource 2. Cooldown Reduction 3. Intelligence | Worldly Endurance # Maximum Life Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size |
| Chest | 1. Ranks to Macabre Skills 2. Maximum Life 3. Intelligence | Worldly Endurance # Maximum Life Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size |
| Gloves | 1. Ranks to Core Skills 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Intelligence | Bone Finesse #% Bone Spirit Damage Profane Innovation #% Corpse Tendril Size |
| Pants | 1. Armor 2. Maximum Life 3. Intelligence | Worldly Endurance #% Total Armor Natural Schemes #% Crowd Control Duration |
| Boots | 1. Ranks to Bone Spirit 2. Essence per Second 3. Movement Speed | Natural Motion #% Movement Speed Natural Schemes #% Crowd Control Duration |
| Amulet | 1. Maximum Resource 2. Ranks to Imperfectly Balanced 3. Ranks to Evulsion | Necromancer Invigoration Casting Macabre Skills Restores x Primary Resource Bone Finesse #% Bone Spirit Damage |
| Rings | 1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Intelligence | Necromancer Invigoration Casting Macabre Skills Restores x Primary Resource Bone Finesse #% Bone Spirit Damage |
| 2H-Scythe | 1. Attack Speed 2. Intelligence 3. Maximum Life | Bone Finesse #% Bone Spirit Damage Bone Augments #% Increased Bone Storm Duration |
Keep in mind that the maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.
Rotation and Playstyle
You’ll want to always make sure that the enemies are cursed with Decrepify and that you have Bone Storm up and running. After this you’ll utilize Bone Prison which triggers Blight via your aspect powers that will pull enemies in to the prison upon which you can unload crazy damage via Bone Spirit. You also have the option to help pull enemies together with Corpse Tendrils which will also increase your chances of critting and deal more damage. The Blood Mist is our panic button should it be needed.
Make sure to check out the advanced Build Mechanics section for a more in-depth description of how the build works, what synergies exist, and what to look out for.
Uniques and Uber Uniques
Below you will find information on Uniques and Uber Uniques that are useful for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Uber Uniques, check out our How to Farm Uber Uniques guide.
Uniques
Listed below are the recommended and optional Unique Items for this build. This build thrives of the legendary aspect powers so we would prefer not to involve any uniques to have the build function the best. This doesn’t mean you can’t play around with some changes and test it out yourself though!
- The Grandfather is an insane item for the build and it would replace Aspect of Plunging Darkness if you are lucky enough to drop it!
Season 4: Loot Reborn
The following list details the changes in the Season 4 Update (Patch 1.4.0) that may pertain to the Summoner Necromancer build. Check the Changelog for all the other guide updates. As you can see only 1 change affected the build directly and its a good one!
- The introduction of Shattered Spirit’s Aspect is what makes this way of playing Bone Spirit possible!
- A slight damage buff to the Bone Spirit skill itself was also seen in the patch notes.
Advanced Information
Below, you will find every additional piece of information you need to know for a more in-depth look at this build.
Build Mechanics
By having multiple tools to pull enemies together in to a condensed pack of them makes the damage application of Bone Spirit function extremely well. The newly implemented Shattered Spirit’s Aspect is what makes this build function, it is important that you have this aspect and proper modifiers on your gear as listed in this guide to fully be able to cast Bone Spirits on demand without worrying about your Essence pool. This is solved with maximum resource modifiers on gear as well as recovering Essence when casting Macabre skills.
Defenses
Consistent crowd-control via Corpse Tendrils and Bone Prison combined with a barrier generated from our Bone Storm thanks to our aspects is how the build provides heavy layers of defenses.
Offenses
Proper set-up play-style with extreme bursts of damage is the offensive toolkit this build brings to the table. Pull them with Corpse Tendrils and/or Bone Prison thanks to the Void aspect/Blight then unload Bone Spirits and watch the enemies crumble.
Paragon
The recommended Paragon boards for this build are listed above, and further down below, you can find a more thorough route for allocating the Paragon points, as well as some notes on why specific nodes were chosen and why they are essential for this build.
| Glyphs & Legendary Nodes | Effect |
|---|---|
| Sacrificial | – Grants +150% bonus to all Magic nodes within range. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 40 Intelligence in radius, you deal x10% increased damage while you have no active minions. |
| Amplify | – Grants +150% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 40 intelligence in radius making enemies affected by your Curses take an additional x10% increased damage from you and your minions. |
| Essence | – For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +20% increased Critical Strike Damage. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 25 Dexterity in radius, Critical Strikes deal x22% increased damage to enemies that are not Healthy. |
| Scourge | – For every 5 Intelligence purchased within range, you deal x% increased Shadow damage over time. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 40 Intelligence in radius, you and your minions deal x10% increased damage to enemies affected by Shadow damage over time effects. |
| Territorial | – For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal 10% increased damage to Close targets. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 25 Dexterity in radius, you gain 15% damage reduction against Close targets. |
| Corporeal | – Grants +150% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. – Additional Bonus is unlocked with 40 Intelligence in radius, you and your minions deal x10% increased Physical damage and you gain 1% movement speed for each active minion. |
| Bone Graft | Hitting enemies with Bone Skills increases your damage byx1% and your Maximum Essence by 2 for 8 seconds, stacks up to x8% increased damage and 16 Maximum Essence. |
| Scent of Death | With at least 2 Corpses Nearby, you gain 15% Damage Reduction. With no Corpses Nearby, you deal x15% increased damage. |
Let’s take it one step further and break down each of the beneficial nodes we spend our Paragon Points on.
Starting Board
- Progression here should be to rush the Socket node for the Sacrificial.
- The defensive nodes on the left side can be skipped during early progression and picked up later when you need more resistances.
Bone Graft
- Socket node should be rushed to slot in Amplify.
- Ignore the left side from here and rush to the top-right-corner for the legendary node Bone Graft
- Now we’ll take the remaining magic and rare nodes before heading out to the left.
Bloodbath
- Continue with the strategy of rushing the socket node, in here we grab Essence.
- Pick up the rare and magic nodes south of the socket node before heading out north
Hulking Monstrosity
- Simple board where we only rush the socket node for Scourge
Scent of Death
- Start by taking the Legendary node Scent of Death.
- Ignore the Magic and Rare nodes in the start of this board and move to the Socket for Territorial
- Now we can pick up the remaining Magic and Rare nodes on the board before heading back to Bone Graft to get our last board on the right side.
Flesh-Eater
- Similar to our Hulking board we rush the socket for Corporeal and only grab the remaining Magic and Rare nodes in radius when the Glyph is covering it with its radius.
Obol Gambling
Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below:
Obol Gambling Optimization Tool
Changelog
- May 23rd, 2024: Finalized tempering modifiers.
- May 16th, 2024: Gem updates.
- May 10th, 2024: Guide updated for Season 4 Loot Reborn.
- January 22nd, 2024: Guide updated for Season 3 Season of the Construct.
- October 15th, 2023: Guide updated for Season of Blood Patch 1.2.
- August 7th, 2023: Guide updated for Patch 1.1.1.
- July 19th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1 including Malignant Hearts.
