[GUIDE] Diablo II Characters: Necromancer

The Necromancer

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From the steamy recesses of the southern swamps comes a figure cloaked in mystery. The Necromancer, as his name implies, is an unseemly form of sorcerer whose spells deal with the raising of the dead and the summoning and control of various creatures for his purposes. Though his goals are often aligned with those of the forces of Light, some do not think that these ends can justify his foul means. Long hours of study in dank mausolea have made his skin pale and corpselike, his figure, skeletal. Most people shun him for his peculiar looks and ways, but none doubt the power of the Necromancer, for it is the stuff of nightmares.


Starting Attributes
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 15
Energy: 25

Hit Points: 45
Stamina: 79
Mana: 25
Each Character Level
Life +1.5
Stamina +1
Mana +2

Attribute Point Effect
1 Vitality point gives 2 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 2 Mana



Strategies

In the long term, the Necromancer is quite possibly the most difficult character to play. Certainly he is the easiest misled along the path. This is quite possibly due to the flexibility in his morality. If the Necromancer focuses in any one area, to the exclusion of another area, he may well find himself at a dead end as a result. The ability to raise the dead has its own peril, as the undead are mindless servants, and are easily confused in later levels. Poison and Bone spells are perhaps the most effective for the Necromancer in the end, but are difficult to start with. Certainly developing his curses is the way in which the Necromancer can be most effective in a team, but this can be limiting on his own.
The Necromancer's characteristics are largely dependent on other factors. He will need mana more than any character save the Sorceress. To this end, if he can not find enough mana generating items, he must boost his energy. At the same time he is similarly cursed as the Sorceress is, with poor physical characteristics. He, too, needs strength to wear decent armor, good dexterity to hold his own in melee combat, and better vitality so that champion monsters do not destroy his life essence in a quick series of hits.
In terms of items, the Necromancer would seem to be less dependent. Mostly he should look for items to keep him alive or to regenerate mana. The Necromancer requires guile to play, and he should not shrink from his natural strategy despite the complaints of other characters. Those who are less gifted often decry intelligence and cunning. Certainly the Necromancer should always seek after quality armor.
Skill Strategies
The Necromancer's unique abilities allow for some interesting combinations when it comes to skill selection. Unlike the other classes where skill specialization is the way to go, it is to the Necromancer's advantage to advance through all three skill trees and use the skills to complement one another. The Summoning Spells will help provide minions that will absorb the damage from the hordes of monsters that are sure to come. The Poison and Bone Spells will provide the direct damage needed to produce the corpses that the Necromancer draws his power from. The Curses will increase the rate at which the Necromancer and his minions will be able to slay the offending monsters.
Summonables
Of the summonable minions, Golems are the single strongest companions to have at your side. These towers of might are able to take punishment that might otherwise seriously wound your Necromancer. Combined with Curses, they can inflict considerable damage as well. The only drawback is you can only have one type of golem with you at a time. Don't waste too many points on the lower level golems since at the higher levels, you will want to upgrade to Iron or Fire Golems. If you absolutely must increase the effectiveness of your golems at an early level, put points into Golem Mastery rather than putting points into the golems themselves. This will ensure that the more advanced Golems will benefit from the passive upgrade as well as the lowly Clay Golem.
Revived monsters can be almost as good, if not better than Golems when the situation demands them. The biggest advantage of Revive is that you can summon almost any fallen enemy and have them fight for you - utilizing the special abilities that they have at their disposal (except for resurrection of fallen companions). This means that with Revive you can pick and choose whether or not to concentrate on melee or ranged attack minions, thus filling any gaps that you might have with your existing Golem or Skeletal minions. The short lifespan and high mana cost of Revived monsters are the main restrictions for this skill so use it with care - but don't hesitate to provide support for your Golems with this skill if you have the mana to spare.
Skeletal Mages are also very useful to have around with their variety of ranged attacks. Since they are attacking from a distance, you don't have to worry too much about their durability in combat. Each summoning will produce a random mage with a concentration in one of the four magic types: cold, fire, lightning and poison. If you aren't happy with the mage types that you've raised, simply resummon until you are. With the relatively low mana cost you should be able to have a good combination of mages within a few summonings. Also since the mages use a ranged attack, they will provide ample support for your golem without getting in the way of melee combat.
The Skeleton warrior minions are the least effective of the summonables. Being melee attackers, they will always attempt to get to an enemy within range. They also serve as poor cannon fodder and they don't inflict much damage. While helpful at the very early levels, they won't carry their weight very well in the later levels. There are far better skills to place points into once your character reaches level 6.
Magic Items and Minions
Some Magical Prefixes and Suffixes will not work when your Minions make the the killing blow on a monster. Some of these include %Life/%Mana Steal Items, Items that increase Gold from Monsters, and Triumphant items which give +1 to Mana for each kill. Almost everything else should work with Minions.
Damage and Destroy
The Necromancer's Poison and Bone spells are some of the most powerful damage spells found in the game. In particular, Corpse Explosion (CLVL 6) and Bone Spear (CLVL 18) can be your most useful skills throughout all your adventures as a Necromancer.
Corpse Explosion has the interesting property of causing a proportional amount of damage rather than a fixed amount AND causing this damage as an area effect. What this means is that since it causes 60 - 100% damage of a corpse's hit points, you will be able to wreak an unnerving amount of damage to monsters with a minimal number of casts - no matter what level the monster is. By putting more points into this skill, you can increase the range of destruction - which can be particularly useful in tight situations. Once you become proficient with selecting targets with the most hit points, you will be able to kill weaker monsters in one blow while still heavily damaging the stronger monsters.
An interesting side effect of this spell is that exploding corpses will often produce many more corpses for you to explode. Once you get these chain reactions started, you should easily be able to mow down entire legions of monsters unfortunate enough to be in your way. The only drawback of this skill is that you need an initial corpse to catalyze the chain reaction and for this you will either need to rely on you or your minion's ability to kill in melee combat, or use a powerful direct damage spell like Bone Spear, Bone Spirit or the Poison spells to get your first corpse.
At level 18, your Necromancer will become a death machine with the Bone Spear spell. It can cause serious damage with each hit and it has the ability to pierce one target and continue on its path to damage all others in its way. In tight corridors where enemy monsters are lining up to get you, Bone Spear will clear a path with frightening efficiency. This skill will probably be your best weapon from level 18 and up.
If your style of play favors the slow death of your enemies as opposed to instant death, be sure to put a few points into the Poison spells. Poison Dagger, Poison Explosion and Poison Nova are all capable of causing massive damage to a monster, however, there is a duration time associated with each spell. As the Hit Points drain from your enemies, you will need to continue to avoid their attacks until the poison has run its course. If you want your Necromancer to be physically fit, using Poison spells is a good way to spend a little time jogging around while your foes battle the toxic effects of your actions.
Curses
For Necromancers that rely heavily on minions to do their dirty work, using Curses will definitely help speed the effort of the hard working Golems, Skeletons and Revived Monsters. There are a wide variety of curses available and depending on your style of play, the Curses that work for one Necromancer may not work as well for another Necromancer. That being said, Curses can be categorized in one of two ways: damage-related or attribute-related.
Curses like Amplify Damage, Iron Maiden and Life Tap are all damage-related. Each has a way of manipulating either damage done or damage taken. Amplify Damage helps increase the damage dealt by you or your minions and is typically more useful in situations where you or your minions are physically superior to the monsters they face. Life Tap is also useful if you or your minions are dealing significant damage - since with each hit, a portion of that damage is converted into health. If the monsters are physically stronger, then Iron Maiden can be used to return double or more the damage back to the offending monster. Iron Maiden can also be useful in situations where you or your melee minions are completely surrounded. Since you or your melee minions can only attack one monster at a time, Iron Maiden can help reduce the HP of all monsters that are trying to hit you - so if you're tied up with tackling one monster, the others are damaging themselves as they attempt to attack you while you're vulnerable.
Attribute-related Curses are more general purpose than the damage-related Curses. These decrease one or more attributes of the affected monsters. For example, the Lower Resist Curse lowers all the resistances of the affected monsters (fire, cold, lightning, poison), Decrepify decreases the speed of the affected monster, etc. There are a wide variety of these curses and you can view each one in the Necromancer Curses page. There is less strategy involved with these Curses - just cast before combat and let them work their magic.
Unsummon
Use Unsummon to choose which type of Skeletal Mage you want. If you find you no longer want a Fire Skeletal Mage, Unsummon it, and create a new Skeletal Mage. You can do the same with Revive. You may also want to use Unsummon to get rid of Minions when they get in the way.



Skills



Summoning Spells


Minions
Minions, such as Golems, Skeletons, Skeletal Mages, Revives, and Hirelings, may disappear or no longer be under your power if you allow them to get too far away from you. Check the Automap and make sure you stay with your Minions. You can use a Town Portal, Dungeon steps, or Waypoint to collect your Minions. Sometimes Minions may warp in around you if you get too far away from them, although this does not always happen.
People sometimes get confused commonly when they're trying to calculate the health of minions. Base life is calculated first and THEN add on the skeleton mastery life bonus.
The Teleport skill is quite handy for for re-collecting your minions, as it instantly recalls all of your minions to your location in addition to its other effects. You can put a Staff with charges of Teleport in your off hand, switch to it quickly with the W key, cast Teleport by using the right mouse button, and switch back to your regular equipment by pressing W again. (You can also use the Enigma rune word, but a staff with Teleport charges is much easier to find and doesn't occupy your armor slot.) This will make it MUCH easier to keep a large number of Revived monsters with you.
Golems
- You can only have one Golem of any type at any time. Once you summon a new Golem, the old one will immediately disappear.
- You do not need a monster corpse to summon Golems although the Iron Golem requires an item.
- Golems, except for Iron Golems, have a fixed defense.
- The Hit Points and Damage of Golems increase on Nightmare, and again on Hell Difficulty.
- Summoning a golem right next to a creature, even a boss, will often cause that monster to forget its previous target and focus on the golem instead. Try it, it works!
- You can safely "spam" (repeatedly cast) Clay Golems and Fire Golems (although Fire Golems cost a lot of mana to spam because they deal damage each time you cast them, as a result of the old Fire Golem exploding). Blood Golems cost you some health, and Iron Golems require an item. Therefore, if you are planning to spam a golem on a boss to reduce the boss' ability to focus on a player, you should go with Clay Golems, Fire Golems, or both.
Skeletons and Skeletal Mages
The number of Skeletons or Skeletal Mages you can have is only limited by the number of skill points you have. Wearing a magic item that raises Skill levels or using a Skill Boost Shrine also increases the number of Skeletons and Skeletal Mages you can raise. When the Skill Boost Shrine effect wears off the extra Skeletons disintegrate.
Skeleton's and Skeletal Mage's Life increases on Nightmare Difficulty and again on Hell Difficulty.
What are the Attack Ratings for Golems, Skeletons, and Skeletal Mages?
The Attack Ratings don't change but these monsters are generated at the caster's level, and level plays an important part in the "to hit" formula.



Raise Skeleton
Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None

Early on, Necromancers learn to control the skeletal remains of deceased creatures. Invoking this skill causes a nightmarish jumble of animated bones to rise from a fresh corpse. Animated partially through their own will and partially through the summoned spirits of ancient warriors, Necromancers often maintain a small host of these reanimated soldiers to do their bidding.
Effect: Cast on the corpse of a slain monster. This raises a skeleton warrior that fights for you.
Skeletons can work great throughout Normal Difficulty especially with points into Skeleton Mastery (or a point and +Skill Items). Once you hit Nightmare and Hell difficulty, generally Skeletons will die very quickly. You may wish to, once you hit Level 30, upgrade to Revived Monsters and switch to Revived Monsters and Skeletal Mages. However, if you max Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery, use an Aura from an Act II Mercenary, and have good use of Curses, you can still continue to use Skeletons in Hell difficulty.
Skeletons, when created, have a 5% chance to spawn with a shield. This shield functions to allow the skeleton to block, although skeletons only have a 3% chance to block

Raise Skeleton Receives Bonuses From
Skeleton Mastery
Summon Resist



Skeleton Mastery
Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: Raise Skeleton [1]


As the Necromancer's knowledge of the undead improves, he is able to harness and divert more powerful spirits to inhabit the corpses of the recently dead. A Necromancer who possesses this skill is able to raise skeletons and skeletal mages of a much more powerful variety.
Passive Effect: Improves the quality of your raised Skeletons, Magi, and Revived.
Investing points into Skeleton Mastery will increase Skeleton Hit Points and Damage. Points in Skeleton Mastery will also pay off later on if you use Revive.


Clay Golem
Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: None

- While it is fairly simple for a Necromancer to animate dead tissue, it is another matter entirely to instill the spark of life into inanimate objects. The Clay Golem is the simplest form of this complex art, creating a servant directly from the earth to serve the Necromancer. The intense drain this places on the psyche of the caster only allows him to maintain a single Golem of any type at a time.
Effect: Raises a Golem from the earth to fight for you.
- Before spending more than one point into Clay Golem consider that you will probably want upgrade to Blood Golem (at 18), Iron Golem (24), or Fire Golem (30), all of which replace the Clay Golem.
- The Slow %, coupled with the attack bonus, is the main reason to use the Clay Golem at higher levels of difficulty.


Clay Golem Receives Bonuses From
Golem Mastery
Summon Resist
Blood Golem: +5% Life Per Level
Iron Golem: +35 Defense Per Level
Fire Golem: +6% Damage Per Level



Golem Mastery
Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Clay Golem [6]

Developing this skill permits the Necromancer to divert more of his will and energies into his artificial creations. This allows the Necromancer to create more robust golems and control them with greater finesse.
Passive Effect: Enhances speed and life of Golems.
Golem Mastery adds more Hit Points to the Golem's Original Base Life, not the Life shown with more than one point into a Golem skill. Clay Golem: 100 HP, Blood Golem: 201 HP, Iron Golem: 306, Fire Golem: 328
Before placing more than a few points, or more than one point (with +Skills Items), look at the speed of the Golem. If he keeps up with you, that's probably enough points in Golem Mastery. The speed benefit is nice to allow the Golem to keep up with you, especially if you have Faster Run/Walk boots. Another benefit of his increased speed is to allow him to reach his targets more quickly. However if he's able to do both fine at his current speed, additional points for speed reasons are not necessary.
Another benefit of Golem Mastery is to allow your Golem to survive longer. However, if your Golem dies, you can simply make another one. If your Golem is not dying a lot and/or Mana is not a problem, and speed is not a problem, you'll receive no real benefit for having additional points in Golem Mastery.



Skeletal Mage
Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Raise Skeleton [1]

Dead warriors are not the only heroes that a Necromancer may summon to inhabit his creations. Many a Necromancer regales in raising the corpses of long dead wizards and bending them to his will. The priests of Rathma feel that this is the proof of the dominance of their particular branch of the mystic arts.
Effect: Raises a Skeletal Mage that fights for you with an elemental attack.
You cannot set what type of elemental attack a Skeletal Mage will have. You can keep raising a new Skeletal Mage until you get the type of Mage you want. Skeletal Mages have a high resistance to Magical Attacks, especially when they have the same elemental attack as the monster or player attacking them.
Skeletal Magi are useful throughout the game on all difficulty levels. At the minimum, they provide additional targets for monsters to attack. This is good because you want the monsters to attack your Minions instead of yourself. Skeletal Magi work great with Iron Maiden because melee monsters kill themselves on the Skeletal Magi.
Skeletal Magi are also helpful in "breaking in" to a new area, such as when you first join the game. For those Necromancers that specialize in Revive, their goal is to get together a group of Revived Monsters so that they can start to do damage, take them elsewhere, or feel more secure. At first you will have your Golem and you'll either have to kill the monsters to create bodies yourself or use your Golem (a Curse helps too), to get some good Revive candidates created. Once a body is created, make a Skeletal Mage if the body can't be Revived such as Leapers in the Outer Steppes of Act IV. Next cast Iron Maiden on the monsters. They will kill themselves on your Skeletal Mages allowing you to create more Skeletal Mages or Revive those monsters. Skeletal Magi are very helpful in this situation, especially in the first area of the Outer Steppes.
Cold Damage Skeletal Magi can be a pain. Monsters, when chilled, may explode leaving no corpse. Necromancers need corpses for Corpse Explosion and for creating Minions. But, Cold Damage Skeletal Magi can be very helpful also if you don't wish to have monsters leave a corpse. While you can't decide what Skeletal Magi elemental type is used, you can Unsummon those offending Skeletal Magi when you see them.
Skeleton Mastery can raise the damage of their attack.

Skeletal Mage Receives Bonuses From:
Skeleton Mastery
Summon Resist

If your Skeleton Mastery and Raise Skeletal Mage level is above 20, use the following formula to calculate your relative skill level:
('Skeleton Mastery'.lvl) + ((lvl < 4)?0(lvl-2)/2)).
This means: to calculate relative skill level we take Skeleton Mastery level as base for the calculation ('Skeleton Mastery'.lvl), than we add (Raise Skeletal Mage Skill Level-2)/2 provided that Raise Skeletal Mage level is equal or above level 4. If it's on level 3 or less we do not add anything ((lvl < 4)?0).
Below is the table of Necromage missile's damage according to the relative skill level listed in the above table. Level 59 in this table corresponds to level 40 Skeleton Mastery and level 40 Raise Skeletal Mage 40+((40-2)/2) = 59.
Information about skill points:
Poison:
- 7 levels it gains 1 poison damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 2 poison damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 4 poison damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 6 poison damage per level
- All levels thereafter gain 8 poison damage per level
- It gains 10 seconds poison duration per level
Cold:
- 7 levels it gains 1 cold damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 2 cold damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 3 cold damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 4 cold damage per level
- All levels thereafter gain 5 cold damage per level
- It gains 1 second cold duration per level (norm difficulty)
Fire:
- 7 levels it gains 2 fire damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 3 fire damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 5 fire damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 7 fire damage per level
- All levels thereafter gain 9 fire damage per level
Lightning:
- 7 levels it gains 3 max light damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 5 max light damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 8 max light damage per level
- 7 levels it gains 11 max light damage per level
- All levels thereafter gain 14 max light damage per level
- It gains 1 minimum light damage per level

***Note: Freezing is cut 1/2 in Nightmare and 3/4 in Hell.



Blood Golem
Required Level: 18
Prerequisites: Clay Golem [6]

tilizing a small quantity of his own blood, the Necromancer is able to give life to a creature neither living nor dead, yet formed of human tissue. This homunculus gains nourishment from the fresh blood of its slain enemies, from which it replenishes its strength. Tied to the Necromancer through the mage's own blood, the Blood Golem is able to share this stolen life force with his master. Unfortunately, the link flows both ways, and any damage taken by the Golem is also transmitted to the caster.
Effect: Summons a Golem that is linked to the caster's health.
The Blood Golem's life drain is now based completely on its own attack rather than the total amount of your enemy's hit points. Furthermore, if it is affected by a damage return ability like Thorns or Iron Maiden, the life drained is based off of its attack rather than how much damage the enemy attacker did to it.
Hit Points stolen by the Blood Golem are not subtracted from the target.
The Golem gains 70% of the health it steals while the player gains 30%. If the current life + stolen life > maximum life of the Blood Golem, the Hit Point overflow goes to the Necromancer. If the current life + stolen life > maximum life of the Necromancer, the Hit Point overflow returns to the Golem up to the maximum life for each target.
Necromancers can't be killed by a Blood Golem taking too much damage, however, your health may be lowered to a point where other monsters may easily kill you.
When a Blood Golem is hit when the Necromancer has Bone Armor on, damage is directly taken from health skipping Bone Armor.
tilizing a small quantity of his own blood, the Necromancer is able to give life to a creature neither living nor dead, yet formed of human tissue. This homunculus gains nourishment from the fresh blood of its slain enemies, from which it replenishes its strength. Tied to the Necromancer through the mage's own blood, the Blood Golem is able to share this stolen life force with his master. Unfortunately, the link flows both ways, and any damage taken by the Golem is also transmitted to the caster.
Effect: Summons a Golem that is linked to the caster's health.
The Blood Golem's life drain is now based completely on its own attack rather than the total amount of your enemy's hit points. Furthermore, if it is affected by a damage return ability like Thorns or Iron Maiden, the life drained is based off of its attack rather than how much damage the enemy attacker did to it.
Hit Points stolen by the Blood Golem are not subtracted from the target.
The Golem gains 70% of the health it steals while the player gains 30%. If the current life + stolen life > maximum life of the Blood Golem, the Hit Point overflow goes to the Necromancer. If the current life + stolen life > maximum life of the Necromancer, the Hit Point overflow returns to the Golem up to the maximum life for each target.
Necromancers can't be killed by a Blood Golem taking too much damage, however, your health may be lowered to a point where other monsters may easily kill you.
When a Blood Golem is hit when the Necromancer has Bone Armor on, damage is directly taken from health skipping Bone Armor.

Blood Golem Receives Bonuses From:
Golem Mastery
Summon Resist
Clay Golem: +20 Attack Rating Per Level
Iron Golem: +35 Defense Per Level
Fire Golem: +6% Damage Per Level




Summon Resist
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Clay Golem [6], Golem Mastery [12]


Powerful heat, freezing cold and intense electrical attacks can take a serious toll on the bound servants of any Necromancer. By developing this skill, a Necromancer can permeate his summoned minions with a protective energy that strengthens their protection to the natural and mystical elements alike.
Passive Effect: Raises elemental resistances of your Minions.
Summon Resist helps minions survive against spells, and this becomes vital in the later acts when Zakarum Priests are calling down Blizzard and Lightning on their heads. These resistances are helpful for keeping pets that were difficult or expensive to get, such as a strong monster you Revived or a powerful Iron Golem for which you sacrificed a good item.


Iron Golem
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Clay Golem [6], Blood Golem [18]

- While many mages spend their lives devoted to studying the transmutation of base metals into gold, the Necromancers have always had a somewhat different approach to transforming metals. Through complicated arcane rituals and great mental concentration, a Necromancer can summon forth a Golem from common base metals. The construct takes on the properties of the original source material, including any magical effects or other properties the original metal might have possessed.
Effect: Summon a Golem from a metal item. The golem gains properties of the item.
- The Iron Golem's strength lies in his Thorn Damage. This Golem is very powerful against Melee attackers.
- Iron Golems can be constructed from non magical items. You will receive the additional Damage listed on weapons, or the Defense listed on Armor. Currently you do not receive the damage benefit for using two-handed weapons.
- Save powerful Rare and Magical Items you don't wish to sell, use or trade to create Iron Golems. Some magical item properties are not transferred to the Iron Golem, such as "Chance to find Magical Items" and "Mana Steal".
- You can only create Iron Golems from metal items, and you cannot make them from Clubs, Wands, Crystal Swords, Gloves, Belts, Throwing Weapons, Staves, Bows, Crossbows, Quest Items, Jewelry, Leather Armor and Leather Boots.
- Iron Golems can gain the abilities of Socketed Gem weapons.
- When you create an Iron Golem out of an Ethereal Item the Iron Golem is translucent.
- Iron Golem remains over saved games.
How does Iron Golem work with Iron Maiden?
Both damages are applied separately.

Iron Golem Receives Bonuses From:
Golem Mastery
Summon Resist
Clay Golem: +20 Attack Rating Per Level
Blood Golem: +5% Life Per Level
Fire Golem: +6% Damage Per Level



Fire Golem
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Clay Golem [6], Blood Golem [18], Iron Golem [24]

It is believed that all life was forged when fire, earth, iron and flesh were combined. A Necromancer learned in this art can summon a Golem constructed entirely from living flame. The Necromancer summons the Golem through accelerating particles of the air at an ever increasing pace. These particles then ignite and the Golem crackles into existence, seemingly out of thin air.
Effect: A Golem of fire that uses fire damage to heal itself.
The Fire Golem causes massive fire splash damage similar to the Paladin's Holy Fire Aura, causing monsters in the area to become hit by fire.
When the Fire Golem is summoned, and dies, it causes fire splash damage. You can continue to summon a Fire Golem over and over next to monsters to cause fire splash damage to them.

Fire Golem Receives Bonuses From:
Golem Mastery
Summon Resist
Clay Golem: +20 Attack Rating Per Level
Blood Golem: +5% Life Per Level
Iron Golem: +35 Defense Per Level



Revive
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Raise Skeleton [1], Clay Golem [6], Raise Skeletal Mage [12], Blood Golem [18], Iron Golem[24]

The ultimate goal of a Priest of Rathma is the perfect reanimation and control of a dead creature, maintaining the purity and properties of its body while releasing its soul to allow the Necromancer full control. When a Necromancer at long last gains this ability, he can truly claim mastery of the Great Cycle of Being.
Effect: Resurrects a monster to fight for you.
While Skeletons, and Skeletal Mages are great early on, Revived Monsters are the ultimate Minions (ignoring Golems). Once you've created a corpse, revive a monster and it will be back in action with more Hit Points and fighting on your side. Quickly the monsters will find themselves outnumbered as you raise more and more Monsters during the battle to use against them. You can increase the Monster Hit Points and damage of Revived Monsters by putting points into Skeleton Mastery. You can increase their resistances with Summon Resist.
Revived Monsters will do their normal and skilled attacks but they will not raise other monsters. Some monsters have special attacks such as Lightning, Fire Balls, Meteors, Blizzards, and more. Once you convert these Monsters, they will use their special attacks against their former friends.
Revived Monsters will pick up any Auras or any other party friendly spells, which will further increase their power.
One thing you'll notice about Revived Monsters is that they may not be as "smart" as your other Minions. While you now have control of these Revived Monsters, they still retain much of their original thoughts and tendencies. So a Revived Monster is somewhat different from your minions in that they sort of have their own will but fight on your side. You will have to take extra care when moving Revived Monsters around. You can create new Revived Monsters to replace those that have headed off on their own path. You'll find that their abilities in battle will more than outweigh their stupidity in following your commands.
You can't revive Bosses, Super Unique monsters, Leapers, Undead Mages, and some other monsters. You will know which monster cannot be revived if you are unable to select their corpse when attempting to cast Revive.
Revived Monsters will often "disappear" when you get too far away from them. Generally it's a good idea to keep them on the Automap. Watch your Automap and if you notice they are getting too far away or disappearing from the Automap, stop and wait for them. Sometimes you have no choice but to leave them behind, but other times you can slow yourself down allowing them to keep up. If you notice big chunks of Revived Monsters disappearing, this usually means you got too far away from them to command them. Also keep in mind that Revived Monsters also disappear after 3 minutes.
If you don't like what monsters are available to Revive in a area you are playing in, go to another area and get the monsters you like, then take them to the new area. This is really helpful especially when taking on Bosses or when certain monsters would be very good against other types of monsters.
Figure out what Monsters are the best to Revive for the situation. In cases where it may be difficult to lead a group of ground based Revived Monsters around (Arcane Sanctuary, River of Flame), choose flying monsters to Revive such as Wraiths and Finger Mages. Some monsters are really great to have such as Abyss Knights, Willowisps, so you might want to pick them (or whatever your favorite is) over other monsters. Making good decisions about which Monsters to Revive can be really helpful.
Before spending many points in Revive or maxing it out (at 20), take a look at how many Revived you can support at a time. Try an additional point, see if you can keep your Revived at max while you're playing. If you're unable to keep the maximum number of Revived active, don't spend any more points. For each point in Revive you're only being allowed to create 1 additional monster so unless you're always at max, placing additional points in Revive is not worth it.
Do Necromancer Revived Monsters stay under the Necromancers power until they die?
Yes. But they naturally expire after 3 minutes.

Revive Receives Bonuses From:
Skeleton Mastery
Summon Resist



Poison and Bone Spells



Poison Damage
Poison Damage listed is total poison damage over X seconds, not Poison Damage per second.
Bone Spear vs Bone Spirit
Bone Spear will pass through multiple enemies in a line. Bone Spear is very good for getting rid of a lot of enemies. At higher levels Bone Spirit does more damage than Bone Spear but Bone Spirit can only hit one monster at a time. Bone Spirit is easier to aim and hit enemies because it will track a target. Bone Spirit will, however, only hit a monster that is targeted when the spell is fired, so you can't just fire Bone Spirits in an area off screen where you think monsters are coming from like you can do with Bone Spear. If you want to clear large areas of monsters, use Bone Spear. If you want to add additional damage to help out your Minions and Golems use Bone Spirit. You can use both spells but should you decide to specialize in just one, note the advantages of both spells and pick one that best fits your playing style. Many high level Necromancers choose Bone Spirit to max for its high damage, target locking ability, and because it takes less casts per target.
Bone Spear:
- About Half Damage (as Bone Spirit), About Half Mana, Hits multiple targets
- Doesn't need to be targeted on an enemy, you can fire in their direction
- At high levels (40+) can overtake Bone Spirit in damage
- Not as useful in PvP
- Not useful in later stages of Hell

Bone Spirit:
- About Double the Damage (as Bone Spear), About Double the Mana, Hits one Target
- Easier to hit Monsters
- Less Casting per Monster
- Better for Player vs Player Combat
Is there any way to counter Necromancer: Bone spells?
No. The only way to avoid taking damage from Bone Spear and Bone Spirit is to dodge the spells when cast. This is an issue in player vs player combat and when dealing with Oblivion Knights which cast Bone Spirits.


Teeth
Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None

One of the first gifts of Rathma, this skill allows the Necromancer to summon forth the Den'Trang, or Teeth of the Dragon Trang'Oul. The Necromancers believe that Trang'Oul is the beast on whose back the world lies. In the balance of all things, it is thought that Trang'Oul is the fulcrum point. He is the closest thing the cult of Rathma has to a deity and this spell is the manner in which he protects his chosen.
Effect: Summons multiple projectiles that damage enemies.

Teeth Receives Bonuses From:
Bone Wall: +15% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spear: +15% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +15% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spirit: +15% Magic Damage Per Level



Bone Armor
Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None
This spell summons a barrier created from the bones of fallen warriors. The armor revolves around the Necromancer, protecting him against all attacks. Although enchanted, the armor does take damage and will eventually crumble.
Effect: A protective shield that absorbs damage.
Bone Armor only protects the Necromancer from Physical Damage.
Bone Armor can be extremely helpful in absorbing Physical Damage, preventing attacks from reaching your Life. If you have points to spare, spend some on Bone Armor. If monsters hit you, and Mana is not a problem, recast your Bone Armor so it will be at maximum again.

Bone Armor Receives Bonuses From:
Bone Wall: +15 Damage Absorbed Per Level
Bone Prison: +15 Damage Absorbed Per Level


Poison Dagger
Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: None

The apothecary skills of the Necromancer lay fundamentally in the studies of venoms, toxins and other poisonous substances. Not only can a skilled Necromancer identify the various strains of poison that he might come across, but he also maintains a ready supply of samples. Rarely does he shy from their use. In a common application of this skill, the Necromancer paints his dagger with a thin coat of virulent poison. The greater his ability, the more potent the poison.
Effect: Adds poison damage to a dagger.
Poison Dagger can be extremely deadly should you focus on it. The Poison Dagger Spell is designed to offer Necromancers the option to effectively use another weapon type should he choose that path to follow. There are some rare, high-level, Necromancer oriented daggers in the game that will be desired by any poisonous player.

Poison Dagger Receives Bonuses From:
Poison Explosion: +20% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +20% Poison Damage Per Level



Corpse Explosion
Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: Teeth [1]

very corpse created as a result of a violent death carries with it the anguish of its final moments. With this spell the Necromancer is able to call upon those energies and focus them into a single violent force. This force then expels itself from the carcass with such power that it causes a dramatic explosion.
Effect: The targeted corpse explodes, damaging all nearby enemies.
If you want to make a big mess, Corpse Explosion is the skill for you. Once dubbed "The Best Skill of All Time" by Blizzard Employees, Corpse Explosion is a favorite among many. Corpse Explosion is great for clearing out crowds of monsters very quickly. All you need to destroy large groups monsters is a body, and to lead that group of monster near that body. Explode the corpse to create a new corpse, continue to use Corpse Explosion until there is nothing left. Minions and Bone Spells can help you create an initial corpse to use, then you just have to lead the monsters near the bodies when you cause them to explode. As you put more points into Corpse Explosion you can hit monsters further away from the corpse.
Corpse Explosion does 50% Physical damage and 50% Fire damage. Monsters that are resistant to Fire will take less damage.




Bone Wall
Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Bone Armor [1]

This spell enables the Necromancer to call upon the remnants of the spirits of all the creatures who have ever died in the area. It accumulates their fossilized remains and summons forth from the ground a barrier of dense, fossilized bone. This spell is an effective method for keeping adversaries from reaching a Necromancer, while allowing him to attack from range or make his escape.
Effect: Creates a barrier of bone.
Nightmare/Hell: The stats shown below are only for Normal difficulty. The Bone Wall hit points increase for Nightmare, and again for Hell Difficulty.

Bone Wall Receives Bonuses From:
Bone Armor: +10% Life Per Level
Bone Prison: +10% Life Per Level


Poison Explosion
Required Level: 18
Prerequisites: Teeth [1], Corpse Explosion [6], Poison Dagger [6]

This spell permits the Necromancer to accelerate the decomposition of a corpse to an alarming degree. So rapidly does the corpse putrefy, that the toxic gases, normally accumulated in dead tissue over time, explode forth from the carcass in a cloud of poisonous vapors.
Effect: Releases a cloud of poisonous gas from a corpse.

Poison Explosion Receives Bonuses From:
Poison Dagger: +15% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Nova: +15% Poison Damage Per Level


Bone Spear
Required Level: 18
Prerequisites: Teeth [1], Corpse Explosion [6]

Also known as the Talon of Trang'Oul, this spell summons a long shaft of bone issuing forth from the caster and piercing any opponents in its path. Since the force of this projectile is mystical as well as physical it can pass through one opponent and carry on to the next, rending and tearing through whatever is in its path.
Effect: Summons a magical missile of bone.

Bone Spear Receives Bonuses From:
Teeth: +7% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Wall: +7% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +7% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spirit: +7% Magic Damage Per Level


Bone Prison
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Teeth [1], Bone Armor [1], Corpse Explosion [6], Bone Wall [12], Bone Spear [18],

Similar to the Bone Wall, a Necromancer with this skill can summon a spirit wall of bone in the form of an enclosing ring. This prison traps all enemies within its circumference. Imprisoned within a cage of bone, the captives are held helpless until they can summon the strength to break through its skeletal confines or the Necromancer loses his hold over the spirits.
Effect: Summons a ring of bone to surround a target.
Player vs Player: You can use Bone Prison on other players.
Cast Bone Prisons on bosses or players and curse them with Iron Maiden. If they try to escape the Bone Prison they will harm themselves. You can also summon a Golem inside the Bone Prison to fight whatever is inside. Cast spells such as Bone Spear or Bone Spirit at the enemies inside the Bone Prison.
Note, this is not the same Bone Prison that Diablo uses. Diablo has his own Bone Prison type spell that no player can use.
Nightmare/Hell: The stats shown below are only for Normal difficulty. The Bone Prison hit points increase for Nightmare, and again for Hell Difficulty.

Bone Prison Receives Bonuses From:
Bone Armor: +8% Life Per Level
Bone Wall: +8% Life Per Level




Poison Nova
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Poison Dagger [1], Teeth [1] Corpse Explosion [6], Poison Explosion [18]

This spell befouls the atmosphere surrounding the caster. With an arcane chant, the Necromancer corrupts the very air we breathe and causes it to erupt in all directions. It is from years of investigation and preparation that the Necromancer can choose a poisonous gas that is toxic to the minions of evil, yet harmless to himself and his companions.
Effect: A ring of poison explodes from the Necromancer.

Poison Nova Receives Bonuses From:
Poison Dagger: +10% Poison Damage Per Level
Poison Explosion: +10% Poison Damage Per Level



Bone Spirit
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Teeth [1], Corpse Explosion [6], Bone Spear [18]


Player vs Player: You can cast Bone Spirit at someone trapped in a Bone Prison and it won't damage the Bone Prison.
This powerful spell briefly summons the spirit of a vengeful revenant. This skeletal specter immediately seeks out its objective, ripping free a portion of the target's soul and carrying it away to the plane of the dead. This is not a true summoning spell, however, as the Necromancers have not yet determined how to control these wraiths. For now, it is enough that they are able to shield themselves and their companions from their wrath!
Effect: Spirit tracks down a target, or finds one of its own.
In addition to doing a lot of damage, Bone Spirit follows a target making it easy to aim. You can also fire off several bone spirits at once insuring a target will be destroyed.
Bone Spirit will hit the nearest monster if it is launched with no target. If the monsters are too far away from you, the Bone Spirit will continue on without hitting anything. If you select a target and fire more than one Bone Spirit and the first Bone Spirit kills the Monster, the other Bone Spirits will continue on without hitting anything. So select no monsters if you don't care which monster is hit. Select a monster if you want the Bone Spirit to hit them specifically but be warned additional shots after they die will be wasted.
Oblivion Knights in The Chaos Sanctuary of Act IV also cast Bone Spirits.


Bone Spirit Receives Bonuses From:
Teeth: +6% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Wall: +6% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Spear: +6% Magic Damage Per Level
Bone Prison: +6% Magic Damage Per Level



Curses




Amplify Damage
Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None

This deceptively potent curse rapidly advances the age and putridity of any wound. Ordinary blows will cut through flesh and carve particularly vicious wounds that fester and seethe.
Effect: Increases the amount of damage received.
Amplify Damage lowers monster Physical Resistances by 100%. It will also remove the Immune to Physical on Monsters.
Amplify Damage allows you to quickly finish enemies off. You find Amplify Damage useful on any monsters you or your minions want to kill FAST such as Unique Bosses, Champions, Monsters that raise other Monsters such as Mummies, or any monsters that might give you a hard time.
Use Amplify Damage in parties with other players and in situations where you're doing more damage to the enemy than they are doing to you.
Does Amplify Damage work on spell damage as well as physical damage?
No, only Physical Damage.
Does Amplify Damage work with Corpse Explosion?
Partially. Corpse Explosion does 50% Physical damage and 50% Fire damage.


Dim Vision
Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: None
Damning an enemy to the darkness of their own evil, this curse surrounds the afflicted in a sphere of perfect darkness and silence, blinding them. This allows a Necromancer and his party to slip by unnoticed or maneuver close for a more effective attack.
Effect: Decreases radius of awareness.
Player vs Player: This curse will not work on other players.
- This will not work on Super Unique Monsters and Bosses.
- Dim Vision is useful against Ranged Attackers such as Dark Archers or spell casters with dangerous ranged spell attacks. Dim Vision will prevent monsters from seeing you which will allow you to attack them from a distance, but they will be unable to hit you back. It's also useful to cast on a monster to limit their ability to follow you so that you can escape.
- Dim Vision will not overwrite a monster Cursed with Attract or Confuse (but can be overwritten by them).
- Dim Vison's duration is reduced in Nightmare and again further in Hell Difficulty as is mentioned here.
- A monster with Dim Vision that is attempting to close into melee range with a target will continue doing so indefinitely until it hits an obstruction of some kind (if you cast Dim Vision on a creature that is attempting to close to melee range with you, it will continue following you, even if you move, until it hits an obstruction of some kind). Dim Vision prevents the AI controlling the unit from deciding on a new course of action (apart from melee attacking something that's in range). This explains why, when Dim Vision (or a Dim Vision-like effect) overwrites Terror (or a Terror-like effect), the affected creature will continue running away indefinitely until it hits an obstruction or the Dim Vision effect wears off.
- Dim Vision also generally prevents monsters from using their special attacks and abilities. This means that Blood Lords cannot cast Frenzy, for example. (Similarly, Vile Mothers cannot create spawns, Frozen Horrors cannot cast Arctic Blast, etc.) The only exception appears to be that if the creature's only attack is a ranged attack (such as Burning Dead archers), it can still use that attack against creatures in melee range.
- Oblivion Knights in the Chaos Sanctuary are immune to Dim Vision. This can be quite frustrating since they can fire Bone Spirit through their blinded companions and can kill your minions quickly by casting Iron Maiden on them. Switching to Decrepify against these creatures and/or resummoning your Golem next to them is usually your most effective strategy.
- Dim Vision is especially great on Hardcore mode. With maxed-out Dim Vision and some +skills items you can hit more than the entire screen. If you take care you will never face a normal enemy that can see you. It's also helpful in a party setting, since Dim Vision makes many melee monsters less fearsome by disabling their Charge & Frenzy-type skills and ensures that melee party members can run away and heal for a bit if things get too intense.


]Weaken
Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: Amplify Damage [1]

This bane allows the Necromancer to sap the strength from his enemy. Enemies are enfeebled to the point that their blows become highly ineffective.
Effect: Decreases the damage the target can do.



Iron Maiden
Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Amplify Damage [1]

This spell curses a creature, condemning them to receive whatever pains they inflict upon others. The greater the skill of the Necromancer, the greater the magnitude of torment the victim receives for his wrongdoings.
Effect: Damage dealt is damage received.
This only works on melee monsters.
When casted on melee monsters, any damage to you or your Minions will be reflected back to them only more so. Monsters will kill themselves by attacking you and your Minions. As more points are placed in Iron Maiden, the damage monsters receive back increases. Sometimes a monster will kill themselves by attacking in only one hit.
Iron Maiden makes Skeletons and Skeletal Mages very useful, even at high levels. For this spell to work, all you need is something for the monsters to hit. Skeletons, Skeletal Mages, your Golem, Revived attract the monsters, they hit them, and are killed due to the damage received back with the Iron Maiden curse.
Remember Iron Maiden will not work against ranged attackers. Switch to Amplify damage against spell casters and any non melee attacking monster.
Iron Maiden only affects physical damage dealt. The damage returned is also purely Physical (not, for example, magic). Physical Resistance is fully effective against it.
-Iron Maiden makes quick work of Hephasto the Armorer and the Smith.
-Iron Maiden works against the Flayer's blow gun darts.
-Iron Maiden becomes less effective on Nightmare and Hell Difficulty.




Terror
Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Amplify Damage [1], Weaken [6]

This curse causes its victim to hallucinate, conjuring their greatest fear in corporeal form before their eyes. They believe these apparitions are real and run from them as long as the curse affects them.
Effect: Cursed monsters run in fear.
Player vs Player - This will not work on other Players.
This will not work on Super Unique Monsters and Bosses.
Terror is good for crowd control and when combined with Poison spells. You can Poison a monster, then cast Terror on them to make them run away while the Poison is working.
Monsters cursed with Terror flee until the curse expires or they get stuck. Casting another Curse on Terror will not clear it.
Monsters will always flee in the opposite direction of where Terror was cast. This can be used to herd Monsters in certain directions.
Monsters that have different walk/run speeds will often run away at their fastest speed. If you Terrorize a monster multiple times, the speed change can stack making monsters run away very fast.
Speed changes from Terror will be reset when Terror wears off and the monster stops or changes walk/run speeds.



Confuse
Required Level: 18
Prerequisites: Dim Vision [6]

Necromancers can tap into the spirit realm, channeling bitter and mischievous spirits into the minds of nearby enemies. The victims are bombarded with the gibbering of the dead, which, indistinguishable from their own thoughts, urge them to strike at friend and foe alike. The discordant wailing of these spirits builds to a crescendo, eventually driving the victim mad.
Effect: Cursed monsters attack randomly.
Player vs Player - This will not work on other Players.
Confuse will not work on Super Unique Monsters and Bosses.
You receive experience from monsters that are killed by monsters that are Cursed with Confuse.
Confuse duration is reduced in Nightmare and again further in Hell Difficulty as is mentioned here.




Life Tap
Required Level: 18
Prerequisites: Amplify Damage [1], Iron Maiden [12]

This skill allows the Necromancer to literally suck the life from his victims. The Necromancer is able to reach into the wellspring of mortality and siphon off its essence, consuming it to replace his own.
Effect: Attacking a cursed soul gives you health.
When Cursed are damaged, the attacker gets healed 50% of attack damage.



Attract
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Dim Vision [6], Confuse [18]

This hex causes hallucinations in enemies which force them to stop whatever activity they were engaged in and aid the Necromancer in his attacks. Battling their former allies with an unnatural ferocity, this is a vastly demoralizing turn of events for the enemy.
Effect: Causes other monsters to target your enemy.
Player vs Player - This will not work on other Players.
- Attract will not work on Super Unique Monsters and Bosses.
- The Attract curse is handy for turning monsters on one another, but cannot be cast on a boss or any super Uniques. This is great for creating your own monster battles. Watch the monsters fight it out among themselves!
- You receive experience if a monster with Attract dies, even if killed by other hostile monsters.
- Attract will not overwrite Confuse.
- Attracted Monsters can still be damaged (unlike Paladin Conversion) and will still attack the Necromancer or other players.
- Attract duration is reduced in Nightmare and again further in Hell Difficulty as is mentioned here.



Decrepify
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Amplify Damage [1], Weaken [6], Terror [12]


This curse gives the victim a glimpse of his own mortality, briefly aging the victim. Imagining itself with an infirm body of advanced age, the afflicted believes it is no longer capable of youthful exertions.
Effect: Target's Speed, Damage and Physical Resistance -50%
- Decrepify also slows the attack (except missiles from monsters), reduces the damage output of monsters and makes monsters more susceptibile to physical damage.
- The slowing effect of Decrepify is a separate calculation from the slowing caused by cold damage and Slows Target By % items and effects (like, say, the Clay Golem).
- This skill DOES work on bosses and Super Unique Monsters.
- Note that additional points increase neither the effect nor the radius, so usually one point (with possibly +skills items) is sufficient even if you are planning to use this skill heavily. Typically you can just keep casting the spell on a target to recharge the duration, since it does not cost much mana.




Lower Resist
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Weaken [6], Amplify Damage [1], Terror [12], Iron Maiden [12] Life Tap [18], Decrepify [24]

Simply put, this skill increases an enemy's susceptibility to the harsh effects of the elements and elemental magics. Skin burns like paper, chills cut to the bone, and lightning is drawn to the victim as if they were an iron bar in a rainstorm.
Effect: Elemental attacks do more damage to the cursed monster.
- Lower Resist is highly effective in a multiplayer setting where you are helping your allies' weapons and spells do more damage. This also helps the summonable creatures that use elemental attacks, such as the Skeleton Mages or the Fire Golem, not to mention any Revived monster you may control.
- Lower Resist lowers Poison, Fire, Lightning, and Cold Resistances. It does not lower Physical Resistance.
- Monsters Resistances can be lowered into negatives. When a monster with 0 Lightning Resistance is cursed with level 20 Lower Resist (-62 to All Resistances), the monster will now have -62 Lightning Resistance. The damage taken from Lightning attacks would increase by 62%.
- Lower Resist removes elemental and poison immunities.
- If the Necromancer uses Lower Resist (Level 1: 31%) on a monster with 31% resistance to Fire, would the monster now have 0% resistance to Fire?
Yes: 0%
- This curse, when breaking an immunity, will function at 1/5 effectiveness.